Eerie (19 page)

Instead of her class schedule, Hailey found inside her mailbox a folded note.

My Dearest ParaFreakazoid,

Your schedule's not done yet.

I'll get to it later. Maybe.

Yours, Fin

How was she supposed to buy her books if she didn't know which classes she had? Fin was going to get her schedule done
now
, and Hailey stormed out of the mail room, across the square, and up the stairs of Eureka Dorm to tell him so. She couldn't believe it! He had plenty of time to entertain the beautiful LOED girl, but he couldn't take five minutes to scribble out her schedule . . .?

After taking the stairs two at a time, Hailey still had a head full of steam and pounded on Fin's door with the side of her fist.

“Enter,” he called, but Hailey pounded again, insisting he answer the door like a gentleman.

“What!” he yelled as he threw open the door. “Ew.” He wrinkled his nose at her. “You look sticky.”

“Do you have my schedule?” Hailey said in voice way nicer than she intended.

“Mmm—maybe...” He smiled with his nose in the air as he pulled an envelope out of his back pocket.

Hailey made a grab for it, but missed when he pulled it out of her reach. “That's not funny,” she told him, trying to sound more mature than irritated, and Fin shook his head with a mischievous smile.

“Ask me nicely.”

“Give me my schedule.”

“You're funny when you try to be angry.”

“I
am
angry.”

“Really?” he said pointing at her chest. “They why are you still hugging my note to your heart?”

Hailey whipped the note down and stuffed it in her back pocket. She hadn't even realized she'd been holding it that way, which made her even angrier.

“I wasn't—”

“—you were,” Fin sang, smiling and nodding and overly pleased with himself. “This isn't your schedule,” he told her waving the envelope, and Hailey sighed.

“When will you finish it?”

“Come see me tomorrow morning,” said Fin, and before Hailey could protest, he slammed his door.

As she sulked toward the stairs, Giselle popped into the hallway out of nowhere, and Hailey ran right into her.

“Watch where you're going,” Giselle spat, but Hailey didn't hear her. She was too distracted by a gorgeous, dark-haired girl, who'd just passed them in the hallway, swishing her hips as she walked up to Fin's door.

“Why do you care?” said Giselle, snapping Hailey out of a very unbecoming stare just before Fin invited the belly-dancer-walker into his room.

“What now?” Hailey smiled brightly at her roommate. “Are you actually talking to me?” she asked excitedly. Then her smile vanished. “What are you talking about?”

“That's Aida,” Giselle informed her. “Pádraig sleeps with her a lot—she's one of his favorites, and she's in love with him, but he could give a shit.”

Hailey didn't know what just hit her, and she stared with a blank face at Giselle. “Wha—I don't—”

“—don't lie.” Giselle grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs. “I saw you clutch your stomach. And all he did was kiss your cheek. But I don't know why you entertain him—you clearly belong to Asher, and Pádraig only touches you to piss him off.”

“Belong . . .?” Hailey pulled her chin back, shaking her head. “I don't—”

“You think you have something special with Pádraig, but that's just his talent. Pádraig O'Shea makes every girl feel like they have something special with him—that's why so many end up naked in his room. He's just an asshole.”

Hailey suddenly missed the time when Giselle wasn't talking to her and stared at the ground as they both walked outside.

“I thought you didn't want to talk to me,” she said as Giselle turned toward the bookstore with Hailey.

“I don't, but Asher scares me.”

“I don't understand,” Hailey said, stopping mid-stride. “Did Asher tell you to talk to me?”

“No, he told me to make sure nothing happens to you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” Giselle snarled as she plucked Hailey's shirt away from her skin with her finger and thumb, “if somebody decides to kill you or maim you or scratch you or...or . . .” Giselle grimaced at Hailey's sticky shirt. “Or coat you in goo, Asher will punish
me
.”

Giselle scowled, releasing Hailey's shirt as they approached the Trinity Center.

“Why would anybody want to kill me?”

“You're annoying.”

Hailey waited for the rest, which didn't come. “ . . .and?”

“There's a price on your head, Hailey,” she said, rolling her eyes as if Hailey should already know all of this. “A lot of non-humans hate Asher for various reasons, but mostly because they're afraid of him. They think they can wound him through you, and they'll risk his wrath, though I don't know why—Asher knows immediately when someone here does something evil, and he never forgives.”

Hailey opened her mouth to ask about Asher, but Giselle cut her off.

“Oh, and humans just hate you because they're lemmings, and they see the non-humans avoiding you like the plague, so they avoid you too. Humans are idiots—why are you glazed?”

“I jumped into an in-between.”

“That was stupid. Where do you think you're going now?” Giselle sounded like an irked mother.

