Betrayal (7 page)

‘Are you sure you should be standing up already?’ Jess protested. ‘You looked really terrible.’

‘Thanks,’ Eve joked. ‘But I feel fine.’ Actually, now that she could concentrate on the power thrumming through her body she felt more than fine. ‘It’s just like yesterday. I got incredibly cold and I couldn’t breathe. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been here to pull me back.’ Except she did pretty much know. She’d have ended up one of the dead things in the woods. ‘It hit me so suddenly, then it left almost as fast,’ Eve continued, pushing the horrible thought away.

‘It was the only thing I could think to do,’ Jess answered. ‘You got better when Luke pulled you back from the place before, so I tried it.’

Eve looked around. ‘You know, this is almost where we were yesterday. Remember, we were practically up to where the woods end in East Hampton.’

‘Let’s get away from here,’ Jess said. She gave Eve’s arm a tug.

‘We’re the Deepdene Witch and a kung fu master. We don’t need to run away from anything,’ Eve told her. She wished she had something to direct her power at, something to
fight
.

Jess gave a sharp nod. ‘You’re right. But we do need to figure out what’s doing this to you. To
you
specifically,’ she added. ‘I didn’t get even a little shiver and I was standing right where you were. The guys were fine yesterday too.’

‘That’s true.’ Eve hadn’t really thought about that part. She took out her iPhone. She used the GPS app to pinpoint her position on the map. Then zoomed in closer, closer. ‘We’re only a few steps away from the official borderline between Deepdene and East Hampton,’ she murmured.

‘Ooo-kay.’ Jess said slowly. ‘And that matters why? It’d be weird if the official border did anything to you.’

‘My life has been all about the weird since school started,’ Eve reminded her, not that Jess needed a reminder. She’d seen most of the weird firsthand. ‘And don’t you think it’s also weird that I’d have the same reaction in the same place?’

‘Yeah, that’s weird.’ Jess peered over Eve’s shoulder at the map. ‘All right, we have a hypothesis. Ms Whittier would say the next step is an experiment.’ Ms Whittier was one of the school biology teachers.

‘With me as the lab rat,’ Eve said.

Jess winced. ‘Sorry.’

‘I think what I need to do is try to cross the border in a different spot,’ Eve said, dreading the possibility of feeling another blast of freezing pain and being unable to breathe. ‘Let’s walk down that way, then I’ll give it a shot.’

‘Maybe you can use this for the science fair next year. You know your mom would pass out with joy if you entered,’ Jess joked as they began walking, but Eve could hear the worry in her friend’s voice.

‘You’re not going to believe this, but it’s been a whole two days since she last talked to me about the state of my extra-curricular activities and how important they are to getting into the right school. Two days. As in two!’

‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could use being the saviour of our town as an extra-curricular? Now
that
would be impressive,’ Jess commented.

‘
That
would get me a long stay in a psychiatric hospital,’ Eve countered.

‘Good point. Guess you’ll have to join the choir or something,’ Jess said.

They walked for about a quarter of a mile. Eve checked the map. ‘Let’s try here. The border curves out up ahead.’ She turned to face the invisible boundary and sucked in a deep, deep breath, as though that might help if her lungs iced up again. Then she started towards it.

‘Oh, Eve, ick! Dead-thing alert,’ Jess called.

Eve stopped in her tracks. ‘I see it.’ She wished she hadn’t. It was a small possum, and its throat was cut, just like the squirrels and Pumpkin the cat. Its fur was splotched with blood. ‘Poor th—’ She didn’t finish. It was starting. The tingling in her arms told her that the goose bumps had popped up, and a moment later her teeth began to chatter.

‘Stop there,’ Jess said. ‘You don’t need to keel over. The same thing is happening, right?’

Eve took three big steps back, and it began to feel like May again. ‘Yeah, it was happening.’ She rubbed her arms with her hands, even though the goose bumps had disappeared. The East Hampton side of the border didn’t look any different from the Deepdene side. What was going on? Why did this keep happening to her – and just to her?

‘When’s the last time you left town?’ Jess asked.

Eve thought back. ‘It was before the quarantine when Amunnic was here.’

