“Wait. First, give me back the locket,” Mandy said, reaching out her hand. Charlotte climbed back off the diving board and went back to Julie, who held out her coat. Shivering, Charlotte dug into the side pocket. She frowned slightly, and looked in the other one. She looked at Mandy.
“Um, it’s not . . . let me look again . . . ”
I looked over at Mandy. Her eyes narrowed and she pulled her lips back from her perfect white teeth. She looked a little crazy.
“You’d better have it,” she said tightly.
“Let me check,” Julie murmured to Charlotte. “Maybe in your pants . . . ”
“Charlotte?” Mandy walked toward her. “Where’s my locket? ”
Charlotte felt in her jacket, checking the sleeves. She was shaking with cold. “I don’t know! I had it . . . I thought it was in my pocket.”
Now Ida joined in, searching through Charlotte’s clothes. Mandy yanked the coat from them and turned it upside down, shaking it. Julie put Charlotte’s sweater over Charlotte’s shoulders. Charlotte barely noticed.
“If you lost it . . . ” Mandy said, and she looked back over at the pool.
A terrible icy feeling washed over me and my mind filled with the memory of Belle pushing me—correction, pushing Celia—under the water in the huge tub in the bathroom. Forcing Celia’s head down, on the verge of drowning her.
I looked at Charlotte, and at Mandy. My heart skipped a beat. Mandy . . . Charlotte . . . the pool . . .
I was about to step from the shadows and yell at them to stop when the door slammed open. Snowy wind rushed in. There were a few gasps; someone said, “Oh God.” I heard Sangeeta whisper, “Is it Dr. Ehrlenbach?”
Then Julie said, “Shayna?”
I left my hiding spot and quietly joined the group. At five-two, I couldn’t see over Julie, so I gave her a nudge. She glanced at me, looking surprised, then made some room for me.
Lara aimed the flashlight at a figure in the doorway. It was Shayna, dressed in jeans and striped legwarmers, her silver puffy jacket, and a fur hat. She had on black gloves. Her eyes were bulging; her mouth was a huge O and she stared straight ahead, as if none of us were there.
“Hey, good one,” Rose said. A couple of the girls clapped.
Shayna kept staring.
“Oh, I’m so scared,” Claire drawled.
“Shayna,” I said, pushing through the crowd. There was a ripple of comments—no one had seen me, of course. I didn’t care. Something was very wrong.
Something in her face made me stop, dead. I was about two feet away from her, and I was afraid to get any closer. She stared at me; then she gasped.
“Dybbuk,” she said. Or at least that was what I thought she said. I wasn’t sure.
I yanked off my gloves and put my hands on her face. She was freezing. Her lips worked and her shoulders rose. She began to mumble.
“Shayna,” I whispered, aware that everyone was staring at us, not sure what else to do. I tried to ease her back outside, but she remained rooted to the spot. “Shayna, what’s wrong? Tell me.” I pressed my ear against her lips.
“He . . . he . . . ” she whispered. “He . . . ”
She made a strangling sound. I jerked my head, and she didn’t move hers back; we stood nose to nose staring into each other’s eyes. Now she stumbled backward, and shifted her attention over my shoulder, and exhaled in a ragged way, as if someone were repeatedly punching her in the stomach.
I turned. Mandy stood in Shayna’s line of vision. Lara, Susi, and Gretchen stood on her left, and Sangeeta and Alis were on her right. Their eyes were normal, but they were still scary. They looked like a glammed-out gang, the rich bitches of school.
Then suddenly, without warning, Shayna threw back her head and started screaming. That set off a chain reaction, girls shrieking, the tile walls echoing and magnifying the sounds.
“God!” Mandy shouted. She raced forward, knocking me out of the way, and clamped her hand over Shayna’s mouth. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Shayna flailed wildly, batting and kicking at Mandy. Mandy held on.
She’s smothering her, I thought. I raced forward and tried to pry Mandy’s hand away from Shayna’s mouth. Then Shayna staggered backward and landed on her butt on the concrete floor. She heaved, whispering, panting. Tears rolled down her face. She saw me, grabbed at me, chattering at me in what sounded like nonsense. I bent down and she clung to me, jibbering.
