"Do you know how many complaints I've had about this room since you moved in?" He pulled out an arctablet and read from it. "Loud noises late at night, people coming and going at all hours, females at non-visitation hours"—at this point he glared at Bella. "And now you are apparently moving in your girlfriend." He shook his head. "Dude, you can't do this. Number one, this isn't a coed dorm, and two, you can't just move anyone you want into your room even if it was coed." He sighed. "I've got no choice but to evict."
"But where am I gonna stay?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't care. All I know is you can't stay here."
Bella put away her wand. "Not even for one more night?" Her violet eyes went huge, and her forehead crinkled in sadness. "We have nowhere else to go."
"No, I—I can't," the man said, his voice faltering under the weight of those big sad eyes.
"Just one night?" The pitch of Bella's voice sounded heavy with desperation. "I'm so cold and hungry."
The RA made a groaning sound. "Fine, fine." He looked away from the dhampyr. "Just for tonight. I could get in big trouble for this."
A tear sparkled down Bella's cheek. She stood on tiptoe and kissed the man on the cheek. "Thank you so much."
He blushed. Stammered. "S-sure. Okay, bye." He walked briskly down the hall, never looking back.
I gave Bella two raised eyebrows. "Remind me to never cross you. You're more dangerous than I thought."
She grinned.
We went inside, and I sucked in a sharp breath.
Ivy smiled back at me.
Chapter 27
"What—how did you get—never mind. Stupid question."
"I'm not really here," Ivy said, flashing another grin. "I'm projecting." She looked at Bella. "Who's that?"
"I'm Bella," the dhampyr said. "You must be Ivy. I've heard so much about you."
"Has Justin been talking about me?" my sister replied, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.
"Only the good stuff," I said. "Why haven't I seen you at lunch again?"
She made duck lips. "They've been keeping a close eye on me, so it's harder to sneak away. Bigmomma figured out I went to the dining hall the other day."
"How?" I asked.
"People were talking about it." She sighed. "Now Mr. Bigglesworth won't let me go anywhere alone."
"I guess that means we can't get together for ice cream again?"
Her forehead pinched into a sad expression. "I want to, Justin. I'll try. I just wanted to say hi, and tell you—well, tell you that I missed seeing you."
"I miss seeing you, too," I said, holding out a hand.
She reached for mine, but the projection passed through me.
Should I ask her about Mom, or would that be pushing it? "Maybe Mom can help you sneak out." It felt like a thinly veiled ploy, but somehow I had to get in touch with Mom.
"They put her in an astral prison," she said. A tear trickled down her cheek.
A lump of ice slid down my throat and into my chest where it played pinball with my heart and stomach. "What do you mean, astral prison?"
"Daelissa told me Mom did something bad, so she imprisoned her until they can have a talk." Her eyes looked downcast. "I don't understand how Mom could betray us."
The news of Mom's imprisonment sent a double shock of pain to me. The Conroys evidently knew about her extracurricular activities. She might be in mortal danger, or they might simply think they could change her mind somehow. But the second part meant I had no hope of helping Nightliss unless I could free Mom. I forced my face to remain neutral while my insides churned.
What am I going to do?
Ivy's head jerked to the side as if she'd just seen or heard something. "Someone's coming. I've gotta go," she whispered and blew me a kiss as her image puffed into a girl-shaped cloud of pink vapor.
"Am I mistaken, or does it sound like your sister actually likes you now?" Bella asked, a bemused expression on her face.
I shrugged. "Maybe. We had time to connect." I told her about the gelato and lunch.
"You don't think she's trying to trick you again, do you? Remember when she faked her kidnapping so you'd rescue her from Maximus, but it turned out to be a lie?"
Pain clenched my heart at the memory of that betrayal. "I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe she is, or maybe she's really coming around." I threw up my hands and huffed out an exasperated breath. "Why can't something be simple for once?"
Bella touched my shoulder. "I hope you're reaching her, Justin, I really do." She pulled a bottle of red wine from her suitcase along with two glasses, and set them on the table. "Goodness, I can tell Harry's been eating here. This table is a mess." She poured two glasses of wine, and motioned me to join her at the table.
