“Not on my grounds, you won’t.” Schwarz plunked her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders like a linebacker.
“I missed you in the lunchroom.” Foster tugged on my hand.
“She hides in the library,” Chi offered.
“Hiding? I expect more from you, Popsicle.” He grinned at Chi, and she took immediate offense.
Chi narrowed her eyes at him like she was a hawk and he was a field mouse she was about to catch in her talons. “Why do you call her that?” she demanded.
“Pet name,” he said without missing a beat. “I heard about the missing kid and tried to find you.”
“Look.” Chi came to a stop and yanked on my arm. “I know you’re, like, the most sought-after boy in the whole history of this rinky-dink town, but Sophie’s not interested in you or your pet names.”
Foster glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. I felt like a favorite toy being fought over but powerless to do much about it.
The fact was finally starting to sink in that another kid was missing. Wherever Sam was, he wasn’t alone. If he was at the bottom of that cold pond, there was now another with him. A lump formed in my throat. I didn’t want to cry. Not in front of Foster, not in the middle of the hall. I couldn’t stop the first tear from trickling out, though. Nor the one after that. In a matter of seconds, I was a blubbering mess. Chi wrapped me in a hug, shoving Foster aside.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. But it wasn’t, not by a long shot. I was now in the middle of something I couldn’t begin to understand. Whatever it was involved that thing at the pond. I wondered if Gram had woken when Leigh Kate’s sister was taken. I’d spent most of last night in Connor’s room, and Gram was peacefully in her coma when I had checked on her before school. But had she sat up and taken notice in the same way she had with Sam?
Chi pulled me into the nearest girls’ bathroom. I leaned against the sink while she ran some warm water over a wad of paper towels.
“It’s a good thing you don’t wear much makeup,” she said as she pressed the rough towels against my cheek. I had stopped crying but sniffled.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” I rubbed my eyes. They had that tired, just boohooed all over the place feeling.
“It’s got to be a shock . . . happening again.” Chi propped her hip on the counter beside me. “Another kid. Kinda scary.”
I didn’t mention the resemblance to the ones from the ’70s. There should have been a record of it. Grandmothers and grandfathers certainly would have passed it down and warned their kids, warned us, but so far, I’d found nothing.
“I’m going over to Garner’s after school,” I said. I wanted Chi to go with me whether her boyfriend’s family liked it or not. “Would you come with me?”
Chi screwed up her nose and bit her lip. “His parents don’t like me. They see a native girl as a hindrance for their golden boy.” She smiled. And her parents hated that she dated a blond-haired army brat.
“Who cares what they think. I don’t want to meet Garner’s grandmother on my own.” I hoped I appeared pitiful enough that she’d agree.
“His grandmother? She’s the worst. What does she want?” Chi checked her hair in the mirror. It was still perfectly pulled back, not a hair out of place.
“I guess she knew Gram. Garner says she wants to share old memories.” I sighed as if it would be an overwhelming ordeal for me to sit through.
“I’ll think about it. I’m supposed to go help Grandfather with some tribal remedy for Mom’s asthma,” she said. At that, I knew I’d won. Chi couldn’t resist me when I was sad, and she hated making Algonquin remedies with her grandfather. “Lunch is about over. Let’s find you at least an apple to eat.”
Foster and Garner were both waiting for us outside of the bathroom. They were on opposite sides of the hall, giving each other the stink-eye.
“I’ll go with you,” Chi whispered to me. “If you give me full disclosure about what’s going on with Foster.”
“Okay,” I lied. I’d make up something, like, my car broke down on Grimm Road. Or something equally boring.
“You all right?” Foster asked.
“Yeah, just had a moment,” I said. The guy irritated me, but it was awfully sweet of him to stick around to make sure I wasn’t having another nervous breakdown.
Chi tossed me a hard glare and walked over to Garner. Apparently, she was giving me the opportunity to get rid of Foster on my own.
“You sure?” Foster stepped in close. “That had to be quite a shock.”