“Tell me,” I whispered, “in English.”
“Call someone,” Julie said. “Get help!”
“No one’s phone will work,” Mandy snapped, sounding both frightened and irritated, and I wasn’t sure if she was reminding us or giving an order. Mandy squatted beside me and Shayna clung harder to my hands, gazing up at me with huge, pleading eyes.
“Don’t touch her,” I told Mandy. “She’s scared of you.”
“Oh, right,” Mandy sneered. “Get up, Shayna. Knock it off.”
“She’s having a breakdown,” Ida said. “She needs help!”
“We’ll take her to the infirmary.” Mandy looked over her shoulder. “C’mon, Lara.”
“No.” I said. “No way.” I eased Shayna to her feet, forcing Mandy to break contact. All expression left Shayna’s face and she stared straight ahead—not at me, not at anything. Her hands were icy. I squeezed them. “Shayna, it’s me.”
She didn’t respond.
Mandy raised a brow at me. “We need to get her some help. What do you think I’m going to do, eat her?”
“Oh, God, we’re going to get in trouble.” That was Gina Troyes, who was in Hanover Hall.
“We aren’t,” Mandy said, facing the group. “Not if we stick to a story. Lindsay, Lara, and I heard Shayna screaming and we came running into the quad. The quad. No one else was there. Right?”
The other girls shifted and looked at each other. A few were crying. Julie mouthed, What is going on? And I just shook my head.
Mandy glared at the group. “If you stick to the story, you’ll be okay. But if one person blows it, just one . . . ”
Then she frowned at me. “Let’s go.”
Lara held the door open and we crossed the threshold. The snow was coming down hard and I shivered. The door shut, leaving Shayna and me with Mandy and Lara, and the snow. There was no way I wanted to be alone with them, but I wasn’t going to leave Shayna with them, either. I turned to get someone who was on my side, but Shayna stumbled forward like a zombie and I had to hurry to catch up. Maybe as long as their eyes were normal, we would be okay. Or maybe I should yell for help, wake up an adult. But maybe that would escalate the situation faster than anyone would be able to get to us . . .
“Hurry up,” Mandy said to Lara and me. She wrapped both hands around Shayna’s slack face. “She’s half-frozen.”
I let that simple act of kindness reassure me—or rather, I clung to it like a life ring, hoping that Mandy would stay Mandy and Lara, Lara, as we rushed to the main road, leaving the gym in our wake. I was trembling all over, afraid my knees were going to give way. That was the thing about Mandy—as mean as she was, as thoughtless and cruel, she could also be very charming and sweet. Queen bees didn’t gather loyal followers if the only emotional depth they had consisted of various layers of cruelty. At some point, meanness outweighed any advantages they offered, even for someone as rich and exotic as Mandy.
But there’s Belle, I reminded myself. Mandy had deliberately let Belle come into her life. Maybe she hadn’t known how dangerous Belle was. Maybe her fear had been real when she’d visited Troy in the hospital.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Lara asked, peering at Shayna.
Dybbuk, I thought. Had she really said that? I checked her eyes. Not normal, but not completely black. Her lush dark hair, usually straightened, was now frizzed out, almost like she’d been electrocuted. I couldn’t reconcile the person I saw in front of me with the girl who had whispered her worst fears to me. I slipped my hand through hers, lacing glov
ed fingers, squeezing, trying to get a reaction. There was nothing. It was as if she were . . . empty. After all the screaming, she was left with nothing.
“What did you do to her?” I demanded.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Mandy said. “You’re not blaming this on me. You blame me for everything.”
“What did you do?” My voice rose.
“Jesus, keep your voice down,” Lara snapped.
I pulled Shayna away and wrapped my arm around her waist.
“I didn’t do anything to her. Why would I?” Mandy asked. Her lip curled. “Why would I even bother?”
“You can drop the act,” I said. “There’s no one here but us.”
“Don’t start with me,” Mandy said. “Just shut up and let’s go.”
“Where?” I demanded. “Where are we really going?”
Mandy rolled her eyes. “To the infirmary, tea leaf.” She pointed. “Right there.”
