“It’s not safe for you to be out here all alone,” she said. “There’s no one here to hear you scream.”
Her grip on my arm tightened.
“Shannon, are you all right?” But I already knew the answer. She smelled like sweat and dirt. She’d been infected. I tried to break loose, but she was drawing me closer.
I tried to remember Flo’s tutorial about zombies. You couldn’t reason with them because their brains were being flooded with chemicals telling them that they were hungry for one thing. Human flesh.
Shannon was taller and outweighed me by a few pounds, but I had my virago strength and the element of surprise.
She propelled me toward her and I used the movement to topple her to the ground. She let go of my arm and I took off running.
As I ran, I noticed other eyes gleaming in the darkness and then the sound of several people—at least I thought they were still people—running after me. I glanced back. A mob of hungry-looking zombies were chasing me. I spotted more of my soccer teammates and a girl I sat next to in Spanish class, but the zombie leading the pack was Eva. So much for our Best Friends Forever necklaces.
I ran faster than I’d ever run in my life. I ran until I hit Main Street. There were no other people on the street and I could feel the zombie girls gaining on me. I spotted the diner sign and made a break for it.
I burst into Slim’s. “We have a big problem,” I said to Flo, who was sitting on her favorite stool at the counter. Andy and Raven were sitting next to her. “I’m being followed by a horde of zombies.”
Flo got up and calmly locked the door. “Tell me what happened.” I noticed her T-shirt, which read PLEASE DON’T FEED THE ZOMBIES.
I related the encounter, then said, “You’ve got to finish that antidote, fast!”
A tap on the door made me jump, but it was just Dominic and Selena.
Flo let them in. I glared at Dominic. I was sick of his game playing.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Selena has something to tell you,” Dominic said.
“I’m not interested!” I snapped. “I have bigger things to worry about right now than Selena.”
“You’re just jealous!” Raven said.
“Your best friend isn’t the one who is infected,” I said.
Raven clapped a hand over her mouth. “Jessica, I didn’t mean it. It just slipped out.”
I got up and walked through the kitchen to the back door, ignoring their pleas to wait, to let them explain, to whatever.
I made it outside before Slim stopped me.
“That is a very stupid idea,” he chided. “And you do not strike me as stupid.”
I snorted.
Slim tried another tactic. “If you get eaten, Selena will have Dominic all to herself, so please don’t go out that door.”
I didn’t turn around, but I heard him leave. He made a lot of noise, probably to reassure me that he was going to let me make my own decision. I stayed there for a few minutes, feeling like an utter fool.
Slim was right. Walking out in a huff was bad enough, but I would have gone straight into the arms of a zombie mob.
I’d let my temper get the best of me again. If I were really honest, I’d admit it wasn’t anger that motivated my almost exit, it was jealousy.
I walked slowly back into the main part of the diner.
But when I returned to the diner, Selena and Dominic were sitting in a booth, their heads close together. I started to inch back out of the diner, but Dominic looked up and saw me.
“Jessica, I’m glad you’re back,” he said. “We have something to tell you.”
My heart dropped to my stomach. I’d finally been convinced that I’d been imagining there was something between them, but now I was going to have to hear my suspicions confirmed, after all.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you sit down?” Dominic said.
“I’d rather stand,” I said curtly.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me down next to him. “I know you’re mad at me, but just listen to what Selena has to say, please?”
I nodded, completely mystified.
Selena cleared her throat. “I have a confession to make,” she said. “Dominic’s not in love with me. I used my powers to convince him he was.”
“Why would you use magic to get a guy to fall in love with you? You’re gorgeous. You could have any guy at school.”
“Any guy except Dominic,” she replied. “I’ve promised never to do it again, to him or anyone else. He’s forgiven me.”
“And the cooking show sabotage? Was that you?”
She gasped. “I’d never do anything like that.”
I gave a skeptical snort. “We know two things about who sent the snakes,” I said. “Whoever it was has magical powers. And they hate your aunt, Selena.”
“Who do you know who fits that description?” Dominic asked gently.
“You can’t mean me. I would never do anything like that. I love my aunt.” Selena’s lip trembled. “In fact, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Aunt Circe has lost her magical powers. She’s too ashamed to admit it. But after the snakes invaded the school . . . It’s getting too risky for me to cover for her anymore.”
I thought for a minute, back to the research I had done on sorcery when I was trying to help Dominic. “I read somewhere that powers can be siphoned off,” I said. “Is there anybody you can think of who might do that? Anyone with a grudge against your aunt?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Not many people like my aunt,” she said. “I know that.”
“What happens if her show gets canceled?” Dominic asked. “Does anyone on the show stand to gain from its cancellation?”
She shook her head. “Everyone would lose their jobs.”
A thought occurred to me. “What about your aunt’s assistant? I think her name is Brooke.”
Selena gave me a puzzled frown. “Brooke wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s an unpaid intern.”
“Your aunt is kind of tough on her,” Dominic said. “And if she’s an unpaid intern, she won’t care about losing her job.”
