I’d asked Felipe why so many of my missions involved kids messing with spells and making bad deals with devils and djinns and experimenting with artifacts that animated the skeletons of old pets buried in the backyard. He told me young people were more open to such things, more willing to believe. They also had more time to experiment.
Was that why Alex was using kids? Because they were easier to convince? Or maybe they were just easier to control.
“You know what comes next, right?” asked Annette.
“I’ll make sure Temple and Ronnie don’t have plans for tonight.”
It always struck me as peculiar how often my duties as a Hunter, my sacred duty to seek out and destroy evil, involved breaking into schools.
“Jenny Winter, is that you? It’s been ages. No, I’m not busy. How have you been?”
CHAPTER15
Annette
Salem High School was in the southwest part of town. We parked Ronnie’s mother a block away, not wanting to draw attention to a lone van in the school parking lot. As we approached the building, Temple cast a spell to fritz any security cameras that looked our way, as well as whatever alarm systems the school had in place.
Ronnie was clearly excited about escaping the shop and going on a real mission. He’d donned his trench coat and was carrying his katana sheathed over his back.
Temple was limping more than usual. That could have been from his dust-up with Jenny this morning. He’d changed into black sweatpants and an old flannel over a maroon T-shirt. Tonight’s hat was that narrow-brimmed brown trilby he liked.
Jenny had donned wide-legged pleated pants, comfortable sneakers, and a too-large black zip-up top I was pretty sure she’d swiped from my closet. She walked with purpose, outpacing the rest of us. Her movements were taut with barely contained energy. She’d been quieter than usual since we left the house.
I was especially worried about Jenny. I’d seen her upset, even angry on occasion. I’d never seen her so coldly focused. I distracted myself by giving Ronnie crap about his katana. “We’re lucky you’re here to protect us if we run into an evil night-shift janitor.”
“Lesson one: always be prepared,” he said.
“Lesson two: try not to look like you’re on your way to Comic-Con.”
Lamps on tall posts illuminated the front of the three-story brick building. It was just past eleven, so the school should be empty.
I took my lockpick kit from my purse and dropped to one knee at the front door. A minute later, we were inside.
“Where to?” asked Jenny.
“You’re the Hunter,” I grumbled. But I was the only one who’d been here before. For some reason, neither Jenny nor Temple had wanted to come with me to see the school’s performance ofAladdin. Not even when I told them Morgan was playing Iago.
Their loss. He’d been brilliant.
Jenny sniffed the air. “Smells like sweat and anxiety and cafeteria food.”
In the past, my first step would have been breaking into the main office. Attendance and disciplinary records would give me the names of the students who’d been hospitalized. But these days, everything was on computers. Even if I could bypass user logins and passwords, I’d have to figure out how to use the school’s software.
I went with plan B. “Temple, see if you can find any more of those shoggoth pills.”
“The containment spell on the capsule makes the contents difficult to detect, but I might be able to pick up the containment spell itself.” He removed his hat and reached inside, his arm disappearing to the elbow. He brought out a small brass compass. After replacing his hat, he whispered a Mandarin phrase.
The compass needle spun and glowed with harsh red light. “Interesting.”
“What does red mean?” asked Jenny.
“I’m getting traces of minor summoning and binding magic.” He started down the hall.
We followed his compass past walls lined with lockers and murals and bulletin boards. It brought us to a classroom door with little chemistry-themed posters that had cutesy sayings like,If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitateandHow are the Oxygen and Potassium today? They’re OK.
I made short work of the lock, then opened the door. Slate-topped tables filled most of the room, each with chrome valves and nozzles for Bunsen burners. A large periodic table hung on one wall. There was an emergency eye-washing station, a set of shelves filled with books and folders, and several crudely drawn penises on the nearest lab table...everything you’d expect from a high school chemistry class.
“Over here.” Temple tapped the end of his cane against a locked cabinet in a corner of the room. His compass was significantly brighter.