A nasty plague came to any place where Amunnic was. It was actually a good thing – a kind of advance warning system, which also stopped the demon drinking your blood if you caught it. The Center for Disease Control didn’t know that though, and so Deepdene had been put into quarantine. ‘I think it was the week before that we went to your cousin’s party in Montauk.’

‘Oh, yeah. Right,’ Jess said. ‘So something has happened between that day and yesterday; something that won’t let you out of town.’

‘Something powerful,’ Eve said.

Jess’s brow furrowed. ‘Do you think we’ve got another demon on the loose?’

‘I think it’s time to give the third musketeer a call,’ Eve said as she and Jess started home. ‘Luke’s going to want to know what happened.’

‘Do we have to be musketeers? I’d rather be Charlie’s Angels,’ Jess said.

‘Fine by me. As long as you’re the one who tells Luke he’s a kickass girl.’ Eve pulled out her cell, and a second later Luke was saying ‘hello’ into her ear. She hadn’t realized exactly how much she’d wanted to hear his voice.

‘Hey, Boo-Boo.’ Eve decided it was time to find the perfect he’s-my-boyfriend nickname for Luke. ‘I had another one of those episodes in the woods,’ she told him.

‘What? Are you OK?’ he cried. ‘And did you just call me Boo-Boo?’

Cross Boo-Boo off the list. He’d sounded almost as horrified by the nickname as he had by what happened in the woods. ‘I’m fine. Jess pulled me back, Pork Chop,’ Eve added as an experiment.

‘Pork Chop? Uh, could I talk to Jess for a minute?’

‘Luke’s afraid I got some brain damage out there,’ Eve told Jess. ‘I’m trying to find a nickname for you, that’s all,’ she explained to Luke. ‘I’m guessing you don’t like Pork Chop either.’

Luke laughed. ‘You can call me anything you want as long as you’re all right.’

‘I am. I swear. And the two of us figured something out. When the cold feeling hits me, I’m right at the town boundary between Deepdene and East Hampton. Freaky, right?’

‘Big yeah,’ Luke said. ‘I’m just over at the Y, playing some b-ball. We’re almost done. Want to meet me at my place? We should try to figure this out.’

‘Luke wants us to come over,’ Eve told Jess.

‘We’ll be there,’ she said to Luke as Jess nodded hard. ‘Bye, Love Boodle.’ She hung up before she could get Luke’s response to that one. She and Jess began walking faster. Eve figured Jess was almost as eager as she was to get out of the woods and over to Luke’s. If this was another demon attack, they’d figure out together what they had to do. They always did.

‘If there’s badness, I hope pretty soon we’ll have something I can kick,’ Jess said. She slammed one leg straight out to the side in a kung fu move. She was getting good.

‘And I hope pretty soon I have something I can zap,’ Eve agreed as they reached the edge of the woods. She had all kinds of power. She could feel it now, coiled inside her, and she wanted to use it. She
needed
to use it.

‘I just want to run into the D&G boutique on the way,’ Jess said. ‘They’re only holding the dress for me until the end of the day, and I don’t want to let it go.’

‘You’re getting it?’ Eve asked. They stepped out of the woods and turned onto Main Street.

‘I know there are hundreds of other dresses out there, and we haven’t even been to New York, but …’ Jess gave a little shrug.

‘It looks awesome on you,’ Eve said, because it did, and because she wanted to be a good friend. She didn’t add that it would also look awesome on her. Or that she’d had dibbies on it.

‘We still have to make our trip to the city, though,’ Jess said. ‘I need shoes, and a clutch—’

‘And frozen hot chocolate,’ Eve added.

‘And that, absolutely,’ Jess said.

‘It won’t work very well if I can’t cross the town line, though,’ Eve said, frowning, as they made their way down Main Street.

‘We’ll get you out, even if we have to dig a tunnel,’ Jess promised.

Eve knew she’d do it too. ‘I’ll wait for you out here,’ she said when they reached the boutique. ‘I’m just loving being in the sunshine. When I get hit with that – whatever it is – it’s like I’ve walked into a blizzard.’

‘Are you still cold?’ Jess asked.

