Page 63 of School Spirits
My feet were bare, and when I looked down I saw my bright red toenails. A lump rose in my throat. “She made a mistake. She did a dumb thing, but she shouldn’t have to pay for it with her life. There has to be some other way.”
When I glanced up, Maya was wringing her hands. “What?”
“It’s just…” she broke off, huffing out a breath. “Oh, your mama would kill me if she knew I was even whispering about this, but…there’s maybe one way. To sever the connection without severing your friend’s jugular.”
I pushed the box of macaroni away. “Yeah, I’m going to need to hear about that.”
“But it’s dangerous and potentially unstable, and is really one of those tricks best left to those Pro-whatchamacallit witches.”
Leaning forward, I pressed my hands on the counter. “Maya, whatever it is, I’ll try it.”
She filled me in on what exactly the ritual would require—and do—and while by the end of it, my heart was pounding and my eyes were huge, I agreed that it sounded a lot better than letting my mom run Romy through with a dagger.
“Okay,” I said, pointing at Maya. “You go get the supplies you need, I’ll call Romy and get her over here.”
But when I dialed Romy’s cell there was no answer. She was probably avoiding me, and I couldn’t blame her. Luckily, I had her house number too, and I dialed that.
Romy’s mom answered, and when I said who I was, she sounded surprised. “Oh! Izzy. I thought for sure you’d be out with the rest of them.”
My heart lodged somewhere in my throat. “The rest of who?”
“The club. Romy said you’d called a special meeting tonight.”
“Oh, right,” I said, even as my grip threatened to shatter the phone. “I totally spaced. Could you remind me where it is?”
There was a pause, and then Romy’s mom sighed and said, “God, Izzy, you are going to think I am the worst mother, but I honestly don’t remember.” She gave a little laugh. “Such is life with triplets, I guess.”
I did my best to laugh back, but I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Hanging up with her, I hesitated only the briefest second before dialing another number.
It picked up on the first ring. “Izzy?”
“Dex,” I said, but before I could get anything else out, he rushed in.
“Izzy, I’m so sorry about what happened this afternoon. You know I—”
“DEX!” I said again, and mercifully, he stopped babbling. “Are you with Romy and Anderson?”
I could hear him sigh. “No. After you left, I may have quit the club. Very dramatically, I should add, complete with—”
I liked Dex. A lot. Heck, maybe I even more than liked him. But in a crisis, he was not exactly user-friendly. “Do you know where they were going tonight?”
“Yeah,” he answered immediately, and I nearly sagged with relief. “They were going to the cave. You know, the one where we—”
“Right, right,” I hurried on. “Okay, I think I’ve worked out a way we can stop Mary Evans without hurting Romy.”
“I was unaware Romy getting hurt was ever on the table.”
“It’s not,” I said, looking over my shoulder to where Maya was throwing every canister of salt we had into a duffel bag.At least I hope it’s not.
“Do you want me to meet you there?”
There was no time to think, but I still hesitated, just for a little bit. I did want him to come with me. Because no matter how things went tonight, once everything was over, I’d leave Ideal. This was probably my last chance to see him.
“No.” It came out like kind of a croak, and I cleared my throat. “No, there’s no need for you to come. I just need to make things right with Romy.”
“Okay,” he said, his voice lower than usual. “Izzy—”
I hung up. Whatever he was going to say next would probably just make all of this harder than it was. Besides, Maya was ready and I needed to go.
