Under a Spell

Will slid an arm through Miranda’s and helped her up. It was then that I could see her face clearly. My chest tightened painfully and the familiar prick of tears itched behind my eyes. “My God, Miranda, what happened to you?”

A purple-red bruise peeked out from under her beanie and marred the left side of her forehead. Puffed red scratches shot dangerously close to her swollen eye. Her cheeks were flushed red and slick with dried tears. There were neat slices at the edges of her lips, and dried blood was caked all over. Though Miranda did her best to shrink back into her sweatshirt and shrink back into the cover of night, I could still see purpling fingers of puckered skin under her chin and circling her throat.

“Can you walk? Do we need to get you an ambulance?” I asked.

Miranda shook her head, her hair swinging. “No, thanks,” she said, her voice a near-whisper.

“Let’s get her inside,” Will said before Miranda had a chance to elaborate.

Nina snatched open the door before I had a chance to sink my key into the lock. “Lorraine?” she asked, before her eyes set on Miranda.

“Nina,” I said, steering Miranda and Will around her, “this is Miranda, a student from my class.”

“Here, Miranda.” I led her to the couch and she sat gingerly, wincing. “Would you mind giving us just a second?”

Her dark eyes went from me to Will and finally to Nina before she nodded silently. I pushed Nina toward my room and Will shut the door behind us.

“What happened to her?” Nina wanted to know.

I chewed my bottom lip. “We just found her downstairs like that.”

“We do plan on asking, right?” Will asked.

“Of course. It’s just—” I looked at Nina, who sucked in a breath and patted the air.

“I know, I know. I’m just your normal flesh-and-blood roommate who is not salivating in the least at the overwhelming scent of dried blood.”

“Can you let Vlad know about Miranda before he gets back?” I said.

Nina shrugged. “He never left.” She cocked her head, listening. “And I’m pretty sure he’s already discovered your student.”

“Christ.” I pushed out my door and was momentarily taken aback by Miranda sitting primly on my couch. It was like my two worlds had crashed together.

“Sorry, Miranda. Can I get you anything?”

“You probably could have offered her a glass of water before you disappeared on her,” Vlad said as he appeared from the kitchen, tall, filled glass in his hand.

“Thank you,” she whispered to him, before downing the whole thing.

I sat across from Miranda. “Can you tell us what—or who—did this to you?”

She turned to me and tears began to pour over her lower lashes. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know who it was.”

“She said she—”

I held up a hand. “Vlad, it’s okay. I’d like to hear it from Miranda.”

I’d expected him to growl or grumble something inappropriate before settling back behind his laptop to explode human arteries, but he sat next to Miranda—close to her—body-brushing close.

My heart thumped. He liked her.

Before I could swoon for teenage love and recoil at the vampire-breather consequences, Will quickly sat next to me and addressed Miranda. “I’ve got some paramedic training. What do you say you let me take a look and maybe clean up those injuries?”

Miranda looked around blankly, her eyes wide and heartbreakingly innocent. She pulled herself into her sweatshirt again. “It probably looks worse than it really is.”

I looked at Nina, who was perched on the chair-and-a-half. Even across the room I could see her nostrils twitch. She steeled me with a glance letting me know that the blood she was smelling was not fresh—or flowing —enough to be dangerous.

“Can you tell us what happened, Miranda?” I asked.

Miranda clasped her hands in her lap and stared at them for a bit before she cleared her throat. “I was leaving the school.”

I glanced up at the clock. “Wait. You were just leaving campus now?”

She shook her head. “No. No, I was trying to get on the three o’clock bus. I realized I left my book back in your classroom so I went back for it. But I still had enough time to make it back to the bus stop. Or I should have. Anyway, I went back to the main door. Janitor Bud let me in and I got my book. It’s Wuthering Heights—the one you saw me reading in the cafeteria. But it was weird—the door to your classroom snapped shut while I was in there. Like there was a breeze or something, but there wasn’t. I mean, all the windows were closed. And then . . .” Miranda shook her head and the tears started to fall again. She let them go and I could see Vlad watching as they rolled over Miranda’s nose and fell into her lap.

“It’s okay, Miranda.” I squeezed her hand.

“It’s going to sound crazy. You’re all going to think I’m crazy.”

Will and I exchanged a glance. “You have a long way to go before we would even consider that thought.”

“A long way,” Will added. “Your Ms. L there got locked in the toilet, and I didn’t think any less of her.”

I tried hard not to roll my eyes. “Just tell us what happened.”

“So the door shut, and I tried to open it. But it was like it was locked. I tried to fiddle with the lock, but that didn’t help. And then—all of a sudden—it was dark. Like, pitch black. I couldn’t see anything. Then there was a wind—a howling wind. Everything went floating around me and things were hitting me. It felt like fists—like people were there. Pulling my hair and”—she heaved, then pressed a hand over her bottom lip—“and punching me. There was like, lightning or something cracking and every once in a while that would make it light. There was no one there, Ms. L—no one but me, but I could feel people. And something was written on the board—it looked like, it looked like—”

“Get out?” I offered.

Miranda nodded, her eyes the size of teacups. “How did you know?”

“Just a lucky guess.”

“Then what happened?” Vlad asked her.

“Well, there was a giant crack. I was yanking on the door and as soon as I heard that, everything stopped. The room was normal again, there was nothing on the board, no wind. The door opened right up and I ran. I ran all the way out of the school and to the bus stop. I didn’t even know there was—” Miranda gingerly touched her fingertips to her puffed eye. “I didn’t even know there was anything on my face until the bus driver asked what happened.”

“What made you come here?” Will asked.

Vlad shot him a scathing look. “She was traumatized.”

“I’m just asking.”

“Yeah, what—I mean, I’m glad that you did—but why did you decide to come here?”

Miranda’s lower lip trembled and she looked into her lap again. “My mom works nights. I didn’t want to go home.” She looked up at me, her eyes desperate and imploring. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Not to a mate’s or something?” Will asked.

Vlad gritted his teeth. “She said she didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Miranda started to sniff again—another round of heavy tears.

“Look what you did!” Vlad snapped.

I nudged him away and slung an arm around Miranda, pulling her toward me. “You did the right thing coming here, Miranda. Everything is going to be okay. You’re safe now.”

Will steadied his gaze and I avoided it.

“There’s something else, Ms. L,” Miranda whispered into my hair.

“What is it, honey?”

Miranda pulled back and looked at Will and Vlad, then back at me. “We can go to my room,” I said, taking her hand.