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“I will keep a special lookout for you, Megan,” Kasey said, her eyes locked on Megan’s profile.
Suddenly an image popped into my head. The yearbook photo with a giant red X through it.
“Oh good, thanks,” Megan answered, turning to Kasey with a cheery, I’m-nice-to-dumb-kids smile on her face.
Then, almost as if she’d seen a monster standing there instead of my little sister, Megan’s smile vanished, and she took a shaky step backward.
Kasey’s i
Megan touched her hair self-consciously and shot me a bewildered, questioning glance—almost like I’d said something out loud. A moment wobbled between us, and then I shook it off.
“Come on, Kasey,” I said, grabbing her arm. “I’m sure Megan has more important things to worry about.”
“I have to go,” Megan said abruptly, and disappeared around the other side of the float.
As soon as we were out of the gym, I turned to my sister.
“Don’t you dare,” I said. “Whatever you’re pla
Kasey smiled brightly. “I must go,” she said, and turned around and started walking away.
I followed her.
“Kasey!” I said.
She stopped, but didn’t turn around. I had to circle around in front of her to see her face. “I mean it,” I said.
“See you after school,” she said, resting her hand on mine for a split second before I backed away. Then she stepped to the side and walked off past me. I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to watch her go.
Something moved next to the gym and caught my attention. I looked up to see Megan Wiley hovering, almost hidden, around the far corner. Watching me. No—watching Kasey.
I turned and found myself face-to-face with the security guard. His name was Hal. I knew him too well. I’m sure he felt the same about me.
“Hey, you’re bleeding,” Hal said.
I looked down at my hand, where Kasey had touched me.
It was a mess of shallow cuts.
“Oh that,” I said. “I have to get back to homeroom.” And I walked away.
My mind ablaze with these latest horrors, I did what any high school student does in the face of a major crisis: I went to class.
First, second, and third period were fine, apart from my aching hand, the nagging fear of what would be waiting for me when I got home, and the feeling that everyone was staring at me. Pretty much the usual. I tried to pay attention to the class work to keep my mind off of prison and the idea that Kasey might be pla
No way could I talk to Mom about it. I debated going to Mrs. Ames, but I didn’t think she’d believe me either.
No one would believe me. It was unbelievable. That was my problem.
But when I got to fourth period, who should be standing in the doorway but Megan herself. I saw her from all the way down the hall, searching the crowded corridor. I tried to mentally will her not to be looking for me, but she stepped into my path before I could get by.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“No thanks,” I said, trying to go around her.
“I mean it, Alexis,” she said, her voice low.
She grabbed my elbow and pushed me away from the classroom. I followed her into the girls’ bathroom, where she spun on me.
“Something is wrong with your sister,” she said.
Somehow I’d suspected this was coming, and at the same time I felt like she’d poured a glass of ice water on my head.
“She’s acting weird, right?”
I looked at Megan. She really looked like the popular kid straight out of a Hollywood movie. Even her teeth were sparkling white.
“Not really,” I lied.
She narrowed her eyes. “We’ve never been friends—” “Yeah, and I’m sure it breaks your heart,” I said,
which was what a person like me was supposed to say to a person like her (in the movie version, at least).
“But right now I’m telling you that something is definitely off with her. What’s her name? Kayli?”
“Her name is Kasey.” My stomach turned.
I expected her to say, “Pepper Laird is right and your sister is a psycho, and oh, by the way, she seems to be pla
Instead she said, “Please don’t think I’m crazy.”
“Why would I think you’re crazy?” I’d been there when Kasey went all Children of the Corn on her.
I saw a spark in her brown eyes that seemed to be a glimmer of hope. “Alexis, I have a sense for this stuff, okay? All my life I could tell when something was—”
Suddenly I had a mental image of Pepper and Megan plotting against Kasey. I mean, so what if Pepper was right? Maybe Kasey was crazy. That was still no reason to release the cheerleaders on her. Maybe Mimi and Pepper and Megan were working together, and the whole thing was one giant conspiracy.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t really think it’s your business that my little sister is eccentric.”
“Eccentric?” Megan said. She looked genuinely surprised. “Alexis…your little sister is possessed.”
I had to put my hand on the sink to keep from toppling over onto the grimy tile floor.
“Like ghost, demon, dark side, Voldemort,” Megan went on. “Has there been anything strange going on at your house lately?”
I shook my head.
“Like weird noises, or sounds, or smells, or pockets of cold or hot air—”
“No! Stop!” I cried, although of course there’d been noises, sounds, smells, cold air. All of those things.
“Has Kasey had any blackouts? Has she—” Megan went pale. “Did she have something to do with your father’s accident?”
“What my sister does at home is private!” I said.
But I couldn’t get up the energy to say anything else.
“I felt it,” Megan said. “Like, in my body. When your little sister was in the gym.”
To be honest, she was freaking me out a little. Maybe…maybe if she really was serious, she could help somehow. Maybe she knew how to fix Kasey.
Or maybe she would tell the cheerleaders that she’d played a huge trick on me and I fell for it, and I would be a total laughingstock.
“How nice for you. I’m going to class,” I said, heading out of the bathroom.
Megan matched my pace.
“You can’t pretend you didn’t see it,” she said. Ha. Shows what she knew. I could be a very good pretender.
We got to the classroom, and I reached for the door. She placed the flat of her hand on the door and held it shut.
“It could get bad,” she said.
She looked at me with her lips pressed together, her eyes wide and solemn. No trace of perkiness on her face. “It’s my problem,” I said. “Not yours.” “But I want to help.”
“You don’t have to worry. I’ll stop her. I won’t let her hurt you.”
Megan drew back, her eyes wide. “Hurt me?” Whoops.
“Why would she—”
The door swung open. Megan had to jump back to keep from getting hit.
“Were you two thinking of possibly joining us?” the teacher asked.
Megan and I slipped through the aisles to our desks, but I glanced up and saw her watching me, and I knew our discussion wasn’t over.
After class I slinked into the library to avoid ru
It wasn’t that I believed Megan, but…I just had to see for myself.
I went to the bank of computers with Internet access and did a search on possession. The screen went bright blue with a block of white text that said, “RESULTS RESTRICTED.” “Exorcism,” “ghost,” and “poltergeist” produced the same answer.
Then I wandered through the shelves, completely unable to find any books that had anything to do with evil sisters.
Finally I went to the librarian’s desk and asked her straight-out where I should look for books about demonic possession. The look on her face clearly said it was just what she’d expect from someone like me.