But me? I was kind of over that.
Even as Jenna hissed for me to come back, I walked to the front of the room and stood directly in front of Lara Casnoff, the woman who had tried to kill me. The woman who'd tried to kill Archer, and Jenna, and had put my dad through a ritual that had nearly killed him.
"You're going to turn them all into demons?" I demanded. "Did you forget the part where your last demon went rogue and started killing people?"
She didn't answer my question. "You certainly are a resilient little thing, Sophie."
"And you're evil and super condescending."
"Is this the part where you tell me that you're going to stop me? That I won't get away with it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because if it is, let me give you some advice: grow up."
With that, she handed the spell back to the Vandy, who replaced it in the bag.
I watched the two of them walk out of the ball room, Mrs. Casnoff trailing behind, as Archer and Jenna came to stand next to me.
"Well, we know the plan now," Jenna said. "Any counter plans?"
"Stop the Casnoffs from raising a demon army, save everybody, and get the heck off this island. Then maybe we'll have a party or something.
You know, to celebrate how awesome we are."
"Sounds solid enough," Archer said, bumping my shoulder with his. "Any idea how exactly we're supposed to do any of that?" The greenish lights in the ball room winked out, and I sighed. "None."
CHAPTER 17
The next morning, I was blasted out of bed by Hex Hall 's version of an alarm clock-this sonorous howling sound that was half bell, half growl. The room was still dark, and when I glanced out the window, all I could see was that damn fog.
Jenna was already at the closet, pulling out a uniform. Last night, we'd discovered the dresser was filled with white T-shirts and blue pajama pants. They were all the same size, but when you put them on, the clothes shifted and slid until they fit. The uniforms were apparently the same, because as Jenna slipped into the skirt, the hem brushed her shins, only to slither back up her body until the skirt fell just below her knees.
"I don't know if that's convenient or creepy," she said, inspecting her legs.
Shoving off the covers, I got out of bed and went to get my own uniform. "Let's go with creepy, shal we?" Jenna pulled on her blazer, and I noticed she was chewing her lower lip, obviously thinking something over.
"You know, that's a dangerous habit for a vampire," I told her, nodding at her mouth.
"Huh? Oh, right," she said. "Sorry, I was just...Soph, if their big plot is to make everyone a demon, why bring you here? Or me, for that matter?
Lara wanted me killed just a few months ago. What changed her mind?"
The same thought had kept me up last night. Over and over, I'd replayed Torin's words: me, at the head of the Casnoffs' demon force, using my powers for them. Was that why I was here?
But all I said to Jenna was, "They're evil and twisted. Who knows why they do anything?" I could tell that answer didn't satisfy her, so I added, "But that's what we're going to find out, right? Operation Nancy Drew Goes To Hex Hall starts today!"
Jenna opened her mouth to say something, but then there was a sudden flash of light in the middle of the room. She shrieked, and I threw my hand up to shade my eyes as the glowing ball morphed into a familiar shape-the greenhouse where we used to have Defense classes. The three-dimensional image rotated slowly as Lara's voice filled the room. "At this time, all students are to report to the greenhouse." Scowling, I waved my arm through the spell. It swirled like smoke before dissolving. "Freaking drama queen," I muttered. "How hard would it have been to announce that last night? Or to just do the voice thing?"
Jenna was still staring at the spot where the spell had been. "What do you think they're going to do to us there?"
"I-"
Before I got any further than that, I saw another flash of light, and the next thing I knew, I heard myself saying, "Look, they're not going to kill you, so maybe you should chil out for a sec."
Jenna shook her head slightly, like I'd just slapped her. "What?"
Tell her you're me! Or I'm you. Whatever! I demanded.
I didn't actually expect Elodie to respond. It wasn't like she usually listened to my mental commands. But this time, thankfully, she did.
"It's Elodie," she told Jenna. She breezed through the explanation of just why she could use me as her personal puppet so quickly that Jenna could only blink in response.
"If Sophie hadn't used my magic in her body," Elodie summed up, "she would've been dead like, ten times by now." Okay, it was only twice, I grumbled inside.
Elodie ignored me. "And no," she said, raising my hand to cut off Jenna's next question. "I can't possess anyone else. Trust me, I've been trying to get inside Lara Casnoff ever since we got here. Which...sounds really wrong." I felt my shoulders shrug. "Anyway, you looked like you were about to eat your own lip, and that's totally gross, so I figured I oughta swoop in and put your mind at ease. Last night, when I was trying my hardest to possess anyone who's not this freak, I overheard the Casnoffs talking.
Apparently, turning a vampire into a demon seems like an awesome idea, so that's why you're here. No staking on the agenda." Using Elodie as a spy hadn't even occurred to me. Oh my God, this is perfect! I shouted. Well, mentally shouted. Of course! They can't see you unless you want them to; you can go anywhere in the school, and-
Jeez, not so loud, she interrupted . I'm in your head, so use your inside inside voice.
