Betrayal (17 page)

‘Except Peter, but he’s seen it before.’ Jess couldn’t stop thinking of the expression on her brother’s face. Shocked and almost lifeless. She’d had her mom come and pick him up, making up a story about how he’d fallen and hit his head on one of the benches. She figured a concussion would explain how out of it Peter was. ‘I don’t know if he’s going to get over it this time,’ she added.

‘I know how he feels,’ Luke said.

He sounded as shocked and lifeless as Peter had looked. Jess probably did too. She could hardly think because nothing made sense any more. ‘Maybe I should have told my mom I got a concussion too,’ she said. ‘I don’t know if I can function enough to get through the day. Eve … Eve’s been my best friend since practically for ever. I just don’t …’ A salty lump formed in her throat and she could hardly choke out another word. ‘I feel like she’s gone.’

‘Did you notice …’ Luke hesitated.

Jess swallowed hard. ‘What?’ she prompted. She needed to talk. She needed help understanding.

‘Eve was especially upset right before those demon birds crashed through the window,’ he said.

Jess nodded. ‘Her face was all flushed and her fingers were twitching the way they do when her power is gearing up. For a second I thought she was going to shoot out some lightning, the way she did in my room.’

‘Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. It seems like she’s having a harder and harder time controlling herself. Her power. When she gets angry …’

‘
Kapow
,’ Jess said softly.

Luke leaned towards her, and when he spoke, his voice was hardly more than a whisper. ‘Alanna thinks maybe the demon part of Eve is getting stronger: that’s that why she’s changed so much and why she keeps losing control. The timing of those birds really bothers me. It’s like they showed up right when she was so upset that she could hardly keep it together.’ He shoved his fingers through his hair. ‘I feel like I shouldn’t be saying that about her. Even after everything she’s done. She stole the sword, Jess! And ruined your dress.’

Jess nodded. ‘She’s changed. So, so much.’ She hesitated, then continued. ‘Do you think maybe she made them come here, those hideous birds? Like Peter said, maybe she draws demons. Or, God, could she have called them with her power?’ Jess brought one of her fingers to her lips. She’d broken herself of nail-biting in the seventh grade. But now she really, really wanted to.

‘I’m thinking all kinds of bad things,’ Luke admitted. ‘I don’t want to, but, well, you saw her that day in the forest. It’s not a very big leap to go from that kind of destruction to calling up demons, is it?’

‘But she fought against them,’ Jess reminded him. ‘They were attacking her. You saw the blood on her.’

‘Maybe the demon part called the other demons up, but then the Eve part managed to take control and fight them.’ Luke looked down at Eve’s earring in his hand. He’d been holding it the whole time they’d been talking, but it seemed like he’d forgotten what it was until that moment. ‘That demon the two of you fought, the slimy one? How was Eve feeling before it showed up?’

Jess thought back. ‘She was really upset when we first got to my house. She thought both of us were against her. That we were siding with the Order about the force field.’

‘The force field.’ Luke shook his head. ‘You know, Eve was right about that. They did put it up to control her. They wanted to observe her, and they sent Alanna here to check the situation out and let them know if Eve was a threat.’

‘A threat?’ Even after what had happened, it was almost impossible for Jess to think of her best friend that way.

‘That’s what she said,’ Luke answered. ‘What were you going to say about that other demon? Was Eve upset just before it appeared?’

‘She was a lot more upset when she first got to my house. We watched a movie, and had some chocolate, and when she left, I thought she was feeling a lot better.’ It had been such an Eve-and-Jess afternoon, after all. Nice. Normal. ‘Then we fought the demon together, and she seemed totally on. It was even fun.’

‘That’s been bugging me too. How Eve finds fighting fun. It’s like she loves the violence in a way she didn’t before,’ Luke said.

‘I had fun kicking that goopy thing’s ass. I really did,’ Jess said softly.

‘You didn’t steal from one of your friends. You didn’t destroy something one of your friends loved,’ Luke reminded her.

