Chapter Eight
Callay in his bed in the apartment he’d had for the past five years, wishing he’d stayed with Deme. Instinct told him she wasn’t safe on that campus, in that dorm, with the craziness infecting people right and left. Someone was playing with them. With all the students and faculty at Colyer-Fenton College. The sooner he found out who, the sooner he could put a stop to it.
In the meantime he lay awake waiting for dawn and the start of another day of investigation.
He must have drifted off because the next thing he knew his alarm clock buzzed. He rolled over and hit snooze, but the alarm kept ringing. Then he realized it wasn’t his alarm but his cell phone.
After fumbling on the nightstand, he found it, flipped it open and answered, “Black.”
“Cal, I need you at the hospital.”
Cal sat up straight, all vestiges of sleep wiped from his mind. “Who?”
“A young man, a college student from Colyer-Fenton, was just brought in comatose.”
“What happened?”
“Attempted suicide.” The lieutenant hesitated. “He might just have succeeded.”
“Has he been ID’d?” Cal balanced the cell phone between his shoulder and his ear while he pulled on his jeans.
“Mike Hubbs.”
“Damn.” The phone slipped from Cal’s ear. He barely caught it before it hit the floor. He jammed it against his ear to hear the lieutenant as he continued.
“I take it you know him,” Marty said.
“Ran into him earlier. He’d attempted to rape his date, Rachel Taylor, on campus.”
“No one turned him in?”
“The girl didn’t want to press charges.”
“I’m not liking this, Cal.” The lieutenant sighed. “Get here, will ya?”
“On my way.” Cal clicked the off button and zipped his jeans, slipping the cell phone into his pocket.
He tugged a black T-shirt over his head and was pulling it down when his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Without looking at the caller ID, he answered, “Black.”
“Cal?”
Deme’s voice brought him to a standstill.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just left Rachel in her room.”
“Funny you should mention her.”
“She’s in bad shape.” Deme didn’t sound in such good shape herself. Her voice was tired.
“Tell me.”
“She’s covered in bite marks.”
“From Mike?”
“Yeah.” She paused. “And Cal?”
“You mean it gets worse?”
“Yeah.” Deme sighed.
Cal’s gut clenched, his hand tightening around the phone.
“I have a few myself.”
Cal’s stomach took a freefall and he sat hard on the bed. “I did that?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t remember doing it.” He shoved a hand through his hair, bile rising in his throat.
“It’s like I said earlier, it wasn’t you.”
“The hell it wasn’t.” He stood, rage flowing through him.
“There’s something else.”
“As if this isn’t bad enough,” he muttered.
“She said it made Mike do it. It made her bite Mike, too. Do me a favor will you?”
“Anything,” he said, feeling like the lowest form of life on the planet.
“Go to the mirror and check yourself.”
He stood and crossed to the mirror over the dresser. “Hold on.” Cal set the phone on the dresser and tore off the shirt he’d just put on. There on his collarbone and again on his right shoulder were teeth marks. He touched them, pain an affirmation of the bruising.
He lifted the phone, his gaze pinned to the marks. “I’ll be damned.”
“You, too, huh?” she asked softly. “I’m sorry, Cal. I don’t know what came over me.”
“Same here.”
Her voice got stronger. “But know this. It wasn’t us. Something else is at work here.”
“You know I don’t believe in all that magic stuff.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “I’d love to blame something or someone else, but I can’t. I did that to you.”
“And I did it to you. Think, Cal,” Deme said, her voice tense. “In our past relationship, we never got that violent. Never.”
“But how could something or someone else cause this?”
“What Rachel said made sense.”
“What is this it she’s talking about?”
“I don’t know. But it’s having an impact on more and more people. We have to find its source.”
“Let’s assume I believe there’s some supernatural force at work here. How do we find it?”
“Again, I don’t know. But I bet it has everything to do with Zoe’s attitude, the attempts at rape…and Aurai’s disappearance.”
“I’m headed to the hospital now.”
“Why?”
“Mike Hubbs was admitted. He attempted suicide last night.”
Deme gasped. “Is he all right?”
“I’ll know more once I swing by. Want to meet me there?”
“No, I get the feeling I’m needed around here. In case something happens. Let me know how it goes.”
“Will do.” He started to hang up and thought again. “Be careful, Deme. Even if you don’t want me in your life, I care.”
“Thanks.” She clicked off.
Silence surrounded him and with it guilt so overwhelming he wanted to throw himself out the window. Is this what had happened to Mike? Was there another being making them act this way?
