by Dena Nicotra
“Weaver?” She finished for me.
“Yeah, that,” I said.
“Of course! You didn’t know?” Her smile was genuine and warm.
“No, I didn’t. I thought you were just…well, normal.” My words sounded stupid, even to myself.
“Oh, I just assumed Kess told you. Well, I’m as normal as anyone can be I guess” she offered with a shrug. “I mean, I’d like to think that I am normal, but I know what you mean.” She giggled. “Actually, most of the time I feel pretty abnormal.” I decided I liked Pepper. She was a lot like me, and learning she was a weaver made me feel even more comfortable with her.
“Before you get too impressed, I should confess that my abilities are really limited. I mean, I’ve never even had a mentor because I’m that bad. I can only weave for others, and even then, it doesn’t always work. I can’t weave anything for myself like you can. Believe me, I’ve tried!” How incredibly surreal it was to have a conversation with someone so much like myself. I’d dreamed of having a friend with the same abilities. Someone I could confide in, and trust. Pepper radiated gentility, and I had to wonder how she managed at a place like Kiss-Kiss. I sipped the coffee and my brain scrambled for a way to approach my next question.
“How long have you known you were a weaver?” I asked gingerly.
Pepper folded her hands and looked up at me with eyes that seemed flecked with old pain. “I’ve known since the night my brother died,” she said in a very low voice.
“Oh I am so sorry Pepper.” I felt her sadness and a sudden wash of images flashed in my mind. It had happened a little more than a year ago.
“He was a weaver too.” I added knowingly.
“Yes. Peter was an amazing weaver. I knew he had abilities from the time we were little. He’d just get us stuff whenever we needed or wanted things. We were inseparable and music was our life. He played every instrument you can think of. Drums, guitar, piano – you name it. We worked hard on our music together. Actually, I worked hard. He never had to do more than think of an idea and it would be his. He played and I sang. We’d play any gig we could get, and Peter never used his ability to influence that. He said that would take the fun out of it and that we were good enough that we didn’t need to. I guess he was right because we got a really great recording contract about a year ago.” She paused and I could tell that she was fighting back tears. “He honestly didn’t weave that. We earned it – you know, the regular way.” She nodded her head, her eyes wide to add emphasis to this.
“What happened?” I asked tenderly. She looked down at the table and her thin shoulders shook. “I don’t know. We shared an apartment, in the city so that we could focus on our music. About a month before he died, he started acting weird. He was never home, and when he was he was really distant. One night – it was right after we found out about the contract, he went out to celebrate.” Her voice trailed off. I saw in a flood of images that rocked me. Just as I had glimpsed at the club, there had been an accident. It had been horrible. I shut my eyes and tried to fight the images that shattered my consciousness. I was immediately transported to a car that was speeding down the canyon road. The worried expression on Peter’s face shocked me. He knew something was wrong. He was trying to get away from something or someone. I recognized the darkness of his fear…it was Railey. I pulled back from the image just as his car went over the canyon. There was nothing he could have done to change it. Railey had…taken his abilities away.
I opened my eyes and stared blankly at Pepper. How much did she know? I bit my lip and waited for her to finish. “It was when he was in the hospital that I realized I had some measure of abilities. I was able to pull Peter from a coma the night before he died. He was so weak and it nearly killed me to see him like that. I remember sitting next to him holding his hand and thinking “No! This is not going to happen! He will come back to me right this instant!” She balled both of her fists and choked back a sob before she continued. “His eyes flew open and he looked right into mine. “I knew you could do it too,” He whispered. I didn’t even think about what he meant. I was just so damn glad to see his green eyes looking up at me. He tried to tell me something then, but it was just too hard for him to talk. He said that I needed to stay away from Kiss-Kiss and then he mumbled something like an apology for his poor choices with girls. He died that night.” She croaked.
I reached across the table to take her hand. “I’m so sorry Pepper.” She looked back at me and smiled as tears slid down her pale cheeks. “Thanks Joey.” I gave her a moment of silence. Sometimes there is just nothing appropriate to say.
