Wicked Sense (8 page)

“I wish I had a sister,” she says, dreamily. “
A real sister.
Someone always by your side,
you know? S
omeone you
love. Someone you can
talk to.”

It’s my turn to chuckle, and
she turns to face me. “What?” s
he asks.

“Mona and I are not like that. At all. I mean, I
like
her
–”

“You mean, you l
ove her
,
” Skye corrects me.

“Okay, okay, love
her,” I say, the
L
-word
leaving a strange taste in my mouth.
“
B
ut from a distance.
Especially now that she’s in a
freakish
phase.
We don’t chat, and we certainly don’t, you know,
talk
.”

She stares at me as if I had just strangled a kitten or something.

We reach a light, and I stare back at her.
The green light appears, and I lose the starin
g contest. I snort, but I feel compelled to add,
“Guys don’t talk.”

“
You
do,” she says
—
not asking.

“I don’t.”

“You would,” she replies with authority.

I keep my mouth shut. Yes, I would.
Who’s this girl, this stranger
who
knows so much about me? Damn, Skye
, stop it
. N
o need to make me want you more.

We mercifully arrive at her house. I want to be with her, but I know
the way she can see through me might
do me harm. She should come with a warning: enjoy Skye with moderation.

***

I drop by Boulder’s after I recover from
hurricane
Skye. Of course, Sean is hanging out
with him
. They’re taking turns updating their status on Boulder’s c
omputer. Hip-hop plays quietly
—
which strikes
me as pointless
,
but I say nothing. 

T
he futon
is free, and I let my body
plunge
there
.
It’s
cool
that
I can just be there while I try to organize
my thoughts
. N
o need to force
conversation.
Sean
browses
through
a
n
X
b
ox
magazine,
sit
ting
close to the desk w
here
Boulder mans the laptop.
Sometimes Boulder says, “Check this out,” and the two of them stare at the screen, laughing. “That’s so messed up,” Sean says, shaking his head. Watching them is maddening
;
they
could
be talking about
anything
.

Sean finally leaves Boulder’s side. He drops on the futon
next to me
and slaps my leg.

“So, how’s the head?”
h
e asks.

“Do I know you?” I deadpan.
“Where am I? What is this place?”

Sean’s
chuckle
is familiar and comforting.
“We were worried, man,”
he
says.

“Yeah,” Boulder booms from the computer
desk
, still glued to the screen. “When we heard you were alone with a girl.”

I can’t help but join Sean’s laugh.

Boulder continues, “Yeah, you’re alone with the new hot chick, you convince her to
follow you
to the woods, and what do you do? You faint!”

Sean and I
guffaw
. I see Boulder
joining us, his
shoulders going up and down.

After our laughter
fades, Boulder asks, “A
re you
going
to school tomorrow?
”

“Nah,” I say.
“
I’ll mi
lk this injury as much as I can.
I’ve got a note from the doctor kee
ping me from school for a week.”

Sean nods
in approval
. “Nice move. What about the girl?”

“I know where she lives,” I say
, shrugging.
“I can
drop by and talk to her away from a crowd
.
”

After a pause,
Sean
says,
“I
still
can’t believe that you took her to the hospital for your first date!”
He chuckles again.

“It
’s worse.
She
took me to the hospital—”
I have a
n
epiphany.
“A date!
I
forgot to
ask her out.”

“Classic Drake,” Boulder
says
from the desk, shaking his head.

Drake
drops me off just as the phone
is
ring
ing
. It’s
my mother
,
calling from London
. I do the time
zone
conversion
:
it’s
2 a.m.
there, 6
p.m.
here. Her performance is over and she’s checking on me.
No way I’m
telling her—or anyone else—about the ritual in the woods. I’m not supposed to have performed it.
It’s
waaay
beyond my training.

“H
ow are you
,
darling
?
” Her familiar
,
stage-
trained voice greets me.
“
Found the Singularity yet?”

“Mu
m!” I say
, admonishing her.
“Someone might be listening.”

“Rubbish! This is paranoia talking. Or are you
assuming
the spy role? I
’ve
always
told you,
darling
, you’d make a fine thespian.”
Mum
sometimes speaks as
if her life is
a play
,
which is not far from the truth
.
“But tell me, any progress?”

“I
’ve
just arrived. I’m still meeting people,” I say evasively.

