School Spirits - By Rachel Hawkins Page 0,2
me.
We flew back onto the landing, crashing to the floor. I felt the stake tumble from my fingers, and with a grunt, tried to ram my knee up into Pascal’s stomach. But this time, Pascal had the advantage—he was faster than me, and he’d caught me by surprise. He dodged my knee like it was nothing, and his fingers sank into my hair, jerking my head hard to the side and exposing my neck.
He was smiling, lips deep pink against the stark white of his fangs, and his eyes were black pools. Despite the stupid hair and the silly name and the flowing white shirt, he looked every bit the terrifying monster.
And when he ducked his head and I felt the sharp sting of his fangs piercing my skin, my scream was high and thin. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t go out like this, drained of blood by a dorky vampire calling himself Pascal.
A gray circle began to fill my vision, and I was so cold, colder than I’d ever been in my entire life. Then, from above me, there was a flash of silver, a glimpse of bright copper, and suddenly, Pascal was the one screaming. His body fell off of mine, and I raised a trembling hand to my neck, the rush of blood hot against my freezing skin.
Blinking rapidly to clear my vision, I scooted backward on the carpet, watching as the redheaded woman all in black dropped a knee in the middle of Pascal’s chest, one hand pushing a bright silver amulet against his cheek. Her other hand reached back and pulled a stake from the belt around her waist.
The stake swung down, and there was a sound almost like the popping of a bubble, and Pascal vanished in a surprisingly tiny cloud of dust and ash.
Head still swimming, I looked at the woman as she turned back to me.
Even though I knew it was impossible, I heard myself ask, “Finn?”
But the woman who strode over to me wasn’t my sister.
“You okay?” Mom asked.
I pressed my palm tighter to the holes in my neck and nodded. “Yeah,” I replied. Using the wall to brace myself, I went to stand up. As I did, my eyes skated over my mom, noticing that even though she’d been right on top of Pascal, she’d somehow managed to avoid getting even one speck of glitter on her.
“Of course,” I muttered, and then the carpet was rushing up to meet me as I passed out at Mom’s feet.
CHAPTER 2
The lights in our kitchen were too harsh. My eyes ached in the fluorescent glare, and my head was pounding. It didn’t help that we’d taken an Itineris home. That was a type of magic portal, and they were located at posts all over the world. Problem was, like most things involving magic, there was a catch. While an Itineris made traveling a lot more convenient, it was also really rough on your body. I guess getting bent and twisted through the space-time continuum isn’t exactly good for you.
The concoction in front of me finally seemed cool enough to drink, so I choked it down. It tasted like pine trees smell, but the ache in my head disappeared almost immediately. Across from me, Mom turned her coffee mug around and around in her hands. Her mouth was set in a hard line.
“He was a young vamp,” she said at last, and I fought the urge to lower my head to the table.
“Yes,” I replied, hand reaching up to touch the little puncture marks just under my jaw. Thanks to Mom’s “tea,” they were already starting to close, but they still hurt.
“He should have been no issue at all for you, Isolde,” she continued, her gaze still on her mug. “I would never have sent you in there alone if I’d thought you couldn’t handle it.”
My hand dropped back to the table. “I could handle it.”
Mom looked at the bite on my neck and raised her eyebrows. When she was younger, my mom had been beautiful. And even now there was something about the strong lines of her face that made people look twice at her. Her eyes were the same dark green as mine and Finley’s, but there was a hardness that neither I nor my sister had.
“I mean, I was handling it,” I mumbled. “But he was one of those mind-reading ones, and he…he got inside my head—”
“Then you should have shoved him right the heck out,” Mom fired back, and