Bitter Demons

33. Since You're At The Top Of The Pyramid Now

"Anyone seen my sneakers?"

I opened my locker again and rummaged through the extra set of clothes and the books in my bag. No shoes.

"Seriously, this isn't funny," I said.

The girls around me just shrugged. Lark came up and peered in my locker. "Are you sure you left them in here?" she asked. "When did you last see them?"

"I last saw them at the game on Friday night," I said. "When they were on my feet. And then I took them off and set them right there on the bottom shelf in my locker. Now, they're gone."

"You should tell Mrs. King," she said. "Maybe she's seen them."

But Mrs. King was already in the gym with some of the other girls. I told Lark to go on without me. I'd keep looking. If I didn't come out in five minutes, she could ask Mrs. King about them. Our sneakers were the most important part of our uniforms. Misplacing them wouldn't exactly make me look like the most responsible girl on the squad.

I searched every empty locker. The shower stalls. The ritual room. I couldn't find my shoes anywhere. Then, just when I'd given up, I saw them underneath the bench, pushed all the way to the back. Crap. Did I take them off Friday night and forget to put them away?

I shook my head and leaned over to pick up the shoes. I checked the inside. Yep. H for Harper. These were definitely my shoes. I sat down and put them on. Cheerleading practice was the last place I wanted to be right now. I thought about Jackson checking with the local florists and wondered if he'd be able to find out anything interesting about whoever sent the flowers.

"Get it together, Harper."

I looked up. "Hey Brooke, sorry, I-"

Brooke stood in front of me, hands on her hips, staring at my half-tied tennis shoes. "Everyone else is already working on the new dance," she said, cutting me off. "I had to come all the way back in here just to tell you to hurry up."

"Sorry," I said, quickly tying my shoes the rest of the way.

"And you're supposed to be a role model for these girls now," she said with an exaggerated sigh. "You should be the first one here, setting a good example. Since you're at the top of the pyramid now, you need to be practicing extra hard."

"I didn't ask to be at the top, you know," I said. I knew it bothered her that Mrs. King had moved me into her spot. "I could talk to Mrs. King and see if she'd switch us back."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Like that would make any difference," she said.

"Hey," I said. I stood and placed my hand on her arm. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything."

Brooke pulled her arm away from my touch. "Whatever," she said. "I worked really hard for four years to make captain of the squad, then you come along and suddenly you're the most important girl on the team."

That was probably the most honest thing she'd said to me in weeks.

"I didn't ask for this, Brooke."

"Yeah, it's just so hard being the future leader of the Peachville coven."

She stormed off toward the gym, and I sighed.

Brooke had been acting strange for weeks. It was obvious she hated the attention I was getting from Mrs. King and the rest of the members of the Order. Hey, if she wanted to be the Prima, I would have been more than happy to hand it over to her if I could. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

I followed her out into the gym where the others were already in the first formation. With the cheerleading competition coming up in a couple of weeks, I understood why Mrs. King wanted to actually run through the routines a few times instead of doing our normal magic training. On the other hand, I was a little annoyed at how little magic I had actually been taught so far. After talking to the other futures, I realized they all had been in training since they could walk and talk. I was already so far behind on magical knowledge, you would think the Order would have me training non-stop.

Then, I thought about the threat to put me into seclusion.I'd take cheerleading practice any day over seclusion. Still, I liked the time I spent with Zara learning how to make flowers grow and watching her shape-shift. Magic was a part of who I was, and I wanted to learn more about how to actually use that power. Backflips and spirit fingers just weren't cutting it.

As the music began, I felt great about the routine. Thanks to the shoes and the few times we'd run through it already, I knew exactly where I was supposed to go and which moves to do to the music. But somewhere in the middle of the routine, I started to feel slightly off-kilter. Dizzy. Disoriented. I tripped over my own feet and stumbled a little to the left before I caught myself and tried to make up for it by moving too far to the right. Something was off.

The bass thumped beneath my feet, but I felt unsure of my next steps. My memories of the routine seemed to be fading. I reached deep into my mind and tried to remember. Mrs. King's eyes flickered over to me, a worried look creasing her face.

The squad moved into the pyramid formation, and I remembered this part. Confident, I stepped into Allison's cupped hands, then raised my arms high in a V as I was lifted into the air. By the time I moved to the top of the pyramid, I was three people high. I wobbled a little on my feet, then steadied and smiled. I didn't know what messed me up earlier, but everything seemed to be okay.

The release move was a toss high into the air that had to be timed just right. This release was the main reason Mrs. King wanted us to physically practice this particular routine. So far, we'd never had a problem with it. But today, the second I soared into the air, a blinding light pierced through my memory. The light was so vivid in my brain it was as if someone had literally shined a light into my eyes. Instead of tucking and falling safely into the arms of the girls below me, I flew way too far forward.

I fell to the ground hard on my shoulder. My leg was bent back behind me and there was an audible gasp from the group. I tried to stand, but the pain in my shoulder was like someone had set me on fire.

Of course I'd have to fall on my bad shoulder. Perfect.

Mrs. King rushed over to me. "What happened?" she said, out of breath. "Are you hurt?"

"I don't know," I said. "My shoulder hurts and I think I may have sprained my ankle."

Mrs. King placed her hands on my ankle and I immediately felt a cool rush of energy flow through my skin and muscles. The throbbing pain went away quickly and she turned her attention to my shoulder. "I'm not sure how much I can do to help here," she said. "If you keep aggravating that injury, you could end up with permanent damage."

I sucked a ragged breath through clenched teeth. Whatever she was doing was making it worse. The rest of the squad gathered around us, everyone whispering. They probably thought I was a complete idiot for messing up the routine. I mean, who forgets a routine when it's programmed into their stupid shoes?

Unless someone messed with my shoes.

I thought back to Friday night after the game. I was certain I'd put my sneakers into my locker just like I always did. Finding them on the floor today was no accident or mess-up on my part. Someone must have taken my shoes out of my locker and messed with the memory spell. Who would do such a thing?

I searched the group for Brooke. While everyone else huddled around to see if I was going to be okay, Brooke sat alone on the bleachers, typing a text message on her phone. She didn't look surprised or worried or the least bit concerned about my shoulder.