I’d never been so grounded in my life.
“Mom, it wasn’t that—”
“Not a phone call all weekend. All weekend. And then we find out Bridget hasn’t seen you since Friday!” Mom had yelled, her face red with anger and splotchy from tears. I’d never seen her so upset before, and it freaked me out. I looked to my dad for support, but he just stared at me, pale as a ghost.
“Mom, stop overreacting—”
“We thought you were dead!” she screamed.
“I’m sixteen, I forgot to call, I don’t know why you’re acting like this!” I yelled back.
She just stared at me, her eyes nearly bugging out of her face.
And that’s when the grounding happened. No internet. No friends. No movies or TV—I was surprised she didn’t take away book privileges while she was at it. Home immediately after school, and I had to call as soon as I got out so she could time me. I was a prisoner in my own house.
I wasn’t stupid though—yes, I had to tell them I’d spent the weekend with Riley, but I wasn’t crazy enough to reveal we spent the whole time in New York City. Not that it helped—no more Riley ever was the law now, and not even me completely dissolving into utterly distraught tears and running up to my room in abject misery would change their minds.
My only consolation was that I would at least still see him ‘in the school.’ I clung desperately to his promise like a lifeline.
When I woke up the next morning after falling asleep from sobbing my heart out, things were still tense in the house. Mom made Dad to drive me to school, but he could barely talk to me. I’d never felt so low before, so rejected by my own parents.
How could I explain to them what had happened? They would never understand.
“Aren’t you going to wish me a good day at school?” I asked Dad, breaking the awful silence as he pulled up in front of Portsmouth High.
He bowed his head, bringing his hands into his lap. We sat there in horrible silence for a long minute.
I opened the door awkwardly. “Have a good day,” I offered, grimacing at how fake it sounded.
“Andi—” he said suddenly, looking up at me. I cringed at the look of misery on his face. “Andi, I just… just… be safe, sweetie. Please?”
I nodded and closed the door. Oh god, why did he have to guilt me like that? Riley and I had to go to New York—not that I’d ever be able to explain that to Dad—but couldn’t he see how bad I felt about everything?
I stared at the facade of my school, dread creeping up on me. How would Riley treat me today? I took a shaky breath and walked inside, pushing past the flocks of students lingering in the halls.
I instantly knew how terrible the day would be when I walked into the half-filled English classroom. Riley’s desk was still empty, but Bree was in hers. I slid into my seat next to her, but something made me hesitant to catch her attention. With good reason too, because when she turned and saw me, her face whitened.
“What the hell, Andi?” she hissed, her words harsh even though her expression was tinged with confusion and worry. “My parents almost freaking killed me when your mom called asking where you were. Your folks thought you were with me the whole weekend, why didn’t you—”
But then Mrs. Phillips walked into the classroom.
“Not now,” I whispered, pleading with her. My eyes were glued to the door as students continued to dart inside.
Bree stiffened—I shrank in my seat, desperate to avoid a Bridget Fifan Third Degree Special. She seemed torn between continuing her tirade and shutting up, but she pursed her lips in the end. “Lunch,” she ordered, and then turned around in her seat, the hunch in her shoulders cutting off any retort I might have made.
The motion stung me. Of all people, I thought Bree would at least try to understand before she just turned away from me like that. I felt my own anger grow. How dare she interrogate me, judge me! If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have gone to that stupid college party in the first place. This was all her fault! Nothing would have happened if it hadn’t been for Bree!
“Nothing would have happened,” I whispered under my breath, and the thought sent me reeling. Once more, I realized—there would have been no rescue, no road trip, no Riley.
Where was Riley?
The bell rang, and Mrs. Phillips closed the door. “Good morning, class. Take your seats,” she began.
Riley’s empty desk seemed a gaping wound to me.
He never showed up for English. He wasn’t in French, either. I spent all of snack break, scanning the halls for him. By Marine Biology, I was a mess. I realized then that I didn’t even have his number to try and call him. He’d never given it to me… Or asked for mine. Perhaps that should have tipped me off.
But still, part of me couldn’t help but be terrified. What if something had happened to him? What if some other cultists had waylaid him before he got the book to Neil’s? What if he—
What if now, with his mission complete, he had no more need to attend Portsmouth High?
