* * *
The rain was holding back for the moment, but it didn’t make the parking lot look any less gloomy. Her windshield faced McKinley. Gray studied the building for any activity going in or out. She chuckled softly. It felt like she was on a stakeout. Gray waited an extra twenty-five minutes. It was too late to go to first period. No more disappearing acts, especially not halfway through the period.
When the bell rang, Gray stepped out of the car. Was it her imagination, or were people staring at her in the hallway? She looked down at her blouse and jeans. Everything looked fine. Gray patted her hair. She’d put it up in a high ponytail then braided it Lara Croft Tomb Raider style, but blond and let’s face it—not as badass when you considered the embroidered jeans and blouse. Still, everything had looked good before she left the house and she’d checked twice: once before waiting for Thea, the next before nabbing the Beetle.
Gray paused in front of her locker. The pink paper was gone. Had Charlene taken it down? She couldn’t see any reason why she would—she was after Gray’s forgiveness after all. Someone else must have. That was just rude.
Gray began turning the combo on her locker. She could feel a pair of eyes on her so she glanced to the left. Curtis Read gaped at her fifteen lockers down. She really needed to check her face in her locker mirror. Gray finished the combination and pulled down on the latch. It didn’t budge. She yanked harder.
Curtis had thrown her off. If she had something on her face someone really ought to say something.
She spun the combo again with the same results. A groaning sound worked its way through her lips.
Fine. Magic it was, then. She lifted a finger and the lock unlatched. Gray pulled on the latch and gasped.
Her locker was completely bare.
She blinked several times. No, her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. There was nothing inside her locker. Her pictures and mirror had been removed as well.
Someone had some explaining to do and they better start doing it fast. It took Gray a moment to tear her eyes from the empty shell of her locker. She made a quick scan of the hall, searching for the guilty party, but the crowd had thinned out and begun to make their way to second period.
The warning bell chimed. She smacked the locker shut and headed to second period.
Someone was playing a joke on her. Raj? No, that didn’t make any sense. Charlene? No. It couldn’t be. Not this time.
Gray took her seat in geometry class. Again she was met with peculiar stares and now, whispering. “What’s she doing here?” She pulled at her collar. Sweat was beading in the crooks of her armpits, ready to swell and leak down her arms at any minute. She dug inside her backpack and arranged her geometry book on her desktop along with her spiral notebook and mechanical pencil.
Mr. Burke turned to face the class with his attendance sheet. The moment his eyes left the paper, they landed on Gray. “Miss Perez,” he said, startled. “What are you doing in my class?”
So even the teachers were in on it.
Gray swallowed. Her heart was hammering inside her chest. Everyone was staring at her. It was like some horrible nightmare. Maybe the coven was punishing her for performing magic at school. Enough to manipulate reality? She couldn’t begin to imagine the kind of power that’d take, followed by the repairs and brain washes at the conclusion of her day of humiliation. It didn’t make any sense.
“The same thing I do every day, learning math under your tutelage, Mr. Burke,” Gray answered. Maybe she could get him to crack a smile and admit he couldn’t keep a straight face any longer.
But Mr. Burke didn’t smile. His jaw tensed. “Is this a joke?”
She would have liked to ask him the same question, but Mr. Burke didn’t look like he was playing around.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath around her.
“I don’t know,” Gray said slowly. “Maybe you can tell me what’s going on.”
Mr. Burke just stared at her.
Gray sat up. “Did I get transferred to another geometry class and someone forgot to mention it to me?” Or to another school? Why was her locker cleared out?
“You’ve never been in my geometry class, Charlene.”
Charlene! Gray’s heart skipped. “I’m not Charlene!”
There were gasps all around her.
“Who are you then?” Mike Matthews asked from beside her.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, you know very well I’m Graylee.”
Louder gasps, followed by a rush of whispers coming from all directions. It was like being sucked into the eye of a hurricane with chatter hurled and swirled all around her. Gray looked to Mr. Burke, imploring him with her eyes to make this charade end.
“Enough!” he shouted and the clamor stopped. Mr. Burke looked at Gray and spoke softly. “Miss Perez, please come with me.”
Gray stuffed her things inside her pack and vacated her desk. She was more than ready to get out of that room.
She joined Mr. Burke in the hallway, where he shut the classroom door behind him. Gray could practically hear the jabber begin anew the moment the door clicked in place. Hyenas. She’d like to see how her classmates handled a day in the Twilight Zone.
Gray turned to Mr. Burke. He looked upset so she was surprised by the gentleness of his voice. “Miss Perez, I know this has been a difficult time for you. Mr. Burke reached out and applied a soft amount of pressure to Gray’s shoulder blade, guiding her forward. “Not only losing a sister, but a twin,” he continued. “I know it feels like a part of you has died and it must hurt to let go of that part of yourself.”
Gray stopped in her tracks. “What?” No, it couldn’t be. Everyone was confused. Gray had missed something important. Blocked it out. It had to be Charlene. This was some kind of horrible mix-up. She gulped. “Did something happen to Charlene?”
Mr. Burke stared at her a moment then stretched the arm he’d previously had on her back into the hall. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the office. I think you need to speak with Mrs. Knight.”
