Five minutes after the hacker logged off and disappeared back into the ether, the doorbell rang. Downstairs, Mum opened the door, and I heard Dee asking if I was home.
I groaned.
I didn’t want to see Dee. I’d been stewing over his revelations about being a bound-to-me djinn. The more I’d thought about it, the angrier and more hurt I’d become about his deception. He’d admitted he was only looking out for me because someone had forced him into it. So how could I believe anything he said now?
The fact was, I didn’t know if I trusted my apparent best friend anymore. Could he even be my best friend if it hadn’t been his choice?
Mum told Dee she thought I was still at Jess’s since she hadn’t heard me come home last night. I knew I’d have to talk to Dee at some point though, so decided it might as well be now.
“Mum, I’m here. I didn’t stay over at Jess’s last night,” I called out. “I’ll be down in a second.”
Dee was relieved to see me as we stepped into the living room, cups of tea in hand.
“So you didn’t go to Avebury,” he said.
“I did, but it got cut short.”
“Why?”
I shrugged, not wanting to reveal any of the events at the Pryce’s mansion.
“Reasons.”
Dee looked frustrated.
“I knew you’d go. You don’t understand how dangerous this is at all, do you?”
“Actually, I do, but I won’t stop looking into this.”
“Mate, you know I can’t let you do that,” Dee replied.
“Yeah, alright. Firstly, how are you going to stop me? So far, the only protection you’ve been able to give me is running away when a demon hound showed up, and getting pushed around by Maxwell when we were twelve. You protect me? That’s a joke.”
Dee scowled. I pressed on.
“Secondly, you’re only my ‘mate’ because you’ve got no choice.”
Now Dee looked upset.
“That’s not fair,” he said.
“Yeah, well, truth hurts, doesn’t it?” I shot back.
“Ethan, you have to trust me. This is just way too dangerous. You’re going to get yourself killed. Look, when have I ever lied to you?”
My jaw dropped.
“You’ve been lying to me ever since we met!”
Dee’s face fell. “Well, yeah, but apart from that...”
He tried a different approach.
“Mate, ok, look, fine. You want to find out more and investigate what’s going on, okay? You’re going to need me if you want to follow this up.”
“Need you for what? I’ve been in danger at least three times now and three times you’ve been completely bloody useless. In fact, according to you, you’re the reason I’ve got into any of this in the first place. If the demon hound was tracking you, then if you hadn’t been around, none of this would have happened at all!”
“Three times?” Dee asked, “What three times? Did something happen last night?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It really doesn’t. If I could switch the magic off that bound you to me, I would. Then you could stop hanging around like a spare wheel.”
It was Dee’s turn to look angry now.
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
My teeth were clenched. So were my fists.
Dee looked at me and his face fell.
“Fine, well, if that’s how you feel, all you have to do is say you don’t need me anymore, and we’re done,” he shot back.
His raised voice didn’t mask his hurt.
There’s something both sad and comical about two teenage boys fighting about their friendship while trying to hold on to it at the same time. We were both red in the face, but also trying to keep the moral high ground. I guessed I was being unfair, but I had a point as well.
“What does that mean?”
“Shoddy spell-casting,” Dee replied, “I’m supposed to protect and watch over you ‘until you no longer need me,’ right? So it’s up to you if you want rid of me, then say it! ‘You no longer need me.’ And I’ll be out of your hair for good, right?”
Dee jutted his chin out and folded his arms, glaring at me. Daring me.
“Right,” I shouted back, “Well, in that case, get lost! I no longer need you!”
Dee gasped.
He hadn’t expected me to go that far. It wasn’t just about breaking the spell. It was about breaking our friendship. He stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
*
I was still processing all of that when, ten minutes later, the front doorbell rang again. This time it was Jess, which was unexpected. My heart skipped a beat as she stood in the doorway, backpack slung over her shoulder. I realised the last time we’d spoken was when she’d blown-up in the library.
I’d missed her.
“Hey, Ethan,” she said. There was something shy about her voice and manner.
“Hey, come in,” I said. Remembering Victoria’s line, I added, “Enter freely and of your own free will.”
“Ha, Dracula. Nice. You turned into a vampire in the meantime?”
“What? No.”
“I was joking, Ethan,” Jess said.
“Right. Of course. Vampires don’t exist and, you know, uh, stuff.”