“It was.” I tilted my head. “How did you know about my brother?”
“Everyone’s told me.” He scratched his forehead in an unbelievably adorable way. I shook my head. He was not cute. “You won’t be out at the pond today, will you?”
“No. I’ve got this thing at Garner’s.”
“Good. I’d hate to have to rescue you twice. It’s too cold to go sit out there and contemplate life and death.”
I appreciated his effort to look past my ghostly ramblings. Maybe he assumed I had hyperthermia and had hallucinated. I wondered that myself.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around then.” He shoved both hands into his pockets and glanced over at Chi. “You could tell her I’m perfectly harmless.”
I glimpsed over my shoulder, and sure enough, Chi was glaring daggers into Foster’s chest. If looks were needles, he’d be a pincushion.
“Your reputation precedes you.” I smiled at him, glad Chi was making him so uncomfortable.
“Ah, yes. That.” He had the decency to dip his head and appear sheepish. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”
Foster winked at Chi before strolling down the hall toward the front office.
“Glad he’s gone,” Chi said to Garner. I rolled my eyes at her.
“He might not be so bad,” I said.
“Really? I heard he seduced a Swiss princess while in the Alps.” She crossed her arms and turned toward Garner to back her up.
“Do the Swiss have a princess?” I laughed.
Garner grinned, and Chi shrugged as if it were a moot point.
“All I’m saying is that I don’t trust him,” she argued. “You shouldn’t either. Garner knows him.”
Chi didn’t start going to public school until after Foster had left town with his father. She was homeschooled and once told me it was mainly tribal history and law. Garner, though, had gone to school with Foster since kindergarten.
“He’s been gone, what, two years?” I asked.
“Something like that.” Garner nodded. “We’ve never been in the same circle. His friends are too cool to sweat, like Luke Pennington. I prefer to run and train.”
“Only a boy going into the army would say that.” Chi shoved his shoulder then kissed him full on the lips.
Oh great, five minutes of lunch left to watch them make out. Good thing I hadn’t eaten.
Chapter 8
“Come on in.” Garner held open the front door for us and gave Chi a nervous glance.
“Don’t worry. I’m not here to cause waves.” She smacked him on the arm as she passed by. I followed her and caught a whiff of body odor. Didn’t those ROTC boys shower before they left for the day?
“Mom, Grandma, I’m home, and I have guests,” he shouted as the heavy front door slammed shut behind him. His home resembled something out of a mob movie set in the ’60s, complete with shag carpet and outdated wallpaper. Chi glanced at me and drew her finger across her neck in the age-old “kill me now” sign.
“This place has always been this tacky,” she leaned over and whispered. “Kinda freaks me out.”
Garner didn’t seem to notice the supreme tackiness of his home’s decor.
“Maybe they think it’s retro,” I whispered to Chi as we followed Garner into the dining room. A large crystal chandelier hung over a formal dining table. I bet they had a leaf for that thing to make it even bigger. Gram used to have a similar table before we moved from Pennsylvania.
The thing had weighed more than a thousand pounds, and Dad had refused to move it.
“Garner!” A young boy in shorts and a superman shirt with a red cape tied around his neck came running into the room and smashed into Garner’s legs.
Garner laughed and scooped the boy into his arms. “Hey, Chase, I missed you today little brother.”
Little brother. My throat felt thick with grief and tears.
Sam hadn’t been into superheroes. He liked dinosaurs.
“I wanna fly.” Chase squealed with delight when Garner lifted him up over his shoulders and spun him around.
I looked away. My heart breaking all over again. I missed Sam.
They zoomed into the kitchen. Chi and I followed along with me quickly dashing the tears out of my eyes.
Garner’s mom, who looked pleasantly modern with a pixie cut and turtleneck, sat with his grandmother at a small round table in the kitchen. They sipped coffee and smiled up at Chase as Garner “flew” him in.
“Is this her?” his grandmother asked with a nod in my direction.
“Yeah,” Garner brought Chase back down to the floor and opened the fridge.
