In Memoriam Read online

  I do know what I want to study in college: art. That’s what makes the most sense for me, since drawing and painting are the things I’m best at. They’re also things I haven’t been doing much of since we started the coven. It’s just been one fire to put out after another. I think the last time I did anything artistic was in art class at Noah’s Catholic, roughly two months ago. I wouldn’t even count that because you’re confined to 45 minutes in class and you can hardly create a masterpiece in that little time. Not that I’m calling anything I’ve done a masterpiece, but Emma always calls the mural of the beta fish fighting the dragon that I did on her bedroom wall one. And she does have great taste.

  Thank God and Goddess Pete knew that Emma, Shar and I are into art and put us in as many art classes as he possibly could. We have it fourth period every day except Thursday when we have gym first period, but Pete is going to get us doctor’s notes saying that we can’t take gym. I’m sure Emma will get hers from her father, since she had a heart attack and he’s a cardiac surgeon. Or her neurologist could give her one, due to her grand mal seizure disorder. I think Pete said he’s going to give me some condition where you get vertigo very easily and are prone to passing out. I forget what it’s actually called. I also forget what he’s diagnosing Shar with. Maybe he said fibromyalgia. I guess after what happened this morning he might as well say that we all have seizure disorders. I feel wicked bad about Shar having a bad one. I know she’s sweating it right now about what’s going to happen with Arja.

  Emma, Shar and I have just walked into the cafeteria, which is packed. There must be 500 students in here. Granted, it’s a very large caf, but this is just the junior/senior lunch. If freshmen/sophomore lunch is as packed, there must be over a thousand students at this school, which mean there are that many more students to give us a hard time. But I’m not putting up with any bullying. Especially not of Emma and Shar. Shar is very soft spoken, at least compared to me, and she goes to great lengths to avoid confrontation. Suffice to say, she’s more inclined to sit there and take it than I am. Not that I really stood up for either of us at Noah’s Catholic, but after dealing with the witch hunters and Jenna-the-hideous I’ve adapted a bit more of a take no shit attitude. I think it’s a good thing.

  I sweep the caf with my eyes and there aren’t many empty chairs. Except in the allergy section, as January and Pete suspected. Two of the three tables that say they’re for students with food allergies are empty.

  “I wonder if Pete gave us all allergies yet?” Emma wonders.

  “We should probably wait and check with him first,” Shar says and bites her top lip. She doesn’t bite her lip as often as Emma and I but I think it’s completely adorable when she does. And it’s always a nice sign that I’m doing something right during sex.

  “They can’t expect all of us to have our allergies on file the first day,” Emma says. “Plus, there aren’t enough chairs for us to sit elsewhere even if we didn’t mind splitting up. Which we do.”

  I’m about to say let’s go get our grub and take a seat at the allergy table when January and Pete appear beside Shar and I and Jim next to Emma.

  “Hey. Did you get the grand tour?” Emma asks Jim.

  “Yes. By a wicked strange guy.”

  “Oh, what was his name?”

  “James Whorrley.”

  “Why was he strange?” I ask.

  Jim shakes his head. “He’s obsessed with Selena Gomez.”

  “He told you this?”

  I might’ve read him for thirty seconds, Jim says telepathically. I saw his room and it’s a Selena Gomez shrine. There’s literally a shrine with candles and a curtain with a headshot of her.Dude even has photos of her on the ceiling.

  I shake my head. At least Selena Gomez is hot.

  I turn to Pete and smile. “Pete, just the man we want to see. Did you put allergies in our records yet?”

  He smiles proudly, his chest rising slightly. “I did. I didn’t have time to get creative about it though. So, we all have nut allergies. Some of us have other allergies, too – to make it look good – but I need to see who I gave what to and e-mail everyone tonight.”

  “So, we should be good just saying we have allergies for today?” Shar asks, her brow slightly wrinkled with worry.

  “It should be fine,” January says, all smiles.

