It took Taylor a few minutes to calm her breathing after she woke up, leaning against the wall as the feeling of the dream world faded away. The cold, pale light of her window told her it was not long after dawn, but she already knew she wasn't getting back to sleep.
Unlike her regular dreams, Taylor's visits with the Raven in her dreams didn't vanish as she woke up, leaving her dazed at the change in time and the return of sounds to drown out her own heartbeat. That world gave her no choice of what to feel and what to focus on, but this one felt so busy, no matter how early and quiet it might be.
Taylor grabbed her phone, noting that it was barely after 6:00. It was at least not so early that she'd feel weird texting Rachel about her meeting with the Raven.
Taylor: hey rachel, I had another vision
Taylor: it looks like the next witch is close with one of the shades, and the raven suggested we just let them lead us to the next witch
To Taylor's surprise, Rachel started responding immediately.
Rachel: i could use some coffee if this is how the days starting
Rachel: wanna come with in like 15?
Taylor: sure
Taylor: all our dates can be about demon slaying
Rachel: super power couple, im telling u
Taylor climbed out of bed, dropping into her chair and booting up her laptop. She grabbed a brush from beside her desk mirror and started taking out the knots in her hair while a dozen applications launched. When she checked her e-mail, she was surprised to find an e-mail from Juliet with the subject line "Follow-up". Clicking on it, she found an absolute wall of text. Attached to the bottom of the wall was an additional document labeled "Notes from 10/16".
Taylor checked the document first. Sure enough, it was a near-transcription of her phone call to Juliet last night, plus comments added to define or clarify things. Scrolling through it, Taylor remembered what a wild time looking through Nathan's phone had been, he's such a-
God. Shit. Taylor picked up her pants from last night and discovered Nathan's phone in the back pocket. It was dead, predictably, but not being able to look through it more wasn't really the problem. Whether Nathan remembered what she'd done or not, chances were good he knew his phone was missing. Unsure what else to do with it for now, she stuffed it back in her pants.
Once she was dressed, Taylor looked at the doc Juliet had sent her one more time before closing it. A bolded line in the body of the e-mail stuck out to her, though: "It looks like you were drugged with GHB. Plus, Nathan's the only one who sells it. Whoever drugged you must have gotten it from him." 'GHB' was also hyperlinked, probably to some page that supported Juliet's conclusion.
The implications of that conclusion alone were too much for her to deal with right now. Taylor closed her laptop and hurried out the door.
Taylor decided to pick up Courtney and Victoria's orders too, like Victoria does when she wakes up early or Courtney does when the others are hung over. Once Rachel and Taylor were back on the bus and Rachel finally had a sip of her coffee, they let the conversation turn to being demon-fighting witches.
"So, last night," Rachel began.
Last night had been a bit busy. "Which part?" Taylor asked. Rachel's tone immediately shot her mind into 'Oh god what if she says getting together was a huge mistake and we should just forget it,' mode.
Rachel sensed the awkwardness and replied, "Uh, the demon bit."
Taylor said, "Oh, that," visibly relieved.
Rachel was amused by that response, "Oh yeah, just that hiccup. What do you know about them, anyway?"
That's such an easier conversation than talking about our relationship.
"Oh! So they-" Taylor quickly cut off though because Rachel snorted, covering her mouth in fear of sputtering out coffee.
Taylor had no idea what that was about, so she said, "What?"
Rachel just shook her head. "No, no, please continue."
"Poor girl had a heart attack."
Taylor pouted. "I did not."
Thanks to that completely incoherent response, Rachel just gave her a smirk and said, "Uh huh."
"Babe you're reading my thoughts again."
Somehow Taylor had missed that. "Oh, shit."
This is so hard to get used to.
"Same here." Rachel took another sip of her coffee.
Taylor blinked, trying to separate what was in her head and what was out loud. Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion, leaning closer to Rachel. Are you reading my mind?
"I mean, I think if it works both ways it's just called telepathy, but it looks that way."
That's . . .
"Spooky."
Yeah.
"Kind of neat though?" Rachel quirked an eyebrow.
Useful, at least. Considering a good chunk of what we talk about nowadays would sound fucking nuts to anyone. I'm pretty sure that old lady is ready to call 911 from the amount of silent eye contact we're making.
Rachel glanced down the bus and laughed, scooting back from Taylor a little. She pulled her leg up onto her seat and snatched up Taylor's hand. "Okay. So, my telepathic friend, what were you saying?"
Taylor took a second to rub the back of Rachel's hand while she got her thoughts back to the shades.
Right, yeah, okay. So these demons slash shades. From the conversation I had with demon-Logan last night, it looks like they have all of the memories and a lot of the feelings that the boys had before being demons - like Logan was pissed at me for keeping Dana away from him. Actually, Zach was acting pretty similarly - he was angry that Juliet wouldn't talk to him since she found out he'd been sexting Victoria. Like he was being treated unfairly. But there's also clearly some stuff the boys remember once I've exorcised them, and some stuff they don't.
"So, what, these demons are making boys get really pissed that someone broke up with them?"
Taylor shook her head. No, I think they really are pissed about it. I think they might even want to hurt someone. Maybe like a wish that they wouldn't otherwise act on.
"So, a curse then? A violently misogynistic curse?"