The dress. Her beautiful dress. Just thinking about it made Jess feel like crying. Thinking about Eve ripping it up made her feel even worse.

‘What about the first Deepdene Witch?’ Jess felt a surge of hope. ‘She didn’t go bad, at least nothing we’ve found out has said so. It seemed like she was helping people her whole life. And she had demon blood too.’

Luke scrubbed his forehead with his fingers. ‘Maybe she was stronger than Eve. Maybe she was able to push the demon side down.’ The first bell rang. ‘I guess we have to go in. Be normal.’

Jess didn’t know if she could. Not when she didn’t know where Eve was. Or who she was.

At least I got a new blouse out of the stinking heap of badness that’s been my day so far
. The thought didn’t cheer Eve up the tiniest bit, even though the blouse was gorgeous, silk crepe with a vibe that was part military and part boho. Still, at least now she didn’t have to walk around Manhattan in a shirt that had holes and rips and blood stains from the pecking and scratching of those hideous birds.

She hadn’t exactly planned to go to the city. She’d run to the station, just wanting to get away, away, away. She’d gotten on the first train, and went into some kind of mental brown-out, not really thinking, rocking with the motion, staring out of the window without really seeing anything. Every train heading west ended in Manhattan, so when the ticket-collector had come round, she’d given that as her destination and paid.

It had been a good choice. There were so many people on the sidewalks, so many cars on the streets, so many sounds and smells and sights that Eve felt like a little speck of a thing, completely anonymous. Now that she’d gotten out of her bird-ravaged clothes, nobody even glanced at her. Nobody particularly cared about her. Which meant nobody hated her the way Luke and Jess did.

God, Luke and Jess
hated
her. Eve still hadn’t quite figured out how that had happened. Sure, she’d had fights with both of them, but a fight was just a fight. Usually after you fought with your friends, you both said sorry and everything went back to normal. But instead, Jess started accusing her of shredding the prom dress and Luke accused her of stealing the sword, and both of them were acting like Eve had suddenly turned evil or something. Even though she’d saved the town – or at least part of it – once again. She’d saved most of the prom decorations too, thank you very much.

Eve stepped out of Bloomingdale’s and started up Third Avenue. She couldn’t stop herself from pausing in front of one of the store’s huge window displays. There was a dress that would be perfect for Jess to wear to the prom. It was almost completely the opposite of the Dolce & Gabbana gown, which was a good thing. Jess didn’t want to wear anything that would remind her of the ruined dress. And this dress wouldn’t.

For starters, this dress was short, very short. And it didn’t have a romantic feel, it was full-out sexy: silver, with a geometric pattern that looked like it could have come out of a cool sci-fi movie. The only thing it had in common with the other gown was that they were both complete show-stoppers. And that the pink crystal pendant would go great with both. It would really pop against the silver.

Should I go back in and put it on hold for her?
The thought was automatic. It took a few seconds for Eve to remember that Jess would probably never even speak to her again. And Eve wouldn’t want to talk to her anyway, not after the things that Jess had said in the gym.

Eve started walking again, picking up her pace to match the flow of the crowd. On 60th Street, she took a right. A frozen hot chocolate probably wouldn’t make her feel any better than the new blouse did, but she always went to Serendipity when she was in Manhattan – she had since she was a little girl. And most of those times Jess had been with her. It was totally touristy, but they loved it.

She really had to stop thinking about Jess. It hurt too much. She didn’t want to think about Luke either. Not unless she wanted to end up crying on the streets of New York.
I don’t want to end up crying in Serendipity either
, she told herself as she reached the restaurant’s black awning. She managed to ask for a table for one in a voice that didn’t tremble even a little. So far, so good.

Eve ordered lunch first, even though she wasn’t hungry. But she needed a place to sit for a while and … and she didn’t even know what. Calm down? Try to glue herself back together? What were you supposed to do when your whole world turned upside down?

