Pure: Ignis Part 13

I felt eyes on me, and I glanced around. Irina was following behind us, glaring at both of us.

I turned back to Bryony. "You can tell me anything you want."

A faint blush crept up Bryony's cheek, and she bit her lip. "It's a little strange."

"That's okay," I said. "I've gotten used to strange things."

Bryony hesitated for a moment, and then plunged ahead in her quiet voice. "My grandmother lives in the Old Grove. She has a ghost in her house. I know you heard me say so once in cla.s.s."

Bryony glanced at me, and I nodded.

She continued. "My grandmother told me the ghost has a message for you. She-the ghost that is-she's worried about you and wants you to be careful."

I was startled. "The ghost has a message for me?"

"Yes."

"What's the message?" I asked.

"The ghost said, 'Don't let him sing to her.'"

"'Don't let him sing to her'? 'Her' meaning me?"

"That's right," Bryony said.

"Who is 'he'?" I asked.

Bryony looked rueful. "I don't know that-I'm sorry. My grandmother said ghosts aren't very good communicators. But she also said that if they make an effort to contact you that it's important to listen."

"And you're sure the 'her' the ghost mentioned was me?"

"Yes. My grandmother has saved every issue of the Elspeth's Grove Gazette she's ever received-she has decades and decades' worth of newspapers. She said the ghost flipped through her newspapers till she came to that story they ran about the three of you who were held captive by Mr. Hightower in Russia. The ghost stopped on a picture of you."

The image that rose up in my mind at Bryony's words made me s.h.i.+ver.

"Was that the entire message?" I asked.

"Yes."

I was stunned by Bryony's news-but I didn't doubt her. I knew that Bryony was sincere-she certainly wasn't playing a trick on me. And having a ghost send me a message was no odder than any of the other supernatural things that had happened to me in the last few months.

"Thanks for telling me, Bryony," I said, feeling more than a little light-headed.

"You don't think I'm crazy?" Bryony asked.

"No-I don't think you're crazy. I appreciate your giving me the message. Please tell your grandmother thanks too. I'll try to be careful."

Bryony gave me another shy smile and moved off into the crowd.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see Irina walking just behind me.

"Stay away from my friend," she hissed, her dark eyes flas.h.i.+ng.

She stormed off, and I walked to homeroom, scanning the crowd. I didn't have time to dwell on the fact that Irina had found a new reason to be angry with me. I had to keep an eye out for William. As usual, I had no idea when he would appear.

I didn't see William on the way to homeroom, and I didn't see him on the way to first-period Social Studies. For the most part, I listened attentively to the lecture and took notes. But I couldn't help thinking back to Bryony's ghostly message.

Who could 'he' be? Did the ghost mean Anton or Innokenti?

Was one of them going to lure me back to Russia?

I wondered if William knew about the ghost. Since he lived in the Old Grove now, too, maybe they had run across each other.

I didn't see William on the way to second-period English, either, and though I knew there was plenty of time left in the day, I began to feel uneasy. I really hoped I would see him before lunch.

In English cla.s.s, however, I was met by an unusual sight-Branden was the only one in the cla.s.sroom, apart from the teacher, Mrs. Swinburne, and he was standing by my desk.

"Katie, where is she?" Branden whispered as I walked up to him. He shot a glance over at Mrs. Swinburne-Branden was not her favorite student, and she had given him quite a few detentions-often for reasons that seemed to bewilder him. I wasn't surprised that he didn't want her to overhear him.

"You mean Charisse, right?" I asked.

"Of course I mean Charisse. I've called and texted her about a million times, but she doesn't answer. I called her mom, too, and got through to her once. She doesn't know where Charisse is, and she doesn't seem to care. I've called her again and again, but she doesn't answer now, either. Katie, what kind of mother stops answering her phone when her daughter is missing?"

Branden's voice had risen hoa.r.s.ely, and Mrs. Swinburne shot us a disapproving glance.

Branden lowered his voice again. "I have half a mind to skip cla.s.s and go looking for her."

"Branden, I don't know where Charisse is," I whispered. "And I agree that it's strange about her mother, but I don't think we should panic yet. I'm sure Charisse would call you if anything were wrong."

"If she was able to call me, you mean," Branden interjected fiercely.

"Maybe Charisse had a doctor's appointment this morning, and her mom just didn't want to tell you about it."

"Charisse always tells me about those things," Branden replied. "Sometimes in agonizing detail."

"Just give it some time," I said. "You know I care about Charisse, too, and I think things are a little tough for her now that her mom has started dating again. Maybe she just needed to be alone-maybe she even went to talk to the school counselor."

Branden looked at me sharply. "Why did you bring up her mom's dating? Do you think that Joshua guy has something to do with this?"

"No, I-"

Branden interrupted. "And you said he was at her house yesterday?"

"Yes, but-"

His hands were resting on the straps of his backpack, and they tightened involuntarily. "That's it. It's that guy. This is all his fault. Charisse is gone because of him."

"You think she ran off?" I asked, looking around. The room was filling up with students, and I was glad that their talking was masking our conversation. Branden was growing more and more agitated, and I was glad that no one seemed to have noticed. "I thought about that, too, but I can't believe that she would ever leave you."

Branden was grim. "She didn't leave me. Not voluntarily. Joshua's behind this."

"What are you saying, Branden?"

"I'm saying that Joshua's going to be sorry."

Branden started to move away, and I held out a hand to stop him.

"Branden, wait. Don't do anything that's going to get you in trouble. Don't leave school. Just give it till the end of the day. Charisse may still show up."

