"He kissed me. Well, he asked me if I had a boyfriend, and I said no, and then we...kissed."
Telling it like that, it sounded so flat, so uneventful. But I didn't know how girls talked about this kind of thing. And besides, I kind of wanted to keep it private. It was almost like I was afraid if I shared all the details-how warm his lips had been, the softness of his jacket under my hands-it wouldn't feel as special anymore. And since it was probably the only time it was ever going to happen, I wanted it to stay special for a long time.
Something must have shown on my face, because Romy's giddy grin slipped into a puzzled frown. "Why did you make Sad Face?"
Before I could say anything, Romy rushed on. "Was it bad? I mean, I always thought Dex would be pretty good at kissing despite his general spazziness, but I could be wrong, and if I am, just tell me. I know he's my Boy Best Friend, but you're my Girl Best Friend, and that trumps him-"
I help up my hand like that could stop the rush of words. "No, it was not bad. And...I'm your best friend?" I'd never had a best friend unless you counted Finley. But even though she'd been my sister, and I'd loved her, it wasn't like we'd ever painted each other's toenails, and I shuddered to think of what she would've said about Ivy Springs.
Romy smiled, almost shyly. "Um, duh, of course you're my best friend. What do you think all this means"-she waved her hand, taking in the popcorn, the polish, the TV-"if not your initiation into Best Friendom?"
In my head, I could hear Mom's voice: These people are not your friends, Izzy. They are a means to an end, and as soon as this job is over, you'll never see them again.
But Romy was my friend. When she'd asked me to spend the night, I hadn't agreed so that I could pump her for more information about the hauntings. I'd said yes because I'd wanted to hang out with her. To paint nails and talk about boys and watch Everton and Leslie make idiots of themselves.
"Okay, see, there you go with Sad Face again," Romy said, and I sighed. "It's just...the kiss with Dex was good. And I like him. Lots. But I can't exactly do the boyfriend thing."
Now it was Romy's turn for Sad Face. "Why not?"
Because I'm a monster hunter and this whole thing was just a job and I have to tell my mom that Dex isn't really Prodigium soon and then she'll make us leave.
The words were right there, desperate to tumble out of my mouth in one big avalanche of overshare.
Instead I shrugged and said, "I need to concentrate on school. You know. For, um, SATs. And college. And... stuff like that."
I expected Romy to argue, but she just sighed and picked up the nail polish remover. "I get that," she said. "But it sucks. You guys seem like a weird fit at first glance, but I don't know. I think you'd be good together."
"Yeah," I replied.
And then I got off the bed and restarted Ivy Springs before Sad Face became Crying Face.
"Isolde. Isolde. ISOLDE."
Blinking, I sat up. Ugh, another Torin dream. Some-thing I was definitely not in the mood for. "Go'way," I mumbled at him. "Don't wanna play dress-up."
But when I flopped over onto my stomach, I realized I wasn't in a ball gown. I also wasn't in a ballroom or on a boat. I was lying on the trundle bed in Romy's room, and Torin wasn't in my dreams, he was in her mirror.
Fully awake, I shot out of the bed and made my way as quietly as possible to Torin. My face nearly against the glass, I hissed, "What are you doing?"
"Dropping in," he said, raising his hands innocently. "Isn't that what blokes are supposed to do? Raid slumber parties?"
"No," I shot back, my voice barely audible. "At least I don't think so. But it doesn't matter. You should not be here."
Behind me, Romy made a snuffling noise in her sleep and turned over. I didn't think it was possible to be any quieter, but I tried anyway. "Go. Away."
"I miss you," he said suddenly. Our faces were very close to each other, and even though I knew it was impossible, I could've sworn I felt a puff of breath on my cheek. "You never talk to me anymore. And that?" He pointed to the stack of Ivy Springs, eyes narrowing. "Traitor."
"This is my job," I told him, ignoring the pang of guilt in my chest. What was wrong with me? I didn't have anything to feel guilty for. So I chose to watch the show with a real girl my own age instead of a four- hundred-year-old warlock trapped in a mirror. Surely, that wasn't anything to feel guilty about. Or at least I thought it wasn't. Sassy Miss hadn't exactly covered that.
"These people aren't a job to you anymore, Isolde," Torin said, voice low. "They're your friends. And while it causes me actual physical pain to admit this, your mum is right. In the end, getting close to humans can only hurt you."
I backed away from the glass, but he kept going. "I've watched generations of Brannick women get close to regular people. Fall in love, make friends. It ended in tragedy every single time, Isolde. I know you don't believe a large percentage of what I say, but believe that I have no desire to ever see you hurt. And these people will hurt you."
Romy rolled over again, and I looked back at her. "Romy is...she couldn't hurt me."
"Could she not?" In the glass, Torin walked over to Romy's desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out something thin and golden.
My heart sank, but I made myself cross the room and open that same drawer. There, hidden under a stack of purple Post-its, was a charm bracelet. There was a ballet slipper and a tiny golden unicorn and horseshoe and what I think was supposed to be a pot of gold. And in between the slipper and the unicorn was a space where, I had an awful feeling, a heart was supposed to go.