“To the bookstore,” Hailey said, for the first time realizing that Giselle was following her. “I need clothes and . . .” she sighed and kicked the ground. “ . . .everything. Jaycen—the orientation leader—said she'd drive me into town later for some shopping, but . . .” Hailey sighed. “I have nothing here, and I want to get settled in, but I can't even get my books, because Fin never finished my schedule.”

“I wouldn't count on Jaycen,” Giselle said with a dark grunt. “And you don't need your schedule,” she went on like a snob. “All ParaSci freshmen have the same classes. They'll have your list of materials at the bookstore, dumbass.”

“Are you a ParaScience student too?”

“No.”

“Are you a freshman?”

“No.”

Conversations with Giselle just didn't flow, so Hailey tried another topic. “Do you know if Fi—if Pádraig is human?”

Giselle scoffed. “Barely.”

“Do you know what LOED is?”

“It's a club for those who are stuck here.”

“Where?”

“Earth!” Giselle barked, and Hailey could tell she was approaching her chat limit for the day . . .maybe the week.

Wait. Is Fin “stuck here”? What does that mean anyway?
She hesitated to ask Giselle about Fin again.

“Are you stuck here?” What Hailey really wanted to ask was, “What the hell are you?” but she didn't want to be rude. Giselle shot her a dagger anyway.

“Stop asking me stupid questions.”

“Okay,” said Hailey, biting her lip, but she still had one more important one she just had to spit out. “What did you mean when you said I belong to Asher?”

Giselle stopped and grabbed Hailey's shoulder.

“You're joking, right? Don't you know anything about anything?”

Hailey blinked. She liked to think she did, but Giselle made her feel terribly . . .naïve.

“You
are
naïve,” Giselle said, and Hailey gasped.

“Can you read my mind?”

“No,” she said impatiently. “I can tell what you're feeling, though. It's written all over you.” Giselle looked her up and down. “You're intrigued by Asher, but Asher doesn't care about you. He
possesses
you. And if you don't behave the way he wants, he'll kill you.”

Looking away, Hailey shook her head in protest or denial—she wasn't sure which. Asher couldn't be the monster Giselle painted. He was strong and good and . . .and he was protecting Hailey from the real monster—the one that'd killed Holly. Hailey trusted him. He was just being . . .authoritative at Bear Towne. It was his university after all.

“You know, I've hardly seen him since I got here,” she told Giselle reluctantly as they continued walking.

Giselle curled her lip. “Don't get all swoony over him because of the way he looks—any Envoy could look like that.”

Hailey stopped. “What?”

“You didn't think it was weird that Asher looks an awful lot like James Dean?”

“Who?”

“Really?”

“I—”

“Stop. Listen.” Giselle held her hand up, drew a loud, nasal breath, and put on her serious face. “Envoys can make whatever body they want. Most are so socially clueless they end up looking like death. Why should they spend their energy to keep an attractive body? They don't give a shit what people think, and they only see each other as balls of energy.”

“Asher looks normal—better than normal, he—”

“That's the point. He shouldn't. Two decades ago, he didn't.”

Giselle fell to her knees.

“What are you doing?” Hailey asked with a confused chuckle as she bent to help her roommate up, but instead of standing, Giselle fell onto her hands and pressed her forehead to the ground in a full-on grovel.

“Hello, Hailey,” said a familiar, velvety voice.

Hailey turned to find Asher approaching. And he looked angry.

“Hi,” Hailey breathed, and Giselle whimpered.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tied in Knots

“It's necessary to have wished for death

in order to know how good it is to live.”

- Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Asher flicked his stormy eyes at Hailey. “Would you excuse us?” he asked. It was more of an order than a request.

Hailey swallowed hard and nodded. “Of course,” she said with a shaky voice, and Asher grasped Giselle by the arm, pulling her to her feet.

“Asher!” Hailey cried, her heart sinking horribly, and he hesitated without breaking his gaze at Giselle. Hailey shook her head, desperately searching for the words that would spare Giselle from his wrath.

“It's my fault! Giselle didn't do anything,” Hailey begged, as a tear rolled down her cheek, and Asher shoved Giselle to the sidewalk.

Very slowly, he turned to Hailey, his eyes squinted and churning, and Hailey knew not to run from him, even as terror washed over her. She stood her ground and met his eyes as he squared up with her.

“Are you well, Hailey?” He gently brushed the tear from her cheek.

Hailey nodded, relieved he didn't direct his anger at her. “I'm just afraid for Giselle.”

“You care for her, but she doesn't deserve your affection,” he said tenderly. Then he smiled briefly and turned to Giselle, again snatching her up, this time by her ugly gray hair. “I'll return her in one piece,” he promised, and then they both disappeared into thin air.

