Chapter Thirteen
The tears had not stopped. Jess sat at the foot of her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, moonlight casting a silver glow across the room. She had never felt so alone. Who could she talk to about this? Who would understand what she was going through? Dora had been dismissive when Jess had tried to talk to her about it. The only other person who knew what was going on was Diandra. Jess knew what Diandra's advice would be. Her aunt would tell her to explore her feelings, to get in touch with her past.
That was the last thing Jess wanted to do. If it hurt this much when she only knew a few things about what had happened in her past life, how would she feel if she knew everything? There was no way she could have any sort of friendship with Luke, no way that the two of them could make a connection. If they did, what would happen?
Jess lay a tear stained cheek against her knees .When she thought about it rationally, she realised that she couldn't carry on ignoring Luke, running around the nearest corner whenever she saw him at school, hiding behind cars, rushing out of lessons the second the bell rang. It wasn't fair on either of them.
Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to rule out acknowledging the truth, Jess thought. There's no reason I can't just admit to Luke that I remember that I was a part of his past, and leave it at that. Then there will be no more secrets and no harm done.
That was what had been driving her so crazy. The secrets. Having it all bottled up and hidden away made her feel terrible. So terrible that it was overshadowing everything else in her life. What was worse was that Caleb didn't know the first thing about any of this. He was usually the first person she shared her secrets with. Why had she been so reluctant to tell him this time?
Jess thought back to the first day she'd met Luke and the answer arose instantly. It was because she had been attracted to him. At the time she'd dismissed it as a meaningless little crush that would go away if she ignored it. Allowing herself to admit that it could be more than that was not an option. The prospect of sharing any of this with Caleb brought on a wave of anxiety. That was why she hadn't told him.
Caleb was no fool. Maybe he hadn't realised exactly what was going on, but he knew something was wrong. Jess knew he was just biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment. Once it arrived he would ask Jess what was going on with her, and knowing Caleb the way she did she knew he wouldn't settle for anything less than one hundred percent honesty - the total unabridged version of whatever it was that had her acting so strange.
It was time to tell him. Jess gave a weary sigh and leaned against the bed. She had to do it tonight. If she left it until tomorrow she'd find a thousand reasons not to. It was best to do it now while her resolve was strong and fresh. Standing up slowly she looked over at the phone. Call him now, she said to herself. Before you change your mind.
Settling down on her bed she reached for the reciever. It felt cold and awkward in her hand, but Jess pushed back her uncertainty and dialled his number. It rang three times before he answered.
'Hello?'
'Caleb, it's me.' Her voice was small and weak.
'Jess? Have you been crying?' Calebs voice was a mix of caring concern and panic.
'I need you to come over.'
'Now?' he asked. 'What's happened? Are you okay?'
'I'll tell you when you get here. You are coming right?'
'Of course,' he replied. 'But I thought you and Luke were working on your essay tonight. Is here still there?'
'No,' Jess said quietly. 'He left. Can you just come over here now please?'
'Jess your scaring me, you're not hurt are you?'
'No,' Jess replied. 'I just need to talk to you.'
'Give me ten minutes.' They said goodbye and hung up. There was no turning back now. After that telephone call Caleb would be determined to get to the bottom of whatever it was that had upset her.
The sound of the front door slamming startled Jess.
'Jess! Jess! Are you home!' Tally's voice was frantic as she raced up the stairs. Seconds later the bedroom door flew open with enough force to leave a small dent in the wall as it smashed against it. Tally's eyes were wide and wild as she hurried into the room, flinging herself at Jess and grabbing her hands.
'Jess! You have to come with me!' Tally said quickly.
'What?' Jess asked, pulling her hands away from her sister. 'I don't have to go anywhere with you.' The two girls had barely said a word to each other since Tally had admitted to casting the spell on Laila.
'Jess, please!' Tally begged. 'This is really, really serious!' Jess frowned at Tally. Something must have been terribly wrong. Tally never, ever came to Jess asking for help like this, and although Tally hadn't said she needed Jess's help, Jess knew that was what this was about.
'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on.' Jess said, firmly standing her ground.
Tally looked sheepish and a sense of dread filled Jess. Tally never ever looked sheepish. Jess didn't even think her little sister was capable of it.
