Nightshade

by Andrea Cremer

  “Sounds enthralling,” I heard him say, though I’d buried my head in my jacket.

  I stopped imitating a frightened ostrich and grabbed my lunch bag. “Okay. Let’s go eat.”

  Shay strolled alongside me, humming “Here Comes the Bride,” until I punched him in the kidney.

  TWENTY

  “OW!” I JERKED AWAY FROM SABINE’S PINFILLED fingers. It was the third time she’d stuck me and I was convinced she was doing it on purpose.

  “Sorry,” Sabine said, not sounding sorry at all.

  “Calla, you must keep still,” my mother muttered. “Sabine, be more careful.”

  “Yes, Naomi,” she replied, bowing her head, but I saw her smirk. If I hadn’t been weighed down by fabric, I would have kicked her.

  Bryn stood in front of me, assessing the progress of the gown. “I think it needs to be gathered here.” She pointed at my left shoulder.

  My mother stood up. “Good eye, Bryn. Sabine, we’ll need more pins up here.”

  I grabbed Sabine’s shoulder. “If you stick me again, I’m going to make your head my personal pin cushion.”

  “Calla, that is no way for a lady to address her liege,” my mother clucked. “Cosette, how is that hem coming?”

  “Nearly there,” Cosette said from somewhere beneath me. I couldn’t see her for all the swells of taffeta.

  “Damn it, Sabine!” I rubbed the new stinging spot at my shoulder. “If I bleed all over this gown, you’ll be sorry.”

  “I’m not breaking the skin.” Sabine didn’t cover her smile.

  “You’ll probably end up with blood all over it anyway,” Fey said from the corner she’d tucked herself in. She’d stayed as far from the dressmaking activity as she could, acting as though touching silk might infect her with the pretty princess virus.

  My mother bared fangs at her. “Fey!”

  I swayed on the pedestal that Mom had brought to my room for the dress fitting. Bryn grabbed my waist to keep me from falling.

  “Ow,” I said weakly as more pins pushed into my skin.

  “Sorry,” she said, loosening her grip.

  “What is she talking about?” I looked at my mother, who was shaking her head.

  “How do you know about the ceremony?” She glared at Fey again.

  “Sorry, ma’am.” Fey stared out my bedroom window. “Dax overheard Emile talking about it with Efron.”

  “Dax should learn to use more discretion,” my mother said.

  Bryn stayed where she was, seeing that I was still unsteady.

  “Mom, please,” I murmured. “Can’t you tell me anything?”

  My mother ran her tongue over her lips, looking over the anxious girls in the room.

  “I can tell you a little,” she said quietly. “And I assure you, there will be no blood on this gown.”

  I started to breathe again. “Oh, good.”

  “Because you’ll be a wolf when you make the kill,” she finished.

  “Kill?” I caught my reflection in the tall mirror. I looked like one of Henry VIII’s wives who’d been told she’d soon be replaced.

  “Come on, Cal.” Fey grabbed a tattered teddy bear from my dresser, and I worried she’d rip its head off. “The kill is probably going to be the only fun part of the night.”

  “Until Ren takes her to bed,” Sabine purred.

  Fey’s laugh was like a roar. Even Cosette’s muffled giggles floated up from under the layers of fabric.

  “Shut up, Sabine.” Bryn kicked her and I grinned.

  “Honestly, girls.” My mother put her hands on her hips. “You’re acting like barbarians.”

  She reached up and held my face between her palms. “Calla, the ceremony is beautiful. We’ll wait for you in the sacred grove—except for Bryn, who will guide you to the ritual site. She’ll leave you alone. Drums will raise the forest spirits, and the warrior’s song is the last thing you’ll hear before you’re called to join us.”

  “Who calls me?”

  “You’ll know,” she murmured, smiling. “I don’t want to give everything away. The mystery of the ritual makes it special.”

  Special? I stared into her misty eyes, not feeling special, only anxious. “What about the kill?” This is what my parents were worried about.

  She took her hands from my face, folding them in front of her. “It’s a trial, a public demonstration that you and Ren have the mutual skill to lead your pack.”