“Oh, and Chiana came along. How lovely.” Mrs. Hurst stood and smiled at Chi, a genuine one. At least, I thought so. Chi managed a tight smile in return.
“Garner, get your girl a Coke, and you two go watch TV,” his grandmother said. Her voice was gravelly as though she’d had a two-pack-a-day smoking habit for the past sixty years.
“Grandma . . .” Garner started to argue, but with one withering look from her, he grabbed a can and tossed it to Chi.
“Will you be all right?” Chi asked me.
“Of course, she will. I’m not going to eat her,” his grandma replied before I could answer.
I forced a smile at Chi and shooed her after Garner.
“You too, Maryann,” said Garner’s grandma.
Garner’s mom, Mrs. Hurst, smiled at me as she headed out of the room, leaving a Coke on the table for me where her coffee cup had been.
When she was gone, Grandma motioned for me to take the vacated chair. I nodded, obliged, and cracked open my soda.
“My name is Della Hanes Hurst, and I had a little sister who disappeared in nineteen seventy-six. Your grandmother, Callie Briggs, was my best friend at the time. She tried to help me find my sister, Little Sophie. But we never did.”
I nearly spat my Coke back up. Talk about laying all the cards on the table.
I squirmed in my seat. If Gram and this lady were friends, it was odd Gram had never mentioned her. Gram had met Garner with Chi a couple of times, too, and surely had known he was her friend’s grandson. Weirder still was that she’d had a sister named Sophie. I wasn’t sure I liked where this conversation was going.
“I’ve been waiting to talk to you for months now.” The old woman stared into her cup. “I’d have preferred to talk to Callie, but I waited too long.”
“How come you two never visited when we moved back?” I asked.
Mrs. Hurst focused out the window as if deep in thought.
“Time changes everything. I’ve grown old and bitter. Callie tried to reach out, but when I saw her family . . . when I saw you, that you were named Sophie, I just couldn’t. It hurt too much. It was impossibly sweet she named you that, but I wished I had my own Sophie back.”
I reached across the table and patted her hand.
“I don’t know if Gram had anything to do with my name,” I said, hoping to bring her some relief.
“Don’t you think for a moment she didn’t.” Mrs. Hurst finally looked at me. Her eyes seemed haunted with memories.
“You have a beautiful family too,” I said. “Garner and his little brother.”
“And I do love them. But enough of that.” She smiled a sad little smile. “I fear your family and your little brother were targeted because Callie once helped me.”
“What?” I drew my hand back in surprise.
“Did Callie ever talk to you about Greenteeth?” She sipped her coffee as if she’d just asked me what color dress I wore to church on Sunday.
I froze. Up to this point, all I’d known about the lady with green teeth were Gram’s mad ramblings, my own hallucinations, and a few internet legends. Now, though, there was this woman in front of me. Older, sure, but she appeared completely sane. If I delved further now, I’d have to admit I’d seen something to someone who wasn’t in a coma or nicely keeping my delusions quiet as Foster had done so far.
“Only the night we lost Sam,” I said, keeping my voice hushed. I didn’t want anyone overhearing. “She was dying. About to breathe her last, we thought, and then Gram started to get agitated. She kept telling me not to let her have Sam. Then she slipped into a coma.”
“Oh, Callie,” breathed Mrs. Hurst.
“Mrs. Hurst—”
“Call me Della, please.”
“Della,” I said. She smiled and nodded in approval. “Della, I found a bunch of newspaper clippings in an old photo album about the disappearances in the seventies.”
“My Sophie was the first.” She swiped at a tear escaping from her red-rimmed eyes.
“The clippings said there were three other children taken during the next year.”
Della opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Her expression changed. Gone was the haunted look in her eyes. Her jaw had gone slack, and she worked her mouth as though she was sucking on a hard candy.
“Della,” I said with caution. I reached out to touch her in a slow, steady motion but stopped before I could. My pulse raced. Should I call for help? What if she was having a stroke like Gram?
