“No, not at all,” Vivi insisted, although she’d already spent more time than she cared to in a local cemetery. Vivi looked at Mason in a new light. She’d never heard an attractive guy speak so passionately about history. She’d never heard anyone speak so passionately about history. For a moment, she imagined herself in a white sundress, wandering arm in arm with Mason through a graveyard dripping with Spanish moss, then blushed and shook her head slightly to dispel the ridiculous notion. She’d already tried to go down this road and knew it had a bold DO NOT ENTER sign on it.
“Seriously, though, why are you holed up here instead of out with your sisters?” he asked. “We might be the only people on the entire campus working right now.”
“I’m doing a little history project of my own,” she said, turning her computer screen toward Mason. “I’m tracking former Kappa sisters through the ages.” She figured a half-truth was safe enough.
“Ah, a favorite activity of mine.”
“Now, that does sound creepy.”
He laughed and leaned back in his chair. “Sorry, you’re right. I’ll just open my laptop here and we can spend the rest of the evening working in companionable silence. Unless you’d rather have some alone time?”
“No, I’d appreciate the company.” After all the chaos and anguish, she thought it would be nice to be around someone who wasn’t caught up in a magical kidnapping. She waited for him to continue the lighthearted banter, but his expression turned serious as he scrutinized her.
“Are you okay? You look a little . . .” He hesitated, clearly searching for the most diplomatic phrase. “Worn out.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I just fell a little behind during rush and now I’m trying to catch up.”
“Are you sure there’s nothing else going on? You can talk to me, you know.”
She tried to imagine what it’d be like to confide in him, to have him listen quietly and sympathetically as she told him all about the ongoing nightmare of Tiffany’s disappearance and the hunt for the talisman. As a historian and a researcher, he might even be an asset. But talking to Mason about this wasn’t an option. Nothing would put the Ravens in greater danger than spilling their secrets to the outside world. “It’s nothing, I promise. I guess studying hard just doesn’t suit my delicate constitution,” Vivi said, forcing a smile.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Mason said quickly. “Sorry, I just thought you looked a little tired. But still beautiful.”
The moment the word escaped his mouth, Vivi could tell he regretted it. He turned slightly red and shook his head. “Okay, I’m clearly not doing a very good job with this ‘friend’ thing. I’ll leave you alone now.”
He stood and began to stuff his laptop into his messenger bag. “Mason, wait,” Vivi said, reaching for his arm. The word had landed on her skin like a butterfly she was afraid to touch lest it flutter away. No one except her mother had ever called her beautiful. “It’s fine. You don’t have to go.”
He paused, then lowered himself back into the chair with a sigh. “You’re sure I haven’t made you uncomfortable?”
“Just the opposite.” Without thinking, she placed her hand on his arm. “It was nice of you to say.”
“I cannot tell a lie,” he said in a mock-serious tone. Then he went quiet, his eyes locking with hers, and he leaned in slightly; she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes, his jet-black eyelashes, the tiny scar in his left eyebrow.
She should move. Lean away. But she stayed where she was, unable to breathe, unable to make her muscles shift so much as an inch. She shivered as he touched her cheek lightly with his hand and then leaned forward until his lips grazed hers.
A bolt of electricity shot through her, burning away all thoughts except how good his lips felt and how much she wanted to lean into his kiss.
But instead she pulled back. “Mason, we can’t do this. I’m sorry.” She couldn’t kiss her Big Sister’s ex-boyfriend, especially not when Scarlett was in such a bad place.
He sat back and let his head fall into his hands. “I know. You’re right, Vivi, I just wish . . .” He trailed off, then sat up and looked at her with a sad smile. He took a deep breath and said with forced cheer, “Okay, then. Back to work.” He glanced at her open laptop and frowned. “Hey, is it just me or does that girl look familiar?”
“What girl?” It took Vivi a second to find what he was looking at among all her open research tabs. In the corner of her screen was a color photo, faintly blurred. The caption read: Members of Kappa at Homecoming. It looked like it had been taken in the ballroom of the main administrative building. There were seven beautiful girls in the picture, all dressed in timeless little black dresses. One was Evelyn Waters; Vivi had seen a picture of her at the house and recognized her strawberry-blond hair and high cheekbones.
But it was the girl in the center of the photo who caught Vivi’s attention. She was the only one looking at the camera. She had her arm around Evelyn’s waist, and around her neck she wore a large oval pendant that looked almost like a geode. It was blue glass with a series of circles and what could only be described as an evil eye at its center. On the girl’s face was a little half smile, as if she knew something the rest of them didn’t. Vivi recognized the smile. She’d seen it nearly every day of her life.
“Did your mom go to Westerly too?” Mason asked.
Vivi didn’t answer. She could only stare at young Daphne Devereaux, grinning up at her from the past.
Not only was her mother a witch—she’d also been a Raven.
And she was wearing the Henosis talisman.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Scarlett
It was dark by the time Scarlett pulled the car up in front of Kappa. She turned the engine off and stared forward, watching as the streetlights flickered on one by one.
“Scarlett, we have to talk about what happened,” Jackson said.
Scarlett kept staring ahead. She hadn’t been able to say a single word the entire ride home. She hadn’t had the energy to concoct some elaborate cover story to explain what Gwen was doing. It’d taken all her remaining strength to keep the car on the road and keep the gaping emptiness inside her from filling with tears. Scarlett had failed, which meant Tiffany was going to spend another terrifying night wondering if every breath would be her last.
If she was even still alive. Scarlett’s hands itched for her cards and for their library. She needed a spell, a proof-of-life spell, something that would tell her that Tiffany’s heart was still beating. She needed proof that it wasn’t too late, because not only had Gwen regained her powers, but her magic seemed even darker and more potent. She’d been willing to harm Tiffany before her accident—who knew what she was capable of now?
Part of her had wanted to storm into the shed, confront Gwen right then and there, and force her to take her to Tiffany. But how was Scarlett going to make that happen? Rain on her? A few drops of water couldn’t counteract the evil she felt pouring off Gwen. She needed her sisters’ powers to take her on.
“Have you ever seen anything like that? Do you know what Gwen was doing?” Jackson asked.