Strange Magic

Backseat Serenade

"Change."

Ivy threw behind a bundle of clothes from the driver seat. Jenna made no attempt to grab for it. It rolled to the seat.

"It smells like death in here," another voice came from the passenger seat. She rolled down the window to let in some fresh air but Ivy snapped at her.

"Can't take any more chances," she said. "For God's sake, Jenna, throw your clothes out."

After a long pause, Jenna took the bundle from the seat. She stared at it. The clothing belonged to Ivy. She smiled bitterly wondering what kind of fancy dress she would find inside the bundle. Ivy and she didn't exactly have the same taste in clothes. Well, not in anything.

Ivy had come to pick her up. She had no idea how she came to know where she was. They were driving back to their circle. Jenna spotted the case beside her. Another blunder. She rolled her eyes. She tried to shut her thoughts from the horrid things which happened just moments earlier. She couldn't believe how barbaric she'd become back there, she'd totally lost it.

Jenna opened the bundle and pulled out a black dress. It was a full sleeved cotton material. The skirt ran down past her knees. It looked tight for her, it looked just like Ivy. She sighed and put it on and threw away her bloodstained clothes out the window. It was a little tight and it didn't quite match her sneakers. She looked like a fashion disaster. Who cares about fashion! I'm not Rose. Rose came up before her eyes again. So far there was no news whatsoever about her. Despite what Nana said about her being a clone, Jenna couldn't help but feel a deep pang of regret and loneliness every time she thought of Rose. I'm so sorry, Rose. It's all my fault.

"Oh, she's looking better now."

Jenna snapped from her reverie and saw a girl with pixie blonde hair looking back at her from the front seat. She remembered the girl. She was the one who tried to bite her on her first day. She stared at her coldly. The memory didn't really entertain her.

"The case is safe?" Ivy asked without turning back.

The case is safe? The case is safe!? Adrian lost his life, she almost lost hers too and the only thing Ivy can talk about is the case. It set Jenna on edge.

"The hell with that," she snapped. "Adrian's dead, if you don't already know, I nearly got killed too. All because of this fucking case."

She grabbed the case and flung it to the board.

"Are you all out of your minds?" Jenna shouted.  "You haven't seen the terror in the East Circle. What are all these killings for? We- I risked my life going there. Can anyone tell me what the hell this is all about?"

The pixie girl still stared at her.

"What are you looking at?" Jenna snapped, wishing to pick a fight. "You thirsty? You want a piece of me?"

The pixie girl felt provoked and glared at her.

"Marilyn, don't even think about it," Ivy ordered.

Reluctantly, Marilyn turned back to face the road.

"Now that's better," Ivy said in a low voice. "Hunter I understand if you're upset about the circumstance we-

"Upset? Upset!?" Jenna interrupted. "Oh no miss, I'm not upset. I'm fucking enraged."

"Tantrums, Hunter," Ivy tsk-tsked. "Tantrums."

Jenna was boiling up with rage inside her, getting ready to explode any moment. She thought this was the right time, but strangely she was too angry to speak out a word.

"It was a setup," Ivy explained. "Someone tipped that our circle was about to go under attack. So Nana had to send you away cause she couldn't risk getting you harmed. But it turned out that it wasn't our circle after all."

"Who is that someone?" Jenna growled. "I'd like to rip his guts out."

"We don't know for sure," Ivy replied. "The message wasn't delivered personally. But whoever that someone is, he sure knows and sees your coming ins and going outs."

Jenna remained silent. She wondered who the traitor could be. It could be anyone. Leah? Fiona? Trevor? Jenna hoped not. It would be disheartening to know that she'd been betrayed by someone she knew or trusted.

"Hunter,"

Jenna looked up and saw Ivy's face from the rear view mirror.

"I'm sorry for what happened."

That's something new. It was unlike Ivy to feel sorry for anything, especially about something that's got to do with her. It was beyond Jenna to imagine how Ivy stooped low enough to actually say the word 'sorry'. She didn't reply. Ivy looked away and fixed her stare on the road. Jenna shifted her eyes to the window at the rain dribbling down and gave herself a quiet smile, despite everything.