If so, everything Cal believed to be true and logical teetered on the edge of crashing in around him.
He shoved his feet into his boots and ran out the door. Answers. He needed answers and fast, before someone else got hurt.
* * *
After a thorough look around the dormitory to verify all was quiet and no one wandered the halls, Deme returned to her room.
As soon as she walked through the door, she felt watched, which was ridiculous. No one else was in the room, and being on the second story of the building, no one could be hovering outside her window. Still the feeling persisted, even as she dressed for bed in conservative pajamas.
The skimpy baby-doll nightgown she normally slept in would have to wait for a night she didn’t think she might have to risk running out of the building.
Deme didn’t think she’d fall to sleep as keyed up as she’d been after her talk with Rachel. But as soon as her head hit the pillow, exhaustion claimed her.
Suddenly she was being lifted and spun in the air, her cries being sucked into a vortex along with her body and soul. Dragged down, down, down, she entered a dark world where light barely penetrated and slithery things skittered through the shadows.
“Deme?” a voice called.
“Aurai?” she answered, moving toward the sound, her eyes open but seeing nothing but black. With her hands out in front of her to keep her from bumping into things, she continued moving in the direction she’d first heard her sister’s voice. “Aurai? Where are you?”
“Here,” she said. “I’m right here.”
“But I can’t see you. Come into the light.”
“I can’t. I’m trapped.”
“Where, Aurai? Where are you trapped?”
“I don’t knoooowwww.” Her voice faded into an abyss, swallowed like everything good and bright.
The darkness ebbed around her, undulating like a seductive lover, pressing closer until she backed against a wall. Feathery black tendrils stroked her skin, swirled around her face and into her mouth.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t cry out. Her fingers clawed at her throat trying to dislodge the evil. She had to get out before it consumed her, too.
“Go, Deme! Leave before he takes you, too!” Aurai cried out.
No. Deme didn’t want to leave her sister. She had to get her out with her.
“You can’t. He’s too powerful. Let me go…”
Deme jerked awake, gasping for air, her heart thundering against her chest. She sat up, her gaze darting around the interior of the dorm room, pushing back the panic that threatened to take over.
Light from the hallway edged underneath the doorway.
As the panic receded, tapping increased on the window.
Almost afraid to look, Deme glanced across at the glass and almost screamed.
An image of her sister’s face wavered against the inky blackness of night. Ghostly pale hair whipped in the wind and her eyes rounded in terror.
“Aurai!” Deme leaped from the bed and raced for the window. As she reached for the latch, her sister’s face disappeared and in its place the vines formed a gaping maw, thorns pressing against the window like teeth, slashing at the glass.
Deme jumped back, her hand releasing the clasp, the lock remaining tight. For a long time she stood with her hand pressed to her chest. Then she heard it.
Chanting. Soft at first, rising in waves with the wind. It was coming from outside…in the garden.
Afraid to trust her own senses, and still shaking from her last encounter, Deme leaned toward the window, peering through the choking vines distorting her view.
Below in the open area between the towering pines, a circle of people stood in black robes, candle flames flickering in front of each one.
What the hell? The garden was forbidden. After Aurai had disappeared, Deme would think no one would venture into the deadly paradise.
The floor beneath her feet trembled as if warning of danger.
Dressed in her pajamas, her feet bare, Deme shot out of the room.
* * *
Cal arrived at the hospital in time to catch an ambulance preparing to leave.
“Crazy shift.” A blond EMT shook his head as he closed and latched the outside door at the rear of the ambulance.
Cal paused beside one of the techs and flipped out his badge. “Did you guys deliver a Mike Hubbs here a little while ago?”
“The guy who attempted suicide?” The EMT, perched on the running board, about to climb into the driver’s seat, nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about. Crazy.”
“Who reported it?”
“His roommate found him. The guy slit his wrists and would have bled out if his roommate had gotten in a few minutes later. I think the kid was high on something.”
“Hubbs?”
“Yeah, he was delirious, talking about a beast trying to come out of his chest.”
The EMT at the rear of the vehicle joined them. “Yeah, he kept ripping at his shirt and disturbing the pressure bandages on his wrist. He slipped into a coma before we got to the hospital.”
“Probably just as well. He was losing blood fast and all that jerking around only made it worse.”
“The doc thinks they might save him, though.” The radio inside the truck chirped static, a call going out to a unit.
“That’s us. You need anything else, catch us at the end of our shift. We’ve been hopping tonight. Must be a full moon.”