Sure, ’cause McKinley High’s career counselor would be able to straighten this all out. Not knowing what else to do, Gray followed Mr. Burke.
The office secretary lifted her head the moment Mr. Burke and Gray walked into the compact waiting room outside the counselors’ offices.
“I need Mrs. Knight right away,” Mr. Burke said.
The secretary nodded then stood. Wow, she was fetching Mrs. Knight by foot. Something was definitely amiss. Mrs. Knight walked out moments later. McKinley’s career counselor was the office beauty: slim long legs and dark silky hair that bobbed just above her shoulders.
“Good morning, Mr. Burke. Hello, Charlene. What seems to be the problem?”
“I’m not Charlene, I’m Graylee.”
Mrs. Knight’s eyes darted to Mr. Burke. He took a step back. “She’s all yours, Mrs. Knight. I left my class unattended.” Mr. Burke spun around and left.
Mrs. Knight’s eyes latched onto Gray. “Charlene, why don’t you step inside my office?”
Gray’s cheeks heated. “I’m not Charlene!”
“Follow me, please.” Mrs. Knight turned her back and started to her office.
Did she really expect Gray to follow her after that display? Gray grumbled and shuffled behind Mrs. Knight. What else was she supposed to do?
“Close the door, please.” Mrs. Knight was already seated behind her desk when Gray walked in.
Gray shut the door and took a seat in front of Mrs. Knight’s desk. The office was as tidy and prim as the woman seated in black slacks before her. She stared at the counselor and the counselor stared back. Unlike Mr. Burke, Mrs. Knight didn’t look surprised. “You know what’s happening, don’t you?”
Gray leaned forward in her chair. “No, I really don’t.”
“You haven’t taken time out to grieve. Remember our talk last month?”
Seriously? “No.”
“I warne
d you that if you kept pushing your feelings aside they’d only build and end up bursting at any moment. You can’t block the pain forever, Charlene.”
Gray snorted. If she really had died, it would be just like Charlene not to grieve.
Mrs. Knight’s lips formed a tight pucker. The counselor looked dead serious. This was getting a little frightening. What kind of evil magic had Gray gotten in the middle of? And why had she been targeted?
“I’d like to go home,” Gray said.
“I think that’s a good idea, Charlene. Go home and take time to grieve your loss.”
Gray narrowed her eyes. The woman was purposely saying her sister’s name every chance she got. Even if she was under a spell, there was no reason to be so rude.
“I’ll call your mother and let her know we spoke and that you’re headed straight home.”
“My mom’s out of town.”
The frown on Mrs. Knight’s face deepened. “Your mom left you alone?”
Gray didn’t like Mrs. Knight’s tone when she asked the question—like her mother was negligent or something.
“Yeah,” Gray responded, sounding a bit snooty. “Well, I am seventeen.”
“I don’t think you should be alone right now,” Mrs. Knight shot back. “When is your mother returning?”
“Friday.”
“Next Friday?”
“No. I don’t know. I think she meant this Friday.”
“Today’s Friday.”
Okay, now they were really messing with her. “Today’s Wednesday.”
“Nooo,” Mrs. Knight said slowly. “Today’s Friday.” Then dawning seemed to appear on her face. “Friday, April first.” She looked Gray over carefully.
Gray squinted across the desk. “So this is like a joke?” That made absolutely no sense—an April Fools’ joke in February?
“Is it?” Mrs. Knight quipped. Her frown looked as taut as a rubber band and ready to snap if it became any deeper. She snatched a piece of paper and pen.
The movement startled Gray.
“Does your mother have a cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Number?”
Gray recited the numbers reluctantly, not that she cared if Mrs. Knight called her mom; she was just smarting over her general attitude.
“Can I go home now?”
“Not yet.”
Great.
Chapter Nine
Raj held the amulet three inches in front of his face and stared till it went out of focus. This had become his habit for the past two months. He barely touched his Zippo any more. He was slouched in his seat, one elbow propped on the desk—the moonstones, the charms, the initials GP dangling in front of him.
Beyond the amulet he could see students arriving to class. They were silhouettes, mannequins without faces.
“Did you hear about Charlene Perez?”
Raj barely registered the words.
“… pretending to be her dead sister.”
“That’s messed up.”
“Maybe she’s having a nervous breakdown.”
“Or is playing the sickest April Fools’ joke in history.”
Raj shot out of his desk, closing his fingers around the amulet as he walked swiftly out of the room. His feet carried him over the polished hallway. He didn’t even know where he was going. Raj squeezed the amulet in his hand so tightly the crystal felt as though it would cut into his palm.
He rounded a corner and made for the student center. The halls were clearing out as the last seconds before the final bell hovered in the air. It rang as he crossed over the school crest in the middle of the student center. A wall of light caught his eye from the triple sets of double doors beside the main office. Raj headed for them.
As he neared, a figure stepped out of the office lobby into the deserted hallway. Her hair was pulled into a long braid and she was wearing embroidered jeans. Raj’s heart lurched inside his chest.
It wasn’t possible.
“Gray!” he yelled.
She looked over her shoulder, startled. Her eyes widened and she began walking faster.