“Use your True Sight, find the
Sister
, and come back to me,
darling
. I miss you.”

No,
Mum
, you think
you do. If I ca
me back,
I’d get a
week of attention, but soon
you’d be back to your fellow actors,
parties, intervi
ews. And when you’re in a play
,
you sleep
until
3
p
.
m
.
, leaving me alone and vulnerable to all kinds of dangers. Like
Connor
.

As if reading my mind (a
Charm
I’m sure she doesn’t possess), she asks me, “So, any good-looking fellows on your side of the pond?”

“M
u
m, please.
”

“It’s only natural that I ask,” she says, defensively. Natural to her,
maybe. “After
Connor
left, you never went out.”

“I did,
”
I say, but I know what she means.

“With a group, yes, but not with a
lad
. That’s not healthy
. Have you seen him yet?”

“Y
es, Mum. I saw
Connor
yesterday.
”

“And?”

“And he sends his love and says he misses you,” I lie, hoping to appease her.

“Oh,” she says,
delighted
. “He’s always been a gentleman.”

No, he hasn’t!

She continues, “Oh, look at the time. I’m meeting friends for drinks later, and I need to get ready. Bye, baby. Kisses. I love you.”

Out for drinks at
two
in the morning? Typical.

“Love you
too
,” I say. Because I do, nonetheless.

***

The next day we have the dreadful PE class. I
’ve
always hated sports
. If only I had an Athletics Charm…
But then I’d be o
n the other extreme, with world-
class skills. Most people think of steroids every time they see a great athlete performing beyond her age, or way above her peers. If she tests negative for performance-enhancing drugs, I’d
bet good money
she’s a
witch with
an
Athletics Charm. I
t woul
d be fun watching
the Olympics
onsite
some day; with my True Sight I could spot all
Sisters
from the stands.

We
Sisters
don’t necessarily hide.
I
f everybody knew about magic
,
it would
be easy to identify who’s a witch. Some of us possess
Charms to grow old slowly
,
the reason some
movie stars
never seem to age.
It amaze
s
me how people never look into how some actors can chang
e appearances from role to role. T
he Shifting Charm
is handy.

Many
Charms enhance
a
Sister’s
athletic abilities,
but less obvious
ones
also exist
. My True
Sight
is related to improved magical ability, and Judi, a friend of Mum
’s
and my main tutor in the Craft,
has the ability to
perform
powerful rituals. Mum has
the
Charisma Charm, while other actors clearly have the Lust
one
. Intellect-related Charms
owners can have
great
business acumen,
visual arts skills, or scientific inclination.

However,
some Sisters
just waste
their Charms
. I can’t blame them. I could
ha
ve used my Allure to become a
n actress or a model. But that woul
d
lead to a lif
e too similar to my mother
’s
. A fun
life, granted, but that’s just not my thing
.
Also, I’d have to be a foot taller.

“Come on, girls, look alive
!” t
he
PE teacher
yells from the locker room’s door. Running is terrible, but it’s better than organized sports: I have no strength, and my timing is always off. I think I cannot hit, strike, or kick
even
a stationary ball. I leave in a hurry.

We are supposed to circle the school three times. It involves going around the school building, the football field, the yard with outside cafeteria tables, the giant parking lot, and crossing the street to circle the pool building.
So, we run.
Or rather, the other girls run
.
I
just walk fast, a kind of step-
walk. I see a girl who outweighs me two to one passing by
me
. I have no excuse
. This
girl
with
a
determined look
and rosy cheeks
is leaving me
behind
in last place
. I’m a
wuss
. Being the
spoiled
daughter of a movie star
(okay, an often-
sought
after
character actor)
will
do that to you.

I drag myself
to the gym
.
With only my pride hurt, I
get back much later than the others; our PE teacher is not even around
anymore
.
A
lmost everybody
has
already left
when I enter the shower
. I rush through it, skipping the conditioner, fearful of
missing
my
next class. Still wrapped in my towel, I open my locker, and I notice
it’s unlocked
.
I may have forgotten to lock it when I left in a hurry. I am
getting late, so I quickl
y
apply
my
moisturizer
.
Seattle’s weather forces me to take hot showers, and they’re wreaking havoc with my skin, making my face dry and flaky.
My Allure Charm should take care of it in time, but I want to speed up the process.