Maybe? It's like those boys who get rejected and turn really scary and violent? You know the kind I mean?
Rachel's thoughts went quiet for a moment, although Taylor could see in her eyes that she was thinking back on something. After a moment, Rachel nodded.
"Yeah, I've definitely met those boys."
Neither of them had much to say on that, so Taylor just squeezed Rachel's hand. Rachel started to drum her fingers against Taylor's palm, anxious.
"There's still Warren," Rachel said, "And you said he's close to the person we're looking for?"
Taylor nodded. She didn't think that was exactly what she heard, but it was the same conclusion she'd come to.
Yeah. The Raven said the last witch was in danger. But they also recommended just trying to tail the shade until we knew who it was.
Rachel looked down at her hands while she thought. She wrapped both of them around Taylor's hand and began to knead her palm, barely noticing what she was doing.
"If these shades are showing up as curses against people who've wronged whoever they're possessing, that . . . doesn't really narrow things down a lot with Warren. People are not very nice to that kid. At least not other students."
That . . . sucks. But I think the criteria might be simpler. I think it might just be rejection. Like a few minutes before I saw Warren get possessed, he and Brooke were talking. She was upset with him for talking about Max too much when they were together and not being like, attentive. Like what she was saying was that he was being rude, but the subtext seemed very pseudo-romantic. Brooke is definitely the person closest to Warren anyhow.
"Hmm," Rachel hummed. "That also sounds like that could be Max, though. She's clearly on his mind a lot and also clearly not into him that way. The talk with Brooke could have happened after a rejection from Max, maybe."
Rachel actually looked relieved at this thought (Taylor very much did not feel relieved connecting the common feelings of teenage boys to homicide and assault, but they seemed to be taking this to different places).
"I'll talk to Max, make sure she's on the lookout for anything weird. At least with her, I know she'll listen to me, even if she doesn't think Warren's dangerous."
"I think that'd be good," Taylor replied.
"I have to say I kind of dig the idea of Max with super powers. She's always wanted to be a super hero. It's cute." She paused. "Chloe might feel left out, though."
"It'll be okay," Taylor replied. "Max'll keep an eye out, you'll keep an eye out, I'll keep an eye out. We'll get him before he gets the chance to hurt anybody." She continued, Plus, I feel like Chloe's the sort of person who would dig being the normie sidekick to superpowered best friends. You know, a Xander type.
Rachel snorted. "You seriously overestimate Chloe's ability to be anything less than the most interesting person in the room."
Rachel and Taylor split up once they reached the dorms - Rachel head back to her room while Taylor passed coffee off to a sleepy Courtney and made her way to Victoria's room. She knocked but didn't wait for a response, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. Victoria didn't pick up on this, what with her face buried in her pillow and headphones in her ears.
Taylor pulled Victoria's coffee from the tray and sat it down on her desk, then grabbed hers and sat down in Victoria's computer chair. She scoot it close to Victoria's bed and shook her a little, which finally did the trick.
"Taylor?" Victoria asked groggily. "What? . . . what time is it?"
"It is . . ." Taylor checked her phone. "7:30. Time to get up."
Victoria moaned her incoherent complaints for a few seconds, but pulled her legs up and sat up. She blinked a few times in an effort to get her eyes to focus, just now noticing the coffee. She pointed to the one closest to her and Taylor nodded.
"You got me coffee?" Victoria asked, smoothing her hair back off of her forehead and grabbing the cup from her desk.
"I did. I figured you could use it after a night of hanging out with Nathan."
"Hmm," Victoria hummed, sitting back against the wall. "We didn't really hang out that much. He got kind of grumpy so I just. . . went to bed."
Yeah, he would be kind of grumpy.
Rachel's voice appeared way too clearly, "Who?"
Taylor jumped, drawing a confused look from Victoria. As she regained her composure, she thought, It's nothing. I'm just talking with Victoria.
"Oh, okay."
"Did he say why he was upset?" Taylor asked, tucking her hair back.
Victoria shook her head.
"Uh . . ." Taylor hesitated as she reached into her pocket. Victoria sensed she was trying to say something though.
"Why is she acting so weird?" Victoria wondered.
That did it for Taylor - Victoria was going to realize something was wrong before long anyhow. Hiding it wasn't going to work.
"I think I know why he was upset, then," Taylor said. Victoria tilted her head curiously as Taylor reached into her pocket, pulling out the phone. "I kinda . . . stole his phone last night."
Victoria sat dumbfounded for a long time, looking between the phone and Taylor. Then she demanded, "What the hell? Why?" She did a small double-take as she inspected the phone again. "That's not even Nathan's."
Taylor lowered her hands, wrapping her fingers all around the phone. "Yeah it is," Taylor replied, deadpan. "I mean, it's not his regular phone. It's his phone for, uh, dealing."
Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. Their talk had barely started and she was already getting exasperated. "Taylor, what the fuck?"
Taylor looked down at her hands, rolling the phone over while she thought about the right words. "Remember how I bailed from the party last Thursday, and then I didn't come to morning classes either?"
Victoria looked taken aback at the change, but cautiously let the conversation continue, "I mean, yeah . . ."
"So . . . something kind of happened to me that night."
