by Patti Larsen
Bliss.
I even made it downstairs in time to have French toast with Mom and Meira. With the sunlight streaming in, warming the room filled with the delicious smell of breakfast, it was like nothing bad ever happened or would again. I soaked up as much of the simple joy as I could, for once laughing and joking with my sister without an edge of angst against my mother to ruin it.
Imagine that.
Sassy joined us, his gourmet meal hand cut by my mother. Even he seemed lighthearted and less inclined to criticize every word coming out of my mouth.
So, by the time I was on my way to school, lovingly prepared Mom-lunch safe in my backpack, I felt pretty good. The best I felt in a long time. And I was determined as I set foot on the bottom step of the school entry that nothing—nothing—would get in the way of me being in a good headspace for the rest of the day.
Enter trouble, stage left.
Okay, not exactly trouble, per se. Just Pain, her blacked out eyes watching me as I climbed to the front door, a look of intensity on her face telling me something big was coming and I probably wouldn’t like it.
I considered bypassing her, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings and figured whatever it was she wanted to tell me I had enough happy energy inside me to ward off the worst.
See, Pain loves secrets. And sharing them. With me, for some reason. It drives me nuts. It’s like she and I are this little emo gushing group, only I never signed up on purpose. I worried it was a lifetime membership.
“Hi, Pain.” I tried for light, but the Queen of Darkness wasn’t in the mood. If she ever was.
“We have to talk.” Her black taloned nails dug into my arm even through my coat as she dragged me just inside the doors and to our usual meeting nook. Out of the glorious, warm sunlight. Into the gloom and depression of the school.
How very fitting.
“What’s up?” I tried not to sigh and gave her my attention.
“Something’s going on in this town,” she whispered. “Something nasty.”
There it was again. Damn. In all the excitement I forgot to tell Mom about Pain. That would be corrected as soon as I arrived home.
I still had to head my friend off at the pass.
“If you say so,” I said. “I’m not seeing it.”
Pain nodded once. “That’s all right,” she said. “I know I have gifts beyond most mortals.”
Sigh.
She went on. “I have a way for all of us to experience it. To see the truth of it.”
Really? This was interesting. And probably joke worthy. But I let her keep going.
“A séance. At my house. Tonight.”
Seriously? Was she kidding? I almost laughed. It was so hard not to. Every witch knew séances were totally useless. It took serious necromancy to speak to the dead, even the spirits hovering around trying to communicate. End of story.
My first impulse was to say no. Until Alison appeared at my elbow, eyes sparkling, but face perfectly straight.
“Did you tell her?” Okay, this was really mean, even for Alison. She was totally setting Pain up for ridicule. Maybe my Goth friend couldn’t see it, but I did, clear as day, written all over the former cheerleader. For all I knew, this was Alison’s dumb idea and she sucked Pain into it.
“Yes,” Pain said. “She’s with us.”
Hang on a second. I was?
Alison turned her head just enough so Pain wouldn’t see her wink at me.
Double sigh.
Pain gave me a grave nod before marching off to class, her heavy black boots clomping across the dirty tile. I spun on Alison as she started to giggle, both hands pressed to her mouth.
“Tell me this isn’t some set up so you can humiliate her,” I said, putting every ounce of my disapproval into it.
Alison sobered. She knew better than to cross me if I wasn’t happy. I’d turned her ass in before when she tried to pull something over on our friends. She was learning, but it was a slow process after years of being a bitch. That kind of thing took a while to wear off.
“Oh, come on, Syd,” she said, sparkle still there. “Pain is excited about this. I thought it might be fun, you know. She loves this stuff.”
I hesitated. It’s not like Pain would be able to raise anything. It was harmless that way, at least. But I still worried about hurting her.
“Everyone else is coming,” Alison said, hands folded in front of her chest as she pleaded with me. “You’d be the only hold-out.”
“Even Brad?” There was no way Mr. Football would go. Unless I went.
Triple sigh. I still had to deal with the boy mess.
“No,” Alison said. “Not Brad.”
Now why did that particular cryptic comment make me nervous?
Before I had a chance to ask what she meant, the bell rang and I was, yet again, late for class.
They worked on me all day, those so-called friends of mine. It was Simon who finally wore me down at lunch, his earnest face in mine, quite unaware he had chocolate pudding on his chin.
“We can’t do it without you, Syd,” he said. “We need you.”
I was running out of sighs.
“Fine,” I said, trying to ignore their cheers and the splotch of food on Simon’s face.
It wasn’t until my walk home that I realized I hadn’t seen Brad all day. Guilt rippled through my stomach and made me queasy. I was such a bad girlfriend!
But when I tried to call him when I arrived home, there was no answer on his cell or at his house. Glum, I wondered if he finally had enough and this was his way of dumping me.
Meira was home and distracted me enough I was able to put Brad’s absence out of my mind while I helped her with her homework.
“This is stupid,” she said, pointing with her pencil at the spelling sheet she worked on. “All I have to do is…” She waved the end of the pencil like a wand and her dictionary opened. Words stood at attention on the page, lifting their ink free of the paper. They bowed to her one at a time before marching across the book and dropping onto her notebook, arranging themselves into neat lines of words.
