Zombie Queen of Newbury High (15 page)

“You could say it’s been a strange week,” Mia said, the understatement of the century. “Besides, you know what Candice is like. She’s probably worried about her blood pressure or her red-cell count. She’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.” Her mom gave a final tug on the ribbons and then stood back. “Now let’s have a look at you.”

Mia grinned as she slipped her feet into the cute red peeptoe shoes she had ended up finding yesterday. Perfect.

“Honey, you look gorgeous. And now if you’re ready, it’s time for some photos.” Her mom beamed as Mia reached for her small purse and followed her downstairs to where Grace was standing in the hallway, peering out the small window at the side of the door.

“Oh, look, Samantha’s date has arrived to pick her up. And that has to be the biggest limousine I’ve ever seen.”

“Shut up, Gra—” Mia started to say, but the rest of her words were cut off as the doorbell rang. Before she could answer it, Grace darted toward it and pulled it open. Chase Miller was standing there holding a single red rose and wearing a hesitant smile on his face.

“Chase?” Mia said inanely. She pushed Grace out of the way and stared at him. “You’re in a tuxedo. Y-you look really great.”
Really, really great.
In fact,
so
great that Mia couldn’t stop staring at the way his face had suddenly turned into a series of perfectly sculptured planes and angles. Or how the understated black jacket molded to his shoulders.

“So do you,” he said.

“I do? Really?” Mia couldn’t help but self-consciously touch the bodice of the black silk to check he wasn’t teasing her.

“Yeah.” He nodded before suddenly looking at the flower in his hand. “Oh, so I know you’re going with Rob, but I figured since I was picking you up I’d better at least get you a flower.”

“Oh, thanks.” Mia stared at the perfect red bud while in the background Grace made a snorting noise before it sounded like she was being dragged off by their mom.

“I got one for Candice, as well. I hope she likes it,” he added, and Mia felt herself come down to earth with a bump.

“Of course she will,” she assured him while hoping that her cheeks hadn’t gone red. “She’ll be thrilled. Over the moon.”

“Okay,” he looked at her a little strangely. “Well, that’s good.”

“Yup, it’s all good,” Mia agreed a little bit too quickly. “So did Candice tell you that she’s going to meet us there?”

“She sent me a text.” He nodded, and Mia couldn’t quite take her eyes off him. Had he always looked exactly like this? She honestly couldn’t remember, because suddenly everything about him was so familiar yet so different all at once.

“S-so I guess we should get going,” she stammered, still feeling completely flustered by the sight of him.

“Actually.” Chase gave a polite cough as he peered over her shoulder. “Your mom looks like she wants to take some pictures.”

“What? Oh.” Mia spun around to where her mom was hovering in the background waving the digital camera and smiling. “Yeah, I forgot about that.” She paused for a moment and nervously licked her lips. “Would you mind? It won’t take long.”

“Sure,” he agreed in the same voice he used when he was helping her escape from the biology closet, and at just about every other step of the way before they did the reversal spell. It was obviously his “be polite to civilians” voice. Mia was going to miss it, and as Chase stepped toward her, the smell of his cologne invaded her nose so that she practically had to clutch at the doorframe for a moment. Her mom had obviously tied up the back of her dress a bit too tightly, she decided, as she led Chase in and started the introductions.

 

Twenty minutes later, her mom had finally finished the photographs and Chase was driving toward prom. Out of the corner of her eye, Mia studied his face, again marveling at how gorgeous he looked in his tuxedo. She loved the way he chewed on his bottom lip when he was concentrating. And the way his left hand tapped the steering wheel. In fact, the more she knew Chase, the more she seemed to be liking everything about him, and—

“So where are you meeting Rob, inside or out here?” Chase asked as he pulled into the Newbury High parking lot and brought the Impala to a halt. For a minute, Mia looked at him blankly before she figured out what he was saying.

Oh yes, she was going to the prom with Rob. Rob, who she had thought was the most amazing guy in the world, until in fact she had
met
the most amazing guy in the world and realized that Rob paled in comparison.

“Mia, are you sure you’re okay?”