Asher sensed Jaycen's anxiety before he opened her door. Sure enough, Jaycen was there, wringing her hands inside her dorm room as she nervously paced in a three-foot square, no doubt rehearsing her petition. When Asher and Giselle stepped across the threshold, Jaycen fell to her knees at the Envoy's feet. She quivered there, all but dry heaving in terror until he addressed her.

“You've betrayed me, Jaycen. You've been consorting with the wicked humans. What do you have to say?”

Asher waited for her to regain her composure. He would hear her petition before he destroyed her. Seeing Hailey covered in plasma had ignited his rage, and though he yearned to rip Jaycen to shreds, he would honor the agreement he had with all non-humans at his university and give her a chance to defend herself.

“Jaycen,” he said gently, “I've allowed you to remain here under my protection from them, and this betrayal is how you repay my kindness? You lured her into a place that would have killed her before I even knew she was in danger.”

“I'm so sorry,” Jaycen cried without looking up. “Those DOPPLER men—they lied to me—they tricked me—it was supposed to be a benign in-between, I swear—they said they just wanted to get a bug on the girl—they just wanted to listen, that's all—she wasn't supposed to get hurt! It almost killed me too—please don't punish me . . .”

“I have no intention of punishing you, witch,” Asher said calmly. “Your time on Earth is done.”

“No!” Lifting her head, Jaycen glanced at Asher. “I can't leave my sisters with DOPPLER—they torture witches, Asher, please!” Jaycen looked to Giselle, who stood with her head down.

Asher shoved Jaycen's face to the floor. “Your sisters are wretches, and your soul is as black today as it was the morning you came to me on your hands and knees, begging for my protection.”

“Hailey would understand,” she sobbed. “She wasn't hurt—I pulled her earworm out—I saved her life, Asher—and you would have known if I meant to hurt her—you would have seen it coming,” she tried, and though she was correct, Asher remained unimpressed, and Jaycen babbled on in desperation. “It doesn't make sense, they didn't want her dead—they wanted her alive and bugged so they could spy on you.” She shook her head against the floor. “Someone . . . Someone changed the plan—switched the barrier breaker,” she breathed. “I can find out who did it—I can find out who tried to kill her,” she offered quickly, and Asher lifted his head.

Finally she'd said something he found valuable. The humans at DOPPLER would not have provoked Asher with such a blatant attack—Jaycen was correct, and they risked much in recruiting her to spy for them. Someone undoubtedly leveraged that risk to harm his girl. Such a scenario reeked of Cobon, but Asher had to be sure before confronting his oldest friend.

“You will find out,” he told Jaycen through clenched teeth, “and then you will go to the cage. If you disobey me, if you even look at her, I will finish what I started here tonight.”

“Thank you,” she said eagerly, and Asher grimaced.

“Don't thank me, wretch.”

“I'm not a wretch,” she argued. “I still have my soul.”

“Your soul barely clings to your body. Your wickedness has not abated; you've done nothing to rehabilitate yourself. Soon, your soul will flee, and you'll be a wretch like your sisters.”

Jaycen listened unmoved, and Asher turned to Giselle.

“You know what to do, demon.”

Giselle gnashed her sharp teeth, plunging her hands through Jaycen's chest and holding her soul down while Asher broke it and bent it and twisted it until it resembled something like a square knot.

And Jaycen screeched until she couldn't force air. Her soul writhed in agony that threw black bruises across her skin and pin-pricks of blood through her pores.

“You will live in agony,” he told her as he moved to the window. “Maybe in a few centuries, your soul will work itself loose, and if it does, I will—I promise—tie it tighter.”

When he was through listening to Jaycen's intermittent sobs, he grasped Giselle by her stringy hair and left Jaycen lying on the floor of her room, alive but just barely.

Hailey left the bookstore with an armful of books, a lump in her throat, a box of vibrating crystals, a knot in her stomach, a pair of wellies, heartburn, Bear Towne sweat pants, and a horrible feeling that Giselle was being tortured. Aside from needing clothes, bedding, and every toiletry except for soap, she was ready for her first day of class.

Walking painfully slow and trying not to stick her tongue out as she moved, she managed to carry her stack up the Eureka Dorm stairs without dropping a thing. Even when Fin's latest concubine accidentally bumped her as she sashayed up to Fin's door, Hailey recovered and rebalanced her leaning tower of school books. She did however divert some of her concentration to survey his second girl of the day. This one had bright blue eyes and foot-long eyelashes. After the girl disappeared inside Fin's room, Hailey could hear her giggling through his door as she lingered in the vicinity, pretending to read his whiteboard, which showed:

Dinner then LOED – Back at 8pm

Balancing her stack of books on her knee, she freed a hand to unlock her door then bumped it open with her bum, scooting carefully inside as her crystals teetered precariously on the edge of the heap in her arms. Smiling proudly as she turned into her room, she was enormously relieved when nothing had fallen. It all looked so breakable.

