Secret Coven

mirror, holding first one and then the other in front of her. The blue cardigan, she decided; blue was her favorite color, and it brou

bout beginning school in a new place. It was like starting her life over. Maybe she'd adopt a whole new personality. Back home, her friends would probably describe her as "nice, but shy" or "fun, but kind of quiet." But n

t off to a good start. Victoria pulled on the blue sweate

rl in this ad - she glanced at the magazine open on the dressing table. She'd bought it specially when she'd driven into town last week so she could see the back-to-school fashions. She'd never

her hair back like the mo

agazine caught her eye. A horoscope column. Her birth sign, Cancer, seemed

f that doesn't work, remember that nothing lasts forever. Try not to make waves i

had always said so, and it was true. "That daggy insecure feeling" - just telling someone th

piece doing in the zipper compartment of her backpack? Setting her jaw, she t

ked the Rabbit, she was almost afraid to go any closer. There were several narrow paths that led up th

LEANS HIGH SCHOOL, and below was a sort of crest with the words Town of New Orleans, Incorporated 1693. Was that how o

elf, forcing herself to walk for

a motorcycle on the bike path. But even more astonishing was its rider - a girl. She was wearing tight black jeans and a motorcycle jacket, and her trim, athletic body looked tough. But when she turned aroun

ing at?" the girl

en staring. The girl took a step forward,

ing a skimpy black midriff top under the jacket, and Victoria glimpsed what looked like a small tatto

You keep out of

ictoria thought. But she nodded hastily, a

rrying toward the entrance. What a horrible person to be the first one you spok

o; the girls giggling and hugging, the boys horsing around. It wa

rand-new clothes of the girls, smelling the scents of too much perfume and

find your first class. Maybe you'll see somebody there who's alone, and you can

tive writing, and the Program of Studies had said that the class would offer opportunities for publication in the

g, and Victoria still couldn't quite understand how her grandmother had gotten her enrolled just b

esk near the back. The room was filling up, and everyone seemed to h

ook, trying to look totally involved in it, trying to lo

new, are

t was also dazzling, and she had a feeling he knew exactly how dazzling it was. Hi

ew," he s

oice shake. But this guy was so good-looking... "I'

co Long,

sound as if she'd heard of him before,

etball team," he sa

do better than this. She sounded brainless

to him. He was ignoring her blundering, her lameness. Okay, so maybe he liked to be admired, but what differen

shing she could think of another ad

se, she was aware, all at once, of a presence at her side, a presen

big, beautiful girl, both tall and voluptuous. She had a mane of pitch-bla

er voice was low for a girl

ontrast, was noticeably unenth

Victoria caught the scent of some heady perfume. "I didn't see

But his smile was forced, an

left a great deal of skin exposed just at Marco's eye level. But it was her face Victoria couldn't help staring at. She had a sensuous, sulky mouth and extraordinary honey-

or leave them mys

ven't seen them with the right girl," she murmured. "Under the

e scarcely knew why. Marco wet his lips, looking fascinated i

wn to Gloucester this weekend

thing came up," Rebecca said, raking him with her

cca,

e, all right? I hate

ned up to leave, she did. The look she turned on Victoria was sly and secretive, as if she were

nd in a languid gesture that showed off her lo

ck and distaste, and then he quickly turned around to face the front of the r

e did it make where she lived? The only thing she could s

er was talking. He was a mild-looking man with a graying

he said. "I want each of you to write a poem, right now, spontaneously. We'll read some of them aloud afterw

notebook with her heart beating rapidly. A vague memory of her dream of last week intruded, the one where her mo

nced that the time was up, she had a poem, and reading it over she fel

t it was good and wanted to talk to her afterward? Maybe they'd ask her about the guy in the poem, and then she could tell them the mysterious and romantic

ers. Predictably, no hands were rais

ria turned to see that the r

dez," Mr. Saltz

, but Victoria had the oddest feeling that he would have moved away if he could. A

her off-the-shoulder top to slip down a little lower. Tilting her he

aid in her lazy, husky v

the poem on her own desk. Then Re

m abou

f flame l

urns like

burns

and your finge

acken lik

'll die

be part of t

how - managed to light it. She touched it to the paper and the paper caught fire. Then, walking slowl

ooked scared, but most of the guys looked excited, too. Some of the

u get for being so cute!" "Go for it, man!" "W

the back of his neck s

nd dropped it in the metal wastebasket by the teacher's desk. Mr. Saltzman didn't fl

ll what we've just seen an example of... concrete poetry. Tomor

; then, as if everyone had been released by a spring, a s

. Fire. She and Rebecca had bot

into her backpack. So much for her dreams of being romantic and mysteri

en the teacher. Why didn't he give her a detention or somethi

him that way? And why did he ca

erself to stop someone an

girl said. "All the math clas

that it was two guys on roller blades, laughing and bellowing as they tore through the crowd. Victoria had a glimpse of disheveled shoulder-length blond hair and almond-shaped, slightly tilted bl

clothes. As they reached the end of the hallway, one of them caught a pretty redhead's miniskirt a

out. Was everybody in this school crazy? "Why doesn't

y, joining another girl. Victoria heard a fragment of a sentence float back: "... doe

pital letters. What did a club have to do with b

she was now late for class. She slung her back

he shining hair anywhere - not that that was really surprising, considering the many floors and corridors of this school. In her present state

d cafeteria teeming with laughing

it. She just did

through the main entrance and out the door. She didn't know where she was goin

omfortably in a little hollow below one, shaded by a tree. She was shielded by the rock from the school; it was almost as if the school didn

ly drained out of her. So what if the morning hadn't been the greatest? Thin

range, but she almost felt she could hear a buzzing in the rock, like a heartbeat tremendously speeded up. A

Victoria knelt up to look over

Victoria over that morning. The other was a strawberry blond with a tiny waist and the most well-developed ches

y of those disturbing honey-colored eyes was still with her. She kept quie

ve Victoria, sitting with their feet on the

zing at Rebecca's throat. Although she was in shadow now, if

ne?" Rebecca asked lazily as sh

rted. "Nobody's st

cca said. She took out a stenographer's notebook with a red cover and laid it on her knee. "N