  “So, shall we get food and meet back at an allergy table then?” Jim asks.

  “Sounds good,” Pete says. “But keep in mind that we’re all supposed to be allergic to nuts. So, no Peanut Butter Cups or Snickers.”

  “I knew there had to be a catch,” Emma says. She loves Peanut Butter Cups. She’s especially obsessed with the ones made with white chocolate right now. She had me try one the other day and it was better than I expected, which surprised me because I’m really fussy about white chocolate.

  Emma, Jim, Shar, January, Jim and I get the vegetarian option, which is just elbow macaroni and sauce, but I definitely appreciate it because Noah’s Catholic couldn’t even bother to keep some aside before adding the meat to it. Pete gets the American Chop Suey with meat, which surprises me. I would’ve thought he’d stop eating it to impress January by now. Oh well, at least he hasn’t persuaded her to eat meat. Fortunately, Shar is across from me and Emma and Jim are facing each other in the seats beside us. In the middle. Pete and January are sitting opposite each other next to them, so I don’t need to smell the rotting flesh, which is always nice.

  “How’s everyone’s day going?” January asks.

  Emma and Shar look at me. C’mon already, I say to them telepathically. Lay off me. I’m not sure if January and Jim heard me. They’re telepathic, too, but that doesn’t mean they can hear everything anyone telepathic says around them. Telepathy is almost like calling someone on the phone. The call is exclusive between the caller and who they called. At least if you do it right. We’ve gotten good at telepathy, but I don’t know if I can make it work like that yet. Anyway, Emma and Shar are glaring at me now so I guess I better talk.

  “Well, I – we – had a premonition that we made a guy’s head explode after over-hearing him tell his buddy he was going to rape our guide, Melinda, at this party this weekend. So, we took measures to prevent that. Like charming our pentacle necklaces so they not only protect us from evil but prevent us from using black magick. If we try to, then they’ll stop us. Theoretically anyway.”

  “Oh, that’s awesome,” January says.

  “Get to the good part,” Emma says to me.

  “Fine. We weren’t gonna listen to the guy, less we lose our tempers. But for some reason I felt compelled to. I had to hear him say it. So, I did and I lost it and grabbed him by the arm.”

  “And dug your nails into him,” Shar says. I can’t tell if she’s still upset or if she’s proud of me now. Usually, I can read her, but not at the moment.

  I start twirling my hair around my finger. “Yes, and I threatened to kill him if he ever lays a finger on her. And he admitted that he said it after I told Melinda. He dismissed it as joking, but she sure didn’t and there’s no way he’s getting anywhere near her now.”

  January glares at me, eyes wide. “Are you trying to get expelled already?”

  “No,” I say. “Of course not.”

  “She didn’t get to the punch line yet,” Emma says.

  “What’s that?” Jim asks.

  I snicker before I tell them. “As we were walking away, I made a bee appear out of thin air and sting him in the ass.”

  “I thought we weren’t gonna do candy at school,” January says, suddenly unable to sit still.

  “We’re not,” Emma and Shar say together. Not cool. Only me and Shar are supposed to say the same things at once. Plus, nobody likes being ganged up on.

  “I wasn’t thinking,” I say.

  Jim raises an eyebrow. “That’s your defense?”

  “That’s the truth. But, you know, it was one little bee sting. Not something that’s going to make anyone suspect candy.”
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  Jim scratches the back of his head. “But what happens the next time you’re not thinking?”

  “I don’t know. But if it’s bad we’ll have a premonition about it and I’ll avoid doing it.”

  “You can’t be sure of that. You didn’t have a premonition about clawing him today,” January says.

  “No,” I say. “Because we had a premonition about doing something much worse. Compared to making someone’s head explode, I’d say what I did is nothing.”

  Jim opens his mouth to say something else, but Emma kicks him under the table. It’s obvious from the way he suddenly jerks in his seat and gives her angry eyes.

  “What the fuck,” he says. Loudly, too.

