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"Night, Soph"

I stared at the slanting ceiling, hts: Archer, Elodie and Anna, Jenna, that conversation with Call by the pond I fell asleep wondering if Archer kneas about to becoinity

I didn't knohat ti at the foot of , that there was no way this could be real

Then she gave a exasperated sigh and, in a British accent, said,

"Sophia Mercer What trouble you've been"

CHAPTER 21

I sat up in bed, blinking

It was the girl I'd been seeing since I'd started at Hecate, but she didn't look anything like a ghost; she looked veryone perfect eyebrow "Are you colanced over at Jenna All I could make out was a dark lu, I knew she was still asleep

The girl followed aze "Oh, don't worry about her," she said with a dismissive wave "She won't wake up and sound the alarm No one will; I've taken care of that"

Before I could ask what she meant, she turned and swept out the door

I sat frozen until she reappeared in the doorway and said, "Oh, for Christ's sake, Sophia, let's go!"

Now, I knew that following a ghost was a Very Bad Idea Everything in my body said that My skin felt cla offup to her at the top of the stairs

"Good," she said "We have a lot of work to do and not much time"

"Who are you?" I whispered

She flashed ain "I told you, you don't have to whisper No one can hear us"

She stopped on the stairs and threw her head back, shouting,

"Casnoff! Vandy! Sophia Mercer is out of bed and up to hooooooooooost!"

I instinctively crouched down "Shhhh!"

But just as she'd pron that anyone had heard her The only sound was the randfather clock in the

"See?" she said, turning to "

She ran down the last few steps, and before I knew it, ere outside on the front lawn The night was cool and darass squished unpleasantly under rass and noticed that reen Then I noticed I could see h there was no asped The whole house was encased in a huge opalescent bubble that gliht The bubble was in constant reen sparks I had never seen anything like it; never even read about a spell like that

"Ily "It's a basic sleeping spell that renders the victims totally insensible to the world for at least four hours

I justenlarged it"

I didn't like the way she said "victims"

"Are theyare they okay?"

"Oh, perfectly safe," she answered "Just sleeping Like in a fairy tale"

"ButMrs Casnoff has spells all over the place No one could just coirl said Then she grabbed my hand Hers was as solid and real as hosts couldn't touch us

But before I could ask, the girl started pulling o anywhere with you until I knoho you are and what you're doing here Why have you been following hed "Oh, Sophia, I had hoped you were a little more perceptive Isn't it obvious who I areen cardigan

Her hair was shoulder length, curly, and held back fro down, I saw that she earing heinous brown shoes I felt a little sorry for her: ghost or no, no one should have to go through eternity in ugly shoes

But then I looked into her eyes They were large and wide set, and even though the green light was reflected in them, I could tell that they were blue

My eyes

British, from the forties, and had my eyes

"Alice?" I asked, my heart in my throat