The Book of Lost Souls (23 page)

Raven burst into laughter. “Oh, this is too freaking funny.”
 

“What? What spots?” Ivy asked.
 

Raven could barely contain another outburst of laughter. Even Shayde snickered.

Ivy glanced at her friends. “Oh. You’re not talking about Phoebe, are you?”
 

Spike picked up his pizza and stared at it. “Phoebe? He named her already?” He devoured the last of his pizza in three bites, belched, then searched the pizza boxes for more. All that remained were crumbs.
 

“Spike’s talking about Garth’s new lizard, isn’t he?” Ivy asked, embarrassed.

Shayde laughed. “Yep.
You’re
the only one thinking about Phoebe.”

“Yeah, I’m sure Nick isn’t even thinking that much about her,” Raven added.

“That
much
?” Ivy said.
 

“Oh, geez Ivy,” Shayde said. “I’m really sorry it didn’t work out for the two of you tonight. I was hoping it would.”

Raven nodded in sympathetic agreement. “It had all the potential of being hot.”

Ivy stared at the floor. Spike eyed the pizza crusts on her plate and she shoved it toward him.
 

“Dessert. We need dessert and a different topic.” Raven slid the chair back and skipped to the fridge. She pulled out the caramel and chocolate sauce and a small container of sprinkles from the bottom shelf.
 

Shayde nudged Ivy’s arm. “Yeah, ice cream will cheer you up. Nothing like a bunch of empty, sweet calories to make a girl happy.”

Ivy flicked her hand at the cabinets and four bowls and spoons made their way to the counter. The freezer door opened and a large carton of vanilla ice cream floated lazily through the air. Spike caught it and opened it, tossing the lid into the sink.

Devlin whined at Ivy’s feet.
 

“Fine, why not?” she said. A smaller bowl made its way next to the four larger ones. Devlin barked in delight.

They made heaping bowls of ice cream drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce and topped with sprinkles.
 

“Are you sure?” Shayde asked as Ivy set a bowl with half a scoop of ice cream on the floor for Devlin. “It’ll give him hiccups.”

Spike gave Devlin a pat on the head. “Hiccups?”

Raven took her finger and wiped away the extra chocolate from a spoon. “Yeah. Too much sugar does it do him. And, like all Beezlepups, he hiccups spurts of fire.” She licked the chocolate from her finger. “The last time Devlin set the living room drapes on fire.”

“I wonder if it’s Phoebe,” Ivy said, earning her a quizzical look from everyone. “The book. Phoebe said she’d been studying dark magic.”

Shayde took a mouthful of ice cream. “Makes sense I suppose. But why is she attacking the Regulars?”

“I don’t know what her motive is. I don’t know a whole lot about Phoebe.” Ivy added extra chocolate syrup and sprinkles on her ice cream. “What I
do
know is there’s something not right about her.”

“Besides the fact she’s after Nick?” Raven teased.
 

Ivy shot her a half-playful, half-serious,
don’t go there
glare.

“So how do we find out if she’s got the book or not?” Shayde asked.

“I make a little trip down to the river,” Ivy said.
 

“Huh?” Shayde said.

“Spike says the guy who gave him the note hangs out by the river. Maybe he’s meeting Phoebe there.”

Spike nodded in agreement.

“And you just happen to think they’ll have
The Book of Lost Souls
with them
?”
Shayde asked.

Raven gave Ivy a hard stare. “Sure. Just like Ivy carries around its twin everywhere
she
goes.”

It would have been difficult not to notice everyone looking at her, and it didn’t take rocket science to figure out both of her non spell casting friends weren’t thrilled about the book. They just didn’t understand.
 

“Well, I can’t leave it in the house,” Ivy said, feeling more than a bit defensive. “And what if I just happen to stumble upon the dead and the damned? Maybe there’s a spell in
The Rise of the Dark Curse
that can send them back.”
 

“You are
not
going to go through that book again!” Shayde said. “Tell me you’re not...”

Raven folded her arms across her chest. “I’m with Shayde on this one.”

“It’s the only way, guys! Do you think that whatever spell Phoebe cast to bring back Vlad and Countess Báthory has a generic counter-spell?”

Shayde narrowed her eyes. “You’re not bringing that book. And we’ll know because we’re going with you.”

