Page 28 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

I’d explored the library and some of its contents shortly after we’d moved in our sophomore year. The occult books had been something I’d purposely stayed far from and went out of my way to discourage others from getting into. The early editions of classics had caught my attention, as well as the ones about history. I was about to graduate with a degree in classic literature with an emphasis on Gothic literature. I thought the choice of majors would be ironic. Since I was the only one who got the joke, it didn’t go as planned.

But I was sort of shocked Krissy even realized there was a library in the house, seeing as how she did nothing but complain about her reading load with classes and usually went from the kitchen to the basement, where we’d set up a makeshift workout room, to her bedroom on the third floor.

Emily carried the book over toward Krissy. “Here. We say this.”

“When are Willa and Mina going to be back?” asked Krissy as she took the book.

Stevie glanced up from petting Torid. “Willa has a date tonight, and Mina has a study group after her class tonight.”

“They’re smart. We shouldn’t be here either,” I said, really wishing I’d have left when Willa and Mina had. The twins, easy enough to tell apart by the fact Willa had a forelock streak of white hair that cut through the dark, had made a brief appearance earlier and then hightailed it out of the house. I was damn close to going upstairs and seeing if Jessica wanted to go for a walk with Torid and me. Anything to get out of the house before Krissy and the others launched into their “fun” times. My inner alarms were going off like someone had just broken in and the police needed to be called.

“What about Snow and Scarlett?” asked Krissy.

Stevie replied, “Snow has that lab tonight for extra credit, remember? And Scarlett went to visit her grandmother. She’ll be back later tonight. For now, it’s just us.”

“You all suck,” said Krissy with a grunt.

“We’ll have plenty of people to do this, especially when we make Astria join in,” said Emily.

I let out a very long, very annoyed groan.

“You aren’t going to win this one,” said Stevie with a shake of her head, looking up at the ceiling. “Jessica! Get your butt down here. If I have to do this, so do you.”

Emily laughed. “I’ll get her. She probably can’t hear over all the Nickelback she keeps playing.”

It was true. Jessica had been on a rather long kick with the band. I almost wished she’d go back to the Third Eye Blind one she’d been on for a solid two years. Not that I had anything against Nickelback; I was just tired of hearing the same songs over and over again.

There was a loud bang from above, followed by the sound of footsteps running on the stairs. A tall redhead appeared in the dining room. “I’m positive I don’t want to know what is going on here. I saw the bag of stuff before and figured it was something dumb. Looks like I was right.”

Stevie nodded to her. “Krissy and Emily want to play spooky games and have their version of a sleepover.”

“They do realize we all live here, so the lure of a sleepover is sort of nonexistent,” said Jessica.

Stevie laughed. “You try explaining it to them. Who was on the phone?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Prank call. Whoever it was tried to sound like some kind of demon. Threatened to steal our souls if we didn’t free it.”

Torid’s head jerked in my direction.

I didn’t need to hear his thoughts to know he was worried about what Jessica had said. So was I. “Jessica,” I pushed. “What do you mean? What, exactly, did the caller say?”

She shrugged as she came to the edge of the candle circle on the floor. “I don’t remember his exact words. Just that he threw his voice to sound as creepy as possible and told me he’d steal our souls if we didn’t release him—oh and when I laughed at him and told him to go screw himself, he said he’d be starting with my soul first.”

“Before the prank caller gets around to stealing your soul, get in the circle,” said Emily. “We’re going to start this game by trying to lift you.”

Jessica stepped into the circle of candles rather reluctantly. She lay down and glanced at Krissy for guidance.

“No,” I said quickly. “This is a bad idea. I don’t think the phone call was a prank.”

They all glanced at me as if waiting for me to laugh and tell them I was kidding. When I didn’t, Emily quirked a brow.

“Right. The devil got bored and decided to give us a ring?” she asked. “Krissy, let’s get started before Astria gets even crazier.”

“Jessica, put your hands over your chest, like you’re in a coffin resting.” Krissy exited the circle and stood by Emily, reading the passages in the book about the game. “This is even creepier than I thought.”

Stevie groaned and got up, patting Torid as she did. “Where do you want me?”

“Stevie, no,” I protested.

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