Match Me If You Can

by Anna Staniszewski

  She was surprised to see a message from Marcus waiting for her on her phone until she remembered about the time difference. What do you think I should do about Albert? How will I fix him up with someone? Help!

  Her mind was still foggy from sleep, but she thought for a second and wrote back: Have you tried using your grandpa’s dating book?

  When she went out into the hallway, Lena found her mom tiptoeing around, taking off her jacket. Her hair was a mess, and she looked pale and exhausted.

  “Are you okay?” Lena whispered, since Mrs. Martinez was still snoring on the couch. Before she’d gone to sleep, Lena had covered the old woman with a blanket. Mrs. Martinez hadn’t even stirred.

  “Sorry to wake you,” her mom said.

  “Did you catch the souls?”

  “Two of them,” her mom said with a deep sigh. “I’ll head back out for the third one later. But I had to come here to shower and change before bringing you to class.”

  “I could have taken the bus,” Lena said, but her mom had wandered into the kitchen to pour herself some water.

  “Wow, the place looks great,” her mom said after she’d gulped down an entire glass. “I’ve been meaning to straighten things up for months, but it’s been tough to find time to settle in.”

  “But you are settled, right?” Lena asked. “You want to stay in Phoenix?” For years, her mom had drifted from place to place, barely staying in touch. Now, she’d finally put roots down somewhere. “Because I was thinking that I could come out again over the summer. If you want me to.” Maybe things between them would be better if they had more than a week to spend together.

  Her mom’s tired face lit up. “That would be great! You could stay for the whole summer. Even longer, if you want.” She shook her head, her smile dimming. “Hopefully, this whole powers mess will be sorted out by then.”

  She slumped against the counter, looking ready to fall asleep on the spot.

  “Are you hungry?” Lena asked. “I could make you something. Or I could go over to the place across the street and get some bagels.”

  Her mom’s eyes went wide. “You can’t go wandering around by yourself in a strange city!”

  Lena laughed. “I’d be able to see the apartment the whole time. It’s just bagels.”

  But her mom was vehemently shaking her head. “Absolutely not. It’s not safe.”

  “You said yourself that this is a nice neighborhood. Why can’t I—”

  “Lena, please. I don’t feel like arguing right now.” Her mom rubbed her eyes. “It’s early. Why don’t you go back to bed?”

  “I’m still jet-lagged. There’s no way I’ll get back to sleep.”

  Her mom glanced down the hall at Mrs. Martinez. “I feel bad waking her, but she can’t be comfortable here.”

  “She seems pretty comfortable to me,” Lena couldn’t help saying. But she wasn’t going to admit that Mrs. Martinez had been sleeping on the job for most of the time. Who knew what kind of person her mom might find to babysit her instead?

  Her mom chewed on her lip, a habit that Lena now realized she had too, thanks to the mirroring exercise they’d done in acting class. “I’ll at least cover her with another blanket.”

  “I’ll do it,” Lena said. “You go take a shower.”

  Her mom looked ready to protest, but finally, she nodded and headed off to the bathroom.

  Lena’s phone buzzed. A message from Marcus. You’re a genius! Also, can I wear navy socks with black sneakers?

  Hmm, she wrote back, smiling to herself. I’ll have to ask Hayleigh. She wasn’t sure why Marcus was asking her for fashion advice when all her socks were the same brand and color so that she wouldn’t have to worry about matching them. But maybe getting her opinion on things made Marcus feel as though they weren’t so far apart.

  She tiptoed into the living room and grabbed another blanket. Then she gently placed it on top of Mrs. Martinez. The woman snored and—yet again—her soul drifted out of her body and hovered above her head for a second before dropping back down into her chest.

  As Lena took a step back, she was startled to see her own hands suddenly start glowing. Whoa! Her powers were back!

  But wait.

