Revealers (21 page)

“I—I don’t want to talk to him, okay?” I say as the sick feeling in my stomach returns. I really don’t think I can face him yet. “Let’s just wait and see what he does. Maybe he won’t be in here long.”

Sascha, Margo, and Zahara nod.

“Whatever,” Dani says.

I hear Connor in the hallway and put my finger up to my lips. “Shh.”

When he stands in the doorway, he looks around the room with a puzzled expression on his face. I realize the room should have been disguised again. He purses his lips, and then walks over to the desk. He sits and jiggles the mouse. The screen saver disappears and he clicks on an e-mail.

“Oh, my God!” he says.

He takes out his cell phone, and punches a couple of buttons. He taps his foot on the floor and then sits up straight in the chair. “Mom! I just got an update. You were right—the bidding is going crazy now.” He nods. “Well, I know you’re busy, but I thought you’d want to know the ghost balls are in the five-figure range. And Mom, get this—Dani’s soul is close to a million! With forty-five minutes left for bidding, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get double that. Mom, we’re gonna be rolling in it!”

“Oh, my God!” I gasp.

Connor drops the phone in his lap, and spins around in the computer chair. I uncloak, and Connor’s face pales as his jaw drops open.

“Hang up,” I say quietly as everyone else uncloaks, too.

He fumbles with the phone and puts it on the desk. “Jules, what are you do—” He sees Dani and moans. “No.”

I stare at him, blood pulsing in my ears. I narrow my eyes and lunge at him. I push him on the chest, and the computer chair slides back and crashes into the desk. ” You bastard! It’s in the other ghost ball, isn’t it? Dani’s soul is in the other ball and you’re auctioning it off!”

I pick up the ball from the box on the desk and hold it up. Dani reaches out for it, and the second I place it in her hand the white light slows and hovers in the center between the two glass threads.

Dani turns to Connor and bares her fangs. “Your auction is officially canceled, asshole.”

Connor stares at Dani and shakes his head. “I—I can’t. The people running it—”

“Uh,” Dani says, “I think it’s safe to say that none of us give a crap about the people running it.” She slips the ball into her cape pocket. “This belongs to me.”

“And you know what?” I pick up one of the ghost balls. “I always thought capturing ghosts was a screwed-up idea, so I’m canceling this auction, too!”

Connor jumps up, fear flashing in his eyes. “Jules, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want you—”

“We bind you to the earth!” Margo yells. She smacks a binder at his feet and the rug fibers, carpet pad, and carpet tacks form long tendrils that twist and crawl up his legs, holding him in place.

“Let’s see, you didn’t want me to find out you were a lying shit? Or you didn’t want me to find out the way the ring really works? Or you didn’t want me to find out you were auctioning off my best friend’s soul?”

Connor stammers and holds his hands out. “L-look, Jules, I only used the ring because there were some things I couldn’t tell you. I wanted to, but when my mom told me about the covenant with the demons I panicked.”

“Then why use the stupid ring at all?”

“Because I knew I’d screwed up, and I didn’t want to lose you. I was trying to protect you.”

I shake my head. “Even if you’re telling the truth now, selling Dani’s soul—well, there’s nothing more to say, is there?” I toss the ghost ball to Sascha who nearly drops it.

“Jules, let me explain,” Connor pleads, his eyes flashing back and forth between the ball in Sascha’s hands and me.

“This should be good!” Dani says.

Sascha scoffs and tosses the ball to Zahara who catches it easily. “Yeah, you just try and explain why you thought it was okay to auction off Dani’s soul.”

“No one knew Dani’s soul was gonna get trapped,” Connor says, looking around at each of us. “The whole thing was an accident, and it’s not like we can put it back!”

“You don’t know that!” Z yells.

Connors worried eyes follow the ball as Z tosses it to Margo. “Well, its not like breaking the ball would help, it would just release it because she’s—”

“Undead,” Dani says. “And the vamp that turned me told me all about the scare-them-straight idea your mother came up with.”

“There could be some spell,” I say, “but even if it isn’t possible to restore her soul, it is freaking unconscionable that you would even consider selling it!”

“Jules, I didn’t want you to know. I’m so sorry,” he says. “I know it was stupid, I just got carried away. I love you. I was doing this so I could be something more for you.”

