The Hex Breaker's Eyes (13 page)

And while I
never said anything to Tam on the phone last night, I think we have
to consider the idea that maybe this is Ryan. I hate that this is a
thought in my head, and I haven’t had the nerve to say anything to
Tam, but it’s possible. Ryan is one of the few people I know who
has seen that hexes are real and they really do work. If he was
pissed at Tam, or trying to win her back, or God knows what else,
then maybe he clicked to some witchcraft websites and figured out
how to put a hex together.

For now, we’re
going to have to sort out just what’s going on. I want to know what
kind of hex this is, I want to know if it’s getting weaker or
stronger, and I want to shut it down. Marlene’s not in any of my
classes, and she’s on the opposite lunch this term, but we still
see each other in the mornings before school. I basically run at
her when I see her in the hallway.

“I saw a hex
last night,” I say, tilting my head toward the wall to tell her I
want to huddle near the lockers so nobody can hear me. Her eyes go
wide and she leans against my locker.

“Who?” she
asks.

“Tam. It
happened in front of me, like someone turned on a light. One moment
she was Tam and the next she was blue.”

“Tam?” Marlene
looked worried. “Why would anyone?”

“We don’t know,
but we have to figure it out.”

“You said it’s
blue? You think that means we’re dealing with a different sort of
spell than the one Sydney cast on Dina?”

“Yeah. It’s not
just a different colour. The one on Dina was all around her, it was
an aura that reached out and affected things. This one on Tam is
tight against her skin. It doesn’t jiggle or move like the other
one did either. Hopefully that means the emotions that power the
hex are really weak.”

We’re actually
starting to feel hopeful that this hex will go away on its own,
when Tam comes into the hallway, and to my eyes, she’s still blue.
Marlene sees her, then looks at me, and I shake my head to say
‘nope, still there.’

When Tam gets
to the lockers she looks to me. “Well?”

“Still
blue.”

“Crap.”

“Did anything
happen? Blow out any fuses, stub your toe, hurt yourself?” I ask,
wanting to know if the hex had any impact on Tam’s life this
morning.

“No, it was a
typical morning. Better than average, even.”

“Ohh,” Marlene
says, “did your family win the lottery or something? Maybe this
isn’t a hex, maybe it’s a charm.”

“I just meant I
didn’t feel crappy when I woke up,” Tam says. “I am not usually a
morning person.”

“Gotcha.”

Tam looks back
to me. “Do I have any tentacles? Two heads? Angry ghosts swirling
behind me?”

“Nothing.
You’re just you, but blue. Like Avatar.”

“So I look like
a Smurf to you?”

“Kinda, but
paler. A pastel Smurf.”

The bell rings
for first period. We head our separate ways. We won’t see Marlene
again until after school, but Tam and I will be reunited in French
class in a little over an hour. Hopefully the hex won’t do anything
to her in that time.

After French
class we’re eating lunch in the hallway when Tam says what she’s
been thinking all day. “We should just get in Sydney’s face. We
know it was her.”

“Don’t know for
sure.”

“Come on.
You’re like this magical seer person, and in your entire life you
saw one hex before this, and it was cast by her. Who else would it
be?”

I’ve been
avoiding it, but I decide to just say it. “You did just dump a guy
who knows that magic is real.”

“Ryan?” she
says dramatically, “you know he’s like the nicest guy in the world,
right? Even when I broke up with him he was trying to make sure I
felt OK. Trust me, there’s no secret angry warlock inside
Ryan.”

“I know,” I
say. “I still think you guys were awesome together. I’m just saying
that there are people with motive to want to hex you, and Sydney’s
one…”

“And you think
Ryan’s one too.”

It’s not that I
think Ryan’s some kind of monster but we can’t ignore the timing.
“I’m just trying to put all the suspects out there.”

Tam angrily
flails her hands when she talks, almost hitting me with her ham
sandwich. “Well thank you, Detective Vefreet.” She pauses to take a
bite. “What should we do?”

