The Dead Girls Dance Page 0,71

critically, makeup sponge still in hand. It feels weird.

You get used to it. Close your eyes. Powder time.

Claire obeyed, and felt the feathery touch of the powder brush as it glided over her face. She fought back an urge to sneeze.

Okay. Now, eyes, Eve said. Hold still.

It went on like that for a while, with Claire passively sitting and Eve working whatever dark magic she was working. Claire didnt know. There was no mirror, and she was weirdly reluctant to see what was happening to her, anyway. It felt a little like she was losing herself, although that was stupid, right? How you looked wasnt you. Shed always believed that, anyway.

Eve finally stepped back, studied her, and nodded. Clothes, she said. Eve herself had put on a black corset thing, a tattered black skirt, and a necklace of skulls with matching earrings. Black lipstick. Here you go.

Claire took off her blue jeans and T-shirt with great reluctance, then sat down to put on the black hose. They had white deaths-head symbols in a line, and she couldnt figure out if they were supposed to go front or back. Where do you find this stuff? she asked.

Internet. Skulls go in the back.

After the adventure of the hose, the black leather skirtknee-length, jingling with zippers and chainsseemed almost easy. Claires legs felt cold and exposed. She hadnt been in a skirt inwhen? Not since she was twelve, probably. Shed never liked them.

The top was a black net thing, stretchy and tight, see-through with a black skull and crossbones printed on it. No way, she said. Its transparent!

You wear it over a camisole, genius, Eve said, and tossed a black silky thing to her. Claire slipped it over her head, then fought her way into the clingy embrace of the skull shirt. Watch the makeup! Eve warned. Okay, youre good. Excellent. Ready to take a look?

She wasnt, but Eve didnt seem to notice. She steered her into the bathroom, turned on the light, and put her arm around Claire. Ta da! Eve said.

Oh my God, Claire thought. I cant believe Im doing this.

She looked like Eves skinny little sister. A dead-on junior freak in training.

Well, at least shed blend in, and if anybody was looking for her, theyd never, ever recognize her. She wouldnt recognize herself. And somehow she just knew thered be pictures on the Internet later.

Claire sighed. Lets go.

Eve drove the black Cadillac onto campus and parked in the faculty lota blatant violation, but then, Eve didnt give a crap about campus tickets, either. It was the closest parking to the frat house. So close, in fact, that Claire could see the lights blazing from every window, and hear the low thudding thump of the bass rattling through the car.

Wow, Eve said. Theyve gone all out this year. Good old EEK.

There was a graveyard around the housetilting tombstones, big creepy-looking mausoleums, some decaying statues. There were also zombiesor, Claire guessed, party guestslurching around and doing their best Night of the Living Dead parody for their friends cameras.

The dull roar of the party was audible even through the cars closed windows.

Stay close, Eve said. Lets find Sam, yeah? In and out.

In and out. Claire nodded.

They got out and ran the short distance to the graveyard.

At close range, the tombstones were either foam rubber or Styrofoam, and the mausoleum was a dressed-up storage building, but it looked great. Zombie hands were reaching up out of the dirt. Nice touch, Claire thought. She came close to one, and it turned and groped her ankle. Claire screamed and jumped back into Eve, who caught her. Jesus, guys, grow up, Eve said, and crouched down to look at the ground. Where are you?

Right here! A trapdoor covered with sod lifted up, and a geeky-looking frat boy wearing a pledge board stuck his head out. Uh, sorry. Just kidding. I have to

Grope girls and look up their skirts. Yeah. Tough work, pledge. Eve stood up and brushed dirt from her knees. Carry on.

He grinned at her and thumped the trapdoor back down. His hand came up again through a hole in the ground.

Wow, Claire said. How many of them are there? In the ground?

Just the pledges, Eve said. Come on. If Sams here, hell be talking to people. He loves to talk.

If Sam could talk, and anyone could hear him, it was more than Claire could imagine. The music was pounding so loud that she felt it like physical waves through her body, and she

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