Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter Page B

She decided
that she definitely didn’t want to be there anymore. She took the
rest of the stairs two at a time and brushed past Rachel and
Cy.
    He ran after her and caught her by the arm.
“Mary, what’s up?”
    She flung his arm off. “I’m leaving. That should
make you and your brother happy.”
    “ Did Kyle threaten you or something?” he
asked. His tone caught her attention. He hadn’t asked lightly. He
sounded concerned, and the concern was aimed at her.
    “ He told me to leave.”
    “ What else?”
    His persistence was making her nervous. He
sounded worried for her, but that couldn’t be right. He didn’t want
her in his house either. Why was he insisting on questioning her
about Kyle? “He told me to never come over again.”
    “ And?”
    “ And nothing! I have to go. Rach, come
on.” Rachel grabbed her garlic and stakes from the kitchen and
followed her out.
    They were halfway to Mary’s house before Rachel
spoke. “So how’s Ricky?”
    “ No clue.”
    Rachel pulled the car over abruptly. She undid
her seat belt and turned fully to face Mary. “What happened in the
basement?” she demanded.
    She shrugged. “Nothing happened.”
    “ Don’t shut me out on this. We’re a
team.”
    “ There’s nothing to tell.” Rachel glared
at her. She hunched her shoulders and put her hands up. “I didn’t
hear anything. Believe me, I tried to find him. Ricky didn’t want
to talk.”
    “ He talked to you plenty when we sneaked
over. He practically hauled you into the basement to ‘talk’ to
you.”
    “ He didn’t make a peep this time, even
after I called him a piece of feces.”
    "A piece of feces?"
    "I like the way it sounds, so?"
    “ Where’s the anchor?”
    “ I have no clue. If it’s down there, it’s
hidden.”
    “ So why’d you tear out of
there?”
    Mary scowled. “Because Kyle is a jerk.”
    “ We knew that already.”
    “ Yeah, well, he really, really
is.”
    “ So what’d Ricky say?”
    “ He didn’t say anything!”
    Rachel gave her a hard look. “You’re not going
to go over there without me, are you?”
    She didn’t have an immediate answer. The truth
was that she hadn’t thought about going over again, or what her
next move would be if she had a next move. “No, of course not,” she
finally stammered.
    Rachel hadn’t liked her pause. “Whatever you
say, Mary,” she said in a flat tone. She turned back toward the
steering wheel and pulled back onto the street. Mary could see her
jaw was clenched. What was with people not believing her today? He
didn’t believe his house was haunted, and now Rachel didn’t believe
her when she told her that the spook hadn’t spoken to her or that
she wouldn’t do anything without her.
    When they pulled up to her house, Mary opened
her door, but she couldn’t get out without trying to convince
Rachel one more time that she was telling the truth. “I really
didn’t hear Ricky. I don’t know why. Maybe he knew I was up to
something. I’ll have to come up with a new plan to get rid of
him.”
    “ Look, if you don’t want to tell me, fine,
but don’t think you’re going to shut me out on this,” Rachel
said.
    She raised her hands again. “I’m not shutting
you out. I swear.” Rachel looked at her for a long moment and then
nodded her head once. “Are we cool?”
    It hurt a little that Rachel had to think about
it before answering. They were usually always in sync. “Yeah. So
what’s our next move?”
    She shrugged. “I’ll talk to Gran. See if we can
make up some charms or something to put in the house.”
    “ Okay,” she said. Mary could tell that
Rachel still thought she was holding back on what had happened, but
nothing had happened, except Kyle had majorly pissed her off, and
she could admit, at least to herself, that he’d freaked her out a
little too. If she never saw him again, she wouldn’t miss him. She
shook her head. She got out and went into the house. She needed to
discuss the situation with Gran.