Chapter Three
Monica
I was spending so much time with Henrik that I hadn’t been to school in over three weeks.
Not that it really mattered—Andrea’s crazy witch hunt had effectively shut Jaffrey down. The only kids who even went to school anymore were the small ones, in elementary school. And because Andrea was such a master fucking manipulator, no one even thought of it.
If we get out of this, I’m going to have to repeat the tenth grade, I thought angrily. What a crock of shit.
Henrik had left me with a grave warning. “Time is running out,” he’d said. “And you must act quickly if you want to win.”
“You keep saying that,” I’d replied, obviously annoyed. “Come on, how much worse can things get?”
Henrik’s next words chilled me to the bone. “You must follow her,” he’d said. “You must begin to make a plan to end her life.”
So now, I was reduced to following Andrea D’Amico around like some kind of third-rate private investigator. It galled me—I didn’t even have a car, how the hell was I supposed to stalk someone successfully? Why couldn’t this have happened after I got my license, I lamented as I left Jamie and Brian’s house, just before sunrise. It would have been a lot more comfortable, at least.
I’d barely had any time to myself in weeks. I hadn’t talked to David in days, and I felt guilty about ignoring Elizabeth… but it wasn’t like I could call her and talk magick. Everyone knew that the phone lines around town were still bugged, and I wasn’t about to risk ruining anything further, just for the sake of a friendship.
Just then, I remembered something Ligeia had told me once. “Magick is cold,” she’d said. “Don’t expect it to keep you warm.”
I shivered.
By the time I got to the D’Amicos’ house, the sun was almost up. I snuck into the bushes and sat down with my knees to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. This is ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m staking her out like a freaking sniper.
I didn’t have to wait long. After I’d been hiding for about twenty minutes, the front door opened. Andrea skipped out, looking happy and summery. There was a wide smile fixed on her face that made me shiver. Before all of this shit had started happening, Andrea had only smiled like that when she talked about church.
And she’d never smiled like that at me.
“Mother,” Andrea called.
I ducked further down into the bush, covering my face with leaves.
“Yes, darling?” Mrs. D’Amico came out of the house, her eyes glazed and shiny. “What can I do for you?”
“Mother, I feel like going to the police station,” Andrea said. “Will you drive me downtown?”
I shivered as Andrea’s grin grew a shade wider.
“Anything you’d like,” Mrs. D’Amico said in a mechanical voice. “Anything for you, darling.”
“Good,” Andrea said. Her smile was momentarily replaced by the biggest smirk I’d ever seen. “I want to have everyone start praying and repenting in jail. They won’t be allowed to go anymore, at least, not until they’ve properly shown forgiveness. Did you know that four more teenagers were apprehended last night?”
“No, darling, I had no idea.” As she approached the driveway, Mrs. D’Amico’s eyes grew even glassier. “What a wonderful idea.”
“I know,” Andrea said in a sing-song voice.
As the two passed by the bushes, I shuddered. This is getting worse, I realized when Andrea and her mother climbed into a car and drove away. Henrik was right.
Once the car had left, I darted into the woods and made straight for the coven. Henrik and Ligeia told me that I’d been getting much stronger lately. While I didn’t necessarily believe them, I did have a much easier time finding their secret magick place. This time, it only took me fifteen minutes.
Henrik didn’t look surprised to see me. “Child,” he said. “You have news.”
I told him what I’d heard and he sighed heavily, resting his chin on his fist. I wasn’t sure how old Henrik was—ancient, probably—but he did look as though he’d aged ten years in the past week or so. I knew this put an intense strain on him… and I almost felt guilty about it.
“She’s controlling everyone,” I said, shaking my head and flopping down in the grass. “She’s nuts.”
“Yes, child,” Henrik said. “And you know the solution, don’t you?”
My stomach rumbled. “We have to kill her.”
“Not just kill her, per se,” Henrik said slowly. “You must cut out her heart, and then the coven must burn it. That is the only way the spirit of Prudence will finally pass on. We must destroy her heart.”
I shivered. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Henrik shrugged. “You’re a smart child,” he said. “You’ll figure it out. Trust me.”
I shrugged. “I don’t feel very smart right now,” I said. I shuddered again. The air of the magicked clearing was warm, but a chill passed through my body at the thought of committing such a terrible, violent act.
