Private 8 - Revelation (22 page)

I blinked at her, my skin tingling with realization. "Kiran's pre-party."

"Exactly," Ivy said, sitting on my desk chair and slapping her hands down on her legs. "All we have to do is find a way to get in there and we can check out her room. See what we can find."

"Luckily, I still have some friends on the inside," I said, my pulse racing. I grabbed my iPhone off my desk and speed-dialed Sabine's cell. It went right to voice mail. I wasn't going to get what I wanted from her, but at least I could leave her a message. I waited for the beep and spoke quickly.

"Sabine, it's Reed. This is going to sound insane, but I just wanted to warn you... I think Amberly might have been my stalker all along, so just... watch your back," I said. "Call me when you get this."

I ended the call and tried Constance next.

"Hey, Reed!" she said brightly, picking up on the first ring. "What's up?" "Constance, I need your Billings keycard," I said.

"What for?" she asked.

"I have to... get back in my old room. I left something in there

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that I need," I improvised, glancing at Ivy. She nodded her approval at my story.

"Oh, well, I can get it for you," Constance offered.

I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my free hand. Sometimes Constance's helpful side was really unhelpful. "Actually, it's kind of hidden and it would be too hard to explain where it is. I was thinking I'd just go in there tonight after Amberly and Sabine go out and get it."

There was a short pause before Constance said, "Okay. That's fine."

I looked at Ivy and flashed a quick thumbs-up. "Oh, and Constance, don't tell anyone about this, okay? I'm sure they would all freak out if they knew I was getting back in, even for five minutes."

"I totally understand. My lips are sealed," Constance said. "I'll slip you the card at lunch and just get someone to let me in after."

"Constance, what would I do without you?" I asked. I could practically feel the heat of her blush through the phone. "Reed! It's no big deal. I'll see you later."

"Later."

I signed off the phone and held it in both hands to stop the nervous quaking. With a grim smile I looked up at Ivy.

"We're in."

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***

Stepping over the threshold of Billings was like walking into my old middle school after I'd graduated. I should have felt at home there, but the sites felt weirdly unfamiliar. Like the place had moved on. Like the very walls knew I should no longer be there. I felt a skitter of apprehension as Ivy grabbed the banister and mounted the stairs. The first step creaked in the silence.

"Reed!" she hissed. "Let's go!"

She was dressed in head-to-toe black like a cat burglar from a cartoon. I was wearing my gold minidress and my long wool coat, fully planning on still making the party bus to Kiran's party when we were done here.

"I'm coming," I replied through my teeth.

Together we raced up the stairs to the top floor, where my old room was located. I pointed out the door to Ivy. My heart pounded like I'd 234

just sucked down eight cups of espresso. This was way too weird. Way too weird.

But when Ivy opened the door, it just got weirder.

My side of the room had been completely taken over by the Care Bear brigade. Everything was done in pastels. Pink bedspread, fluffy light blue and yellow pillows, an eyelet bed skirt. Amberly had even had a ribbon tent suspended from the ceiling over her bed, draping down over the mattress like she was some kind of Disney princess. On the walls were framed photos of her and a girl who could only be her little sister, grinning in front of various wonders of the world. The Taj Mahal. The Great Wall of China. The Pyramids. I would have been impressed if the photos weren't so oddly stiff. Like she had Photo- Shopped the two of them into magazine cutouts or something.

"This girl needs professional help," Ivy said, indicating a collection of porcelain dolls set up along the top shelf above my old desk. Their eyes stared out at us blankly from beneath perfectly placed ringlets.

"Let's just get this over with," I said.

"I'm down," Ivy replied.

She turned on Amberly's desk lamp so that we could see without the help of the light from the hallway, and I closed the door quietly behind us. I immediately attacked the desk drawers while Ivy dropped to the floor and pulled a few boxes out from under the bed. All I found was a massive collection of Hello Kitty office supplies. Ivy uncovered a box full of crafting materials and a collection of poetry books.

"Anything?" I asked as Ivy flipped through some of the books, hoping something incriminating might fall out. 235

"Nothing," she said.

"I got the closet," I told her.

