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AMALIA Beaumont hadn't been to school in days.
Coraline wondered if she knew. Well, obviously, she couldn't have, since the police hadn't arrived at Coraline's door, or even Michael's. She was probably just spooked. Seeing a dead body in front of your very eyes was a troubling experience. For Coraline, however, it had become normal. But she understood Amalia's fear, and questioned if she'd ever come back. She had to.
"She told me that she saw two people kill him with ... magic."
Coraline's ears perked up at the voice. She had been heading to board game club that Wednesday afternoon, but after hearing Heather Beaumont's snarky tone, her feet suddenly stopped in place. Heather passed by her, heels clicking against the linoleum floors, with Nate Ashworth at her side. Coraline stared at them with narrowed eyes, already knowing that they were talking about Amalia.
Nate shrugged at Heather's statement. "She's gone crazy," he replied. "Magic doesn't exist."
Coraline swallowed hard. She was telling people that she saw magic. Amalia believed two people used magic to kill Shane McMannen. Coraline's blood ran cold. The claim was hard to believe. No one would believe her, and that was a good thing for both Coraline and Michael. But for some reason, it made her feel sad.
"Obviously," Heather rolled her eyes. She then glanced to her right, spotting Coraline's glare from across the hall. "What are you looking at?"
Scoffing under her breath, Coraline turned on her heel and walked away. She didn't have time for Heather's wrath. She was getting everything back finally, and Heather would soon reach her downfall once again. It's only a matter of time, she thought to herself, eyeing her student of the month portrait on a bulletin board.
She shoved open the door to the old teacher's lounge, sighing once she saw Greg shuffling a deck of cards on the table. They were beginning to play more card games than board games lately, which kind of defeated the purpose of board game club, but she wasn't going to start complaining to the only people who took her in when she was ridiculed.
They were playing poker today, which was Billy's all-time favorite card game. He led the game that day, placing a stack in front of each member and schooling them on his old school version of poker. Eloise was confused with his rules, but she began to understand after a while. She hated not being in the know.
As each of them turned in their first round of bets – all of which were small change – Greg bit his lip and fiddled with his cards. "So," he cleared his throat, "have you guys been keeping up with the murders around town?"
Billy looked up, annoyed that Greg would bring up a topic like that during his favorite game. "Really? We're gonna talk about that now?"
