Conjured

  Peter crossed his arms over his chest and gazed at the painting like he was observing it in an art museum. I checked under the couch, in the small closet and for loose floorboards. No journal.

  “Which scene is this from?” Peter asked over his shoulder. “Or do you think it’s a free hand interpretation?”

  “I assumed it was the depiction from the New Testament. Book of Revelations. You know, the War in Heaven? I’ve never really gave the mural a good look. It kind of freaked me out the last time I was here.”

  The War in Heaven in the Book of Revelations told the story of how conflict erupted in Heaven. The Archangel Lucifer was jealous of God’s love of mankind. Unwilling to submit any longer, Lucifer and his angel followers led a rebellion against God.

  The Archangel Michael, the leader of God’s army, defeated Lucifer in an epic battle. Michael cast Lucifer and all of his rebellious angels out of Heaven. The angels thrown out of Heaven were referred to as “fallen angels.”

  Peter motioned for me to come closer. “Right, that’s what I thought, too. Michael’s fully armed in the painting - helmet, sword and shield. But look, they put the initials ‘G.O.D.’ on Michael’s arm and his cloak is the same color brown as Gamma’s robes. And these aren’t like any fallen angels I’ve ever seen. These are ordinary people.”

  I leaned in to get a better view. Sure enough, the initials were tattooed on Michael’s biceps and Lucifer’s fallen army, did in fact, look like ordinary people dressed in dark clothes.

  One fallen angel, a male, was drawn with his head turned away. A dark spot on the back of his neck was clearly visible. I scratched the dot with my fingernail to make sure it wasn’t a speck of dirt. It wasn’t. It was a birthmark, deliberately painted on the back of the fallen angel’s neck.

  Good one.

  This wasn’t the normal depiction of the biblical scene. It was Gamma version of good versus evil.

  “I guess Michael represents their fraternity and all of these,” I pointed at the fallen angels that would later turn into demons, “must be me and all the other witches.”

  “Lex, these guys are nut cases. See Exhibit A. Complete whack jobs.”

  I shrugged. “Let’s check upstairs and then get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

  We walked though the dining room and past the basement door. The staircase was at the end of the hallway. There were no windows, so the climb up the creaky stairs was almost in complete darkness.

  On the second floor, there were two rooms and a bathroom. Hideous gold striped wallpaper covered the walls from floor to ceiling. The first room was completely empty. There was no furniture. There wasn’t even a closet. Dust bunnies gathered along the edges of the baseboard.

  The second room was sparsely decorated. The furniture consisted of a bed, side table, an armoire and a dresser with an old fashion wash bowl. Peter opened the closet door. A few collared shirts and a suit hung from the pole.

  “There’s nothing here,” Peter said.

  I pulled open a drawer. Folded white t-shirts. I opened another. More clothes. I opened the bottom drawer and on top of a pile of socks was a framed photograph. It was of James and William.

  “Check this out,” I said.

  Peter froze.

  My stomach dropped. I knew that look. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone’s here.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Peter lifted me from the ground. I closed the bottom drawer and we tiptoed into the hallway. The sound of the front door slamming made my heart stop. Footsteps creaked loudly below.

  “We can’t go that way,” Peter whispered. He turned in a full circle and then pulled me into the bathroom.

  A tub. Toilet. Sink. There was no place to hide. The closet was full of shelves and we couldn’t fit inside.

  “Quick, in here.” Peter quietly pulled open the shower curtain and stepped inside the tub.

  I jumped inside next to him. “This is bad. What if whoever’s here decides to take a shower?”

  “Then we’re in trouble.” Peter closed the curtain. “They’re already in the house. We couldn’t get out of here without running into them.”

  “I’m sorry.” I pulled Peter next to me. This was my fault. I had to come back to the Gamma house. I had to drag him into my mess. I was always dragging Peter into my messes.

  The footsteps grew louder as someone jogged up the stairs. Banging and commotion came from the bedroom. Drawers were opened and slammed shut. The footsteps grew louder as they entered the hallway.

