Betrayal - By Lee Nichols Page 0,40
her hair, and I saw the welts. “Plus I’ve got a serious bruise on my butt.”
“I’m sure Lukas would be happy to look at that for you,” I said. “Is he okay? And Simon?”
She nodded. “Lukas bled a lot, but the wound in his neck was pretty superficial. Mostly we all got scrapes and bruises and a few burns. We got lucky.”
“You were awesome,” I said. “I can’t believe you summoned Coby and the jocks.”
“Yeah, who knew a summoner could actually help?” She lay back on the bed next to me and looked at the ceiling. “So what was up with you last night?”
“Which part?”
“The part where you stood there and watched a bunch of wraiths almost kill us.”
I shook my head. “I—I don’t know. I just froze.”
“Like with the ghasts. Is this some Bennett thing?”
“No, I didn’t even think about him. I don’t know what it is. I just … zone out.” I felt nauseated. “God, what if Coby hadn’t been there? You could’ve died. I would’ve stood there and watched you die. You know, when I first started seeing ghosts, I thought maybe I had a brain tumor, or that I was going completely bonkers. It’s like that, all over again. I can’t figure out what’s happening to me. It has to be the siren. I just don’t know exactly what that is, or how to stop it from happening. It’s not communicating with me the way other ghosts do. I don’t know how to tune it out.”
“Maybe Simon will know. Anyway, you redeemed yourself when you turned into Emma, Scourge of the Beyond.” She rolled over to face me. “You killed all three of them in like two seconds. Where did that come from?”
I didn’t want to think about the numbness and the violence, so I just said, “They pissed me off.”
She giggled and, for some reason, that broke the tension. I asked what happened last night after I fainted, and she said Lukas carried me to the car and they came straight home—even though she’d wanted to take me to the hospital.
“Simon said you just needed sleep,” she said. “He pretended he wasn’t worried, but he’s been locked in the study all night. I don’t think he slept at all.”
“Well, I guess we failed. We’ve got no idea where Neos is buried.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Have you noticed Simon’s not that great a dispeller?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t think that’s why he’s here.”
Before she could answer, Lukas called from the hall. “Dudes, breakfast! I compelled Anatole to make pancakes instead of that tempeh crap.”
I grinned at Natalie. “How many calories?”
“A bazillion.”
“Sounds so good.”
“Race you,” she said.
I stretched in the shower, trying to shake out the aches and pains from yesterday. In an effort to look better than I felt, I ran styling stick through my hair, which really needed cutting, and glossed my lips. I put on a black wool sweater and my comfiest jeans, but my hair still wasn’t behaving, so I accessorized with a black silk headband.
In the kitchen, Anatole was pulling a skillet from the oven, filled with something golden and puffy.
I thought Lukas compelled you to make pancakes, I said.
Oui, said Anatole, but his mind is devoid of recipe. This iz ze Dutch pancake. Not your American flapjacks, which are ridiculouz.
I told him not to compel you.
His eyebrows waggled. Well, ze boy iz not so bad, demanding ze pancake instead of zat health-food horror.
You wanted him to compel you!
He attempted an innocent look as he slid the puffed pancake onto a plate and sprinkled it with lemon juice and powdered sugar. Lukas and Natalie sat in the breakfast nook and watched Anatole slice the Dutch pancake into sections. I helped myself to tea, then settled beside them and dug in.
Lukas stuffed a second bite into his mouth and stared at me.
“What?” I said. “Is there sugar on my face?”
He shook his head, still watching me.
“Seriously, what?” I turned to Natalie. “Is it the headband?”
“It’s not the headband,” she said, daintily cutting into her pancake.
“Then what? Why is he staring?”
Lukas grinned at me. “I didn’t know how badass you are. That’s kind of hot.”
“Shut up and eat your pancake,” I said.
So, of course, he didn’t shut up. Instead, he offered makeup advice. “You need like some crimson lipstick and black eyeliner. Oh, and you should get a tramp stamp.”
Even Natalie had to snicker at that.
School was cancelled for the day, so when I finished eating I trudged back upstairs to loll around in bed