“So is that why you got a job at Kiss Kiss?” I asked softly.
“Yeah. I found a receipt in the pocket of his jeans for the place, it was dated the same day of his accident. Then I found more as I started to box his things in our apartment so I figured that maybe I could find something out by hanging around.” She let out a sigh. “Then maybe I could do something about it. I’ll never stop trying to find a way to get my brother back. I don’t know much about weaving, but I have learned some things by listening. For example, I learned about master weavers, although from what I’ve heard they are really rare. Still, if I could somehow find a master weaver, maybe I could undo his passing.”
” I nodded. “I understand. Have you got any leads yet?” I stood and busied myself by getting her a tissue. She took it and dabbed at her eyes. I leaned against the counter and held my breath. If she did know more, maybe it would help me with Kalan.
“Not yet”. She sighed. “I guess my focus has been more on Marty than anything else.” She shrugged and looked down at the table. In the silence that followed, I debated if I should tell her about my own dilemma, and what I knew about Railey. I decided to hold off just a little bit longer. The way that things had been going, I needed to be certain about who I could trust. I liked Pepper, but my senses were as off as an old hunting dog. Besides, I didn’t need any more complications right now. Kalan had made it clear that I needed to be careful, and that was warning enough for me.
“Cmon’, let’s get out of here.” I said and reached for my purse.
“Where are we going?” She stood and collected our coffee cups to throw them in the trash at the end of the counter. “We’re going to the beach.” I’ll do the weaving.
I spent the rest of the morning with my new friend. We talked and laughed and I did my best not to spill my guts because I definitely felt a connection with her. There was something genuine and down home about Pepper that called to my instincts. My Mamaw used to say that you can judge a person by their eyes and if that was true, Pepper had honesty in hers. I knew her loss was real and I knew that she was determined to find a way to fix it. In my mind that made her an awful lot like me. As we wandered through the vendor stands on the peer, Pepper turned to me and asked “so do you like Kess? I’ve seen the way he looks at you and it looks like the feeling is mutual.” She tried on a pair of sunglasses with huge white frames and peered into a small mirror nailed to a post.
“I think he’s okay, but those shades are definitely not you.” I giggled and she pulled them off.
“I guess my face is too small for that look.” She leaned against the post and crossed her arms. “Just okay, huh?” she pried.
“I don’t know. There’s something about him that tells me he can have anyone he wants and does. Ya know?” I offered off-handedly. She nodded at my choice of sunglasses and then added
“I know what you mean. He’s sort of mysterious, and dangerous. Some girls like that sort of guy, but not me. I prefer guys like Marty who are gruffer around the edges. With Marty I always know he is exactly what he presents himself to be.”
“Hmm, yeah, it’s nice to know what you are getting yourself into.” I said with a wry smile. If she was digging for information on behalf of Kess, she wasn’t getting much from me. Not that I really thought she was, but I was being careful anyway. After we had each picked out a new pair of sunglasses, and sniffed enough candles a
nd cheap bottles of perfume to make me nauseous, we stopped at an open counter food stand for some muffins. It was somewhere around noon and in the back of my mind I was thinking about the fact that the club would be opening – at least for the staff soon. I needed to figure out what to do next. Pepper picked the top off of her blueberry muffin and I got the sense that she was debating saying something.
“What is it?” I asked, searching her face.
“I—I need to tell you something.” She lowered her voice and looked around as if she were checking for hidden cameras.
“Well, you can trust me if that is what’s got you bugged.” I stole a quick look around us, and didn’t see anything or anyone out of place.
“You have to promise to keep this to yourself okay?” I nodded and crossed my heart quickly for emphasis.
“I promise.”
“Not here.” she whispered back and looked up at the girl working behind the counter. I followed her eyes and studied the brunette who had given us our food. She looked ordinary to me, but I wasn’t going to question it.