  Light flooded the bathroom and the sink faucet turned on. My heart was thumping in my chest. I was sure whoever was out there could hear the rapid beating. I placed my hand over it in a futile attempt to subdue the noise.

  “Who in the hell does he think he is? He thinks he can talk to me that way? He’s got another thing coming.”

  My entire body stiffened. My overbeating heart fell to my boots. My jaw slacked, but thankfully, before I could gasp or shriek, Peter’s hand covered my mouth.

  It was my stepfather.

  Water poured out of the faucet. “You can do this. You can do this,” Victor said in an odd self-assuring tone.

  It sounded weird coming from Victor. He was never one to lack any type of confidence. Nothing rattled Victor. Until now.

  Peter peered around the shower curtain. He threw me a confused look. “He’s alone,” Peter mouthed silently.

  Victor was talking to himself.

  It sounded like Victor was splashing water on his face. “He’s not going to harm you. He needs you. You are important to him. You are the most important person to him.”

  A loud crash.

  Tiles smashing. Victor had punched the wall. He exhaled loudly and turned off the faucet. A loud crash sounded again, followed by a string of profanities. The familiar sound of glass tinkled to the floor - he’d punched the mirror.

  “Get it together or you’ll be dead for the holidays.” Victor’s footsteps stomped out of the bathroom and he slammed the door shut behind him.

  * * *

  Diary of Alexandria Longfellow

  Sunday, December 7th

  We dodged a bullet. Peter and I waited over two hours in the shower stall of the Gamma farmhouse. Once we heard Victor’s Rolls Royce drive away, we crept out of the house and ran to the safety of our cars. It was a close call. Too close. I won’t put Peter in any more danger. I’ll have to figure this out on my own.

  Obviously, Victor was staying at the Gamma farmhouse. But why was he so upset? Who was Victor talking about? Who was he going to meet? Victor was a tough man and in the seventeen years that I’d known him, I’d never seen him frazzled. Never. Including the night William and Victor tried to string me from a tree. Victor was cool as a cucumber. But not tonight. Who was he so frightened of? Was someone out there more terrifying than William Van Curen? That was hard to believe. Could Gamma be reforming? So soon? Was there another leader?

  I didn’t actually see Victor from behind the shower curtain, but Peter said he looked horrible. Apparently his hair was disheveled, he was sweating and his clothes were dirty. All attributes that were extremely un-Victor like. Weird.

  Needless to say, we didn’t find Jonah’s diary. I didn’t really believe we would find it there, but I wanted to cover all grounds. Now I could check the Gamma farmhouse off my list. The next step was deciding where to look.

  It crossed my mind a thousand times that James would know where to search. If he would even speak to me. I wasn’t sure what I’d say to him: “Hey there, James - Great to see you again! Thanks for saving my life. By the way, sorry you had to kill your dad in the process.”

  If I was being honest, I was a little afraid to see James again. I was scared of his reaction. Did he hate me?

  I don’t know where to look for Jonah’s journal, I’m no closer to finding out how and who killed Grandma Claudia or why she was conjuring spirits. And Emma….

  Emma is a zombie. Not literally, obviously, but I wonder if z
ombies exist. Witches do. Anyhow, what I meant to say was Emma is acting like a zombie. She shuffles from room to room and says nothing. She has this vacant look on her face and never speaks. It’s so frustrating. I understand she’s been through a lot, but so have I. It would be nice to be able to talk to her about Ethan.

  I guess that’s all for today. Oh, I forgot to add - I successfully levitated my biology book. I moved it from my desk, through the air, to my bed. It was pretty cool. It takes a tremendous amount of concentration and I was slightly dizzy afterwards, but it’s working and I think I’m getting better at it.

  Too bad levitation won’t solve any of my problems.

  CHAPTER 5

  “You don’t have a maid anymore?” Olivia’s face scrunched up like a shriveled prune.

  “No.” I cut the chicken tender with the side of my fork. I silently prayed Sadie would get over her cold and come back to school. She always made dealing with Olivia so much easier. I didn’t want to talk about Mya, especially to Olivia. Mya was gone. She went back to Vermont after we moved out of the house in the Hallows.

