“We got here as soon as we could.”
She looked at Ethan. “So you’re an Upyr, huh?”
His shoulders tensed. “Yes.”
“Don’t bite me. I mean, don’t even think about it.”
“Cross my heart.”
“And, just a warning, if you even think about hurting Olivia, I’m going to sink a silver stake right through your chest.”
His lips curved to one side. Finally, something he found amusing. “I thought you two weren’t friends anymore.”
Bree and I looked at each other with surprise and she shrugged. “It seems to be a work in progress.”
I nodded in agreement. It was true, after all. I couldn’t deny it even if I wanted to. Bree was a pain in the butt, but I honestly felt like I could be myself with her and she wouldn’t like me any more or less than she did to start with.
It felt easy being friends with Bree, like something that had been missing from my life for too many years to count. With Helen I’d always felt like I had to try to be better, put on an act of popularity or friendliness, or interest in things I didn’t find all that interesting, in order to be with her and a lot of my other friends.
I hated to think I’d been in a fake friendship ever since seventh grade, but maybe I had been. Maybe I’d never known the real Helen and she’d been putting up a false exterior all this time, too.
“So what’s the plan?” Bree asked.
“I believe the Upyri queen is going to be in attendance tonight using the shell of Ms. Carlson. We need to find her and stop her from releasing the other imprisoned Upyri who will then kill most of the students in attendance and take over their bodies.”
“So you’re going to trap her, get her to admit who she is, and then take care of her quietly behind the scenes.”
“That’s right,” Ethan said.
“Sounds simple enough.”
“It won’t be.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
Ethan clutched the steering wheel. “Are you here to help us, or get in the way and make jokes?”
“I’m here because I want to help. I remember—well, mostly remember”—she gave him a sharp look—”what these Upyri can do. And I don’t want it to happen again. I want to help Olivia, and the other students, and even you, to get things back to normal no matter what.”
“Fine,” he muttered, his jaw tight. He pulled into an available spot in the school parking lot.
Without another word, Bree got out of the back seat. I went to open my door but Ethan grabbed my hand, making me turn back to him. I didn’t pull away but I looked at him with apprehension.
“What?” I asked.
“If things don’t go according to plan, I want you to leave. If she gets control, releases the others before we can stop her, you can’t be there. We can’t let her take your body.”
“If she does she’d be even more powerful, you mean.”
“Yes, that. But—” He met my eyes. “It can’t happen because then you’d be gone. And despite everything that’s happened, I can’t lose you. Not like that.”
Just when I thought I had my emotions under control, he had to go and say something that threw me completely off balance again. “Ethan...”
“Don’t get me wrong, I know I’ve already lost you. But just knowing you’re in the world, alive and healthy, that’ll be enough for me to feel like we won. That I won. No matter what.”
My eyes burned. I wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Nothing that would have sounded halfway intelligent anyway.
He cared about me. He still did. And he was doing this—all of this—for me. So I’d be safe.
“Come on,” he said. “We should go inside.”
I just nodded and grabbed the door handle again, desperately wanting to say something to him, but not knowing what.
I was sure the perfect reply would come to me when it was too late to matter anymore.
Chapter 18
We had to buy our tickets at the door.
Ethan paid for the three of us. This earned him a couple of strange looks from the two guys and a girl working the ticket table. Well, the girl looked at him strangely, the guys looked at him with a newfound respect.
Two dates to prom. What a stud.
Everything was already in progress. The music played, a fast song, the bass so loud I could feel it reverberating through the soles of my high heels. Sparkling lights hit the same floor the basketball team played on and where I played volleyball only yesterday during gym class. No shorts for me, though. I always wore leggings or jogging pants.
My scar was the last thing on my mind tonight. This dress was more than long enough to cover it.
The gym was full of kids dressed up in shiny, beautiful outfits. Heels on the girls and suits on the guys, they danced, sat at the edges of the large room, and talked and laughed. They already seemed to be having a good time.
They had no idea what would happen here if we didn’t find a way to stop it.
I scanned the room for Ms. Carlson. I spotted several other teachers, including my gym and history teachers, but no Shakespeare lover with bright red hair.
If it was true—if she was the shell being used by the Upyr queen, then I’d had absolutely no idea. There was no way to tell, no signs.
Then again, I hadn’t really been looking. There might have been lots of signs that I’d missed along the way.
After all, it had taken me a long time to clue into the truth about Ethan.
My phone buzzed—the one that wasn’t working properly, but I kept it charged just in case of emergencies. I pulled it out of my small purse and looked at the screen. It registered two calls I’d missed and one text message.
We need to talk. It can’t wait. —Mom
I grimaced and slid the phone back into my purse. That was the last thing I wanted to deal with tonight.
It couldn’t wait? Well, it would have to.
“So what do we do?” Bree had begun to look a bit nervous and I had a funny feeling it wasn’t only because of the impending threat of Upyri. This wasn’t her usual crowd, after all. Her friends, according to Bree, shunned the prom and all it represented.