Taylor wasn't really in the frame of mind to be shaken up by that right now, but she knew that Victoria would be more willing to listen if Taylor looked like she was in pain. Unfortunately, when Taylor looked back up and saw Victoria's face cut still and hard as stone, fear and guilt clawed its way right into her heart. Victoria loved her. Even if she couldn't feel scared for herself, the dread Victoria was already sinking in pulled Taylor along as well.
Very quietly, Victoria asked, "What happened?"
Taylor took a breath slowly. The pause just seemed to make everything worse. She said, "I passed out on my way to the dorms. I . . . was drugged with something called GHB. I was kidnapped. Somebody . . . somebody from school took me, then dumped me back in the dorms in the morning."
Taylor couldn't look away from Victoria's eyes - searching, confused, scared. Why was this all coming on so strong?
"Are you all right? Did they - did they hurt you?"
Taylor's heart raced. She'd wanted to stay calm, not - not this, whatever this was.
"I . . . don't know. They couldn't find any evidence when I went to the hospital, but . . ." Taylor swallowed. "But I knew Nathan dealt, so he might have dealt to whoever dosed me, so I took his phone. And he did. He sells the stuff that they-" Taylor felt panic rising as she talked, and suddenly her throat choked as tears clouded her vision. Fuck. This isn't how I wanted this to go.
Victoria didn't seem to be in a much better place - she crawled forward on her bed, put her coffee down on the desk, and pulled Taylor down onto the bed with her.
Normally, when Victoria pulled Taylor onto her chest, that was all it took for Taylor to completely break apart and sob. But this time, Taylor just felt relief. She didn't know whether it was being honest with Victoria or just being close to her again after things had been weird between them, but the panic in her cooled.
Victoria kissed the top of Taylor's head, petting her hair.
After a minute, Victoria asked, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Taylor would have liked that to be a tough question, but she'd been thinking about it every time she and Victoria were together for the past four days. "I . . . I was scared. I felt like . . . like you wouldn't believe me if it meant Nathan could be involved in something bad. Like you'd say I was being hysterical or . . . or something."
"T . . . of course I believe you. Nathan's not . . . a bad kid, but he does some really stupid shit without thinking about the consequences. I couldn't be his friend if I didn't already get that."
Victoria's heart beat was so fast and so strong. Taylor knew she had to finish this conversation, but that feeling, that knowing that Victoria was just as scared as she was, it filled her heart with love in a way that wanted to blot out the pressing need to figure this out.
It dawned on Taylor that the fear she'd been harboring about Victoria's response wasn't like Victoria at all. It was like her mom, and Courtney, and the cops, but it wasn't like Victoria.
Finally, Taylor continued, "I already checked with the other people who sell drugs at school. Neither of them sell the stuff I was probably dosed with, but Nathan does. I made sure."
Victoria continued to pet Taylor's hair. She said, "You were reckless . . . but you were smart. And brave. I'm proud of you."
Taylor hoped that her face was thoroughly hidden so Victoria couldn't see how she flushed at that kind of praise. She could barely understand how intense the shifts between terrifying and amazing had been these past few days of her life.
"I'll talk to Nathan," Victoria said. "Just . . . just give me the phone. I'll return it, I'll explain. If he gets mad, I'll deal with it. I'm not going to let him get upset with you."
The heavy beat of Victoria's heart, and the trust in her Taylor had in that moment, was more than she could take. Her tears were happy, though.
"I love you, Tori."
"I love you too."
For once, when they said that, they meant the same thing.
Taylor was barely out the door of her second period class for lunch when she got a text from Dana.
Dana: Hey taylor, if you're free could you come to the drama room?
Dana: Juliet and I want to check in with you
It was Wednesday at lunch, time Victoria always set aside to spend with Taylor. It would suck to set those plans aside, and talking with Juliet and Dana really didn't seem like something she wanted to deal with right now. But they were helping her - a lot. How could she refuse?
Taylor sent Victoria a message.
Taylor: hey i'm sorry but i'm busy during lunch today. i'll still see you for photography lab if you're free?
Taylor hadn't been to the drama lab in years. A wave of nostalgia rolled over her as she walked inside, Juliet behind the teacher's desk (her laptop open in front of her) and Dana sitting on top of it, just like they were back in sophomore year. Taylor waved at them (and Dana waved back with a 'hey') and dumped her bag on a chair.
"What's up?" she asked, standing close to the desk as if the three of them were just gossiping during class.
Juliet glanced about as if that were an awkward question. "Umm . . . your phone call ended in like, the most dramatic way possible last night. Are you all right?"
"Oh, yeah. Um. I guess I just got a bit spooked. Ditching campus in the middle of the night was probably not my best idea."
Juliet raised her eyebrows. "You sure?"
Taylor nodded. She didn't like splitting her life into discrete chunks, some honesty allocated to everyone (but not too much), but she had no other way of handling her life right now. She picked at her nails with her teeth.
Dana and Juliet glanced at each other again, but then relaxed. "Okay, cool," Dana said, letting her posture go to shit on the desk. "We just wanted to make sure."
"Oh." Why is this so goddamn awkward? "Okay. Is that . . . it?"
Juliet shook her head and said, "No, no, I just . . . here." Juliet turned her laptop around, showing Taylor the Wikipedia page for GHB.
That makes sense. She's been doing a lot of research.