Branden gave me a mirthless smile. "I'm not going anywhere yet. I have to plan out what to do first. After all, I have to find out where Joshua lives."

Branden turned away and went to his seat. The cla.s.sroom was full now, and I sat down at my desk as the bell rang. I turned in my seat to steal a glance at Branden. He had his head down, and his hair fell over his face, s.h.i.+elding his eyes. He was working busily on his phone. Branden was typically not someone who thought things through before he did them-the fact that he was planning now made me nervous.

My uneasiness continued to grow throughout the day, and it wasn't made any better by the fact that I still had not seen William by lunchtime.

But I told myself not to worry-that William would probably be waiting for me as soon as lunch was over. I'd seen him yesterday after lunch, so there was no reason for me to be anxious.

In the cafeteria, I found Simon sitting at a table by himself-and Branden was nowhere to be seen. I had a sinking feeling as we both started on our lunch.

Simon was unusually quiet.

"So, I'm guessing Charisse hasn't shown up, and Branden still doesn't know where she is," I said.

Simon nodded.

"Where's Branden?" I asked.

Simon gave me a small smile-without looking at me-and kept eating.

"Simon, I know you heard my question," I said. "Where is he?"

Simon remained silent.

"Branden can get in a lot of trouble by skipping school," I said.

Simon shrugged. "You could get into a lot of trouble by hanging out with a drifter, but that doesn't seem to be stopping you."

My first instinct was to defend William, but I checked it-I knew it wouldn't do any good. Pleading William's case to Simon hadn't produced any effect on him so far-he seemed to be determined to believe terrible things.

"Is Branden going to call you and let you know what he finds out?" I asked.

"Maybe," Simon replied.

"Simon, Charisse and Branden are my friends too, and I want them to be okay. It's not like I'm going to tell on them."

Simon gave me a rueful smile and actually looked at me for the first time since I had sat down.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "I really don't know if Branden is going to call. We didn't talk about that. Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. I guess it depends on what happens. Maybe he'll call the police instead."

I figured that that was as close as I was going to get to an admission that Branden had skipped the rest of the school day to look for Charisse. The truth was that I was starting to get worried myself. It wasn't like Charisse not to keep in touch with both Branden and me, even when she was sick. And though I had texted her several times, I had received nothing from her in return.

Branden's insistence that something was wrong worried me too. He wasn't easily upset, and he certainly wasn't overly emotional. I thought back to the story Simon had told me earlier in the day about the second girl who had been attacked in the Old Grove. Charisse had been angry yesterday-had she driven around, too angry to go home, and decided to stop somewhere and go for a walk? Could Charisse have gone to the Old Grove herself or to some other place that Anton and Innokenti were haunting? I pushed the thought away-it was too horrible to contemplate. But I decided I would go over to Charisse's house after school. I had to be sure she was all right.

When lunch was over, and Simon and I parted ways in the hall, I drew apart from the crowd to wait for William. I watched the faces that pa.s.sed me anxiously, and the minutes ticked by. Eventually the warning bell rang.

William did not appear.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by, and there was no sign of William. Before I knew it, the final bell rang, and I was headed out of the school along with everyone else. I lingered in the schoolyard, hoping that William would appear at the last minute. But as I watched, the crowd of students slowly thinned out, till there was only me and a handful of others. A strange sense of abandonment welled up within me.

William had not come.

The weather was very cold, so I figured I had better start walking. Charisse's house was in the opposite direction from mine, but it was only about a fifteen minute walk from the school. I started off slowly, looking back over my shoulder every few moments to see if William had suddenly shown up in the schoolyard. He did not appear.

I forced myself to walk more quickly-I was anxious to see Charisse to make sure that she was okay. I told myself that it really wasn't so terrible that William hadn't shown up-he'd probably had something important to do. There were, after all, two vampires in town.

But, at the same time, William always did what he said he would do-and he'd never failed to meet me before. I tried again to convince myself that his absence didn't mean anything, but my uneasiness kept growing.

I had a feeling something wasn't right.

I pushed myself to move faster, and eventually I broke into a run. By the time I reached Charisse's house, I was actually pretty warm, and the exertion had made me feel a little less anxious. I saw with relief that Charisse's car was parked in the street just in front of the house. So Charisse was home. Maybe she'd been sick and just hadn't felt well enough to answer the phone.

I walked up to the house and pulled the screen door open. I was just raising my hand to knock on the wooden door behind it when I realized that the door was already open. I pushed on it gingerly, and it swung open a few more inches.

"Charisse?" I said. "Mrs. Graebel?"

There was no answer, and I nudged the door open a little more and peered inside. The small foyer was empty. I could see into the living room and dining room-both were dark and unoccupied. The house had a profoundly still feeling, as if no one were home. I glanced back at Charisse's car. Surely she was home if her car was. Of course, I couldn't see into the garage, so maybe Charisse had been driven somewhere by her mother. I figured I should lock the door properly and then pull it shut.

I stepped inside and turned the lock on the doork.n.o.b.

"Katie," came a soft whisper.

I looked up. The sound seemed to have come from a darkened hall off the foyer.

I'd just decided that I'd imagined the sound when the whisper came again.

"Katie."

This time I was sure-the sound had definitely come from the darkened hall.

"Charisse?" I said.

"Katie, help me," said the whisper.

I hurried forward and switched on the light in the hall. The hall was empty, and several dark doorways opened off of it on either side.

"Katie," said the whisper again.

I walked down the hallway, glancing into each one of the doorways. "Charisse, where are you?"