“What about someone closer to your aunt?” I said. “She recently married Count Dracul. How did his grandchildren feel about that?”
Her silence said it all.
“We have another problem to deal with right now,” I said. “But thanks for telling me. I’ll keep my eyes open.”
She stood. “Thanks, Jessica. I’ll see you later.” I watched Dominic’s face as she walked away, but he didn’t seem to be fixating on her.
“Selena, be careful out there,” I called after her.
Dominic and I sat there, not saying anything.
Rose and Natalie emerged from the kitchen, where they’d been working tirelessly.
“We’ve got some bad news,” Natalie said.
Rose sighed. “There’s just not enough of the fungus in the perfume sample we have to create enough antidote for all of the infected girls. I’ll try something else, but I can’t make any promises.”
Andy looked determined. “Then we’re just going to have to go straight to the source and collect more fungus.”
“Let’s go,” Flo said. “We’ll split up. Jessica, you and Raven go to the store, and Andy and I will head for the Loves’ house.”
“I’m coming with you,” Dominic said.
But when we left Slim’s, he suddenly took off at a jog. “I just thought of something,” he said. “I’ll meet you there.”
Raven called out, “Where are you going?”
But he was already out of hearing and didn’t respond.
“He’ll be all right,” Raven said. “He knows how to take care of himself.”
“The Look of Love. What a joke,” I said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When we reached the store, it was closed. I pressed my face against the window, but everything was in darkness.
Raven knocked loudly on the front door, but there wasn’t any answ
er. “Nobody’s here,” Raven commented.
“Let’s try the back,” I suggested.
I spotted Eva slipping through the back door and grabbed Raven and pulled her behind a Dumpster.
Eva didn’t hesitate, and just went through the back door.
My tattoo began to throb. “I’ll bet you money that the rest of the Lovelies will be right behind her.”
Shannon was the next one to arrive, followed by Jaci, and then Ramona.
Raven peeked around the Dumpster and leaned so far out that she almost fell. “Don’t let them see you,” I hissed.
We waited almost an hour, but no one else went in or came out. Raven was practicing tai chi in the corner.
“I’m going in there,” I said. I’d lost my patience.
“I think we should wait for Flo,” she said.
“I’m sick of waiting,” I replied, and went straight in the back door of The Look of Love. I didn’t wait to see if she followed me or not.
The door, as I expected, led straight into the storeroom. But the room was empty and there was nothing particularly ominous about it. It was a plain old storeroom with perfume bottles and boxes and a mini-fridge beneath a bare lightbulb. The Loves’ pet raven was nowhere in sight.
“Where did everybody go?” I muttered.
“Let’s see if they’re in the front,” Raven replied.
I gave her a grateful look. I was glad to have some company, even if it was a virago pacifist who would be of no use to me in a fight.
The store was completely empty.
“Where are they?” I was frustrated.
“Maybe we missed them leaving?” Raven suggested.
“There’s no way,” I said. “I’ve been staring at that door for the last hour.”
We wandered all around the store without spotting any clues.
“I guess we should leave,” I said. “We’ve found out exactly a big fat zero.”
We headed back through the velvet curtain. The back room was in darkness. I didn’t remember switching off the light.
Raven was in front of me when I heard a dry cough and then a thud.
“Raven? Are you okay?” I knew something was terribly wrong when my foot hit something solidly fleshy.
I edged away from the solid form and tried to get to the light switch. I heard someone behind me, another raspy breath. I whirled around ready to fight, but before I could connect, someone gave me a big shove and then I was falling. I slid for a long time, down some sort of chute, and then landed with a thud.
I groaned and then stood shakily and tried to get my bearings. A sticky substance trickled down my throbbing leg. I must have cut it on something.
It was pitch-black, but when I put out my hand, I could feel rough edges of a wall. I put out the other hand, but didn’t touch an opposite surface.
I couldn’t reach a ceiling, either, and imagined that I looked something like a mime trapped in an invisible box, if anyone could see me in the darkness.
My heart rate sped up.
“I’m not trapped,” I said aloud. “I’m just momentarily stuck.” I reached for my cell phone, but it wasn’t in my pocket. It must have fallen out when I tumbled down the rabbit hole.
I willed myself not to panic. The first thing I needed to do was find a way out. I was pretty sure I was underground. The earth was damp to the touch and there was a moldy smell in the air, dank and rotten. I went deeper into the tunnel, groping the wall and walking slowly in order not to do any more damage to myself.
There was a faint light in the distance and I moved a little faster. Maybe it was a way out. Maybe Raven had realized what had happened to me. Maybe it was help.
It was none of these things. As I got closer, the tunnel widened into a large cavern.
The light came from several camping lanterns, which were propped up along the walls of what turned out to be a rather large anthill. And I was facing a rather large ant. I don’t mean the kind that crawls up your arm and you notice that it’s an inch bigger than all the other ants.
This ant was so big that it took up nearly all the cavern, which was of considerable size. The front half of her was a bright red and there were tall spiky tendrils coming out of her head.
