Mary K. turned around in her seat. After a moment she flashed me an uncertain smile, and the nervous caterpillars in my stomach quieted. Had she forgiven me? I hoped so. I grinned back and hurried toward them. The other girl still hadn’t looked up, so I didn’t see until I got to the table that it was Alisa.
“Hi, everyone,” I said, sliding into the booth next to Mary K. The Formica tabletop was littered with my family’s half-eaten lunch. “Hey, Alisa,” I added when she didn’t look up from the straw wrapper she was fiddling with on the table. For a moment I wondered what she was doing there. But I knew that she went to our church and that she and Mary K. had gotten pretty tight ever since Mary K.’s best friend, Jaycee, had found a boyfriend. Alisa had been close to Jaycee, too, so I guess that made both Alisa and Mary K. boyfriend refugees.
Alisa gave me a hesitant smile. “Hi,” she said. There were dark circles under her eyes and a strange note in her voice that brought back the eerie scene from the night before. Instantly I remembered just how real it had all been. Alisa went back to fiddling with her straw wrapper.
“Have you eaten yet, sweetie?” my mom asked, and my dad twisted in his seat to flag the waitress down.
“Some oatmeal,” I replied. “I really just came by to see you guys.”
“Only oatmeal? Have a bagel,” my mother urged, “or a cup of soup. It’s lunchtime—you should have a bite to eat.”
I realized that my parents wouldn’t be satisfied until I ordered something, so I asked for some wheat toast and chamomile tea. By the time I’d finished ordering, my mom and dad were engrossed in a conversation about some problem she was having with her boss. I turned to say something to Mary K., but now she had her back to me. She was whispering something into Alisa’s ear. My heart sank, and I had the strangest feeling. It was almost as if I were invisible. I sat quietly, staring out the window for a few moments, waiting for my tea. Here I was, right in the middle of my family—and missing them more than ever.
I spent the afternoon trying to do all the math homework that I should have done the week before. I actually finished most of it before I drove to Hunter and Sky’s place at eight to meet with Erin.
Hunter let me in. Erin and Sky were sitting on the couch as we walked into the living room. The lamps were glowing with new lightbulbs, and the books sat quietly on their shelves. There was no sign of what had happened the night before.
“I’ve already told Sky and Erin about last night’s fog,” Hunter said as I pulled off my jacket and kicked off my duck boots. Padding across the room in my thick socks, I curled up into the corner of the large brown velvet armchair that sat to the side of the couch, pulling my legs beneath me.
“You say the shape you saw looked like a woman?” Erin said to Hunter. He nodded.
Erin pursed her lips. “Did she say anything?” she asked me abruptly.
I flushed slightly under her intense gaze. “No. She didn’t do anything at all,” I said. “She just looked at us a minute and disappeared.”
Erin lifted her eyebrows and turned to Hunter for confirmation. He nodded again.
“But there’s no doubt in your mind that this was something?” Erin asked. “This wasn’t just some kind of problem with the weather—a strange-looking patch of mist?”
“It was real enough that I nearly drove the car off the road.” Hunter’s voice was certain, but I remembered the flash of doubt I’d felt that morning.
Erin sat back and pressed her lips together. She sat perfectly still, and with her pale skin and delicate features, she looked almost like she was made of marble.
“Do you think it was Ciaran?” Sky asked. Her oval face was tense.
“Perhaps,” Erin said. Her gaze locked on my face.
The look made my stomach lurch. I felt afraid and defensive at the same time. “Do you think it was me?” I demanded.
Erin was unperturbed. “Perhaps,” she replied coolly.
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Erin cut me off. “Morgan, I merely said it was a possibility. You may be causing these incidents unconsciously—we simply can’t rule it out. But right now, only two things are certain: strange things are happening, and they seem to involve you.”
“Or Hunter,” I pointed out.
“That’s true,” Hunter agreed. He quickly described what had happened in the movie theater a few nights before.
Erin seemed to ponder this a moment. “It seems that someone is trying to get in touch with one of you,” she said. “Perhaps it’s time we went looking for them.”
“Should we scry?” Hunter asked.
“The sooner the better, I should think,” Erin said. She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and returned with a small stone bowl filled with water. I was intrigued by the fact that she chose to scry with water—I’d heard most witches found it unreliable.
We joined hands, and Erin began to chant as we gazed into the water. I’d never heard the words before, and they had an ancient quality that was both beautiful and terrifying. Although I didn’t understand exactly what she was saying, I felt certain that Erin was calling on whoever was interfering with us to reveal him- or herself.
The water shimmered, and for a moment it almost seemed to glow silvery pink. The clock on the wall ticked on, but nothing happened. Erin began her low chant again, and this time Sky joined her. Still nothing.
Hunter sat to my left, and after a few moments I felt a shudder run through him. I squeezed his hand. I knew that he thought the strange incidents might have been messages for him from his parents. I knew that he was hoping they were— and that by scrying we would see them. I was struck with the irony of it—Hunter was hoping to see his father, while I was terrified to see my own. Hunter shuddered again. I turned to look at him just as a wave of pain and fear washed over me. It was flowing from him. He groaned and fell backward against the floor, as if he were being held there. Sweat broke out over his face, which had gone deadly white.
“Hunter!” I cried.
Erin leaned over Hunter and peered into his face as I brushed damp golden hair away from his forehead. Sky hurried behind him and put his head in her lap. Hunter moaned and began to say something. I didn’t catch the beginning of it, but I heard him murmur something that sounded like, “Troptardeef.” Then there was a string of words that made no sense to me.
I dug my fingernails into my palms. Goddess, please help him, I begged silently.
Hunter’s body shuddered once more, then he lay still. His breathing was labored and ragged for a moment, then began to slow. Finally he opened his eyes. Looking up at me, he murmured, “What happened?”
I swallowed hard, unsure how to answer.
“Did you see anything?” Erin asked brusquely.
Hunter struggled to his elbows, and Sky helped him sit upright. He rubbed his head, then said, “Shadows. There was a narrow street, with cobblestones. And there was a wall. I. . I was in a walled city.”
“You said something,” Erin informed him. “Do you remember what it was?”
Hunter shook his head. “No—I just remember the shadows. . and the feelings. What did I say?”
“You said, ‘It’s too late—there’s nothing I can do,’ ” Erin replied. “In French.”
Hunter stared at her. “I don’t speak French,” he said.
Erin didn’t reply to that. “Do you know why this happened? ” she asked.
“No,” Hunter replied. Then he said, “No,” again, but his voice was less certain.
Erin leaned toward him. “Do you think you know why this happened?”
“I think it may have been one of my parents, trying to contact me,” Hunter admitted.
“Hunter.” Sky’s voice was almost a gasp. “Are you sure?”
“No,” he said quickly. “No, I’m not. That’s only what I think it was. But it could be anything.”
The words settled over me like a cold weight, sinking into my bones. A feeling came over me—it was the same feeling I’d had the night before, when Hunter and I had rounded the bend in the road. It was a deep feeling of dread.