I grinned at her. “You spelled ‘enormous’ wrong.”
There was a soft ‘eep!’ of embarrassment from the page and the letters promptly rearranged themselves.
Meira smiled at me. “See? So much better.” She patted the page with her fingertips. “Good words.”
My sister always made me laugh.
“Syd?” She helped herself to her milk, feet swinging so her sneakers thudded softly against the legs of the chair.
“Meems?” I sent the letters marching back to the book, though they tended to herk and jerk like damaged marionettes as I struggled to control them. I caught the word “serious” glaring at me before it collapsed with a sigh in its original place.
“Is that thing going to hurt us?”
I was so startled by the question I slammed the book shut.
“No, Meems,” I said. “Mom’s taking care of it.”
My sister took another sip, condensation sliding through her fingers as she clutched it with both hands. “I think she’s afraid.” Whispered. With her own fear inside the words.
Above all else, I did everything I could to protect my sister, at least emotionally. She had enough problems fitting in, forced to don a ‘normal’ disguise to hide her large amber eyes and red-tinged skin, not to mention the perky horns peeking out of her black curls. I knew that protectiveness made her act younger than she actually was, how we all as a collective encouraged the kids of the coven to stay kids as long as they could, knowing the power would age them soon enough.
“The whole family is on it,” I said. “Including Uncle Frank and Sunny.” Speaking of whom, I hadn’t seen them since Beltane. Were they even sleeping at home? “So we don’t have to worry, okay?”
She set down her glass and toyed with her pencil. “Okay,” she said. Then, she smiled and hugged me.
I really hoped I didn’t just lie to my sister.
Mom a
rrived home shortly after and Meira was back to her normal, happy self so I didn’t bother mentioning it to her. In fact, she seemed pretty preoccupied, even ordering pizza for dinner. Not like her lately. She really loved to cook.
To my credit, I did try to talk to her about Pain and considered mentioning the séance just in case, but Mom was worlds away talking to other member of the coven pretty much non-stop so I gave up.
When Alison came to pick me up, all Mom said was, “Have a good time, honey,” and a brief, distracted kiss on my way out the door.
***
Chapter Nineteen
My first reaction to Pain's house was shock.
Followed rather quickly by a serious case of the giggles. Alison couldn't help herself. When she heard me go off, she did too.
Not that there was anything wrong with it. Quite the contrary. It's just I expected her place to look something like mine, only way more over the top. Creepsville. With turrets. In bad need of a paint job and a mowing.
Imagine my surprise when Alison pulled up at the quaint, gingerbread house painted a cheery yellow. The mailbox at the end of the driveway even matched. Perfectly. Someone built an exact replica and planted it on the top of a brightly painted post. There was even a sign at the gate, proudly proclaiming "The Hammonds Live Here!” All three of them. And their dog.
It was so charming I continued to laugh.
“I know, right?” Alison rolled her eyes, wiping carefully at the corners to keep her tears of hilarity from smearing her mascara. “And you'll never guess what her real name is.”
Honestly, I'd never thought to ask. Funny, but she would always be Pain to me.
“Constance.” Alison broke out into peels, the car shaking as she wriggled her whole body while she laughed. “No wonder she went Goth!”
I didn't really find it very funny. My family loved odd names, historical names. For example, my name literally translated into 'child of the demon' and my second name, Thaddea, came from my great grandmother. Alison must have realized what she said and how it came across because she stopped laughing and grabbed my hand.
“Syd,” she said. “I didn't mean it that way. Your name is cool.”
I let her off the hook and grinned. “Whatever. Are we going in, or what? I'd like to get this over with.”
Alison punched me in the arm as we walked up the driveway to the lovely blue front door. “Great attitude! This is going to be fun.”
I silently examined the blooming tulips by the side of the house while she rang the bell, trying to improve my mood. She was right, after all. It could be fun. It's just I had trouble with making a mockery of magic when I knew how very real it was.
They had no idea.
The door swung open and a petite blonde with perfect hair and makeup beamed at us from over the threshold.
“Alison!” The woman hugged my friend, air-kissing both of her cheeks. “So lovely to see you, dear. It's been ages. How's your mom?”
“She's fine, Mrs. Hammond,” Alison gushed at her most flighty. “I'll tell her you asked.”
“Remind her about this month's fundraiser at the club,” Mrs. Hammond said. “We'd love her attention to detail.”
Alison spun toward me, a look on her face I didn't recognize. “This is Sydlynn Hayle,” she introduced me in a too-cheerful rush. “From Bay Street.”
Mrs. Hammond looked like Alison handed her a prized present on Christmas. Her hands flew to her face and she beamed at me, open mouthed with delight. Fake or not, I couldn't tell, but there was something infectious about her good nature that made me smile back.
“Dear, it can't be!” She grabbed my hands and pulled me toward her, hugging me too. No air-kisses, though. “I've been dying, just dying, to meet your mother.”
The very thought of this woman and Mom having even the slightest bit of anything in common made me snort. I covered the faux pas with a wider smile.
“I'll tell her,” I lied.
