Chapter 17: A Decision

I awoke with Renee in her bed, curled tight to her, naked and bathed in her sweat. Her breath still came heavy, and she seemed slightly feverish, but she was here. She must have sensed my motion, for she also awoke. Her eyes – her green eyes – were dim from the fever, but they remained her beautiful eyes. I gave her kisses.

"Good morning, sweetie," I said.

She sat up and rubbed her head. "Good morning."

"You should probably sleep in. Nobody's going to expect you to do anything today."

"No, there's a lot to do, a lot to fix."

"Please sleep. I'll take care of everything."

She leaned over me and caressed my face. "I'm sure you did your best, Tyballa, but there are things to fix."

I paused, wondering what she meant. "Like what?"

"April, Shelly, Chloe – things."

"Oh."

"Let's get ready for breakfast."

"Alright."

She rose, and I rose after her, watching her with uncertain eyes.

"We have time for a shower, I think. You wanna come?"

When Renee and I entered the dining room, heads turned and girls gasped. There was a chorus of: "Oh my god," "Renee's back," "Oh fuck." It went on and on. Dean Gilbert rose from her seat with a furious expression. Then she grabbed the arms of her chair, her face seeming to strain in some internal struggle. After a bit, she sat back down and peered at the table before her. Another staff member, one of the office workers, rested her hand on the dean's shoulder and whispered something to her.

Renee looked around the room, seeming to calculate the new pecking order, where each girl sat relative to the others, and what each seat meant. At our old table, Madison's little gaggle of friends sat without Madison. At our new table, Hannah, Kathy, and Chloe sat, watching us.

"We sit here now," I said, pointing to the new table.

"The fuck we do!"

She strutted directly toward Madison's friends, who sat nervously. "Get up! We're switching."

They looked at each other. The violet makeup girl seemed ready to fight, but her friends shook their heads.

"Come on," the little blond said.

"Yeah, it's not worth fighting over," said the curly brown haired one.

The three got up and headed to our other table. Renee motioned to our friends to come over. After an uncomfortable moment when the two groups passed, they joined us and we sat. I ended up between Chloe and Renee.

"Hey everyone!" Renee said, smiling.

Hannah scooted next to Renee and squeezed her hand. "Hi Renee, welcome back."

Renee gave Hannah a brief smile. "It's good to be back. So, let's talk about Shelly. Where is she now?"

"At home," Kathy said. "She'll be back next week, she says."

"That's fine. And April?"

Hannah pointed at April sitting at the next table.

Without moving her head, Renee said, "Oh, I saw her. I mean – why isn't she sitting with us?"

"She's with someone else now," I said, and when I glanced over at April, she was looking at another girl, but I could tell she was paying attention to us. "But I don't want to say who."

"I can guess who," Renee said. And with that, she popped up and strutted over to April. She got close behind her, bent to her ear, and whispered something. I saw April go rigid and squeeze her fists. Then Renee turned about with a contemptuous look and returned to the table.

We all sat quietly, glancing around nervously, except Renee. She ran her eyes over us, studying each of us. She smiled. Hannah took her hand again and looked down at the table with a pitiful look.

Renee's gaze came to rest on Chloe.

"So, Chloe, I'm glad to see that you've come around."

"Uh – yeah," Chloe answered, her voice soft and somber.

Then Renee's eyes fixed on me, peering at me. "And you, my dearest Tyballa, I must confess I underestimated your seductive power, bringing in Chloe like that." Back to Chloe. "So, you delightful thing, when would you like to perform the ritual?"

Chloe's head was lowered, but her eyes came up, gazing directly at Renee. "The ritual?"

"The ritual to join the group."

"You mean the ritual to commit to you? Right?"

"Yeah. That's part of it."

While they stared at each other silently, just looking, their faces unreadable, the rest of us sat, Kathy's eyes wide with fear, Hannah looking confused. I felt dismal.

Then Chloe answered, speaking slowly, clipping each word. "There's no fucking way I'm committing to you."

Renee sat back with a smug look. "Then you can't really sit here."

And they stared. And we sat, waiting for something to explode.

"Fuck you." Chloe said. But she got up. She gave the rest of us a look, waiting – I guess to see if we'd follow. Then she turned and walked to a different table.

"Why?" I asked.