I’m not sure
how to answer. I nibble on a carrot stick. “I guess going after
Sydney would be a good first step.”

We walk through
the cafeteria, but there’s no sign of Sydney, or of her
ex-boyfriend Wayne. We see Dina Jennings taping posters to a wall
and decide to head over.

“Hey, Miz
Prez,” I say to get her attention.

Dina won the
council presidency over Wayne in the election, and has been all
over the school since classes came back for the second term talking
about events, hanging up posters and generally trying to promote
school spirit. There’s a Valentine’s Day dance in a couple weeks,
and Dina is hanging up hand-painted posters that the council made
to advertise ticket sales. Thankfully, she’s alone, since we don’t
really want anyone else to hear our crazy talk about magic and Tam
turning blue.

“How are you
doing?” Dina says when she sees us. “You coming to the dance?”

I feel myself
blush a little and know that I must look awkward and stupid since
my shoulders are slumping at the very mention of having a dating
life. “Nuh-uh. No Valentine for me.”

She shakes her
head. “If you’d stand up straight and maybe pull your hair off your
face I’m sure some sophomore boy would ask you,” she says, and I
know she’s trying to help even though her advice sound more like
scolding me. “And you have a guy, right?” she asks Tam.

“Not anymore,”
says Tam. “I, um... dumped him.”

“That big
basketball guy? He seemed nice. That’s too bad. But hey, buy a
couple tickets to the dance and start something new! Guys like it
when girls ask them.” Dina gives a smile that seems a little
forced, but Tam doesn’t go for the sales pitch.

“No thanks. Not
feeling Valentiney today.”

“Because of the
break-up?”

“Because of,”
she tilts her head toward me, “what she can see.”

Dina’s smile
drops and she steps a little closer. “Another curse?”

“Hex.”

“Is it me?”
Dina looks down at herself, and pats her hands against her sweater
as if she thinks she can feel the aura already.

“No, you’re
fine,” I say.

“It’s on me,”
Tam says.

“We think it’s
Sydney again. She knows Tam helped break the spell on you. Plus Tam
got her suspended from school.”

Dina shakes her
head. “Of course it’s Sydney. The little witch. After I found what
she did to me I made sure everybody cut her out of the social
world. She’s like, ostracized. Like an exile or a freshman. Maybe
she’s pissed.”

“Tell me about
it,” Tam says. “If she was willing to try and kill you because you
flirted with Wayne imagine what she’ll do to me for getting her
suspended for fighting. Plus she knows someone broke into her
bedroom to steal the talisman she made.”

“Shhh,” Dina
says. “Quiet with all that Wayne stuff. I’m with Ahmed now.” Ahmed
is a big guy, a receiver on the football team. People who watch the
games say he’s faster than everyone else, and lots of girls are
into that, I guess. I personally don’t understand the appeal of
football. You sit outside in freezing weather and watch some guys
line up to hit each other and then one guy throws a ball, which
they usually don’t catch. But Dina’s all about promoting school
sports, so she’s at every game, and I guess she just had to get the
team’s best player for her big Valentines date.

“So anyway,” I
say, “you know where Sydney is?”

“Like I said,
ostracized,” Dina smiles. “She hangs out in the music department
now, like some band geek. Probably spending her lunch with a bunch
of sophomores. No offense.”

“We’re gonna go
ask some questions,” Tam says.

“OK,” says
Dina, reaching out to grab Tam’s forearm. “But if I were you, I’d
forget talking to that witch. I’d just break into her bedroom and
smash everything until you find the one that makes the curse.
That’s what she deserves.”

We thank Dina
for the advice and head out of the cafeteria, looking to track down
Sydney and get some answers.

