Page 330 of Castings & Curses

“Now, don’t freak out,” she whispered in Moni’s ear. “But there was a murder on campus last night. Brandy Tanderell. Several people saw Sam with her at the Charms Café. Apparently, they hung out there for an hour or so and then left—together!Thatis why they want to question him!”

Moni turned and gave her a stunned look.

“Well, they are barking up the wrong tree. I got up to pee last night and I’m not sure what time it was but the moon was out and Sam was in bed snoring… And there isno wayhe would hurt anyone!”

“Well, he isn’t charged with anythingyet,” Shady said ominously. “But if you have a family attorney, I would certainly let them know what’s going on... This is serious, Moni! They found her nude, and ravaged somehow. I haven’t heard any details and my buddy, Dan, who is apprenticing in the Magical Magic wing, said that in spite of the cold the stretcher they brought her in on was soaked with her blood. Did you get to talk to Sam about his date with her?”

“No, we were both asleep and got rudely awakened,” Moni huffed, slouching down in her seat. “But I get a really bad feeling about this!”

At that moment Broody and Luca, both flushed and breathless, arrived at Campus Security.

Moni was so glad to see them that when she stood up and they both put their arms around her, she forgot that she was mad at them and let them hold her.

CHAPTER EIGHT-ORDEAL

“Well at leastthey didn’t arrest you,” Moni said wearily, hanging her jacket up after they got back to Sam’s room. “We have to be grateful for that. And I talked to our family lawyer. You will need to meet with him. He is coming to campus tomorrow to meet with you at nine am sharp, and of course, I want to be there.”

Sam muttered a response and Moni thought that his voice sounded muffled as though he’d been crying. She felt terrible for him.

He was facing into his closet, changing his clothes, and he had just slid the flannel shirt he’d been wearing off, letting it drop to the floor and was reaching for a clean shirt. Under his flannel shirt, he’d been wearing he had on a ‘wife beater’ t-shirt, and she began to notice something strange as she came up behind him.

All along the centerline of his back she could see a row of what appeared to be spines, poking up from under the thin material of the tee.

She blinked, unable to make any sense of what she was seeing.

“Sam?” she asked tentatively, her midsection growing tight as an unfamiliar sense of dread seemed to expand outward from her gut, and again,

“Sam?”

But he didn’t immediately turn around to face her, and the voice that came drifting back toward her sounded like a garbled version of her brother’s voice.

“I’m sorry about that,” the voice announced. “I fear the proverbialjig is up, as the saying goes… And that stupid girl, Brandy Tanderall, I killed her because she wouldn’t let me have my way with her… But that’s neither here nor there, because now that I’ve outed myself I’m afraid we have to leave ahead of schedule. The downside is that your friends will wonder whatever happened to you. The upside is, you will actually get to see yourrealbrother again!”

The thing that had pretended to be Sam turned so that Moni could at last look up into its face. TheSampart of its features appeared to be melting away, revealing reptilian skin and yellowish parietal eyes.

Moni felt as though she were two people, one that was shocked shitless and immobilized, but one who was thinking fast. She decided that the best thing to do was to play along, even if going with the creature meant that she would be placing herself beyond the reach of all help.

Shady had shown her a few new magic tricks but would they be enough to save both herself and, hopefully, her twin Sam? She had no answers but said, “Take me to my brother. You owe me that much, whoever,whatever, you are!”

“I thought you’d see it my way,” the thing said, hissing slightly after each word it delivered. I believe I can open a portal right here, using the mirror in your wardrobe! Next stop…Ingolstadt Bavaria!”

* * *

The swift journeythrough the portal took Moni’s breath away, but to be fair, it was the first time she had traveled in a portal. Just as she thought she would black out from lack of air, she found herself in a corridor not dissimilar to the corridors at Pitchfork Prep, with high arched ceilings and lit dimly with arched windows letting in the pale grayish light of an overcast day. There were also torches lit along the walls, electric ones.

“I thought I’d stop just outside his chambers so that you could gather yourself,” the creature remarked. By that time, it bore no resemblance to her brother other than a few fronds of blond hair that were stubbornly still attached to its lizard-like head. It was also at least eight feet tall. And as she followed it, she noticed it had a tail that whipped along behind it.

The creature knocked once and then stuck its head inside.

“I have a surprise for you,” it announced, hissing over its words and sounding happy. “You’d never guess it!”

Moni heard the sound of someone jumping up from behind a desk and striding over to the door that was only cracked open a few inches. As soon as the door swung all the way open, she knew that she was, at long last, looking into the eyes of her own twin, Sam.

Nothing had ever felt as good as his embrace. It was like the first time she thought she had been reunited with him, only better because it was the real thing.

“They said they were going to bring you here, but I didn’t believe it,” Sam said smiling the crooked and adorable smile that Moni remembered from their childhood. Stand back and let me look at you! Why are you so short? Are you sure you’re mytwin?”

“Why are you sotall, Dude?” Moni countered. Then, remembering where she was, she nodded over at the creature that was still standing by the door.

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