Not fifty feet from us, the old Victorian brick building stood like a stalwart guardian beneath the snow. Mandy rang the buzzer beside the green door and Ms. Simonet, our nurse, answered. Her brown hair shot with silver, she was wearing a bathrobe over plaid pajama bottoms, socks, and nurse’s clogs. As I held onto Shayna, Mandy gave an Oscar-winning performance: worried friend, good deed, scared and cold.
“Shayna, did you take anything?” Ms. Simonet asked her. She meant drugs. Shayna was mute. Ms. Simonet got out a penlight and checked her pupils. “Thank you, girls,” she said. “Go back to your dorms.”
“Okay, Ms. Simonet,” Mandy said. She and Lara took off. Resolute, I remained behind.
“Please let me stay,” I begged.
“Sorry.” She gestured for the door. “You’ve done all you could. Go back to bed.”
I touched Shayna’s cheek.
“She’s so cold,” I murmured.
“Say goodnight,” Ms. Simonet ordered me.
“Goodnight, Shayna. I’ll come see you in the morning.” I tried to smile. I felt horrible. I hadn’t done all I could. I should have . . . what? What could I have done?
“Kill her,” Celia said aloud, in my voice. I coughed to cover it and left, running as fast as I could.
TWELVE
I FELT THE COLD creeping through my head and down through my body as I headed back to Grose: Celia, making me aware of her presence. I shook harder. I thought Shayna and I were going to pull it off—find a way for me to get rid of Celia that didn’t involve killing. But right now, as I was forced to abandon her, I felt such incredible anger rise inside me—that if Mandy had been there—
Yes, Celia said.
I stomped back down the main path staring into every shadow, half-expecting Mandy and Lara to jump me. I listened to my overcranked heartbeat roaring in my ears as I reached the door of my dorm, hoping it was unlocked.
As I touched the handle, I heard whispering behind me. I darted into the bushes at the corner, in the darkness, watching as Julie, Marica, and Ida crept anxiously along the path, like enemy soldiers about to launch a surprise attack. Julie was a pale face surrounded by dark fabric; Marica’s long black hair waved in the wind beneath a fur hat. Ida had on a fur-trimmed hoodie and all I could see of her face were her large, dark eyes.
“Oh my God, that was so weird,” Julie whispered. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“I have. When my abuelo went crazy,” Marica said. “He was like a, how do you say it, a zombie.”
“Ssh,” Ida murmured. “Someone’s here.”
I stepped from the shadows, and Julie ran to me and threw her arms around me.
“Linz!” she cried. “What happened? Where is Shayna?”
“We walked her to the infirmary.” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to leave her.”
“I wouldn’t have wanted to either,” Julie said. She studied my face, silently asking questions I had no answers for.
“Well, what are they doing with her?” Ida demanded.
“Guys,” Ida remonstrated. “Don’t wake up Mrs. Krige.”
“What were you guys doing before you came in the gym?” I asked, trying to make some sense of it all. “Did Mandy move the skinny-dipping from the lake?”
“Yeah, because it’s so cold,” Julie said. The others nodded. “It started in the statue garden—”
Just then, a light went on in our bathroom, illuminating the window I had left open.
“Shit,” Ida said. “Is that Krige?”
We all crouched down, watching as a head poked out. It was Claire, who’d come back ahead of everyone else. We stood and dashed over, Julie in the lead, and Claire leaned out, gesturing for us to climb in.
“You guys, get in here,” Claire said. “Ms. Krige is up.”
We clambered in, even me, and sped through the bathroom. Julie and I flew into our room, where we stripped off our clothes and put on our pajamas, hopped into our beds. I was shaking so hard my head began to throb.
“I’m scared,” Julie whispered. “It was awful.” Then, after a beat, “Were you ever like that? Like Shayna was? Um, when you had your . . . breakdown?”
“No,” I told her, and it was true. “I just cried a lot, and I couldn’t sleep.” I tried to breathe, but my chest was too tight. Shayna. What had they done to her?
What were they doing to her now?
The hall light came on; I could see the light beneath our door, and then there was a soft rap on our door.
