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 all freaked out and hostile?”
“I’m not hostile,” I protested. Cal gave a pointed look to the potting soil, and I rolled my eyes. “Okay, yes, but I was mad that you didn’t tell 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 Holly, 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, “Well, 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-antebellum mansion, half- stucco institution that was Hecate Hall. Crickets were already chirping, and frogs croaked around the pond. A gentle breeze that smelled like honeysuckle and the sea breeze nudged the vines that climbed the walls of the school. I turned and looked back at the lawn. I’d hated this place when I first came here, but I was actually 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 Hall almost felt like home.
Something furry brushed my arm. It was Beth, a werewolf I’d met my first night at Hecate.
“Full moon,” she growled, nodding her muzzle toward the darkening sky.
“Right.” Weres got the run of the place during the full 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 full of broken glass and lug nuts.
“Tell me about it,” I replied.
Her eyes were bright yellow, 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’ll 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 Hall.
I headed up to the third floor, where all 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 still-bedraggled appearance. “Why didn’t you change your clothes?”
I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I, uh, didn’t really 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 sympathetically. “Oh, I understand. Especially 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 wall with it.
Mrs. Casnoff had not been amused.
Especially since the Bed Thing had followed the Doritos Incident. Jenna had wanted chips; when I’d tried to make them appear, I’d flooded the hallway with Doritos. There were still 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 called out greetings, or commented on my date with the pond. It still 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 still 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 all 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 skills, 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 Hall was full 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 still 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 all the ghosts seemed to do: wandering around, looking confused. They weren’t technically 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 Holly for it. Still, Elodie had given me her last spark of magic. Without it, I never would have been able to kill 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 hallway.
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.
