Devoured

by Amanda Marrone

  I hang a left down the hall to Miss Patty’s and wonder if I’m going to be fired for being late for the character meeting, or for seeing her trashed the night before.

  As I approach Miss Patty’s office, the door is open and I hear her singing. I recognize the song from the CD of chorus selections Nicki was playing in her car on the way to Ari’s—“Someone to Watch Over Me.” While her voice is not as polished as Nicki’s, Patty conveys the longing in the words much better. Given what I know about the Roy family, it’s no surprise she has the emotional baggage to give the words more depth.

  I feel weird walking in midsong, but with Ryan waiting I want to get this over with. Plus, I still need to get in touch with Nicki so Luke can play ghost whisperer on her.

  I give Patty another minute, but when she starts over from the beginning of the song, I knock on the doorjamb. “Um, sorry, but you said you wanted to see me?”

  Miss Patty jumps. “Oh,” she says, bringing a hand to her heart. “You startled me.”

  I grimace. “Sorry, you were singing and …”

  Her faces flushes under the thin line of hot pink powder she’s brushed on her cheekbones. “Just me making more of a fool of myself than I already have.” She looks away and it’s obvious she didn’t call me in to fire me. She’s embarrassed about last night.

  She motions for me to sit on the pink polka-dotted chair in front of her desk.

  “No,” I say sinking into the overstuffed pillows. “You’re really good. You should be in the chorus with Ari.”

  Her eyes widen in surprise. “Me? No! I mean, I love to sing, but I don’t think Ari would enjoy having her mother watching over her, if you get my drift.”

  I nod. “Yeah, but you do sing really well.”

  She gives me a genuinely pleased smile. “It was these little ol’ pipes of mine that first caught Mr. Roy’s attention. He heard me singing in a club down in New Orleans and bought me a drink afterward. The rest is history.”

  I can’t help thinking the real story of their meeting sounds a bit classier than what the mirror said the night before. I so didn’t want to think about Mr. Roy stuffing twenties in her G-string at a stripper bar.

  “Anyway, I asked you to come by so I could apologize for my behavior last night. You were a guest in my home and I was not the hostess I should’ve been.”

  Now I’m embarrassed. What do I say? No worries—my mom trash talks with mirrors after she’s been binge drinking too.

  “Um, it’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay, and you’re showing me more kindness than I deserve. I just hope you can find it in your heart not to mention yesterday’s events to the other team members. If not for me, then for Mr. Roy and Ari—they shouldn’t be punished for my lapse in judgment.”

  “Oh, I won’t say anything—I never planned to. I understand, you know, that stuff happens.”

  Tears well up in her eyes. “You’re a good kid. I knew it the minute you walked into my office, and I …” She pauses and furrows her brow. “I know you and Ari are getting to be friends.” She smiles but it seems forced. “Ari doesn’t have many friends, besides Luke, and well, I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but—”

  “Patty!” Kevin rushes into her office. “Henrietta fell. I think she may have broken her hip! We called 911, but you’d better come see her.”

  “Oh, crap!” Patty says, pushing her desk chair back. “Please tell me it wasn’t—”

  Kevin purses his lips and nods. “Yeah, that sidewalk we haven’t repaired yet.”

  Patty grabs her cell phone and hustles around the desk. “You call Mr. Roy, and I’ll call the lawyers.” She looks at me as if she’d forgotten I was there. “Oh, thank you for coming, Megan, I really do appreciate it!”

  They dash out of the office, and I exhale. That was close! Of course, being fired wouldn’t have been the end of the world—especially in light of Christophe being thrown into my mess of a love triangle. I stand up and catch my reflection in the gilded mirror hanging on the wall. I look over my shoulder and then walk behind Miss Patty’s desk.

  I brush my dark bangs to the side. I really could use some sun this summer—my skin is so white, I practically glow under the fluorescent lights in the office. Hopefully, Hansel and Gretel’s will stay broken all summer. There are definitely more chances to be out and catch some rays at the roller coaster and log flume, and frankly, I don’t ever want to go near that witch’s house again!