Raj picked up his pace. When she saw him gaining ground she began running.
“Gray!”
He wanted to stop her in place, make her stand still. He had to confirm it was her. He had to know. But he’d promised her.
Raj began sprinting.
She pushed through the double doors out into the breaking light. Raj reached the doors right before they clicked shut, shoved them open, and hit the pavement on the walkway leading out.
Gray had shot across the pickup lane into a patch of grass between the teachers’ parking lot and the road. Raj sprinted toward the grass. Gray had just about made it to the road. She slowed and looked over her shoulder one last time before vanishing.
“Gray!” Her name burned all the way down Raj’s throat.
He’d lost her again. Oh god, he’d lost her again.
Chapter Ten
Gray’s feet smacked the pavement. She didn’t stop running until she’d reached home. She couldn’t even think straight enough to remember she was invisible until she reached for the light switch in the kitchen. Gray filled herself in as though she were an Etch A Sketch. The spell was a quick scribble in her head.
Gray pulled the newspaper out of its plastic cover and spread it over the countertop.
The date read: Friday, April 1, 2011.
At least it was the correct year.
Gray flipped through, looking for any headlines that might stand out. Nothing out of the ordinary. Her stomach growled. God, she felt like she hadn’t eaten in ages.
Time warp! she thought suddenly, then dismissed it as quickly. That didn’t explain any of the anomalies going on at school.
Gray went to her room and began opening drawers. Aside from the tidiness, everything was still there—unlike her locker. Gray paced the room. She walked through Charlene’s room next. She’d only caught a fleeting glance of her sister’s domain that morning. Everything was exactly as she remembered it. Charlene hadn’t even bothered taking down the pictures of herself and Blake framing the edges of her wall mirror.
Going through her mother’s room caused a moment’s hesitation, but Gray needed answers. She skipped the dresser and went straight to her mom’s desk. For all her exterior organization, Mom’s interior spaces were a mess. The top drawer was filled with recipes she’d ripped out of magazines, receipts, greeting cards, pens, paperclips, and rubber bands. Gray opened the next drawer. This one looked neat at first. Mom had lined up her stapler, tape, and calculator, but in the space behind those items were more scraps. The third drawer was deeper. Mom’s dream journals and spell books were tossed inside along with her French-, German-, and Norwegian-English dictionaries.
Gray pushed the drawers shut and began grabbing things off the desk. She held Mom’s glass cubed paperweight. She’d seen her holding it often enough while working on translations, but the only reading Gray picked up was a faraway, foreign chattering. The weight clunked on the desk as Gray abandoned it for Mom’s nightstand. When she yanked open the top drawer she inhaled sharply. The drawer was just as disorganized as the ones in the desk, but instead of recipes and receipts, this one was filled with photographs of Gray.
Gray reached in and wrapped her fingers around a pile of photos. She began flipping through, letting the images drop one by one on top of her mom’s bed. It was a mix of toddler and grade school pictures. Charlene was in a couple of them. From the looks of it, Mom had cherry-picked the ones where she and Charlene were holding hands or smiling at the same time.
There were more photos in the nightstand and a piece of newspaper folded in half. Gray unfolded it. There she was in black and white. They’d printed her sophomore yearbook picture. It appeared just below the article’s headline:
Teenager, 17, found dead at family home
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Graylee Perez, 17, was found dead at her family home, in Kent, Wash., on Februa
ry 9.
Her body was discovered in her bed by her identical twin sister when she failed to wake on Wednesday morning. It is not yet known how she died.
Paramedics were called to the scene at 6:45 a.m., but they could not save her.
The article fluttered to the ground.
Gray grabbed the remaining photos and scraps from the drawer and dumped them onto her mom’s bed. She sifted through the pile, but there weren’t any more news articles.
Gray clicked her laptop open inside her room and jabbed the power key with her thumb. Before she began a search of her mysterious death, Gray went to her Facebook page out of habit. Her eyes scanned her wall.
RIP Gray.
You’ll be missed.
I can’t believe we won’t be sitting together in English anymore. Graylee Perez was one of the nicest girls I ever knew.
Gone too soon.
A beautiful girl and a tremendous loss for all of Kent and McKinley High.
Gray flexed her fingers. She had to resist the urge to type: I’M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!
Enough of that. She opened a new window and began a search. “Graylee Perez found dead” should do the trick. Typing the words was uncanny. She stopped and stared at each letter on the screen then hit enter.
There was a follow-up article dated Saturday, February 12.
McKinley High student Graylee Perez dies suddenly
A TEENAGE STUDENT from McKinley High died mysteriously in her sleep Wednesday morning.
The body of Graylee Perez, 17, was discovered by her family early Wednesday morning, February 9.
Time and cause of death have not yet been determined.
Gray opened more articles, all of which were regurgitated versions of the first stating “unexpectedly,” “unknown,” and “mysterious,” but these with a sprinkling of quotes from teachers and students praising Gray as a “wonderful person we were privileged to know.”
The closest Gray could get to an explanation, which wasn’t an explanation at all, was a line from their local daily saying: An inquest has not yet been opened into Perez’s death.