I’ve never
taken a music class, so walking into the music room is kind of a
weird experience. I’ve never been in here, and after a couple years
at Laurier High, it’s an odd feeling to discover that there’s a
strange room I’ve never seen before. It’s actually divided into a
couple of rooms, I guess so they can teach multiple classes. In one
of the open doors I can see a bunch of kids playing woodwinds (they
sound exactly as bad as a bunch of uncoordinated beginners can
possibly sound). In another door there are some students sitting
around eating lunch. We head over there and see Sydney sitting in a
chair with a violin case at her feet, eating an apple. As soon as
we step into the doorway the students turn and look, including
Sydney, who seems to know right away that we’ve come for her. She
stands up and comes over.

“What do you
want?” she says to Tam.

“Answers. You
want to talk here with your new friends or head to the hallway?”
Tam’s voice is icy.

“Here’s fine. I
know you can’t sucker punch me with all these people around.”

I’ve never
quite gotten the whole story of what happened with these two, but I
know they ended up leaving each other bruised.

“Another hex
showed up,” I say. “And there’s only one bit—I mean witch—in this
school. So why don’t you just call it off and save us the trouble
of undoing your little spell?”

“And what do
you know about it?” she says, looking at me. “You think I don’t
know who broke into my house and stole from me? You might have
hidden your face but you’re this girl’s only fat friend. Hard to
miss the obvious.”

“Hey watch your
mouth,” Tam warns.

“Sure. Act all
tough. Next you’ll beat me up, then steal from my home. Isn’t that
how it goes?”

“Your spell was
going to kill Dina, don’t you realize that?”

“It was the
weakest spell I know. Trust me, if I wanted to kill her, I could
have. And the same goes for you.” Sydney steps closer to me now,
her eyes narrowing with anger. “And I was ever going to hex another
girl at this school, it wouldn’t be your loudmouth friend. I know
you were inside my house. I know you stole something that didn’t
belong to me. If I was gonna hex anybody, it would be you. You
should thank me for being so forgiving.”

She’s right in
my face, and I can sense Tam about to move in to protect me, and
that would end up with Tam fighting and possibly expelled from
school, so I manage to say something before Tam feels the need to
defend me.

“Where were you
last night at eleven thirty?”

“What’s it
matter?”

“That’s when
the hex appeared. If you have an alibi, we’ll leave you alone. If
not, we might have to go investigating again.”

Sydney scoffs.
“You mean break and enter? We got an alarm now.” She pauses to
think about things a bit then looks to me again. “Screw it, here’s
your alibi. I was with Wayne.”

“You mean the
guy who dumped you?” Tam scoffs.

“He acts like
he’s better than me, until I text him to come over. He was at my
house til almost one. He might tell you I was magic, but not the
kind you’re thinking. So now buzz off, little girls. I have a
halftime show to plan.”

We got what we
came for, a denial and an alibi, so there’s nothing left to but
leave or start a fight, and a fight would only make things worse
right now. I grab Tam’s arm and head back toward the main door to
the hallway. Just I open the door, Sydney comes out of the practice
room and calls out. “Hey Mindee.” I turn to look back. “Thanks for
letting me know.”

“Know
what?”

“That you’re
the seer. I wasn’t sure until now,” she says, her mouth closing to
a one-sided grin.

I leave the
music room, wondering whether or not that last part was a
threat.

It’s last
period and I’m sitting beside Tam waiting for the day to be over.
We’re writing notes from what the teacher puts up on the overhead
projector, when Tam drops her pen and stops writing. I figure she’s
resting a sore hand but after a minute she’s still not taking
notes.

“You just
expect to memorize all this?” I whisper.

She looks at
me, and I can see in her eyes that she’s afraid. Something’s wrong.
“Can you see anything? Is the hex different?” she whispers
back.

“Nothing.” The
blue aura is the same as it’s been all day. “What is it?”

“I can’t feel
my hand. It tingles, but I can’t move it. I think my hand’s gone
dead.” I can see tears in Tam’s eyes reflecting the brightness of
the projector screen.