Chapter 23
On the day of Samhain, the sound of chainsaws disrupted classes on and off all day. Wood was being cut for the big bonfire that night. Joy, who was paying little enough attention in class these days anyway, found herself staring out the window at the preparations. The bonfire would be laid out on the playing field, well away from any of the buildings, and surrounded by great rocks; these had already been set out, and so had some of the rough seats cut from tree trunks. The campus looked festive with the rowan trees turned to their autumn shades of orange and red and yellow.
She wondered again what kind of security measures were being taken to protect Ash Grove on the one night of the year most vulnerable to evil influences. The traditional lanterns of turnips and pumpkins probably didn’t help much; they were more for fun. And although centuries ago revelers had dressed in frightening disguises to fool the witches and demons into thinking they weren’t human, Halloween costumes now were far more likely to be sexy or silly than scary. She wondered sometimes what Josiah Cavanaugh would make of a modern American Halloween. It was light years away from the ancient rituals of Samhain.
These days she was exhausted from worry, and being almost six months pregnant didn’t help at all. She drifted through her classes numbly, when she bothered to go at all, and when she gathered with her friends they chattered away around her without disturbing her silence. Every now and then she’d catch one of them looking at her in concern. They knew what was on her mind—or part of it, at least—and although they were worried for her there was really nothing they could do to help. She had told them this so often that they had finally believed her. All except Maddie, who surreptitiously kept her provided with herbal tea, chocolate, heating pads, extra pillows, and anything else she expressed a hankering for. The others had noticed that she’d drastically reduced her caffeine intake, but she just told them she was on a health kick, and they were satisfied. Nobody except Maddie seemed to have discovered her secret.
Now, as she gazed out the window, she saw two figures emerge from the woods and start across the playing field. As they grew nearer, she could see that they were Sheila and Alissa. What had they been doing in the woods? No way would they have been helping to cut up wood for the bonfire.
But if they had been on the ridge where it overlooked Melisande’s layout, perhaps they had been up to something there. Something that would allow Melisande access to Ash Grove that was usually barred her by protective measures like rowans and hollies. Maybe that was how Melisande had been able to get into the dorm and ambush her: she had allies on the inside.
Joy’s mouth set in a grim line. If they had been up to something on Samhain of all nights, she would do her best to see that they wouldn’t get away with it.
At dinner she was still preoccupied with this train of thought, and she didn’t try to join in the conversation. Maddie was entertaining everyone with… not a boyfriend rant, exactly; she had scaled those down ever since William’s blowup. She was reciting something more like an annotated bibliography of exes, while the others jogged her memory when necessary.
“Well, there was Blake, as I’m sure you recall,” she said to Clark, who was now dating the guy in question, “and after that was Jeremiah. Then Eric, then Derek.”
“Or was it Derek, then Eric?” William teased.
“Well, there was some overlap there, because Eric and I started talking about getting back together, and that kind of muddled things with Derek.” She gave an exaggerated shudder. “I’ll tell you one thing: never date two guys at once whose names sound so much alike. That’s just asking for trouble.”
“So you don’t actually switch out boyfriends at the five-week mark?” That was Clark. “I thought you were better organized than that, Mads. Don’t you keep a spreadsheet?”
“It’s not like I have a scheduled rotation, Clark, even if it may seem that way.” But she didn’t sound offended. “Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if it’s a kind of dating ADD. Maybe I can be medicated for—Joy? Are you okay?”
A horrifying thought had come to her with the mention of rotations. Melisande seemed to mysteriously lose a mate every seven years. But that didn’t mean that she kept each one for that entire time. Sometimes her marriages or affairs only lasted a couple of years before the unlucky man disappeared—or worse.
And that meant that Tanner’s time might in fact be up. Even though Tanner had been with her for less than two years, he seemed to be on track to be her next meal. Raven had even called him Melisande’s “special favorite.”
Worse, if she was going to finish him off, it would most likely have to be before he turned eighteen and was free of her.
“And his birthday is next week,” she gasped.
Her friends were all staring at her now, worried and weirded out. “Joy, what is it?” asked William in concern.
She drew a deep, unsteady breath. “This is going to take a little while to explain,” she said, “and it’s going to be hard to believe. But the short version is that Tanner’s in terrible danger, and I think Sheila and Alissa have something to do with it. And tonight—oh, god—tonight is Samhain, and that’s the traditional time for blood sacrifices.” Her hands were shaking. Her whole body was shaking. “You’ve got to help me save him.”
“Well, duh,” said Maddie. “Just tell us what we need to do.”
“Yeah, you can fill in the backstory later,” said William. “How can we help?”
She felt a rush of gratitude for her friends and their willingness to take her on faith. If she’d had to explain everything, answer their questions, assuage their skepticism, convince them of the nature of the danger, it would take goodness knew how long, and she was terrified that it was already too late. With the Samhain celebration starting within the hour, the school was in disarray, and she wasn’t sure where to find the people who might be able to help.
“William, see if you can find Dr. Aysgarth or Mo and tell them that tonight Melisande is going to try to kill Tanner. Maddie, can you look for Gail? And call Tasha and ask her to come right away.”
“What can Blake and I do?” asked Clark. “He’ll help if I ask him to.”
“Text him and ask him if he can find one of the security guards that are supposedly patrolling campus, would you? And I need you to go to Melisande’s and make a scene. Get the security staff’s attention and make sure they call her, and keep her tied up there if you can. Maybe rave about succubi and witchcraft and sacrificial rituals; that’ll get her attention.”
“Got it,” said Clark. “What are you going to do?”
