The Hex Breaker's Eyes (9 page)

“Are you sure
you were creeping his Facebook for my sake?” I tease her, since a
boy who’s as into this stuff as Marlene sounds like a perfect match
for her.

“What? Oh, shut
up!” She blushes a little, and I wonder if I was right. “I looked
at some of his posts and he complains all the time that Mason beats
him up. I bet that bullying stopped when Mason was busy with a
girlfriend. I bet he only started beating Matty up again after Dina
ripped his heart out.”

I nod. “And if
a weirdo like Matty blames Dina for his brother beating him up,
then Matty might hex Dina out of spite.”

“Exactly. I can
tell he’s got the candles, and his bookshelves seem to be full of
old occult books. I bet he could pull of this hex easily. I think
Matty Charles is our witch.” Marlene seems pretty proud of her
detective skills, and I have to agree, she’s come up with a pretty
good suspect.

“But why hex
Dina, why not hex Mason?” I wonder.

“Maybe he’s
afraid to,” she says. “I don’t have an older brother but I bet if a
gigantic guy like Mason beat you up on a daily basis that could get
pretty intimidating.” She’s quiet for a second, before her head
snaps up and she looks at me again.

“Wait, did you
say Wayne has the black feathers?”

The big student
council debate (which isn’t really a debate; it’s just each of the
four people running taking turns giving speeches) is going to be
held in fifth period today. That gives us time during lunch to
track down Matty and see if the little nerd will give us some
answers.

The last time
we wanted some information out of Matty, Tam and I were enough to
intimidate him into talking. This time, we’re looking for a
confession, so all four of us—myself, Tam, Ryan, and Marlene—are
all going to corner Matty and press him for answers about his black
candles.

We converge on
Matty’s corner of the caf’, all four of us looking serious and
intimidating. Matty is playing his card game with the same friend
as the last time we came to speak to him.

“Hey Matt, can
we talk to you a minute?” asks Ryan.

“Who are you?”
he responds.

“How about you
get out in the hallway and talk to us or I get really loud and
embarrass you?” threatens Tam. “Did you say you’re coming out of
the closet?” she says, her voice getting louder.

Matty looks
baffled, but he caves to her demand and walks with us to a quiet
section of the hallway, leaving his friend behind.

“What do you
want?” he asks, looking at me. “Are you, like, stalkers now?”

I can’t really
think of something to say. Should I just tell the kid I can see
hexes? That doesn’t sound completely insane, does it?

“I have a
question for you,” says Tam. Thank God for Tam, she’s always happy
to play the role of bad cop. “Why do you have the black
candles?”

“What?”

“On your
Facebook, you seem to light black candles all the time.”

“You’re on my
Facebook?” Matty asks. “I’m not your friend.”

“Check your
privacy settings. But I wanna know why you have the candles.”

Matty’s
squirming, trying not to answer.

“Is it
something to do with your brother? Maybe something that helps you
cope whenever Mason lays a beating on you?” She’s really grilling
him now.

“What? How did
you know? What do you want?” he’s looking at me like I’m going to
save him.

“Tell me why
you did it,” I say. “Just explain yourself.”

“Mason comes
home after school and picks on me. So sometimes I light my candles
and, you know…”

I try to sound
nice, like I’m playing ‘good cop.’ “I don’t know. Tell me.”

“Sometimes I
get so angry and there’s nothing I can do about it, since if I ever
fight back he just destroys me.”

“What did you
get the candles for?” I ask.

“Oh, come on…”
he’s fidgeting. His hands are pulling at his shirt. He’s visibly
uncomfortable talking about this.

Marlene blurts
her way into the conversation. “Where are you keeping the
talisman?”

“The what?” his
voice breaks and the words come out as a high-pitched croak.

“The talisman.
We know about the hex you cast.” Marlene blurts it out and now we
all seem crazy.

“Hex? What? You
know that game I play is fake right? Magic isn’t real! Are you all
nuts?” Matty’s about to completely freak out.

“We know
someone cast a spell on your brother’s ex-girlfriend, and we know
all about your black candles and your magic books,” I say, trying
to make our case against Matty sound a little less crazy.

“My books? From
the game store? Those are all for card games, or Dungeons and
Dragons. They’re leather-bound deluxe editions, not real magic.
You’re all crazy.”

“Then what do
you do with the candles? We know black candles are needed for the
hex you cast,” I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud to a
stranger. He could have me committed.

“Those are
scented candles. I use them to hide the smell,” his voice gets
quieter as he talks, as if he’s trying to keep a secret.

“What smell?” I
ask, also quietly.

“After my
brother bullies me I go into my room and relax. I smoke…” he leans
in and whispers. “Marijuana.”

We all look at
each other, a little surprised that none of us considered that
option. “So the candles…” I start.

“My dad smokes.
The whole house smells like cigarettes. So I use tobacco-scented
candles in my room to hide the smell of the pot. My parents would
kill me if they found out.”

Ryan speaks,
keeping things quiet. “So, you don’t… believe in magic or
hexes?”

“No. I just
play games with some of my friends. What’s wrong with you?”

I can see
Tamara’s about to say something, and knowing her, it’ll make this
situation worse. I cut in and keep things calm. “OK Matt. You have
explained our worries away. We were concerned for someone’s safety
but we were wrong to accuse you of anything. We’re all sorry.”

“Ok?” he says,
eyebrows lifting.

“And you won’t
tell anyone about how we’re all crazy people who believe in magic,”
I say, “just like we won’t tell anyone about your little
habit.”

He exhales
hard, relieved that we’re not out to get him. “Sounds good to me.”
He turns to head back to the caf’, but then turn back to face us.
“Do you really think someone cast a spell on Dina?”