  As she examined her glowing fingers, Lena realized they weren’t glowing the right color. Instead of a deep purple, they were a pale blue. And they weren’t simply glowing—they were shining like two spotlights. As if the powers were much stronger than normal. Lena could feel the energy in her hands, like static electricity tingling under her skin.

  What on earth? Was this part of the power outage?

  Huh. She’d seen this color before. When she’d once begged her mom to call up her soul-hunting powers, the energy coming from her mom’s fingers had been that same pale blue.

  But that meant…

  Lena gasped. Her own soul-collecting powers might have been gone, but somehow she’d gotten her mom’s soul-hunting powers instead.

  Chapter 7

  “What are your likes and dislikes?” Marcus asked, pen at the ready.

  “Um, I don’t know,” Albert said. “Broccoli?”

  “You like broccoli or you dislike broccoli?”

  Albert seemed to think this over for far too long. “Both. It depends how mushy it is.” He frowned. “How are my feelings about broccoli going to get your sister to like me?”

  “No idea.” Marcus sighed and looked around the mall food court. Grandpa’s old dating book advised finding out about the other person’s interests to see what the two of you had in common, but so far the only thing Albert and Ann-Marie shared was that they both liked school. Considering they’d been trying to outdo each other for highest GPA for over a year, Marcus didn’t think that would exactly bring them together.

  His phone beeped. It was a message from Lena. How are things going with Albert?

  Marcus sighed and wrote back, Not good. Grandpa’s book isn’t much help.

  “What do you like about Ann-Marie, anyway?” he asked.

  Albert’s cheeks grew red. “She’s…she’s so tough. Like the toughest person I’ve ever met. She doesn’t put up with anything from anyone. And she’s so smart. I have to work really hard for my grades, but she just gets things.”

  “She works really hard too,” Marcus said. “All she ever does is run and study.”

  “I don’t even have time for extracurricular activities,” Albert said. “If I didn’t focus on school all the time, I’d never have a chance to beat her.”

  “Why do you have to beat her? Isn’t it better to have a life instead of studying all the time?” Okay, maybe it was ironic for Marcus to be telling someone else to get a life when he’d been pretty much friendless up until he and Lena had started hanging out, but he felt bad for Albert. The guy seemed both excited to have someone to talk to (other than a pet-store parrot) and exhausted to have to use his voice for so many sentences in a row.

  Albert nervously cracked his knuckles. “School’s the only thing I’m good at. Didn’t you ever want to be good at something, really good, so that people would stop thinking you were a joke?”

  Marcus could definitely relate to that. It was part of what made him love being a matchmaker. Even though his supernatural identity was a secret from pretty much everyone, at least he knew there was something he was good at. Something that made him special.

  Another message from Lena. Has he ever tried asking her out?

  Good question. But when Marcus posed it to Albert, the guy stared at him in horror.

  “What if she says no?” Albert asked.

  “Then you’ll know.” And chances were, she would say no. But at least then Albert could move on.

  Again, Marcus realized what a total hypocrite he was being. It had taken him months to ask Lena out, and really, he hadn’t even done that in the end. If Connie Reynolds hadn’t shoved Lena and
Marcus into a closet at her party, he’d probably still be pining after her without actually doing anything about it.

  “Hey, how do you feel about parties?” he asked.

  Albert nearly spit up his soda. “You mean, like, going to one?”

  Marcus shook his head. “Never mind.”

  Negative! he wrote back to Lena.

  Okay, he needed a plan. Some way to figure out who Albert’s match might be. He seriously doubted it was supposed to be Ann-Marie. “Isn’t there anyone else you like? Anyone else you’d want to be matched—er, fixed up with?”

  “I thought you said you were going to help me with your sister.”

  “I did! I, um, I will. But, you know, she’s been kind of hanging out with Peter Chung lately, and I don’t want you to get your hopes up just in case.”

  “But they don’t have anything in common!” Albert said.