"Oh yeah, I got your e-mail." Taylor reached over the desk and scrolled down the page a little bit, trying to pick out anything useful from the pictures, but it had a little too much jargon for her. "So, this is the stuff?"
"Yeah," Juliet confirmed. "The big thing that separates it from the other stuff Nathan or Stella or Trevor have been buying is that it's an easy-to-use date rape drug. Five grams in a drink or injected intravenously can induce a semi-coma, although it only lasts a few hours. It has interaction effects with alcohol so you could have been dosed with even less, and it clears your system in twelve hours, so . . ."
Taylor nodded. That made sense, at least. She didn't like that it was coming together, but she knew it was a good thing. "So it was out by the time I even woke up . . . and my tests wouldn't have found anything."
"Yeah," Dana replied.
"So," Juliet started, "My working theory is somebody dosed your drink. When all the drinks are pre-poured, somebody could just drop a few grams of it in and then wait for somebody to take it. And . . . if that's the case, we're probably talking about a boy in the Vortex Club. They had to have had access to the drinks. I mean, you didn't drink anything else that night, did you?"
Taylor shook her head. "No, I'm . . . I'm pretty careful about this stuff. I don't set my drinks down or anything . . ." She paused, thinking while she bit her nails. "So this was just random, then? I just drew the short straw?"
Dana shrugged. "That's our best guess."
Taylor wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.
After a quiet moment moment, Dana went on, "I wonder who it even could have been, though. Logan never had the chance, Zach and Hayden were there way after you left, and-"
"Um," Juliet interrupted, loud enough that Dana cut off. "Like, I think it's easier than that, guys."
Dana and Taylor looked at each other, then Juliet, equally confused.
"Wait, what?" Dana asked.
"Think about it," Juliet said as she spun her laptop back around, clicking on some things Taylor couldn't see. "We know Nathan's buying the stuff. We don't know if anyone's buying it from him. We know Nathan was threatening somebody. Here, look, he said, 'Keep your mouth shut or else. I know where you sleep.'"
Taylor already knew where this was going, where it had gone, but hoped that she was wrong. "So, wait, what are you saying?"
Juliet looked uncomfortable having to say it, but at least she wasn't frozen stiff like Dana.
"I'm saying Nathan almost definitely dosed you, and he dosed someone else before you, too. And when they figured out he'd done it, he threatened them to stay quiet - repeatedly. Look."
Juliet turned her laptop around again, this time to a Word document. There was a section she had highlighted, marked 10/8:
Next time it won't be pig's blood. Feminazis will be exterminated.
And, although it wasn't highlighted, the entry marked 10/10 - 11:30pm just below it:
What the fuck are you?
Taylor kept her eyes on that entry, playing through the possibilities as Juliet continued to talk.
"I know Nathan wasn't at the End of the World party, but if anyone could have just paid off the bartender or someone to do it, it's him. And, I don't know, maybe he's just covering for someone else with these threats, but like . . . pig's blood?" She mock shivered. "That's so fucked. He's at least a willing participant . . ."
As Juliet finally seemed to pick up on the distant look in Taylor's eyes, she said, "Or, I don't know. Maybe I'm totally off base. Maybe Nathan's just a complete bastard in a whole different way and the drugs are just him making money and not asking any questions. But I think I'm right about this."
Slowly, stiffly, Taylor nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I think you are, too."
And that was some of the worst news Taylor had gotten recently (high bar that might be), but it wasn't what was holding her attention.
What the fuck are you?
Nathan had seen something he couldn't explain. He was scared. Taylor's rape kit hadn't turned up anything - she'd been drugged, she'd been taped up, but she had no evidence that anything else happened. Maybe somebody stopped Nathan before he could do anything. Maybe he hadn't been the one to dump her back in the dorms at all.
Taylor got the feeling that if she could just find the recipient for these texts, she would have found her next witch, or maybe even the Guardian of Time that the Raven had mentioned. Whoever they were, Taylor was convinced they were an ally, and she needed to find them.
"How are you doing?"
Dana's question brought Taylor back into reality. They were sequestered in the alley between the pool and the main school building that students and security alike went to to smoke. The habitual rhythm of smoking had helped Taylor feel in her body again after spending most of the lunch period dissociating.
Taylor pondered that for a moment. Introspection wasn't really picking anything up (she just felt empty inside), so she took her best guess based on the situation.
"I'm a little overwhelmed, to be honest."
Dana snorted, rolling her eyes while Taylor took another drag of her cigarette.
"Yeah, no kidding," Dana replied. She paused, then said, "How have things been . . . other than this? How are things with Rachel?"
That got a smile out of Taylor. "Really good, actually," she said before putting the cigarette in her mouth. Dana looked at her expectantly as she exhaled, and Taylor realized with a laugh that they were veering into gossip. Which was good, because gossip had basically been the sole foundation of their relationship prior to Taylor being a massive douche.
"Hmm," Taylor hummed, trying to think of the juiciest bits. "So we kissed like, a lot last night. Like last night easily . . . doubled the amount of kissing I've done in my life." That was actually false - Taylor had made out with someone precisely one time and for no longer than 3 minutes, so last night had been more like 10 times that. But that just sounded excessive.
Dana looked elated. "Oh my god - what happened? When did this even happen?"
The sheer possibility of having a girl friend who was so excited about this brought her own excitement back.
