Page 9 of School Spirits
Once I was in my room, I sorted through the DVDs, trying to decide which one to watch first. The one with the girl who falls in love with an alien sounded the most interesting, but I figured it, like theSecret Twin MurderShow, wouldn’t be that useful. So in the end, I picked the show about the poor girl who transfers to the rich-kid high school,Ivy Springs.
The cover was pretty boring, but by episode three, I was so into it that I didn’t even notice Torin in my mirror until he cleared his throat. Frowning, I reached out and clicked pause right before Everton, the rich boy, told Leslie, our impoverished heroine, that he had feelings for her. “What?” I snapped at Torin.
“Just checking in on you. You could be a little thankful, you know. Getting out of my own mirror requires considerable power on my part.”
“First of all, no, it doesn’t,” I countered. “You zip in and out of those things all the time. And secondly, I would be thankful if I wanted to talk to you, but I don’t, so I’m not.” I had too much on my plate right now to deal with Torin. Especially since I was still irritated about the dream invasion.
“That is unkind,” Torin sniffed. In the mirror, he was sitting on my bed. Mom had let me pick out a new bedspread yesterday, but I’d been so overwhelmed by all the patterns and the flowers and the pop stars that I’d ended up picking a plain green blanket that looked almost identical to the covers I’d left behind.
Ignoring Torin, I started the show up again. Everton confessed his love, Leslie swooned, and just as they were about to kiss, Torin piped up, “Those two seem insipid.”
I shot a look at him. “Shut up.”
“I mean it. And doesn’t that lad have another girl? This can really only end badly for everyone involved.”
In spite of myself, I smiled a little. “I guess I should get used to this kind of drama.”
Torin smiled back. “Certainly scarier than staking vampires, isn’t it?”
I wondered what it said about me that watching a teen soap opera with a four-hundred-year-old warlock felt, well…normal.
“I don’t know why I’m doing all of this,” I said, not taking my eyes off the screen. “Or why Mom is going to all this trouble. If there’s a ghost here—and I kind of doubt it—it won’t require my going to this school for, like, months or renting a house. We could just get in, get out—”
“Isolde, do not be so dense.” In the mirror, Torin was leaning back on his hands, ankles crossed. “Your moving here has nothing to do with any ghost. Granted, there’s a chance a haunting is happening at Betty Crocker High—”
“Mary Evans,” I corrected, but he blew a hank of blond hair out of his eyes and shrugged.
“But clearly, Aislinn’s true motivation here is to let you experience a taste of regular human life. She’s gruff and difficult, that woman, so of course she’d rather die than tell you, ‘Oh, Isolde, guilt over your sister’s disappearance has left me swimming in a veritable sea of angst—’”
“Stop it.” Standing up, I flipped off the television and turned to face Torin. “Just…if you can’t help with Finley, then don’t talk about her, okay?”
Torin pursed his lips slightly, tilting his head and studying me. Then he said, “I did not mean to offend. I simply wanted to make sure you understood why you’re really here, Isolde. This isn’t about hunting a ghost. It’s about your mum trying to do something for you that she never did for your sister.”
Snorting, I headed for the door. “Mom doesn’t think like that.”
“I’ve known her longer than you have,” Torin called, and I froze, hand on the doorknob. I’d never really thought of it like that, but yeah, Torin had been in our family for centuries. He’d seen Mom grow up. Had known my grandmother, my great-grandmother, all the Brannicks stretching back to the sixteenth century.
Leaning forward, Torin gave his best sheepish smile. “Now, can we please stop quarreling and finish this program? I really do want to see what fresh hell is unleashed next.”
I hesitated, and Torin clasped his hands on his knees, sitting up straight. “I promise to behave.”
Somehow, I doubted that, but to be honest, I really wanted to see how that episode went. So I settled back on the floor and turned the TV on. Leslie and Everton kissed, his girlfriend found out, and the episode ended with Leslie running down the street in tears while some seriously whiny music wailed in the background.
“Well,” Torin said as the credits began to roll, “take heart, Isolde. At least a ghost will be less terrifying thanthat.”
CHAPTER 6
The next morning, I woke up before my alarm. It wasn’t like I’d never thought about the first day of school before. I remembered going into stores with Mom and Finn, passing all those displays of pencils and binders and backpacks, and wondering what it must be like to live that kind of life. But I’d never thought that would be my life.
I was still brooding when I headed downstairs and into the kitchen. Mom was already there, and from the look of things, she’d been busy.
“Do you expect me to eat…all of this?” I stared at the kitchen table, which was practically buckling under the weight of all the food. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, a fruit bowl, an entire loaf of toast, and…
“Is that actual gruel?” I asked, pointing to a pot.
“Grits,” Mom answered, wiping her hands on a dish towel stuck in her waistband. “And no,” she continued, “you don’t have to eat all of it. I just…I want you to start your day off right.”
I grabbed a plate and some bacon. “Mom, you didn’t make this much food the day Finn and I chased our first werewolf. I’m pretty sure today will be less challenging than that.” I was trying to joke, but Mom frowned.