I look into his eyes and think how much has happened since that night I first kissed him—

and how now, when I look at him all I feel is empty. I shake my head. “I never needed more,” I say quietly. “You really are your mother’s son.”

“No, Jules, don’t say that,” he says. “I screwed up, but I’m not like her!”

I turn to Margo and point toward the ceiling. She tosses the ghost ball up, and as it arcs up near the ceiling, I raise my hand toward it.

“Jules, don’t!” Connor yells.

“Open!” A white pulse of energy leaves me and smashes the ball. Glass tumbles down on Connor as the poltergeist circles the room knocking things from the tables before it zips down the hallway.

I hear doors slamming shut and a loud crash from downstairs. “Gee, I think your house may be haunted, Connor.”

I pick up the other ghost ball. “I think we should let this one loose in the meetinghouse.” I put it in the pocket of my cape, and ignore Connor’s pleas to stay and talk. “You know, we should probably be prepared in case we do run into a demon.” I walk over to the table with the swords.

The one in the middle quivers as I approach.

“Connor, what’s the deal with these?” I ask. “Do any of them cut off the heads of the person picking them up or anything like that?”

“I’m not saying anything until you get rid of this binding crap and agree to talk to me!”

I turn to him with my hands on my hips and I roll my eyes. “Oh, my God! After the stunt you pulled with Dani’s soul, you’re lucky you’re still breathing! So unless you want your nuts zapped, start talking!”

Dani giggles. “Oh, let me do it!”

“I’ll help,” adds Sascha.

“Me, too!” Z says.

“Okay! Okay!” Connor says in a high-pitched voice before Margo can chime in. He places a hand over his crotch. “Only the one in the middle is enchanted—it works on its own, like whoever is holding it doesn’t really have to know how to wield a sword. It anticipates the correct move. Everything else is just a sword.”

“I’ll take that one,” Dani says. “I may be stronger, but I don’t know if becoming a vampire has improved my coordination much.”

Dani takes the sword and points it in Connor’s direction. He flinches when she swishes it around in the air. “You should be scared!” she tells him.

I take a sword with a long, curved blade. I hold it up to the light and examine the sharp edge.

“Oh, I like this one,” Margo says, taking a double-bladed ax with a jewel-encrusted hilt.

“It’s pretty.”

“Yeah, it’s important to have pretty accessories when you’re fighting a demon,” Dani whispers to me.

I glare at her, and she rolls her eyes.

“This is mine!” Sascha says, taking one with some sort of long black animal hair hanging from the sword’s strap.

Z walks over and takes the sword closest to her. “Let’s just get this done and hope we’re still walking the earth when we’re finished.”

I take a deep breath and run a hand through my curls. “Are we ready, ladies?” I ask.

“Hey! What about me? Aren’t you at least gonna get the binder off me?” Connor asks.

I walk up to him and look down at his legs. “Funny thing about binders. Usually they just crumble after we kill whomever we had trapped. How badly do you want them off?”

Connors eyes widen. I can see sweat stains under his arms. “Jules!”

“Don’t worry—unless I’m in a kill-or-be-killed situation, I don’t plan on hurting anyone ever again. Oh, and by the way, in case you hadn’t figured it out—I’m dumping you.”

Connor sighs. “Fine! Whatever! But you don’t really think they’ll just sit back and let you quit? And when my mom finds out the auctions got messed up, she’s gonna go ballistic!”

“He’s right—demons aren’t the only thing we have to worry about,” Zahara says. “Even if we bind our moms they could start throwing spells our way.”

The ghost in my pocket lets out a long, mournful moan.

“Too bad we couldn’t trap their powers in one of the balls,” Margo says.

“Maybe we could,” Dani says. “We could concentrate on their powers and try a command spell—like remove or something. And your mom has a ton of balls in her shop.”

I groan. “Not anymore, she doesn’t. I kind of pitched a fit after you left and broke them.

Wait—I threw one in the pond. We could retrieve it.”

Z shakes her head. “One’s not enough.”

“What if we use it together?” Sascha asks. “If all of us are touching it, maybe it’ll work.”

“Are you insane?” Connor says. “You can’t steal powers!”

“Watch us!” I say. “Actually, that’s a good idea. You can come and watch us take down the coven. Something you said you’d help me do until you turned into a greedy, spineless, chickenshit!”

I look at the binder threads wrapped around his legs. “Maybe we can cut them off or try a release spell?”

