Love saves all.
I was dumbfounded. She'd drawn not only myself, but the gothic, nightmare version of Parker, and had somehow managed to give me a bit of hope all at the same time.
Love saves all.
Clearly, there was something far more to Amelia than what had originally met the eye, just as I'd always known. However, I hadn't realized to what extreme her specialness reached. Obviously, she had some sort of second sight or ability, to be able to have drawn this… and my heart collapsed within itself that she was no longer here for me to hug.
I wanted, in that moment, to tell her how truly special she was.
I took the picture she'd drawn for me, and carried it quietly to my room. I left the other drawings there, for Mitch, Bonnie, and Vincent to discover on their own. I positioned her drawing on the wall next to my bed, adhering it with scotch tape and placing a kiss on the paper.
Then I laid down on my bed, curled myself up into as small of a ball as I could manage, and let the tears flow.
Amelia was no longer a part of the household. She was gone. And she'd taken our joy with her.
CHAPTER 29
The whole family was grieving in their own unique ways.
After bawling my eyes out for not only Amelia, but for Mitch and especially Bonnie, I sat with Vincent on the big sofa in the living room with the household laptop. I was trying my best to get him interested in some British gamer guy’s YouTube channel (which was pretty fun to watch if you could get past the sound of his obnoxious voice), when Bonnie announced she was not cooking dinner. She set two twenty dollar bills down on the coffee table, and told me we were welcomed to order whatever kind of pizza we wanted.
“I'm going to bed,” she softly. “I need to escape this day, just for a little bit.”
I nodded in understanding. “How about Mitch?” I asked. “Will he eat pizza? Or is he going to bed, too?”
She smiled bittersweetly. “He's a man, and all men are fixers. Since this is something he can't fix, he's going to stay out in the toolshed, working on some silly project until he feels like a man again.”
She slowly turned to leave, then paused and said, “But I'm sure he'll eat pizza later, when he comes in for the night.”
I nodded again, and pushed the laptop onto Vincent’s scrawny legs.
I followed her down the hall that led to her bedroom, and said softly, “Bonnie?”
She stopped and turned around, eyes raised in question.
“I just,” I began awkwardly, seeking the right words, “I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I know you loved Amelia like she was your own. I could see how genuine it was for you. I'm just… I'm so sorry she's gone.”
Bonnie took a few steps toward me and reached out her arms. I stepped into them, and we hugged one another fiercely. My troubled spirit tried to feed her broken one love and support, but I don't know if it did any good.
She finally whispered a soft, “Love you,” into my ear and turned to go into her bedroom. I whispered, “Love you too,” as she closed the door.
It was the first time I'd ever said the words to not only her, but to any grown up. Ever. It felt so good to say them, I knew it wouldn't be the last time I said the words.
***
I ordered two large pizzas, which was overkill since it was just me and Vincent eating dinner, but he insisted on pineapple with ham, while I insisted on pepperoni.
You'd have thought I'd asked for anchovies and worms, the way he rolled his eyes at me.
“You know there's more to life than pepperoni pizza, right? Roz, this place has every combination you could dream of, and you want pepperoni? Lame.”
I shrugged at him. “So what? It's basic. Simple. Delicious. Why fix it if it ain't broke?”
He shook his head at me like I was pathetic, and continued to insist on pineapple with ham. I relented and ordered one of each. I didn't know what kind Mitch would like, or Bonnie either, if she decided she was hungry later. Besides, she'd left enough money on the coffee table for two large pizzas, so two large pizzas is what we were getting.
Vincent and I sat together on the sofa all night. We played a cheesy Disney movie that he loved, ate pizza until we couldn't walk, and topped it off with giant bowls of butter pecan ice cream. I knew Bonnie wouldn't be too thrilled with the lack of nutritional value to our meal, but it'd been a long day for everyone and figured she'd give us a pass this once.
Besides, it was her idea to order pizza, I justified myself.
At one point during the “eating our feelings fest,” Vincent turned to me and asked a question.
“Do you think she'll miss us?”
I looked at him and nodded.
“Of course she will. We were her family.”
His face turned sad, and he looked down.
“I never told her she was my sister. But she was, in all the ways that count.”
My eyes watered and my already-shattered heart cracked even more.
“I'm sure she knew that, Vincent.”
He nodded and sniffed. “I hope so.”
We ended up calling it a night shortly after ten. We both had school in the morning, and I wasn't sure how the dynamics in the house would change now, without Amelia around. Besides, I still had no idea where Jimmy was, and I was hoping to fall asleep soon so maybe… just maybe… I would see him there, in my dreams.
Mitch had yet to come back into the house, so I left the pizza boxes in the kitchen with a paper plate for him to find.
Vincent and I readied ourselves for bed, then he asked me something I was absolutely not prepared for.
“Hey, Roz? Could you come in and say goodnight, after I get in bed? You know, like come in, say goodnight, turn the light off for me, stuff like that?”
I stared at him.
“You mean tuck you in?”
“No!” He exclaimed, embarrassed. “That's baby stuff! I'm almost a teenager! I just meant, you know, come in and say goodnight.”