Pepper stood up and gestured for me to follow her, which I did. We walked out to the end of the peer and sat on the same bench that Kess and I had sat at a week or so ago. “Okay spill it sister.” I chided. She sighed and closed her eyes for a second. I waited quietly, knowing she was contemplating her next decision. When she opened them again, I knew she was deadly serious. “You need to watch your back. They know that you are looking for something.”
That was not what I expected. “Who knows what?” I asked, feeling the adrenaline surge in my veins.
“The whole time that Kess was away from you last night, he was arguing with his sister Railey in her office.” My eyes widened.
“What did you hear?”
“Well, I went into the storage room to get some supplies for the bar for Marty and heard her tell Kess that if he couldn’t get the job done that she would. I also heard your name and then they talked about some guy named Kalan.” I felt my heart start to pump in a rhythm ready for battle. The blood was rushing up to my face and my hands were trembling.
“Pepper, what did they say about Kalan?” I pushed my sunglasses up on my head so that she could see my eyes. I needed her to know that this was very important to me. “She stood up and leaned against the railing with her back to the ocean. “
Shhhh!” She put a finger up to her lips. I looked over my shoulder, but the only people behind us were pre-occupied shoppers and an old man in a dingy flannel with a fishing rod cast over the side.
“I think we’re safe Pepper.” I couldn’t keep the agitation from my voice. This was the information that I needed, and if she had any insight as to what was going on, I wanted to hear it right this second!
“You never know Joey. You don’t know how Kess and his sister can be.”
“Okay, I get that, but it’s nothing I can’t fix.” I stood up and grabbed her hand. In an instant, I weaved us to the bayou spot that Kalan and I used. I leaned against a moss-covered Willow and crossed my arms.
“We’re safe here I guarantee you.”
Pepper leaned down to place her hands on her knees. “Oh my God that made me dizzy! I wish you would have given me a warning before you did that!”
“I’m sorry, but if I had then someone might have heard.” I said a little too dramatically. The truth was, I thought that she was being a little too paranoid, but who was I to judge? After all, I was the girl who fell in love with a guy who was nothing more than a fleeting phantom who whispered in her head and appeared in foggy visions. Pepper sat on a log and sighed. “Oh I don’t know why I am doing this!” She shook her head and I waited patiently. I was afraid to say anything that might make her change her mind. “Where the hell are we anyway?” She added and looked up at me with curious eyes.
“It’s my secret place. This is the bayou behind my Mamaw and Papaw’s house…only the house isn’t really here anymore. Actually we are in an in-between place kind of. It existed in my childhood and for some reason I can pull myself here when I need to.”
Pepper smiled. “Oh. You have some very advanced abilities don’t you? Well, that’s convenient I guess.”
“Uh-huh, it sure is.” I felt a little haughty about it. The truth was, Kalan pulled me here first and I didn’t really know that I could do it until just now. Just the same, it was indeed convenient. Somehow I knew that I couldn’t be followed here. I knew it the same way that I knew I could weave.
“Trust me, we’re safe here Pepper. So please, tell me what you know.”
I weaved two tall glasses of sweet tea and moved to sit next to her, handing her one as I sat. “Thanks!” she said between gulps. It took her a few minutes (that seemed like an eternity) to get her thoughts collected and then she settled down enough to talk.
“So I was in the store room grabbing a box full of gin bottles when I heard Kess raise his voice. He said something like I don’t care what you want, I won’t do anything that brings harm to her! I guess that’s when my ears perked up because I wanted to know who he was talking about. Then Railey said If you let that little blonde tramp ruin all of my plans I promise you, Kalan and Peter won’t be the only dead light weavers. Then Kess said Joey is not a threat to you Railey. She doesn’t even know how to use her gifts! I think that my feet were frozen to the floor because she mentioned Peter’s name. Then the door to her office flew open and Kess went storming out to you. She’s got a major hold over her brother that’s for sure.” She added this last part between gulps of the last of her glass of tea, clutching it with trembling hands.