“Come in,” Julie said.
It was Ms. Krige, in a long belted apricot bathrobe and a pair of fluffy slippers. She was wearing foam curlers. I didn’t even know you could still buy them. She stood in the doorway for a moment, as if letting her eyes adjust.
“I just wanted to make sure you were all right,” she said. “Sorry to disturb you, girls.”
She shut the door. It was the first time she had ever checked on us. Ever.
Julie turned on the spindly ebony lamp on the nightstand between our beds; the white head gleamed. Julie was clutching Panda to her chest, and she looked like she was ten years old at the most.
“What is going on?” she said.
I got up and went into the hall. Ms. Krige was heading toward her own room by now, and I caught up with her.
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Is it Shayna? I was one of the girls who found her wandering around. I know I should have gotten you, but . . . ”
“Her parents have been called. She’ll be going home.”
“No,” I breathed.
“Dr. Ehrlenbach is with her in the infirmary.” She cupped my cheek. “She’s in good hands.”
No, I wanted to shout, she’s not. No one here is in good hands.
“Go back to bed.” Her voice was kind. Ms. Krige liked me; I wasn’t a rich, spoiled girl who treated her like hired help. At least, that was what she told me when we had parted for winter break. “Try to get some sleep.”
She left me there, and I headed back into our room. Julie was sitting cross-legged, Panda in her lap. The white head was gazing at me. I ignored it and walked to the window. The figure I had seen in Mandy’s window was gone.
“Shayna’s been locked up before,” Julie said, quietly.
“Who told you that?”
“She . . . she sees things.” Her voice was strained.
Like I do, I wanted to fill in. But I kept my face to the window.
“She was on meds,” Julie continued. “Maybe she stopped taking them. Or something.”
Or something. I clenched my hands together. “Why didn’t I know this?”
“I thought you did. Everybody knows, Linz.” She exhaled. “If you were, um, if you had a problem . . . I’d be here for you.”
She’s afraid I might go bonkers, too. Correction: that I’ll go bonkers again.
“Thanks,” I said, fighting back tears. Julie was so sweet, but there was no way she would believe me if I told her what was really going on. I had tried to before, and she made me promise to get help. She had no memory of that horrible night
, the night I had almost died.
Almost been murdered.
“You really took charge tonight,” Julie praised me. She touched her short hair as if gathering up a phantom braid, and then played with her earring instead—a plain gold stud.
“You’re so good. I think that’s why you get . . . you have so much trouble,” Julie said warmly. “You worry about people. That’s nice.” She gave me another hug, and I made her an unspoken promise—that I would keep her safe.
“It must have been so hard for you,” she mused, dropping her voice to a whisper, “watching your mom get sicker. Not being able to help.” She smiled sadly at me, and I shrugged. It was hard. It was horrible.
She looked thoughtful. “Mandy and those guys are still into all that ghost story stuff, like last semester. They’re talking about holding this big group séance. Maybe we could ask if we could—”
“No.” I was nearly yelling and she jumped. “No,” I said more quietly. “That stuff is . . . ” I shook my head. “It’s not good for you.”
A tiny hint of petulance flared across her features, and I could almost hear her snapping back, You’re not the boss of me.
“It’s not good for anybody,” I added, seeing Shayna melt down all over again. A flash of movement in Academy Quad caught my attention; the hair rose on the back of my head as Mandy and Lara slid through the snow, holding onto each other’s arms and laughing. They looked like spiders as they darted along the icy path. As I started to step away from the window, Lara looked up; she jostled Mandy, and both of them smiled straight at me, and waved. I didn’t wave back. Mandy twirled in a little circle, and they melted into the darkness, heading down the hill for Jessel.
“Tell me about the prank,” I said, remaining at the window. Standing guard. “Go through the whole thing.”
“It was kind of random,” Julie said vaguely, as if she didn’t want to talk about it. “Charlotte had to find this old locket, like a scavenger hunt. All she knew was that it was in the statue garden. Mandy has this mannequin and they dressed it up like a goddess and put it with the others. They put the locket around its neck and when Charlotte walked up to it, they made it move. She almost had a heart attack.”