  “They’re both really into hockey. You should hear them talk about it. They go on and on. It’s so boring.” In fact, on paper, Ann-Marie and Peter were pretty much perfect for each other. But Marcus couldn’t help remembering the distant look on Ann-Marie’s face when he’d seen the two of them together at the burger place the day before. And just this morning when he’d told her that Peter had called the house looking for her because she wasn’t answering her cell phone, she’d groaned and disappeared into her room. Maybe that meant things between the two of them weren’t as rosy as they seemed. Still, that didn’t mean Albert was a good match for her either.

  You’ll figure it out, Lena wrote back. You’re a natural at this, remember? Then she sent him an encouraging smiley face that, silly as it was, made him feel a little better.

  “Are you sure there’s no one else you’re interested in?” Marcus asked. “Yesterday at the comic store, was there anyone you noticed? Any cute girls?”

  Albert shrugged. “There was a girl I kind of bumped into, but she’d never be into someone like me.”

  Marcus’s body started thrumming with excitement. “When was that?”

  “Right before I talked to you. I ran into her on my way into the comic store. I was actually thinking of going back out to find her, but then you came up to me. And then we saw your sister, and well…”

  Oh no. Had Marcus messed up his own match? If he’d zapped Albert like he was supposed to, the guy would have gone out to talk to the mystery girl and the two would be matched right now. But since Marcus had been furiously trying to fix the fact that his powers weren’t working, he’d kept Albert from talking to the girl again.

  “We need to find this girl,” Marcus said.

  Albert’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t even know her name!”

  “Do you remember anything about her? What did she look like?”

  Albert thought for a minute. “Wavy hair. And she was wearing this weird purple scarf with white horses all over it.”

  Now it was Marcus’s turn to almost spit out his soda. “Wait, do you mean her?” He grabbed his phone and scrolled through his pictures until he found one from the cast party for the school play.

  “I think so,” Albert said, frowning at the image. “Her hair was longer, I think, but…yeah, that could be her. Do you know her? Who is she?”

  Marcus grinned, an idea forming in his brain. “Her name is Connie Reynolds, and you and I are going to a trampoline park with her this afternoon.”

  Chapter 8

  Lena was ready to burst as she and her mom pulled up in front of the theater for the second day of class. She was dying to tell her about her new powers, but after how her mom had reacted to the idea of Lena crossing the street to get bagels, she wasn’t sure how to break the news without her mom instantly panicking. Lena also hadn’t told Marcus about the powers yet. The situation was too complex to explain over text message, and besides, he had enough to deal with thanks to the power outage.

  “Um, Mom?” she said carefully. “What if I skipped class today and helped you with your assignments instead?”

  Her mom’s eyes went wide. “You don’t like your class anymore?”

  “No, it’s not that. I just thought…you seem really stressed out. Maybe I could help.”

  “Honey, that’s sweet of you, but my assignments could be dangerous. You could get hurt.”

  “I’d be careful. And if I’m going to be a soul hunter one day, I should start learning the ropes. Maybe I could read your soul hunter manual to help me get started.” And, Lena added silently to herself, to help me figure out what to do about the soul wandering around the theater.

  Her mom shook her head. “Absolutely not. That manual is full of things you’re not ready for. I know what I do might sound exciting, but it’s not a game, Lena. People die.”

  “I know that. I’m a soul collector, remember?”

  “What Eddie was thinking giving you so much power and responsibility so young is beyond me,” her mom said, shaking her head. “It’s a miracle you’ve managed to handle it on your own.”

  Wait. What? Was her mom saying Lena wasn’t up to the job? “Maybe my powers aren’t as strong as yours and I haven’t had them as long, but I’ve been doing just fine the past few months.”

  “You have, and I’m proud of you. I just mean…you don’t have to do everything on your own anymore, okay? I’m here to help now.” Her mom gave Lena a warm smile. “I’ll be waiting here exactly at one. Okay?”

