Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE
Remember, a voice whispered.
It woke Jesse Rodriguez out of a dead sleep. He shivered and pulled a warm blanket tightly around his body.
Remember, the voice said again.
He didn't recognize the voice because it was only an urgent whisper, repeating the word over and over again in his mind.
"What the hell?" He wondered aloud. "Remember what?"
Remember! You must remember. The whisper seemed to be screaming now, becoming much more urgent with every passing moment. If you don't, all will be lost.
"No pressure, right?" Jesse asked sarcastically.
He shook his head, trying to make the voice disappear. He stood up and walked out of his room and into the bathroom. He turned the light on and shut the door, gripping the sink and staring at his reflection in the mirror.
Jesse, the voice whispered. You must remember. Her life depends on it. Everyone's lives depend on it.
"So what, my memory holds the key to the apocalypse? Is this about Aideen or something?" Jesse wondered aloud. His ex-girlfriend, Aideen Phillips, was an extremely powerful witch, vampire, and necromancer whose death could very well bring about the end of the world. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had received a message to save her or lose everything.
Not this time, the voice said. You have to remember. You have to stop this. You must save her.
"Who is this person that I have to save?" Jesse demanded.
She is everything. She is the key.
"The key to what?" Jesse snapped. He was getting irritated by the cryptic messages now.
The battle. She tips the scales. She is too powerful, too valuable to be allowed to escape.
"Okay, you are starting to piss me off, Voice. I'm not even a telepath, so what the hell am I hearing voices for?"
Remember, Jesse. Remember everything.
The voice vanished as a knock came on the bathroom door. Jesse opened it up and saw Melissa Morgan standing on the other side. She lived with him because she was Alex Paxton's other "stray kid." He'd taken her in nearly a year ago. Alex had had custody of Jesse for a little bit longer than that, but Jesse viewed Melissa as a sister and tried to look out for her.
"Who were you talking to?" Melissa asked him, stifling a yawn. Her long red hair was disheveled and her green eyes were bloodshot.
"Bad night, Melissa?" Jesse asked.
"I asked you first," she pointed out.
"No one... Just the voices in my head. Your turn."
"Sleep is for slackers," Melissa replied with a grin.
"You're having nightmares again, aren't you?" Jesse asked in concern.
Melissa shrugged. "Don't worry about me, Puppy Boy. At least I'm not fighting with the voices in my head." She patted him on the head, briefly triggering Jesse's wolf to the surface. He was a polywere, but the wolf was his most dominant beast and was the only one people really got to see. Melissa affectionately called him "Puppy Boy" because she liked to tease his wolf.
"Melissa, seriously, what's the matter?" Jesse asked.
"I'm fine. I just have nightmares sometimes. It comes with the territory. Flashbacks are normal for me, and the fact that my uncle was raised as a zombie and tried to kill me last month doesn't really help. It just brought a lot of things back up. I'll be okay, Jess."
"If you need to talk... Look, I'm not great at giving advice, but I can listen."
"Thanks, but I'm fine."
"You know, if you're having issues sleeping, you could call Arnie or Deenie. They're both really good at putting people into deep sleeps."
"I'd rather not. One, I don't want to bother them and, two, they really don't need to see how neurotic I'm getting."
"Join the club."
The door to Alex's bedroom opened up and he stepped into the hallway. "What are you guys doing up?" He asked. "It's four in the morning."
"The voices in Jesse's head woke me up," Melissa replied cheerfully.
"Do I want to know?" Alex asked.
"Probably not," Jesse replied.
"Well, go back to bed. You both have to get up for school in a little while. Melissa, have you slept at all?" He looked at her with concern.
"Not for long periods of time, but yeah, I've slept," she replied. "It's just one of those nights."
"Well, try to rest a bit more before class. I'll see you both at a slightly saner hour." Alex closed his door and went back to bed.
"He gave up too easily," Jesse said.
"He was out slaying all night. He just got back about half an hour ago," Melissa explained.
"Wow. I don't envy him."
"So what did it say?" Melissa asked.
"Huh?" Jesse replied in confusion.
"The voice. What did it say?"
Jesse was suddenly uncomfortable. "It just said 'remember.' I have no idea what it was talking about."
"I guess you forgot," Melissa replied with a laugh.
Jesse shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
"I'm not going to bother trying to sleep anymore tonight. I think I'll curl up with a bad horror movie to take my mind off of our bad horror movie lives."
"How will it distract you from our lives if they're a bad horror movie, too?"
"The bad guys in the movies are hotter, funnier, and smarter than ours. Besides, it would be nice to watch fake people get slaughtered instead of real ones for a change."
"Sounds like a plan. Can I join you?"
"Sure. Company rocks and you're warm and cozy to snuggle up with. Popcorn?"
"Definitely," Jesse decided.
"Awesome. Follow me," Melissa replied.
