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Selene wrapped her arm around Deme and hugged her tight. “That dude you dated really did a number on you, didn’t he?”
“Let me at him,” Gina said. “Any man who makes my oldest sister a basket case for a year deserves to be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels.” She pulled a pen and notebook from her hobo bag and jotted down a note to herself. “I’ll come up with a potion that’ll give him webbed feet.”
Deme’s lips twitched. “Although I like the image, you can’t do that. Cursing someone is delving into dark powers.”
Gina’s lips twisted. “I’d only do it once. And it would be well worth the risk if it makes the man as miserable as he made you.”
Deme turned away. The image of Cal with webbed feet almost brought a smile to her face. Not that her sister could conjure webbed feet. Their powers didn’t work like that. But wait until her sisters saw Cal Black. They’d never give her a moment’s rest with their sisterly teasing. Even the thought of the tall, dark cop made Deme’s body burn. “We all have our covers established. We need to maintain our anonymity in order to gain the trust of the other girls. We want answers, and the sooner the better.”
“All I know is that it’s been two days. Two days too long.” Selene winced and pressed fingers to the bridge of her nose.
Deme laid a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
She breathed in and out for a moment before answering. “There’s a dark aura surrounding this campus. I sensed it as soon as I came through the gates. It feels like someone trying to push into my mind.”
“Do you think you should let that someone in? Maybe he or she can tell you what happened.”
“I tried, but so far there’s like this wall blocking them.”
“Them? As in more than one?” Deme asked.
Selene’s fingers moved from the bridge of her nose to her temples, where she massaged the skin, her eyes squeezed shut. “I think so.”
Still staring out the window, Gina asked, “Think it would help if we get together tonight to cast a circle and call them forth?”
Deme had sensed the darkness, too, but Selene had a better connection with the metaphysical world than any of them. She’d even had conversations with the dead. On more than one occasion, her ability to sense trouble had saved their butts. When Selene perceived a disturbance in the spiritual balance, invariably she was right. It was her gift, as knowledge and connection to the earth was Deme’s and Selene’s was water. Brigid connected with fire, and Aurai, sweet Aurai’s gift was her ability to influence and communicate with the wind and air currents.
“Let’s wait and see what happens and what we can learn from the students and staff on campus,” Deme said.
“Brigid said the Gamma Omegas’ sorority initiation ceremony was conducted in a garden.” Gina turned back to the others. “Do you suppose it was this one?”
Selene walked toward the window, her face paling as she neared the opening. When she reached the windowsill, she wavered, her body swaying. She clutched the raised window and pulled it down, pressing her forehead against the glass. “Something happened here. I can’t tell exactly what, but it wasn’t good.”
Deme’s lips tightened. “Then that’s where we start our search. Gina, see if you can find any history on the college in the library. Past students, old newspaper articles, anything. Selene, you’ll be a member of the faculty. Check out the other professors and staff for anything concerning Aurai’s disappearance, the garden and the sorority. I’ll work on the girls in the sorority.”
“We need to maintain our distance in front of others.” Gina looped an arm around Selene and led her away from the window. “Hanging out together will blow our cover. If there is a kidnapper lurking on campus, we can’t let him know we’re sisters. When we meet again, it needs to be away from campus.”
Deme nodded. “Agreed. I’ll get close to Aurai’s roommate. I think she’s in this building.” Deme flipped through the roster Dr. Masterson had given her of students living in the dormitory. “There she is—Rachel Taylor. Brigid said she was one of the girls initiated into the sorority that night.”
Selene gripped her arm, her clutch pinching Deme’s skin. “You aren’t going to try to pledge the sorority, are you?”
“I don’t think it’s possible.” Deme loosened Selene’s grip and patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. But promise me you won’t join the sorority. It’s too dangerous.” How she just seemed to know things was a mystery to all the sisters, but they didn’t ignore her when she gave them warnings.
“I promise. Pledge week is over and they’ve done their initiation. New members have already been inducted. I’ll be on the periphery since I’m the R.A.” Deme glanced at Selene. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”
She smiled, her dull, green eyes brightening. “With my sisters around me, I’ll be fine. Speaking of which, where’s Brigid now?”