“You’ll know when the time has come,” Henrik said. He sighed.
“I don’t know that I can do this,” I said quickly. “Can’t anyone else? What if I pointed you right to her and then someone else from the coven took care of it?”
Henrik shook his head. “It has to be you. She is your sworn enemy, and you’re the only one strong enough to resist her control.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Monica, you must not lose confidence in yourself,” Henrik continued. “I know that it sounds brutal—and believe me, it is. But this is no longer your choice. It’s your fate.”
I sighed heavily, my shoulders sagging with the effort. “I know,” I said. “I just hate the idea of killing.”
“You’ll feel differently once the task at hand has been completed,” Henrik said. “I promise, Monica.”
“You’d better be right,” I mumbled. I got to my feet and brushed my hands off on my thighs, preparing to go back to Jaffrey.
“And Monica?”
“Yeah?” I turned around. “What?”
“David can take care of himself.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes. “What does that even mean?”
Henrik’s expression grew solemn. “He was arrested, just now,” he said. “For attempting to sneak into Jaffrey and contact you.”
My heart sank and my stomach twisted into knots. All thoughts of apprehension vanished and I balled my hands into angry fists.
“That bitch,” I spat through clenched teeth.
“Yes,” Henrik said. He nodded. For the first time, he gave me an approving glance. “You know what you must do.”
I’m coming for you, Prudence, I thought, picturing Andrea’s sickly sweet smile. And this time, you won’t be able to escape.
---
As soon as I got back to Jaffrey, I knew that I had to work fast. I waited all day, hiding in a crouched position outside of the D’Amicos, for Andrea to return. Knowing that she was forcing David to beg forgiveness angered me more than almost anything that had happened so far. She’s a little self-righteous bitch, I thought from my hiding place. And I’m going to make sure that this stops.
Soon.
I waited for hours, pinching myself to stay awake. Finally, Andrea appeared in the driveway. Thankfully, she was alone. She skipped and sang under her breath—some kind of ancient-sounding nursery rhyme that sent me into a cold panic. Suddenly, I wondered if I’d be able to do it. When the time came, would I actually be able to take a life?
Andrea skipped up the drive and onto the porch. I waited for a few seconds as I listened to the sound of her fumbling with her own keys to let herself inside. As soon as I heard the swing of the door, I leapt up and ran onto the porch.
Andrea turned and gasped when she saw me. Her smile faded and she pressed her lips into an angry, thin line.
“What are you doing here?” Andrea growled.
I swallowed hard. Her voice sounded at least twice as deep as normal, and it was uncanny to hear such a low sound coming from such a petite body.
“You know,” I said. I stepped forward and reached into my bag. As soon as my fingers closed around my athame, I dropped the bag and brandished the blade.
“You think you’re going to kill me?” Andrea laughed. “Nice try. You can’t.”
“I can,” I growled, advancing and holding my blade high. “And I will.”
Monica’s eyes flashed with an ancient fire. “You won’t,” she said. “You won’t get away with this.”
Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I moved forward for the attack. As soon as I leapt into the air and tried to plunge the knife towards Andrea, she grabbed my wrists with surprising strength. We landed on the floor together in a heap of tangled limbs, and I could barely breathe before Andrea swung a hard punch at my jaw.
Andrea’s fist connected with the side of my face and I cried out in pain. My heart thumped and for the first time in what felt like weeks, I felt very real fear stinging me. This could be it. This could be the end.
“You… can’t… kill… me,” Andrea growled. She made a mad swipe for my throat and I knocked her away, sending her frail body crashing to the floor. But before I could get up, Andrea pounced on me again and pinned me down. She glared at me with triumph as she reached for my athame and held it in one hand.
“You think you’re so fast,” Andrea said, her eyes glittering. “But you don’t know anything, Monica. You don’t know anything about how strong I really am.”
I reached for my knife but Andrea put her hand around my throat and squeezed. Spots of black and yellow flashed in front of my vision and I cried out as she tightened her grip, trying to squeeze the air out of my body.
“Gah,” I gurgled, frantically swinging my arms and trying to attack. I could barely form words, and I felt lightheaded. This is the end, I realized with a frantic kind of clarity. This is it. I’m going to die. I can’t take her over—I’m not strong enough.
