The Book of Lost Souls (14 page)

Shayde pulled away from the curb and headed out of the development. “Did you hear about Dean and Tara?” she asked. “They broke up. She’s really ticked because I guess Dean told her he needed some space again. He said he’d like to date other people.”

“They broke up?” Ivy said, her voice warbling. Nick was looking at her and she couldn’t meet his eyes. “Wow. Imagine that.” Devlin squeaked his toy and offered it to Ivy. She ignored him.

“We need to talk,” Nick told her. “When we get out of the car.”

It was one of those moments that Ivy swore lasted forever. The kind of moments that made her sweat and feel like being anywhere except where she was, and yet there was no escape. How much did Nick know? Did he see her and Dean in the hallway? Did someone else see everything, including the bit with Tara? What if they had and it was on YouTube?

“I didn’t do anything!” She blurted out the words, realizing she sounded like a kid who had been caught eating cookies before dinner. Why did she even feel the need to explain? This was turning out to be the most craptastic day.
Ever
.
 

“That’s my whole point,” Nick said, clearly a bit grumpy. “From what I saw, you didn’t
discourage
him.”

Great. Nick was acting like there really was something between them other than this stupid deal about the book. She wanted to tell him he was taking the whole
saving her reputation
thing a little too far, but decided to keep her mouth shut.

“Before we picked you up, I heard from Raven and Gareth,” Shayde said. “They know where Spike is, and you won’t believe it.”

“Where?” Ivy asked.

“He’s at the Wok of Life Chinese buffet with Tara.”

Ivy’s mouth dropped. “Seriously? So Tara lied about Spike taking off?”

“And better yet, Tara took Spike shopping,” Shayde replied. “Raven can’t wait for us to see him.”

“Shopping?” Ivy asked.

Raven didn’t have to wait long. They pulled up alongside Raven’s Saturn Sky roadster—her birthday present from her parents. Of course it was Raven’s favorite color—red. Gareth sat next to her, looking frantic.

“What’s with Gareth?” Nick asked Raven as they piled out of the Suburban.

“He’s afraid Spike is too far gone to be changed back. He thinks that’s why Mrs. Wilkes couldn’t reverse Ivy’s original spell.”

“Ridiculous. I’m sure Ivy can change him back. There isn’t a spell out there Ivy can’t manage,” Shayde said.
 

Except how to catch Spike back and erase the whole day. For that matter, the whole week,
Ivy thought.

They peered through the plate glass window of the Wok of Life. If she hadn’t seen it herself, she’d never have believed it. No one would have ever known that Spike had once been a lizard. The Intelligence spell was accelerating faster all the time.
 

Inside, Tara laughed at something Spike said. She had indeed taken Spike shopping. He was wearing a dark blue silk sport jacket and a matching button-up shirt. From where Ivy stood, the wild, bug-searching expression was gone, replaced by a knock-out all-knowing look. He’d grown a small five o'clock shadow that made him handsomer still, and his hair was golden and wavy, and perfect.
 

“
That’s
Spike?” Ivy heard herself mutter, feeling slightly jealous that Tara had managed to make Spike more gorgeous with the use of a credit card than Ivy had with a complex spell.

“Yeah, that’s Spike. But you haven’t seen the best part yet,” Raven said. “Watch.”

Ivy couldn’t do anything
but
watch. Spike was
eating—w
ith chopsticks.

“He’ll never eat crickets again!” Gareth complained.
 

“Don’t be so sure. I’ve heard crickets are a delicacy in many countries,” Nick said, trying to sound comforting.
 

“Great! I’ll probably have to fry them in peanut oil or sauté them in lobster sauce,” Gareth said, disgusted.

Devlin squeaked his toy several times in a row, trying to get someone to play with him.

“What’s with the squeaking?” Nick asked Ivy.

“Oh, Devlin has a serious thing for squeaky toys. Obsession, actually,” she replied

“Okay ladies,” Nick said to Shayde and Ivy as everyone’s attention returned to Spike. “Wipe the drool off your chins and take a last look at Prince Charming before we turn him back into a toad.”

“A
lizard
,” Gareth mumbled.

“We have to wait for them to come out,” Ivy said. “We can’t just go storming in there. What happens if I set him on fire like Mrs. Wilkes did?”

Nick sighed deeply. “Good point. The Wongs wouldn’t appreciate it. Trolls have absolutely no sense of humor.”