“She’s working with the detective on the police investigation.” Gina closed the window and twisted the latch before she crossed to the others. “We’ll see her around campus as they conduct their interviews. However, everyone will know she’s Aurai’s sister. They won’t know who we are, if we’re careful.”
“Then come on, we need to part ways and get this investigation under way.” Deme held out her hands. Gina took one and Selene the other until their hands closed the ring.
Without her other two sisters, Deme sensed how incomplete the circle was. She closed her eyes and began, her sisters joining in.
“Feel the power
Free our hearts
Find our way
Be the one
With the strength of the earth
With the rising of the wind
With the calm of the water
With the intensity of fire
With the freedom of spirit
The goddess is within us
She is power
We are her
We are one
Blessed Be.”
As each word passed their lips, the air in the room grew thicker until breathing became more difficult. A funny odor filled the room, similar to the scent of decaying vegetation. A scratching sound penetrated Deme’s concentration. Selene’s hand squeezed hers in a death grip.
“Do you feel them?” Selene asked. “They’re screaming. Can you hear them?”
Deme opened her eyes and stared around the room. The lights seemed dimmer, and the sunlight that had a moment before shone through the window had disappeared behind a cloud. The scratching sound she’d heard was English ivy rubbing against the window. She didn’t remember it being that high before. Had she missed it?
The water dripping in the sink had become a thin, steady flow. Gina dropped Selene’s and Deme’s hands and reached for the handle on the sink. “What’s with this faucet?” She twisted the handle and nothing happened.
“I can hear them, but I can’t understand what they’re saying.” Selene clutched her head between her hands and swayed. “They’re so loud. I can’t shut them out.” Her hands dropped to her sides and her troubled gaze searched the room until she found the door. “I have to leave.”
Deme wrapped her arm around Selene’s waist. “Go. Get off campus.”
“I’ll go for now, but we need to meet tonight. I want to know who they are and why they’re fighting to get in my head.”
“This damned faucet isn’t working.” Gina slammed her hand against the handle.
“Leave it.” Deme herded her brown-haired sister toward the door. “Selene needs to get out of here.”
Gina jiggled the handle again. “Give me a second. I think I can get this thing—” The handle flew off and water gushed from where it had been, shooting in a four-foot radius around the room.
“Damn, what the hell’s wrong with this place?” Gina slipped on the floor and dropped to her knees, reaching beneath the sink for the shutoff valve.
“I have to go.” Selene staggered toward the door, her eyes squinting and her forehead lined with pain.
Deme opened the door and glanced out into the hallway. “You can go now. The hallway’s clear.” When Selene passed her, she gave her sister’s arm a squeeze. “Be careful.”
As she closed the door behind Selene, Deme turned to the scratching at the window. The vines now choked out the little bit of light. A chill that had nothing to do with being wet or cold shivered across Deme’s skin.
Gina turned the shutoff valve, and the geyser of water slowed to a trickle and finally stopped. She straightened, soaked to the skin, and shook some of the water from her arms. “What just happened?”
“I don’t know, but you’d better go before the Gamma Omega girls come looking for all the commotion.”
Deme checked the hallway and held the door for her sister. “See you tonight. Be safe.”
Once her sisters were gone, Deme closed the door and leaned her back against it, staring at the wreck of her room.
She wasn’t Selene, but she’d felt it, too. As they’d stood in the circle, the air in the room changed as if drawing on their power.
Standing in a puddle of water, the lights dim and the window blocked by ivy, Deme knew with certainty they were dealing with more than just a kidnapper. Aurai was in a lot more trouble than they’d originally thought.
Chapter 4
After Cal left campus, he returned to the Chicago Police Special Investigations Division. Lead investigator Lieutenant Martin Warner had requested his presence. Cal hoped he’d fill him in on the rest of the details he’d left out in the hurried initial briefing that morning.
Cal passed the front desk, waving at the sergeant who manned the telephone. He wove his way through the office cubicles to the rear of the building, where the Special Investigations Team had set up a war room.