  I run my hands up the sides of the mirror, trying to feel the on switch. I can’t find anything, and I’m not about to lift it away from the wall—with my luck it’d come crashing down. I run my fingers around the carved frame one more time. Those people in France did a great job making it look old.

  I take a chance and go with the obvious. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

  The mirror shimmers and I catch my breath. I remember that it’s voice activated, and as my reflection vanishes and the dark face comes into view, I take a step back, thinking I should’ve just run out to meet Ryan by the exit.

  “You were once most fair, ’tis true, but now …” the face begins, and then its eyes widen. “You!”

  I stare at the face. “Me?” I choke out.

  The face’s expression softens. It smirks. “This is a most interesting development.”

  Remy appears at my side, her eyes as wide as saucers. “No, Meggy! Don’t talk to it. It’s bad.”

  I shake my head. “I do not have any energy left to deal with you! Can’t you see it’s not real?”

  “It’s bad, Meggy,” she says, shaking her head. “I need Daddy—he’ll fix it. Where’s Daddy?”

  My heart starts to pound. “Just stop it and leave me the hell alone!”

  Remy rocks on her heels, looking aimlessly around the room. “But if you make a wish … yes, that’ll help. Star light, star bright, first star—”

  “Oh my God! It’s a toy—it’s not real!”

  “A ghost!” the mirror says.

  Ghost? My blood freezes. “What did you say?”

  The glass shimmers, and my reflection reappears, looking wild and crazed. “What did you say?” I scream at the mirror, wondering if this face—this wild face I’m seeing—is what got Hayden so freaked he forgot to lock the brake earlier.

  “It’s gone,” Remy says with a sigh. “It’s gone.”

  She fades a bit, and I step closer to the mirror. “What did you say?” I repeat slowly, carefully pronouncing each word.

  Nothing happens, and I shake my head. “You don’t have to say it again, I heard you the first time.”

  I wait for a minute for the face to come back and then I roll my eyes and turn away. I’m talking to the mirror like Patty was. Might as well get “nut job” tattooed on my forehead. “God, I’m crazy,” I whisper. “I’m really crazy.”

  “Bad,” Remy says, her voice hushed like mine.

  “No, I told you, it’s a toy,” I say, but I can’t help thinking that no matter how carefully that thing was programmed, the chances of it saying, “Ghost,” with Remy in the room are astronomical.

  Remy walks through me. Chills wrack my body. “She’s gonna die,” she says matter-of-factly. “Die.”

  My heart rockets in my chest. I run out of Miss Patty’s office and head for the exit. I burst through the door and find a bench to sit on. I exhale slowly and take out my phone. I bring up my call list and punch in Nicki’s number.

  By the fifth ring I start to wonder if she’s so mad she won’t pick up.

  “What?” she says, and I’m so happy she answered, tears prick my eyes.

  “Nicki? Can you come over tonight? I really, really need to talk to you.” She doesn’t say anything and my heart starts to pound again. “Nicki? Please.”

  “What, is Ari too busy drinking bubbly in the pool?”

  “I don’t know what Ari’s doing, but I’m sorry about last night, I was a total jerk.”

  “Go on.”

  I’m about
to completely lose it. I’ve been through hell the last few days and now I have to suck up to Nicki just to get her to talk to me. I take another deep breath. It’s not Nicki’s fault Remy is haunting me, but if all goes well, she’ll be a heck of a lot more sympathetic.

  “And I don’t want any time to go by without us talking it out. I want things to be okay with us.”

  I hear Nicki clicking her tongue in her mouth—something she does when she’s trying to make a decision. “I want that too,” she says quietly.

  Relief washes over me. I feel guilty that I’m not telling her the truth, but right now I’d sell my soul if I thought it’d solve my Remy problem.

  “So you’ll come over? Say around seven?”

  “Sure, whatever,” she says and hangs up.

  She’s still mad, but at least she’s coming over. I scroll through my contact list and stop at Luke’s number.

  “Megan?” he says, picking up on the first ring.

  “Yeah, we’re on—seven o’clock. My house is at forty-two Ivy Way.”

  “I’ll see you at seven.”

