Page 65 of School Spirits
Somewhere in this cave, Romy and Anderson were very possibly in danger. “Dex, seriously, now is not the—”
“No,” he said, giving me a little shake. “There is never going to be the right time, Izzy. I’ve figured that out by now. Every time I try to tell you this, you brush it off or don’t let me finish, or someone tries to blow up the gym. So I’m telling you now. I like you. And it has nothing to do with spells or near-death excitement or any of the other BS excuses you like to come up with.”
“Dex,” I said again, helplessly.
“And you like me, too,” he went on, and there, at last, was the smile. “That’s not just me being arrogant, by the way. Although I understand that that’s sometimes a problem. But”—he hurried on when I opened my mouth to reply—“I can work on that. If you want. Even though I think you secretly like that, too.”
Maybe it was knowing that we were about to walk into something really scary. Maybe I was afraid that, even if I didn’t get killed tonight, Dex might. Or maybe I just really wanted to kiss him. In any case, I fisted my hands in the front of his shirt and jerked him to me. Our lips met, and if this kiss wasn’t as…thorough as the first one, it felt bigger somehow. More important.
“You’re right,” I panted, once I’d wrenched my mouth from his. “I like you. A lot. And I just wanted you to know that, too. But—”
Dex just kissed me again, a quick peck on the lips, really. “No,” he whispered. “No buts. Now. Let’s go get Romy and Anderson.”
Almost as though his words had summoned it, there was a sudden flare of blue light from farther back in the cave system. “Crap,” I muttered, tugging Dex’s hand.
We followed a twisting, narrow path that finally opened up onto a bigger chamber. Keeping Dex behind me, I walked in, not sure what I was going to see.
But it was just Anderson, his back to us. Dex blew out a relieved breath. “Oh, there you are, man. We were—”
But then Anderson began backing up slowly, his hands held out at his sides. As he turned, we could see Romy standing in front of him. Blue light pulsed all around her, and Mary Evans suddenly appeared, standing just in front of Romy, almost like she was superimposed over her. She wore a long white dress, and her blond hair was plastered to her face.
Then Mary vanished, and Romy was there again, holding a long silver knife to Anderson’s chest.
Dex hissed a four-letter word under his breath, and I held my arm out, keeping him behind me.
Romy glanced over at me, her face briefly becoming Mary’s again. The effect was unsettling and awful. “I wanted you,” she said, two voices coming out of Romy’s mouth. “You felt strong and…different. I thought if I could get inside of you, I could burn the world.”
I stepped back slightly, pushing Dex. “I’m actually not much of a fan of world burning, so…”
Romy laughed, and it echoed eerily in the cavern. “It doesn’t matter. I can make this one pay.” She jabbed at Anderson with the knife, and he gave a startled sound of pain.
“Anderson didn’t do anything to you,” I said, but she laughed again, shaking her head, her features flipping between Romy’s and Mary’s so quickly they blurred.
“No, but the men who did are dead.”
“No one hurt you,” Anderson said, his voice wavering. “Y-you died of exposure.”
Grinning, Mary/Romy flicked the knife. One of the buttons on Anderson’s shirt went flying off into the darkness.
“That’s what they say, isn’t it? That I froze, all alone, waiting for my child’s father. A tragic fate, but not a cruel one. Freezing to death is supposed to be peaceful. Like slipping into a warm bath and then a long sleep.” She stepped closer, and I saw the very tip of the knife pierce Anderson’s chest. “But burning to death? That is very. Far. From. PEACEFUL.”
She screamed the last word, and all of us cringed as it bounced off the rock walls. “That’s what they did, you know,” Mary said. She was completely Mary now, even though it was Romy’s face and Romy’s body. Romy’s eyes had never radiated that much hate. “My father and his friends. When they found me playing at spells. Nothing dangerous, nothing harmful. Just a love charm to make the man I wanted mine.”
Smiling, Mary kept advancing on Anderson even as he backed up. A thin trickle of blood ran down his shirt. “And do you know what these good, righteous men of Ideal, Mississippi, did? They dragged me to this cave, saying ‘thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,’ and they set me on fire.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, and I was. I thought of that sweet, shy, smiling girl in the picture. She hadn’t deserved to die like that. No one did. But that didn’t mean I could let her hurt innocent people.
“And now,” Mary continued, “I will make everyone suffer.”
She lunged forward, but I was ready. Grabbing Anderson’s arm, I spun him away from Mary, shoving him toward Dex and the passageway. Mary’s blade sunk into my arm, the pain somehow icy cold and burning at the same time, but I gritted my teeth and struck out with my other hand. The blow sent her reeling backward. “That’s the thing with possessing people,” I said, pushing the boys out of the cavern. “People havebodies, which makes them a lot easier to beat up than a ghost.”
Mary screamed in rage, but I kept pushing Dex and Anderson, praying I’d given Maya the time she needed to set everything up.
We came tearing into the main cavern, our feet skidding on the salt covering the floor. Maya stood at the ready, and when Mary ran in, Maya shouted a word.
The effect was instant and painful. The whole cavern seemed to ring like a bell, and Mary shrieked, falling to her knees.
Once again, she started to flicker, part Mary, part Romy. Maya watched her, eyes wide.
