Shadows (18 page)

‘Hey, man, nice work!’ Kyle called from behind them.

‘Huh?’ Luke said.

‘With Bet. You didn’t hear?’ Kyle swung into step beside them.

‘Hear what?’ Luke asked. Eve felt her throat tighten. It was suddenly harder to breathe.

‘She was checked into Ridgewood yesterday.’ Kyle slapped Luke on the shoulder. ‘I want to know what techniques you used in the pool house. I’ve never made a girl lose her mind.’

‘You’re joking about this?’ Eve cried. ‘You think it’s funny that a girl is in the hospital? You’re the one who should be in Ridgewood, Kyle, not Bet!’

Kyle held up both hands. ‘Sorry.’ At least he looked ashamed of himself. ‘My sense of humour is somewhat dark.’

‘Do you know what happened?’ Jess asked softly. Eve bit her lip, watching her best friend’s frightened face. Jess wasn’t only asking about Bet. She wanted to know what was going to happen to
her
.

‘Not any more than I told you,’ Kyle said, still looking embarrassed. He broke away from the group, picking up his pace.

‘I said she was insane on Friday night, when we were walking to the party.’ Eve felt a spurt of guilt herself. With everything that was happening in Deepdene, ‘insane’ wasn’t a word she should be tossing around.

‘You were only kidding,’ Jess said comfortingly.

‘Oh, man,’ Luke said. ‘She called me Saturday morning and wanted to meet up for a movie. I told her I couldn’t. And I made it really clear we weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend.’

‘I can see how she’d be confused about that after the pool house.’ Eve regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.

Luke looked indignant and was about to speak, but Eve interrupted before he could.

‘No – you don’t have to say anything,’ she said quickly. ‘We don’t need to know the details. I’m sure what’s happened to Bet doesn’t have anything to do with you. You’re cute and all, but losing you wouldn’t send a girl to a mental hospital. It’s the demons.’

‘I was still a jerk,’ Luke said. ‘I should have made things clearer when we went to the movies that night.’

‘Agreed.’ Eve didn’t see any point in lying. ‘But jerk and demon are two very different categories of bad.’

‘Besides, you’re more like naughty,’ Jess added. ‘That’s several steps above pure evil.’

‘Thanks. I guess.’ Luke managed a smile.

‘The second bell’s going to ring any second,’ Eve said. ‘Jess and I’ll stop by after dinner for the Gandhi book and to talk.’

‘Sorry, girls. Luke’s not here,’ Reverend Thompson told Jess and Eve when they arrived at the rectory that night.

Eve frowned. ‘Do you know when he’ll be back? He has a book I need for a history project we’re doing together.’

‘His curfew is ten,’ Reverend Thompson said. ‘He’ll
be back before then, but I’m not sure exactly when.’

Guess the player’s out playing
, Eve thought, disgusted.

She must have made a face, because Luke’s father raised his eyebrows. ‘I guess it’s important,’ he said. ‘Listen, I’m just heading out, but why don’t you go on up to Luke’s room – top of the stairs on the left. That’s where the book should be.’

‘Oh. Great,’ Eve stammered, a little embarrassed.

Reverend Thompson took his jacket off the coat tree in the hall. ‘Shut the door when you leave. It will lock by itself.’

‘Thanks,’ Eve and Jess said together. As soon as he was gone, they hurried up the stairs and into Luke’s room. It was marginally neater than Eve had imagined it would be – not that she spent a lot of time imagining Luke’s room – which meant it was pretty messy. Bed unmade. Clothes on the floor.

Eve began making stacks out of the jumble of papers on the desk. Jess checked out Luke’s CD collection. ‘CDs don’t count as snooping, right?’ she asked.

Eve didn’t bother to answer. ‘I found some of the papers from the church. Luke’s been pencilling in the translations. He made a note that this stuff is about our demon.’ Eve shook her head. ‘I can’t believe I just said “our demon”. It says the master demon uses
Deepdene as his feeding ground. He and his minions are able to assume human form.’ She started a stack of demon-related stuff, but couldn’t resist reading a little bit more right then. ‘It says that demons feed on negative human emotions, like anger and fear and hate,’ she told Jess.

‘Then they should be fat as pigs just from me,’ Jess answered. ‘I’m scared all the time.’