I sat down, held up the glass of wine. "To good friends who don't abandon you in your time of need," I said.
She rolled her eyes. "To friends." Clinked her glass against mine.
I looked around the room and sighed. "What am I gonna do when they boot us out of the dorm tomorrow?"
"I wish I could help you, but I'm not as connected as Harry," Bella said. "I can call—"
"No." I gave a vehement shake of my head. "He wants out, he's out. I'll figure this out on my own."
She sighed. "Men are so mule-headed sometimes."
Bella had a point, but I was too stubborn to admit it. I knew practically nobody on campus. I texted MacLean, asking him if he'd considered helping me find the rune, and, coincidentally, if he happened to know where I might find lodging that didn't involve a cardboard box and smelly neighbors. I also sent Lina a text asking if she knew of a place to stay.
She responded a minute later. They're kicking you out? That's terrible! I'll ask my boyfriend if he knows of anything.
A boyfriend? She hadn't mentioned anything about a boyfriend. Then again, it wasn't my business. I just hoped she could help.
Bella swirled the wine in her glass. "Tomorrow, I'll do some snooping. Maybe I can track down Bigglesworth and find out what he's up to."
"Be careful," I said. "That thing is dangerous."
"I know." She shrugged. "But the best offense is a good defense."
I felt an eyebrow rise. "I think you reversed it."
"Did I?" She smiled. "Well, you know what I mean."
Bella watching my back promised to be an interesting experience.
I met Lina for lunch on Sunday. She looked even more tired than the last time I'd seen her. I almost told her to take it easy, but decided I wasn't her dad, and kept my mouth shut.
"Justin, I think I found the perfect place for you," she said after giving me a hug.
"Awesome!" I said. "It's not under a sewage grate, is it?"
She laughed. "No. Follow me."
We left the castle and walked between the dormitories, off campus, and down a road lined with what looked like mansions of various designs, some large as a condo complex, and others no larger than a couple of single family homes linked together.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Greek Row."
"As in fraternities and sororities?"
She nodded. "Yes, and filled with complete snobs. There's a house out here that has been empty for a long time. I've heard it was haunted, or cursed."
"When was the last time anyone lived in it?" I asked.
She tapped a finger to her chin. "I think a fraternity leased it, but my boyfriend told me the university evicted them for holding party that almost got everyone killed a few years ago."
"Too much alcohol?" I asked.
Her face grew serious. "No, they were summoning the dead."
Chapter 28
"A ghost summoning party?" I asked, aghast. "What kind of idiots hold a party like that?"
Lina laughed. "Frat boys, I suppose."
Just thinking of ghosts running loose in an abandoned frat house made my skin crawl. "There aren't any dead things on the loose in this house are there? Maybe I should reconsider a cardboard box."
She made a nonchalant wave with her hand. "I'm sure the house is empty." Lina stopped at a path that wound through dense trees. We walked down the path and through a rusty iron gate hanging open at a lopsided angle. Beyond, crouching like a boogeyman, stood a rectangular, gray-stoned complex straight from a horror movie. Vines and creepers wound up the exterior, but otherwise, it didn't look too much worse for the wear.
I felt as though I were in a black-and-white horror film as we walked to the front door. The wood and black steel bands looked almost new.
"The preservation spell still seems to be working," Lina said. "There might be a few spider nests inside, but I'd be happy to help you clean it up."
I gulped. "Spiders?"
Lina said a word, and the door opened with nary a squeak. Inside, the large foyer opened to hardwood floors shining beneath a light coating of dust, and a tarp-covered table and mirror sat against one wall.
"The university banned the fraternity from campus, evicted them from the house, and interdicted the building, but it only took some drunk students a couple of hours to hack the interdiction spells and get inside." She led me into a large den with a fireplace large enough to spit and roast a cow, walked up to a tarp, pulled it back to reveal a pool table. Another tarp concealed what looked like a foosball table.
"People come here to party?" I asked. That certainly wouldn't be good.
"If they see the house is occupied, they'll stay away," Lina said.
"It could be kind of awkward," I replied, imagining a group of drunken revelers bursting in while I traipsed around the house in my underwear.