They all settled back to wait. It was true—when it came to being no-nonsense, trolls took the cake and Mr. and Mrs. Wong went to the extreme. Unlike the Adams and the Roths and several other trolls living in Northwick, the Wongs didn’t waste time with charms to hide what they were. The Wongs were short and stubby, with small slits for mouths, beetle-like eyes, and a pitted complexion that resembled the moon’s landscape. They even looked alike. The only way Ivy ever knew which was which was that Mrs. Wong wore her jet-black hair in a ponytail that stood upright on her scalp.

Thirty minutes later, Tara emerged with Spike, her hand interwoven with Spike’s in a way that seemed all too friendly. Spike leaned over and gave her a long, passionate kiss.
 

Ivy’s eyes went wide. Shayde and Raven swooned beside her. Gareth whimpered, and Devlin squeaked his toy.

“You know,” Raven said, impressed. “I don’t think she’s upset about Dean anymore.”

“Something’s happened to Ivy’s spell. He’s never going to be a lizard again!” Gareth complained.

Ivy stepped forward, prepared to take aim at Spike and reverse the spell.

Reluctantly, Tara pulled away from Spike to see what the commotion was about. “Oh, no you don’t, Ivy!”

She stood protectively in front of Spike who cowered behind her, drawing his arms as close to his sides as possible and ducking his head down. Okay, so either he was a coward as a human, or at least some of his lizard instinct was still intact.

“Seriously?” Tara said, hands on hips. “What’s your problem, Ivy? You want all the best-looking guys for yourself?” She motioned to Nick.

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Tara,” Nick said. “Although feel free to keep trying.”

“Yeah, I imagine your ego isn’t doing so well, Nick. First, your girlfriend there would rather date a lizard than you, then she dumps you for Dean, and now she wants Spike back. Doesn’t speak well for you, does it?”

Tara put her hands on her hips and smiled smugly. “Don’t worry, Nick. There are loads of girls waiting on the sidelines. Not that you’d have stuck around Ivy long anyway. I mean, really Nick. You can do better.”

Ivy cast a sideways glance at Nick who was oddly silent. She raised an eyebrow. Why did she care?
 

It didn’t go unnoticed. “Like I said, we need to talk,” Nick said. “And it isn’t what you think. But right now, you need to change Spike back. I’ll distract Tara.”

“I bet,” Ivy said through gritted teeth, noticing the fleeting smile of satisfaction on Nick’s face.
Why
did she have to like two of the hottest boys in class at once? There. She sort of admitted it. In some weird way she couldn’t explain, she liked Nick. Hadn’t her mother always said these would be some of the best times of her life? It must have been better when her mother was sixteen. Way better.

“Doesn’t seem like you miss Dean very much,” Ivy said to Tara while watching Nick out of the corner of her eye. She needed to stay focused on Spike, not Nick.
 

“Nick has a plan, Ivy,” Shayde whispered. “He’s going to try to get her to move away from Spike.”
 

Gareth and Raven moved left. Shayde moved to Ivy’s right.
 

“Why would I miss Dean when I’ve got Spike?” Tara spat. “You’ll have to agree he’s much more handsome.”

“He’s not yours, Tara. He’s Gareth’s pet. He needs to be turned back.”

Tara laughed. “He’s
my
pet now. That’s so like you to come up with such a lame excuse for taking him from me. You’re jealous of me Ivy, why don’t you just admit it. I’m rich and I’m beautiful.”

“I think you’ve got your nose so far in the air, you can’t see past it,” Ivy said, grinning. The thought had given her a wonderful, terrible idea. An Insult spell would only last a second or two, so whatever Nick and Shayde were up to had to be quick.
 

Nick was walking up to Tara, who took her eyes off Ivy for a split second. That was all Ivy needed. With a flick of her wrist, Tara’s nose began to grow wide and fat until it protruded upward like a giant pig snout.

Horrified, Tara screamed. Spike dragged Tara behind a car, keeping Nick on the other side. Tara steadied herself, and said what Ivy thought was, “Smard grass.”
 

Tara’s pig snout vanished and Ivy raised a hand, meaning to cast another spell, but merely blocked Tara’s instead.
 

“Cute, Tara, you’ve actually mastered a simple spell.” She hurled another Insult spell at Tara, who at the same time managed to fire off a spell of her own while Spike shoved a shopping cart toward Nick. The force of their simultaneous spells threw Ivy and Tara onto the pavement. Ivy picked herself up in time to see Spike dodge Raven and Gareth, do a high-flying leap past Shayde, and dart inside the door to the Wok of Life. Gareth looked as though he might go in after him but Mr. and Mrs. Wong were standing at the window, scowling and waving a finger in an
I wouldn’t if I were you
gesture.

