The librarian flinched, swiveled in her chair, and opened her mouth. She said nothing, though, as Benny sprinted past the desk in his mad race for the exit.
He shoved open the glass door. He ran down the steps to the walkway, and he didn't stop running until he reached the car.
Chapter Thirty
Benny was lying across the backseat, sweltering in the locked car, when Tanya finally arrived. She opened the driver's door, and looked down at him. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Nodding, he sat up.
"I got worried when I didn't see you in here. Thought I'd lost you."
"Sorry," he muttered. He climbed out. After the oven of the car, the air outside felt fresh and cool. He mopped the sweat off his face, and put on his shirt. Tanya, leaning across the front seat, unlocked the passenger door for him. He opened it, and rolled down the window before getting in.
She handed him a small, black book. Benny stared at the cover. Witch's Spells and Potions. "You got it?" he asked, amazed.
"Kristi did. What went on anyway?"
"Huh?"
"At the library."
"I had some trouble," he muttered.
"So I heard. When I showed up, Kristi said you'd run off like a bat out of hell. What were you doing down there? She said the lights were off, and you'd thrown books all over the floor. She was a little ticked."
"I didn't do it."
Tanya glanced at him with disappointment, reached forward, and started the car. "Nobody else was down there, according to Kristi."
"Somebody was," he said, trembling now with the memory of it. He held his right hand toward Tanya. His wrist was ringed with faint bruises, raw furrows where fingernails had raked his skin.
Tanya stared at the injuries. "Who did that to you?"
He shrugged.
"My God, Benny! You should've told someone. Who did it? Did he try to — "
"She."
"We'd better tell campus security."
"They won't find her. She's a witch."
"That's crazy, Benny, and you know it."
"Yeah," he muttered. "I figured you'd say that."
"We can't tell security that a witch — "
"I'm not gonna tell 'em anything. They'll just say I'm crazy, too."
With a sigh, Tanya shifted to reverse and backed out the car. She started driving toward the parking lot exit. The air coming through the open windows felt good to Benny. "I know you're not crazy," Tanya told him. "But you've got witches on the brain, and a very active imagination."
"Did I imagine this?" he asked, holding up his hand.
"Of course not."
"You think I did it to myself?"
"Did you?"
"No."
"Okay, I believe you. Now why don't you tell me what happened down there?"
"All right."
"And then her finger broke off," Benny said. "Right in my hand."
"Broke off?" Scott asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Bullshit," Julie muttered.
Scott frowned at her, and glanced at Karen. She was staring into her Bloody Mary, a look of disgust on her bruised face. "Okay," Scott said. "Then what happened?"
"Well, she let go and I got away."
"You never saw her at all?"
"It was pitch black."
Scott leaned back in his lounge chair. He wiped the wet bottom of his cocktail glass on his trunks, but it dripped anyway as he took a sip. On the sun-heated skin of his chest, the splash of icy water felt like a knife prick. He rubbed it with his fingertips. "Sounds like you had a rough time of it, pal."
The words of sympathy seemed to hit Benny hard. His chin started to shake. He pressed his lips into a tight line.
"You sure all this really happened?" Julie asked. "You weren't just dreaming or something?"
"It wasn't a dream," he mumbled.
Tanya, sitting cross-legged with her back to the pool, said, "The library worker went down to look around after Benny took off. She told me the lights were off and there were books on the floor. She thought Benny did it. According to her, nobody else was down there."
"I wonder how well she looked," Karen said.
"Did she happen to find a finger?" Julie asked.
"A finger doesn't normally just break off," Scott said. "Even if the bone. there are muscles, tendons, flesh."
"And blood," Julie added. "There'd be blood all over the place."
Shaking his head, Benny turned his hands over as if looking for stains. He said nothing.
Scott sipped his Bloody Mary. "Well," he said, "whatever happened, it was pretty bizarre. I don't know what to think. But at least you're okay, Benny. That's what really counts."
"What if it happens again?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"I don't imagine. well…"
"You should be all right," Karen said, "as long as you're with someone. Just don't go anywhere alone for a while, if you can help it. That way, if something funny happens again, you won't have to face it by yourself."
"Maybe he needs a bodyguard," Julie suggested.
Benny stared at her, blinking rapidly. "You won't think it's so funny when it happens to you."
"Spare me."
"It was the curse," he blurted, "and you're part of the curse, too. All of us are, except Tanya. She's gonna try to get us all."
"Who, Tanya?" Julie asked, smirking.
"The witch! She's got our stuff and I said we've gotta get it back and nobody listened. I'm just a crazy little kid and there's no such thing as witches and curses. Only there is, and she put a curse on us and it's gonna get us all if we don't do something!" He shoved himself off the chair and raced into the house.
Julie blew softly through her pursed lips. "He oughta see a shrink."
"That'll be enough out of you," Scott snapped. "The kid's been through God-knows-what and what he doesn't need is lip from you."
Julie flinched, her smirk falling away. "Excuse me," she muttered, and walked toward the house.
Tanya, looking embarrassed, stood up and brushed off the seat of her shorts. "I'll see how Benny's doing."
"Thanks." When she was gone, Scott turned to Karen. "I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."
"Happens to the best of us. God knows, it was mild compared to some of my tirades at school. I've been known to go totally berserk."
Feeling better, Scott turned his chair to face her. She was leaning back, bare legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles, one hand curled around the glass resting on her belly. The front of the oversized, faded blue shirt she wore over her swimsuit had a patch of darkness from the glass's moisture.
"You deal with teenaged kids all the time," he said. "What do you make of my two?"
"I'd say, for starters, that Julie's scared, probably very upset about what happened to Benny."
"Has a funny way of showing it."
"The sarcasm's just a defense mechanism. She seems to use it all the time when she has trouble facing things. I don't think she's callous or insensitive. If anything, maybe she cares too much. The sarcasm's like a safety valve for her."
"All right. I'll give you an A for that one. She's always been that way, hiding behind it. Just gets hard to take sometimes."
"Look on the bright side — at least she doesn't go hysterical."
"I guess that's a blessing, of sorts. Okay. What about Benny?"
"I'd say he's extremely imaginative and sensitive, and handling the situation remarkably well. I'd be a total basket case if I'd gone through what he did. So would most people. They'd freak out totally."
"Do you think it really happened?"
"Yes."
"All of it?"
"Yes."
"How do you explain — "