Jess looked at me with a puzzled expression, then shook her head.
“I saw Dee walking away on the way here. He looked upset about something?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
There was no way I could explain all the ins and outs of what had just happened. Unlike Dee, Jess had little to no idea about what was going on. All she knew for sure was that there’d been some weird, unidentified creature chasing us at the school, and a connected murder. She knew nothing about my powers, Dee being a djinn, or even who Victoria Pryce was.
I decided it was better if things stayed that way. This world I’d entered was dangerous, and the less Jess knew, the better. Or so I thought anyway.
We went into the living room, the scene of my bust up with Dee not a quarter of an hour earlier. We sat on opposite ends of the sofa.
“Sorry I’ve been off recently,” Jess began. “I’ve had quite a lot on my mind.”
She shifted closer to me on the sofa. Jess had been round to my place a ton of times, but this felt different. Secretive. Intimate.
My fight with Dee was already forgotten, at least temporarily.
“No problem,” I said, playing it cool.
“So, look, I wanted to talk to you.”
“You’re back together with Travis?” I guessed. It was the last thing I wanted to hear, but if it was the case, I’d prefer to know now instead of getting my hopes up. Jess looked startled.
“What? God no, what on earth gave you that idea?”
“I saw you talking to him the other day.”
“Yeah, he’d borrowed some of my dad’s old vinyls whilst we were together. My dad was threatening a few unprintable things if he didn’t get them back.”
That did indeed sound like Jess’s dad.
“What about your band?”
“The band? Oh, he’s out. Let’s face it, he was a rubbish singer, anyway. All pose, no pitch. We’ve renamed.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re ‘The MissDemeanours’ now. Two s’s instead of one.”
That made me chuckle. “Nice. Right, okay. So what brings you round?”
Jess nodded.
“Forrest and I continued looking into the murder. You know, the one that happened that night?”
“Sure.”
“We found out some more stuff. Weird stuff that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
She pulled a folder out of her backpack and flipped through some plastic sleeves. I spotted the same photo the hacker had sent me earlier. Jess and Forrest must have found out some of the same information in the meantime. About how Robert Maugham had had an unnaturally long life before he died.
Jess hesitated before showing me the contents of the folder. She bit her lip, as if debating something with herself. She’d never looked prettier than at that moment. The sun was hitting her at the right angle. Red hair glowing. Freckles she claimed to hate rolling across her cute button nose.
“Ethan, look, before we go any further, I need you to be honest with me.”
She reached across and took my hand. Her green eyes looked deeply into mine.
My heart almost leapt out of my chest.
I suddenly realised what this was all about. Why Jess had been acting so weird, why she’d been angry with me. It all made perfect sense now. She’d been waiting for me to make a move, waiting for me to say something. Tell her how I felt, because she felt the same way.
It was so obvious now I thought about it. How had I not seen it earlier?
“Okay,” I began.
Jess looked at me expectantly. Her face was close to mine. Lips slightly parted. I swallowed, even though my mouth was dry. My heart was beating so loud I was sure she could hear it. It was now or never. I swallowed, then went for it.
“Well, um, so... I think I like you,” I said, “You know, I mean, like like you. Do you want to maybe go out with me?”
Even as I said it, I knew the level of corny was way higher than I’d intended. Jess’ reaction, however, was a complete shock.
Jess blinked. She pulled back, letting go of my hand. She slapped her forehead with her palm.
“Oh. My. God. You are such an idiot,” she said.
She jumped up, grabbed her bag, grabbed her folder.
“What?” I said, dumbstruck. This was the last thing I’d expected.
“God, never mind, Ethan. I’ll figure it out myself. Call me when you decide to stop lying to me about everything, yeah? Good grief.”
Jess shook her head and before I could do anything, the front door had slammed shut for the second time in less than half an hour as my other best friend walked out on me.
‘Feeling crushed’ would have been the understatement of the year.
I told you this Sunday was messed up. A hacker on my computer, and two arguments with my best, well only, friends in quick succession.
But wait, because there’s more. This day was only just getting started.
It wasn’t even midday yet.
*
Mum had overheard both arguments. Not the actual words, of course, but the raised voices and door slams.
“Ethan, I think we might need to talk, love.”
“Mum, seriously, not right now...”
Author's note: sorry for the slight delay on posting, this chapter was supposed to go live yesterday but I messed up the auto-schedule, facepalm...