I smiled at him softly.
“Oh, my mistake. Ok. No tucking in, just saying goodnight. Sure, yeah, I can do that.”
He nodded and said, “Cool, thanks. Give me two minutes.”
I smiled again and said, “You got it.”
***
That night, sleep would not come for me, and once it finally did, my dreams were incoherent and muffled, as if I was viewing them from under water. I had no way of knowing what sort of information I missed due to the lack of clarity in the dreams, and I wished I could have some sort of rewind, or Hi-Def, feature.
Or both.
Needless to say, I was still clueless about everything with Jimmy’s situation. I'd hoped I could at least seen him during my sleep, but nope. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. And that bothered me more than I cared to admit.
It was frightening.
All of these strange events and people- Jimmy, my dreams, Parker, my missing two hours- everything- seemed to attach themselves to me for whatever reason. I was the common denominator in all of this. So what did that make me? Was I a magnet for the supernatural? A conduit for magic? Or evil? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make any sense of any of it.
After school that day, Odie and I made a plan to hit the city library together and see if there was any sort of information to be found. Doing internet searches of necromancy and black magic had only provided us with far too much information, and we couldn’t narrow anything down. My first interaction with Parker (with the dangerous side of Parker, that is), had happened at the library, even if I couldn’t remember it. It seemed only fitting that perhaps that is where we could find the answers we sought.
The school day passed uneventfully, for the most part. Everywhere I turned, however, I seemed to bump into either Devon or one of The Pastels, which unnerved me. I’d been rude to her the day before, sure, but I didn’t appreciate them keeping an ever watchful eye on me, as it seemed. I had the feeling they were all keeping tabs on me and reporting back to Devon, but for what reason, I was unsure. Maybe she w
as hoping to confront me about the rumor Odie had inadvertently started the day before. Maybe she was just royally ticked off that I’d dismissed her after school the day before.
Regardless, the entire group of pale, colorful teenagers would not keep their eyes off me.
Odie and I had just taken our usual seats at lunch when we were bombarded.
“Hey girls! Mind if we join you?” Erica announced.
The Pastels stood as a group, just behind her.
Odie looked at me with eyebrows raised.
I sighed. “Okay, sure, let’s get this over with,” I mumbled.
Devon sat to my left, Erica to my right, and Jess sat beside her, while across from me, Belle and Cindy flanked Odie.
“Look,” I began as I addressed the entire group, “I’m sorry I was rude to you yesterday Devon,” I glanced at her, then Odie who watched in keen interest, “But that’s no reason for all of you to be following me all over campus today.”
Devon shook her head slightly, and looked around the cafeteria to where Parker sat with his friends. Every single one of them in his group had their eyes on us. Every one.
“Wait…” I said slowly, “What’s going on?”
I looked back to Devon and she whispered, “This has nothing to do with your rudeness, although I will admit that hurt my feelings. I like you, Roz. But I can’t protect you if you make me go away.”
I stiffened in shock. I looked at Odie. She raised her shoulders and her eyebrows as if to say, “Huh?”
“What do you mean, protect me?” I asked incredulously.
She lowered her voice even more, and I had to strain to hear her. “Parker Evans is evil. We,” she gestured to the other Pastels, “protect those who he goes after.”
I stared at her, dumbfounded. “So you know what he is?” I asked.
She nodded. “And he knows what we are, as well.”
I looked at Odie, whose mouth dropped open.
“What are you?”
She smiled. “Meet us at the public library after school. We have answers for you. However, make sure Parker does not follow you there, or know where you’ll be. We need to do this in secret.”
They all stood up to leave, but I reached out and grabbed her arm. “What do you mean? What are we doing in secret?”
She looked over to Parker once more. His eyes clashed with hers for a brief moment, and then she looked back to me.
“Not a word. We’ll see you then.”
I let them go. Glancing at Odie, I almost laughed at the look on her face. Almost.
It would have been so comical if it wasn’t so downright confusing.
CHAPTER 30
Odie and I sat in the back corner of the library after school, waiting for Devon and the others to show.
“This is stupid,” she whispered angrily, “What do they know? How come they wanted to meet us here when we had already planned on coming here today?”
I shrugged. “Coincidence?” I suggested.
“Not likely,” she said. “And what’s with all this protecting crap? She’s protecting you? From Parker Evans? How’s she gonna do that, huh? Pull a can of hairspray on him?”
“Odie,” I said, exasperated, “Calm down. Let’s just see what they say when they get here. They might know more about all this stuff then we do. They could help.”
“Or we could be walking into a trap,” she said gravely.
“Oh believe me, Odessa,” Devon said, suddenly standing in front of us, resplendent in a pale, lime green pastel color from head to toe, “If I was going to trap you, you’d never see it coming!”
I had no idea how to respond to that, so I looked at Odie and said lamely, “See? It’s not a trap.”
“Okay then,” Belle said, taking a seat at the big, round table with us, “Now that we’re all here, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
“Agreed,” Jess said softly. “I’m supposed to meet Eric in an hour and I can’t be late again!”
