School Spirits - By Rachel Hawkins Page 0,72

“Oh! Izzy. I thought for sure you’d be out with the rest of them.”

My heart lodged somewhere in my throat. “The rest of who?”

“The club. Romy said you’d called a special meeting tonight.”

“Oh, right,” I said, even as my grip threatened to shatter the phone. “I totally spaced. Could you remind me where it is?”

There was a pause, and then Romy’s mom sighed and said, “God, Izzy, you are going to think I am the worst mother, but I honestly don’t remember.” She gave a little laugh. “Such is life with triplets, I guess.”

I did my best to laugh back, but I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Hanging up with her, I hesitated only the briefest second before dialing another number.

It picked up on the first ring. “Izzy?”

“Dex,” I said, but before I could get anything else out, he rushed in.

“Izzy, I’m so sorry about what happened this afternoon. You know I—”

“DEX!” I said again, and mercifully, he stopped babbling. “Are you with Romy and Anderson?”

I could hear him sigh. “No. After you left, I may have quit the club. Very dramatically, I should add, complete with—”

I liked Dex. A lot. Heck, maybe I even more than liked him. But in a crisis, he was not exactly user-friendly. “Do you know where they were going tonight?”

“Yeah,” he answered immediately, and I nearly sagged with relief. “They were going to the cave. You know, the one where we—”

“Right, right,” I hurried on. “Okay, I think I’ve worked out a way we can stop Mary Evans without hurting Romy.”

“I was unaware Romy getting hurt was ever on the table.”

“It’s not,” I said, looking over my shoulder to where Maya was throwing every canister of salt we had into a duffel bag. At least I hope it’s not.

“Do you want me to meet you there?”

There was no time to think, but I still hesitated, just for a little bit. I did want him to come with me. Because no matter how things went tonight, once everything was over, I’d leave Ideal. This was probably my last chance to see him.

“No.” It came out like kind of a croak, and I cleared my throat. “No, there’s no need for you to come. I just need to make things right with Romy.”

“Okay,” he said, his voice lower than usual. “Izzy—”

I hung up. Whatever he was going to say next would probably just make all of this harder than it was. Besides, Maya was ready and I needed to go.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the bag and holding out my free hand. “If you’ll just give me your keys—”

But Maya blocked the front door, hands on her wide hips. “No way,” she said. “I promised your Mom I’d watch you, and letting you run off to fight a hedge witch and a homicidal ghost is probably one of those things she’d frown on. Besides, you’ll need my help with the ritual.”

Reminding myself that decking old ladies is wrong, I took a deep breath. “Maya, I appreciate that, but my friends are in danger, and I have to help them. On my own.”

But instead of being impressed with what I thought was a pretty stoic delivery, Maya laughed. “You Brannicks are always saying that.” She dropped her voice an octave or so. “‘I have to do this alone. This is my sole duty. I cannot accept help.’” Shaking her head, she said, “But you don’t do it alone. You never have. There’s always people like me, or that weirdo you keep in a mirror, or these kids at your school.”

Leaning forward, she took me by the shoulders. “You aren’t alone, Izzy. You or your mom or, when we find her, Finley. And whether you like it or not, you need help. And you’re getting it. So get your skinny little butt in my car, and let’s go kick some ghost ass.”

CHAPTER 31

Anderson’s car was parked outside of the cave when we pulled up. Leaning over the steering wheel, Maya whistled low. “Well, if this isn’t the perfect setting for a ghost face-off, I don’t know what is.”

I looked into the mouth of the cave, but everything was dark. Still, they were in there, I was sure of it.

Getting out of the car, I walked to the trunk. Maya and I were just hefting out our bag of supplies when a splash of headlights lit up the gloom. “Who on earth—” Maya started, but I recognized the burgundy town car immediately.

Even though I should have been horrified,