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“Or maybe it is your fault,” Missy said.
Everyone turned to look at her. Ivy clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, turning away from Missy as if she were trying to keep herself from pouncing on her. Missy, who was sitting on a pillow with her back against the wall, leaned forward. “Missy,” Noelle said in a warning tone.
“No. I’m totally serious.” Missy shoved herself up from the floor, lifting her blond braid over her shoulder. “I believe you, Reed. It all makes perfect sense. You are cursed.”
“What?” Portia said. “Girl, you are OOC.”
“No, I’m not out of control,” Missy said through her teeth, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a step forward. “Think about it. Everything was fine at Easton until she showed up. Then Ariana goes off the reservation, Thomas ends up murdered, Sabine comes to town and kills Cheyenne, then shoots Ivy,” she said, nodding at Ivy’s back. “Then you guys go away for break and Reed ends up kidnapped and left to die on a deserted island, and when you get back, surprise! Billings is leveled and now two of our friends have gone missing. You are cursed, Reed. We’d all be better off if you’d never come into our lives.”
“All right. That’s enough!”
I turned and gaped at Ivy. I think we were all surprised that the words had exploded from her mouth and not Noelle’s. Missy turned red with shock but stopped ranting.
“Forget about everything that happened in the past,” Kiki piped up, lifting herself up from the settee so that she was sitting on the arm, her boots resting on the expensive fabric of the seat. “Let’s look at what’s happening now. If Reed and Noelle are cursed, then why is it Lorna and Astrid who’ve gone missing? Where do they fit into all of this?”
Something passed through Missy’s eyes at that moment. Some spark of knowledge. Some realization.
“What?” I blurted out, stepping toward her. “What do you know?”
The entire room went silent with tension. Everyone stared at us like we were two lions poised to attack.
“Nothing,” she said, shifting her gaze.
“Bullshit,” Ivy put in, storming over. “What the hell, Missy? If you know anything, you have to tell us.”
Missy lifted her chin. “I don’t have to tell you anything. You’re the ones who decided I wasn’t good enough to hang out with you anymore.”
“Missy,” Constance said, her voice tearful. “Please. Do you know something?”
“No!” Missy wailed. “No! God! I don’t. Don’t you think I would tell you if I did? Lorna’s one of my best friends. Or she was, anyway,” she added, shooting me another accusatory look.
“You know something. I can tell,” Ivy said, grabbing Missy’s arm. “Spill it, Missy.”
“Get off me!” Missy cried, wrenching away from Ivy. She bent at the waist and grabbed her leather bag. “I should never have even come here.”
Missy stormed past me toward the double doors, which were open to the hallway, Ginny and her partner, Goran, keeping watch just outside.
“Missy, wait,” I begged.
“Forget it,” she snapped, not looking back.
“Get back here,” Ivy shouted, going after her. “Missy! You’re not going anywhere until you tell us what you know!”
At that moment I swear I felt a burst of cold wind and both heavy doors slammed shut. Constance and Amberly screamed. Missy stopped in her tracks. If she’d been three steps further, those doors would have hit her. Slowly, I turned to look at Ivy. Her dark hair danced forward around her cheeks on a wisp of a breeze, before falling lazily down around her shoulders.
“What the hell was that?” Tiffany demanded.
“The wind,” Noelle said, going over to an open window and slamming it closed. “I opened the windows because it was getting stuffy with the fire and everyone in here at once.”
Shakily, Ivy turned to look at me. We both knew it wasn’t the wind. It was just like that falling painting in the cafeteria yesterday morning.
“It’s the incantation, isn’t it?” Ivy said to me, as if no one else was there. “It actually worked.”
Just then the two doors were flung open again, and everyone gasped. Noelle’s grandmother, Lenora Lange, walked into the room, her high heels clicking against the marble floor. When she saw Ivy, she startled a bit, almost as if she could feel the fear coming off of her. Quickly, Mrs. Lange cleared her throat.
“Now, girls. We can’t have this dissension,” she said clearly, succinctly. She looked around the room, meeting each and every girl’s eyes in turn. “If we’re going to stop what’s happening to your sisters, we’re going to have to work together.”
“The first thing you should know is that the curse is real,” Mrs. Lange said.