Ivy realized she should never have said anything about going down to the river. “If I promise to leave the book here, then you two are staying behind. I’m not risking anyone else.”

Raven and Shayde exchanged knowing glances and it made Ivy wonder what they’d been discussing. She didn’t have to wait long.

“We’ve been talking,” Shayde admitted. “We’ve agreed that it’s time for us to step in. We want you to give your mom the book.”

Both her friends stared at her, waiting for a response. A flash of anger welled inside her. They didn’t trust her with the book any longer. They didn’t think she could handle this on her own.
 

Spike’s gaze shifted uneasily among them.

“See?” Shayde said. “You’re upset. You’ve got to get rid of it, Ivy. Can’t you see what it’s doing to you? No good can come of this.”

Raven leaned forward. “We’ll make you a deal. We’ll stay behind if you give your mom the book. We’ll even give you until Friday night. That’s two whole days. And, we’ll be with you when you do tell her. Fair?”

It didn’t go unnoticed that ever-cautious Shayde didn’t bat an eye. They’d planned this.

Ivy felt her hands clench into fists. “I can’t believe you guys! I can’t believe you’d do this to me!”

Raven slammed her palm onto the table, making Spike and Devlin jump. “And
we
can’t believe the things you’ve done to your friends
or
to Devlin! Do we really need to go over all of them? Do we? It’s controlling you, Ivy. You can’t go one day without reading it or touching it, can you?”

Ivy shook her head. It hadn’t gone unnoticed they hadn’t mentioned the incident with Phoebe. They were right. She didn’t want to admit it, but they were. Every day, the book had a stronger hold on her. There were times when all she wanted to do was ignore everyone and sit in her room with the book. There were times when she wondered how a particular curse worked. It had to stop now while she still had control.
 

“Deal,” she said finally. They didn’t have to know that she’d take the book with her, or that she would get rid of it somewhere in the woods before she’d ever admit to her mother that she’d been hiding the book from her all along. It would devastate her mother if she learned her daughter had followed in her father’s footsteps. As Ivy saw things, she was behaving no differently than
he
had. She gritted her teeth. Even without his influence, she was still like him. Was there no way to fight genetics?

Still, it hurt to think her friends would give up so easily on going with her. Had she hurt them that much? She couldn’t look at them because the truth was too painful. Ivy had a feeling that neither Raven nor Bane had told Shayde they’d gone to the Prescotts the other night. If she had, Shayde would have been really hurt and totally furious. Ivy had jeopardized them all, and in more ways than one. Her friends were keeping secrets for her and it was starting to strain everyone’s relationships.
 

If she kept the book, she would hurt them again.
 

But, she needed
The Rise of the Dark Curse
one more time—tomorrow.
 

Shayde got up, bowl in hand. “It’s settled then. The deal calls for more ice cream.”

“And more chocolate syrup,” Raven said as she collected her own bowl.

Spike, who had remained eerily quiet and sullen, was already ahead of them. He’d made himself a second bowl of ice cream and was frantically scooping the spoon around the sides of the bowl. All three girls grimaced at the same time.

“Spike, your sprinkles are moving,” Raven said.

Shayde peered harder at the bowl. “Um, they’ve got legs!”
 

Ivy saw exactly what her friends had noticed and her stomach lurched. “Spike, are those—”

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “Gareth bought me a carton of meal worms.” His voice hitched again. “Look at me! I’m a bug addict! I’m drowning my sorrows in food!” Tears glimmered in his eyes. “And... I’m so…
emotional!”
 

He set his bowl of ice cream on the table with a clatter and placed his face in his hands. The mealworms that weren’t stuck in caramel or frozen were escaping down the sides. Ivy swirled a finger at them and the bugs returned to the middle of Spike’s bowl.

Yeech!
she thought.
We may never use that bowl or spoon again.
For that matter, Ivy didn’t feel like finishing her ice cream. She nudged the chocolate sprinkles around in her own dish and pushed the bowl away.

“I thought that was another carton of Chinese food!” Shayde opened the refrigerator and peered inside. “You mean I put a carton of bugs in the fridge?”

Raven glanced at Ivy’s bowl. “You’re not going to finish that?”

“No. Spike’s right,” Ivy said. “I’m eating out of frustration.” Great. First she couldn’t finish the pizza, and now the ice cream. Couldn’t she even eat the wrong things correctly?