"I'll get the dresser," Ivy offered.

My pulse pounded as I dug through the shoe boxes on the floor and the stacks of books and clothes on the shelves above. Ivy slammed each drawer as she finished with it, and with each slam my heart jumped a bit higher in my throat.

"Would you stop doing that?" I whispered.

"There's nothing here!" Ivy replied without apology. Clearly she was already growing frustrated. "Maybe the bathroom."

She turned around and slammed right into the end of Sabine's bed. The mattress lurched and knocked into the bedside table, causing a candle and frame to topple to the floor with the unmistakable sound of cracking glass.

"Shit," Ivy said under her breath.

"I got it," I told her, walking over to pick up Sabine's things.

I placed the candle down and checked the frame over. Sure enough, there was a crack right through the center of the glass. Crap. Looked like I owed Sabine a new frame. I was about to pop it open to remove the shards, when I saw something odd in the photo, right beneath the crack. I had never really looked at the photo of Sabine and her mother before, except in passing it on my way to the bathroom, but now I saw that there was an extra hand in the picture. A creamy white female's hand. Someone had their arm slung across Sabine's shoulder from the other side.

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"That's weird," I said.

"What?"

Ivy came up next to me to check it out.

"Look. She cut someone out of the picture," I said, pointing at the hand.

"Or folded it," Ivy said. She grabbed the frame from me. She started to undo the clasps at the back.

"Ivy! What are you doing?" I hissed, trying to snatch back the frame. "Leave Sabine's stuff alone!"

"We need to throw away the broken glass," Ivy said matter-of-factly.

Ivy finally freed the photo and the glass shards tumbled onto Sabine's perfectly made bed. Sure enough, the photo was folded. I snagged what was left of the frame back from Ivy as she opened the picture in front of her. Her face went pale so fast it made my heart drop.

"Oh. My. God." "What?" I said. "What's wrong?"

She turned the picture around, holding it up in front of her chest. The room around me blurred as I focused in on the photo. Focused in on the smiling face of a pretty blond girl with icy blue eyes.

On the face of Ariana Osgood.

My hands shook as I reached for the photo. Every single inch of me shook. On Ariana's other side was an older man with white hair and blue eyes, who appeared to be laughing as the picture was being shot. Ariana's dad. It had to be. He looked just like her.

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I knew what I was seeing, but I couldn't make sense of it. My brain refused to take it in. Mr. Osgood laughing with his arm around Ariana. Ariana smiling with her arm around Sabine. Sabine holding her mother close to her side. They looked like a big, happy family.

"I don't understand," I said, sitting down shakily on the edge of Sabine's bed. My breath started to come fast and shallow, my chest heaving up and down. "I don't understand."

"Did she ever tell you that she knew Ariana?" Ivy asked, sitting down next to me.

"Never. She never said a word," I replied, my mind racing as my skin started to burn. "She's supposed to be my best friend, but all semester she's been keeping this from me. She knows the girl who tried to murder me. She even looks like she's... friends with her."

"You don't think that she's... I mean, that Sabine is..." Ivy trailed off, as if it was impossible for her to say what she was thinking. I was right there with her. It was impossible for me to process it. That Sabine could be our stalker. That sweet, innocuous Sabine could be Cheyenne's murderer.

Suddenly, I found myself on my feet, still clutching the photo. "I have to go," I said, half blind with rage and confusion.

"Go where?" Ivy asked, standing as well.

"All those months I lived with her. All those months I trusted her with everything. And all that time she was lying to my face," I spat. "If she could keep this from me, what else has she been lying about?" I added, holding up the picture.

"Reed, you can't just confront her. We have to call the police,"

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Ivy said firmly, stepping in front of me as if to block my route to the door.

"So call the police," I told her. "I'm going."

She reached out and grabbed my wrist. "But the girl could be seriously dangerous."

"I don't care. There are a hundred people at that party," I said. "What's she going to do to me in front of a hundred people?"

"Reed, I can't let you--"

"You can either let go of me, or I can make you," I told her, staring into her coal-black eyes. "Your choice." Just like that, Ivy released me. And just like that, I was on my way across campus to finally confront the girl who called herself my best friend.