Cindy took a seat next to Jess and said, “Tell him your charge is in trouble. He’ll understand.”
“Okay, okay,” Devon announced loudly to the group, “Everyone quiet, please. Let’s do what we came here to do and get going!”
“Right! And that’s what I’d like to know! So, what did we come here for?” Odie asked hotly.
Devon looked deep into Odie’s eyes for several quiet moments. Odie stared back. It was as if an invisible chain was holding the two in place, both unable to look away or blink. Then Odie began to tremble, and I realized it wasn’t a staring contest they were having.
“Odie?” I asked, touching her hand which sat lax on the table.
“Stop,” Erica ordered, pushing me back into my chair. “Don’t break the connection.”
“What’s happening?” I demanded, looking to the others who remained mute. “Someone start talking or I’m going to cause a scene right now!”
“Shh!” Belle said, gesturing with her hands for me to lower my volume. “Devon is sharing information with her. She’s sending it directly into her brain. If you break their connection before it’s done, everything will be lost.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, unbelievably, “How is that possible? What information? Why here? In public?”
“Relax,” Cindy said soothingly, “We are only here to help. Unfortunately, you are not the only one under our protection, and we can’t be everywhere at once, that’s why this is necessary. There are tons of evil forces in Marion.”
Erica nodded in agreement, “You wouldn’t believe how many times we have to drop everything to help someone.”
“What in the world are you even talking about?” I demanded.
“It’s the age old story of good versus evil,” Jess said. “Parker Evans, and those like him, are evil. But we, The Pastels, as you call us, are good.”
I felt my face redden in embarrassment. “How do you know we call you that?”
She smiled knowingly. “We see all,” she said simply. “I like the name, by the way. It suits us, considering our attire.”
They all giggled and nodded at one another.
“Fine,” I said softly. “If you’re all here to help, then someone needs to start explaining. Now. Before my best friend begins having seizures or something.”
“She’s perfectly safe,” Erica said quietly, “I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that,” I said sternly. I looked around the table, making eye contact with them all (with the exception of Devon and Odie), “Alright then. Someone explain.”
Cindy cleared her throat and began. “We’re witches,” she said simply. Those two little words suddenly clicked a lot of things into place for me, and it made sense. “Our coven believes in following and practicing white magic, as opposed to the black magic that Parker’s coven has followed for many years.”
“Wait? Parker is a witch?” I asked, shocked. “I thought he was a necromancer?”
“Parker is a warlock,” Jess clarified, “His entire family and a few of the families at school all practice black magic. Their clan originated from New Orleans decades ago, so they also have voodoo in their back pockets. A few months ago, his powers were tested. He was tasked with bringing forth a spirit from the realm of the dead, to the living.”
Everything around me fell away as I mentally counted a few months back. “Jimmy?” I whispered.
Belle nodded. “But, because his powers were so far-reaching, they didn’t know he’d managed to wake the dead in Terre Haute.”
“We believe his spell reached as far as ten counties wide,” Cindy said. “We’ve even been hearing of ghosts being suddenly visible from as far as Cincinnati and Columbus.”
“Ohio?” I asked. “So, he’s what, waking the dead all over the place?”
“Unintentionally,” Erica replied. “When his coven saw that his power was not only making one ghost visible, but hundreds, they declared him the necromancer. They have big, big things in store for him.”
“Necroma
ncy is using black magic to wake the dead, right?” I asked.
“It’s a number of things,” Belle explained, “But at its heart is black magic and voodoo.”
“It’s using those forms of magic to reanimate the dead,” Erica said.
“And the title is only bestowed to someone once every few hundred years,” said Jess.
I fell silent, trying to digest this information. Okay, I got it. Parker was into some serious black magic crap and could now make ghosts visible to the living. Which explains Jimmy. And then, both my heart and my head began to hurt.
Because of Parker, I had Jimmy.
Oh, the irony.
But none of that explained my dreams or Parker’s need to mess with me all the time.
“How am I involved in all this?” I asked.
Now it was their turn to fall silent. Cindy glanced at Erica, who glanced at Jess, who glanced at Belle.
No one said a word.
“I’m waiting, Pastels.”
Suddenly Devon spoke, awaking from her joint trance with Odie.
“Parker is going to use your body to bring someone back from the dead.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, frightened. I looked at Odie, who appeared totally unharmed, but slightly dazed.
“It means,” said Devon, “That he’s going to do an exchange. Your spirit will be removed from your body and replaced with that of another. Someone long dead. Your spirit, meanwhile, will either be transferred into the rotted corpse of the spirit who took your body, or you’ll be a ghost.”
“Like your boyfriend,” Jess said dreamily.
“It’s a bit romantic, you have to admit,” Belle said.
I stared at Devon for several long moments.
“Who’s spirit does he plan to put into my body?”
She shrugged. “In past traditions, it’s been a former witch of incredible power, who, once she has awakened into her new body, will join with the necromancer. This makes their union unbreakable, and their power unstoppable.”
Rest in Peace Roz: The R.I.P. Series Book 1 Page 19