Eve shook her head. ‘It goes away really fast. But the sun still feels good.’ She tilted her face up, letting the rays stroke her skin.

‘Be right back.’ Jess headed into the shop and was back out a few minutes later with a big bag and a big smile. ‘Now on to Luke’s. Or do I get to call him Love Boodle too?’

‘You can try,’ Eve told her. ‘But I’m not going to be responsible for what happens if you do. I don’t think it’s going to make the cut for his pet name.’

‘My vote – Hugalumps,’ Jess offered.

The rectory was only a few blocks from the boutique. They came up with – and discarded – Luke boyfriend names all the way there. When they arrived, Luke was out front, waiting for them. He hurried over to Eve and wrapped her in his arms. ‘You’re sure you’re OK?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely. And I’ll be more than OK once we figure out what’s going on,’ Eve said.

‘Come on in, and we’ll get at it,’ Luke said. ‘But later, I’m taking you out and we’re going to have fun, with no talking or even thinking about demons.’

‘Does that invitation include me, Numnums?’ Jess used the silliest name she and Eve had been able to come up with.

‘If you bring Seth,’ Luke answered. ‘I’m not sure I can handle a date with the two of you.’

‘You definitely can’t. Together, we’re way too much woman for you,’ Eve told him as he ushered them inside. He got them settled at the kitchen table with sodas and jalapeño kettle chips.

‘I was thinking maybe the first thing we should do is call the Order,’ Luke said, his voice losing all its teasing tone. Time to get down to business.

‘We could do some research online first,’ Eve suggested. ‘See if there’s anything about – I don’t know – paranormal phenomena along borderlines.’ The Order had a lot of information in their archives. She realized that. But … they knew she was part demon now that they’d tested her blood. Their attitude towards her was different: they were wary of her, maybe even a little suspicious. She didn’t want to go running to them every time something strange happened in Deepdene, not when she felt as if they didn’t trust her.

‘It couldn’t hurt to check with them, though,’ Jess said. ‘We can do our own research while they search through their archives.’ She and Luke both looked at Eve, waiting for her response.

‘Sure, let’s call them,’ she finally said. ‘You talk, Luke, OK?’

‘Yeah.’ He grabbed the phone. ‘I’ll put it on speaker.’ Luke pulled a business card out of his wallet, the card that Callum had given him. Eve hoped that Callum was available. She didn’t want to have to deal with Alanna, the only other Order member they’d met since Payne.

Alanna hadn’t liked Eve even before she found out that Eve was part demon. She’d seemed jealous that Eve had inherited demon-killing power, while Alanna could only fight demons with one of the Order’s magical swords. Also, Alanna always flirted with Luke. Always. She obviously wasn’t serious about it because she was way too old for him, in her early twenties. She just did it to annoy Eve, which it did. Probably at least partly because she was ridiculously beautiful!

It was Callum who answered, so that was something. ‘Luke, how are you? How are things in Deepdene?’ he asked.

Hearing his voice, Eve pictured the lines carved in his face and his kind grey eyes. Then she remembered that the last time she’d seen him, those eyes had been filled with revulsion and pity.

‘Hey, Callum,’ Luke replied. ‘Things are weird in Deepdene, which I guess means things are pretty normal. Eve and Jess are here with me, and we wanted to see if you knew of anything that could make Eve feel cold, so freezing she can hardly breathe. It’s happened to her a few times out in the woods, always right at the border between our town and East Hampton.’

‘Actually, I do,’ Callum responded. ‘At least I believe I do.’

‘What is it?’ Eve sounded more impatient than she’d meant to.

‘Approximately a week ago, the Order spotted some indicators that Deepdene might be the target of another demon attack,’ Callum said.

‘Wait. A
week
ago? Why didn’t you tell us?’ Luke demanded. ‘What kind of demon attack are we talking about?’

‘We came up with our own way to keep you three and the town safe,’ Callum said, not responding to Luke’s request for information on the possible attack. ‘We were able to put a … let’s call it a protective field around Deepdene that no demon can cross. We didn’t know that it would affect Eve. Honestly, a human who has some demon blood isn’t something we’ve had much experience with.’