Andrea leaned over me and glared, narrowing her eyes. Her childlike face suddenly took on sinister shadowing, and she curled her lips into a demonic smile. Just as I felt the last breath leave my body, Andrea released her grip and leapt to her feet.
“I’ll let you live,” she sneered. “This time.”
Coughing and hacking, I rolled onto my side and covered my mouth with my hands. My face burned bright red and I was still weak, but I got to my feet and made a grab for the athame. Andrea kicked it out of the way and my heart sank as I saw it sliding under her living room couch.
“No more knife for you,” Andrea said. She snickered. “You weren’t even strong enough to use it, Monica. You’re pathetic,” she sneered.
I scrambled to my feet.
“Go on,” Andrea said. “You can leave.” She smiled smugly and I felt a surge of hatred stronger than anything else I’d ever felt. “Just know that next time, you won’t be so lucky.”
“There won’t be a next time,” I growled under my breath as I walked to the front door. Because the next time, you’ll be dead, I added in my head.
Andrea burst out laughing. Her shrill cackles made my eardrums ache. Even after I’d left her house and started running to Elizabeth’s, I could still hear her voice in my ears.
“Monica…”
A ghastly voice surrounded me and I stopped, gazing in every direction.
“Monica… Monica… You must act quickly…”
“Henrik?” I called loudly, feeling like a complete idiot for speaking to thin air. “Is that you?”
“Monica… she will triumph…”
I shuddered and broke into an achingly fast run, all the way to Elizabeth’s. When I got there, I burst inside without even knocking.
Elizabeth was sitting on the couch. She gave me a startled look before leaping up and pulling me into a tight hug.
“What the hell?” Elizabeth demanded as she hugged me tightly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and pulled her up the stairs. As soon as we were in her room, with the door locked safely behind us, I turned to her and burst into tears.
Elizabeth gazed at me with alarm. “Oh, my God,” she said. She handed me a box of tissues. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry before. What happened? Something with David?”
“Are your parents home?”
“No, not for hours,” Elizabeth said. “Neither is Aidan.”
In fits and starts and gasps, I told her the whole story. Henrik, the humiliating way Andrea had defeated me so easily… even Mrs. D’Amico and her creepy, glassy eyes.
“She’s manipulating everyone,” I said. “And it must be bad, because Henrik broke the veil to tell me. He’s never done that before—it’s too risky.”
Elizabeth nodded slowly. She made a sour face. “We have to cut her heart out?”
“Yeah.” I wrinkled my nose. “I know, it sounds hateful. Henrik says it’s the only way.”
“Henrik’s creepy.”
I laughed. “You… you get used to him after a while.”
“And Ligeia is so intense. She doesn’t answer any questions,” Elizabeth added, shrugging dramatically. “She just acts the way she thinks is best.”
I sighed. “I know.” I bit my lip. “Elizabeth… how the hell are we supposed to do this?”
Elizabeth sighed. She furrowed her brow and ran her hands through her long hair, pulling it into a messy bun at the side of her head.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “But Steven’s been acting so weird lately, ever since I got back. He’s like, totally obsessed with me.”
“I thought that was what you wanted?”
Elizabeth frowned. “I thought I did,” she said slowly. “But now… I don’t know. It feels so weird. I can’t think about him. Not with all of this shit going on. It’s too much, Monica.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “I know.”
“Maybe we could like, trap her,” Elizabeth suggested. “And bring her to the coven. And Henrik and Ligeia could take care of this, like we wouldn’t have to actually kill anyone.”
“I had the same thought, but I don’t think it will work.” My stomach twisted with anxiety. “I think we have to do it ourselves.”
Elizabeth frowned.
“It’s not actually like, taking a life, though,” I said. “I mean, think of it like this—Andrea is basically possessed.”
“But we’re still killing her body,” Elizabeth said quietly. “Andrea wouldn’t have wanted this.”
I shrugged. I didn’t really care, but I wasn’t about to say that.
“I don’t know,” I said. “You just have to think of her as embodied by this evil spirit. I mean, Elizabeth, the spirit of Prudence has tortured people for centuries. And we’d be stopping that. Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”
“Why us?” Elizabeth said softly. “Why do we have to do it?”