When the popcorn was ready and the movie was set up, Melissa and Jesse easily fell into position on the couch, with Melissa leaning against Jesse and holding the popcorn bowl. If they couldn't escape from their problems, they could at least forget about them for a little bit.
Remember? Jesse thought bitterly. I'm pretty sure I'd rather not.
~*~
There's something in the mirror, a voice whispered. Jade Collins glared at the pale girl with short black hair that was staring back at her.
"Yeah," Jade said dryly. "It's called a reflection."
There's something in the mirror, the whisper insisted.
"Alright, listen... It's six in the morning, I'm half asleep, and I really don't want to deal with cryptic messages before school," Jade said firmly. "Either tell me what's in the mirror, or I blow you up. It's your choice."
The voice stopped talking. Satisfied, Jade stepped into the shower and struggled to wake herself up. She was not a morning person in any sense of the word. She hated getting up early, but she had responsibilities. Between school and her job at the Supernatural Phenomenon Investigational Unit, she was pretty busy. Add on top of that the problems that came with being a member of the Silver Society and she had no free time. As it was, she had to split a body off to spend time with her nearly three-year-old son, Joey. He was the most important person in her universe, followed closely by Bethany Ashford, the extremely empathic girl who morphed into a warrior Goddess randomly and who was Jade's very unlikely best friend and roommate.
A scream came from outside of the bathroom and Jade immediately jumped out of the shower, pulled on her black bathrobe, and ran toward the sound. She was ready to hex on sight when she arrived at Beth's bedroom, but she relaxed slightly when she saw that Beth was in her bed screaming at the top of her lungs. She was still asleep.
Examining her for wounds and finding none, Jade quickly ruled out an empathic issue. She gently shook Beth awake. Beth continued to scream as though someone was trying to kill her.
"Beth, calm down," Jade said firmly. "Whatever it was, it's over. It was just a dream."
"They were after me..." Beth mumbled as she started to snap out of the nightmare.
"Who was?" Jade asked.
"The warlocks. No matter what I did, I couldn't turn on the warrior Goddess. I just kept getting attacked, and I couldn't do anything to fight back. It was so scary, Jade. It felt so real."
"It was just a nightmare, Beth. It's okay now. You may not have control over it yet, but when it comes down to a battle, your warrior side usually kicks in."
"It was like I was that helpless freshman from last year again... I was powerless and useless. I can't go back to being that girl, Jade."
"You won't, Beth. You're stronger now."
"You're soaking wet," Beth said, suddenly noticing that Jade was dripping water onto her arm.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I heard screaming and thought that someone broke in or something."
"I'm sorry I pulled you out of the shower."
"I was done anyway. If there was shampoo in my hair, I might have been more annoyed. Besides, you can't control nightmares. I've certainly had enough of them."
"You're traumatized. The cult memories hit sometimes. It's a good reason for bad dreams."
"You're traumatized, too," Jade pointed out. "Your parents tried to kill you less than a year ago, Beth. That would leave anyone with nightmares. I'm surprised you don't have more of them, honestly."
Beth took a deep breath. "Go dry off before Joey wakes up. I'm just glad I didn't wake him," she said.
"He's a sound sleeper," Jade replied. "If you'd actually been in danger, though, he probably would have woken up. He senses things like that."
A tiny mew came from beneath Beth's bed. Bastet, Jade's black kitten, crawled out, stretched, and curled up in Beth's lap. "Apparently, Bastet was worried," Beth said.
"No, she just hates sleeping alone and I was already up," Jade replied with a laugh. Bastet rubbed her head against Jade's hand and purred peacefully. "I'll see you in the kitchen in a few. I need to get dressed and wake Joey up."
Beth sat petting Bastet absentmindedly for a moment before she stood and walked toward the mirror. She stared at her straight blonde hair. It had started to grow back toward her shoulders, where she had previously kept it. Almost a year earlier, during a bit of a nervous breakdown, she'd hacked most of it off. She was starting to look more like the girl she'd been the year before, and she wasn't entirely sure that she liked it. Maybe she'd ask Aideen to cut her hair for her.
"You are not weak," her reflection said to her.
Beth jumped, startled. Her reflection's lips had moved, and she'd heard her voice, but she was definitely not the one who had spoken.
"What the heck?" She asked aloud. "My imagination's running away with me again..."
"You are so much more powerful than you give yourself credit for, Bethany," her reflection insisted.
"I am?" Beth asked softly.
"I can show you if you like." Her reflection extended a hand toward her.
Before she even realized what she was doing, Beth began reaching toward her reflection. Bastet suddenly raced to her side. She stood with her back arched and claws out as she began hissing at the mirror, swatting at it without actually touching the glass.
"Bastet, what's the matter?" Beth asked in confusion. She bent down and scooped Bastet up in her arms. The kitten continued hissing as if at some terrible threat.
Beth cooed softly and tried to soothe Bastet, but nothing worked until she left the room with her. Bastet suddenly stopped hissing and rubbed her head against Beth's shoulder. Beth put her down on the floor and shook her head.