And yet here she was anyway.
I had to respect her willingness to go outside of her comfort zone tonight in order to help us.
I looked at Ethan at the same moment he looked at me and our gazes locked. I’d been trying to avoid looking him directly in the eyes since earlier and now I knew why. Because it made my heart hurt. It made me want to forgive him for everything and try to forget what he really was underneath it all.
But how could I ever do that knowing what I did now?
“I’m going to start searching for her,” he said. “If you see her, don’t approach her yourself. And I need to find Frank. He said he’d be here, but I haven’t seen him yet.”
“Town drunk lurking around a high school dance. Nobody would think anything’s strange about that, would they?”
“When Frank wants to he can fit in really well. Don’t worry about him. I’ll be back. Don’t wander off anywhere where you’re not in a crowd, okay?” When I didn’t answer, he repeated it. “Okay, Olivia?”
It almost felt as if he was reprimanding me like my father had earlier by using my full name. “Okay, loud and clear.”
“Good.” With a last look at me he turned and walked away through the swell of kids on the dance floor.
“You were so right,” Bree said.
“About what?”
“That boy has it bad for you. Then again, he always did.”
My face warmed. “He’s not a boy.”
“Looks like a boy to me. One who can’t keep his eyes off of you.”
I cringed. “Just—let’s not talk about it.”
She absently scratched her forearm that had the tattoo on it. “Why? Does not talking about it make the problem go away?”
“That’s the working theory.”
She glanced around at the people moving past us. “So
we’re just supposed to stand here like losers?”
“If you think standing here makes us losers, then yes. That’s exactly what we’re supposed to do.”
Bree swore and my attention snapped to her.
“What?” I asked.
“Incoming.”
“Excuse me?” But then I saw what she was referring to.
Helen had spotted us and was headed in our direction. Quickly. And she didn’t look happy to see me. Her date waited for her at the edge of the dance floor.
She stopped just in front of me, her gaze flicking to Bree before returning to me.
“Why are you here?” she asked. “I thought you weren’t coming tonight.”
“You haven’t spoken to me lately.”
“I’m speaking to you now.” The confused look on her face didn’t go well with her fuchsia strapless dress. “You’re here with Bree? Since when are you friends again?”
“Recently.” I glanced at Bree whose level of discomfort seemed to have spiked since Helen joined us.
“First you dump Peter for Ethan and now you’re dumping me for Bree?” Helen said tightly. “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”
“Officially, Peter dumped me.”
“And you deserved it. You had a great boyfriend and you went and screwed it up by cheating on him with Ethan.” She shook her head as if disappointed in me. “Big mistake. And now hanging out with Bree? Do you not care about your reputation at all, Liv?”
Bree’s face had grown nearly as pink as the streak in her black hair. “I’ve never understood why you think I’m such a big threat to you. You don’t even know me. And yet you’re the one who tried to get everyone to believe I’m the big gossip around school when it’s been you all along.”
Helen’s lips thinned. “Does it hurt to be such a huge liar, Bree?”
“I don’t know, Helen. You tell me.”
I nervously glanced through the crowd. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t expected to meet up with Helen here. I just didn’t think I’d have to deal with this kind of drama tonight. “It’s true, isn’t it? You’re the one who spread all the rumors. Like the one last year about me being easy. It was you.”
Helen blanched. “Why would I do something like that?”
“That’s a very good question. I’m thinking it’s because you need to be in control...because you feel like you’re not. That everything’s spinning away from you and you have to clutch onto the things you care about and keep them close no matter what you have to do to make that happen. I can’t really blame you. You come by it honestly. Both your parents are exactly the same way.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I tried to see past the lies and the masks that she wore. Tried to find the girl that I’d been friends with for years. I wouldn’t be friends with someone who was fake—not that fake. Not all the time. She’d cared when my mom left and I was a wreck. She’d been there for me whenever I needed to talk, or cry, or yell.
To be responsible for saying such malicious things behind so many kids’ backs—to want to hurt other people—Helen had to be in a lot of pain, herself. Only she’d kept it really, really hidden all this time.
“Just admit it,” I said firmly. “And I promise I’ll forgive you. This doesn’t have to be the end of our friendship.”
She just stared at me. “You’re crazy, you know that? But maybe that would explain why you’d want to date somebody like Ethan.”
“Oh, about Ethan,” I said evenly. “I know you wanted him. That’s why you were so upset with me the other day. You’ve liked him for years but you never said anything about it because he didn’t fit into your perfect world.”
Her mouth fell open. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were okay liking him from a safe distance as long as he wasn’t with anyone else.” A lump had quickly formed in my throat. “You should have said something to him ages ago. Maybe that would have made a difference in his life. Maybe then he wouldn’t have felt so alone all the time.”
Helen glanced over her shoulder at her patiently waiting date. “That’s stupid. I’m dating Trent. Why would I be interested in somebody like Ethan?”