‘We’re kicking them to the kerb. Soon,’ Eve promised. ‘It also says—’ She stopped and read the sentence again. Gooseflesh broke out all over her body.

‘It also says what?’ Jess asked, looking up from the CDs.

‘It says that the master demon sucks out human souls,’ Eve said slowly.

‘We knew that.’ Jess put down the CD she’d been holding. ‘What else, Eve?’

‘It says the demon uses one mouth linked to the other to take souls.’ Eve felt as if the floor had begun to tilt under her feet.

‘I’m not sure what—’ Jess began.

‘What does that sound like to you? Two mouths linked together?’ Eve asked.

‘Like kissing, I guess,’ Jess said. Her hand flew to her mouth. ‘The demon steals souls by kissing!’

‘This is huge! Why didn’t Luke tell us?’ Eve exclaimed.

Jess shrugged. ‘Maybe he translated it just a little while ago.’

‘Probably,’ Eve answered. She quickly scanned the rest of the translated pages on the desk. There was nothing else Luke hadn’t mentioned. She returned to her search for the Gandhi book. But something was wiggling around in the back of her brain, and she felt as if she was forgetting something. Something important.

She put the latest copy of
Rolling Stone
in the miscellaneous pile. There was a bunch of small stuff underneath – an eraser, a couple of movie stubs, half a candy bar. All miscellaneous, she decided.

When she scooped up the movie tickets, that worm in her brain started wiggling harder, and Eve found herself stumbling towards a realization she really, really didn’t want to have. ‘No …’ she whispered. Luke was annoying sometimes. He liked to tease her. He was a player, and anyone with a heart should be careful around him. But – ‘Not Luke.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Jess asked.

‘Luke and Bet went to the movies together …’ She held out the tickets in her trembling fingers.

‘And?’ Jess had half her attention on the CD in her hand.

‘They were making out at the party …’ Eve continued.

‘In the pool house. I know. And I thought Luke was supposed to be telling her he wasn’t her boyfriend! He really is a naughty boy. I’m glad we’re only friends,’ Jess answered.

‘No. You’re not getting it. Bet and Luke, they were kissing.’ Eve sank down onto Luke’s bed, the blood draining from her cheeks.

‘And she checked into Ridgewood the next day,’ Jess finished for Eve. She had clearly realized what Eve was thinking. ‘Oh my God, Eve. Is Luke—? Luke can’t be—’

‘She went insane because her soul had been sucked out. That’s how it works. Your soul gets sucked, you go insane,’ Eve said. ‘And the demon can look human. It could be anyone. Anyone. Why
not
Luke?’ Her voice sounded as if she were somehow hearing it from very far away. She met Jess’s gaze. ‘Luke kissed Megan too.’

‘That means … That means …’ Jess swallowed. ‘I guess it makes sense. Luke’s extremely cute and he can be really charming. That’s what makes him so successful as a player, and the demon would sort of
have to be a skilled player to get women kissing him.’

Eve forced herself to say her terrifying thought aloud. ‘That means Luke is the demon.’ The words hurt coming out of her mouth, as if she were vomiting rocks.

‘He’s the demon,’ Jess breathed. ‘And we’re alone in his house!’

‘We have to get out of here!’ Jess cried. She scrambled off the bed, sending CDs skittering onto the floor.

Eve snatched up as much of the material on demons as she could see. She spotted the Gandhi book and shoved it into her tote too. Then she and Jess ran out of Luke’s room and down the hall. As they raced down the stairs, Jess let out a scream loud enough to cause an earbleed.

Luke –
the demon
– was climbing the stairs towards them!

‘I didn’t mean to scare you. Sorry I got home late,’ Luke said. Even through her panic, Eve noticed that Luke –
the demon
, she corrected herself – looked tired. What evil thing had he been doing? ‘There’s something I need to tell you. Let’s go back upstairs.’

Calm down
, Eve thought.
Don’t let him know you know.
‘Can’t right now. I promised my mother we’d
come straight home and help her bake cupcakes for a … a party at work. Baby party. I mean shower,’ she said.

Unfortunately, Jess was talking at the same time. ‘We have to get to the library before it closes. I need to get some … books … on … carrot farming.’

