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Chapter 229
Leesa swung the Ford to the curb about half a block down the street from the entrance to her dorm. She would return the car to the rental company tomorrow; all she wanted to do right now was take a shower and lie down. She was not even certain which of the two she wanted to do more—maybe she would just lie down in the shower! There was something she had to do first, though.
Twilight was deepening into dusk as she limped up the sidewalk toward her dorm. The evening was growing cold, so she hugged her arms across her chest as she walked. She was glad she had nabbed a parking space so close to the dorm.
Inside, Leesa spotted one of her dormmates, a girl named Missi, waiting for the elevator. Leesa walked over to join her. More often than not Leesa used the stairs, but she was tired and with Missi having already pressed the up button the car should be there quickly. Leesa didn’t know Missi very well—really just to say “hi” to when Missi droppe
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 230
Cali turned the music down low and sat on the bed, scooting backward until her back rested against the wall. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins.“Okay. I’m all ears.”Leesa took a moment deciding where to start—there was so much to tell. She decided to begin with something that Cali already knew a little bit about.“You know how a couple of my dreams came true?” she asked. “And how I can sometimes move things with my mind?”Cali could still picture the vampire Edwina flying backward away from her, somehow propelled by Leesa’s anger.“Yeah, sure. How could I ever forget that?”“Well, it turns out I can do a lot more than just that.”“Really? Like what?”“I’ll tell you in a minute. But first, I need to tell you a little story.”Leesa told Cali about the waziri, and how some of th
Leesa's Advent Chapter 231
Back upstairs in her room, Leesa stripped out of her grimy clothes and tossed them into the canvas hamper at the bottom of her closet. She put on her comfy terrycloth robe and rubber flip-flops, grabbed her shower kit, and limped down the hallway to the communal showers at the far end of the corridor. At this hour of the day, she had the place all to herself, which was just fine with her.The sixteen girls on her floor shared five showers, each one separated by a red plastic curtain attached to a curved metal ring suspended from the ceiling. Leesa took off her robe and hung it carefully on the chrome hook behind the stall farthest from the door—she had learned from experience that things sometimes slipped off the hooks if you weren’t careful. The floor looked clean and dry now, but that did not mean it was going to stay that way. She pulled the shower curtain closed and turned on the water, standing off to the side while the water warmed up. The hot water heaters
Leesa's Advent Chapter 232
Leesa woke up again a little after six o’clock the next morning. Her room was still dark—the sun would not be rising for some time yet. While she still didn’t feel great, she was much more refreshed and alert than when she had awakened at midnight, for which she was profoundly grateful. She could not recall what had disturbed her so much then, but suspected it must have been a dream. She spent a moment trying to remember it, but it was gone. Oh well, she thought, if it was important, it will come back—she hoped.Pushing her covers aside, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. For a few moments she just sat there in the darkness, gently rolling her neck and stretching her arms and shoulders before finally standing up. She flicked on the overhead light and donned her robe, then risked a glance into the mirror.She grimaced at what she saw, which made her reflection even more unpalatable. Her hair was a tangled, snarly mess, and a pair of dar
Leesa's Advent Chapter 233
Later that afternoon, Cali was sitting at her desk studying when she heard a firm, staccato knock on the doorframe of her open door. She turned around to see two men in dark blue suits with black ties framed in the doorway. They were each tall and well-built, with short, but not quite military style haircuts. Both had light brown hair. Cali guessed they were somewhere in their late thirties or early forties—about the same age as her dad. They didn’t look quite enough like each other to be brothers, but they were close. More importantly, they looked like cops. No, she thought, not cops—more like FBI agents or something. Behind the two men stood a woman, but Cali could barely see her past the men’s bulk. All Cali could tell was that she was wearing a pants suit just a shade lighter than her companions, and that her shiny black hair was pulled back tight against her skull.Cali wondered what the men wanted. She didn’t do drugs, so it was doubtful th
Leesa's Advent Chapter 234
“No, you’re not,” Jones said. “It turns out there are no laws on the books about killing zombies—who’d have guessed?”“We’re just trying to gather as much information as we can about what happened,” Smith said. “Where those things came from, why they chose your dorm, anything like that.”Cali was struck by the thought that if the BSI guys had come yesterday afternoon, she would not have had a clue to any of those answers. After last night, though, when Leesa had shared her full story, Cali now knew about the Necromancer and the black waziri. She was not about to tell any of that to these agents, though. She hoped their arrival today was just coincidence and nothing more.“I’m sorry I don’t know more,” she said. “There was just so much going on—kids running and screaming, the fire extinguisher blasting—I just never got a clear picture of anything.&rdq
Leesa's Advent Chapter 235
When Leesa returned to her room after her last class, she found Cali sitting on the floor alongside the door, waiting for her. This was never a good sign—since Cali lived only one floor down, she could have easily just left a note on the door and returned to the comfort of her room to wait. Obviously, whatever was going on was important enough that she wanted to talk to Leesa as soon as possible. Leesa hoped it wasn’t anything that was going to get in the way of her being a normal student for awhile, but doubted she was going to be that lucky.Cali scrambled to her feet as soon as she saw Leesa emerge from the stairwell.“Hey, Cali,” Leesa said as she fished inside the pocket of her jeans for her keys. “What’s up?”“Not out here,” Cali said, her voice low, yet urgent. “Inside.”Leesa’s sense of foreboding grew as she inserted her key into the lock and pushed the door open. She stepped
Leesa's Advent Chapter 236
After dinner, Leesa and Cali bundled up and headed out from the dorm. The night air was cool, and a chill wind blowing out of the northwest made it feel even colder. Leesa wondered if there might be a storm on the way. It was getting late in the year for snow, but her friends had told her that every now and then New England got walloped by a March blizzard. Dominic would know if a storm was coming—he was better than any weather computer when it came to forecasting snow or rain—but predicting the weather was one of many wizard tricks Leesa had not yet even begun to learn. She wondered if her book of magic, which was tucked safely in the backpack slung over her shoulders right now, had anything about weather forecasting in it. Even if it did, she imagined that particular skill would be pretty far down on any list of priorities for some time yet.She tugged her dark blue knit ski cap farther down over her ears and trudged on into the wind. Beside her, Cali already ha
Leesa's Advent Chapter 237
Leesa had to admit, this was about as private a spot as she could imagine anywhere on campus. The fact that it sat atop a bustling library made it even better.“It does seem perfect,” she said.She took off her coat and hung it over the back of her chair. Cali did likewise.“Okay,” Cali said, smiling. “I want to see some magic. Show me what you got.”Leesa was glad to have Cali here with her. Ever since her magic had become diminished, practicing had been becoming more and more boring. It had been more fun when Jenna had added her magic to Leesa’s, but Leesa wasn’t sure when or if that would ever happen again. Both she and Jenna were likely to be a bit uncomfortable around each other for awhile.Cali would be an appreciative audience, Leesa knew. She just wished her powers were at full strength, so she could really show off. Still, Cali loved everything magical and supernatural, and she was bound to b
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