What little patience I still had was rapidly wearing thin. “You liked him, you saw him for what he was—a great guy who was too shy to let other people see how amazing he really was. Someone who hid in the shadows because he didn’t know what else to do and nobody bothered to try to pull him out into the light. And you were jealous because I saw it, too. Still too late to help him, but I saw it. And I liked him.”
“You always get whatever you want, don’t you?” Her voice had gone quiet. “Must be nice.”
“You have no idea how wrong you are.” I sighed. “I want to work things out between us if that’s possible, but it’s not going to be tonight. Come on, Bree.”
Helen didn’t say anything to stop me as I started walking away.
Bree was grinning, despite everything.
I eyed her. “What?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not abandoning me the moment she walked up.”
I grimaced at that. “As if I would.”
“I don’t know. It was possible.”
“Well, you’re welcome. Besides, you’re supposed to watch my back. Make sure that—”
“Olivia,” a familiar voice said. “So wonderful to see you tonight. What a beautiful dress.”
My stomach dropped as I turned to face Ms. Carlson.
Chapter 19
“Oh, hi,” I managed, but it came out squeaky. “Thanks. This dress—I picked this out at the mall ages ago. It was too expensive, but I couldn’t help myself.”
“Worth every penny, I’d say.”
I exchanged a nervous glance with Bree, then quickly scanned the dark room—as much of it as I could see from my current vantage point.
Where was Ethan?
“I really shouldn’t bring this up at a social event like this,” Ms. Carlson said, “But I have to ask, Olivia. Your essay on Othello from earlier this week—it wasn’t your best work. I finished grading them before I arrived here this evening. Have you been distracted?”
I swallowed hard. “Distracted? Maybe a little.”
My phone buzzed again and I drew it out to look at the screen.
Please call me back ASAP —Mom
“I’ll say you’re distracted.” Ms. Carlson smiled and stroked a hand over her flame red hair. “Let me guess, is it because of a boy?”
“What else could it be?” Bree’s eyes were narrowed on the teacher suspiciously, but there was no fear in her expression. Only a look of potential confrontation.
So not helping. We needed to play it cool until Ethan returned.
Ms. Carlson’s smile grew. “I do understand, believe me. But it’s important to find a balance between your social life and your studies. You normally get excellent grades, and by now you should have a good idea about what you want to take in college.”
I cleared my throat. “College is the last thing on my mind right now.”
“I know many students feel that way, but these days with the workforce so competitive, it’s a smart idea to have some specific direction before you reach Senior year.” She grimaced. “Sorry. No wonder they haven’t asked me to chaperone before. My ex told me I needed to loosen up and have some fun—not be so concerned about the future—but I can’t help that I care about my students.”
Again, I looked for Ethan. Maybe he’d found Frank and was talking with him about their potential battle plan. I wished he’d hurry up and get back here because while being around him made me uncomfortable, not being around him made me even more uncomfortable.
“I don’t want to keep you.” Ms. Carlson sipped from the clear plastic drink cup she held that was filled with fruit punch. “Please go back to having fun. We can always talk more on Monday if you’re concerned at all with your grades.”
??
?Really?” I eyed her suspiciously. “You’re just going to let me walk away?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because we know what you are,” Bree spoke up. “And if you try anything here tonight we’re going to stop you.”
My breath caught. I glared at Bree and she shrugged.
Ms. Carlson took another sip from the glass before she spoke again. “Not sure what you mean.”
“Your plan,” Bree said, undeterred.
“My plan.”
“You need to leave Olivia alone or you’re going to regret it. Big-time. I was born to deal with your kind.”
Ms. Carlson drew a little closer. I tried to ignore the urge to run away as fast as I could. “I think I understand what’s going on here, Olivia.”
“You do?”
We were in a crowd. Killing me, taking over my body, and then releasing the other Upyri, would need some form of privacy, or there would be chaos. I wouldn’t give her that opportunity.
“Yes,” she said.
“And what do you think you understand?” I braced myself for the sight of her lips drawing back from her teeth and for her to lunge at me.
She studied me for a moment as if uncertain what she wanted to say next. “A lot of students tend to drink a great deal before, during, and after dances like this. I can’t say I was any different in my day.” She looked at Bree and me each in turn. “Other teachers might report you two, but I’ll give you a second chance since I know you’re good kids. I don’t know who this boy is you’ve become involved with, Olivia, but try to remember that your choice of friends will pave your way to your future, be it good or bad.”
I just looked at her, stunned.
Ms. Carlson, the woman Ethan was convinced was the shell the Upyri queen was currently hiding in, had just accused me of being drunk at a school dance and hanging out with people who were bad influences on me.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she said, giving us both a strained smile, before she sidled off into the crowd.
“She might be playing with us,” Bree said.
“Maybe.”
“Or she might be totally legit and not know what the hell we were just talking about.”
“Maybe.”