“You have to get in there. You have to!” Miranda was clawing at her hair, tears rolling over her cheeks.
I sucked in a sharp breath and prayed to God the leather would stretch as I center kicked the door, launching it open. I saw the glint of Heddy’s eyes as she looked up at me, startled. Her hair was blown back by the wind that swirled out from the spinning vortex in front of her—the center where the pentagrams had been.
I felt myself gape. Then I felt the wind being knocked out of me as something came down hard, pressing against my lower back, knocking me off my feet, and shooting me right to the edge of the black hole.
“Look what I brought you.”
My head snapped up as Miranda sauntered in, a wide grin cutting across her face. It was only then that I noticed that most of her wounds had healed. The enormous purple-blue bruise that marred one whole cheek was gone, the skin pink and perfect. I must have been staring because she dragged an index finger down her cheek and said, “Oh this? It was all stage makeup. If you had really paid attention, you would have known I was a drama geek, too. A few necessary blows, and grease paint the rest. But thanks anyway, you made a swell nurse.”
“Miranda,” Heddy snapped, “lock that door and get into your robe. We don’t have much time.” Heddy was standing at the head of the pentagram and seemed to be controlling the swirl of the vortex. She was wearing a hooded robe that screamed every bad Druid movie ever made and carried a lit candle in one hand and an expression that clearly said that she wasn’t as pleased with Miranda’s gift of me as Miranda had been.
“What?” I pushed myself onto hands and knees. “Miranda—you?”
She just smiled silently.
“What the hell is going on here?” I pulled myself to my feet. “What is this?”
“Portal,” Miranda said simply.
“Like a hell mouth? At a high school?” I cocked out a hip. “Hate to tell you, ladies, but it’s already been done.”
“Silence!” Heddy yelled. “Lay down where you are. The Dark One will appreciate a second sacrifice in his honor.”
“The Dark One?”
“He will be very pleased.” Another voice came out of the perimeter of darkness around the room.
“Finleigh? You’re in this, too?”
“Sacred order,” Miranda said, slipping into her robe. “Me and Finny are legacies. Those two”—she pointed to two girls I had never met—“were perfect additions to the old Lock and Key Club.” Her eyes cut to the closed door of the supply closet. “So was Kayleigh.” She wrinkled her nose. “But Kayleigh’s special.”
I licked my lips as the two girls I didn’t know grabbed my arms and pinned them to my side. “And what about Fallon?” I asked Miranda.
Miranda shrugged and picked a piece of invisible lint from the sleeve of her maroon-colored robe. “She wanted in. Don’t like her. She bugs me.”
I narrowed my eyes. “She bullied you.”
Miranda grinned. “Did she?” She checked her nails. “She and that stupid Janitor Bud.”
“So Bud was a part of this.”
“Uh, no.” Miranda cut her gaze to me, laser sharp. “Bud thought he could stop this.” She held her arms out, indicating the creepily robed girls, the vortex. “He really thought that he could change ol’ Heddy. Bring her back from the dark side. Ain’t that right?”
“Stop talking, Miranda,” Heddy commanded.
“But he killed himself. Tonight.”
“He had to go,” Miranda said with a shrug. “And he got all over me.”
My stomach folded in on itself and I had to look away, unable to consider how much evil was housed in Miranda’s teenage body.
“We haven’t much time!” Heddy yelled again.
Finleigh took a step forward and pulled open the supply closet door. Kayleigh let out a terrified shriek that was muffled by the gag around her mouth. Her eyes were wide and darting; her skin was filthy and her ankles and wrists were bound. Finleigh grinned at her friend before grabbing her by the feet and sliding her across the room. She dumped her at the edge of the pentagram. Kayleigh curled herself into a tight ball and pressed her eyes shut, crying softly.
“Oh God, Kayleigh.” I wanted to offer her some comfort, but she kept her eyes fixed low, refusing to make contact with any of us.
Heddy looked at each girl; each girl in turn stepped to a point. I stood there, completely free, feeling stunned and numb as they each lit a candle and began chanting around me. The vortex seemed to ebb and flow with the rise and fall of the chanting voices. I cut my eyes to the door, judging the distance, but Miranda took a miniscule sidestep, glaring down at me as she broke my easy escape.