The EMTs climbed into the ambulance and drove out of the emergency entrance.
Cal looked up at the sky. Clouds obliterated the moon. He entered the hospital, immediately hit by the scent of disinfectant. His first instinct was to turn and leave, hating the sterile environment, the injuries and traumas that passed through the doors, but he had to see Mike for himself.
His hand went to the bite mark on his collarbone. Had Deme really bitten him? He couldn’t remember any of that, only the hot sex and the need to do it again and again.
Even now his jeans tightened, his groin filling, pulsing to life.
As he entered the elevator, he adjusted, chastising himself for his continued lack of control. How could this be happening to him? He respected Deme more than that. Another wave of guilt plagued him, pressing down on him like a heavy weight. If he was a weak man, he’d be tempted to punish himself.
Cal’s breath lodged in his throat, refusing to move any farther. The urge to punish himself grew, and he realized what Mike had felt and why he’d attempted suicide.
The logical side of his brain tried to reason with the side that piled more and more guilt on top of him. By the time the door slid open on the floor where Mike was being kept in ICU, Cal was sagging against the handrail.
“Black?” Marty hurried over from the nurses’ station and helped Cal out of the elevator. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Cal staggered to the counter and leaned on it, breathing hard. “I can’t seem to pull myself out of it.”
“Of what?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know. It’s as though I’m on drugs or something. Everything seems too much to handle. I can’t fight it.” Cal crumpled to the floor, the world going dark.
* * *
“Mr. Black? Cal?” A woman in blue scrubs waved something under his nose.
The pungent smell stung his senses and pulled him back to consciousness. Cal sat up, running a hand through his hair. “What happened?”
“You passed out.” Marty squatted on his other side.
“Passed out?” Cal never passed out. But then he’d done a lot of strange things he never thought he would in the past twenty-four hours. He pushed to his feet.
“Whoa, steady there.” Marty rose beside him, a hand on his elbow.
The nurse had his other arm.
“I’m fine.” He straightened, shaking off their hands. “Really.”
“Still, you should see a doctor.”
“Not necessary. I came to see Mike.”
“Look, we don’t need another patient in ICU. Let us help you.” The nurse grabbed his arm again.
“I said I’m fine.” Cal glared at her until she let go.
“Have it your way, but I’m not picking you up off the floor.”
Cal turned to Marty. “Where’s Hubbs?”
“Second door on the right.”
Cal crossed the corridor and entered the room to find the big undergraduate covered in white, tubes running into his arm and down his throat, his arms wrapped in bandages.
“He’s still in a coma. They’ll try to bring him out in the morning when the doctor makes his rounds. He’s not much help as he is.”
Cal only half listened. He strode to the young man’s bedside, pulled the sheet back and tugged the collar of the hospital gown down.
Just like Deme predicted, the man had bite marks on his chest.
“Human, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Cal responded.
“Know who did it?”
“His girlfriend.”
“Jeez. What’s with kids nowadays?”
“I’m beginning to wonder that myself, but I’m thinking it’s not the kids.”
“Drugs?”
“No.” He pulled the gown up, covering Mike’s chest, and tucked the sheet around him. “Make sure they take good care of him.”
The lieutenant’s brow furrowed. “After what he did to that girl, you care?”
“I don’t think he knew what was happening.”
“Care to explain?”
“Not now.” Cal turned and left the room.
Marty jogged to keep up. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I get the feeling Deme Chattox is in over her head.”
“Well, hell.” Marty stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Keep me informed, Black.”
Cal passed the elevator, opting for the staircase. He took the stairs two at a time, leaping past the last four to land on the street level. He burst into the open, breathing for what felt like the first time in days.
Worry had a way of making your vision sharper, your hearing more penetrating and your focus dead-on. Without a doubt, he knew he needed to get back to the campus. The sooner the better.
* * *
Deme entered through the garden gate. The lock and chain lay on the ground nearby. Who had the key? Who would be stupid enough to let these people in when they could be banned from campus if caught?
Keeping to the shadows of the buildings surrounding the garden, Deme eased closer to the circle. For the first time since she came to Colyer-Fenton, Deme realized the garden was in the shape of a pentagon, a building at each side, one of which was the Gamma Omega dormitory. She recognized the student commons building as another and the administration building as a third. The other two she couldn’t identify but made a mental note to check into it when she got back to her room and could locate them on the campus map.
As she neared the circle, the chanting grew louder. All the voices were pitched high and soft. Girls. Probably the Gamma Omegas doing some hazing ritual.