"Same reason as with you. She has to join. She has to commit."

But I hadn't. The ritual hadn't worked on me. I cast Renee a harsh look, but when she turned her gaze to me, my eyes dropped.

Soon, it was our turn to go to the kitchen. We got our food. I took one waffle and some eggs.

I chewed slowly and nobody talked. I should have gone with Chloe.

Walking across the green with Renee and Hannah, I said, "Renee, must you do this? It's terrible."

Renee stopped and turned to me. "Oh? Tyballa, you know the rules. There are oaths. We're serious girls."

She said it like a litany, as if repeating the words gave them some kind of truth. I looked into her eyes, trying to find something merciful and soft.

Hannah stood next to us, one hand by Renee, one hand by me. She stepped forward and got close to both of us.

The softness came. Renee smiled and gave me a wink.

"Come, sweetie," she said, taking my hand, "It isn't so bad. Chloe has time to change her mind. And April will be back. We'll be together and everyone will be happy again, in a few days."

"Chloe's aunt hates your father. She'll never let Chloe join."

She shrugged. "Her decision."

"I'm going to be with her anyway."

The softness left. Her expression got very dark, but she still held my hand.

"Tyballa, I'm sorry I was gone so long, and I'm sorry about everything that – happened to you. I know you did your best, but you didn't hold the group together. And if you knew Chloe couldn't be loyal to me, you shouldn't have gotten involved with her. I know my spell can't bind you, and I guess you think you can just leave –" She squeezed my hand hard and pulled me close. "But there's no fucking way I'm letting you go."

She looked into my eyes. Hannah touched us.

During Latin, I heard Renee's phone buzz, and after class, after checking her phone, she told us she had something to take care of and rushed off. Hannah and I went to our classes. Renee didn't reappear.

That was fine with me, but Hannah became very sad. When I tried to talk to her about it, about how Renee was acting, she said, "Just give her time. You know how she is, but it will work out. Maybe Chloe will change her mind."

Maybe, but I doubted it, and Hannah wasn't acting like she believed it either.

When lunchtime came we met Kathy in the lounge. Looking around, I saw neither Renee nor Chloe. Hannah and Kathy plopped on the couch and I stood there, looking at them – and at the red chair.

I sat in the red chair. Shuffling nervously, we looked at each other. No one spoke.

After a little while, April tramped into the room with a sullen look. She dropped onto the couch between Hannah and Kathy.

"Hi April," I said.

"So, where is she?" she asked with barely concealed hostility.

I shrugged. "She got a call this morning and rushed off after first period."

They all sat stiff. No one touched. No one smiled.

"April..."

"Yeah?"

"Can we talk – alone?"

She paused for a bit, then she said, "Sure."

We left Hannah and Kathy and walked out onto the green and into the late morning sun. Many girls were about, sitting and reading, laughing and gossiping. Two threw around a ball.

"So, you're coming back?" I asked.

"I don't have a choice. The spell..." Her words drifted off.

"Did you tell Ms. Christensen?"

"Yeah, just now. She's pretty upset."

"I'm very sorry, April. I'm sorry for both of you."

We got to the rustling oak and I leaned against it. She stood next to me, kicking up bits of dirt and rock with her foot.

"You shouldn't have brought her back. You know that, right?"

I didn't answer her.

Renee showed up in Social Studies class, sweeping into the room all smiles. She ran up next to me and plopped down.

"Hey sweetie," she said.

"Hi," I answered cautiously, looking around. Hannah, Kathy, and April were all in this class, and we all sat together. Hannah and Kathy seemed to brighten up. April looked away.

She reached and squeezed my bare leg, just beneath the hem of my skirt. "I just had the best talk with my dad."

She kept smiling. I didn't smile.

But then we had to be quiet because the teacher was beginning the class. We read a chapter from the book about civil rights, which reminded me of English class, and Atticus and Scout – and Amanda.

Next class was music with just Renee and me. On the way, she grabbed my hand and dragged me along.

"You seem very happy," I said.

"I am!"

Could Chloe have changed her mind? Or did it have something to do with her talking to her dad?

"Uh – why?"

"I'll tell you after school!"

I sat in music class biting my lip.

Chloe found me after school. I was with Renee and the girls, and Chloe didn't seem to want to approach. She waved to me from across the grass, holding up her phone. After excusing myself, I went to her.