I breathed out through my mouth, and a small cloud of frozen mist escaped. The temperature in the room was dropping. Fingers of frost clouded over the small window looking out into the back yard where Garner’s little brother ran around with his cape.
The haze consuming Della left as soon as it had come on. She shook her head and blinked at me twice. The cold went with it. Snap . . . and it was gone. Maybe I was hallucinating again.
“Sophie, right?”
I nodded, still unsure if she was truly okay.
“I’m so glad you came. Did I tell you I had a little sister named Sophie?” She sipped her coffee once more as if nothing had happened.
Chapter 9
“Yes, you did,” I said. I inhaled in slow, hesitant breaths and exhaled in long, drawn-out ones. “We were talking about your Sophie’s disappearance.”
Della sighed and set her cup down. “Tragic. She was only seven.”
“From what I read, the youngest child taken was four.”
“The youngest?” she asked. Confusion clouded her gaze. I chewed on my bottom lip. Maybe I shouldn’t have pressed the issue.
“Your grandmother, Callie. She was the sweetest thing. She believed we could find out what happened to Sophie . . . maybe there’s a clue in the nasty pond out on Grimm Road,” Della continued as if we were having the most pleasant of chats, not discussing her missing sister.
Uneasy, I fidgeted in my seat and looked around the kitchen, unsure of what to do next. My skin felt itchy. Something was wrong. A strange event had just happened to Della, and I hadn’t a clue as to what it was. I took a quick gulp of pop to calm my rattled nerves. The strange cold in this room had been real—it had turned my drink to slush. It took everything I had not to run to the sink and spit it out.
“Della, what about the other children?” I asked after I forced down the frozen Coke.
“What others, dear?” Della’s eyes glazed over again. I jumped up, ready to run for help. Whatever was causing her odd behavior couldn’t be good for her. “My Sophie was the only one that disappeared.” Her expression cleared, and she smiled.
“I found these articles. From the seventies.” I knew I should stop, but I couldn’t. “Three other children went missing too.”
“My Sophie was the only one.” Della slammed the table, rattling her coffee cup on its saucer. “Now, sit down.”
I wasn’t about to do that.
“You okay, Della?” Garner’s Mom called from another room.
“Oh, yes,” Della cooed back. “My hand slipped. Sophie and I are having a grand chat.”
“I think I should go.” I backed toward the door.
Della shook her head and wrung her hands together. “Please, don’t. I’m trying to help you. There’s something you should know about that pond.”
I paused. I needed to know everything possible about that place.
“Sit.” Della waved her hands at my chair. “Just no more talk about missing kids. My Sophie and your Sam. That’s all.”
“Sure. That’s all,” I said and sat back down. “Does this have to do with Greenteeth?”
“Who?” Della scrunched up her nose. “That is an awful name.”
So Greenteeth was off-topic now too. I rubbed the back of my neck.
“It doesn’t matter.” I didn’t want to upset her again. “What is it you wanted to tell me?”
“That pond. Callie was obsessed with it. Believed it was where my Sophie had been taken.” Della hunched over the table and motioned for me to get closer. I hesitated but leaned in anyway. Even with these sudden memory gaps, maybe Della could still have something useful for me.
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Della frowned. Her struggle to remember was plainly written on her face. The grimace of frustration painful to watch. “I can’t quite put my finger on why she thought it was so important, but when we went out there. It was so cold and strange.”
“I know. I’ve been to the pond,” I said.
“Callie insisted we go there and say a nursery rhyme.” Della chewed on the tip of her finger.
“A nursery rhyme?” I asked with a heavy sigh.
“Yes. Now, don’t think I’m crazy. It was supposed to summon a ghost.” Della barely spoke above a whisper.
“Really?”
This whole thing was madness. Pure madness. From Gram to Della to what I’d seen. Or thought I’d seen.
“I’m afraid I can’t remember it, though.” Della’s eyes were large and watery. I didn’t want her to become agitated again.
The Curse of Jenny Greene Page 5