"Uh, like, right after you and Juliet left the locker room, for one."
The scandal and delight on Dana's face made Taylor laugh, but she continued, "And, um. She's the one who came and got me last night after I hung up. So we kissed a bunch then . . . and when we got back to school, we kind of made out in the quad for a while and . . ." the memory of Rachel holding her and moaning made it hard to keep talking (or thinking, or breathing).
Taylor was sure she'd chicken out about the rest, but Dana goaded her, "And?!"
Taylor flushed, but she knew she couldn't stop - who else could she possibly tell? "And, she, uh. Asked me if I wanted to have sex?"
"Aaahhhhh!" Dana screamed while Taylor did her best to shush her, but quickly gave up to laugh.
Taylor hid her face behind her hand in shame and said, "I mean, I said no, but like . . . that was, like, a lot."
"Uh, yeah." Dana got a short-lived, scheming grin before cutting to - "Wait, you guys weren't even sure if you were dating yesterday, and now . . .?"
"And we're totally dating," Taylor replied with a grin.
"Damn, girl. I'm proud of you."
Dana raised a hand and the two of them high-fived. Dana's energy was infectious.
"Thank you, thank you. How are things with you and Trevor?"
To Taylor's surprise, Dana's excitement took a steep dive. She shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Oh, you know. We hang out, we do drugs, we have sex. It's, you know, it's good."
Taylor made an even bigger shrug and said, "I mean I super don't know, but that sounds nice?" There was hesitation in her voice to match the hesitation on Dana's face. She continued, "It is nice, isn't it?"
Dana nodded emphatically. "Yeah, no, Trevor is great. He's super sweet and kind of doofy, but not like, in a bad way?" Beat. "This thing with you and Rachel is just so exciting, you know? I'm happy for both of you."
Taylor was getting an inkling that something more was going on here. "Yeah, totally. I literally never thought this was like, an option."
"I get what you mean," Dana replied.
Taylor mocked offense, but Dana just waved it off, "No, no, not like that. Like, Rachel's so cool I wanna be gay sometimes."
Holy shit.
Taylor's eyes opened wide as she finished off her cigarette, trying to think of a response to that.
"Uh, what do you mean by that?"
Dana rolled her eyes, leaning back against the pool building wall while Taylor crushed her cigarette butt underfoot. "Like, sometimes I'm kind of jealous of bi girls, because they get to like girls and guys. And girls are just so pretty and nice and they compliment you on stuff boys never even notice. Like if I liked girls, I think Rachel might be my type, you know?"
Oh I know . . . because I'm gay.
Taylor hoped that nothing running through her mind was running across her face (it was). She wanted to give that little nudge, that reminder that straight girls don't typically think that way about other girls, that having a type and specific crushes is just sort of what being gay is like. But Taylor had tried that so many times with Victoria, and she knew it wasn't going to get her anywhere. It's not like Taylor knew what it was like to be bi.
Still, Taylor silently filed this new information away.
Once classes were over and people were back at the dorms, Taylor decided it was time to take a direct approach to finding her new witch. She'd never intended to proselytize before, but as soon as she started knocking on dorm doors, that was exactly what she felt like she was doing.
After about a solid minute of knocking, Max didn't come to the door, so Taylor moved on to Alyssa's room. She, at least, was quick to open the door.
"Yeah?" Alyssa asked, immediately suspicious.
That's fair.
Taylor put on her best cheerful smile, and then remembered that she wasn't trying to sell something, she was trying to ask people about something frightening. The smile turned into a grimace as Taylor said, "Uh, hey Alyssa. I've got kind of a weird question but it's also like, really important."
Alyssa just blinked, slow to respond. Then she said, "Okay, sure, what's up?
"Um," Taylor started. She leaned closer and said in her soft, flat voice, "Have you gotten any . . . threatening text messages lately? Especially any from an unknown number calling you a feminazi, maybe?"
"Uh, no." Alyssa showed exaggerated disgust. "Why, is some 4chan board spamming people's phones?"
"No, it's . . ." Taylor slowed, then shut up all together. "It's not that," she finished.
Alyssa shrugged, "Okay."
"Yep, thanks. Take care."
"Sure, whatever."
Next was Kate Marsh. They'd never actually talked after the first week of school this year, thanks to how quickly she drew Victoria's ire for becoming Jefferson's assistant. She couldn't quite put her finger on what personally annoyed her about Kate so much, but she knew Kate got on her nerves before Victoria started to complain about her.
Kate opened the door the second time Taylor knocked, but she didn't open it all the way - she remained hidden behind most of it with her head peaking out until she recognized Taylor, then opened the door all the way.
"Hi Taylor," Kate said with a tiny wave. She looked . . . worse than normal. Classes had ended barely an hour ago but she was already in a dingy t-shirt and sweats like she had no intention of going outside again. Her bedroom didn't seem to be in much of a better state - the lights were off and the blinds were drawn. The only thing that told Taylor that Kate wasn't just sleeping until tomorrow morning was that she still had her eye makeup on.
Taylor snapped out of her inspection and said, "Ah, yeah, hi Kate. I just wanted to ask you something if that's okay."
Kate's hand wasn't leaving the door knob. She nodded, "Yeah, what's up?"
Taylor sighed, hesitating. She felt like Kate would take this question a lot differently than other people. "Have you gotten any threatening texts from an unknown number recently? Like the past week or month?"
