Lockdown: Chapter 3
Isabel Danes was drenched in gore. She was the monster. Or maybe she was hiding from the monster. Or hunting the monster? The dream had been more coherent before she had hit the snooze button for the second time and rolled over, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep between the fun-but-awful horror B-movie she had stayed up late to watch, and the honors anatomy exam she had first period.
That thought was too clear, which meant it shredded the last of the dream. Reluctantly awake, she grabbed her phone to check notifications with one hand while gathering clothes with the other. The only thing of note was a gif from her friend Gale lamenting the test they both needed to take that morning. Mindful that another tardy would land her in detention, and another detention would cause her to lose her parking pass and go back to taking the bus, she responded briefly before rolling through her morning routine as efficiently as possible.
Brush hair. Check the clock. She had just enough time to throw on a hint of eye shadow and lipstick and grab a breakfast bar on her way out the door. She parked her Jeep and squeaked into class just as the second bell rang. The teacher, knowing her tendency toward tardiness, gave her a warning look.
But not a detention.
Already settled into her assigned seat across the room, Gale gave a nervous wave. Isabel wasn’t worried about the exam, which was in one of her strongest subjects. Gale on the other hand had been a wreck about it all week, which was why she had stayed up late studying, with Isabel sending encouraging texts between grisly deaths in terrible horror movies.
“I hope you all had a good night’s sleep and a solid breakfast,” the teacher cheerily informed them, as she always did before exams. “Now please put away your materials, turn in your cell phones, and spread out so you are not directly next to anyone else.”
Isabel finished the exam with a little extra time, so she pulled out the notes for the graded debate in her upcoming Rhetoric class. That one was decidedly not her best subject, and she had the triple pressure of wanting to maintain her GPA, not wanting to look like a fool in front of the entire class, and feeling the need to keep up with her boyfriend. Isabel could have run circles around Johnny in math or science, but the only class they actually shared was Advanced Rhetoric and Logic.
Johnny wanted to become a cop, but Isabel thought he should aim for a lawyer instead. He had opinions on everything, and was happy to argue them–or the exact opposite, if someone else was set up to debate the side he had originally been on. It wasn’t that he changed his mind a lot; he was just good at picking apart logic and seeing the other side of an argument.
Gale worked until the bell, so they barely had a chance to exchange a quick, “Hi, I’m sure you did great!” on their way out the door. Gale paused long enough to add in one quick breath, “Also, I just heard from work they scheduled me today even though I told them I never work Fridays, so I won’t be able to come to dinner. Tell your Grandpa I said hi. And good luck with the debate! You look fabulous.”
“Will do. We’ll miss you. Thanks!”
They split, heading in opposite directions for their next class.
Isabel quashed some minor disappointment. They had been friends since freshman year, and Isabel’s family was fond of Gale and knew her well.
Gale knew Isabel’s family as well as any outsider did. She even knew that family legends said their ancestors had been powerful warrior-witches, though she dismissed most of it as, “Grandpa’s wild stories.” Most of it was just stories these days, anyway. Despite what family history said, no one in their line had been able to shapeshift in at least two centuries. On the other hand, Isabel had seen her granddad cast a hell of a spell to track down the culprit when someone had sideswiped his daughter’s car in a hit-and-run once.
Isabel’s mom had been fine. It was the principle of the thing.
Speaking of principles, as she walked into Rhetoric, Johnny was playing Devil’s-advocate against his own side for the debate, while one of their classmates on the opposing side made furious notes.
“Thanks,” the classmate said, speaking in an undertone they would be able to get away with for about two minutes before the teacher finished fighting with the slow wi-fi so she could take attendance. “I’ve had no time to prep this week, but I can’t afford to fail this. Do you think–oh, hey, Isabel.”
He looked up, which drew Johnny’s attention.
The smile on Johnny’s face as he saw Isabel made waking up early enough to put on makeup and do her hair worth it. He squeezed her hand. “That end-of-the-world movie you were talking about the other day is in theaters. We could go tonight?”
She shook her head. “Can’t. I have to run right after school to pick Grandpa up from the train station, and then we’re doing a family dinner for his birthday. What about Saturday?”