  “We hunt together?” I couldn’t imagine how that would work. “And the Keepers watch?”

  “Your prey will be presented at the end of the ceremony,” she said, smoothing the front of my gown. I winced when another pin pricked me.

  “What’s the prey?” Bryn took my hand, her own fingers shaking.

  “You won’t know until that night,” my mother said. “The surprise is part of the challenge.”

  “What was it when you were united to Stephen?” Sabine asked. I was startled to see her fingers laced tightly together, as if the news about a kill frightened her as much as me.

  My mother walked to the dresser and picked up a brush. She was quiet as she came behind me and began pulling the bristles through my hair.

  Just when I was certain she wouldn’t tell us, she said, “A Searcher. One we’d captured.”

  “Oh,” I said. The face of the Searcher I’d fought outside Eden flashed in my mind. I remembered his screams in Efron’s office. Could he still be alive? Would the Keepers drag him out of some secret prison only to throw him at our feet at the ceremony?

  A buzzing sound came from my bed. Fey dug under a heap of crinoline until she found my phone. “Should I answer it?”

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  She glanced at the screen. “Shay.”

  The brush stopped mid-stroke. “Who’s Shay?” my mother asked.

  “The human kid we’re babysitting for Logan.” Fey tossed the phone to me.

  “Mom!” I yelped, barely managing to catch my phone as she jerked a fistful of my hair.

  I heard the brush hit the ground, and in the next moment my mother stood before me. Her face was paler than the rumpled sheets on my bed. “The Keepers’ human is calling you? Why?”

  “You know about Shay?” The phone was still vibrating in my hand.

  “I—” She bent down, picking up the brush. “I may have heard something from Lumine. I didn’t know the boy’s name.”

  “What did Lumine say about him?” I watched as she busied herself tidying my nightstand.

  “It’s not important.” She didn’t look up. “I didn’t realize you were on familiar terms.”

  “Too familiar,” Sabine muttered.

  “What do you mean?” My mother looked at her and then at me. “Are you fraternizing with young men other than Ren? That’s shameful!”

  I tried to kick Sabine and would have tipped over if Bryn hadn’t caught me.

  “Of course she isn’t, Naomi,” Bryn said. “Logan has asked Calla to watch over Shay. Keep him safe.”

  My mother’s face went even whiter. “Why would he—”

  She fell silent and started to fluff the pillows. I glanced at my buzzing phone, unsure what to do.

  “Naomi, didn’t you say we’d have dessert and presents soon?” Bryn asked. “I think we could use a break.”

  “Yes, yes!” My mother looked relieved, heading for the door. “I’ve prepared tea and petit fours. We’ll enjoy refreshments in the parlor.”

  “Thanks, Bryn,” I whispered as the other girls followed my mother out the door.

  She squeezed my arm before running to catch Fey, who turned to her with a frown. “What the hell is a petit four?”

  I flipped open the phone. “Hey.”

  “Calla.” Shay sounded surprised. “I didn’t think you’d pick up.”

  “Yeah.” The sound of my mother giving instructions on the correct placement of china and silver drifted up the stairs. “I only have a couple minutes.”

  “This will be quick,” he said. “I
think I realized why we can’t find anything useful in the library.”

  “Why?”

  “Something was bugging me about those alchemy symbols,” he said. “You know the ones in the picture with the cross?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “So I did some hunting, and that’s not the only place they are.” I heard the rustling of pages. “There’s a triangle on the map. The one I used to get up the mountain. Right on the cave.”

  “There’s a triangle on Haldis Cavern?”

  “Yes,” he said. “An upside-down triangle cut by a single line.”

  “That’s earth,” I said, mentally reviewing the alchemy symbols. “The cave must have something to do with the elemental power of earth.”

  “You don’t know what’s in the cave?” Shay asked.

  “In the cave?” I repeated. “I assumed it was the place that mattered. The Keepers have always referred to it as a sacred site. You think there’s something inside?”

  “I think we should find out.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “We can’t go back to the library after the Searchers attacked us there,” he said. “You’ve already pointed that out. But we have to try something.”

