Chapter 2

Bill walked into the den, and plopped down on the couch. He needed to think.

The creature walked over and stood next to the TV, her ghostly bare feet ignoring the bean bag chair. Bill glanced down, wondering briefly what would happen if she became solid while inside an object like that, then glanced up at its face. Once again her eyes were vacant and unseeing, as if it had never happened.

Hell, maybe it hadn't.

"Hey, Bill."

He swung his head over to look at Betty. She was lounging in the recliner, both legs over one arm and the remote in her hand. Her head sort of lolled over to look at him, taking her attention away from whatever inane teen show about a wizard pop singer with a webcast she was watching. She regarded him with half interested curiosity.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the dance? Mrs. Cutter is taking the three of us."

"Nope, not interested." He looked at the TV. At least the stars of these shows tend to be cute. Betty made a rude sound with her lips, and shook her head at him.

"Have you EVER gone to a dance?"

He looked back over at her, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I went to that sort of mandatory 'this is how dances work' one they have for 6th graders in the fall."

"That doesn't count!"

He laughed.

"I wish that was true. Then I could honestly say I missed all the dances in middle school."

His sister shook her head at him.

"You're hopeless." She started to turn back to the TV, then got a crafty look in her eye and rolled her head back towards him. "You DO know Julie wants you to come to the dance, don't you?"

"What?!" Bill scoffed at her. "Go away."

"Whatever." She went back to the TV. Wasn't her job to arrange his love life.

Julie sat on her bed, laptop on her lap.

She was all set for the dance. The outfit was picked out and lying over the desk chair, her hair was good, nails were done, lipstick was ready to be applied. She had time for her latest hobby. The occult!

Her mom, Julie knew, would freak if she found out. Mom wasn't supper religious or anything, really, but anything too far out there was a definite no-no. Julie still shuddered at the thought of the grounding when her sister Jenny had brought home a copy of The Book of Mormon someone had given her. So, bookmarks and browser histories were well hidden with regard to this subject.

And, what a subject it was! The entire idea of the occult fascinated the fourteen year old. Magic, ghosts, demons, spells ... it was almost all crap, naturally. She knew that the moment she found so much information easily available on the web. I mean, really ... if the spells they talked about REALLY worked, wouldn't you see all the gothy loner girls suddenly having all the hunky guys in love with them, and the bitchy cheerleaders suddenly suffering from horrible curses? It's one thing to assume there's real magic out there when it's hard to find, and maybe you just happened to find the wrong spells, but when you have hundreds of sites all with different conflicting information the truth becomes a little more obvious.

That didn't mean she didn't love reading the stuff, though.

Julie WANTED it to be true. It was all just so ... interesting! And so different than the life around her. Oh, she had no desire to become a "goth" and dress all in black (although, last Halloween she discovered she did in fact look good in black). But, to cast spells! To talk to otherworldly creatures! To take part in nude rituals!

The last, to be honest, was what really interested her. It just sounded so ... naughty! And, if she could maybe talk Bill into joining her...

Bill.

Julie looked at the love spell displayed on the laptop screen, and sighed. She didn't know what to do. It wasn't that she considered him like a brother, or anything like that, and she didn't think he thought of her as a sister. It's, just, well ... complicated.

The 8th grader knew she was hot. She knew she had a smoking bod now. She also knew she was damned smart, and wasn't going to go for some dumb hunk just because that's what was expected. She wanted the best. Which wasn't Bill.

And, yet...

It was that damned fall from the tree. She had been bike riding with Bobby, coming home from the mall, and she'd seen the emergency vehicles in Bill's driveway and almost freaked. Until that moment, Bill was just the guy she had played with since birth but really didn't know much about anymore. When she saw him on the ground, though, with medics checking him out ... it was like something switched in her mind. She suddenly saw him as a male, a friend ... as dating material ... and here it was now the middle of winter with the school year half over and she had yet to overcome all the years when that hadn't been the case. She doubted he even bothered to fantasize about her.

There was a pounding at the door.

"Hurry up! It's almost time to go!"

Julie heard her sister run back to her room. Laughing at the twelve year old's excitement, she put the computer down and went to get dressed.

Bill lay down on his bed, still dressed, reading. He was in the middle of a rather good book, and thought he had a good chance of finishing it off tonight. If he stayed up late enough.

He heard the front door open downstairs, and the faint sound of his sister returning from the dance. Glancing at the clock he saw it was 10 PM. There wasn't the sound of excited babbling he had expected, and really had come to consider his sister's main mode of conversation. Instead, there was what sounded like a rather ... subdued debriefing of Betty by their mom. It didn't last long, and soon he heard his sister walking slowly up the stairs. A moment later, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

Bill put the book down on his pillow and moved to sit up on the edge of the bed as Betty entered. She looked ... sad!

"What's wrong?" They weren't all that close, at least not that way, but he figured if she was here she must want to talk about something. Maybe some guy tried something. The very idea started to piss him off, but he wasn't sure what the hell he'd do in that case.

"Oh," she said, shaking her head, "nothing. Just tired. It wasn't," she added, giving him a small smile, "quite what I was expecting. Those movies lie."

"Don't worry," Bill said, standing. "I'm sure the high school movies and shows are totally accurate!" This got a laugh out of her, which was much better. She suddenly seemed to realize why she was here, and brought her small purse up and opened it. She took out a folded piece of white paper, and handed it to her brother.

"Here."

Bill looked at it.

"What is it?"

"Um, paper! A paper note! From," she added, giving him a sly smile, "someone!"

"Most notes are." He held the folded mystery in his right hand. He had never gotten a note before, especially one that had been hinted at being from a girl. A female girl! Could it be ... naw, best not to even guess. He'd have to open it.

Bill looked up. Betty was still standing there, looking at him expectantly.

"Shoo!" He made the appropriate gesture with his left hand, and blowing out a sound of disgust and pouting Betty turned around and walked out. Bill went over and shut the door.

A note.

He looked over towards his desk. The creature was standing in its usual spot, not looking at him. Bill looked back at his hand, and with trembling fingers unfolded the note.

"Dear Bill- Please meet me at the end of West Ledge Lane by the sledding hill tomorrow at 1 PM. Julie"

Julie ... wanted to meet him.

What the hell for?

It was an hour later when Bill started yawning, so he marked his place in his book and left to use the bathroom. A few minutes later he was back in the bedroom, and closed the door. He had his shirt half unbuttoned when suddenly the thought struck him he wasn't alone. Bill looked over at the desk.