“Oh, wow.” I sighed. Kessler didn’t really ask you to come check on me did he?”
“No. I…I just didn’t know what else to say and I needed to come see you.”
“I understand, it’s alright Pepper,” I said in my best motherly voice and rubbed her back like my own Momma did when I was upset. She started to hiccup and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s really not alright at all is it?” She said between hiccups.
“No. But it will be. I guarantee you that.” Someone was going to pay for this agony. I’d had a belly full and it was time for it to damn well stop. Power coursed through my veins. I felt the damp breeze on my cheeks blowing in from the bayou and with it, the strength of my family and the generations that grew up right here on this land. In the distance I heard a Whipoorwill cry, and I couldn’t help but shiver.
I weaved Pepper back to my apartment so that she could get her car and gave her my word that I would not share the information she had given me with anyone. I trusted her, and after explaining to her who Kalan was, I promised her that I would help her find a way to help Peter. Whatever was going on here, her brother had something to do with it too. It also meant that Railey was even more dangerous than I thought. I needed to see Kessler and find out more as soon as possible, but more than anything, I wanted to talk to Kalan again. I needed his strength. I walked back slowly to my apartment after seeing Pepper to her car. I was debating what my next move should be. Clearly, I was dealing with a situation that required some careful consideration.
I glanced absently at my neighbors by the pool. They were all absorbed in conversation and hardly noticed me. I’d never felt so alone. Where was Kalan when I needed him? How I wished I could hear his voice. Just as I closed the door behind me, my cell phone rang and it made me jump straight up. I glimpsed my sister and quickly jerked my phone out of my purse and flopped down on the couch.
“Hello?”
“Hey Sissy, how are you?” Bailey’s voice was like a flood of comfort.
“Hi Bailey, I’m fine, what’s up?”
“Well, I wanted to call you to let you know that I made captain!”
“I knew you would!” I’ve been meaning to call to see how things were going, but from the sounds of it you are doing great. I’m so proud of you!”
“Thanks, you wouldn’t believe how stressed I was, I thought for sure that Beckah Jonesboro was going to get it.�
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“Not a chance!” I added giving into her enthusiasm. My sister was the best cheerleader in the Delta and there was no way she wasn’t going to get anything she put her heart into when it came to cheering. There was no need to weave anything for her there.
“Yeah, you would have laughed Sissy, there was this city guy that showed up, all dressed in black with tattoos on his fingers, anyway, when Beckah was cheering he lit a cigarette right there in the gym and totally threw her off!”
“Bailey, did you say he had tattoos on every finger?” My voice echoed in my head.
“Yeah, it was weird. He just sat there smiling, like he threw off her routine on purpose and then when Coach Becker started snapping her fingers and yelling about his cigarette he just got up all calm, and walked out. I thought maybe he was just going to finish his cigarette outside, but he didn’t come back. Anyway, he didn’t make me nervous, I actually thought he helped me win since he was such a distraction to her and all. He was kinda cute for an older guy, but he left before I did my routine.”
“Have you ever seen him before?” I asked in a voice one thread below panic.
“Nu-uh, but Momma said he was probably visiting somebody down here. She thought he looked like he was from New York, or California cause of his clothes and stuff.”
“Oh well, I’m sure that he had nothing to do with you winning.” I felt a furry building in my stomach. How dare Kess go to my hometown to snoop around. Who in the hell did he think he was? Oh the thought of him that close to my family made me so mad I could spit nails. He could have at least adjusted his appearance! My sister blabbered on about her friends and plans for the team but I wasn’t hearing her. I was lost in my own thoughts and getting madder by the second. Just then Kess materialized on my couch and winked at me. I rushed an excuse at my sister and shoved my cell phone into my pocket.
“Just what in the Sam hell do you think you are doing Kessler?”
His snake skin boots made their way to my table and he brushed a strand of his hair from his eyes with a grin. “I was looking for you.” He said cooly.
