“Only some trees,” I said frowning. “One really. Don’t remind me where that conversation led.”
“Why not? You have a very well manicured back yard. It was a delight to visit.”
I slammed down a book and glared at him, but the look on his face was so innocent I sighed. “Look, Lewis, you’ve made it perfectly clear that you’re not even remotely interested in romantic entanglements. If you want to be friends with Valerie, go for it. You can be friends with anyone you want.”
He raised his eyebrows then smiled slightly. “I made that perfectly clear, did I? What was it, lending you a priceless copy of my favorite book or stalking you that gave the message?”
“Stalking me?” I stared at him. “The only person I’ve seen you pursue is my uncle.”
His smile widened. “That was probably the most fun I’ve had in this town.” I stared at him speechless. “I seem very good, don’t I? I could be Osmond’s better brother.” He smiled wickedly then focused on his book.
I felt bewildered. This was not where I expected this conversation to go. “You like me?” I could have bit my tongue off after I said it.
He looked up slowly and cocked his head. It was the same look he made in Mrs. Briggs class before he made a brilliant argument. “It’s your hair. I can’t help but like anyone with hair attached to their scalp so firmly.”
I nodded and couldn’t help giggling. I opened my own book determined that this conversation was over. So, he liked me? I tried not to think about it, to wonder about it. When you came right down to it, he hadn’t said yes. Of course, he hadn’t said no either.
After school I got a ride home with Snowy. She chatted the whole way, while I stared out the window thinking about Lewis.
“Dari.” I glanced at her and offered an apologetic smile. “What are you going to wear to the fest?”
I looked down at my silk dress, and back up at her. “This.”
“This is the end of summer fling. You’ve got to wear a summer dress. Why don’t we stop by my house and we can see if there’s something that would suit you. You are about my size only more defined.”
I looked at her carefully, wondering if there was an insult in there, but she smiled back at me cheerfully. I shrugged, not in the mood to fight. Lewis was still in my head. He had said he liked me, hadn’t he? He’d been joking, but I wasn’t sure about which parts.
Inside Snowy’s rambler, I stood in front of her floor length mirror, holding a little spaghetti strapped floral dress up to my body.
“Where did you get this? It doesn’t seem like you at all.”
“It’s not. My aunt gave it to me for my birthday last year. I haven’t gotten around to cleaning out my closet yet. I think you should try it on.” She rifled through the closet and came out with a mini skirt and a sleeveless polo. “This is perfect for me. Of course, I’m not going to be quite as casual as you. What about your hair? Do you want to leave it down? I know.”
I let Snowy mess with my hair. She kept it simple, only pulled up the sides into clips, and I went into the bathroom to change into the dress. It wasn’t bad. It showed more shoulder than I was used to, but it wasn’t too low. I heard the phone ring, and Snowy’s mother came down the hall calling my name. I stepped out, and she smiled as she took in my outfit.
“Well.” Her Swedish accent was still heavy, “Aren’t you looking lovely today, Dariana. Your mother is on the phone. She wants to know where you are.”
“Oh.” I stared at her for a minute. “You can tell her that I’m here.”
Snowy snorted behind me. “Mom, tell her I’ll take her home in a few minutes, and tell her we’re sorry,” Snowy added as her mother made her way down the hall. I looked from the mother to the daughter and couldn’t help the slight sigh. Snowy looked as gorgeous as her Swedish former model mother did. Why didn’t I get the looks of my mother? I shrugged it off as soon as I thought it. I didn’t want to be like my mother in any way.
Snowy kept glancing at me and smiling on the way home. It made me feel self-conscious, and I pulled the dress lower on my knees. I was wearing a pair of her sandals. She’d finally convinced me that while boots were the universal neutral, sandals were more appropriate for this particular occasion.
At my house I found my mother in the kitchen muttering under her breath while she smashed something in a mortar with the pestle. I stared at her impressed at the way she was taking her frustration out on it. She was still in her lab coat from work handling those medieval instruments like they were second nature to her.