“I’ll try,” Dani says, pointing her sword at his legs.

“Oh, no!” Connor says. “I’m staying here. Good luck with your little battle.”

“Just shut up already,” I say, pointing my hand at his head while I examine his bindings.

I look up and see Connors mouth clamped shut, and I’m glad I wasn’t concentrating hard enough to cause it to be threaded shut like the wolfs mouth. I look down at the bindings. “A release command will probably get them off, don’t you think?”

Z nods.

“Dani, can you put the vampire mojo thing on Connor before we try to get these off?” I ask.

“If it works then you can walk him over to the meetinghouse with you.”

Dani sticks out her tongue. “Only if I have to!”

“Umph!” Connor protests, shaking his head wildly.

Dani looks up at Connor dreamily and runs her fingers along his arm. “Do you want to take a walk with me, asshole?”

Connor’s body visibly relaxes and his eyes soften. He nods his head. “Umm.”

“That is one badass power!” Z says. She points her hand to Connor’s legs. “Release!”

The binding slips away from Connor, who is still staring at Dani with a glazed, longing look.

“OK, I’ll fly back to my house and see if that ball is in one piece. And I’ll see you at the coven house in a few!”

I look around at everyone’s faces and wonder if I look as scared and worried as they do.

“We can do this,” I say, but I’m wondering if this moment marks a new beginning or the end.

We stand by a window of the meetinghouse, listening to the argument inside.

“You don’t appear to be listening to me, so I’ll say it again,” Mrs. Robbins yells. ” I don’t care if she’s been turned, and you know perfectly well she can come home.”

“Judy,” Helena says calmly, “you know perfectly well they could’ve told her about the contracts. We can’t have the girls learning about that yet—it’s too soon.”

“We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if you hadn’t come up with the asinine idea in the first place!” Dani’s mom lets out a choked sob. “Sending vampires after the girls—I can’t believe I let you bully me into going along with that.”

“Look,” Mom says. “We can’t undo what happened, but surely we don’t need to make Dani pay for our poor judgment twice. If it were Connor we were talking about, you might take a different view on this, Helena.”

I look at Dani whose eyes are wide with surprise.

“They’re fighting for you!” I say.

She jabs her free hand in the air. “Go moms,” she whispers.

Connor leans into her and sighs longingly. Dani nudges him away and sticks out her tongue.

“His hand is all sweaty, and he’s, like, panting all over me.”

“Seeing as Connor is aware of all of our dealings and is not a security risk,” Helena says, “I certainly would take a different view.”

“Associating with low-life vampires,” Mrs. Robbins says. “Hiring wolves to spy on each other. Anything to make a buck, and my Dani paid the price!”

“Oh, you all protest now, but you’ve been perfectly happy living comfortably off the money we’ve taken in.”

“We were perfectly happy before!” Zahara’s mother says. “Did we really need to buy all that land and build a meetinghouse?”

“Did we really need better cars?” Margo’s mom says.

“It’s bad enough we’re living under the damn covenant,” Sascha’s mom says, “and then you browbeat and threaten us to go along with your plans to use the girls as hired guns. We’ve had enough!”

” I say when it’s enough!” Helena booms. “The demons chose me as this covens leader, and as such I have supreme authority over what activities the coven participates in. Are you ready to follow your husband into hell, Rebecca? Just say the word and I’ll summon a demon for you, and Sascha will be an orphan! Or maybe they’ll take you, Judy? Is a dead daughter worth an eternity in the bowels of Hell?”

“Yes!” Mrs. Robbins shrieks. “Yes, she is! I am willing to risk anything to get Dani back.”

“So be it!” Helena yells.

“Uh, guys,” I say, “I think it’s time we head in there with a new game plan.”

I look each of them in they eye and they nod.

“Okay!” I say. “It’s time we strip the bitch of her powers and find us a new coven leader!” I take the ghost ball out of my pocket and we race up the steps.

“Open!” we yell.

The door slams open and Helena is standing in the middle of the room—her eyes transfixed on a small purple light, the size of an egg, hovering in front of her. ” I summon thee from the place you dwell to come forth and exact my wrath!”

As the purple light twirls and expands, a foul-smelling wind whips around the room. This is what brimstone smells like, I think numbly.

“Hi, Mom,” Connor says dreamily. “Why’d ya open a portal?”