The Book of Spells (Private 0.50)

But this is a good thing, she reminded herself. Then, you looked forward to only happiness and innocent mischief, but look what misery you wrought. Those books are better left hidden.

“We’d better follow,” Theresa said, nodding toward the stairs.

Together they took one last look around their hallowed space. The pedestal and chairs still stood where they’d left them, looking so lonely and bare without the candles and the draping and the books. With one last sigh, Eliza reached for Theresa’s hand. The two girls turned as one and climbed the stairs. At the top, Theresa closed the door behind them, and Eliza turned the key with one final, resounding click.

“Never again,” Theresa said, looking Eliza in the eye.

Eliza slipped the key into the pocket of her dress, where it came to a rest, cold and heavy at her side.

“Never again.”

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THE BILLINGS GIRLS?

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THE NEXT PRIVATE NOVEL, COMING FEBRUARY 2011

I knocked on Noelle’s door in Pemberly Hall Friday morning, my eyes puffy and at half-mast—I hadn’t slept at all since we’d discovered the Book of Spells in the basement of the Billings Chapel. It took Noelle a moment to answer, and when she did, she grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.

“Wait. Reed just got here,” she said into her iPhone. “I’m putting you on speaker.”

Noelle placed the flat cell phone atop her dresser and stepped back. She wore a gray wool skirt that came halfway down her calves, paired with heeled black boots and a black ballet-neck sweater. Her dark brown hair was pulled back from her face on the sides, and her makeup was impeccably done, complete with fully lined eyes and lavender eye shadow.

Apparently she had slept. I pulled my navy cotton cardigan tighter around my wrinkled long-sleeved T-shirt and stifled a yawn.

“Girls?” Noelle’s grandmother’s voice came through the speaker loud and clear. Well, our grandmother’s voice, I corrected myself with a jolt. I had learned just a couple of days ago that Noelle and I were half sisters. “Girls, are you there?”

“We’re right here, Grandmother,” Noelle said, placing her hands on her hips.

“Reed?”

Noelle knocked me with her elbow.

“I’m here,” I croaked.

“Good. Noelle is a bit . . . out of sorts this morning,” Mrs. Lange said, sounding displeased. “Perhaps you can help me calm her down.”

“Calm me down?” Noelle blurted. “Like that’s gonna happen. You sent us out into the snow in the middle of the night to find the quote-unquote

key to our future and what do we find? A book about witchcraft.” She went over to her bed and yanked the thick tome out from under a tangle of bed sheets and silk pajamas, holding it up as if her grandmother could see it. “Is that what you’re trying to tell us Gram? Really? That you think we’re witches? I’m sorry, but you’re either senile or really, really bored.”

I took the book from Noelle with two hands. Even though I agreed that last night had felt like a pointless practical joke, the book was still real. It had once belonged to Elizabeth Williams, one of the original Billings Girls, and was therefore a precious relic to me.

“Seriously, Grandmother, have you ever thought about taking up mah-jongg?” Noelle continued without pause. “I hear it really helps keep your faculties in order.”

“Noelle,” I scolded under my breath.

She widened her eyes at me. “What?”

Through the speakers, I heard Mrs. Lange take in a deep, patient breath. “Girls today are so skeptical and jaded. But you two—you have no idea the power you could wield.”

Noelle rolled her eyes.

“So . . . ?” I said slowly, hugging the book to my chest. “Are you saying that you’ve actually done witchcraft?”

“No,” she admitted. Noelle threw up her hands and turned away. She’d been away from school for almost two weeks and her Louis Vuitton rolling case was still open on the floor. She picked it up and turned it over, dumping the entire contents out on her gold and burgundy throw rug. “No one at Billings has practiced in a long time,” Mrs. Lange continued. “But the two of you . . . girls, you have no idea how powerful you could be, now that you’re together.”

I felt an odd chill go through me and I looked over at Noelle. She sorted through a pile of balled-up sweaters, crumpled socks, and tangles of necklaces, her fingers shaking slightly.