"What the heck was that about?" She wondered aloud. Shrugging, she headed toward the kitchen for breakfast.
~*~
The current Bishop High School chapter of the Erica Vitti Society was gathered in a classroom before first period. Arthur White was not thrilled with the hour.
"Don't we spend enough time together already?" He asked. "Do we really need to have morning meetings, too?"
"Shut up, Arthur," Stephanie Preston said. She was tall, with a mass of brown curls framing her elfish face. She glared at Arthur with her angry brown eyes and frowned.
"Yes, Madame President," Arthur mumbled under his breath.
"Just because you're the only loser who survived from last year's chapter doesn't mean that anyone actually cares what you think," Gregory Holden informed him. His short blond hair was perfectly groomed and his clothes could not have been more preppy. Gregory- never Greg- was the new vice president of the E.V.S. He reminded Arthur eerily of its former president, Hugo Becker. Secretly, he hoped that Gregory would meet with the same fate Hugo had, and he smiled to himself at the visual.
"Yeah, you're only here because you're a legacy," Amanda Vanderlane added. Amanda, the club's secretary, had long blonde hair that did not hold the slightest hint of a wave. Her eyes, in contrast, were black.
Just like her soul, Arthur thought to himself.
"We all are," Chad Ko, the treasurer, reminded her. He was Korean, Chinese, and European, making him the most ethnic of the current members, and had black hair held perfectly in place by hairspray and dark brown eyes that were currently framed by gold glitter. "And as the best legacies currently enrolled in the school, we're also the club's officers. Except, of course, for this underachiever." He motioned toward Arthur.
"Underachiever, slacker, call me what you will," Arthur replied casually. He was used to the taunts of the new E.V.S. members. They had only had a few casual meetings so far, but he was already sick of them.
"Let's stop wasting time on Arthur and focus on what's important," Stephanie said. "It's finally time to recruit our new members for the year. I sent the invitations out yesterday."
"Did you invite all of the legacies, or just the best of the best?" Amanda asked.
"Only the best, of course."
"Not all of the best," Gregory replied.
"You can't possibly be suggesting that I invite the two people who destroyed the E.V.S. last year to join again," Stephanie said.
"Thomasina West is incredibly powerful, and so is Jesse Rodriguez."
"Jesse mauled two of the former officers! Witnessing what he did drove the former vice president insane! Lydia Blaire is still in an institution!"
"We need their power levels, Stephanie," Gregory insisted.
"We need to keep our pulses," Stephanie countered.
"At least invite Thomasina. What's the harm in asking her to join?"
"Jesse thinks of himself as her protector. He'll attack us if we try to recruit her."
"Besides, we don't need trash like that in our group," Chad added. "That's where the last chapter went wrong. They weren't nearly exclusive enough."
"We already have our token diversity pledge. We've got our own personal lazy, powerless, pathetic loser," Amanda said, looking at Arthur.
"I'd take offense to that if I actually gave a damn," Arthur replied dryly.
"Why do you even bother showing up to these meetings, Arthur? No one wants you here," Stephanie said.
"My daddy makes me. Next question?"
"You're pathetic."
"Thank you."
"Whatever." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "So, we're holding a meeting this afternoon with the new members. I expect all of you to be in attendance and be at your best. First impressions count, and some of them don't know what this organization is really about."
"So we're going to feed them a load of B.S. about community service and bettering ourselves, right?" Arthur asked. "Yeah, they'll fall for that at first, until members start disappearing. That's when people usually wise up and stop believing that crap."
"You know, no one would be upset if you quit, Arthur. We'd even let you live," Gregory informed him.
Arthur smiled wickedly and spoke slowly and deliberately. "Listen, Gregikins, I'm not quitting. I'm also the only member from last year's chapter, making me the senior ranking member in this group, and if I wanted to, I could file to be the president. I may not be trying to take over the E.V.S, and I may not even want to be here, but you'd better get one thing straight; I am not someone you can just push around and scare with death threats and not-so-subtle hints. I'm here, I'm staying, and you'd better let me stay off to the sidelines, because if I decide to take an active role, you're all screwed." He plastered an unpleasant smile on his face and watched the others react to his words.
They knew it was true, but they hadn't expected him to say it. Warlocks played the dominance game almost like werewolves, and Arthur had just shown them that he was actually Alpha material. They would not question him again, at least not for a little while.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Stephanie cleared her throat and said, "By the way, the little plan I mentioned has officially been set in motion thanks to the spell we cast last night. The veil has already thinned significantly, and our dimension is touching the other."
"Why the hell are we trying to connect to Mirror?" Gregory asked.
"My mother tells me that we can find allies there."
"What if someone notices before we find them?" Amanda asked nervously.
"They can't undo what we did. The veil will remain thin until we break the spell."
"Yeah," Arthur mumbled, "because nothing could possibly go wrong with an experiment like that!"
He had a feeling they were in for an interesting semester.