The robes they wore looked much like the one she’d found in Rachel’s closet—black with a full hood to hide their faces.
When she got close enough, Deme could make out the words, and she gasped. They were calling on the spirit of the dark lord of the underworld.
Deme couldn’t feel power emanating from any one girl, but she knew you didn’t mess with dark spirits, witch or not. Dark magic was unstable, hard to control and even harder to cleanse from your aura once it invaded.
Was that what had happened? Had dark magic invaded this campus, disturbing those who got too close to its center?
One girl stepped forward and pulled back her hood, exposing her face to the candlelight.
Zoe Adams.
She set a blue vial in the center of the ring of candles. With a flick of a match, she lit a sandalwood incense wand and jabbed it into the earth beside the bottle. Then she stood and, instead of lifting her face to the moon as a good witch would, she stared at the ground.
“God of love and beauteous might
Come unto us this moonless night
We cast this circle to ask thy boon
Bless beauty on us, bless us soon
We cast this circle one more time
Upon us let your splendor shine
Lord of Darkness great and wise
Let others see us through your eyes
We cast this circle one two three
We pray you bless us for all who see
So mote it be.”
From a velvet bag tied to her waist, she tossed rose petals around the ring of candles and stepped back to the outer circle of robe-clad girls.
The members who’d obviously done this before bowed their heads and chanted.
“Night cloaks all with beauty
Shadows grow with power
Darkness, we embrace thee.”
They continued chanting, repeating the words over and over until all the girls joined in.
Deme stood transfixed, dread pressing into her chest like an iron fist. These girls played at black magic. Didn’t they understand? Dark spells like this one were dangerous.
Zoe knelt to retrieve the blue vial from the center of the circle and poured a single drop onto her lips. She passed it to the next girl in the circle, who repeated the performance and handed it to the next.
As the vial made its way around the circle, a cry rose up from one of the robe-clad girls. “No! I can’t do this!”
Rachel Taylor collapsed to the ground, her hood flung back, exposing thick brown hair and pale, translucent, smooth skin. Her body shook with the force of her sobs, the earth vibrating beneath Deme’s feet, sharing her sadness and something else.
Deme had to stop this ritual before it went too far. She was afraid she was already too late, but she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
Calling on all the power of the earth she could muster, Deme pressed her bare toes into the grass, feeling the cool earth beneath. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, her concentration nearly shattered by the amount of effort even a breath of air required in this cloistered garden.
“Mother of earth
Goddess of beauty
strength of spirit
I call upon thee
Ancient the stone
stalwart the tree
Your gifts of safe harbor
impart upon thee
Embrace these children
let peace once more reign
Bring moonlight to shadows
and ease to their pain
Mother of earth
Oh, radiant one
With prayers I beseech thee
Let darkness be gone.”
Deme opened her eyes, her prayers echoing in her mind, hope rising inside her as she hid among the shadows. The earth beneath her bare feet quivered. Moonlight peeked out from a cloud, casting light upon the circle of girls.
A tentative smile curled the corners of Deme’s lips. The goddess would shine down on the garden and protect the girls from the dark forces at work here.
The cloud slipped back over the moon, choking out all light but for the candle flames. A dark wisp of air whipped through the clearing, snuffing out every flame, leaving the garden in shadows except for the few lights shining from windows of the buildings surrounding them.
The hooded girls gasped.
“I can’t see,” a voice called out, quavering in the gloom.
“Anyone have a flashlight?”
“I do.” A light flickered on, spreading a narrow ray through the ranks of the girls. The circle collapsed inward, the girls moving closer to one another, gathering around the beam of the flashlight.
“What’s that?” a girl cried out. Then a scream ripped through the air.
The beam of light swerved toward the scream.
The ground parted, roots pushing up from beneath.
Girls screamed and ran in all directions, but the roots tripped them, wrapping around their ankles, bringing them crashing to the earth.
What was happening?
Deme watched in horror as more roots exploded from the ground, grasping at those girls racing for the open gate.
The gate swung shut, trapping all within the garden.
One by one, the girls were dragged to the earth, the roots weaving back and forth over their bodies.
Deme threw herself toward the nearest girl, clawing at the relentless root that twined and circled the girl’s neck. The hood fell back, revealing the pale blond hair and gray eyes of Shelby Cramer. She reached for Deme, her eyes wide, fearful.
“Help me,” she cried, then the root tightened.
Shelby clutched at the root strangling her.