  “Good, because you’re my last hope, Luke. If this doesn’t work, I’m voluntarily committing myself and asking for heavy sedation.”

  “Megan, what happened?”

  “You know that vision I showed you—the girl?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Remy showed me the events leading up to it, and I … I heard the knife cutting through her.”

  “Oh, God.”

  My shoulders shake as my face contorts. Tears flow and I can’t speak.

  “Megan? Are you still there?”

  I take in a jagged breath. “Why is she doing this, and h-how am I supposed to act like nothing’s wrong? If it weren’t for you, I’d feel like I was losing my mind.”

  “We’ll fix this,” he says with such confidence I almost believe him. “But if Ari calls you, don’t tell her I’m coming over. I had kind of a weird conversation with her yesterday after you left.”

  I sniff. “I won’t say anything. And thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Good thing you don’t have to worry about that.”

  I put the phone in my purse and take out my compact. God, I look like crap. I brush some powder on my red nose and head for the parking lot. I look up at Rapunzel’s tower, the one Luke added the extra touches to.

  Here’s hoping Luke will be my knight in shining armor.

  TWELVE

  Nicki looks back and forth between Luke and me with one eyebrow arched high. “Okay, so which one of you is gonna say, ‘April Fools,’ so we can all have a big laugh, and then I can go home?”

  I guess I’m not surprised by her reaction. I’d probably say the same thing if I were her. Luke reaches out, squeezes my hand, and nods for me to keep going. “This isn’t a joke,” I say calmly. “We’re totally serious and we really need you to help us.”

  Nicki puts her hands out in front of her. “Just stop right there; I’ve been more than tolerant with you and your boyfriend drama, but using me to test-drive Luke’s ghost-hunting prowess on Remy isn’t even remotely funny. And honestly, if for some reason you actually do think Remy is wandering around haunting things, you need a serious reality check and a full refund from Dr. Macardo.”

  Luke and I exchange looks. He pulls on the knees of his jeans nervously. I’d warned him she was going to be tough, but even so, I’m getting mad.

  “You want a reality check?” I say. “How about accepting the fact that you could possibly be wrong about something? Just because you don’t want to believe in ghosts, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I know this all sounds crazy, but—”

  “No, it doesn’t sound crazy, it is crazy,” Nicki interrupts. “And if I’d had any idea you were planning on ambushing me with ghost boy here, I would’ve called your shrink myself. Not that your sessions seem to be working real well, but maybe you two can get a group rate or something.”

  “Hey!” Luke says. “This isn’t an ambush, this is about helping Megan and Remy. All we’re asking is for you to have an open mind.”

  Nicki glares at Luke. “Open mind? Are you for real? You ask me over here under false pretenses, and then think I’ll gladly sit around some freaking crystal ball so you can test your ghost-hunting ability on me? There are meds for this stuff, you know!”

  Luke shuffles his feet. “Actually, I’m not really trained to use a crystal ball yet; I was going for more of a conduit kind of scenario.”

  I hang my head. I knew things might go badly, but not this bad.

  “Oh my God!” Nicki laughs crazily. “Here’s a novel idea: Why don’t you guys call your good friend Ari and see if she wants to play haunted house, because I’m not interested!”

  “Nicki,” I say quietly, trying to stay calm, “it has to be you. She’ll come to you—you were Remy’s best friend.”

  “That’s right!” she yells. “And if Remy was really here, she would’ve come to me!”

  “That’s why you didn’t believe me in second grade, isn’t it?”

  “No!” she says, but the look on her face says otherwise. “I didn’t believe you because people don’t come back from the dead!”

  “Nicki, Remy didn’t come back—she never left. She showed up right after the accident, and she’d pop up every now and then over the years. But lately she’s been showing up more and more, and if you could see her, you’d know she needs help. We think she’s waiting for my dad to, you know, so she can move on to wherever. But unless we can make my mom see her, too, it’s not gonna happen.”

  Nicki stares at me for a second, then rolls her eyes. “I’m outta here!” She stands up to leave, but Luke rushes over to her and takes her hand. “Let go of me!” She starts to pull away, but then her shoulders relax and she turns to him.