She handed me the phone. "It's Ms. Day."

"Huh? For me?"

"Yeah, silly. She wants to talk to you."

I hadn't yet talked on a phone. "How does it work?"

"Just hold this part to your ear and talk here." She pointed to those parts of the phone.

I held the phone as she'd indicated. I muttered, "Hello?"

Through the phone, I heard Ms. Day's voice. "Tyballa?" It sounded strange and thin.

"Yes."

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Look, our researchers looked up this Adrasteia that you mentioned."

"Oh? Did they find anything?"

"Well – it's curious."

I waited. She went on, "So ... Most demons who do geas are pretty well known."

"Lana mentioned that."

"Right, so this Adrasteia – we found out who she is – has never done a geas before that we could discover. That's very odd."

"Alright. So who is she?"

"Well, she's a lust demon of sorts – I guess you'd say. Very much a lesbian, and likes to turn girls to that sorta thing."

It didn't surprise me, but still...

"I see, so ... she's interested in me because I'm a lesbian? I'm not the first lesbian to do magic, and she didn't – uh – really want to sleep with me anyhow."

"Right. That's not it."

"Oh?"

"She has a connection to Woodhouse."

I blinked and glanced over at Renee, who was peering at us intently.

"What connection? And which Woodhouse?" I whispered, although there is no way Renee could have heard me.

"Renee's mother, actually, and – well – we don't know the details, but it seems that Renee's mother summoned her and made deals with her – at least those are the rumors."

"Rumors?"

"Yes. Anyhow, after that she left Renee's dad, and things got really ugly."

I hesitated for a bit, but the question was so obvious, and I was sure that Ms. Day was waiting for me to ask it. "Was Renee involved?"

"We don't know. I mean – people have speculated – you know – about Renee and the demon, about how Renee became the way she is. But no one will say anything definite. Neither Woodhouse nor Renee have ever said anything, to our knowledge."

"What does Renee's mom say? Can we talk to her?"

"No, not now. After she left, she was killed in a terrible accident. I don't need to tell you what people suspect about that."

I knew exactly what people would suspect, and I suspected it myself.

"Is there anything else?"

"No. Not really."

"Thanks."

"Are you going to summon her again? If she's very interested in you, she'll probably show up whenever you cast geas."

"How do you hang up?" I asked Chloe, holding the phone away from my ear. Chloe took it from me and pressed a button. The phone beeped.

I hadn't wanted to answer the final question.

Chloe looked at me with a cryptic expression.

"Interesting conversation?"

"Yes. Quite."

She waited for me to say more, but I didn't. Then she asked, "Are you going back over?"

"To Renee?"

"Yeah, obviously."

I looked, and Renee was glaring at me, tapping her foot while the other girls milled about nervously.

"I can talk for a bit."

"Just a bit? Look – Tyballa, are you going to let her boss you around like that?"

"Well..."

"Seriously! She's horrible. Way more horrible than I thought she'd be. You fucked up bad rescuing her."

"Uh..."

Renee began walking toward us. She'd waited enough, I guess.

"I'll fight her if you won't," Chloe said.

"Don't! Please! She has magic."

"My aunt will help, and you have magic too."

"My magic won't help. I don't have any more of the befuddle balls."

"You can make more."

"Sure, when I have time."

Renee arrived and said, "Hey, Chloe. How's it going?"

"Hi Renee."

"So, Tyballa, shouldn't we be heading back to the room or something."

"I'm going to hang out with Chloe for a bit, if that's alright."

Chloe tensed up and began to slowly circle around, trying to get behind Renee. Renee ignored her and grasped my arm above the elbow. "Come on, sweetie. Everyone's waiting."

Just then, right before Chloe came in and swung, we heard a commotion from around the edge of the gymnasium.

When we glanced up – Chloe halting mid-swing – it was Madison with a crowd of girls following her, mocking her.

"Holy crap!" a girl standing near us said to her friend.

"I heard she's going crazy. She's been pulling out her hair all day," her friend answered.

It was true, as she got close, I could see a bald patch already forming on the front-right of her head. And she was twirling her hair, pulling it. She tore out several strands as she drew near.

"What the fuck happened to her?" Renee asked.