She set her jaw. “Find out what Sheila and Alissa have been up to.”
They weren’t in the dorm when she got there. Neither were the Brodys, Maddie reported when they met up in the lobby. “Down at the bonfire, probably,” she said. “Gail’s not answering her cell. I texted her and left a voicemail too. What do you think’s going to happen, Joy?”
“I’m afraid that Melisande has found a way to get past campus security, and that she’s going to use Ash Grove’s supernatural force as an amplifier, so she’ll get a bigger charge when she performs the ritual to suck the life out of Tanner,” said Joy.
Maddie blinked. “Okay, I didn’t understand any of that,” she said. “But it sounded bad.”
“I just wish I knew where,” Joy went on. “I don’t know where she’s found a way in to campus. But I think Sheila and Alissa are helping her.”
“Right,” said Maddie grimly. “Let’s go kick some ballerina ass.”
The bonfire had just been lit when they got there. A large crowd of students had gathered already, and there was a cheerful hubbub. Some were carving jack-o’-lanterns, and a few of the music students had brought their guitars for the traditional sing-along. It looked cheerful and cozy and fun, and Joy wanted to shake every single person there until their teeth rattled and demand how they could be enjoying themselves so much when Tanner’s life was at risk.
Sheila and Alissa were gathered wit
h their usual crowd near the fire. One of the guys noticed Joy and Maddie approaching them and nudged Sheila. She took them in with a contemptuous look.
“God, Joy, you’re getting so fat you look like a pumpkin yourself,” she said. “What do you want now?” Then she shrieked in outrage as Joy grabbed her arm and yanked her forward.
“Tell me what you and Alissa have been up to with Melisande,” she commanded. “You were sabotaging campus security to let her in, weren’t you? Maybe cutting down a few rowan trees? Today of all days no one would think anything of the sound of a chainsaw.”
“What the hell!” sputtered Sheila, and Alissa said quickly, “We weren’t anywhere near the ridge.”
“Who said anything about the ridge?” inquired Maddie, and Alissa’s eyes went big as she realized her mistake.
“Tell me what you were doing.” Joy let go of Sheila and shoved her away, because she was starting to slap at her. She didn’t want any of those blows to land where they might hurt the baby. Where the hell were the faculty chaperones? Someone should be coming to break this up, someone who could get a rescue operation moving. “Tell me or—or I’ll get my father to make some calls and get you expelled.”
It was a complete bluff, but Sheila fell for it.
“You little troll,” she snapped. “All right, if it’s that important to you, we were up on the ridge where it overlooks Melisande’s house. There’s this guy in her entourage, Saxon, and he—he likes to go skinny-dipping in her pool. And with binoculars… well, what’s it got to do with you, anyway?”
“All we did was look,” Alissa put in. “No one even knew we were there.”
“That’s it?” Maddie and Joy looked at each other in consternation. Joy didn’t know what to do now that her theory had been deflated. Where should she look now for Melisande?
At that moment, something in the angle of Joy’s posture must have betrayed her. She heard Sheila give an incredulous laugh. “Oh my god,” said Sheila loudly. “You’re pregnant!”
The words opened up a great silence. Everyone seemed to be staring at them. She didn’t know what to say; and Maddie, seeing this, stepped in to take the bullet.
“I am not!” she said, just as loudly as Sheila. “Just because I’ve gained a few pounds doesn’t mean you have to be bitchy about it.”
Sheila gave her a venomous look. “Not you. Joy.”
“Wait, so now you’re saying she’s pregnant too? You must have, like, a fixation on pregnancy.” Maddie was doing her best, but Joy felt the eyes still on her and knew it wasn’t any good.
“Never mind, Mads,” she said. “But thanks for trying.” This wasn’t the time to let herself get distracted. “Let’s check out the ridge anyway,” she said. “I want to see if everything’s okay.”
Head high, she broke through the circle of onlookers and set out at a fast walk, not looking back. Behind her she heard a yelp from Maddie and a voice saying, “Not so fast, Elvira. You and Sheila have some explaining to do.”
She did look back then, and saw that Mrs. Minish, the history teacher, was holding each girl by the arm in a death grip. Maddie looked at Joy and mouthed, Go on! and waved her off with her free hand. Before Mrs. Minish could try to detain her, too, she set out for the woods at the fastest trot her ungainly figure could manage.
Her mind wasn’t processing how she felt about her secret being out. She’d probably feel the force of that later, but right now she was just numb. All she knew was that she had to find Tanner and stop the ritual.
She had grown so familiar with the layout of the ridge over the past few months that it didn’t take her long to find the stretch that overlooked Melisande’s property. She tried to make her progress quiet, but dry leaves crunched loudly under the soles of her sneakers. So much for stealth. She could only hope that she wouldn’t need the element of surprise.
She turned on her flashlight as she neared the overlook, and at first glance everything looked normal. There were no signs of trees having been cut down: no sawn-off trunks or sawdust. So either her theory had been wrong, or Melisande had found another place to breach the campus border.
Then she looked closer. There were pale gashes on some of the rowan trees as if someone had been hacking at them. Maybe someone had started to cut them down but had been interrupted before they could finish the job? She touched one of the raw places, traced it with her fingertips, and realized: the cuts in the bark weren’t just blows from an axe or saw. They were symbols. She flashed her light around and saw that a whole row of trees had been deliberately marked that way. She had a feeling she understood what the nature of those symbols was, and she felt suddenly cold.
It was then that the voice came from behind her.
“You’re worried about your snug little fence, aren’t you? Well, it was standing in my lady’s way, so it had to be removed. She won’t find any barriers between her and Ash Grove tonight.”