Kate's eyes went wide, and she glanced down towards the floor for the briefest second as she thought.
Then she looked up and said, "Uh, n-no, nothing like that." She paused for a second and her brow furrowed. "Why?, did you get messages like that?"
That was a reasonable question to ask, but Taylor was unprepared for it. "Uh . . . no . . ." she said, stalling for an excuse. "I just . . . a friend did. Stuff like 'I know where you sleep' and calling her a 'Feminazi.'"
Now Kate was just concerned. "Oh, that's really scary, I'm sorry." She paused again, but before Taylor could work out a way to dismiss herself, Kate said, "If your friend needs help or anything, I could try and help."
Typical. Taylor knew she did work for charity but she hadn't known Kate was so charitable. A childhood as a Mormon sort of highlighted there being a distinction, but maybe Kate was just like that.
Still, Kate didn't look like she was in any condition to be helping somebody, nevermind with something like this.
Taylor shook her head. "Nah, it's okay, we'll handle it. Could you just do me like, a small favor?"
Kate finally took her hand off the door knob and relaxed a little - although she still wrapped her arms around her body as if she were cold.
"Shoot," she said.
Taylor said, "Well, like, if you hear anything from a friend that something like that happened to them, would you please let me know? I know my friend wasn't the only one, and I want to make sure anyone else getting . . . harassed . . . is okay."
Kate nodded. "Yeah, totally, of course." She paused, but Taylor was getting used to giving her a few seconds to say what she wanted to say.
Kate said, "It's good, the thing you're doing. Looking after . . . your friend, and making sure other people are okay." Kate looked Taylor in the eye and said, more confident than normal, "It's good for girls to look out for other girls."
It was intended as a compliment, but as Taylor put on her abashed smile she felt the sting of shame. "Yeah, you're right," Taylor said.
After an awkward moment, Kate said, "Okay, then, see you," and backed up into her room.
"Yeah, see you," Taylor said, turning to go. But the shame was growing in her quick, and for once she listened to it.
"Wait," Taylor said, pivoting back.
Kate looked at her through a sliver of open door, then opened it again. "Yeah?"
"Kate," Taylor said, shoving her hands into her pockets, "have I been mean to you since you got here?"
Kate scratched the back of her head. Taylor hated the sure knowledge she had that she was shallow, but Kate out of her starched clothes and with her fluffy hair down was a lot cuter and a lot easier to be nice to. Good GirlKate put people on edge, but Depressed Swamp WitchKate looked too much like a kid for Taylor to work up her usual spite.
"What do you mean?" Kate asked.
She's trying to be polite. Of course she is.
Taylor swallowed nervously and asked, "I mean, have I been a bitch to you, made your feel like a freak, or like you're not welcome? Does me being here make this school . . . worse for you?"
Kate looked Taylor over slowly, like she was trying to see if Taylor was sincere or not. Taylor tried to keep some amount of warmth in her expression, but the way Kate looked at her felt like the exact opposite of when Rachel did the same thing - it was like Taylor could feel a cold unease creep through her whole body.
Finally she said, "Yeah."
The sting grew into a stab, and Taylor felt tears coming to her eyes immediately, but she bit them back. She knew she had no right to get upset. Her fingernails (what's left of them) dug into her palm as she enforced her will over her own body.
"I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was as weak as that apology.
Kate blinked as she thought for a few seconds, then said, "It's cool."
"It's not," Taylor protested.
Kate shrugged. "I know. But . . ."
Taylor peered into Kate's dark room as best she could. The darkness, the underwear on the floor, the muffin wrappers from the dining commons, the faraway look in Kate's eyes every time they weren't making purposeful eye contact. Dana and Victoria looking out for Taylor were probably the only reasons Taylor was getting through this. Who did Kate have (who wasn't a demon part-time)?
It's good for girls to look out for other girls. It's good for girls to look out for other girls. It's good for-
Taylor took a deep breath and said, "I fucked up. Not as in I made a mistake, but that I did something wrong."
Kate stood up a little straighter while Taylor talked, though her arms stayed wrapped around herself.
"So, in my old church, they taught me that I had to forgive everyone, always, because it wasn't man's place to judge, only god's. And I hated that. I left because I thought you shouldn't forgive people who are unrepentant, who won't try to make up for what they did. I couldn't just forgive, and I couldn't forget, either. So I'm not going to ask you to forgive me for doing all that stuff to you . . . but. If you ever need anything, you can text me."
Slowly, Kate nodded. They sat in silence for a short while, then Kate said, "Bye, Taylor."
"Bye, Kate."
Taylor decided that she had to, at some point, deal with the homework that was piling up as she was spending all her time being stressed and wanting to kiss Rachel again. Once she settled in, she shot a few quick messages to follow-up on the chaos of today.
To Victoria:
Taylor: hey i just wanted to check in and make sure everything's cool with Nathan? have you given him the phone yet?
And to Rachel:
Taylor: hey so i tried to check in with max but I haven't seen her around the dorms. have you seen her / talked to her yet?
But it wasn't until a few hours later than anything came of these questions. At 8:02pm Taylor got a message.
Rachel: hey so i still havent heart back from max.
