Page 58 of School Spirits
“Tell your mum. Or tell that bloody Prodigium Council and let them deal with it. Let this girl know there are consequences for messing about with the unknown.”
Both of those were technically good ideas, but they made my stomach twist in really awful ways. What if it turned out the only way to break this particular spell was to kill her? Mom would do that. If it was the only way, I had no doubt she could. And as for the Council…my cousin Sophie may have been in charge, but she wasn’t there right now. Who knew what those people would do to Romy?
“I can’t,” I said, and Torin watched me with an unreadable expression.
Finally he said, “This is being a Brannick, Izzy. No one said it would be easy.”
And with that, he was gone.
CHAPTER 28
First thing Sunday morning I faked an upset stomach and left Romy’s. She seemed a little down, but I let her keep the last season ofIvy Springs, which cheered her up. Instead of home, I headed for the library. Unfortunately, Ideal’s library wasn’t exactly the best resource, and I quickly saw why Mom had needed to drive three towns over to get her books. Looking for anything on “hedge magic” only got me a bunch of volumes on how to grow hedges. Thinking of Dex’s horrible lawn, I wondered if I should check one out for Nana. Then I remembered that everything between me and Dex was kind of awful right now. Besides, I had the case to focus on.
That night, Mom and I went back to that Chinese place, and I told her I was ready to leave. She raised her eyebrows. “Case closed?”
“Almost,” I said. I still hadn’t figured out how to stop Romy. Part of me wondered if I could just talk to her like…like a friend. Or maybe sneak a fake article intoAmerican Teenthat said something like, “Why Hedge Magic and Raising Ghosts Is So Last Year!”
By Monday, I still hadn’t found anything. Dex had saved me a seat on the bus like usual, but he was very careful not to sit too close to me. I think both of us were relieved when Romy turned around and started telling Dex about her and Anderson’s night.
“And there was salt, like, everywhere,” she said, pushing her glasses up. “I mean, that was all we saw, but that has to mean something, right?”
Dex made a sort of choked laugh that he quickly turned into a cough. Romy’s brow furrowed. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just… Anyway, Izzy, why don’t you fill Romy in on our night?”
“She already did,” Romy said, barely suppressing a smile. She winked at me, and I wanted to be able to wink back so badly. Instead, I reached into my pocket. “I left out a part. We also found this.” Before leaving the cave Friday night, I’d searched the floor for that heart charm. I pulled it out of my pocket now.
Romy plucked the charm from my hand, a weird expression on her face. As she studied it, I studiedher. “Have you seen it before?”
Startled, she raised her head. “I have a charm kind of like this, but it doesn’t look all blackened and stuff.” She handed it back to me. “Maybe it belonged to Mary.”
I don’t know what I’d expected. Not for her to be like, “Oh, right, this is mine! I did some kind of freaky spell at that cave, and whoops! Now we’re plagued by ghosts.” But I’d thought she’d show a little more reaction than that. If anything, she just seemed kind of confused.
We had a test in English and a freaking relay race in P.E., so I didn’t get a chance to talk to her any more that morning. Then she didn’t show up at lunch, so I made up my mind to talk to her during history, only to find out class wasn’t meeting because there was a pep rally for the basketball team. There had been, like, eight in the first season ofIvy Springs, but I’d never actually been to one. And I have to admit, my curiosity to see what an actual pep rally looked like almost outweighed my need to know what was up with Romy.
The gym was already full by the time we got there, but Romy and Anderson had saved a couple of places at the very top of the bleachers, just like the night of the basketball game. Dodging other kids, Dex and I carefully made our way up there. At one point, I nearly stumbled and he reached out, catching my hand. It was the first time we’d touched since the cave, and the feel of his hand on mine made me remember his lips on mine, his hands on my back. But the instant I had righted myself, Dex dropped my hand.
It was for the best. Really. Dex and I couldn’t be together, not like that. And I wouldn’t be at the school for much longer. The less I had to miss, the better.
Once we reached the top of the bleachers, I sat by Romy, and Dex went over beside Anderson. Even with two people between us, I was so aware of him my skin felt charged.
Trying to take my mind off of that, I nodded down at the gym floor. “So what exactly is going to happen?” I asked Romy.
She turned to me, surprised. “You’ve seriously never been to a pep rally?”
“They, uh, didn’t do them at my old school. We didn’t have sports.” I was too distracted to sound sincere, but Romy didn’t seem to notice.
“Okay, well, basically, it’s a stupid and pointless ritual wherein we all cheer for our stupid, pointless basketball team. We’ll shout some stuff, the cheerleaders will do a dance, and then the mascot will come out and we’ll shout some more.”
“That sounds…dumb.”
Romy nodded. “It is. Intensely. But it’s better than history, I guess.”
At that, the basketball team, all wearing their warm-up suits, jogged out into the gym and everyone started hooting and clapping like these weren’t the same guys we saw every single day. About half the kids in the bleachers even leapt to their feet, but since Romy, Anderson, and Dex all stayed seated, so did I.
The band started up, and I saw Adam on the very edge, playing his drum. I’d kept a close eye on him since the locker thing, but so far there had been no sign of Mary. I wasn’t even sure what she was planning for him. Snyder had gotten the frog with the bashed-in head, signaling that he was about to get his head bashed in. Beth had gotten the mangled Barbie a few days before she was nearly hit by a car. Adam had gotten an explosion. A month ago, I would have said a ghost making someone blow up was pretty much impossible, but if Mary could wield a killer microscope and manipulate a car, what was to stop her from sending Adam sky high? Still, I wondered how she was going to manage that, exactly?
Dex leaned closer to Anderson. I heard him murmur something, and all thoughts of Adam were forgotten.