“Oh my goodness!” Hailey jumped back and dropped the whole mess on the floor. In the corner of the ceiling over Giselle's bed hung a thick cocoon of spider webs. The blob inside stirred when Hailey's crystals shattered, and Hailey yelled louder, “Oh my goodness!”

Fin slid to a stop at her side almost instantaneously, while the eyelash girl waited several paces away, twirling her hair with her finger.

Hailey pointed to the web.

“L-Look!” she said, backing away in alarm. Surely the spider that created this web was huge and probably still inside her room, but Fin rolled his eyes.

“It's just Giselle,” he said over his shoulder as he swaggered off. “Take a shower, Hailey, you smell like cat pee.”

“My roommate's a giant spider,” Hailey whispered to herself as she watched every step Fin took.
Giant spider
. He offered his arm to the eyelashes, which she of course took—
giant spider
—and he escorted her toward the stairs. Giant spider. Hailey stepped back and craned her neck—
giant spider
—to watch him walk for a half-second longer.
GIANT SPIDER!

Hailey whipped her head around and looked at the cobwebs inside her room.

“Giselle?” she said, wrinkling her nose. “You alright?”

“No,” came a stuffy-nosed, unalarmed voice from the corner, and Hailey hesitantly stepped over her broken, but still vibrating crystals, ducking and checking the ceiling corners as she crossed the threshold.

“Wha . . .ummm . . .” Hailey breathed heavy, her heart racing as she looked around the room. “Is there a giant spider in here?”

“No!” she answered loudly, and Hailey heaved a great sigh of relief as Giselle wriggled inside the cocoon.

“Do you need help getting out of that?”

“No!” Giselle yelled, becoming more agitated as Hailey lobbed questions at her.

“What did this to you?” Hailey asked, half-expecting her to say “Asher,” and Giselle thrashed angrily inside her silky shroud until it ripped open. Coming loose from the ceiling, she floated gracefully down and sat, shoulders hunched on her bed.

“
Nothing
did this to me,” said Giselle irritably with her back to Hailey. Then she sniffled.

“Are you crying?” Hailey moved to Giselle's bed. Tentatively, she reached her hand out, only hesitating for a moment before she softly patted her shoulder.

Giselle angrily shook her off and jerked her head up. “Don't touch me,” she barked, and Hailey gasped.

“Are you crying cobwebs?” she said with a mix of shock and horror.

Giselle pulled a long string of silk from her eye, balled it up, and threw it on the floor.

“Oh, Giselle,” Hailey breathed, stepping back. “You're crying cobwebs.”

“Duh!”

“Sorry,” Hailey said quickly. “I've never seen anyone cry cobwebs before,” she told her roommate apologetically, and then she plopped on the bed beside her and threw her arm around Giselle's shoulder. “You want me to find you a hanky?  . . .or one of those cobweb dusters? We'll need a big one,” she said lifting her eyes to the ceiling, and she could have sworn Giselle let out a single giggle.

“Get away from me,” she said, but not in her angriest voice, and Hailey slouched back to her own bed.

“I was afraid that I got you in trouble,” she told Giselle.

“You did worse than that.”

Hailey's heart sank. “What happened? Where did you guys go?”

“To punish Jaycen—he made me hold her soul down while he tied it, so I could feel her pain and her fear—he thinks it keeps me in line,” she told Hailey, pulling another string from her eye. “He makes me help him with all his punishments—that's why everyone's afraid of me.”

“How do you hold down a soul?” Hailey asked, mortified. “How do you
tie
a soul?” she said, with her hand to her heart, unable to imagine the agony.

Giselle didn't answer.

“I'm really sorry, Giselle,” Hailey told her. “Is Jaycen alright?”

“Jaycen?” Giselle spat. “Who cares? She deserved it—she almost killed you, Hailey.” Giselle wiped a ribbon of web from her chin and threw her hand out. “She's been here for years, and she doesn't even try to rehabilitate herself.” She put her nose in the air and sniffed.

Hailey had no idea what she meant by “rehabilitate herself,” and she wasn't sure she wanted to ask.

“She didn't try to kill me. I jumped into that in-between, and she actually helped me get rid of a tunneling earworm.”

“She lured you, dumbass. She used a barrier breaker—

“What's a barrier breaker?”

“It's a bomb, you idiot. It tears the veil a little—it creates a temporary in-between. She opened a lethal one, knowing you'd come in after her. She only pulled out your earworm, because she's dead scared of Asher.”

“Oh,” said Hailey, clutching her stomach. “Why would she do that to me?” Taking a great breath, she tried not to think about suffocating inside a jellied in-between.