  “I’m not sure.” My mouth went dry. “The cavern is at a high elevation. There will already be a lot of snow up there.”

  “I’m a good climber. I’ll manage,” he said. “I know I can do it, Cal.”

  “It would have to be on a Sunday, when Bryn and I patrol,” I mused. “Getting rid of Bryn isn’t a problem. She’d jump at the chance to spend the day alone with Ansel. But we might not be able to make the climb quickly enough to get to the cavern and back before the next Nightshade patrol showed up. Well, I could do it . . .”

  “Don’t think for a sec that I’ll let you go without me.”

  My mother appeared in the doorway, waving a doily at me. “Calla, time for presents and games! Do you need help getting out of your dress? Be careful not to lose any pins.”

  “Games?” I felt a little sick.

  “Games?” Shay’s laughter crackled in my ear. “Are you having a bridal shower over there? No wonder you wouldn’t tell me what you were doing. You must be miserable.”

  I put my hand over the phone. “I’ll be down in a sec, Mom.”

  “It’s rude to keep guests waiting,” she said sourly before she disappeared back down the stairs.

  “Calla?” Shay said. “Are you there?”

  I stared at my reflection, imagining how much fun it would be to shred the dress into the world’s most expensive confetti. “I’m here. Sorry.”

  “So when are we going?”

  Shay’s eager tone made me want to laugh and cry. Samhain was only a little more than a week away. Once the union took place, there would be no sneaking off with Shay. I wondered if I’d be able to see him at all. “This Sunday. We’re going to the cave this Sunday.”

  “In three days?” he said. “Oh, man, I was excited about my brilliant plan. Now I’m just nervous.”

  “You should be. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me about your dress?”

  I hung up on him.

  “I’m coming, Mom!” I shouted, hopping off the pedestal.

  I’d made it two steps out of my room when my foot caught on the hem of my dress and I tumbled forward, falling flat on my face. I tried to right myself but couldn’t find my way out of the endless pink, gold, and ivory layers that cocooned me. With every movement, pinpricks stung me like a swarm of angry bees.

  When Bryn finally dug me out of my silken prison, I was still screaming.

  TWENTY-ONE

  “SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT?” SHAY asked as we walked out of Big Ideas.

  “Outlining this essay.” I tapped my notebook. “I’m starting to fall behind because of . . . everything.”

  “Can I come over?” he asked, holding up his full page of notes. “We could do it together.”

  “I don’t think it would be a great idea for you to be at my house.”

  “Why not?” He held my books while I opened my locker.

  “My mother wouldn’t like it.”

  “But I’m such a nice boy.”

  “That doesn’t—ouch!”

  Ansel had nailed me in the back with a soccer ball. “Score!”

  I grabbed a water bottle from my locker, squirting him in the face.

  “Good comeback.” He grinned, wiping his face. “But you shouldn’t shoot the messenger.”

  “You’re still breathing,” I said. “What’s the message?”

  “Nev’s playing at the Burnout tonight. He asked us to come.”

  “What’s the Burnout?” Shay asked.

  “It’s a bar just west of town.” I slipped on my jacket. “More of a shack than a bar, really.”

  “Come on, Cal. You love it there,” Ansel said, bouncing the soccer ball on his knees. “Don’t pretend dive bars aren’t up your alley. Besides, we haven’t done anything with both pa—, er, all of us since Eden. We need to blow off steam. Together.”

  “What time?” I asked.

  “Ten.”

  “I don’t know.” I glanced at Shay. Ansel followed my gaze.

  “You should come too, Shay. Hang out with us tonight,” he said. “We have a good time even when we’re not eating lunch.”

  “How will you guys get past the doorman?” Shay asked. “Or do you all have fake IDs I don’t know about yet?”

  “Nev’s got an in with the owner,” Ansel said. “No IDs needed.”

  “Sounds great.” Shay threw a wicked smile at me.

  “Uh, yeah.” I swallowed a groan. “That sounds just great.”

