Free ReVamped by Lucienne Diver

it.”
    “Me?” I asked, incredulous. “How exactly did I start it?”
    “Children, don’t make me separate you three,” Agent Stick cut in, just like a real mom. “We’ve got bigger problems. Gina, we did some checking after you reported to Bobby yesterday. Read this.”
    Agent Stuffed—I was going to have to remember to think of him as Sid before I slipped up in his presence—passed us each a file, which I opened reluctantly, given that the last file had gotten me into all this. It was like a rap sheet on Red Rock. “The events you describe … ” Agent … Sid … went on to summarize what was right there in front of us. “You talk about a power-boosted, out-of-control feeling—well, I researched the location, and Red Rock lies along the same ley line as your school. What’s more, it’s what we call a node. Think of it like a geyser—mostly quiet, but every once in a while it goes off, flares up, like it’s doing now.”
    I looked at the dossier. As recently as thirty years ago, it had been the meeting place for some kind of coven. All fun and games, I guessed, until the leader was arrested for the negligent homicide of her own daughter, who’d gotten into her mother’s spell supplies, some of which, like deadly nightshade, had earned their names. Red Rock had made it into the news. Way, way back before that, it had been sacred to the Hopewell Indians, a spot for special ceremonies calling on the Great Sky Father. Clearly a place of power.
    “So it’s flaring now?” I asked, shooting a quick glance at Rick. There had to be more to all this. Rick hadn’t been at Red Rock last night with his new buddies. I’d have seen him.
    Sid nodded.
    “Our equipment still shows the disturbance centered around the school, but it could be radiating outward, activating other hot spots,” Maya said.
    “ Or ,” Sid drew the word out, looking at each of us in turn, “the partying brought the place to life—libations poured with every drink spilled. Cuts, nicks, or other forms of bloodletting. Good way to wake a place of power.”
    “Good to know,” I said, a lot more flippantly than I felt. I mean, sheesh, when I’d joked about using the force and turning to the dark side, I’d thought I was kidding. Now I had to watch out for places as well as people? And what did it mean that Red Rock had my blood? I’d walked around barefoot, cut my feet on rocks as I ran to Bella’s aid.
    “So, what do we do?” Bobby asked, ever practical.
    “Stay away,” Sid said fiercely. “Let it settle. Keep other kids away.”
    “Wow, way to be proactive,” I mumbled.
    Sid and Maya both glared.
    “What does all this have to do with Rick?” I asked.
    “I don’t know,” Sid admitted. “Rick?”
    The man … boy … of the hour looked pissed . “How should I know? At lunch some of the guys and I were talking, and we just got more and more worked up, until Red and I decided to cut out, head over to the hospital—”
    “Looking for a fight?” I asked.
    “What? No! Just checking on our fallen, you know? And then I saw you and all this rage—” His fists clenched, vibrating with barely leashed fury.
    We were all staring at him.
    “What?” he asked again. “I didn’t do anything. She’s still … not breathing … isn’t she?”
    I stuck my tongue out at him in lieu of launching myself across the table, which in my current state of undress might not be the best idea ever.
    “How do you feel now?” Sid asked.
    Rick shrugged his tense shoulders. “I don’t know. I don’t exactly want to kill her, but I don’t exactly not want to kill her.”
    “She has that effect on people,” Sid muttered, getting me back for my earlier comment.
    “Okay, onto the missing kids,” Maya jumped in.
    “I still want to talk about your experimental potion.”
    “There’s nothing to talk about. You need more, you take more. End of story.”
    “Side effects?” I asked. “Potential for overdose? Will we build up a