“I’ve got a thing with Greg Saturday.” Johnny’s best friend had graduated the year before and was at college about an hour away in San Marcos. Most of the time they got together for sports events, though Isabel didn’t think anything big was happening that weekend. Johnny glanced up at the teacher, who was almost done. “You know, I’d like to meet your Grandpa sometime. You talk about him a lot.”
“Maybe. I’ll ask Mom.” Mom would say fine it was up to Isabel, but Isabel hadn’t decided yet.
They had been dating since October, but she hadn’t brought Johnny home yet. He wasn’t ready for Grandpa.
Their teacher turned around and—as if they hadn’t all been sitting there for several minutes—there was suddenly a scuttle of movement as everyone in the class started opening backpacks to bring out homework.
The class went by fast, and she did not make a fool out of herself during the twenty-minute debate. By the end of her sixth-period psychology class, she was glad she hadn’t committed to a movie; all her teachers seemed to have waited until Friday to drop massive homework assignments. She would have to look into that whole “senior slide” thing everyone talked about.
After the day’s final bell rang, she met up with Johnny at the door to the student parking lot, still trying to figure out plans.
“Feel honored,” Isabel teased after he agreed to a suggestion that they meet for breakfast Saturday morning since their schedules didn’t line up for anything else. “I don’t normally get out of bed before eleven on weekends.”
“I am honored,” Johnny replied. “Especially since I’m sure you’ll be up late partying with Grandpa.”
He said it ironically, but Isabel laughed because it was true. She didn’t have much of the family’s hereditary magic— just a “knack,” as Grandpa put it, which was more like being lucky than being a witch–but he was still trying to teach her to use it for more than cheating at Monopoly. Their weekends together tended to involve late nights of charms, runecraft, and ritual.
Johnny looked out toward the busses, where the crowds were starting to thin, and gave her a quick kiss before saying, “See you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
As Johnny hustled to catch the bus, Isabel turned toward her car, thinking about the lab report she was planning to work on if she had any downtime waiting for Grandpa’s train. Despite her busy thoughts, she couldn’t fail to notice a girl about her age standing in the parking lot, staring at her with a wary expression.
Isabel paused when their gaze met, and sure enough, the girl came to her. She was chewing on her lower lip.
“Hey,” the stranger said as she approached.
“Hi?” Isabel replied, questioning. The girl looked vaguely familiar, but it was a big school and Isabel didn’t know her name. “Sorry, do I know you?”
The girl shook her head and said, “I saw you with Johnny. Are you two together?”
“We’re dating, yeah.” Isabel frowned as the girl’s wariness changed to something tired but… almost relieved? “Why?”
“I… guess we have something in common,” the girl said. She covered her mouth as the least happy giggle ever escaped it. “I’m Willow. I graduated last year. Johnny and I had been dating about three months then.”
Isabel went cold, then hot, then cold again, because Willow’s expression and tone implied more than an old relationship that had been over since summer.
“Are you…”
She couldn’t finish the question, but Willow guessed it. “Yes, we’re still together,” she answered. “No, Johnny never mentioned you. We were supposed to get together at my school this weekend, but I had to come home to help my dad with something so I figured I’d pick him up as a surprise. I didn’t expect to see him kissing another girl while I was looking for a parking space.”
“Yeah,” Isabel said. Her knees softened and she found herself sitting on one of the “class of 2010 donated this!” benches that sat all around the school.
“I was running late,” Willow added when Isabel didn’t say anything else. It sounded like nervous chatter. “I tried to call, but he always forgets to turn his ringer on after school.”
Isabel thought about that, and about the friend at school and games he knew he could invite her to without her ever saying yes. She said, “I guess that’s convenient for him.”
Willow said, “I guess I’m going to dump him.”
“Thanks,” Isabel answered, dazed.
“I should probably go,” Willow said. “And leave an angry voice mail, I guess.”
Willow turned. Isabel wasn’t sure what impulse prompted her to say, “If you’re available tomorrow morning, you can tell him in person.”
“I expected you to tell me to go to hell,” Willow said. “I would have, if you had come to me like this.”
