Page 66 of School Spirits
“Where’s the witch?”
“That’s her,” I said, breathing hard and pointing at Romy where she knelt on the ground. “The ghost is in her, it…it possessed her.”
Maya was holding some kind of herbs in one hand and an ancient-looking book in the other. She let both drop to the ground. “Oh, hon,” she said, so sad. “Then there’s nothing I can do. The witch and the ghost, they have to be separate for this ritual to work.”
Romy was writhing on the floor as though the salt was burning her. There was nothing of the girl I knew in her face, but I couldn’t bear the thought of having to kill her. Not when she’d painted my toenails and made me laugh and been the first person I’d ever called friend.
Maya came to my side, holding out the small silver dagger she’d brought,Just in case.
Automatically, I tried to shove the dagger back toward her, but Maya gently pressed the hilt into my palm. “Sweetheart, she’s in pain. A lot of it. If this doesn’t work, you need to set her free.”
Bile rose in my throat.
“Do you want me to do it?” Maya asked, and next to me, both Dex and Anderson stared.
“Do what?” Anderson asked just as Dex said, “I know you’re not suggesting what—”
But I ignored them both. This was my fault. If I’d done something the instant I’d found out Romy had summoned Mary, maybe there would have been enough time. Maybe we could’ve fixed it before Mary got so strong. And if this didn’t stop now, every person in Ideal would be in danger. Mary’s rage would get stronger and stronger, her desire to hurt even more intense. This had to end.
And I had to be the one to end it.
My hand closed around the hilt of the dagger, but before I could take it from Maya, a voice rang out in the cave. “Dexter?”
The four of us turned slowly to see Dexter’s Nana. She was wearing a sweatshirt embroidered with kittens, and the firelight turned her glasses into glowing orbs.
“Nana, I can explain,” Dex said, as his gaze swung from me and the dagger back to Romy, crumpled on the floor, and back again.
“Oh, dear,” Nana said, stepping forward. “I believe this may be all my fault.”
CHAPTER 32
“Nana, how on earth could this be your fault?”
She nodded at Romy. “There’s…there’s a ghost in that young girl, isn’t there?”
Dumbly, all four of us nodded.
Nana sniffed. “Yes, that’s what I thought. Mary Evans. You know, she was the local legend when I was a girl growing up here. There were rumors she was a witch and…” She broke off with a chuckle. “Well, maybe I sympathized with her. I had always done the odd little charm myself.”
She stopped suddenly, moving closer to Dex, who was watching her with a mixture of horror and confusion. “I didn’t mean to do it.” Her hand, as it cupped his cheek, was trembling. “But you were lying there on the floor, and you couldn’t breathe.”
Dex reared back slightly. “What?”
Nana shook her head, tears sliding down her face. “Your chest, it—it kept moving, but no air was getting in, and your eyes…” She gave a shuddering sigh. “Those beautiful eyes were so scared. I’d been doing hedge magic all my life. Bringing back plants, doing the odd luck spell. It’s why my cooking is so good. So in that moment, I just…acted. Said the words to a spell I’d done a hundred times to make my petunias bloom.”
Clearing her throat, she reached into her handbag and pulled out a tissue. As she dabbed at her eyes, Nana said, “And then you were back. Just like that. Killed every plant within a ten-block radius, but you were back. So I put my silver bracelet on you, and I…I hoped.” She nodded at the bracelet. “That’s what anchors the spell, what anchors your soul in your body.”
“But it wasn’t enough,” I said softly, remembering Maya just that evening, bringing our basil plant back to life.
Nana gave a little laugh. “No, it wasn’t. A human soul is a powerful thing, Izzy. It takes so much power to hold it. And no matter how many plants or birds or stray dogs I drained, it was like I could feel Dex’s soul flickering. So I looked to other spell books, tried other rituals.”
“And ended up summoning a really pissed-off ghost.”
“An unfortunate side effect,” she sniffed. “But really, I’ve just been delaying the inevitable. Until an entire human life force is drained off, given to Dex, his existence is just…temporary.”
Finally I understood what I’d sensed when I had touched Dex. No wonder he’d felt both magic and non-magic. Magic was keeping him alive. In his own way, he was a ghost. Or a zombie. Which meant I’d kissed…
No, definitely a ghost.