“Six months you've lived here,” she went on, “and I haven't had a chance to track her down once.”
I'm sure there was magic involved. Had to be. If this woman tried to reach Mom in all that time and failed it was because my mother wanted her to.
“She's pretty busy,” I said.
I could tell by the look on her face there were more questions coming and I honestly didn't have any more answers to give so I was grateful when Pain appeared at the door behind her mother and sighed her most emo sigh of exasperation.
“Mother,” she said, dragging the word out so it wasn't a compliment. “They're here to see me.” It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who did that.
Mrs. Hammond giggled, taking it way better than my mom ever did. “Of course. I'm sorry, girls. It's just so nice to see you. Come in, please, come in.”
I followed Alison, letting her go first in the hope of evading further attention. Pain took care of it. Even before Mrs. Hammond closed the door behind us, Pain led us up the stairs so fast I barely had time to register the prim and flawless perfection of her house. I caught a glimpse of expensive leather furniture and decoration obviously dressed by a designer before I reached the top of the wide staircase and hurried down the hall to the last door on the right.
More stairs. These were less perfect, more natural and lived-on. It wasn't until I was almost to the top that I realized she was leading us into her attic.
Which, it turned out, doubled as her bedroom and what looked like a makeshift living room. All Goth, all the time. I left my sandals at the door and stepped onto the thick black shag rug. It felt fantastic on my feet. Her lumpy looking furniture was draped in more black. Even her neatly made bed glowered in the darkest shade possible, save for the giant grinning skull in the very center of it.
“What, no coffin?” I flinched as soon as I said it. But Pain just made a face.
“I wish,” she said. “Mom won't let me have one. Yet.”
Seriously. Pain had some pretty deep issues. Even my uncle and his girlfriend slept in specially made cupboards instead and they were vampires.
I jumped a little when Blood waved. He blended into the décor so well I didn't even notice him until just then.
“Yo, Syd,” he said. “Yo, Al.”
Alison took a seat on the couch and patted the cushion beside her. I was not at all comfortable and the thought of sitting down somehow didn't appeal.
Pain left us when the doorbell rang again, and I took the opportunity to ask Alison about Mrs. Hammond.
“Did you and Pain grow up together?”
Alison dimpled. “Yeah. Elementary school. She was so cute. Did you know she's a blonde like her mother?” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder.
“I like it black,” Blood said. “Shows her truth.”
Blood was always cryptic. And loved to debate. I wasn't interested in having a pros and cons argument about the emo life and I was glad when Alison didn't take the bait, either.
Pain returned with Simon and Beth in tow. Both looked excited and a little freaked out by the whole thing and I wondered about them hanging out with us. Not like I'm that jaded but honestly. They were just too cute.
“This is so cool!” Beth looked around at all of us. “I brought candles!” She fished a handful out of her bag. They looked like she lifted them from her mom's candleholders.
Pain was oddly kind. “I have what I need,” she said, “but thank you.”
Beth flushed and put them away.
“So now what?” I really wanted to blow this whole thing off. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it was a good idea. I already confirmed by examining Pain that she had power, if walled off. What if she was able to raise something after all, by accident? It occurred to me only then she could be a necromancer or something. What if I then had to fix it and they found out about me? The possibilities were endless and none of them turned out well.
“We're still shy one person,” Pain said.
I looked around. Counted even. We were all
here. Then it occurred to me.
“I thought you said Brad wasn't coming.”
Alison winked at me. It was then I heard the rumble of a motorcycle and my stomach clenched into a fist of tension.
“He isn't, silly,” Pain said. The doorbell rang. “Our last guest. I'll be right back.”
I wanted to hit Alison so hard she would never forget it. “What the hell?” I hissed at her.
She backed off, obviously reading my mind, but her eyes were full of evil laughter.
“Sorry,” she said, “I couldn't resist. Besides, it wasn't my idea to invite him.”
It was only then I noticed how unhappy Blood looked and I had a moment to wonder about Pain's real motivations for inviting the last person I wanted to do a séance with.
All six feet lean, dark and handsome of him walked through the door with Pain smiling up at him like he was her new puppy.
“Thanks for inviting me,” Quaid said.
***
Chapter Twenty
I loved Pain. She was great. I adored how she took herself and everything she did so seriously. It was part of her charm. But I found myself sitting there with smirking Alison on my left and the silently slouching Quaid on my right.
There was no way I was holding his hand.
Pain insisted we sit on the floor. “Connects us better to the Earth,” she said while I bit the inside of my cheeks and didn’t explain to her that a) we were already connected and b) it was kind of necessary to have actual dirt present if she wanted to make the connection stronger.
“Have you done this before?” Simon’s eyes were huge behind his glasses.
“Of course,” Pain said. “Many times.”
“And it works?” Beth and Simon exchanged the look of the gullible. Suckers.
“It does,” Pain said. “Almost too well.”
Right. Whatever.
While she carefully drew a pentagram on the floor in the middle of our circle with chalk, I caught Quaid watching me and looked over before I could stop myself. His eyes held mine for a long time and I could tell he laughed at all of us.
Jerk.
Why did you bother coming if this is such a joke? I couldn’t help it. I had to say something.