  Olivia frowned. “I know your house is small now, but who cleans it?”

  “You’re looking at her.”

  “Eww. Even the bathrooms?”

  “Even the toilets,” I said with a grin.

  Olivia opened her mouth again, but Jillian jumped in to save me. “I clean my own bathroom. It’s not so bad.”

  “Yeah,” Olivia said. “But you’re not a Ramsey.”

  “Technically, neither am I, anymore.” I enjoyed the horror on Olivia’s face a little more than I should.

  “I am going to have trouble remembering that.” Lucas pushed his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes. “I’ve called you ‘Ramsey’ for the better part of a decade. Longfellow is way too long. Maybe I’ll try ‘Alex’ from now on.”

  “Imagine that,” I said. “Calling me by my first name after all of these years. Hey Logan, your food is getting cold.”

  Logan was obsessively texting underneath the lunch table. His tray of food was untouched.

  Lucas rolled his eyes. “You and Anne Marie are sickening. You can’t possibly have that much to say to each other.”

  “How would you know? You don’t have a girlfriend,” Logan said. “Well, you would if you’d ever man up and finally ask Sa-”

  Lucas elbowed his brother in the ribs.

  “You’re coming back next semester, right?” Jillian asked me, ignoring the twins.

  “Yes, but I’ll be at Hazel Cove High next fall.”

  Olivia threw her long curly blonde hair over her shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re going there for your SENIOR year!”

  “It won’t be too bad.” Lucas crushed his empty soda can with his hands. “You’ll technically be the new girl, but everyone already knows who you are. And you have Peter. Dating the star hockey player has to count for something.”

  Olivia shook her head. “Why can’t you and your mom have Victor pay your tuition-” She abruptly stopped talking. Her lower jaw fell open and then a bright smile claimed her face.

  The sudden halt in Olivia’s whining even had Logan looking up. Lucas, Logan, Jillian and I followed Olivia’s gaze across the lunchroom.

  I wished I hadn’t.

  I’d been expecting it for awhile. Obviously, I hadn’t readied myself for the shock of seeing James Van Curen in person again. He was walking away from the soda machine casually nodding at people as he passed by their lunch tables.

  James looked the same. Chocolate hair and those huge doe-brown eyes. He was wearing the Hawthorne Prep uniform - navy blue sports jacket with the red and yellow Hawthorne Crest on the chest, a white button down shirt, red tie and khaki pants.

  Even from this distance, I could tell there was something different about him. He was missing that arrogant air about him. There was a somber note in his movement and his famous dimples were nowhere to be found. I was willing to bet he hadn’t smiled in exactly two weeks.

  “James! Hey! Over here!” Logan waived his long arms in the air.

  James’ eyes roamed over the lunch crowd. At the sight of the twins, his face softened. His gaze slid over the table and skid to a screeching halt on me.

  The muscles in his jaw tightened. I’m sure no one else noticed this tiny, infinitesimal reaction, but it was there. I’d bet my life on it. He pulled his eyes away from me, waived at Logan and walked out of the cafeteria.

  That went well.

  “What was that about?” Olivia glared around the table. “Why didn’t he come over here? We haven’t seen him in weeks and he doesn’t even bother to say hello?”

  Lucas shrugged. “Maybe he had somewhere to be. It is his first day back.”

  “Maybe he didn’t want to deal with all the questions.” Jillian scraped her carton of yogurt with a plastic spoon.

  “But we’re his friends,” Olivia said.

  “Maybe he didn’t want you prying into his personal affairs.” Logan adjusted his frames. He’d been wearing the fashion glasses for the past few weeks as a way of differentiating himself from his identical twin brother. “His dad died a few weeks ago. He’s going through a tough time right now. Give him some space.”

  “Was Mr. Van Curen old?” Jillian asked. “I can’t believe he had a heart attack and hit his head. That’s horrible.”

  I lowered my eyes to my lunch tray. I picked up a French fry and made drawings in the pile of ketchup. This was one conversation I didn’t want to be a part of.

  “Didn’t you know his dad?” Olivia asked me. “James lived a block away from you. Was Mr. Van Curen old?”