Had no more need to… see me?
We had saved the Grimoire, stopped the doom of the world as I knew it. It was over. Done. Why would he bother coming back to school? He was done with me. And the world as I knew it felt more doomed than ever it could have been before.
“Miss Slate!” Ms. Epistola’s voice snapped at me. I jerked out of my despair, and looked up at her, disoriented.
“If my class is that uninteresting to you, please, don’t hesitate to take a trip down to the principal’s office,” she sneered scornfully.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, stealing a glance at Bree and Vik. They both looked at me with confusion and… concern. I wanted to cry.
I don’t know how I made it through the rest of Bio—Ms. Epistola focused particularly on harassing me after my slipup. My chest felt like it was cracking under the strain. When the bell rang, I leapt up, just trying to get my things and get away—it was lunch time, I could just hide somewhere and—
“Not so fast,” Bree said at my ear, grabbing me by the arm. Vik stood behind her, looking concerned but remaining silent and not making a move. “We need to talk.”
Bree put her weight into it and pushed, pulled and shoved me into an empty classroom across the hall. Just outside the door, the corridors were filled with the rest of the school excitedly making their way to the cafeteria. Soon enough though, the hallway fell silent, and I stared at Bree and Vik before me.
“You could have just asked, Bree,” I snapped, rubbing my arm. I felt cornered.
Bree looked at me strangely, but then took a deep breath and rubbed her face. “I’m… I’m sorry, look, I just wanted to talk.”
“Well, here I am,” I snapped again. I could feel myself wanting to lash out at my two friends like a trapped animal. I tried to restrain myself, but my fears and worries about Riley had run me to the edge of sanity.
Bree seemed kicked off-balance by my aggressiveness, and she took another deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry if I came off rough, but Andi, we were wicked freaked out over you last night. I… I was so scared.”
“I was too,” Vik interjected, daring to look at me, but then quickly averting his eyes.
“Look,” Bree said, “just—don’t disappear like that again, okay? I… we just need to know you’re safe.”
“I already got this speech from my parents, Bree. I really don’t appreciate it again from you,” I said coldly. “If I wanted more guilt, I would have just stayed at home.”
Bree stared at me as if I were some kind of strange, dangerous creature. Good. Let perfect Bree with all her perfect advice and perfect sense finally see that maybe her understanding of life wasn’t so perfect after all. What did she know, anyway? I had seen things, experienced them, things she couldn’t even ever hope to comprehend or believe.
“What happened?” she asked, leaning against a desk with her arms crossed. “It’s just… when your mom called, and it hit me that I hadn’t heard from you since the party, I just got so… so scared that something had happened to you and—” She took an abrupt trembling breath, “and it was all my fault!” Her eyes were beginning to look wet.
“So sorry if I got you in trouble, Bree,” I sneered. How like her to be looking out for herself when I was the one that could have been dead—or worse!
“It’s not that! I just… where were you?” she begged.
I took a deep breath. Did I trust her? I looked to Vik, standing behind her like a faithful hound, ready to jump in if she tag-teamed him, a strange faraway look in his eyes. Did I trust either of them?
I took a slow breath. “I was with Riley,” I said. My voice came out surprisingly calm and level.
Vik took a sudden step back, knocking into the desk behind him, and Bree’s jaw dropped. “The whole weekend?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said, feeling defiant. “I was feeling… spontaneous. Just like you’re always telling me I should be,” I countered, unable to resist the jab.
Bree’s face fell. “Didn’t you think of calling your parents? Me? Anyone?”
I honestly hadn’t. Not once, all weekend. The thought surprised me. “No,” I said, my voice coming out more shaky than I wanted it to. “I left my phone at home… and I just got so… so caught up in the weekend… I just… I just—I just wish Riley were here!” I gasped, and a tear slipped down my face.
Bree, kind dependable Bree, turned on me then. “Andi, that’s so not like you!” she said, straightening up. “I mean, yeah you’re slow to respond to texts and stuff, but a whole weekend!?”
“I wasn’t thinking!” I wailed, back on the defensive. “Look, it was really sudden, and there was so much to do in New York, and—”
Uh oh.