Deme grabbed the root, pulling to free the girl.
Beside her the ground parted and darkness in the form of a bare black vine snaked up, twisting around her legs, dragging her to the ground and away from Shelby.
Deme dug her fingernails into the earth, reaching for the girl, her hand grazing the robe, but not for long.
The earth shook, the ground trembling as more and more roots sprang from below, slithering along the surface, attaching themselves to all those who occupied the garden.
“Deme!” From the second floor of the dormitory, Cal pushed aside the thorn vine blocking Deme’s window and cursed. “Deme!”
Hope filled her chest and made her fight harder at the roots that bound her, dragging her deeper into the earth. “Cal! Help us!”
He disappeared, and with him all hope faded.
The roots around her arms swept up to her neck, cutting off her air. Deme couldn’t draw a breath, the darkness more and more pronounced as her head grew light and fuzzy. Images of Cal flitted across her memories. Why had she run from him? From the potential for happiness. If she lived, she’d tell him how she felt. Please, I have to live. She closed her eyes and prayed, Goddess of the earth, please let me live. The more she prayed, the tighter the roots became, pressing her body into the earth, the dirt parting to let her slip beneath.
“Deme, hold on!” Suddenly Cal appeared wielding a big knife, slashing at the roots clinging to his feet. He cut and hacked his way across the garden until he reached Deme.
In two great swings, he severed the roots pulling Deme deeper into the earth. Air filled her lungs and she sprang to her feet, refusing to give in to the peace of death.
With Cal hacking and Deme pulling, they freed one girl after the next, shoving them through the gate and out of the forbidden garden. Bushes and vines reached for them as they exited the garden, the last to escape.
Cal slammed the gate behind himself and wrapped the chain around, bolting the lock in place.
Deme fell to the ground, breathing hard, her arms and legs laced with scratches and bruises.
“We can’t stay here.” Cal lifted her in his arms and carried her to the edge of the building farthest away from the seething garden.
There he stopped and crushed her to his chest. “Deme.” He buried his face in her neck, his body shaking. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“You and me both.” Her arms wrapped around him and she held him close, tears wetting her cheek and his. “I tried to help them.”
“Shh…it’s okay now.”
“But everything I did made it worse. My spell turned against the girls.” The tears came faster and sobs rose in her throat. “They almost died.”
“Deme.” Cal set her on her feet and gathered her face between his palms. “You almost died.”
“I’m okay, thanks to you.” She pulled away, her gaze panning the yard surrounding the dorm. Not a single girl remained. Only Deme and Cal occupied the area. “Where are the girls?”
“They must have gone in.”
“Let’s check on them. I hate to think they went back into the garden.”
“Surely not.”
“Come on.” She led the way into the dorm and knocked on the first door with a Gamma Omega symbol on it.
A pretty girl with dark brown hair opened it, blinking at the light in the hallway. She yawned. “You’re the new R.A., right? What’s going on?”
“Random check,” Deme said. “Were you outside earlier?”
“I got in from my waitress job around nine. Why?”
Deme shook her head. “No reason. Go back to bed.”
As the brunette closed the door, Deme shot a narrowed glance at Cal. “I swear I saw her out there in one of the robes.”
He nodded. “Did you see the dirt on her bare feet?”
“No, but I’ll be looking next time.” She walked to the next door with the Gamma Omega Greek letters and knocked.
It took longer this time for the girl to answer. When she did, the scratches on her ankles and calves and the dirt on her feet were all too obvious. “What’s happening?”
“Maybe you can tell us.” Deme crossed her arms over her chest. “Were you just in the forbidden garden?”
The girl shook her head, her eyes glassy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been in bed since ten o’clock. Got an exam tomorrow.”
“How do you explain the dirt on your feet and the scratches?” Cal pointed to her feet and ankles.
The girl looked down and blinked, her eyes widening. “What the hell? How did those get there? Oh, my God.” She looked up, tears welling. “I should call the campus nurse.”
Deme frowned. “You don’t remember getting them?”
“No. I swear I’ve been in my room all night. Ask my roommate.”
Another girl lay in bed, completely out, her arm hanging over the edge, displaying cuts and bruises.
“Oh, God, she’s been hurt, as well.” The girl ran to her roommate and shook her. “Wake up, Abby.”
Deme held her breath until the girl stirred and her eyes opened. “Lissa? Whadya want?” she asked, her words slurred.
“What happened to us? Why do we have cuts and bruises?” Tears poured down Lissa’s face and she collapsed on the floor beside her roommate. “I don’t know what happened.”