  “There’s not supposed to be any swearing at school either,” Emma says.

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Oh. So, you had a natural reaction to something without thinking?” I ask.

  The muscles in Jim’s face stiffen for a second then relax as he turns apologetic. “I see what you mean. Sorry, Lia. I just don’t want us blowing this. We’ve got two years here. We can’t afford to get sloppy now.”

  “On a related note,” Emma says. “Some of you have already heard this, but I might as well tell you all that the premonition gave me a seizure in the shower. And it resulted in my father seeing me completely naked.”

  Jim and I start to laugh, but stop short as we realize how upset about this she is.

  “They see us all naked for years when we arrive here,” Jim says.

  Emma feigns a laugh.

  “Plus,” January says. “Your dad probably feels even more uncomfortable than you.”

  Just then, an elderly lunch lady slaps her hands down on the table and leans on it like some kind of authority figure. “This table is reserved for students with food allergies.”

  “Yes,” I say. “We all saw the card on the table. That’s why we sat here. We all have food allergies.”

  “Really? I find that difficult to believe.”

  “Seriously,” Emma says. “The whole reason we all know each other is that we all sat at the allergy table at our old school.”

  Lunch lady’s brow wrinkles as she removes her hands from the table and places them on her hips as she looks us over. Just when we think she’s about to leave she asks, “What are your names? And I need to know what you’re all allergic to.”

  “We’re all allergic to nuts,” Pete says.

  We’re all allergic to nuts, I push that thought on her. Everyone push we’re all allergic to nuts on her.

  We’re all allergic to nuts. We’re all allergic to nuts, we all say, pushing the words inside her head telepathically. Well, except for Pete, who isn’t psychic or a witch. Although Jim is supposed to share his magick with him and start teaching him spells this afternoon.

  Then Emma goes, please Lord and Lady, let her accept our answer and walk away.

  “OK, you’re all allergic to nuts,” lunch lady finally says. “But I still need your names and it better be in your files.”

  Apparently, she has an exceptional memory because she doesn’t write them down as we give them to her. Thank Goddess she leaves after that.

  “Didn’t we just use candy on her?” I ask everyone.

  “You initiated it!” Shar goes.

  “But nobody forced you guys to do it with me.”

  “I don’t think that was using candy so much as using our psychic abilities,” Emma says.

  “Fair enough,” I admit. Although Shar and I weren’t psychic until she shared her magick with us so I don’t think she’s entirely right.

  “Will I be psychic after you share your magick with me?” Pete asks Jim.

  “Most witches are psychic,” Jim says. “But not all.”

  “But you’re psychic,” Pete says.

  “You most likely will be,” Emma says.

  “I just don’t want to get your hopes up too high,” Jim says.

  “Understood.” Pete smirks. I really hope he’s not going to be a loose cannon once he has magick.

  The rest of lunch is quieter. I guess nobody feels like bickering anymore. I start dwelling on going to George’s Magick Shop to tell him the terrible news about Kat. I’m sure not looking forward to that, but it’s Emma who really feels like shit about it because she blames herself for Kat being there to help us. Shar and I keep telling her that Kat came voluntarily, that she can’t carry all that guilt. That it’ll just eat her alive. I think it’s just going to take some time for her to free herself from it. At least she has good friends who’ll stand by her. If our words don’t help her then we can at least keep her distracted so she won’t have as much time to dwell on things. We keep telling her our little coven would’ve fallen to our deaths if Kat hadn’t shown up and helped us, which also allowed us to save Krystal and Priscilla.

  All in all, lunch today sucked. Especially for me. I can’t believe the way Jim laid into me like that. Maybe he thinks I told Emma not to get back together with him. I did go with her the first time she saw him after he came back to life, but he should get that I was just trying to protect her. He should be grateful for that.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  EMMA

  It’s seventh period, la dernière de la journee (the last of the day), and Lia, Shar and I have study together. But we’re only ten minutes in and the teacher, Mr. Larde, has given three students detention already. Miles Manning and Brian Shure, for talking – even though it was barely audible whispering – and Jamie Finestein (a dude) for passing a note that wasn’t even his; he was just going to give it to Amy Akbar for Lauren Hope. Props to Jamie for not ratting on either of the girls. I’m just surprised Mr. Larde didn’t give Amy detention, too, since she was about to take the note from Jamie when he saw him holding it.