Elodie went to brush my hair out of my eyes, muttering, "God, how does she live like this?" If you promise to stop taking over whenever you feel like it, I promise to get a hot oill treatment, I replied, and she snorted.
Jenna folded her arms tightly across her chest. "So, what-you're like, helping us now?" My eyes rolled. "No, I'm on Team Take Over The World With A Demon Army. Of course I'm helping you. Mostly so that whenever this is over, Sophie can get back to important stuff. Like how to unbind me from her."
Jenna nodded, distracted. "You've done magic through Sophie, you said. Can you try to do some now? Like, something simple?"
"This place has some kind of magic blocker on it," Elodie said, even as the same thought went through my brain. "No unauthorized persons can do spells."
"Right, but the Casnoffs don't even know you're here," Jenna said, a slow grin spreading on her face. "A ghost using a powerless demon to do magic? Bet they didn't think of that."
Worth a shot, I said to Elodie. Apparently she agreed, because my fingers came up, and there was a brief surge of power in my veins. Sparks flew, and within seconds, Jenna's pink stripe was the same white-blond as the rest of her hair.
"Holy crap," Jenna said, pulling her hair in front of her eyes. "It worked!"
Relief flooded through me, and I wasn't sure if it was mine or Elodie's.
There was a sudden banging on our door. Jenna jumped, and Elodie flicked my hand out toward her.
Bright fuchsia snaked down Jenna's hair again, and then, with that same awful, disorienting sensation I'd felt the night with the werewolf, Elodie was gone.
I sat down on my bed, trying to catch my breath, as Jenna opened the door. The Vandy stood there, glaring at us, and my heart plummeted.
They knew. They'd sensed magic happening in here, and now they'd sent the Vandy to come collect us.
I sat there, trying not to pant in terror, while Jenna openly trembled.
"You were told to report to the greenhouse," the Vandy said, her eyes going back and forth between us. "Now, get your skinny butts down there."
You know when you have the most inappropriate reaction to something ever? I was so happy that we weren't being hauled off to be murdered that I burst out laughing. I mean, big, loud, honking laughter. Jenna shot me a panicked look as the Vandy's scowl got even darker. "What's so funny, Miss Mercer?"
I stood up on wobbly legs and did my best to stop cracking up. "Sorry, it's just, um..."
"You said 'butts,'" Jenna blurted out. "And Sophie's got a really immature sense of humor."
"Right," I said, seizing on that. "Butts. Ha ha!"
I think if the Vandy could have murdered us right then and there, she probably would have. Instead she just thrust one finger toward the staircase and said,
"Move it."
We scrambled from the room.
Outside, the sky was every bit as gloomy and gray as it had been the day before. The fog seemed to have moved out a little bit, so we could make our way down to the greenhouse without fear of getting absorbed. Still, the ground felt mushy underfoot, and the grass, once bright emerald green, was now a sickly whitish-brown, like the underside of a mushroom. As we passed a huge oak tree, one of its blackened branches gave an ominous crack.
Once we were sure the Vandy was far enough behind us to make eavesdropping impossible, I lowered my head close to Jenna's and said,
"Okay, so we have a ghost-spy."
"A ghost-spy who can do magic," Jenna added.
I nodded. "Even better. Which means that maybe the playing field is leveled after all." Jenna squeezed my hand, and I was actually feeling kind of optimistic as we approached the greenhouse. I mean, I wasn't going to start skipping or anything (mostly because I was afraid I'd slip in all the muck), but all in all, I felt worlds better.
Through the glass walls of the greenhouse, I could see most of the other students standing in a circle, and I was in a good enough mood to joke to Jenna, "Ooh, wonder if we're gonna play Duck, Duck, Demon."
She laughed, but the sound died in her throat almost immediately as the crowd inside the greenhouse parted enough for us to see what they were all circling around.
There, shimmering chains of magic wrapped around his wrists, was Archer.
CHAPTER 18
Jenna and I slid through the door as inconspicuously as we could. My heart was hammering, and all I wanted to do was rush to Archer, but Lara was standing right next to him, a smirk on her face. "This whole 'lying low' thing sucks so hard," I whispered to Jenna as we fell to the back of the crowd.
She gave me a sympathetic look, and then we turned our attention to Lara. "Students," Lara said. "As many of you have heard, Mr. Cross here is a member of ll'Occhio di Dio." She walked closer to Archer and unbuttoned the top several buttons of his shirt, pulling the fabric away to reveal the gold-and-black tattoo just over his heart. I heard several gasps from the crowd. Of course, everyone had heard Archer was an Eye, but hearing about it and actually seeing proof were two different things. "And The Eye are our enemies," Lara continued, circling Archer. I met his gaze, and he tried to smile at me, but I could see he was shaking.
My hands curled into fists, nails biting into my palms. My magic was like a tsunami inside me, pounding against its prison.
"But Mr. Cross is far and away the worst of ll'Occhio di Dio. Would anyone care to tell me why?" Her gaze locked on mine. "Miss Mercer?
Since you're the one he tried to assassinate last year, why don't you inform your classmates of the danger Mr. Cross represents?"