  Ansel beamed. “Mason’s gonna pick us up after nine. It’s just off Highway 24, Shay. There’s a gravel road on the right. Follow it and you’ll get to the bar.”

  “I’ll be there,” Shay said.

  I rummaged through my coat pocket, tossing Ansel keys. “You can drive us home, An. I’ll meet you at the car in a sec.”

  “Really? Cool!” He made a dash for the parking lot before I could change my mind.

  Once he was out of earshot, I glared at Shay. “Are you insane?”

  “For wanting to hear Nev play?” Shay smiled placidly. “I don’t think so. I hear he’s good. Though I suppose Mason’s opinion might be biased.”

  “You know what I mean.” I didn’t smile back. “Ren will be there.”

  “That seems likely.”

  I couldn’t stop thinking about both boys in the same dark, cramped bar. The night spelled disaster in garish neon lights.

  “He’ll want . . .” I bit my lip.

  “To be your boyfriend?” Shay’s eyebrow shot up. “In public?”

  I dropped my gaze and nodded.

  “I understand.”

  “Thanks, Shay,” I said, relieved he wasn’t putting up a fight. “I do wish you could come hang out.”

  “Really?” He grabbed the top of my locker door, swinging it back and forth. “And why is that?”

  I frowned. “Can’t you just take it at face value?”

  “I don’t think so.” His lips curved playfully. “No.”

  “Why are you always so difficult?” His smile made my chest ache, reminding me of how much his mischief could make me laugh. It would be a stressful night without his company to take the edge off my anxiety.

  “Just tell me.”

  “I don’t know if it matters, but I’ll miss you.” I edged closer to him. “Sunday feels like a long time from now.”

  The minute the words were out of my mouth, I bit my lip.

  Why did I just say that? I should never say anything like that.

  “That’s nice to hear.” Shay’s smile was dangerous. “But I’m still coming tonight.”

  “What?” My heart skipped a beat. “But I just told you—”

  “I know, Calla,” he said, squeezing my hand. “See you tonight.”

  I stared at him. He just laug
hed and walked away.

  Mason turned his Land Rover up the gravel drive. The imposing vehicle looked out of place next to the motorcycles and muscle cars that belonged to the bar’s regulars.

  Bryn unbuckled her seat belt. “I don’t know why we had to come here. I’d much rather be at Eden.”

  “Nev doesn’t play at Eden,” Mason said. “Besides, it’s good to be well rounded.”

  “Trust me, this is better than Eden.” My gut knotted at the thought of returning to Efron’s club. Mason and I exchanged a glance. We didn’t say it, but I knew what we were both thinking. Logan would never show his face at the Burnout.

  Ansel slid his arms around Bryn’s waist, pulling her from the car. “You’ll have a good time and you know it.”

  She pouted until he kissed her, and then she beamed.

  The Burnout had been built on the remains of a roadside café ravaged by fire a decade earlier. Rather than tear out the ruined building, the new management had simply built the bar around and over the old site. Charred, smoke-stained wood appeared throughout the small space like misplaced modern art. The hardwood slats that composed the floor had a definite upward slope, so sharp at some points that it was easy to trip over.

  The only light in the bar flickered from the variety of neon beer signs that hung along the walls. A haze of smoke hung in the air like a veil, filling my nostrils, masking other scents. A collection of grizzled regulars perched on mismatched stools along the bar, and leather-clad bikers clustered at tables in the more-shadowed corners of the room. A squat platform that served as the stage faced the bar.

  Neville sat on the edge of the stage with his legs dangling off, guitar at a casual angle across his lap. Shay leaned against the platform. Nev caught sight of us and gave a brief nod. Ansel and Mason immediately headed for the stage.

  Bryn laced her fingers through mine. “Their music talk gets pretty intense. Want to grab a seat?”

  I followed her gaze to the opposite side of the room, where Ren, Dax, Fey, Sabine, and Cosette sat together.

  “Sure.”

  As we approached the table, Ren got up, stretching his hand out to me. “Glad you’re here.”

  My pulse stuttered, but I walked to him, letting him tuck me into the curve of his body and lead me to the chair beside his.