His face was blank, but Cal always held his cards pretty close to his chest. "It means that you didn't grow up in a Prodigium family, so I knew you'd think arranged marriages were-what did you say?"
"Gross and barbaric."
"Right. So what was the point in making you al freaked out and hostile?"
"I'm not hostile,"I protested. Cal gave a pointed look to the potting soil, and I rol ed my eyes. "Okay, yes, but I was mad that you didn't tel me, not that we're...engaged. God, I can't even say it. It sounds too weird."
"Sophie, it doesn't mean anything,"he said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "It's like a business contract. Didn't anyone explain that to you?"
Archer had. He'd been betrothed to Hol y, Jenna's old roommate, before she died. Of course, now that I knew he was an Eye, I wondered how legit that had ever been. But I didn't want to think about him right now.
"Yeah,"I said. "And we can, you know, break it off, right? It's not a done deal."
"Exactly. So are we cool?"
I drew a pattern on the dirt-covered floor with my toe. "Yeah. We're cool."
"Great,"he said. "So there's no need for things to be awkward."
"Right."
Then we sat there awkwardly for a moment before I said, "Oh! Almost forgot. Dad wants you to come to England with us this summer."Briefly, I told him everything that had happened in Mrs. Casnoff 's office. He looked surprised when I told him about the Vandy, and he scowled when I mentioned the interview-and-testing part of his summer vacation, but he didn't interrupt me. When I was finished, he said, "Wel , that sucks."
"A bunch,"I agreed.
He got up and walked back to the azalea, which I guess was my cue to leave. Instead, I said, "Sorry I tried to throw dirt at you."
"It's fine."
I waited for him to say something else. When he didn't, I pushed myself off the bag of soil. "See you back at the house, honey,"I muttered as I left. He made a sound that might have been a laugh, but it was Cal, so I doubt it.
The sun was beginning to set when I walked up the front steps of the crazy half-antebel um mansion, half-stucco institution that was Hecate Hal .
Crickets were already chirping, and frogs croaked around the pond. A gentle breeze that smel ed like honeysuckle and the sea breeze nudged the vines that climbed the wal s of the school. I turned and looked back at the lawn. I'd hated this place when I first came here, but I was actual y going to miss it this summer. So much had happened to me since Mom had steered that rental car up the drive for the first time, and, as impossible as it would have seemed then, Hecate Hal almost felt like home.
Something furry brushed my arm. It was Beth, a werewolf I'd met my first night at Hecate.
"Ful moon,"she growled, nodding her muzzle toward the darkening sky.
"Right."Weres got the run of the place during the ful moon. Glancing behind me, I could see a handful of them gathering in the foyer.
"Can't believe the school year is almost over,"Beth said, in that voice that sounded like a teenage girl who had a throat ful of broken glass and lug nuts.
"Tel me about it,"I replied.
Her eyes were bright yel ow, but I could see the affection in them as she said, "I'm gonna miss you this summer, Sophie."
I smiled. Just a few months ago, Beth hadn't trusted me, thinking I had to be a spy for the Council or something. Luckily, nearly dying had cleared me of that suspicion. I reached out to pat her shoulder. "I'l miss you too, Beth."
Then she leaned forward and licked the side of my face.
I waited until she had loped off before wiping my cheek with the back of my hand. "Yeugh."
Okay, so I wouldn't miss everything about Hecate Hal .
I headed up to the third floor, where al the girls were housed. There were a few people gathered in the lounge on the landing, but for the most part, things were pretty quiet tonight.
Taylor, one of the shifters, saw me and waved. "Hey, Soph! Heard you went for a swim today,"she said, taking in my stil -bedraggled appearance.
"Why didn't you change your clothes?"
I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I, uh, didn't real y have time."
Taylor laughed, the sound surprisingly throaty for such a delicate-looking girl. "I meant with magic,"she said.
Oh, right. "With the way things have been going lately, I didn't wanna risk it."
She nodded sympathetical y. "Oh, I understand. Especial y after the Bed Thing."
The Bed Thing had happened two months ago. I'd wanted to move my bed, and decided to use magic to do it. Instead of scooting over a few feet, the bed had gone flying out the window, taking out a big chunk of the wal with it.
Mrs. Casnoff had not been amused.
Especial y since the Bed Thing had fol owed the Doritos Incident. Jenna had wanted chips; when I'd tried to make them appear, I'd flooded the hal way with Doritos. There were stil traces of cheese dust in the floorboards. Before that, there was That Time With The Lotion (the less said about that, the better). Ever since Alice and Elodie, my magic had definitely been...off. As a result, I'd pretty much stopped using it.
After saying good-bye to Taylor, I continued on to my room. A few more students cal ed out greetings, or commented on my date with the pond. It stil caught me off guard, this newfound popularity. At first I thought that word must've gotten out that I was a demon, and everyone was being nice to me because they were afraid I'd eat them. But according to Jenna, who was a champion eavesdropper, everybody stil thought I was just a superpowerful dark witch. Mrs. Casnoff had done a bang-up job covering up the truth of Elodie's death, which meant there were al kinds of rumors about what happened to her. The most popular one had Archer sneaking back onto Graymalkin Island and me and Elodie trying to fight him off with our mad magic skil s, Elodie dying in the attempt.