“Hi mother.” I settled on a bench and started to eat an apple.
“Dariana.” She only looked up for a second before concentrating on her work. “Stupid!” I thought I heard her mutter.
“Are you having fun?”
She glanced at me then shook her head. “What century are we in? I’m adjusting your father’s recipe in order to make it palatable for you. You have to drink absolute sludge and why? Perhaps psychologically there’s good reason for it, but in this day and age, when chemicals have been neatly processed into white pills, it doesn’t make a difference what shape it is, so long as you get it inside you.”
I shrugged. “That potion, as awful as it is, definitely works. Without it, my dreams are absolute nightmares. Besides, it’s not that bad mixed with Autumn. You should have tried the first batch. That was horrible.” It made me shudder to remember it.
“I do this for a living you know. It isn’t as though I couldn’t come up with something that worked better and tasted better. If he’d warned me before this week, I could have developed it during the summer.”
I stared at her wondering why she was absorbed by this now. “You’re busy with whatever you’re working on. Don’t worry about me.”
“Don’t worry about you?” She rested her elbows on the counter and directed her level gaze at me, her glasses slightly crooked and her hair in a rough ponytail that did nothing for her. She looked almost normal. “How exactly am I supposed to not worry about you when you disappear after school without telling me where you’re going?”
I finished chewing my apple before I answered her. “What’s the worst that could happen to me? Are you afraid I’ll lose my soul or something?” She winced, and I felt low. “I’m sorry mother. I didn’t mean it like that. I just hate it when people worry about me when I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I’m a fury!”
My mother looked at me with a tight mouth. “For the moment, but who knows how long that will last.” She closed her eyes and I saw how very dark the circles were. She looked at me and forced a smile as she took off her lab coat. “You look very nice. Would you mind giving me a hand with these?” She gestured to the counter where I saw a stack of bowls of various sizes. “I have to take these to the festival a little early. Do you mind?”
I stared at her, bewildered at her change of subject then loaded up the car. My mother was worried about me. I could smell it under her perfume.
At school, my mother parked on the curb. I looked over the parking lot full of booths, a Ferris wheel, and some other small rides. After I dumped the bowls in the gym, I found a place on the grass, out of the way where I could be seen if someone was looking for me, but where I wouldn’t stand out too much. I let myself forget about my mother and soaked in the sun. I thought about Lewis, going over his words, the expression on his face, trying to figure out which parts had been sincere, or if he’d spent the entire time mocking me. Mocking reminded me of the Nether. I had a hard time breathing when I thought of him, that darkness and the way I felt wrapped up in him.
“Dari!” Snowy cried and came towards me. I blinked back to the world of bright green grass and the smell of pavement and charcoal mixed with sunscreen. I smiled at Snowy and felt good beneath the warmth of the sun. “Come on, let’s go check out booths.”
I shook my head. “I promised Smoke I’d meet him here at five.”
“Oh, come on,” she pouted.
“That pout is so fake,�
�� I said.
She laughed and shook out her hair, then settled on the grass beside me. “Of course it is. I won’t waste it on you in the future. I should know better, but you were someone I used to practice on. So tell me about study hall? Did anything happen?”
I shrugged uncomfortably. “He told me he didn’t like Valerie.”
“And…” She nudged me.
“He said he liked my scalp.” I scowled at her and she fell on her back laughing. “It wasn’t that funny,” I muttered.
“Hmm. Well, that’s good,” she said after she had her giggles under control. “And so you told him you found his ears adorable?”
I rolled my eyes. “I told you we’re not romantic. I don’t know what you want from me.”
“If you don’t like him you shouldn’t look so dreamy when you’re talking to him. Here, let’s practice. I’m Lewis, and you’re Dari. ‘Hi, Dari.” She batted her lashes at me and I laughed.
“Snowy, you make a terrible Lewis. He doesn’t pout.”
“No, he has that cool face, how’s this?” I examined her scowl carefully, then shook my head. Her features shifted, and I ended up falling over I was laughing so hard. As far as I remembered Snowy had never been funny. Snowy pulled down my skirt.