Rachel: which isnt unusual but im a little worried b/c warren's not in his dorm either
Rachel: and hes not out with brooke, i checked.
Taylor: were they planning on hanging out tonight?
Rachel: idk
A few more minutes passed. Then, at 8:21pm:
Rachel: ok so chloe has no idea where max is either. I think i wanna look for her.
Taylor: are you in your dorm room?
Rachel: ya
Taylor opened the door and walked in. She wanted to be able to take a second and be dazed by how eclectic and busy the whole place is, but she picked up on Rachel's nervous energy as soon as she saw her.
Rachel had her brightly-colored stone in her hand and only cut off pacing because Taylor walked in.
"Do you think you can find her?" Taylor asked.
Rachel nodded. "Yeah. I mean, she's not adventurous, she doesn't like to go new places, especially by herself. Plus, I . . ."
She trailed off, but whatever she was saying seemed crucial. "You what?" Taylor asked.
Rachel hesitated a little longer, closing her eyes and nodding slowly. After a moment, she said, "I have a feeling I know where she is."
"You do? That's perfect."
Rachel didn't look as relieved as Taylor felt. She said, "No, like, it's weird, I'm feeling . . . something. And it's Max, I know it's Max, and I know where she is."
Now Taylor was just confused. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying . . . I think. You know how yesterday you told me you had powers? Like reading people's minds and mind-control?"
Taylor nodded. Rachel nodded back even more vigorously. "So, like, I think this is something I can do. Like, last night, when you left the school I could feel it. I wasn't fast enough to catch up to you but I knew where you were. And now . . . I can feel Max, too."
"That's . . ." nothing came to mind, other than Taylor's continual amazement at what was happening to them. "Shit, that's neat. Where is she?"
Rachel wet her lips nervously, then said, "She's at the pier."
When Rachel had gotten that feeling about Taylor, Taylor had been in trouble. Convenient as this whole 'sense' was, it also made her more scared.
Taylor checked her phone. "We can still catch the last bus there. Let's go. Let's go now."
Rachel nodded, grabbing a sweater. She threw it at Taylor as they walked into the hall.
"You'll get cold," she said, and Taylor couldn't really argue with that.
As the bus stopped at the beach, Taylor hesitated before standing up.
Is she still here?
"She's still here, all right. She comes here to take photographs sometimes, and she's got like no sense of time. She probably won't realize how late it is until they shut off the pier lights."
Once they were out of the bus, they held hands and started power-walking towards the pier. Unfortunately, they were so focused on that that they didn't pay attention to the sound of a truck door opening as soon as they hit the parking lot. There were footsteps immediately behind them before Taylor actually turned to look and see who was there.
She jumped. "Shit!, Nathan, you scared-"
He didn't stop walking towards them. He looked pissed and purposeful, and his eyes were straight on her.
"You bitch," he said, shoving her back against the side of a car. Taylor didn't even get the chance to notice that it was Victoria's.
"You think you can just steal from me? That you can make me look like an idiot?"
"Nathan what are you talking ab-"
Nathan reached up and grabbed her throat. It wasn't really enough to make her choke, but it was enough to tell her he could. "My phone, whore. Keep your mouth shut and give it to me - now."
"I - I don't have-"
Nathan stumbled backward as Rachel pried him off of Taylor effortlessly and shoved him back. "Nathan, get a fucking grip," she said, placing herself between him and Taylor. "And keep your p . . . aws?"
Rachel took a step back as a haze enveloped Nathan, cloaking him in black that moved a second before he did, like it was dragging his body. The shade's burning eyes opened. "You want me to get a grip?" it asked in that terrible voice - low, distorted, scratching like metal. Its hands emerged next, human-like but the fingers were so long and so many and so spidery that they couldn't possibly belong to a person.
Taylor stepped up beside Rachel, pulling her gem from her pocket and holding it close to her chest. Rachel glanced to her side and did the same. The shade grinned, only slivers of flame visible between a mouth that had been sewn shut.
"Nathan?"
Victoria's voice appeared behind them, and the shade vanished in an instant. Nathan turned around to see Victoria and Max enter the parking lot from the pier while Taylor and Rachel tried to hide their gems behind their back, ready to conjure their weapons if they had to.
"Vic?" He asked, surprised and a little angry. "What are you . . . what are you two doing here?"
Max and Victoria both looked as casual as could be, their cameras around their neck, dressed in comfortable clothes (different than what Victoria had been wearing earlier, Taylor recognized). They both look mystified at the scene in front of them.
"It looks like we were just in time. Max could have been ambushed."
We're still gonna have to fight him.
"I know."
Victoria shrugged as she approached, walking towards them as if they would all just form into a circle. You know, like teens do. Instead, Nathan inched his way into her path, blocking her trajectory.
Victoria glanced at Max, then said, "We were talking photography. Max missed kind of a big show, y'know." She paused, then, louder, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Victoria - Max," Rachel said, cautious, afraid, "You should go. You need to go right now."
"What?" Victoria scoffed. "What is this? What's going on?"
Taylor didn't want to clarify. She wanted Victoria to listen, to run, get as far away from Nathan as possible. But there was only one way she could think to do that.
"Nathan drugged me, Victoria, okay? He didn't deal to someone who dosed me, he did it. And I don't think I'm the only one. He threatened me, and he's threatened other girls, too."
