Ominous (Private 13)

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“It’s Astrid. She’s … missing,” Rose said breathlessly.

Instantly, every last detail of my dream from the night before flooded my brain, making me light-headed. Astrid. The black-robed figures. The lobby of Billings. The ritual. Cheyenne dragging Astrid away. I fell heavily into the nearest chair.

“What do you mean, missing?” Ivy said.

“I woke up this morning and she was gone,” Rose said. “Her bed was a mess, which isn’t unusual, so I figured she was in the bathroom, but she never came back. Her wallet’s in the room and so are her art supplies, her iPod. She’s just gone.”

“Maybe she just went out for a morning walk,” Ivy suggested. “Maybe she wanted some exercise.”

“Astrid is allergic to exercise,” Kiki said, holding herself tightly around her waist. “Something’s wrong.”

“Have you told anyone?” I heard myself say.

“The headmaster knows,” Rose replied. “I just spent the last half hour in his office telling him over and over again that I didn’t hear her leave.” She pressed her fingertips to her temple. “Why am I such a deep sleeper?”

I glanced over at Noelle, who shot me a questioning look. Not so long ago, she and her grandmother had faked her kidnapping. Was it possible they were behind this, too, somehow? Noelle looked convincingly clueless, but she’d proven to be a good actress in the past. But why would she and her family want to mess with Astrid?

Or maybe Astrid was messing with us. She was the one who’d accused Noelle of scaring the bejesus out of us. Maybe she’d somehow found out that it had all been a joke and was getting back at us by pulling the same prank. It was definitely something she would do, with her wicked sense of humor. My panicked heart slowed slightly in relief at the thought, but then I remembered my dream. And I freaked out all over again.

At that moment the double doors opened with a bang, and in walked Headmaster Hathaway, trailed by four policemen in full uniform. Someone’s walkie-talkie was bleeping and beeping and crackling, and once again the dining hall went silent. I looked over at Noelle again and she, like everyone else in the room, looked startled and sick. We’d been through this too many times.

“Attention, students!” Headmaster Hathaway shouted, stopping at the top of the center aisle. His skin looked gray under the glowing lights. The cops fanned out around him, standing in a line with their feet in wide stance, as if they were readying themselves to handle a stampede. The headmaster cleared his throat and lifted both hands.

“No one panic, but we have a situation.”

Headmaster Hathaway had imposed a curfew. Everyone was to be in their own dorms by 8 p.m. and in their own rooms by nine. The campus, meanwhile, was crawling with cops. Some in uniform, some in plain clothes, all with stern body language and serious “don’t mess with me” glares. There was no chance we were going to be able to sneak off campus to the chapel without being stopped, or at the very least followed. So I sent out a text telling everyone in the BLS to meet me in my room at 7 p.m. No excuses allowed.

Of course, I didn’t need to add that last warning. Everyone showed up, most of them early. We all wanted to be together, to reassure one another that everything was going to be all right. I had a bad feeling that what I was going to tell them wasn’t going to reassure anyone.

I stood in front of my closed dorm room door. My friends were all gathered on my bed and on the floor. Everyone except for Kiki, who was pacing in circles near my closet like a caged animal, and Noelle, who had claimed my desk chair and was looking at me like she knew what was coming and was not happy about it. Oh well. Not even Noelle could have everything her way.

“You guys,” I began, my heart fluttering with nerves. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

I looked Noelle in the eye. It was time for complete and total transparency. I’d kept so many secrets, had so many hidden agendas in the past two years. I was tired of lying.

“Noelle and I are sisters.”

Noelle’s eyebrows shot up. I guess she didn’t think I was going to lead with that. But it was something that was going to come out sooner or later, and I felt like I had to tell them in order for the rest of the story to make sense.

“What?” Amberly blurted. She looked at Noelle as if personally betrayed. “Noelle? Is that true?”

“Yes,” Noelle said, keeping her eyes trained on me. “Half sisters. It turns out my dad had a bit of trouble keeping it in his pants back in the day.”

Vienna and Portia snickered, while everyone else seemed stunned silent. As distraught as I was, even I smiled. I should have known Noelle would find a way to make the telling of it less painful.

“So that’s why your dad’s paying for her party,” Portia said.

“Great,” Kiki snapped, pacing away from the corner. “What does it have to do with Astrid?”

I froze for a moment. I hadn’t forgotten why we were really here, and I didn’t want anyone else to think I had.

“I’m getting there,” I said. “Just … hear me out.”

And I told them everything. How Noelle and I had found the book of spells. How I’d said the incantation by myself that night and what had happened. How I’d dreamed about Eliza Williams and found the locket, and about the yearbook and how Eliza was definitely the girl in my dream. And then I told them that Ivy and I had said the incantation again, and what had happened directly afterward—that the lights had gone out and our cell phones had rung. Aside from some squirming and exchanged glances, my friends stayed mostly quiet.

“Now here’s the part I’m really freaked out about,” I said, my throat dry. “Last night I had another dream.”