  Alors, Lia, Shar and I talk telepathically as we do our trig together. Although Lia doesn’t contribute much. She was lost in class because she wasn’t taking it at Noah’s Catholic.

  Well, none of this shit makes sense, but thanks for the answers, Lia says to Shar and I. The way we’re seated, we’re all in the fourth row – second from the back – with Shar in the middle of us.

  Don’t worry, we’ll get you caught up, Shar says. Then she looks at me and says, Right, Em?

  Sure thing, I say. Bien sûr.

  So, what do you really think about Jim sharing his magick with Pete this afternoon? Shar asks me, her brow fret with worry and her left leg bouncing up and down on her toes like mine tends to do when I’m anxious.

  I sigh. I don’t know what to think. I’m certainly not excited about it. More like cautious.

  Shar starts cracking her knuckles. But you volunteered us to teach Pete spells.

  I clench my jaw before I start rambling. I thought I said maybe we could teach him some spells. After Jim gives him magick. Believe me, there was no way I was going to have any of us giving away our magick. Then again, hell, maybe that’s what we were supposed to do? We had plenty of power before we wound up with J’s.

  Who knows what we’re supposed to do? Lia asks. It would’ve been nice if Great Grandmother Ruth could’ve given us some insight about this one.

  It’s just, look how our spells backfired in the beginning, Shar says. And we didn’t have black magick pouring through our veins like Pete will.

  I bite my top lip. When we’re at George’s, we’ll have to get Pete a necklace like ours and spell it so he can’t do black magick.

  Telling George about Kat is gonna suck balls, Lia says, tapping her pen against her desk.

  I lean forward so I can make eye contact with her and glare. Quit it with the pen before you get detention.

  Maybe I’m tapping my pen because I want to get detention.

  So you won’t have to go?

  Exactly.

  I feel my face flushing from frustration. Are you fucking kidding me?

  Yes, obviously.

  You seriously couldn’t tell she was toying with you? Shar asks me, looking surprised.

 
; Sorry, I say. My nerves are just frayed right now.

  I’ll tell him, Lia says. It’ll be too hard for you.

  No, I say. It’s my fault she came to help us, so I’ll tell him.

  You need to stop blaming yourself, Em, Shar says.

  I’ll get right on it, I say sarcastically. The fact is that it totally is my fault because I’m the one who asked her for help.

  But we all wanted you to, Lia says. So, it’s our fault, too. Quit hogging all the guilt.

  I give her a forced smile. Sure thing.

  We all meet in the parking lot after school, since Juliana texted us and said she was parked near Jim in the student lot. He and I are the first to arrive and promptly begin a make out session because it’s after school hours so fuck them, right? Lia and Shar arrive next and start to make out, too. Then January and Pete arrive and there’s even more kissing. Until Juliana sticks her head out of her car and coughs loudly and says, “It’s time to hit the road already.” Pete is going with Jim to do their coven of two thing. However, Jim also gave January a ride to school, so Juliana offers to drop her off on the way to George’s. Her house is en route to the highway anyway.

  We’re on the road now, Juliana driving with January in the front seat and Lia, Shar and I in the back. AC/DC plays on some classic rock station on the radio because Juliana loves them and it’s her car. I don’t mind some of their songs, like “Thunderstruck” and “You Shook Me All Night Long,” but I’m not sure I like them enough to officially call myself a fan. “Money Talks” is the song that’s on right now. I guess it’s decent enough, too. I like the melody of the chorus. If Trump somehow manages to get elected then I’m sure it won’t be long before it’s our new national anthem.