“What? Oh. Yes, I’m fine.” Apart, of course, from being the biggest idiot that ever existed. But then Chase already knew that from the moment she had inadvertently done a zombie spell. And if he hadn’t picked it up then, the fact that he had seen her
Buffy
-filled bedroom, found out she was scared of heights, and basically discovered that she was as shallow as he was serious would’ve hammered home the point.

“So?” he asked again. “Where are you meeting him?”

“Um, inside. Sh-should we go in?” she asked, and immediately regretted it as Chase reached out and touched her arm and a series of fireworks started to explode in the pit of her stomach. Final proof that she had fallen for Chase Miller. Talk about bad timing.

“I guess we might as well.” Chase looked up at the front of the school that was now draped with fairy lights, as if that would somehow hide the concrete ugliness of it. The hallway was decorated in a mass of gold and silver balloons that led them into the gym. But when they reached the entrance, Mia stopped and stared.

It was almost impossible to decide what the theme was meant to be, but she had a feeling that if Tarzan ever wanted to open a nightclub, this is what it would look like: full of thick plastic jungle vines draped around the walls while silver disco balls and shimmering tinsel was hanging from every available surface, including the numerous white-clothed tables that were set up in the middle. Mia had no doubt that Samantha played a big part in choosing it all.

“Wow, it’s really . . . ugly,” Chase marveled as he held his hands up to his eyes to shade them from the brightness.

“Yup, welcome to senior prom.” Mia frowned as she looked around. “By the way, where is everyone?”

“I’m not sure.” They walked over to where a stage had been built. There were instruments and a microphone but no sign of any band members. Over at the far wall was a long table where the sodas and a large punch bowl were sitting. “Hang on, what’s that noise?”

Mia looked over to where some screens had been set up (and subsequently draped in green vines and tinsel) and there was a large sign indicating it was where the photographer was. They walked over just as Rob and a couple of his friends wandered out from behind the screens doing a series of high fives.

“Mia, you made it. We’ve just been getting a few pictures taken.” Rob came to a halt and grinned as the other jocks headed out to the main part of the gym. Over Rob’s shoulder Mia could see there was a large group of cheerleaders and their dates still in with the photographer. So that answered that question of where everyone was.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she said, suddenly not quite sure how to answer him. Not that Rob seemed to notice as he continued to grin at her. He was dressed in a tuxedo with black satin on the lapels and pink cumberbund and bow tie. She couldn’t help but think how much nicer Chase looked in his unadorned suit.

“So, I guess I’ll go wait for Candice,” Chase said in a low voice.

“Actually, I’m just going to go out to Randy’s car and get Mia’s corsage. You’ll never guess what color it is?”

Mia looked at his cumberbund and sighed. “Pink?”

“Hey, yeah. I’ll tell you, Chase, smart girls are the way to go. Anyway, I’ll be right back,” Rob said before ambling off in the direction of the door. Once he left, Mia noticed that the gym was slowly starting to fill up, and her nose twitched at the onslaught of perfumes all competing to outdo each other. Then she caught sight of Candice carefully making her way toward them wearing the second of the midnight-blue silk dresses.

“You got here. Are you feeling better?” Mia asked as she pushed one of Candice’s curls off her face and noticed that her eyeliner was smudged. She knew the shower was a bad idea.

“I’ll say.” Candice nodded. “I actually feel great. I was so tired and then I remembered that I’d bought these new multivitamin supplements. Anyway, a couple of them and a quick power nap and here I am, ready to go. Hey, Chase. You look hot.”

“Er, thanks.” Chase gave her an awkward smile and glanced around the place as if studying the spruced-up students. Then he looked at Mia and frowned. “Have you noticed anything weird?”

“What, like Samantha’s dress?” Mia glanced over to where Samantha was currently holding court in a bright pink taffeta creation that looked like cotton candy.

“I’m not sure.” He chewed on his full lower lip as if trying to figure it out, while next to her Candice jiggled her bracelets in excitement.

“Oh, I know what it is.”

“You do?” They both turned to her.

“Sure, it’s the food. Where is it? I can smell it, but I can’t see it. How weird is that?”

