I grabbed the switchblade from my purse and walked down the hall. I opened Graham’s bedroom door and walked over to him. He was in a deep sleep. Hopefully, it was deep enough that this wouldn’t hurt him.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Then I plunged the knife into what I thought was his heart.
He woke up instantly, gasping and coughing for air. It took me a moment to realize that I had stabbed in him the lung. His lung was filling up with blood.
“Oh god!” I cried. I ran down the hall to get my mom and dad. “Mom, Dad!” I said through my tears. I was crying so hard that it was hard for me to breathe. I might as well have been stabbed in the lung too. I managed to get something out about stabbing my own brother and about him needing help.
My mom ran into Graham’s bedroom while my dad called 911. I stood out in the hallway, watching my parents try to calm Graham down. By the time the ambulance and police arrived, Graham was dead.
“What happened?” A cop asked me in the front yard.
I had managed to stop crying. I think at that point, I was in shock. “I stabbed him.”
“Why?”
“Just because,” I wasn’t about to turn the Charm Club in. I didn’t want to see what happens when you betray Evelyn Ruffinio.
The cop handcuffed me and put me in the back of his car. I sighed and leaned back as we drove to the police station. Maybe now I’d be safe from the Charm Club.
Chapter 8
Lauren-Anne
I looked at the tv in shock. Meg’s face was on the tv with a headline reading, “Teenage Girl Stabs Own Brother to Death.”
My mom came up behind me. “Oh, my.”
I turned to her.
“Lauren-Anne, I’m not sure if I like the friends you are choosing.”
“Mom, I’ve known Meg since kindergarten!” I cried.
“I know, but some of your other friends are... Concerning. Like that Tiffany girl having the outburst at the movies. Jesus-”
“I know, I know. Jesus wouldn’t like it.”
My mom clasped her hands together. “Hunny, I see you leaning away from your religion.”
“I actually had a question about it. About, I don’t know, demons, I guess.”
She stiffened. “You know we aren’t supposed to talk about those kinds of things.”
“What do you know about an Et Splendidis?”
Mom hesitated. I knew she was superstitious about these things. At last, she said, “I’ve never heard of that one.”
“I think I’m going to go ask Father Moss about it.”
She nodded. “You do that.”
Because Graham had been so popular, school was canceled. So, I went to see Father Moss.
“Lauren-Anne, how nice to see you,” Father Moss said.
I smiled, sitting down. “Thank you, Father. I had a question about demons or gods of some sort.”
“What of them?”
“Have you ever heard of Et Splendidis?”
“I’ve heard the phrase, but I’m not aware of any being with that name.”
“What does the phrase mean?”
“It roughly means ‘the gorgeous one’.”
I didn’t say anything. I had no idea what to do with that information.
As I walked home, I decided that I had one thing to do. I had to rejoin the Charm Club. I had to get to the bottom of things.
Brittany
I couldn’t stop crying. Graham was dead. Not only was he dead, but he had died a painful death.
The girls in the Charm Club were all surrounding me in Beverly’s bedroom, some of them holding my hands.
“We’re so sorry.” Margaret said. “We don’t know why Meg would do that.”
“She was upset about us, but I didn’t think she was this upset,” I said.
“Well, she’s in jail now.” Marylin told me. “She’s where she belongs.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Beverly got up and opened the door. Lauren-Anne was standing there. She rushed toward me when she saw me.
“Brittany, I am so sorry,” She told me.
“Lauren-Anne, what are you doing here? This is a private meeting,” Marylin said.
“I want to rejoin the Charm Club.”
“Wait a second,” Evelyn said. “You quit.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”
“You want to rejoin after everything bad that’s happened?” Beverly asked.
Lauren-Anne nodded.
Evelyn, Marylin, and Beverly all gathered on the other side of the room, whispering to each other. Finally, they turned back toward us.
“It’s official!” Evelyn cried. “Lauren-Anne is back in the Charm Club!”
Everyone cheered. Lauren-Anne spent the rest of the afternoon comforting me with the other girls. Then I went home for dinner.
“Brittany, we’re sorry about your friend,” My dad said.
“He was my boyfriend,” I reminded him.
My mom looked at me. “We know that, hunny.”
My dad continued, “We’ve been talking, and we think that it would be best if we moved back to Los Angeles.”
“What?” I cried.
“It’s for the best.” My mom told me. “Two of your friends have gotten into trouble and we don’t want you to be next. And then Graham was killed by his own sister, who was also one of your friends. We just think it’d be best for everyone.”
“But I like it here!”
“We’re leaving tomorrow morning,” My dad said.
The next morning, we packed our suitcases and left. Everything else in the house would come in the moving van next week.
I watched as we drove away from White Grimm.
“It’s for the best, hunny,” My mom said.
I nodded absentmindedly. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my friends.
Chapter 9
Lauren-Anne
For the next few weeks, I gathered all the information I could about the Charm Club. I had learned that Meg had been told to kill Graham to get Brittany more invested in the Charm Club again. I also learned that Evelyn killed her husbands. But there was no information about Et Splendidis.
One night I decided to call a Charm Club meeting. I had to find out what I could about it. Marylin and Beverly always had the meeting at their houses when their
