Entangled (15 page)

“So what are you going to do?” Raj asked as they headed to the parking lot.

“I don’t know. My mom’s waiting for her mysterious contact to get back to her. Whoever brought me back better be able to fix this. I can’t spend the rest of my life trapped inside Charlene’s body. I don’t even get full access to it. I’m a part-timer. Half a human. And I don’t even get a cool identity. I get to be the sister slut.”

“I take it she’s aware of what’s happening.”

Gray snorted. “She made me a manual on How to Be Charlene. Oh yeah, there’s instructions on everything from hair and makeup to acceptable behavior. I’ve got a dress code and everything.” Gray glanced down once more. “Thus the slutty skirt. Even when I’m myself I don’t get to be me.”

Gray had only been half paying attention as she walked alongside Raj to the parking lot. His car was the sole vehicle around. “Did you drive?” he asked.

“I’m parked on the street.”

“Wanna grab a mocha at The Daily Grind?”

A hot mocha sounded good and it wasn’t like this was a date. Gray had bumped into Raj. They just happened to be two people in the same place at the same time with a simultaneous craving for caffeinated chocolate.

Gray walked around Raj’s car and opened the door of the passenger’s side. The handle lifted without interference. “Still not locking your doors, McKenna?” She caught his eye across the hood of the car. Raj flashed her the first smile she’d seen since… well, since she’d died. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that mischievous self-assured grin.

“At least this time I can see you getting in.” They both settled into their seats. Raj rested his arms on the steering wheel and stole a look at Gray. “You still haven’t explained your invisibility spell to me.”

“You really want to know that spell?” Gray asked.

“Yes, I do.”

She grinned and motioned him closer with her finger. Raj pressed his lips together and shook his head so Gray leaned across the armrest till her face was a foot away from his. “I’ll take it to my grave.”

Raj chose the table in the back corner of The Daily Grind. The Grind wasn’t your typical dark-paneled, cozy coffee house. The walls were glass windows and the place had a high ceiling. It looked modern, light, and clean. There was the additional benefit of drawing an older crowd rather than McKinley students.

Gray had already polished off half her mocha. She was trying to take time to enjoy it, but it was way too tasty.

“What happened with the spell?” Raj asked. He didn’t lower his voice or shift uneasily the way Nolan did when discussing magic in a public place.

Gray drank another sip of her mocha. “No idea. My mom asked to have both her daughters. She didn’t specify having us in separate bodies.”

Raj, who had been tapping the table before, now tapped his white enamel mug. It was probably better to have him tapping tables and cups than flicking his Zippo on and off inside a café. “How did it happen exactly? Were you pulled out of a magical realm?”

“Nope.” Gray took another sip. “There was nothing. No consciousness. Nada.”

“There can’t just be nothing.”

“I’m telling you there was nothing.”

Raj stopped tapping his cup. “You must not remember.”

“Maybe ’cause there’s nothing to remember.”

Raj leaned forward. “Or maybe you weren’t really dead. Maybe you were in an alternate dimension. That must be why your mom was able to get you back.”

Gray crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. A smile quirked over her lips. “This really bothers you, doesn’t it?”

Raj straightened up. “What?”

“My account of the hereafter… or lack thereof.”

“I hardly think you’re an expert.”

“Right. I only died and came back to life. So many people know what that’s like… for a minute. Don’t forget I spent seven whole weeks in sweet oblivion before returning—none of this dead for several seconds, saw the light hoo-ha.”

“You’re jaded.”

“Funny, I thought that description better suited you.” Gray finished the rest of her mocha.

Raj raised a brow. “Would you like another?”

“I probably shouldn’t.”

Raj stood up. Gray was glad he didn’t try to talk her out of it. She began digging through her bag. “Gray,” he said firmly. “Let me get it.”

She just stared at him and he must have taken her momentary lack of protest as permission. Raj strode over to the order counter. When they first arrived, Gray had made sure to order and pay for her own drink. This was not a date.

She studied his long, lean form at the counter. The way he leaned against it, casual, but not sloppy. When the barista turned to make the drink, he commenced tapping the counter with the pad of his left pointer finger.

The barista turned to say something to him and Raj stopped. His hand moved down to his pocket and he fingered whatever secret trinket he was hiding in there.

Gray’s trinket.

She intended to lift it off him before the day was out. What was it he planned to give her on Valentine’s Day? God, please don’t let it be jewelry or a promise ring. But that was ridiculous. Those things were only for people who’d been going out and they most certainly were not going out. She wasn’t even supposed to be alive!

How could a dead person go out with anyone?

Raj returned with a large mug and set it in front of Gray. “Thanks,” she said.

“My pleasure.”

She didn’t like the way he was staring at her so she lifted her mug and said, “There are no mochas in heaven. But then again… there’s no heaven, either.”

Worked like a charm. Raj frowned.

“What happens if you can’t get back inside your body?”

So she wasn’t the only one trying to change the subject, though this topic was about as pleasant as the dark void.

“I don’t even want to think of that as a possibility. How would my sister and I choose a college? What if Charlene decided she wanted to attend the Sorbonne?” Gray slapped a hand to her forehead. “And I can forget about a semester abroad in Barcelona. Charlene would never go for that. Maybe this is worse than being dead.”

“Don’t say that.”

Gray looked Raj in the eyes. “Why not?”

He glanced down and hesitated a moment before pulling his hand back and letting it slip under the table. Raj dug inside his pocket and then held out his fist to Gray. After a pause that seemed to last an eternity, Gray placed an open palm under Raj’s hand, but he didn’t release the object. She jerked her hand with impatience. Did he expect her to pry the trinket out of his fingers? Finally Raj dropped it into her palm and pulled his hand back.