“Hi Dariana, Snowy.” I saw Smoke with Ash a step behind him. Snowy smiled at him pleasantly, but there was an undercurrent of disapproval in her.
I sat up and smoothed down the skirt, feeling ridiculous, but happy. I grinned at Smoke. “Hi. Are you ready to get sick?”
He grinned back and gave me a hand up. We walked through the booths, not holding hands. All the adults carefully guarded the end of summer festival, making sure the kids didn’t do anything but have a good time. Snowy did her best, but she couldn’t help muttering that someone should have put some thought into a cohesive color scheme. Smoke came back with something about obsessive compulsive, and I grinned, stopping to watch someone toss a ring on a milk jug. As we wandered through the festivities, I felt relaxed. I loved the smell of popcorn and cotton candy, the sun warm on the pavement, kids running through the crowds screaming, with sticky hands outstretched. I smiled around me at all the people who were comfortably familiar. It felt good, more than good. It felt great. With Snowy’s running commentary about who was doing what with who, who had flunked out of math last year, and had to retake it, who had gotten grounded when they’d gotten caught making out, and Smoke’s sarcastic come-backs, I got an intimate look at Sanders that delighted me. I loved the color. My mother’s house didn’t look all that different to me from my former vision of it, but the rest of the town did. Snowy might complain about the lack of a color scheme, but I found it wonderful. I twirled around in my sundress to look up at the Ferris wheel. I felt like a part of these happy people, my people, the town of Sanders.
I’d had my fill of popcorn, ice slushies, and strawberry flavored licorice. We stood in line for the tilt-a-whirl. Once I was on the ride, I stood there, tied in, and wondered if I was going to throw up, but then the wind blew my hair around, and I felt a growing sense of freedom and found myself laughing.
“Let’s do that again,” I said as we all got off.
“No, thank you,” Snowy said and Ash nodded. Smoke gave me a weak smile then we were in line again. I dragged him on three more times. After the fourth ride, he was standing on one leg, adjusting his sandal when Valerie stumbled into him.
“Woah,” he exclaimed, holding her up awkwardly.
“Smoke, darling,” she said gazing at him. “I hurt my ankle. Will you help me to my blanket? I’m dying to watch the fireworks.”
Smoke looked at me, his eyes wider than I’d ever seen them. I shrugged and felt slightly sick. “Go on if you want. I’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll go on the tilt-a-whirl a few more times.”
“I…” He looked down at Valerie who was leaning more and more of her weight on him.
“Later, Smoke,” I said and turned into the crowd letting it swallow me.
“I would never abandon my date,” Harris’ voice broke in behind me.
I turned and looked at him. He looked fine enough except for around his eyes. They were blurry and a little unfocused. He smelled like old mop water, like alcohol.
“Are you drunk?” I asked.
He laughed and shrugged. “Just enough to take off the edge. The other day what you did was totally hot. If Snowy hadn’t come along and busted us up…”
“You’d be in a hospital,” Lewis said grabbing Harris around the neck in a friendly chokehold. “I’d see to it.” He let Harris go and stepped to the side so he was between Harris and me. Harris rubbed his throat and looked like he had a hard time swallowing.
“I’m just being friendly,” he said glaring at Lewis. “Between you and Osmond, Dari doesn’t have any fun.”
I stood there wondering what kind of fun he thought I could have without Lewis or Osmond then decided I didn’t want to know. “It’s true, Harris. With you I really could have fun, but it would be over so quickly there really wouldn’t be much point.”
Lewis and Harris both gave me startled looks then Lewis started laughing. I didn’t see what was funny about how long it would take to rip out his throat.
“Whatever,” I muttered and turned towards the Ferris wheel. I got in line and tried not to notice that Lewis was standing behind me. I handed my ticket to the guy and stepped into the cage. He gestured Lewis through to sit beside me.
“Two to a cart,” he answered the expression on my face.
“Great.” I turned to look out over the parking lot as the basket swung up.