Too bad the truth was a lot more complicated. And a lot sadder.
I was nearly at my door when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Hecate Hal was ful of ghosts, so we were always catching glimpses of them like that. But when I saw who it was, I froze.
Even as a ghost, Elodie was stil beautiful. Her red hair waved around her face, and her skin was translucent. It sucked that she had to spend eternity wearing her school uniform, but then again, Elodie made even that look good.
She was doing what al the ghosts seemed to do: wandering around, looking confused. They weren't technical y in our world, but they weren't in the afterlife either, so they were just...stuck.
I'd seen Elodie's ghost a lot, and every time I did, a wave of sadness washed over me. Her death had been her own fault. She and her coven had raised a demon in the hopes that they could bind it and use its power. They'd even sacrificed Hol y for it. Stil , Elodie had given me her last spark of magic. Without it, I never would have been able to kil Alice.
Now Elodie drifted past me, her eyes searching for something, her feet not touching the ground.
It seemed wrong that someone as vibrant as Elodie would be reduced to this pale, sad spirit, forever wandering the place where she died. "I wish you could just go on to wherever you're supposed to be,"I whispered in the silence of the hal way.
The ghost swung around and looked at me.
My heart lodged in my throat.
That was impossible. Ghosts couldn't see or hear us. That was why I should've known right away that Alice wasn't a ghost like she claimed. But Elodie was staring at me, the expression on her face no longer lost and bewildered, but annoyed, with just a touch of disdain.
The way she'd always looked at me in life.
"Elodie?"I barely murmured the word, but it sounded deafening in the quiet. She kept studying me, but she didn't reply. "Can you hear me?"I asked, slightly louder this time.
A pause. Then, to my disbelief, she made a tiny nod.
"Soph?"My door opened, and Jenna peeked out. "Who are you talking to?"
I whipped my head around, but Elodie had already vanished.
"No one,"I said, trying hard not to seem irritated. It wasn't Jenna's fault she'd interrupted me in the middle of talking to a ghost, a ghost who wasn't supposed to be able to communicate at al .
"Where have you been?"Jenna asked as I slumped on my bed. "I was worried."
"It's been a real y long afternoon,"I answered before launching into the Tale of Casnoff's Office again. Unlike Cal, Jenna had a lot of questions, so the story took a lot longer to tel . I left out the part about Cal and I being betrothed. Jenna was already practical y wearing a Team Cal T-shirt. I didn't want to give her any more ammunition. By the time I was finished, I felt too tired even to go down to dinner, usual y my favorite time of day.
"England,"Jenna breathed when I was done. "How awesome wil that be?"
I laid an arm over my eyes. "Honestly, Jen? I have no idea."
She tossed a pil ow at me. "It's going to be superawesome. And thank you."
"For what?"
"For letting me come too. I thought maybe you'd want some time alone with your dad."
"Are you kidding? You were the deal breaker, my friend. No Jenna, no England. Those were my conditions."
She smiled brightly, shaking her head so the pink stripe in her bangs fel over one eye. "I'm not sure that island is big enough for the two of us. Oh!
Do we get to use some sort of sweet witchy transportation to get there? Like, a traveling spel or a magical portal?"
"Sorry,"I said, forcing myself to get up and change. After al , my uniform stil had the distinct odor of Nasty Pond. I would need at least a thirty-minute shower before going to bed tonight. "I asked Dad. We're taking a plane."
Jenna's face fel . "That's such a...human thing."
"Look on the bright side,"I told her, tugging on a clean Hecate-blue skirt. "It's a private plane, so at least it's a rich-human thing."
That cheered her up, and we started planning our entire wardrobe for the summer as we made our way toward the dining hal .
But once our plates were fil ed and we were sitting at our usual table, Jenna's face grew serious. "Sophie,"she said.
"What?"
She pushed her food around and seemed to be debating what to say. Final y, she just decided to be blunt.
"Archer's in England."
The piece of ham I'd been chewing turned to sawdust in my mouth, but I forced my voice to be light as I said, "Al egedly. I'm not sure the word of two warlocks-who were drunk off their butts, from what I hear-can be taken as fact."Except that that hadn't been the only sighting. There was the werewolf who'd seen a guy matching Archer's description when The Eye raided a den in London. And the vampire who'd fought with a young dark-haired Eye three months ago a few blocks from Victoria station.
Mrs. Casnoff had a file on Archer in her bottom desk drawer. Her desk was protected from spel s, but apparently not from nail files and elbow grease.
"Anyway,"I said to Jenna, lowering my eyes to my plate. "That sighting was months ago."
"It was last month,"Jenna corrected, and her tone suggested I had known that. "And people have been saying he was in England since he disappeared. I overheard those two witches in Savannah."