Raven returned to the table, taking Ivy’s bowl. “Apparently, Shayde are I are the only ones without relationship issues.”

“I don’t know what to do anymore!” Spike said, his face still in his hands. “Did he give me the box of meal worms as a send off? He’s got a new pet now. Oh, you should have seen her, guys. The way her skin glistened like glass, the way her big black eyes shone like polished beetle shells. And the way Gareth stared at her! I hate her.” Spike belched heartily again. “And I... I love her.”

In a way, it was sad to see Spike so upset. Guilt weighed heavy on Ivy, not only for Spike’s feelings, but because she was glad that he’d managed to guide the conversation away from the book.

Shayde put down her bowl and placed a comforting hand on Spike’s arm.
 

“Excuse me,” Spike said, wiping his eyes.

Spike got to his feet and shambled out of the kitchen. They all listened as Spike shuffled down the hall, past the living room and to the small half-bath located under the stairs. The door clicked shut and then they heard Spike blowing his nose loudly.

Shayde leaned toward Ivy. “He worries me. I think I’ll go check on him.” She hurried from the kitchen and out of sight.

“Men!” Raven said. “Lizards. They can be so weird, don’t you think?”

Ivy nodded. “Yeah, well, in Spike’s defense, he’s suffering from bug withdrawal.”
 

Truth was, she understood Spike’s feelings about rejection. True, there was probably quite a bit of difference between a pet-master relationship than a boyfriend-girlfriend one, but it didn’t change the heartache of rejection. Not that Nick had ever
been
her boyfriend. Spike hated that he could be replaced so easily and Ivy just hated Phoebe for stepping in so quickly. It took one emotion to escalate the other. Who’d have thought love and hate could have so much in common?

Raven nervously glanced toward the hallway. “You’ve got to change him back soon, Ivy. He hates her
and
loves her? He’s gone completely mental.”

How strange, Ivy thought. Raven showing this much concern was rare. Not unheard of, but rare. “I’ll change him back anytime he wants.” She got up from her chair. “Maybe I should go talk to him. Convince him that Gareth really wants him to come back now—”

“No! Just let him be. We can’t all go coddling him, can we? Knowing Spike, it’ll only convince him we care more than Gareth. Let Shayde handle him.” Raven began to collect the bowls and spoons. “Let’s just clean up.”

Ivy waved a hand and the dishes floated from Raven’s hands and into the sink. The water turned on and a dishrag hovered as the detergent bottle squirted liquid into the bowls.
 

“So,” Raven said. “If you’re going to the river to find this guy, you’ll have to cut classes.”

“Yeah,” Ivy replied with a sigh. She had never cut class before. She actually
liked
her classes.

Raven leaned against the counter. “You’ll be fine. How exciting! But, unless you want your mom to ground you until graduation day, you’ll need a note. How good are you at forging her signature?”

Ivy hadn’t given it much thought until now. Luckily, Ivy had never felt the need to individualize her penmanship. Her handwriting was a lot like her mother’s. “I think it’s close enough that no one will notice.”

“Good,” Raven said, giving the kitchen doorway another glance. “We won’t mention the note thing to Shayde, okay? Just be careful out there. Use that Quieting spell on your shoes or something. You don’t want this guy to hear you.”

Ivy nodded. “Good ideas. Thanks.”

Spike trudged back into the kitchen, still looking dejected, but overall, much better than when he’d left. He opened the fridge and took out the carton of bugs. With a deep sigh, he sat and ate the last of his mealworms like popcorn.
 

“Where’s Shayde?” Ivy asked.

“Here,” Shayde said, entering the room. She seemed a little pale.

“You okay?” Ivy asked.

“I’m not feeling so well,” she said. “If it’s okay, I think I’ll just go home.”

From behind her, Devlin hiccuped. Ivy whirled to see a small flame erupt from his mouth before quickly disappearing into a tiny puff of smoke. “You’re not the only one.”

After Shayde and Raven left, Ivy sent Spike to the guest room to get some rest. She returned to her bedroom in time to see Devlin hiccup and set the bedspread on fire.
 

“Yikes!” The fire went out quickly, thanks to the Fireproofing spells her mother had painstakingly put on everything flammable in the house. It had taken her months.