They’d both been babbling, their words tripping over each other. Luke looked confused. Frowning, he started up the stairs again, staring at them, his green eyes intense enough to burn.
He’s on to us
, Eve thought.
He knows we’ve figured out he’s the demon. He’s going to suck out our souls right now!

‘We really have to go!’ Eve burst out. She charged down the stairs, Jess on her heels. She didn’t care if she had to knock Luke down to get past him. But he moved out of the way, pressing his back against the banister.

Eve and Jess didn’t stop running until they were a block and a half away from Luke’s house. The demon’s house. Then Eve paused and risked a look behind them. The street was empty. ‘He’s not following us,’ she gasped. Her injured ankle had started to throb. It didn’t appreciate the running.

‘I was sure he wouldn’t let us leave.’ Jess tried to catch her breath.

‘I know.’ Eve jumped as she felt something move on
her thigh. Her iPhone. She’d set it on vibrate. She took it out of her tote. ‘A text from Luke,’ she told Jess. ‘He wants to know why we took the papers.’

Jess grimaced. ‘He must know we suspect him.’

‘I can’t believe we let him take all those papers from the church. We could have found another way to translate everything,’ Eve said. It was all starting to make sense to her now. ‘No wonder he wanted to keep them. He wanted to make sure we didn’t find out how to destroy him.’

‘He probably only helped us find them in the first place so he could keep them out of the hands of all the future Deepdeners,’ Jess said. ‘I can’t believe we fell for it!’

‘I’d better answer him,’ Eve said. She typed out a one-word answer:
RESEARCH
.

‘What are we going to do?’ Jess asked.

‘I should have zapped him,’ Eve answered. ‘Right there on the stairs. I wasn’t expecting to see him, and I panicked. All I could think about was getting out of there. Not very Deepdene Witchy of me.’

‘You’ll get him,’ Jess reassured her as they began walking again.

‘But now he’s suspicious. It will be a little harder,’ Eve said.
Or impossible
, she silently added. He was the master demon. He had to be more powerful than
the minion of his she’d blasted before. He’d had no problem being in the church, surrounded by gargoyles. Would her power even work on Luke?

‘We need to do it near the church,’ Jess decided. ‘Then if anything goes wrong, we can run inside.’

‘But Luke can go into the church. That’s what scares me. Well, one of the things,’ Eve replied.

‘True. But the gargoyles definitely protected us from the shadows.’ Jess took a lip gloss from her bag and absentmindedly applied a fresh coat. She always said she thought better when she was looking her best. ‘Maybe Luke can go in the church since he’s the master demon, but I don’t think his powers will be as strong there. We need every advantage we can get.’

‘I can’t even believe you keep saying “we”,’ Eve told her. Not every friend – not even every BFF – would volunteer to face down a demon.

‘Well, you know what happens to your hair,’ Jess joked. ‘You’re going to need assistance.’

How much did Eve love Jess? Just
so
much. ‘So the plan is, I zap Luke as close to the church as possible.’

‘Easy-peasy,’ Jess agreed. She was trying a little too hard to sound confident, but Eve really appreciated the effort.

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Easy.’

‘I’m going to have to see Luke in less than an hour,’ Eve said as she and Jess walked into school the next day. ‘I have history with him right after homeroom. How am I supposed to sit in a room with a demon and answer questions about the Industrial Revolution?’

‘He won’t do anything to us at school. Right?’ Jess paused. ‘Look at those brooches Jenna has pinned on her boots. I like! Anyway, Luke – Luke the Demon – won’t do anything with everybody around, right?’

Mal strode past them, walking fast, without seeming to notice Eve. Or Jess. Eve felt a little stung. But it was easy to walk down the hall on autopilot. She was sure he hadn’t ignored her on purpose.

‘Right,’ Eve replied firmly. ‘Don’t go anywhere alone. Make sure you’re around people all the time. And make sure—’

‘Wait!’ Jess hissed. ‘Look who’s stopping at your locker.’

Eve froze, and glanced down the hall. It was Mal. Her whole body let out a ‘whew’. She’d been afraid it was Luke. She knew she’d have to see Luke soon. She’d have to
kill
him soon. But she was glad she didn’t have to deal with him right that second.