“Yeah, well.” Isabel shrugged. Maybe she should trust Johnny and tell Willow to screw herself. Probably, even. She swallowed and realized her throat was tight. But, like with the phone, too many things suddenly made sense. It was all, as she had said, convenient.
“I’m meeting Johnny for breakfast tomorrow,” Isabel said, more confident in the thought now. “We should both talk to him then.” That would be fair. With the three of them all together, it would be easier to tell who was lying. She wouldn’t dump Johnny on the word of some girl she had never met, but she wouldn’t blindly trust him either.
Her expectation of the next day put a pall on the family event. Mom and Grandpa both noticed she was off, but didn’t push when she said she didn’t want to think about it. Instead, Grandpa tried to teach her how not to accidentally stack every deck of cards she shuffled–unsuccessfully.
“Winning all the time, by magic, is no fun,” he informed her after she dealt herself another royal flush. “And it can get you in trouble. Stay out of Vegas if you can’t play fair. Or at least control how you cheat.”
The words made her smile a little. She considered asking Grandpa if he could teach her a spell to see the truth and not feel like an idiot blindsided by her boyfriend’s other girlfriend in the future… but didn’t. She didn’t want to think about it. Even if she couldn’t help it.
After a short, mostly sleepless night, she was the second one to arrive at Starbucks on Saturday morning. She greeted Willow by asking, “Can we just call him a jerk, and get that out there?”
Willow laughed, a brittle, angry sound. “Jerk it is. I’m looking forward to seeing his face when he sees the two of us together.”
Isabel was, too. Overnight, she had gotten past shock and moved into anger. How dare he?
She suspected there would be some heartbreak later, but for now she was too busy being pissed. It wasn’t like Johnny was her One True Love. She wouldn’t even go so far as to say high school sweethearts. But she had liked him enough to feel like an idiot for how he had played her.
By the time Johnny arrived, Isabel and Willow had gone through plenty of coffee, swapped stories, and were ready for war. Then he was there, smiling, freshly showered, and holding a dozen roses.
His random romantic impulses had seemed charming previously. Now, they seemed like the actions of someone who knew he had something to make amends for.
“Hi, Johnny,” Willow said, standing just past Isabel’s shoulder.
Johnny’s expressions over the next several, silent seconds told a clear story.
His smile disappeared. Tried to reappear. Failed. His eyes widened. Mouth opened, then closed without a word. Opened, closed. A bit like a fish. He looked like he might try to bolt, as if he could avoid the whole situation.
He didn’t need to say a word. The truth was obvious.
The quietly simmering potential of fury in Isabel blossomed.
“You asshole,” she hissed. She struggled to keep her voice down in a public place.
“Isabel… Willow… it isn’t…”
“Wow, I’ve never seen you at a loss for words before,” Willow snapped. “But then, I guess there isn’t a lot you can say to get yourself out of this one.”
“I didn’t…”
He made a half-hearted, aborted motion to offer the flowers to Isabel, as if in an instinctual effort to appease her. Unwisely, Isabel shoved them back at him with both hands, slamming the bouquet into his chest, and crushing stems and blooms alike. Johnny staggered, taken off balance by the violence of her response, and Isabel heard murmurers from around them. Judging by a handful of supportive comments made by bystanders, the situation was pretty obvious.
“No, thanks,” Isabel bit out, as Johnny stared at her and Willow. “Oh, and if you were wondering? I’m pretty sure you’re single now.”
She turned to leave before she said or did anything more embarrassing. Behind her, Willow was giving Johnny a piece of her mind, but Isabel just wanted out. Nothing he could say was going to change this, which meant she had no interest in further conversation.
Only when she left a smear of red on the door handle did she realize she was bleeding.
She lifted her hands and stared at the half-dozen spots of blood rising on her palms, the result of her stupidly putting all her strength into pushing the flowers away. A thorn was jammed into her thumb, but she couldn’t feel it yet.
Numb. She felt numb.
That was fine. There would be time to decide how she felt later, when she wasn’t in front of a crowd treating her personal life like a TV special.
It would be a teen drama or slice-of-life or something like that, too–one of those genres she had always hated. She refused to star in one now.
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