White is for Magic Read Online Free Page A

almost want to pick out her teeth one by one. But since my fuming is still focused on 24
    Chad--and on campus security's inability to do its job after everything that's happened at this stupid campus--I decide to spare her and, instead, check out the window in the boiler room for myself.
    25

four
    The door to the boiler room is open a crack--most likely from Chad and PJ's visit. I leave it open completely and click on the stairwell light. The sudden burst from the light-bulb, dangling just overhead, stings my eyes and causes my head to start throbbing again. I make my way down the creaky stairs, telling myself that I'm not afraid, that if the window is open, I'll simply close it and lock it back up.
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    I reach the bottom of the stairs and take a deep breath. That's when I sense it, when I feel it.
    Something isn't right. I reach for the pull chain overhead and tug it firmly to click on the lights.
    The long and narrow fluorescent strips glare down from the unfinished ceiling, lighting the entire boiler room.
    The back of my neck turns cold and a chill runs down my shoulders. I look around, in all corners of the room, to be sure I'm alone. There are several desks stacked up against the wall. I move closer, trying to angle my glance to see if someone might be hiding behind them. I ball my hands into fists in an effort to prepare myself for the worst. But it's just empty behind there--no one. I let out a breath, loosening the binds in my chest, and move toward the water tank--toward the window.
    As I get closer, I can feel a coolness, a subtle breeze that pats along my arms and over my shoulders. It's the breeze filtering in through the window crack. I move behind the water tank and feel my entire body freeze over. The open window is in full view now. But even more alarming is what's painted across it--the letter M, crudely splattered against the glass in a dark-red color.
    Just like in my nightmare.
    I feel the door in my heart slam closed, but quickly realize that it's really the door upstairs, the one I entered, the one to the boiler room. And that the stairwell light has been clicked off. I steel myself in place and silently count to ten, mentally preparing myself for what comes next. After several seconds I feel myself take a few steps backward, just staring at the M, fearing I know exactly what it means.
    Somehow I'm able to turn away from it, to grab hold of myself and scurry as fast as I can up the stairs, tripping up a couple steps along the way. I fling the door open, hear it bang against the wall, and I run back to the room, slamming and locking the door shut behind me.
     
    "What's going on?" Drea clicks on the light beside her bed.
    "Something's happening." My body is trembling all over. I cross my arms in an effort to stop the quake.
    "Stace, you're as pale as my ass," Amber says. "What happened?"
    "Downstairs," I choke. "On the window--the letter M."
    "WhatY' Amber asks.
    "M?" Drea sits up and moves to the edge of her bed.
    I nod.
    "M-wkflt?" Amber asks. "What are you talking about?"
    "M," I say, my voice rising up. "For Maura. For Murder."
    "What?" Drea gasps.
    "Why were you down in the boiler room again?" Amber asks.
    'Aren't you listening to me?" I grab at the ache in my head.
    "Wait," Drea says. She springs from her bed and stands in front of me. "Go slower. Start from the beginning."
    "Just come down to the boiler room with me. See for yourself."
    Drea wraps an arm around my shoulder and a whimper escapes from my throat. Amber hops out of bed as well and joins us on our trip downstairs.
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    I flick the stairwell light back on--the lights in the downstairs part are still on--and lead Drea and Amber across the cement floor and behind the water tank. And I almost can't believe what I'm seeing--or not seeing. The M is gone.
    "The window," I whisper.
    "Yeah?" Amber snaps. "You're right, there is a window there."
    "No," I say, staring at the clear glass.
    Amber runs her hands over the window and checks the lock.