“Smell it?” Mia frowned as she glanced around. “I can’t smell anything but the perfume counter at Macy’s.”

“Really?” Candice looked at her in surprise as her nose continued to twitch. “Can you seriously not smell that? It’s just like the most amazing thing ever. In fact, I’m starving.”

“Candice.” Chase suddenly asked in an urgent voice. “What does it smell like?”

“Why, chicken, of course,” she said simply.
“Really, really great chicken.”

“Chicken?” Mia started to say. “I don’t smell any . . . oh, crap.” She took a step back and tried to stay calm. “Chase,” she said in a low voice out of the corner of her mouth. “Did you hear that? What does this mean?”

“I’m not sure.” He reached out and grabbed her hand and, okay, to be fair, she had been looking for an excuse to touch him, but this wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind. All the same she edged closer to him.

“What’s wrong?” Candice looked at them both blankly as her right arm flew uncontrollably in the air. “Why are you both staring at me like that?”

“Candice, when you had that power nap before, how deep was your sleep?” Chase asked her, while his green eyes continued to scan the room. Mia tried desperately to read his face but it was almost impossible to do so.

“Man, it was amazing. I slept like the dead. Why?” Then Candice widened her eyes before clamping her hand down hard over her mouth in horror. “Are you saying the reversal didn’t work?” Candice’s voice was muffled as Chase continued to carefully study her face.

“I’m afraid so.” He frowned. “It seems like whatever we did only slowed down the virus. But now it looks like it’s active again.”

“But that means—” Candice stared at him in horror.

“It means,” Chase said in a dry voice, “that you’re all going to turn back into zombies.”

fourteen

“
B
ut how did this happen?” Candice moaned as she started to fan herself with her small sequined clutch purse.
Yes
, Mia would like to know the answer to that one as well, because they had fixed it.
They had.

“I don’t know.” Chase led them over to a table in the far corner. “The department was concerned about us using a non-approved translation for the reversal spell, but since they didn’t have the resources to help us do it in time, they let us proceed. But the important thing is not to panic.”

“Not panic?” Mia and Candice both stared at him as they automatically followed him over and sat down.

“We’ve just had the week from hell, and now according to you it’s going to happen all over again.” Mia clutched at a piece of silver tinsel that was decorating the table as she tried to fight the nausea building in the pit of her stomach.

“Yeah.” Candice agreed as her arm started to twitch in a jerky action. “Like
Groundhog Day of the Living Dead
.”

“Look, I know you’re both freaked out, but right now we need to just assess what’s happening,” Chase said in a calm voice that was belied by the numerous wrinkles in his forehead. He was worried, and if Chase was worried, it didn’t bode well.

“Okay.” Mia took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts. “So maybe there was a mistake in the translation?”

“Oh, so now this is my fault?” Candice widened her eyes in annoyance. “Because if we’re going to point fingers, then let’s not forget just why we were doing the stupid spell in the first place.”

“You were the one who took me to visit a Chaos Maker,” Mia retorted.

“Both of you, cut it out.” Chase glared at them, his face pale and drawn. “This isn’t helping.”

“Sorry,” Candice muttered. “I think it’s all the residual protein that’s left in my system. But the thing is, I didn’t make a mistake in the translation. So why didn’t it work?”

“That’s the problem.” Chase rubbed his chin. “It did work.”

“Really?” Mia glanced over to where a group of hockey players were all licking their lips and waving at her. “Because I would beg to differ.”

“Yes, but I checked and double-checked, and everyone was clear,” Chase insisted.

“So?” Candice wrinkled her nose and Mia tried to ignore the fact that the skin around her mouth was starting to sag. “We did it right but missed something? Maybe I should’ve translated the rest of Algeria’s notes at the end of the incantation?” she pondered.

“What?” Chase and Mia both stared at her before Chase finally spoke.

“There were extra notes? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you told me to just translate the ingredients,” Candice protested. “And let’s not forget that I had a virus that was trying to turn me into a mindless idiot. In fact, considering the circumstances, I think I did exceptionally well. I mean, how many mindless idiots do you know who could conjugate Latin verbs?”