Gray felt the object before she saw it. The beads, stone, and silver were warm from being inside Raj’s pocket. The moment it landed in her palm she curled her fingers around it and felt a hum reverberate through her entire body. Passion. Longing. Anguish. “What is it?” she whispered. It had power, whatever it was.

“Luck amulet.”

Gray spread her hand open. The amulet itself was a silver sun with a square hole in the center. Multicolored threads had been woven through the hole and branched off into three dangles decorated with silver symbols and beads. The beads were pearly white—like metallic clouds trapped inside a stone. In the middle of the center thread was a crystal and two block-lettered square beads below it: GP.

Gray really shouldn’t accept the amulet, but it was so beautiful and besides, she could use all the luck she could get.

“It’s lovely,” she said in a voice void of emotion. Gray couldn’t look at Raj. The charm was gorgeous—more precious to her than any piece of jewelry. She was afraid he would sense how much the gift meant to her. “Thanks.”

Raj slouched back in his seat, all casual cool. “A lot of luck it did you.”

Gray squeezed the amulet in her hand as Raj had done moments before her. “I should go. My mom will worry.”

Raj pushed back in his seat. “I’ll drive you to your car.”

Gray thought they might arrive back at the cemetery without having spoken, but then Raj suddenly couldn’t stop talking as they neared St. Ann’s. “Did your mom tell you anything about the process?” he asked. “Did she share the steps? Was any kind of sacrifice required for the resurrection? Were warnings issued and what were they?”

“Wait a minute. Hold up,” Gray said. “Sacrifice? Do you think my mom had to offer up a sacrifice?”

Raj glanced sideways. “It’s not uncommon for a spell of that magnitude. You’re not just messing with the laws of nature. You’re screwing with the spiritual world.”

“Are we talking animal sacrifice or human?”
Please don’t say animal.

“It might not be that kind of sacrifice at all. It could’ve been something of personal value or a promise made.”

“What kind of promise?”

The car slowed and came to a gentle halt. Gray hadn’t even noticed Raj circle the cemetery and pull in behind her car.

He put the car in park now and looked over at Gray. “I don’t know. What has your mom told you?”

“Nothing.” Gray snorted and rolled her eyes. “She’s being really secretive about the whole thing. Believe me, I tried to get info. She said she can’t tell me who performed the spell.  They made her promise on my life.” Gray lifted her head. “Hey, could that be the promise you’re talking about?”

“Maybe, but it sounds more like insurance. This witch or warlock doesn’t want the word getting out that they defied universal coven rules.” Raj frowned. “It’s not right to mess with the spiritual world.”

Gray couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Raj McKenna in a huff over black magic?

She didn’t even lift her finger to unbuckle her belt. It popped out by the sheer force of her mind. Gray grabbed the loose belt and pushed if off. “Well, sorry if my existence upsets the moral fabric of your conscience. Maybe you shouldn’t be talking to me at all since I’m tainted by unnatural forces.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Whatever. See you Thursday. Maybe.” The car door creaked when Gray pushed it open.

“Graylee, wait.”

Gray turned her nose up and gave Raj a scathing look, but she waited.

“What can I do to help?”

“Are you sure you want to be involved in this?”

“Yes.”

Gray stared at him a moment then shut herself back inside the car with Raj. It wasn’t as though there was anyone around to hear them, but still. “Fine. Keep your eyes and ears open. Let me know what Charlene’s up to.”

Raj grinned. “That’d be a lot easier if I knew your invisibility spell.”

“Yeah, right. For all I know you could use the spell to rob convenience stores or play peeping Tom in the girls’ locker room. I don’t want that on my conscience.”

“What conscience? You’re dead.”

Gray gave him a look. Raj put up his hands. “You know I’d never use the spell on you.”

“Fine. I’ll think about it,” Gray added when Raj started to grin. “But first do something for me. Introduce me to Adrian Montez.”

“You mean Hedrick? Why?”

“He was once a powerful warlock from what I understand.”

“Yeah,
was
.”

“I imagine he knows the kind of people who could put me back inside my body.”

Raj hesitated a moment before saying, “I can ask.”

“I want to meet him,” Gray repeated.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Raj began tapping the steering wheel then stopped suddenly when his fingers disappeared. When his head snapped in Gray’s direction she flashed him the Cheshire grin. “You can make other people invisible, as well?”

“Other people. Other objects.” Gray shrugged. She filled Raj’s fingers back in as he stared at them. When he looked at her again she said, “Introduce me to Adrian.”

Mom was pacing the living room when she walked into the house. Her face flooded with relief when Gray came through the door. “You were at the cemetery awhile. I almost drove by, but I figured you wanted to be alone.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Gray set down Charlene’s messenger bag. “Mind if I change real quick?” Gray snapped her fingers and the skirt turned into a pair of soft blue jeans and ribbed tank top. “Much better,” Gray said, flopping onto the couch. “Actually I ran into Raj McKenna and we left in favor of mochas at The Daily Grind.”

“Raj McKenna knows you’re back?”

“Hey, Charlene told Ryan Phillips. If she can tell her minion what’s going on I should be able to tell my… well, definitely not minion, but, you know, magically inclined friend.” Gray chuckled at the thought of Raj as her minion. “Speaking of Ryan Phillips, are you and Mr. Phillips still an item?” Yes, let’s change the subject—obviously Mom was mulling over both the fact that Gray had confided in someone and, more likely, that she’d been out having coffee with a boy.

“Marc and I aren’t dating any longer.”

Gray tilted her head back on the armrest of the couch. “Oh, why not?”

“I couldn’t see him after hearing Ryan helped Charlene with that blocking spell.”