I shrug.
“Yeah.”

“That sucks.
Whenever she was around she was always OK to me. Plus she kept
Mason occupied. If you’re serious, you should look at the people on
the student council. For the whole semester all she ever did was
complain that they were making fun of her ideas. Kept promising to
win president so she could be in charge and put people in their
place. I know the council act nice at assemblies and stuff, but it
sounds like they all hate each other.”

“Thanks, man,”
says Ryan, whose reassuring manner seems to end this awkward
exchange on a high note, and Matty heads back to his card game.

A moment later
the bell rings. We have to head to our fifth period classes for
attendance, and then it’s straight to the gym for the debates. I
hope that Dina has a terrible showing. If it looks like she could
actually win this thing, the hex could get really nasty.

After a quick
detour to class, we meet up back at the gym. Marlene got pulled
away to sit with some kids from her Anime club, but I’m able to sit
with Tam and Ryan as the assembly starts. There are four chairs on
the stage, and a microphone stand. Gradually, the four candidates
take their seats, and the student council’s teacher liaison, Mr.
Stendahl, takes the microphone. He introduces the candidates for
council president and tells us that each candidate will speak
twice. First, they will each have two minutes to explain why they
are running and why we should vote for them. Once they have all
spoken, they will then each have another two minute speech to rebut
anything that was said in the first round.

First up is
Janelle Haas, my age, who has been on council since the first term
last year. Janelle explains that she has already been both
secretary and treasurer of the council, and based on that
experience, she is the most suited to the job of president. She
gets some polite applause, and is probably the best candidate, but
this is mostly a popularity contest and she’s too young to win it.
Janelle has spent a year and a half toiling away on various
committees and fundraisers, doing a lot for the school. But that
means she doesn’t have a lot of friends. And in a high school
election, you really need friends.

Reigning
president Wayne Shepherd is up second. Wayne brags that under his
leadership, attendance at school events is up, meaning that Wayne
has increased school pride. I think that more than anything, Wayne
has spent more money on making posters for every event. If that
means increasing school pride, his girlfriend Sydney with her
Photoshop skills should be the one taking the credit.

I watch closely
to see if the crowd’s reactions to Wayne have any effect on Dina’s
yellow aura. I’m far from an expert, but if Wayne’s emotions are
powering the hex, then the more confident he is of victory, the
weaker the hex should be. But there’s no sign of change. The hex
has been roughly the same for almost a week now. Whoever hexed Dina
can sure hold a grudge.

Al Kwan is up
next. Al’s a big, thick guy. Defensive lineman. When he takes to
the mic, several deep-voiced football players shout ‘Kwaaaan!’. As
the disruption dies down, Al makes his speech. He’s surprisingly
soft-spoken, and promises that if he is president he will find a
way to fund an off-campus prom, in a proper ballroom. The seniors
will love that, but it means that the other three grades will see
funding taken away from our events. I doubt he’ll win on that
platform.

Dina was
randomly chosen to speak last. I recall Sydney’s prediction that
Dina would use her advantage—wink, wink—when she was on stage in
front of the boys. Dina has opted to wear a skin-tight cardigan
sweater, mostly unbuttoned, over a low-cut tanktop. Half the boys
in the school will vote for her just for the cleavage. At least
nobody whistled at her.

She steps up
the lectern, and her yellow curse immediately swallows up the
microphone. When she talks, nobody can hear. The mic has suddenly
discovered ‘technical difficulties.’ Nobody else can see the yellow
light that turned the mic off, the same way it turns off lights
when Dina’s around. After a communications technology student swaps
out the microphones, Dina begins to speak. Her speech promises
little and makes no real case that Dina’s the best candidate.
Instead, she opts for inspirational platitudes and promises of a
great semester in the spring term. I think it sounds like she’s not
promising anything worthwhile, but the students are loving it.
Every time Dina says something to pump up the crowd, she pauses to
let them cheer. And cheer they do. And with every cheer, she comes
closer to winning the election. And with every cheer the yellow
aura gets brighter, undulates faster. She’s gaining ground, and
it’s pissing her hexer off. One thing I can guarantee, whether our
bad guy is Wayne or someone else, they are definitely in the room
right now. I just wish my second sight would let me see them
too.

One of those
tentacles of light grabs Dina’s new microphone and this mic dies
too. Dina’s visibly frustrated, and I’m too far away to hear it,
but she’s clearly bitching at the poor comm-tech kid. She leans
over the edge of the stage to pass him the microphone, when I see
the tentacles line up behind her. All three arms of light press
against the floor behind Dina, and it takes me a moment to realize
why.

The hex is
bracing itself against the floor. Getting a good footing from which
to shove her off the stage. She’s off-balance, she’s in those
absurdly tall heels again, and now that hex is about to throw her
over. I stand up, drawing a lot of attention to myself. “She’s
going to fall!” I shout to Mr. Stendahl on the stage, but he’s too
far away to really hear me. Just then, the tentacles snap straight,
and the aura becomes a wall behind Dina, shoving her toward the
edge of the stage. And now a fourth tentacle appears, a brand-new
one formed out of her hexer’s growing rage. She reaches for the new
microphone, the fourth tentacle grabs her foot, and sure enough her
foot slips, and she drops over the side of the stage. It’s five
feet down to the hard floor, and she lands on her right shoulder.
Even in the back, I hear the bones break.

Everyone is
looking to Dina, or rushing to help her. I keep my eyes on the
stage, looking at Wayne Shepherd. He looks scared, standing on the
stage looking down at Dina, his face pale, his posture suggesting
that he’s genuinely scared for her. The hex is powered by anger,
but I see no sign of anger on Wayne. He seems to be really upset
that a fellow council member is hurt.