Nathan's face was blanched as if his worst fear were coming true.
Victoria picked up on that quickly, looking Nathan over. She said, "Nathan, what is going on? what did you do-"
Victoria cut off to scream as Max cleared the few feet between her and Nathan, gripped his shoulder, and sucker-punched him. He collapsed to the ground immediately, not even catching himself before he hit the asphalt.
Shocked, Taylor asked, "Max, what the . . .?"
She looked down at him and grimaced. "I really don't want to hear him talk."
The cloak of darkness wrapped around Nathan once again, and picked him up off the ground. Taylor didn't know if he was even conscious, but the shade clearly was.
"Idiot boy . . ." it muttered as it stood, hunched over and weak as it looked.
"Nathan, are you okay?" Victoria asked, taking a few steps forward and placing a hand on the shade's shoulders. "Max, you didn't have to-"
The shade swiped Victoria in the chest, sending her flying across the asphalt several feet away. Max reeled, too shocked to respond.
"Now!"
As Rachel and Taylor held the gems in front of their chests, motes of light began to form around them, just as the inky-black mist emerged around their feet. It swirled around them, more and more lights, more and more choking darkness until they could barely see. Then, in a flash of light, they were transformed, their weapons in their hands.
Rachel had her bow drawn before Taylor could even blink. The bolt of light flashed, but the shade was gone the instant it should have made contact.
"What?" Rachel asked in surprise.
The shade re-appeared right in front of them, and before Rachel could react it shoved her back against Victoria's car so hard she just crumpled to the ground.
"Rachel, no!" Taylor shouted. The monster's huge, swiping hands came for her next, but she threw herself to the ground to avoid it. As she willed it, the darkness that surrounded her shaped itself into a scythe over her staff, but by the time she picked herself up and slashed at where the shade had been, it was already gone.
She looked around and found it charging on all fours (which was horrifying, by the way, given that it looked like a person's silhouette given to a sketch artist who lived in an alien society of spider-people) towards Max, who was kneeling over Victoria, trying to help her to her feet. She barely had time to look up before it crashed into her, sending her flying over Victoria's body.
It looked like it was getting ready to pounce when Taylor reached it, hooking the blade of her weapon around the shade's torso(?).
"Don't you fucking touch her," Taylor spat as the thing turned. She saw the swipe coming this time, blocking with the shaft of her staff. It was enough force to make her stumble but not lose her footing, so she just tried to roll with the momentum, swinging the scythe in a giant arc around herself before the point of it dug into the shade's back.
It screamed, stumbling forward. Taylor sidestepped as the thing fell on the opposite side of her, letting her stand between it and Victoria.
"Stop," came a soft voice from behind Taylor. She glanced down and realized that Victoria was still conscious, reaching out for her leg. "Please," she begged, "stop fighting."
Taylor shook her head, letting the scythe dissipate and re-form into a spear. "I can't. I have to do this." She had to finish this thing, and she had to do it now before it got the chance to seriously hurt someone.
The next thing she heard was Victoria beginning to sob, curling up on herself in fetal position.
Just as Taylor tightened her grip on her staff, ready to charge forward, Victoria's voice appeared in her head.
It's too much . . . please. I can't take this anymore, it hurts. It's too much."
A droplet of water hit Taylor's face, startling her. She hadn't even noticed the storm clouds that had formed above them, but suddenly it began to pour rain.
The shade was picking itself back up, the gash in its side that revealed the fire within quickly suturing shut, just like the creature's mouth.
"IT'S TOO MUCH!" Victoria screamed, and the sound was so strong and so blood-curdling that Taylor and the shade alike froze with fear.
Victoria reached out, and in a blinding flash, she changed.
When her sight returned, Taylor found Victoria standing beside her. Her old clothes were gone, replaced with a suit and largely-unbuttoned button-up and plaid slacks that were, frankly, ridiculous. But what really caught Taylor's eye was the saber in Victoria's right hand, with a hilt that looked like it was carved from a dark blue gemstone.
The shade just stood and stared, as if assessing its options looking at the two of them. Behind him, though, Rachel picked herself up off the ground (with great effort), and a new bolt formed on her bow as she started to draw.
As the wind picked up, the Shade's frame wavered, showing small pieces of Nathan underneath, somewhere within the fire.
"Outnumbered," it said, standing up straight. It turned to face Victoria and Taylor and said, "I'll be seein' ya."
The haze shrank, collapsing in on itself, losing all form. For a second, all that appeared to be where Nathan had been was inky-black mass, then it dissipated, leaving nothing behind at all. Not even Nathan.
Taylor ran the distance between her and Rachel, yelling, "Are you okay?!" over the pouring rain.
She took Rachel's hand, and no sooner had they touched than Rachel stumbled, her witch outfit and weapon vanishing and her regular clothes returning.
"D-did you kill it?" Rachel asked, panting, dazed.
Taylor shook her head. "No, no, I just hurt it. It didn't go into my staff, so it's still . . . out there somewhere."
"Um." Although Taylor heard it at a distance, she knew it was Victoria's voice, and she knew it was only in her head. She and Rachel both turned to look. Victoria stood there, sword in hand, staring down at her clothes, the weapon, the shining jewel in her hand. They had found their Warrior.
She yelled, "SO, WHAT THE FUCK?!"