“Wait, New York?” Bree demanded.
“New York!?” Vik echoed almost simultaneously.
I took a deep breath. “Riley took me to New York City,” I confessed.
Bree went from victim to listener to attack dog in mere seconds. “Oh my god, Andi!” she cried, “I thought you just meant you were like, at Riley’s place all weekend… doing stuff.”
Behind her, Vik blanched. But before he could say anything, Bree went on.
“But instead, he took you to New York City? And you didn’t tell anyone? What if he was a creeper? Or a murderer!”
“You’re the one who was defending him last week!” I yelled back, stung by her words. She didn’t know Riley like I did! He wasn’t any of those things!
“That was before he made you an idiot!” she yelled back.
Vik had turned away and was leaning against a desk.
The silence hung heavy between us.
“Andi, please,” Bree said after a minute. “You just met Riley, what, two weeks ago? And all of a sudden you’re running off with him, leaving the state, for a whole weekend without telling anyone? This isn’t like you. That guy’s just… he’s just bad news. You have to—”
“You should go get lunch,” I cut her off, cold as ice. “You know how cranky you get if you don’t eat.”
Vik twisted around and looked at the both of us in shock. Bree just flinched, and turned to leave. But she couldn’t go without one last parting shot. “Andi, please, just don’t… get so wrapped up some guy that you can’t… can’t see what trouble you could—”
“Riley is the last one to get me in trouble, Bree,” I snarled, remembering Friday night. “I’m a big girl, I can handle Riley.”
Bree left. I was alone with Vik.
“So what, now I’ll get it from you, too?” I shot at him.
He lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. “Look, Andi, I know Bree didn’t… she was just so worried about you, she was a real mess yesterday,” he tried to explain. “I was too…”
“Don’t,” I snapped. I felt cold, alone… betrayed.
“Hey, we’re still your friends,” Vik said. He crossed the space between us, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I couldn’t help it then. The tears I’d been holding back all morning, deep inside me, welled up. Vik’s brotherly arm moved around me comfortingly and I plopped my head defeatedly against his shoulder.
“She just doesn’t understand! I… I just—” and I couldn’t say it. I love him! I wanted to scream it to the heavens.
Vik gave me a reassuring pat, but was otherwise still until I managed to regain some semblance of control, and then he pulled back to look down at me. “So… What did you guys do in New York City, anyway?” he asked, his tone artificially light.
I sniffled, but smiled. “You have no idea. Vik!” It suddenly occurred to me—if anyone could appreciate it all, could truly comprehend, Vik could. “Vik… it’s all true!”
He looked startled. “What’s true?” he asked warily.
“All that Elder Gods stuff Ms. Epistola goes on about! The Great Old Ones, your book, the one that got stolen! Riley…” I couldn’t tell him Riley was a Great One, but… “Riley… knows!” I squeaked. “That’s why we had to go to New York. We had to go and get this other ancient book so that his uncle—Riley’s uncle Neil has this shop, The Crawling Chaos? It’s right off Main Street and you would love it, Vik, it’s so full of creepy artifacts and stuff—but Neil sent us to New York for this book so that he could hide it away from these… these cultists that were after it. They wanted to bring about the end of the world, Vik! But we stopped them. Me and Riley! I was so scared—they came after us in the Port Authority but we got away! Riley saved me…”
I sighed, the bittersweet memory stinging my heart. “He took me to see Phantom.”
Vik was staring down at me as if I had three heads.
“Please, I’m not crazy, Vik!” I cried, grasping his hands. “You believe me, right?”
Vik’s fingers immediately wrapped around mine, and he leaned in close, looking deep into my eyes. I could see how much he cared for me. Good old Vik. I’d never lose him.
“Andi…” For a moment, he seemed at a loss for words, but then he shook his head as if to clear it. “It’s all so much, but… Scarlett’s been showing me things, and… no,” he said, abruptly squeezing my hands. “You aren’t crazy.”
I could have wept, I was so relieved. Instead, I threw my arms around him, hugging him hard. “Thank you, Vik,” I whispered.