Deme stepped into the room, pulling Cal in behind her to keep from waking the entire dorm with Lissa’s sobs. “Mind if we look around?”
“No.” Lissa scrubbed the tears from her face and held on to her roommate’s hand. “Please do.” She pulled her knees up under her chin and watched as Deme and Cal checked beneath beds. As Deme opened one closet, Cal opened the other. There hanging inside each were the black robes used in the ceremony.
Deme pulled one out on the hanger. “Do you remember wearing this in the garden earlier?”
Both girls shook their heads. “We only wear those when the Gamma Omegas have a sorority meeting.”
“And you don’t remember having one of those tonight?”
Both girls looked up at Deme, shaking their heads. “No,” they stated in unison.
Lissa climbed up on the bed beside Abby and hugged the girl close. “We’d remember something like that.”
Deme stared hard at both, but her gut told her that these girls thought they were telling the absolute truth. Obviously they didn’t remember being attacked by roots in the garden and almost killed.
“What’s happening?” Abby asked.
“I don’t know.” Deme replaced the robe in the closet even though she wanted to take it out and burn it. “But I’m going to find out. Use a clean washrag and soap to clean your scratches. I’ll bring ointment and bandages by in a few minutes.”
Deme and Cal left the girls, closing the door behind them.
“What do you make of that?”
“You were there. You saw what happened.” Deme faced Cal. “It happened.”
He nodded, stroking his hand down the side of her cheek. “It happened.”
“Right before I cast my spell, they were passing around a blue vial of liquid. Do you think it was a drug?”
“Could be.”
“Then there is one more person I need to talk to.” Deme pushed her dirty pajama sleeves up and marched to the stairwell door.
She climbed the steps two at a time, Cal keeping up with little effort.
Once on the second floor, she aimed for Rachel’s room.
She got only halfway down the hall when Zoe Adams stepped out of her room in front of her. “What’s going on?”
Deme came to a complete stop, her jaw tightening. “Why don’t you tell me.”
“Tell you what? That you’re breaking the rules of the dormitory by bringing a man in after midnight?” Zoe cocked her eyebrows up into the sweep of her blond bangs. “I could have you fired for that.”
Deme didn’t back down. Instead she took another step forward, putting herself toe to toe with the sorority leader. “What did you give the girls that made them forget what happened in the garden, Zoe?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I can have you kicked out of the dormitory and the school for drugging students, so don’t mess with me.”
“I’d like to see you try.” One lip curled upward in a smirk. “My father is a major contributor to this school. You can’t kick me out of anything.”
“No matter how much money your daddy contributes, drugging others without their consent is illegal.” Cal stepped up beside Deme, his hand resting at her waist.
Despite her self-righteous anger, Deme had to admit she was intimidated by Zoe’s sordid, cocky self-assurance, and Cal’s show of support made her feel better.
“Like I said…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Where’s the blue vial you were using in the garden ceremony just a few minutes ago?”
Zoe frowned. “I wasn’t in the garden a few minutes ago.”
“What about the dirt on your feet and scratches on your legs? How do you explain that?”
She glanced down at her legs. “Well, you’re right. There are scratches and dirt on my legs.” She tipped her head to the side. “Now, how did they get there?” Zoe glanced up, her eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you?”
Deme stared at the girl. She wanted to believe that Zoe was lying, but her confusion at the dirt and scratches was too convincing. “Good grief, Zoe. Go clean yourself up. Oh, and Zoe, something isn’t right around here, and I intend to get to the bottom of it.”
Zoe’s gaze narrowed into a squint. “I can’t tell you how this happened tonight, but I can tell you the Gamma Omegas stick together. Not one of them wants out of the sorority. They like what it’s done for them and they won’t go back.” She turned on her bare heel and stomped back to her room, closing the door with a thump.
“What do you think she meant by they won’t go back?” Cal asked.
“I don’t know. But I’m getting really tired of Zoe’s attitude.” Deme sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “I want to check one more room then I need to distribute ointment and bandages.” Exhaustion was dragging her down fast. No sleep and being attacked by a possessed garden had taken its toll.
“Where to?” Cal looked at the remaining doors.
“Rachel Taylor’s room.” Deme moved down the hallway and tapped on the door. “Just so you know, my sister used to occupy this room.” Deme didn’t wait for a response from Cal. She raised her hand and knocked on the door. The door swung open to darkness.
Cal reached inside and flipped the switch. Light filled all four corners…of an empty room.