“I bet no one even knows it’s up here,” Alice said. “If you need money ... .”
I shook my head. “I’m not completely destitute.” Close, but I could still feed myself — as long as I had access to the restaurant. I had no intention of selling family belongings until I hadn’t eaten for at least a week. “Let’s ask it a few questions.”
“Okay.” Alice was agreeable as she sipped her drink before moving her fingers to the planchette. “What should we ask it?”
I shrugged.
“Maybe we should ask if you’re ever going to write another book that sells.”
I glared at her. “Or maybe we should ask if you’ll ever stop going after the men I’ve dated.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I know. Let’s ask if you and Hunter will get back together.”
I moved to withdraw my fingers from the planchette but she anticipated the move and grabbed my hand.
“You can’t pull away now,” she argued. “We just started. You can ask it an embarrassing question about me next.”
“Why do you get to start?” I was reticent as I rested my fingers next to hers. I didn’t want to ask the board about Hunter. I feared my subconscious would somehow force me to move the planchette and answer in a way that would embarrass me.
“Because I said so.” Alice sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. “Okay, here we go. Spirits of the other world, we beseech you,” she started in dramatic fashion.
“Spirits of the other world?” That sounded ridiculous.
She ignored me. “We call upon the higher power,” she offered. “We call to the four corners of magic. We call upon the Goddess.”
I was confused. “How do you know there are four corners of magic?”
“I saw it on television.”
Oh, well, that explained it.
“Close your eyes,” she ordered in her most authoritative voice. “I’m serious. I want to know what’s going to happen with you and Hunter.”
“Nothing is going to happen.”
“I don’t believe that.” She was insistent. “Will Hunter and Stormy make it two weeks before they tear each other’s clothes off, or will it be longer?”
My eyes snapped open. “I can’t believe you asked that.” I jerked my fingers from the planchette. “You’re not playing right. I don’t want to ask that question.”
“You’re just afraid of the answer,” Alice countered, keeping her hands on the planchette. “In fact ... .” She trailed off, her eyes moving back to the board. Her expression changed such that I couldn’t force myself to look away.
The planchette was zipping across the board at a fantastic rate. I wished I’d found the strength to keep my eyes focused somewhere else. Heck, anywhere else would do.
“What’s happening?” I asked, my mouth going dry.
“I don’t know.” Alice looked around, bewildered. “Are you doing that?”
The look I shot her was withering. “Um ... obviously not.” I wiggled my fingers for emphasis. “I’m not touching it.”
“Someone has to be doing it.” Alice was firm. “That’s not normal.”
“Oh, you think?” My heart rate ratcheted up a notch when the planchette increased its speed. “What is it doing?”
“I don’t know. I ... .” Alice didn’t finish as the planchette flew off the board and smacked into the wall, a small puff of light emanating from the contact point. It almost looked like purple sparkles, gone as soon as it appeared.
“What just happened?” Alice’s voice was barely a whisper.
“I have no idea. I don’t know what that was.”
“Should we try again?”
“Are you crazy?” I almost screeched. “We have to get rid of the demon board and never play with it again. You don’t keep messing around with something that moves on its own.”
“Hunter moves on his own and you want to mess with him.”
I extended a warning finger. “I will kill you if you don’t stop saying stuff like that.”
“I think the board might kill me first,” Alice argued. “What should we do with it? You won’t be able to sleep if it’s in the apartment after what it just did.”
She had a point. “We could hide it in the storage shed once Hunter leaves,” I said.
“That’s a good idea. What do we do until then?”
I inclined my head toward the whiskey bottle. “One guess.”
She exhaled heavily and then nodded. “I guess I’ve had worse offers. Drinking it is ... just as soon as we lock this board under a blanket so the spirits can’t crawl through and get to us.”
I’d never heard anything more ludicrous. “Good idea.”
4
Four
I woke with a raging hangover, wanting nothing more than to roll over, bury my head under the covers, and spend the entire day wallowing in misery. That wasn’t an option, though. I had the breakfast shift with Grandpa, which meant I had to get up and, more importantly, get moving. Reporting late wasn’t an option. There was no excuse he would buy.
Scenes from the previous evening flitted through my head as I showered. I remembered sneaking down to the storage building with Alice once we were certain Hunter had left. When we realized the shed was locked, we had to go back inside to find the keys. Neither of us wanted to be left alone with the Ouija board, so we did everything together. It took us almost a full hour to stash the board. I couldn’t even remember what hiding spot we’d finally selected.
I applied only minimal makeup before throwing my blond hair back in a bun and heading downstairs. Grandpa had already done the majority of the prep work. The look he shot me as I headed for the coffee pot wasn’t difficult to interpret.
“Late night?”
I nodded, almost groaning in delight at the scent of fresh coffee. “Later than I planned.”
“Hunter?”
I almost coughed the coffee through my nose in surprise. “No. Why would you think that?”
He shrugged, amusement lighting his dark eyes. “Just wondered. You two were attached at the hip for a time.”
“Something I believe you hated.”
“I didn’t hate it. I just thought you were young to be so attached to one boy. You had dreams that were always going to take you out of Shadow Hills.”
I regarded him for a long moment, unsure if my head was in the right place to get into a heavy discussion. “He said something similar yesterday.”
“He always was a pragmatic kid. I guess he would have to be, growing up the way he did.”
He’d opened the door, and I had a few questions that needed answering. “What happened to his father?”
“He’s still alive, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“I’m sure I would’ve heard if he’d died. It’s just ... when I left town, he was chief of police. I very much doubt Hunter would be okay working for him.”
“You’re right on that. Hunter came in after his father lost his position.”