“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