“Nice night,” he murmured. When I looked at him, he was looking over his side. The expression on his face was peculiar when he looked up at me. “I love this,” he said sounding surprised. He rocked back and forth then nodded again. “It’s fun.” He grinned at me and I couldn’t help returning the smile.
“I should have taken you on the tilt-a-whirl. I wore everybody else out.”
“Next time,” he said easily and settled back to watch the night sky and the lights below us. The first firework went off making everything green. “Nice,” Lewis said quietly. I looked at him, his face in shifting shadows as the Ferris wheel went round and round. He looked relaxed enough he could fall asleep any minute. I leaned back and found the tension slipping out of me. Ever since I’d gotten into Satan’s car to come back to Sanders, I’d been a tightly coiled spring. Sitting in the darkness watching fireworks with Lewis was exactly what I needed. The crowd below made exclamations of wonder at each burst and I found my attention rapt at the color, the explosions of sound and energy that looked close enough to touch when we were on the top of the wheel. The finale came and went, and the lights came on. The Ferris wheel rolled to a stop and Lewis climbed out and held a hand to me. I had a hard time moving after the stillness and stumbled over my feet. He put an arm around me to balance me like he’d done it a million times before. I looked up at him and wanted nothing more than to reach on my tiptoes and press a kiss to his cheek. I no sooner thought it than I leaned towards him and brushed my lips against his face. He froze and I pulled back, wondering what had come over me.
I forced a smile. “Thanks for the ride.” I turned away trying to get lost in the crowd. Heat burned my face and a new sensation coiled in my stomach. It was silly, but it was my first kiss and I couldn’t imagine it going any better. Maybe if he’d smiled at me and held my hand instead of staring at me like he was in shock would have been nice, but I couldn’t say it would be nicer. The more I thought about it the more I felt like the natural impulse of it, like it had felt when he put his arm around me made the entire thing all right. Kissing was entirely out of my domain, but it seemed like even friends could kiss cheeks. French people did it all the time. I wanted to spin around and giggle, but I managed to only skip a few times before I settled down to a mature walk.
At home in the kitchen I found something to eat among the many leftovers in the fridge.
“Was the boy you we
re with the one who challenged Satan?” my mother asked.
I froze while my mind raced for something to say. “Which boy?” I winced when I’d said it. Only one boy was insane enough, or brilliant enough to challenge Satan and live through it.
She looked at me for a long time before she looked away. “I think it would be neighborly to invite Old Peter over for dinner on Sunday. What do you think he’d like?”
I stared at her and felt my heart race in my chest. “Dad said it’s a good idea I stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”
“Oh really?” she looked almost surprised. “Well, I’m sure we’ll be careful. You’d better get to bed. I think we should make an early morning of it tomorrow.”
I winced when I remembered the shopping expedition. A day with Snowy was exactly what I didn’t need.
“How was the fair?” Satan stood in the doorway and took his time looking back and forth at us. “Looks like you had fun.”
I shrugged and headed for the stairs. “Too much fun.”
In my room I didn’t bother to turn on the light. I lay there watching the stars outside the window. I could hear the voices from downstairs since no one was bothering to keep quiet.
“You’re going to lose her if you…” Satan’s growl was cut off by my mother’s voice.
“All you care about is Slide. She’s my daughter. I’ve already lost one child to the House. I’m not going to sacrifice any more for that. I haven’t seen any of you for twenty years, and you think you can just show up and take up where you left off?”
“I’m not the House, but you’re blind if you don’t see what’s coming.”
“What’s coming Satan?”
“War.”
My mother’s laugh had a slightly hysterical tint to it before it disappeared. “There’s always war.” Her voice was hard. “I was disowned by the family, and I disowned them. I don’t see how after my son dies, you think you can stick your claws into her.”
“I’m not the house,” Satan growled.
“Oh no, of course not. You’re just, what, the good-natured uncle she never even saw before the funeral. I accepted your role as protector as a debt you owed me after Devlin, not as an opportunity for you to corrupt my daughter.”
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