Having been on the team all of four hours and twenty-seven minutes, Cal didn’t know anyone but the lieutenant who’d briefed him earlier that morning.
When Cal entered the war room, Marty had his back to the door. He stood with his feet braced wide and his chin resting in his hand, staring at a white board with a thick black horizontal line stretched across the surface. Taped in one corner was a preprinted map of the Colyer-Fenton College campus. Beside the lieutenant, a woman dressed in black leather with long, ink-black hair hanging down to her waist leaned against the edge of the table, her arms crossed over her chest. “Has to be connected,” she said, her voice husky, yet smooth, like milk chocolate-covered gravel.
Marty, as he’d asked Cal to call him, nodded. “Every one of the incidents occurred either on campus or were performed by people who are related to Colyer-Fenton.”
Cal cleared his throat.
Marty spun and faced him. The woman beside him turned more slowly. When she saw who was standing there, her lips curled up on the sides in a devilish smile. “Ah, our detective has arrived.”
Cal’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t remember meeting this woman, but there was something familiar about her. “I’m sorry, I haven’t had the pleasure.” He stuck out his hand. “Cal Black.”
When she took his hand, an odd burst of heat streamed from her hand to his, shooting like an adrenaline burst up his arm and into his chest.
He pulled his hand back quicker than normal, his palm still tingling. “And you are?”
“Brigid.” Her smile grew wider.
Marty clapped Brigid on the back. “Brigid is one of the team.”
“How long have you been on the force?”
“Counting today?” She checked her watch. “Approximately four hours.”
Cal’s gaze shot from her to Marty.
Marty sighed. “It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, she’s been working with the Chicago Police Department for almost a year and demonstrated her…uh…expertise. Mostly with arson investigations, but we have reason to believe she could be of assistance on this team.”
Cal frowned. “Does she understand the risks of working on the Chicago police force?”
Brigid crossed her arms over her chest, her black leather vest creaking, the black nail polish on her fingertips shining. “I can take care of myself, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Do you have a license to carry a weapon?”
“No.”
“Do you even know how to shoot?”
“No.” She glanced at Marty.
“She’s not a trained police officer, Cal.” Marty grinned. “But she has talents that could come in handy on this case and others we’ve seen like it.”
Not until she stared up at him, forcing him to look directly into her eyes, did he realize how intensely blue hers were.
Cal nodded, not entirely sold on Brigid’s so-called talents, but willing to give the lieutenant the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe you can explain to me what exactly the Special Investigations Team does?”
“Yeah.” Brigid sat on the conference table and crossed her legs Indian fashion. “Tell him what we’re up against.”
“That’s just it.” Marty shook his head. “We don’t know what we’re up against. We’ve taken a select few of Chicago’s finest from the police force and a couple detectives like you and a few trusted civilians we’ve worked with in the past…”
Brigid shot a frown at the lieutenant.
The man’s lips twisted. “Okay, one trusted civilian…to form this team.”
Brigid’s frown smoothed.
The lieutenant stared hard into Cal’s eyes. “We get all the cases no one knows what to do with, the ones that don’t make sense, and we try to make sense out of them.”
Brigid snorted in a very unladylike manner, yet in keeping with the black leather, bad-ass persona she’d adopted. “What the lieutenant is trying to say, but isn’t quite nailing, is that we will be investigating the cases involving paranormal activities. Incidents that defy the norm. The quirky, weird, bizarre, uncanny and downright strange occurrences that usually get shoved under the radar because they make people feel too uncomfortable to address.”
“What are you talking about? I thought I was investigating the disappearance of a girl.” Cal reminded himself this girl wasn’t just any girl. She was his ex-girlfriend’s sister.
“And you are,” Marty assured him. “First and foremost, we want to retrieve the missing girl and reunite her with her family.” The lieutenant stared over at Brigid. “While I have both of you here alone, I need to know something.”
“Know what?” Cal demanded.
“I need to know that your connections with the victim’s family members will not get in your way of performing a thorough investigation.”
“What connection?” Cal’s heart beat faster, but he played dumb to the lieutenant’s question. What did Marty know about his relationship with Deme Chattox?