'It's Laila,' Tally said finally. 'I think something went wrong with the spell. Very, very wrong.'
OOO
Laila lay in the hospital bed unconcious. Every visible inch of her skin was covered in the bloody red blisters, a few were dry and had scabbed over, the rest were bright and angry, seeping a thick clear fluid. But for the shiny blonde hair that pooled around her on the pillow she was unrecognizable. Jess stood a few feet away paralised with horror. Tally was beside her sobbing quietly. Petra was in the corner, a ghostly pale, trembling from head to toe.
'I didn't mean for this to happen,' Tally sobbed, her voice barely a whisper.
'What did you to do to her?' Jess choked back a wave of nasuea as she asked the question. Neither of the girls answered.
'My brother's girlfriend is a nurse at this hospital,' Petra said quietly. 'She was on duty when they brought her in last night. She told Pete about it and he told me. They don't know what's wrong with her.'
'Tell me what you did to her!' Jess shouted angrily. None of them were worried about any of the hospital staff coming in while they were there. The girls would never have been allowed in to see Laila if they had just waltzed in and asked, so Jess had used a mild mind control spell to enable the three of them to come in and remain unnoticed until they left. It was a spell Dora's older sister had taught her years ago. Jess had never used it before and she had never intended to, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
'We mixed a potion,' Tally said wiping away her tears. 'We broke into her room one night while she was asleep, took the amulet you'd made for her and slipped a few drops into a glass of water that was by her bed.'
'What was the potion for?' Jess asked, struggling to keep herself from shaking, partly out of revulsion and partly out of anger.
'It was supposed to bring on the manifestation of the three worst fears of whoever drank it.' Tally whispered. For the second time that night Jess couldn't stop the tears from falling. It was just too much. The knowledge that her little sister, who she loved with all her heart, had done this to someone was just too much. And to know that she had actually intended for Laila to experience the reality of her three worst fears come true? It cut through her heart like a knife. Jess had always known Tally had the tendency to be bad, but this? This was beyond malicious, beyond horrendous. This was truly evil.
'What are we going to do?' Petra asked.
'We need to tell someone what you did,' Jess replied sternly. 'Someone who knows about this kind of magic.'
'Diandra?' Tally asked.
Jess thought for a moment before shaking her head. 'Diandra wouldn't go anywhere near this kind of magic. Even if she does know something about it, I doubt she'd know how to fix this.'
'So who do we go to?' Petra asked.
'Well who did you get the spell off in the first place?' Jess replied.
'A witch I met at The Onyx,' Petra told her. 'But she was from out of town. I don't even know where she is now.'
'And who did you get the potion ingredients from?' Jess asked. 'The same witch?'
Tally shook her head. 'Malachi.'
'Malachi Thorpe!' Jess yelled. 'What were you doing going to a vampire for potion ingredients!'
'They weren't you're average run of the mill ingredients Jess,' Tally replied. 'They were hard to get hold of. Malachi has connections.'
Jess sighed angrily. 'Well if the ingredients needed to cast the spell were hard to get hold of then that means the ingredients to fix this will probably be hard to get our hands on too.'
'So what do we do?' Tally asked.
'First of all... we tell Diandra. I know I said she wouldn't know how to fix this but maybe she knows someone who does.'
'That's it?' Petra asked cynically. 'That's your brilliant plan?'
'You try coming up with a better one!' Jess snapped. 'This is your fault after all!'
'There has to be something else we can do,' Tally said.
'There is,' Jess replied. 'Whoever Malachi got the stuff from must know what it is we're dealing with here. You go and see Diandra and I'll go and find Malachi.'
'On your own?' Petra asked. 'I don't know if that's such a good idea. He's kind of creepy.'
'Why don't you get Caleb to go with you?' Tally suggested.
Caleb! Jess slapped her palm to her forehead. She'd forgotten all about him. She'd asked him to come over and then went running off without it even occuring to her to call him back and tell him what was going on. Jess refocused on the task at hand and shook her head.
'No,' she said. 'We're pretty close to The Onyx. Malachi's probably there right now. I don't want to waste time waiting around for Caleb.
'Thank you for this Jess,' Tally said quietly.
Jess turned to her, eyes narrow and filled with anger. 'I don't want you to thank me Tally. In fact, once this thing is resolved, I don't want you to speak to me ever again.'
