Trace of Evil by Alice Blanchard

Author:Alice Blanchard [Alice Blanchard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

27

Natalie struggled to keep her emotions in check as she navigated her way through the school corridors, while a barrage of metal lockers banged open and shut. Pop, pop, pop. It sounded like gunshots.

She pushed through the heavy exit doors and crossed the athletic field toward the field house, where the ball courts and pool house were located. Natalie remembered coming here with Willow to watch Grace compete for the state championship in the butterfly stroke, which Grace specialized in. There was no utilitarian purpose for the butterfly stroke—it was hard to learn and quickly exhausting—but Grace had mastered the powerful, dolphin-like movements through the water, and she was devastated when she’d earned only second place. But Willow had told her, “A winner is just a former loser who never gives up.”

Outside, the midafternoon sun filtered down through the canopy of newly green leaves. Inside, the gymnasium’s high-gloss hardwood floors squeaked beneath a barrage of reversals and assists from the girls’ sophomore basketball team. They rammed their skinny, aggressive bodies into one another, trying to steal the ball. Two teams of feisty young athletes, darting back and forth. Jumping and scoring.

About a dozen more girls sat on the collapsible bleachers, cheering their teammates on. Now the coach blew her whistle and said, “Nice job, ladies. Next time we’ll focus on jump shots. Okay, everyone to the showers.”

They spilled out of the gym like a basketful of apples.

Natalie waved at Ellie, who came running over, her heart-shaped face beaded with sweat. “Aunt Natalie, what are you doing here?”

She handed Ellie the scarab bracelet. “I think this belongs to you.”

“Oh my gosh!” She laughed excitedly and put it on. She admired it for a moment, and then said, “Thanks so much! Where’d you find it?”

“India had it.”

The girl’s mouth dropped open.

“She was conducting a séance in the woods yesterday.”

Ellie squinted at her aunt as if she were trying to read between the lines. “She was?” she asked in a small voice.

“You, India, Berkley, and Sadie—is that the coven you were talking about?”

She nodded.

“Then why was Angela Sandhill there yesterday, instead of you?”

“Because,” she said softly, “I quit.”

“You quit the coven?” Natalie drew back. “Since when?”

Ellie glanced across the echoey gymnasium toward the locker room door. They could hear distant, mocking laughter. Teenage girls never changed, Natalie thought. Only the target of their revolving-door cruelty did.

“Why did you quit the coven, Ellie?”

Her face fell. She seemed to recognize the depth of Natalie’s concern and hardened herself against it. “I really don’t want to be late for my next class.”

“Ellie, I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. Can you help me out here?”

She bowed her head. “I can’t,” she mumbled.

Ellie used to love watching Gilmore Girls, Friends, I Love Lucy reruns, Nick at Nite. She used to daydream about owning a pony. She’d loved each and every one of her stuffed animals. None of that was true anymore.

“I’m not judging you, okay?” Natalie assured her. “I’m sure your mother has told you about some of the crazy stunts she pulled off in her youth.

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