I sighed. “Because you said you wanted to help,” I said. “You told me you didn’t want me to do this alone, remember?”
“I don’t,” Elizabeth said. “But I don’t get why we have to do it at all. Wouldn’t it make more sense to, oh, I don’t know—leave it to the professionals?”
I laughed humorlessly. “There are no professionals when it comes to magick,” I said quietly. “Except maybe Ligeia.”
“She should do it. It’s her sister.”
“She can’t,” I explained. “The bond between them is too strong. She could only accomplish the task if she sacrificed herself.”
“Well, maybe that would be better than having us do it,” Elizabeth grumbled.
“Hey…” I bit my lip. “You said Steven is really into you right now, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “He was so weird the other day. He practically tried to pull my pants down in the middle of the woods.”
“Well… what if we manipulated him somehow?”
“To kill his sister?!” Elizabeth looked horrified. “Monica, we can’t do that! We can’t make Steven do that!”
“No, no, not like that,” I said. “Like… I don’t know, we all get together and maybe you seduce him or whatever… and then I can attack his sister if she’s upset about it.”
Elizabeth stared at me and shook her head. “No,” she said. “It won’t work.”
“Yes, it will,” I said. A loathsome plan formed in my mind and I hated the sound of it, but instinctively I knew—it had a much better chance of working.
“Look, I know Andrea is creepy around her brother, but—”
“It’s not just her,” I said quickly. “Look at how much attention Steven used to give her. But something changed, right? Now he’s really into you, right?”
Elizabeth nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“And how do you think that makes Andrea feel?”
Elizabeth shrugged and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know,” she said. “Thinking about that creeps me out.”
“Well, think about it,” I said sharply. “Seriously—do you think it makes her jealous?”
“I think it makes her feel… powerless,” Elizabeth said softly.
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “So, here’s what we’ll do. Call up Steven and tell him you want to hook up, but it has to be at his house. But also say that you feel really guilty about how you and Andrea have fought.”
“I could apologize for you, too,” Elizabeth said slowly. “I could say that I feel really bad for what you did, and that I’m not your friend anymore.”
I smiled. “Bingo,” I said. “Do you think you can lie?”
Elizabeth nodded quickly. “I think so.”
“You better try really hard,” I said sharply. “Because you’re not always good at it.”
Elizabeth flushed.
“Anyway, yeah, so you call Steven and tell him you want to hang out with him and Andrea… but make it sound like you really just want to sleep with him. Then, you go over and seduce him in front of her. It shouldn’t be hard. I’ll be waiting outside, like, by a window. And then I’ll break in and kill her.”
“This all sounds terrible,” Elizabeth said. She looked pale and green. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
I shook my head. “I know, but it has to work,” I said. “She’s going to be much less powerful if her attention is all focused on you and Steven; she’ll angry and it’ll be easier to take her down.”
Elizabeth bit her lip. There was a deep crease of concern and worry in her forehead.
“I hate this,” she muttered. “This is so fucked up. I can’t believe we’re plotting to kill our friend.”
“Andrea hasn’t been our friend for a long time,” I said quickly. “Don’t forget how crazy she is. Don’t forget how you felt when you were alone, in jail, all night.”
Elizabeth shuddered and rubbed her wrists. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “I guess.”
“Keep thinking about how angry and helpless you felt,” I said. “And channel all of that into… you know. This.”
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Elizabeth said softly. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“You have to,” I begged. “You have to help me, Liz. This is the only way we can do it. This is the only way we can win. Remember, you promised you’d do anything to help!”
I locked eyes with Elizabeth and stared hard. I know you hate this. But it’ll be worth it. I swear.
Elizabeth looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “Okay,” she said softly. “I’m in. When do you want to do it?”
I shuddered, remembering Henrik’s ghostly warning I’d received just an hour ago.
“Tomorrow,” I said finally.
“So soon?” Elizabeth’s jaw dropped and she gasped. “Monica… that’s so cruel!”
“We have to,” I said bitterly. “If we don’t strike now, we might not win.”
Elizabeth sighed, closing her eyes. “I wish I was dead,” she said. “I’d rather be dead than deal with all of this.”
Reaching out, I squeezed her shoulder with my right hand. “I know,” I said softly. “Trust me. I know.”