  Lena nodded and opened the car door. So much for telling her mom about the power swap. She’d probably lock Lena in a basement to keep her safe.

  The first thing Lena noticed when she got into the lobby again was the smell of popcorn. It was much stronger than yesterday, and this time, there wasn’t anyone at the concession stand. She glanced around the lobby for any sign of the wandering soul she’d seen the day before, but the place was empty. She couldn’t be late to class, but she’d try poking around the building afterward to see if she could find it.

  When Lena hurried into the theater, the other kids were already lining up for their aerobic warm-ups. She rushed to join them, relieved to be a couple of minutes early this time.

  After they’d done their exercises, Miss Fine had everyone get with their partners to start running their scenes.

  “How are you doing with memorizing your lines?” Lena asked Zade.

  Zade pulled his script out of his bag. It looked as if it had barely been opened. “I’ll get them by Thursday.”

  “Do you know any of them?” Lena asked.

  “Let’s see.” He launched into the scene without even taking a second to collect himself. Lena mumbled her first line, scrambling to get into character.

  As they went back and forth, Zade reading all of his lines, she had to admit that he was a pretty good actor. He might not take acting very seriously, but he had the playful, mischievous Peter Pan thing down. When they got to the part where Wendy was supposed to hand Peter a thimble though, Lena mimed throwing it to him instead. She didn’t want to risk bringing her potentially glowing hands anywhere near him.

  “Lena!” Miss Fine called out. “This is the moment when Wendy and Peter bond. You need to be closer to him, not all the way on the other side of the stage!”

  Lena gulped as she inched closer, still making sure to keep her distance. Above them, the birds in the rafters cooed. They didn’t seem to like raised voices.

  “Closer!” Miss Fine insisted, coming over. “We need to see that you’re learning to trust each other.”

  But suddenly, Lena couldn’t focus on Miss Fine anymore, because the ball of light was back. The soul she’d seen in the lobby yesterday was floating only a few feet away from the stage.

  Lena held her breath, waiting for something to happen, but the soul simply hovered in place as if it were content to watch the rehearsal over Miss Fine’s shoulder.

  “Are you okay?” she heard Miss Fine ask.

  “S
orry,” Lena said, trying to focus. “Can we start from the top again?”

  But as they started the scene over, Lena couldn’t concentrate. The light was still hanging there, right behind Miss Fine’s head. What did it want?

  “Lena!” Miss Fine cried, sounding angry now. “You can’t simply stand there. You have to be in the scene!”

  Her voice echoed throughout the theater so that the other kids stopped rehearsing to stare at them. Overhead, the pigeons started to stir.

  Suddenly, the ball of light dashed over Miss Fine’s head and zipped straight at the pigeons. The birds scattered, feathers flying, as if the soul were pushing them off their roost.

  A second later—plop!—something came from overhead as the scared birds fluttered around. Plop, plop! Luis cried out as pigeon poop dripped on his arm, while the other kids ducked for cover.

  Meanwhile, the ball of light zipped back out into the audience and then disappeared in the direction of the lobby.

  Lena didn’t hesitate before running after it.

  “Where are you going?” Miss Fine called after her, looking miraculously unscathed, considering the pigeons had been directly above her.

  “To the bathroom!” Lena cried. “I’ll be right back!”

  When she was in the hallway, she found the soul hovering a few feet away by the same “Employees Only” door it had disappeared behind the day before.

  “Who are you?” Lena asked. “What do you want?”

  “You can see me?” a small voice answered.

  Lena glanced over her shoulder as she heard approaching footsteps. Poor Luis was hurrying toward the boys’ bathroom, his soiled arm held out in front of him as if it were on fire.

  “Follow me,” Lena whispered to the soul. Then she rushed to the girls’ bathroom. Thankfully, the soul followed her.

  When they were safely alone, Lena leaned against one of the sinks, watching the soul hanging in front of a mirror. If anyone came in and heard her talking to herself, she could claim she was practicing her lines.