And the Lovelies, who were standing next to the creature, were seemingly oblivious to the fact that a monster-size insect was currently making them look about the size of real ants.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was behind the giant ant in the basement. Edgar had taken his love of ant farms just a tad too far.
He and his mother sat at a card table in the back of the cavern. It looked like they were using the cavern as extra storage for the store as well as a place to do evil deeds.
Edgar gripped Raven’s arm tightly, but she stood there passively. So help would not be arriving in the nick of time, and it was up to me to save us.
I moved closer and Raven’s eyes lit up. She’d obviously spotted me. I put a finger to my lips and ducked behind a cardboard cutout of Edgar and the Lovelies.
“What were you thinking?” Ms. Love asked. “You brought two viragos down here, you idiot.” She whacked Edgar on the head.
“They were snooping around,” he said. “What did you want me to do?”
She didn’t answer his question, but continued to scold. “Your obsession with that ant is what got us into this mess.”
“You said I needed a hobby,” he said.
“There’s no help for it,” Ms. Love said. “I’ll have to fix your screwup. Again. Where’s the other virago?”
“If we’re lucky, the queen already ate her,” Edgar muttered.
“Witnesses?” his mother asked sharply.
“Just the Lovelies,” Edgar said. “And we both know they won’t be any problem.”
They both laughed.
Ms. Love tapped her chin and thought for a second. “We’ll have to get rid of your pet, I’m afraid.”
“But you promised. You said I could have a pet, as long as I produced the fungus for your perfume,” he replied. He sounded like a pouty five-year-old.
“You can have one of the Lovelies or the queen, but not both,” his mother said.
“But—” Edgar started to protest, but his mother cut him off.
“Decide quickly. We still have to harvest the fungi and make our exit.”
“I like it here,” Edgar said stubbornly.
His mother’s coddling tone turned cold and deadly. “Then, perhaps you should reconsider your complete inability to make an intelligent decision. Find the other virago and dispose of them both.”
“Yes, Mother,” Edgar replied. “How should I get rid of them?”
“Must I think of everything?” she asked. “Feed them to the queen.”
Edgar twisted Raven’s arm, hard. “Tell me where she is.”
“I thought you said the ant got her,” Raven said.
He twisted harder. “The queen is still hungry, which means your friend is still alive. Now tell me where she is.”
I stepped out from my hiding place. “I’m right here,” I said. “Come and get me.”
My tattoo started to tingle so much that it felt like a burn. I wheeled around and came face-to-face with half of my soccer team, who, unfortunately, eyed me like I was on the menu.
“I’m so tired of people trying to eat me,” I said. I had no choice. I was going to have to go all Fight Club around my friends.
I threw Shannon over my shoulder and spun her around and used her legs to knock Eva and Jaci down.
I thought the battle was over, but then I felt an arm wrap around my neck and start to squeeze. Edgar.
Raven hit Edgar with a fold-up chair. He went down and stayed down.
“Thanks,” I croaked.
“What about Ms. Love?” Raven asked.
Edgar’s mom was gone, but we had bigger problems.
“What is that thing?” I asked.
“Thing? Thing?” Edgar was conscious again and practically turned purple with a
nger, which was funny, if you thought about it. His face would match his cheesy T-shirts.
“The queen is hungry,” Edgar snapped. “Feed her.”
I barely had time to wonder what was on the menu before Shannon and Eva each wrapped an arm around me and propelled me toward the enormous ant.
I came face-to-face with Raven, who had Jaci and Ramona flanking her. They lined us up and then pushed us closer to the ant’s mouth.
The queen’s mandibles reached for us, but it didn’t seem like she was really that hungry. More like she’d already eaten a huge meal but would take the last cookie on the tray just because it was there.
Raven’s eyes went wide with fright and she struggled to free herself from her captors. She managed to wriggle loose and then she ran from sight. I stared after her, stunned. My fellow virago had deserted me when I needed her most. I knew she was a pacifist, but that was taking things a little too far.
The queen was disinclined to chase after her food. Instead, she turned her attention to me. Without warning, her giant pinchers snapped an inch from my face. My long red hair was probably the equivalent of waving a red flag at a bull. I didn’t want to test that theory.
When she didn’t manage to grab me, she spewed something noxious, but I ducked just in time. It sprayed all over Shannon.
I nearly gagged when I looked up and saw Shannon licking the stuff off her hands with every appearance of enjoyment. Eva joined her and licked the stuff off Shannon’s arm like it was an ice cream cone. Ramona scooped some off the ground and ate big handfuls.
I used their momentary distraction to break free, but then Jaci ran toward me. I thought she was going to tackle me, but instead she joined her friends in a fungus feast.
I spotted a door directly behind the queen ant, but she wasn’t going to let me simply waltz on through. I looked around, but there wasn’t anything I could use as a weapon.
Queenie lunged at me again and I jumped out of the way. Suddenly, she was more motivated to eat me. She attacked again and her huge mandible caught me a glancing blow and knocked me to the ground.