  I know Luke’s working his empath mojo on her, and I hold my breath, waiting to see if he can break through the wall she’s put up.

  “We’re telling you the truth—we need your help,” he says slowly. “I know you’re feeling conflicted, but I also know a part of you wants to believe us. Even if you think we’re crazy, what harm is there in humoring us?” He pauses. “Remy would’ve come to you if she could,” he says quietly. “The ghost world isn’t like ours. They’re dealing with the past, present, and future all at once, and reaching out to even one person is hard. Megan’s her twin.”

  Nicki’s face screws up, and then she looks at the ceiling. “Remy’s gone.”

  Tears streak down my cheeks. “She should be, but she isn’t. Please, Nicki, help me. Help Remy.”

  Nicki purses her lips. Luke leads her back to the couch. “Just let me try it—that’s all I’m asking.”

  I cautiously sit next to Nicki. She’s breathing hard and I tentatively put an arm around her shoulder. She leans into me and I burst into tears because I know she’ll stay. “Thank you.”

  Nicki nods against my shoulder and I look at Luke with wide, teary eyes, not sure what to do next.

  He takes a deep breath. “Okay, um, this is the first time I’ve tried this, so bear with me. And we, uh, need to be linked.” He reaches out for Nicki’s hand again.

  Nicki stiffens for a second but lets him take her hand, and then I feel her relax.

  “I’m going to call her, and if we can get her to appear, I’ll, um, well, I’ll try to pass the sight on to you, Nicki. My grandmother said if we both concentrate, you should be able to see her.”

  Nicki scoffs. “When this doesn’t work I want you two to get some help.”

  “It’ll work,” I say. It has to.

  “Open your mind to the possibility—believe it can happen,” Luke tells her. He clears his throat. “Remy? It’s me, Luke. There’s someone who wants to see you. Are you here, Remy?”

  I scan the room, but there’s no sign of her.

  “Remy?” he calls again.

  “Remy?” I echo.

  Please let this work.

  “Remy, Nicki’s here. She misses you,”
he continues.

  Nicki sobs and slides an arm around my waist.

  I look around the room—nothing. I look over Nicki to Luke. Where is she? I mouth to him.

  “Nicki, what did you and Remy like to do?” Luke asks.

  “I don’t know. We’d play with Megan, and … I don’t know.”

  “The shows,” I say. Remy inherited Dad’s smooth singing voice, and she and Nicki were always putting on shows. They’d let me rehearse with them, but when it came time to perform for our parents, I was always demoted to ticket taker/usher. “Nicki, what if you sing to her? What’s one of the old songs?”

  Nicki shakes her head. “You gotta be kidding me if you think I’m gonna sing right now!”

  My brain scrambles, trying to remember a song—any song. “Remy? Do you want to sing with Nicki? You can put on a show.”

  I catch my breath as Remy appears, soft and unfocused near the fireplace. “There,” I whisper, pointing. “Do you see her?”

  Luke squeezes Nicki’s hand, and she sits up. “No. This is so stupid, this …” She cuts herself off and leans forward, staring at the fireplace.

  “That’s it,” Luke says. “You’re looking right at her.”

  “He likes to dance,” I sing a bit off-key. “In the Bahamas.”

  “In his pajamas,” Nicki sings in a whisper, her eyes wide, staring ahead.

  I struggle to come up with the next line. “The island life is so fair.”

  “You could see his underwear,” Remy sings, and then giggles. She walks toward us—right through the coffee table. “A show!” she says, smiling from ear to ear. “We should charge a dollar this time.”

  I catch my breath. “Do you see her? Can you hear that?”

  Nicki takes her arm out from around me and reaches toward Remy. “Oh my God, yes. Braids, purple dress. I can’t believe it.”

  Remy takes a step closer, and the air around us ices up.

  Nicki stretches forward as if trying to see whether Remy’s solid to the touch. Her fingers pass through her and she gasps, no doubt feeling the intense cold that forever wraps itself around my sister. “Remy? It’s me, Nicki.” Her body shudders, wracked with tears. “Remy.”