He seemed to melt against me. His voice was low, but he sounded relieved as he answered, “Don’t mention it.” A moment later, though, he worked himself away from me to study my face as if he were trying to make up his mind about something. He tucked a strand of my hair back behind my ear before he spoke again. “But seriously, Andi… Riley?”
I nodded.
Vik took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to think of him being connected to all this,” he confessed. “I’m worried about you. If he’s telling you the truth—”
“Of course he is!” I laughed.
“Then this is some dark stuff.” Vik’s warm gaze poured into mine, making something strange twist in my stomach. “You have to keep yourself safe, Andi.”
“You don’t know him, Vik.” I took a step back. “Riley only wants to protect me. He would never hurt me.”
At least not physically… It was true I’d been in incomparable anguish all day over him. Oh god, where was he? Would I ever see him again? Was everything really and truly over? I couldn’t hold back a fresh sob. “I just… I just wish he were here.”
Vik’s jaw set. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know!” I confessed. “Gone. Forever, for all I know. I don’t even have his number…”
Vik’s expression seemed so soften and he exhaled a weary sigh. “Andi… I hate to see you so upset like this.”
I tried to say something—that it wasn’t Riley’s fault, that I only had myself to blame for getting so attached to him when I should have known better—but I couldn’t make the words happen.
“Forget him,” Vik snapped. “A jerk like that who would drag you around and then just disappear? You don’t need him.”
“I can’t forget him,” I whimpered.
Vik studied me for a moment and then shook his head, as if he had finally made up his mind. “Oh, come on now,” he said in a softer tone. “It’ll be a piece of cake to get your mind off that guy. There are plenty of other things to focus on, to look forward to.”
“Nothing that matters.”
“Aw, c’mon, sure. This is Portsmouth! The greatest town in America. We’ve got boats. And apple trees. And… there’s the Pumpkin Festival this weekend?” he offered, obviously trying to lighten the mood. And I couldn’t help it, I laughed.
He smiled at me and gave the sides of my arms a reassuring rub.
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“Oh, I am very serious about pumpkins,” he said, arching a serious eyebrow at me. “Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin carving… the Pumpkin Ball…?”
“…Vik,” I began, an uneasy feeling creeping into my stomach.
“You know what I think?” he said quickly, as if in a rush to get the words out. “We should go together.”
I blinked. “To the Pumpkin Ball?”
“Sure,” he shrugged, but his tone sounded oddly expectant.
“We go everywhere together,” I countered.
“Well, maybe we should go as… non-friends,” he said. “Like. Together.”
The open and warm expression on his face made my stomach twist. He looked so hopeful, so… vulnerable. I couldn’t take it.
“We can’t, Vik,” I whispered.
“Why not?” he asked.
“We’re just friends,” I said, unable to meet his gaze.
“But that’s just it, Andi.” He took a deep breath and stepped up to me, taking me by the arms, his grasp gentle but firm. “I was thinking that maybe… maybe it’s time we thought about being more?”
“Vik…” I winced and had to look down.
“Hey, look, I mean it when I say I hate seeing you so upset. Maybe I could keep you from feeling that way? We always have a good time together, don’t we? We could make something a lot more exciting out of the Portsmouth Pumpkin Ball if we went… together.”
My breath caught and I shook my head as I took a step back, slipping out of his grasp.
“What, am I not good enough?” I could tell he was only half joking.
I shook my head quickly. “No, of course not.”
“Well, why not then?”
“Because… Vik,” I bit my lip hard, and then it burst out of me, impossible to deny, “Because, I love Riley!”
When I finally worked up the courage to lift my eyes again, Vik looked… alien. There was a strange harshness to his face, but it was mixed with unmistakable heartbreaking pain.
“I… I’ve got to go,” he said, and he turned quickly to make for the door.
“Vik, please—”
“No. No, I get it. It’s cool.” He lifted his hands in a dismissive gesture, trying way too hard to look casual, even as he refused to meet my eyes. “I just remembered I’ve got stuff to get done. Scarlett’s putting me through the wringer. I mean, she’s a great tutor and all, but a total tyrant. Yeah. I’ve got to… I’ve got to be prepared.”
The slamming of the door echoed to the bottom of my being.
I was truly alone.