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***

The music was pounding when we reached the solarium, Ivy trying desperately to explain everything into her cell phone--to make the officer on the other end understand. Red and pink lights flashed, bathing all the faces and distorting them into demonesque masks. Everywhere I looked people were laughing and sipping punch and dancing. Everyone I knew, obliviously prepping for a night of revelry.

But Sabine. Where was Sabine?

"Reed! I'm so glad you're here." Noelle appeared out of nowhere and slipped her warm hand into mine. "I think it's about time we talk."

"No," I heard myself say. "Not now."

A look of consternation crossed Noelle's face, but I didn't have time to explain. I slipped away from her and dove into the crowd. Behind me I could hear her blocking Ivy's entrance, telling her she

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wasn't invited and she had to go. If only Noelle knew what Ivy had done for me just now. If only she knew how everything had so suddenly and fundamentally changed. But she would find out soon enough. "Reed! Hey."

It was Josh. Adorable, innocent, kissable Josh in his suit with its open-collared shirt, looking oh so perfectly handsome. He stepped up close to me and lowered his lips toward my ear.

"I got your present. Thank you so much. The paintbrushes... the letter... it was amazing," he said. "Can we maybe go somewhere and talk?"

I barely even registered the words. Felt nothing at his closeness. I could feel nothing but my rage. And then I saw her. Dancing near the edge of the crowd with Astrid and Constance and Trey and Gage. My friends. She had no right to be anywhere near my friends.

"Later," I told Josh.

I stormed away from him, shoving aside Billings Girls and Ketlar boys as I went. I walked right past Astrid and Constance. Sabine noted my approach, and her entire face lit up.

"Reed! There you are! We were wondering when you--"

Shaking from head to toe, I unfolded the eight-by-ten photo and held it up right in front of her face. Sabine stopped dancing.

"What. The hell. Is this?" I demanded.

Around us, Astrid, Constance, Trey, and Gage slowly stopped moving and looked at one another warily. They couldn't see the photo, but they obviously sensed the tension. Sabine's smile faltered, but only for the briefest of moments.

241 "Where did you get that?" Sabine asked, her voice barely audible over the music.

"You know where I got it--from the frame next to your bed," I replied, advancing on her slightly, still holding the picture up. "What are you doing with Ariana, Sabine? How the hell do you know her? How could you have kept it from me all this time?"

Sabine glanced around and laughed nervously, as our mutual friends were now gaping at her.

"I don't know what she's talking about," she said, shaking her head.

"The evidence is right here!" I said, thrusting the picture at her. "You can't even try to deny it. Tell me the truth, Sabine. What are you doing with Ariana Osgood?"

Sabine was still smiling, looking at me like I had lost it. My blood was boiling so hot my skin was going to sear right off.

"Reed, I-"

"The girl tried to kill me!" I blurted, my hand quaking. "Tell me how you know the psycho bitch!"

Just like that, something inside Sabine seemed to snap. The innocent, cornered puppy dog mask fell away and was replaced by something dark. Something evil. Something smoldering.

"Don't call her that," she said, her voice hard.

I had to laugh. "Call her what? Psycho bitch? That's exactly what she is." Sabine got right in my face so fast I almost lost my balance. Her green eyes bored into mine. "She's not a psycho bitch," she hissed through her teeth. "She's my sister."

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The world around me was sucked into a vacuum, leaving nothing but me and Sabine behind. The lights, the music, the voices, the laughter, the whirl of color all around me. Gone in a flash. All I could see was the rabid look in Sabine's eyes. So very much like Ariana's ferocity. So very familiar. So very obvious.

Ariana was Sabine's sister. The one she always talked about like she was some kind of goddess, the one she had visited off campus, the one who had been "out of the country" for our fund-raiser. All that time she had been talking about Ariana. Of course the girl was out of the country. She was out of her freaking mind. Suddenly, I remembered a couple of weeks ago when Sabine had tried to get me to confide in her about my breakup with Josh. She had mentioned helping her sister through a bad breakup. Had she been talking about Ariana and Thomas then? My God, I was such a total fool.