and speeding us out of there before Astor even looked up from his panty paradise. Oh man, I hoped he didn't move onto my pantie drawer next. Probably not, I didn't really give off the pretty lace and silk underwear kind of impression, and that was obviously what he was into. Plus, he intended to finish me off, so I was probably safe from his panty sniffing.
As soon as we got clear of the building, Nikolai burst into laugher.
"Did you see that guy sniffing those panties? Oh, that was classic! What a pervert!"
I was less amused. Well, only slightly though, because I'd known Astor was a jerk but now I knew he was a panty-sniffing jerk.
"Did you miss the part where he was the one behind the spell?" I asked. "And not working alone. We need to tell the others."
But man it bugged me that I'd been outsmarted by Astor, of all people. The panty-sniffing jerk.
Chapter 11
I'd thought maybe the others would rub it in, that I'd been cursed by a jerkhead like Astor, but they were surprisingly sympathetic. Even Tennyson Wilde didn't comment on it.
"He should be easy enough to blackmail or cajole," he said. "I'll have my people look into his background and I'll speak to him tomorrow. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly and efficiently."
"If we can trace his phone records then we might find the person behind it all as well," said Althea. "You can't go and confront him at the pool, it's obviously a trap."
"We should steal his phone," I said. "He was obviously talking to them through an app because there's no cell signal here, so if we stole his phone we could access all his contacts."
"We won't need to," said Tennyson Wilde, dismissing me. "It will be easier to confront them at the pool. Even if they know we are coming we have the advantage of numbers." His word seemed final and nobody else argued with him.
As they all drifted off to bed, I got to thinking. I'd been so sure it had been Fatima. Maybe I was wrong about other things too. I'd assumed the bullying and the curse weren't related, or only arbitrarily so, but things kept cropping up to make that seem unlikely. Sam had left me his tablet, so I opened up Facebook and searched for the fake Lucy account. Olivia and Charlotte had said I'd posted on the day I was shrunk. "Taking a small vacation" it said. I didn't know the exact time the spell took hold but the status was posted around the same time. The wording could not be a coincidence, surely. The person behind the cyberbullying, was at least tied to the magic somehow, if not the one behind everything. I'd underestimated Astor, and I didn't think he was the one ultimately responsible for everything, but I should be careful about underestimating the real villain.
It was hard to sleep. The cushion on the chair was comfortable enough for lazing about but I had a zillion thoughts racing through my head. Literally everyone in the school hated me, so anyone could be behind it. It hadn't just been a random attack; it had been targeted at me specifically. It had been meant to kill me. Wow, somebody wanted me dead. That was maybe the most terrifying thing ever. How was I supposed to sleep? Sleep left you completely defenseless. Sleep had always been my friend, maybe my best friend after food, but I couldn't rely on sleep to keep me safe. The person who had attacked me had broken into the Golden House before. Their magic could penetrate any walls. Nowhere was safe.
I crept over to the edge of the cushion and squeezed down in the crack between the arm of the chair. I didn't know if hiding would do any good against magic, but it made me feel better to be in a small space. For a while, after my dad had left, I hadn't slept. There was nobody in the house to protect our family. What if something happened? I had to keep awake to keep us safe. And then when Sam's family had been killed, I'd spent the nights under my bed, wrapped up in my blanket with just the top of my head peeking out so I could keep my eyes on the door. I knew it
As soon as we got clear of the building, Nikolai burst into laugher.
"Did you see that guy sniffing those panties? Oh, that was classic! What a pervert!"
I was less amused. Well, only slightly though, because I'd known Astor was a jerk but now I knew he was a panty-sniffing jerk.
"Did you miss the part where he was the one behind the spell?" I asked. "And not working alone. We need to tell the others."
But man it bugged me that I'd been outsmarted by Astor, of all people. The panty-sniffing jerk.
Chapter 11
I'd thought maybe the others would rub it in, that I'd been cursed by a jerkhead like Astor, but they were surprisingly sympathetic. Even Tennyson Wilde didn't comment on it.
"He should be easy enough to blackmail or cajole," he said. "I'll have my people look into his background and I'll speak to him tomorrow. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly and efficiently."
"If we can trace his phone records then we might find the person behind it all as well," said Althea. "You can't go and confront him at the pool, it's obviously a trap."
"We should steal his phone," I said. "He was obviously talking to them through an app because there's no cell signal here, so if we stole his phone we could access all his contacts."
"We won't need to," said Tennyson Wilde, dismissing me. "It will be easier to confront them at the pool. Even if they know we are coming we have the advantage of numbers." His word seemed final and nobody else argued with him.
As they all drifted off to bed, I got to thinking. I'd been so sure it had been Fatima. Maybe I was wrong about other things too. I'd assumed the bullying and the curse weren't related, or only arbitrarily so, but things kept cropping up to make that seem unlikely. Sam had left me his tablet, so I opened up Facebook and searched for the fake Lucy account. Olivia and Charlotte had said I'd posted on the day I was shrunk. "Taking a small vacation" it said. I didn't know the exact time the spell took hold but the status was posted around the same time. The wording could not be a coincidence, surely. The person behind the cyberbullying, was at least tied to the magic somehow, if not the one behind everything. I'd underestimated Astor, and I didn't think he was the one ultimately responsible for everything, but I should be careful about underestimating the real villain.
It was hard to sleep. The cushion on the chair was comfortable enough for lazing about but I had a zillion thoughts racing through my head. Literally everyone in the school hated me, so anyone could be behind it. It hadn't just been a random attack; it had been targeted at me specifically. It had been meant to kill me. Wow, somebody wanted me dead. That was maybe the most terrifying thing ever. How was I supposed to sleep? Sleep left you completely defenseless. Sleep had always been my friend, maybe my best friend after food, but I couldn't rely on sleep to keep me safe. The person who had attacked me had broken into the Golden House before. Their magic could penetrate any walls. Nowhere was safe.
I crept over to the edge of the cushion and squeezed down in the crack between the arm of the chair. I didn't know if hiding would do any good against magic, but it made me feel better to be in a small space. For a while, after my dad had left, I hadn't slept. There was nobody in the house to protect our family. What if something happened? I had to keep awake to keep us safe. And then when Sam's family had been killed, I'd spent the nights under my bed, wrapped up in my blanket with just the top of my head peeking out so I could keep my eyes on the door. I knew it
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