Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2)(69)

Placing his palms flat on his thighs, Alexander heaved himself to his feet, and I heard the creak of his knees. “I suppose this is my cue,” he said, and I stood up, too.

“Harper?” Bee called, and I held up a hand.

“So this is done?” I asked Alexander. “My powers will . . . go away, and Bee’s and Ryan’s will, too?”

“Oh, it’s very done,” he assured me. “For you, for your friends, for David, and most certainly for me.”

And with that, he fell to the ground, his eyes open.

Unseeing.





Chapter 36


“DO YOU HAVE David’s jump drive?”

I glanced up from my desk to see Chie standing in front of me, a sheaf of papers clutched to her middle. I hadn’t thought there was anyone in all of Pine Grove who looked as wretched as I did, but she was coming in at a close second. Her dark eyes were huge and bloodshot. Apparently she hadn’t been sleeping either.

Shaking my head, I murmured, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” but then she nodded at the bag by my feet. David’s bag. I’d found it in Saylor’s house that last night. There hadn’t been anything else of his, other than a couple of sweaters too not-ugly to bother taking, I guess.

Maybe I’d taken those, and maybe they were hanging in my closet right now. I wasn’t admitting anything.

But I’d been using David’s bag since he’d left, not caring what anyone thought. Ryan had done one of his Mage tricks, convincing everyone David had taken an early acceptance at some college up North, so no one questioned my whole grieving-girlfriend thing.

Chie was watching me with an unreadable expression as I pulled the bag into my lap, and as I rifled through it, she said, “I miss him a lot.”

Her voice was soft and quiet and it made me look up at her. There was no universe in which I’d thought Chie and I could ever be friends, but seeing my own loss reflected in her face felt . . . good. Or at least comforting.

I’d been keeping my stuff in the main part of David’s satchel, but I hadn’t looked through the little pockets. That’s where I found the jump drive, there in one of the tiny pouches inside the front flap.

It was the same bright blue as The Doctor’s TARDIS, and looking at it made my eyes well up. Still, I handed it over to Chie and watched her make her way over to one of the computers in the back.

It was bizarre how . . . normal everything felt. Ever since Homecoming, I’d been wishing for normalcy, trying to shove my anything-but-ordinary life back into the box where I’d lived my actual ordinary life. And now everything was normal again, and I hated it.

Opening my notebook, I did my best to outline a story I wanted to write for next week’s edition of The Grove News. It was about the chemicals they use to keep the lawns so green, and I thought it would make Chie happy.

It would’ve made David happy, too, probably.

For two weeks now, I’d been waiting for some feeling, some idea of what was going on with him or where he might be. I had that same faint sense that I’d always had, a weird awareness of him, but all it told me was that he was far away from me.

And moving farther.

I was so involved in sketching out my idea for the story that I was almost startled when Chie suddenly appeared in front of me again, holding out the drive. “Thanks,” she said, and when I took it back from her, she hesitated for a second. I glanced up and saw her chewing on her bottom lip, watching me cautiously.

“You should look at that,” she told me, gesturing toward the bright blue stick still in my hand. “I didn’t read it,” she went on to add quickly, “but it seems like there’s something on there for you.”

I almost went to one of the computers in the back and plugged it in then and there, desperate to know what David had left for me. Was it an explanation? Or a clue to where he’d gone?

But I was afraid it might not be either of those things, and I couldn’t stand the idea of bursting into tears in here, in front of these people who were trying to be nice to me, but weren’t really my friends.

No, there was only one place I wanted to read this. And only one person I wanted with me.

? ? ?

“You’re sure?” Bee asked, her hand on my shoulder.

We were sitting in David’s house, at the computer in his bedroom. I still had a key to the place, although with Saylor dead and David gone, none of us had any idea what to do with it. But for now, it sat like it always had, most of David’s things still in his room.

Including his computer.

Nodding, I plugged in the drive and clicked on “Open.”

It took me a minute to find what I was looking for. I was scanning the various documents looking for my name, so the first time I saw it, my eyes actually drifted over the file meant for me. It was Bee who leaned forward and tapped the screen, saying, “I think it’s this one.”

Egregious Felicitations.

With a choked laugh, I shook my head, murmuring, “You idiot.”

Bee gave my shoulder a quick squeeze, and then went to sit on David’s bed, leaving me alone with the computer.

I opened the file. Pres, it started, and then the tears were on my cheeks, splashing onto the desk. I know you’re going to say this is dumb, and I know you won’t understand. Which is why I asked Bee and Ryan for help. Don’t get me wrong, I like fighting with you, but there are some things you just can’t argue. This is one, and I hope you’ll come to accept that.