I put the bracelet back where I found it, silently slid the drawer closed, and walked back to the mirror. "It makes sense," Torin said as soon as I was in front of him. "She finds a harmless little love spell somewhere, decides to try it out. And then she tries another spell, and another. And what do you know, she runs a ghost-hunting club, but there are no ghosts. So she works a little hedge magic, does a summoning or two. Just to make things interesting. And then it very quickly gets out of hand."
I wanted to deny it. To say there had to be some mistake. But Torin was right. It made total sense.
"What do I do?" I asked, but I wasn't sure if I was talking to Torin or myself.
"Tell your mum. Or tell that bloody Prodigium Council and let them deal with it. Let this girl know there are consequences for messing about with the unknown."
Both of those were technically good ideas, but they made my stomach twist in really awful ways. What if it turned out the only way to break this particular spell was to kill her? Mom would do that. If it was the only way, I had no doubt she could. And as for the Council...my cousin Sophie may have been in charge, but she wasn't there right now. Who knew what those people would do to Romy?
"I can't," I said, and Torin watched me with an unreadable expression.
Finally he said, "This is being a Brannick, Izzy. No one said it would be easy."
And with that, he was gone.
CHAPTER 28
First thing Sunday morning I faked an upset stomach and left Romy's. She seemed a little down, but I let her keep the last season of Ivy Springs, which cheered her up. Instead of home, I headed for the library. Unfortunately, Ideal's library wasn't exactly the best resource, and I quickly saw why Mom had needed to drive three towns over to get her books. Looking for anything on "hedge magic" only got me a bunch of volumes on how to grow hedges. Thinking of Dex's horrible lawn, I wondered if I should check one out for Nana. Then I remembered that everything between me and Dex was kind of awful right now. Besides, I had the case to focus on.
That night, Mom and I went back to that Chinese place, and I told her I was ready to leave. She raised her eyebrows. "Case closed?"
"Almost," I said. I still hadn't figured out how to stop Romy. Part of me wondered if I could just talk to her like...like a friend. Or maybe sneak a fake article into American Teen that said something like, "Why Hedge Magic and Raising Ghosts Is So Last Year!"
By Monday, I still hadn't found anything. Dex had saved me a seat on the bus like usual, but he was very careful not to sit too close to me. I think both of us were relieved when Romy turned around and started telling Dex about her and Anderson's night.
"And there was salt, like, everywhere," she said, pushing her glasses up. "I mean, that was all we saw, but that has to mean something, right?"
Dex made a sort of choked laugh that he quickly turned into a cough. Romy's brow furrowed. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just... Anyway, Izzy, why don't you fill Romy in on our night?"
"She already did," Romy said, barely suppressing a smile. She winked at me, and I wanted to be able to wink back so badly. Instead, I reached into my pocket. "I left out a part. We also found this." Before leaving the cave Friday night, I'd searched the floor for that heart charm. I pulled it out of my pocket now.
Romy plucked the charm from my hand, a weird expression on her face. As she studied it, I studied her. "Have you seen it before?"
Startled, she raised her head. "I have a charm kind of like this, but it doesn't look all blackened and stuff." She handed it back to me. "Maybe it belonged to Mary."
I don't know what I'd expected. Not for her to be like, "Oh, right, this is mine! I did some kind of freaky spell at that cave, and whoops! Now we're plagued by ghosts." But I'd thought she'd show a little more reaction than that. If anything, she just seemed kind of confused.
We had a test in English and a freaking relay race in P.E., so I didn't get a chance to talk to her any more that morning. Then she didn't show up at lunch, so I made up my mind to talk to her during history, only to find out class wasn't meeting because there was a pep rally for the basketball team. There had been, like, eight in the first season of Ivy Springs, but I'd never actually been to one. And I have to admit, my curiosity to see what an actual pep rally looked like almost outweighed my need to know what was up with Romy.
The gym was already full by the time we got there, but Romy and Anderson had saved a couple of places at the very top of the bleachers, just like the night of the basketball game. Dodging other kids, Dex and I carefully made our way up there. At one point, I nearly stumbled and he reached out, catching my hand. It was the first time we'd touched since the cave, and the feel of his hand on mine made me remember his lips on mine, his hands on my back. But the instant I had righted myself, Dex dropped my hand.
It was for the best. Really. Dex and I couldn't be together, not like that. And I wouldn't be at the school for much longer. The less I had to miss, the better.
Once we reached the top of the bleachers, I sat by Romy, and Dex went over beside Anderson. Even with two people between us, I was so aware of him my skin felt charged.
Trying to take my mind off of that, I nodded down at the gym floor. "So what exactly is going to happen?" I asked Romy.
She turned to me, surprised. "You've seriously never been to a pep rally?"
"They, uh, didn't do them at my old school. We didn't have sports." I was too distracted to sound sincere, but Romy didn't seem to notice.