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Nodding, Nova yelled to Willa. “Jack and Coke?”
“Woo-hoo!” Willa hollered.
“What is this?” Nova covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes were wide as she stared across the dance floor.
“It’s a vamp club. ‘Normies’ come here to offer themselves and some of us come to feed freely while the others come to dance and meet people.”
“I’m leaving. This is a disgusting abuse of power.”
“What?”
Willa stared at Nova and Lottie.
Nova glared at them. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” With that, Nova stormed toward the door and was gone before Lottie could react.
“What just happened? Where’s the new girl going? Lots?” Selena walked up with Mae and Janie trailing her.
“Go after her, dummy.” Mae said, gesturing toward the door.
Lottie ran for the door stopping just outside to see which way Nova had gone but she was nowhere in sight.
“Fuck!”
“Hey!” The bouncer glared at her as she waved him off and walked back toward the school. She wasn’t in the mood to hang out now.Where did it go wrong? What’s an abuse of power?There was research to be done and Lottie would be the one to do it.
###
Tucking her laptop under her arm, Lottie opened the door to the library at 7:58 AM on Sunday morning. She’d spent the entire night searching for information about Nova and her family in Texas but wasn’t able to find a single thing. Knowing Nova and her family moved around every few years hadn’t been helpful either. Without knowing her parents’ names, Lottie was unable to search for them. Her frustration was palpable as she lobbed her laptop onto the service desk.
‘I see you’re cheery this morning. You didn’t come back or answer your phone last night. Did you find Nova?” Selena raised her eyebrows up and down suggestively with a dumb grin on her face.
“I’m not in the mood, Selena.”
“Boo. Does that mean it didn’t go well or you didn’t find her.”
“I didn’t find her or anything about her anywhere on the Internet.”
“That’s…odd, right?”
“Very. It’s 2022. Everyone has some kind of digital footprint.”
The library door opened, and a few incoming freshmen and their parents walked in. They were too easy to spot.
“I gotta go. I’ll find you later.” Lottie walked over to greet the newbies.
Selena stayed at the reference desk, opening the laptop, and going through Lottie’s history. She knew Lottie was a bit of a player. It wasn’t often someone got under her skin the way Nova had. She looked up each time the door opened, hoping to speak with Nova before Lottie could but each time it was just an incoming student coming in for the tour. Half an hour later, she watched as Lottie lead the newbies out of the library. It was quiet again and she had time to scroll through all the major social media sites, a neighborhood group where Nova said she was from, and just to make sure, police records in her county. Selena came up as empty handed as Lottie had. She took a deep breath and sat crossed legged on the floor. Knowing the only way she could help was to find a location spell, she cleared her mind. Offering an invocation, she fell into a deep meditation.
“Hello? Is anyone in here?”
Selena wasn’t sure how much time had passed but she wasn’t happy about being interrupted. She rolled her eyes and stood up.
“What can I do for you? Oh! Hi, Nova. Sorry, I was meditating.
“Oh, wow. I’m sorry. I would have never interrupted.”
“It’s fine. I actually needed to speak with you today.”
“Oh, um. I came to talk to Lottie.” Nova frowned.