Tara had been thrown the farthest, and although she seemed a bit dazed, managed to stand. “Whoo! Whoo hoo! I foiled the mighty Ivy’s plans to capture Spike. Again. Whoo!” She danced around in a sickening cheerleading routine.

“Can’t you change her into something less revolting?” Raven asked.

Devlin ambled over to Tara and lifted his leg.

Tara screamed in disgust. “Nasty thing! Why, I should change
it
into something.” She raised a hand, preparing to hit Devlin with a spell.

Devlin growled.

Ivy didn’t really think about the spell she chose, only that a sudden rage of anger welled inside her. For some odd reason, she wished she had
The Rise of the Dark Curse
with her. She felt herself grin as she hurled the spell at Tara. A glamour. Not a real hex. Just an illusion.
 

Tara’s voice faltered. She glanced down at her arms where open sores and rot appeared. She screamed and stepped backward, pulling clumps of hair from her head. Black mold ran along her veins.

“Go in there and get Spike!” Ivy ordered her friends. “Do it. Now.”

Devlin whined and ran behind Nick. No one else moved. Everyone stared wide-eyed at Ivy.

“Ivy?” Shayde called out. “What are you doing?”

Ivy looked at Tara and the hair she held in her withered hands. What had she done? It was just a glamour. Everyone should see that. But they didn’t. And, Ivy had to admit, the glamour was rather cruel.
 

Glamours at this level were also forbidden.
 

Tara stared at Ivy, “Why?” she shrieked. “Do you have to be so heartless?”
 

Everyone was still staring at her. Devlin absently squeaked his toy.
 

Ivy waved a hand, removing the glamour. “I—I didn’t mean it. Look, Tara. It’s just a glamour, see? You’re
you
again. Not that you weren’t you. But now, well you’re
really
you.”

Her friends stood and stared between them. It was as though no one dared to breath. Couldn’t they see it wasn’t a real spell? Couldn’t they see it was just a glamour?
 

“I don’t believe you. You’re
horrible
!” Tara frantically felt her hair, her face. No matter how freaked she was, Tara wouldn’t turn her back on Ivy. If she had, she’d catch her normally perky, pretty reflection in the window. “I wasn’t aiming spells like that at you. You don’t have to be so...sadistic.”
 

Ivy waved her hand, casting another spell. Tara screamed as she felt something land on her head.

“Is that...is that a tea cozy?” Shayde asked.

It was. A knitted tea cozy was the most harmless thing Ivy could think of. Her grandmother had them.
 

Tara wheeled to see her reflection. She was still for a moment, taking in her usual perfect image. Then, she snatched the tea cozy from her head and threw it at Ivy, hitting it with a second spell. The tea cozy burst into flames and landed at Ivy’s feet.
 

“What’s gotten into me?” Ivy said, putting her face in her hands. “Maybe I
am
turning into a dark witch.”

Her friends gathered closer, still clearly shocked.
 

Nick put his arms around her shoulders. “Hey,
I
don’t think the Curse of the Tea Cozy is exactly dark magic,” he joked half-heartedly. “It’s the book, isn’t it? You went back and read more of it.”

She shrugged away from him. This isn’t what she wanted to hear right now. It wasn’t the book. It was
her
. She glanced up at Tara, making sure she was okay.
 

“A little fire and smoke scare you, Ivy? I beat you at your own pathetic game and Spike’s safe,” Tara taunted, but her voice had an odd quiver to it.

Ivy did feel completely beaten. Not by Tara, but by the whole day. Still, she had to get Spike back.
 

“Send Spike out here, Tara. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. I don’t want Spike because you...” She fumbled a bit. What should she say? Because Tara was dating him?
 

Well, just who had lizard breath now? Tara was going to need a whole tin of breath mints.

The humorous thought disguised as false bravado didn’t do a lot to make her feel better. She stared at Tara, hoping she wouldn’t sound as though she were pleading, though that was closer to the truth. She
hoped
that she could manage to sound tough—something she didn’t feel. “I want him because turning Spike into a human in the first place was wrong. I should never have done that. Spike belongs to Gareth. Tell me you at least have common sense enough to realize that.”