She closed the door and he walked to his car. He was about to put the key in the ignition, when a feeling of urgency overcame him. His heartbeat picked up, and he could feel the tension building—signs that told him to check in on Mina. She must be up to something. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the leather headrest. It took a minute to find an available reflective surface in her room. It usually took a few tries, because the objects didn’t always face her, or they weren’t large enough to do any reflection viewing.
Ah, he found one. It was just dark enough that the light in her room caused a reflection on her window. There she was. She was furious and storming around her messy bedroom, yelling his name. He watched her as she began to throw items into a backpack. She pulled out black clothes again and laid them on her bed. He frowned. She was preparing to go back to Kathleen’s house tonight, but he couldn’t let that happen. Not yet…he needed more time.
Carefully, Jared used a bit of stray magic and made her window stick shut. He knew she was going to sneak out and go down the fire escape. Mina went to her bedroom window and tried to open it. He watched her scream silently and throw her fists in the air. She turned and tiptoed to her bedroom door, hoping to escape out the front. It didn’t take much to make the old-fashioned porcelain doorknob fall off leaving her trapped in her room. That should protect her until he had time to work.
Jared needed to confront the Kathleen first and see if he could get her to release the spellbound bullfrogs. He knew that if Mina trapped Kathleen in the Grimoire, the boys wouldn’t return to normal. They would be frogs forever, trapped.
How did he know? Because when he’d watched Kathleen toss Tom into the water, and she’d cried on the creek bank, he’d heard the Story’s voice loud and clear. The Story told him that they would be lost forever.
For once, Jared was going to prove the Story wrong.
Chapter 5
“Jared! Ohmygosh!” A high-pitched voice rang out loudly through the hallway.
Jared turned from his locker and saw Ever running down the hall toward him. She jumped on him, flinging her arms around his neck. “I thought I’d die,” she said loud enough for the crowd of students to hear.
Whoa! What a transformation! Jared set her down but kept his arms around her, as he looked her over. Ever had used a glamour, so now instead of a short and spiky hairstyle, her hair fell in big waves down to her mid-back. She wore white shorts with a light teal off the shoulder top. Colorful bangles decorated her arms. Even her makeup was rosy in color, compared to the paler shades she preferred. Her eyes looked twice as big, and with her new hairstyle, she didn’t look so harsh. She appeared soft and approachable. Jared couldn’t help but look down to see if the Goth pixie had gotten rid of the black army boots. She had. Instead, she wore delicate leather and gold sandals.
“This is some difference!” he whispered as he leaned down to give her another hug.
“Oh, gag me with a spoon. I feel like a simpering Disney princess,” she whispered back, batting her eyes at him. She pulled away and did a twirl in the hallway, her invisible wings still fluttering with excitement, making any loose papers go flying out of the neighboring lockers.
Jared was impressed. She was doing a bang-up job of drawing attention their way. Everyone in the hallway was staring at them.
Jared scanned the crowd of onlookers and spotted a pair of green eyes filled with envy—Kathleen’s.
“The show is about to begin.”
“I thought it already started,” Ever said, chuckling, as she pulled him after her down the hall.
Jared followed and made sure to pay extra attention to Ever. Despite her total makeover, she was making him uncomfortable. Maybe because he knew it was a ruse, but wasn’t sure if she really thought of it that way. She seemed a little too eager to participate.
Once they neared Kathleen, Jared whispered, “Now.”
Ever turned around and jumped up into the air easily with the use of her invisible wings and wrapped her arms around his neck again, running her fingers through his hair.
“Jared, promise you’ll never leave me.” Her voice was husky with emotion, too much emotion.
He did everything he could not to look at Kathleen and instead to stare deeply into Ever’s eyes. “I will never leave you. I promise.” The words sounded forced even to him, but he hoped it was enough to catch Kathleen’s attention. He ignored every desire in his body to glance back as he headed to his next class.
Ever and him made a big show of not wanting to part in the hallway, and she even gave him one last hug.
“Remember, she’s going to try to touch you. So be careful,” Ever warned as she blew him fake kisses and walked away.
Jared nodded silently and walked into his third-period class. He took an empty chair and waited for their next journalism assignment. Adam and Mark were giving him excited looks and thumbs up. They must have seen Ever’s show in the hallway. Lucy, on the other hand, refused to look at him. Uh oh, another angry female. He should be used to that. Wait, he saw her shoulder’s shaking. Lucy was laughing at him. He was about to pick up a pencil and throw it at her when a familiar scent caught his nose.