To occupy herself while she waited for her food, she re-read the familiar menu. She wondered what Luke would have to say about the Golden Opulence Sundae, the most expensive sundae in the world. It cost a thousand dollars and had ingredients from all over the globe. Luke would probably—

Eve suddenly felt like she was breathing in little shards of glass. Why had she let her brain go there? The image of Luke’s face twisted in anger as he yelled at her filled her mind. Thinking about him was as bad as thinking about Jess. She wondered how long it would keep hurting. She wondered if she’d ever actually be able to stop thinking of one or the other of them every few minutes.

It definitely hadn’t happened by the time she finished her food and started on her frozen hot chocolate. Hot chocolate reminded her of Jess and Luke. They both knew—

‘Eve! I knew you’d be here. When I couldn’t find you anywhere in Deepdene, I knew it!’

It was Jess! Jess was flying across the room towards her. And she was smiling. Smiling, but with tears running down her face at the same time.

Eve stood up so fast that she almost knocked over the wrought-iron chair. ‘What are you doing here?’ she exclaimed.

Jess hugged her hard. ‘I came to tell you I’m sorry. I’ve been the hugest idiot.’

‘I’m sorry too!’ Eve realized she’d also started crying.

‘You don’t have anything to be sorry for,’ Jess protested.

‘Yeah, I do.’ They both sat down at Eve’s table, and Eve wiped her eyes with a napkin. ‘I’m sorry I got so mad at you and Luke when you guys said I shouldn’t take the force field down without knowing what was going on. I just got stuck on the fact that they’d put it up in the first place. And, also, I
have
been jealous of you. Just a little,’ she added quickly. ‘I’ve been having panglets of jealousy. But it’s not because you’re going to the prom. It’s just because I always thought we’d have the whole prom experience together.’

Jess teared up all over again. ‘Oh. I’m an idiot. How could I not realize that? We’ve been talking about double-dating to the prom since we were five.’

‘But I’m also so happy for you,’ Eve added. ‘And I think I found you a dress you’ll love as much as the first one!’

‘Really? Yay!’ Jess exclaimed. ‘And if you’d been going to the prom and I wasn’t, I’d definitely have had panglets too.’ She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her tear-streaked face. ‘Nice blouse …!’

‘I still can hardly believe you’re here,’ Eve said after Jess had gotten set up with a frozen hot chocolate of her own. ‘You were so mad when I left. What changed your mind?’

‘When you ran off, I couldn’t shake my feeling that … well, that I just didn’t understand what was going on. And I got worried about you,’ Jess explained. ‘So then I realized that if I
really
thought you were a demon, I wouldn’t be worried at all. I’d be glad that you left.’

‘Hold on. You thought I was a demon?’ Eve cried.

‘Not completely a demon. Just maybe that the demon part of you was getting stronger than the
you
part of you.’

Eve stared at her, shocked. She didn’t know what to say. She felt like she’d been hollowed out. Her best friend thought she was turning into a demon?

Jess put her hand on Eve’s arm. ‘That day in the woods, you were pretty scary,’ she said softly. ‘And then when Peter said you were in our house right before my dress was slashed …’

‘But I wasn’t there. I wasn’t,’ Eve insisted. ‘I have no idea what Peter was talking about.’

‘I believe you. I promise,’ Jess told her. ‘Like I said, I knew I wouldn’t be feeling so worried about you if I really thought you were going all demony. And if you weren’t going all demony, then, of course, you wouldn’t rip up my dress. And you’d never hurt Peter. How could I have thought that? You’re the one who saved Peter’s life when Amunnic snatched him. You’ve saved lots of people, Eve.’

‘Everything’s so confusing.’ Eve rubbed her temples, hoping that would make her think more clearly. ‘Why did Peter say I was at your house when I wasn’t? And why did Luke accuse me of stealing the sword? Why would I steal his sword? I don’t need it to fight demons, I have my zap.’

‘I don’t know about Peter. Maybe he got the day wrong. Or even the person wrong. He’s been really out of it lately. Not all the time, but some of the time when I talk to him it’s like he isn’t even there. Kind of like that day when he was spaced out in front of the TV,’ Jess answered. ‘And as for Luke … you might have Alanna to thank for his weirdness.’