  “Uh, I met him once,” I said quietly, not wanting to meet Olivia’s eyes. “He wasn’t that old. I don’t know.”

  “James is living with his aunt now,” Lucas said. “Hey, does anyone know if Sadie’s coming back tomorrow?”

  Olivia waived her hands in the air to get Lucas’ attention. “Wait. What? James is living with his aunt in his dad’s house in the Hallows? How do you know that?”

  “He told me,” Lucas said.

  Logan stopped texting. “His aunt moved here from Boston. She’s taking care of James and the house for the time being.”

  “What else do you two know?” Olivia asked the twins.

  “Quit being so nosy, Humphrey. Come on, we should go, the bell is about to ring.” Lucas grabbed his tray.

  We collectively rose from the table and followed Lucas out of the now empty cafeteria. I fell to the back of the pack, too distraught over the look James had given me. I should have been expecting it, but still, it stung. The only reason he didn’t come to the lunch table was me. James was obviously on good terms with the Cooper twins, so I had to be the reason for his sudden departure. There was no other explanation for it.

  We were all clearly going to be late for fourth period, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone. We stopped in the middle of the hallway near the staircase across from the guidance counselor’s office. I didn’t understand the reason for the pit stop, but my friends started making weird noises at Logan. Kissing noises. Logan’s pale face turned tomato red behind his glasses.

  “What am I missing?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” Logan said quickly. He attempted to make a run for it, but Olivia clutched his arm.

  She pointed to the staircase that led to the Bell Tower. “Doesn’t that look like an excellent make out spot? I think it’s perfect!” She sucked in her cheeks and made the kissing sound again.

  Logan’s broad shoulders slumped inward. “Please don’t tell Peter.”

  I must have been really slow today, because it finally dawned on me. Logan. Anne Marie. The Bell Tower. Gross. When did that happen? Anne Marie didn’t even go to our school; she went to Hazel Cove High.

  Logan was waiting for me to answer.

  I tried not to grin. “I like you alive. So I will definitely not be telling Peter that you’re making out with his little sister in such creative spaces as the Hawthorne Prep Bell Tower.”
>
  Logan’s face relaxed. “Thanks, Alex. I owe you one.” He turned and walked away before anyone else could say anything.

  Jillian and Olivia went to the restroom, so that left Lucas and me alone to walk the nearly empty hallway to class.

  Lucas blew a bubble with his gum. “Logan wants to take Anne Marie to the Winter Ball.”

  Hawthorne Prep’s Winter Ball was in a few weeks and it was a big deal around Hazel Cove. It was a formal dance for juniors and seniors. Sadie and I had been looking forward to the dance for years. Of course, that was before all of this witch stuff came into my life. Now the Winter Ball seemed pretty lame.

  “Logan should ask her,” I replied. “They’re dating, right? What’s the big deal?”

  “He’s planning to, but….”

  “What?”

  “Maybe you could mention it to Peter first, you know? Break the ice?”

  “Ah,” I said. “Logan put you up to this.”

  Lucas shrugged his lanky shoulders. “He is my brother. Unfortunately.”

  “No problem, I’ll talk to him tonight. Are you going to the dance, too?”

  Lucas looked at me like I was crazy. “Of course I am. Why? Are you and Peter not going?”

  It honestly hadn’t crossed my mind. But a little normalcy would be good for my sanity. “I don’t think I have a choice now that Logan is taking Anne Marie. I’m sure Peter will drag me to the Ball so he can watch their every move.”

  “Good, I don’t want you to miss it.” Lucas hesitated.

  “What?”

  “Do you think Sadie would go with me?”

  I glanced down the passing hallway. James was at his locker. “Sadie? Sure, I think that’s a great idea.”

  “Sweet.”

  “I’ll catch up with you later, Luke. I have to go.”

  And the next thing I know, I was marching towards an unsuspecting James. I had to break the ice. He couldn’t avoid me forever if we were going to be at the same school and have the same circle of friends. Not if I had anything to say about it.

  I took a deep breath. “Hi.”