These Vengeful Hearts

by Katherine Laurin

  “I know who it is, but we have a job to do.” Haley was all business.

  “So, what’s your plan?”

  “Deliver this to him in person along with a note telling him he has twelve hours to call Mrs. Conrad or this picture will be delivered to the future Mrs. Alec.”

  I nodded.

  “Remember, he owes us, and either he pays up or he pays for it.”

  “Right, no one stops owing us.”

  Haley stood up and dusted off her standard all-black outfit. There seemed to be patches of plaster dust clinging to her.

  “Sculpture unit,” she said by way of explanation.

  Before she left, I asked, “Why didn’t the Red Court collect from Alec while he was here?”

  Haley lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes there isn’t anything we need.”

  I twisted my mouth. Alec was decently popular and had some influence in the performing arts department, obviously, since we were cashing in on his equity two years after he graduated.

  “Also, I think he was pretty broken up about what happened to your sister. He was kind of out of it for a long time.”

  “And the Red Court showed him some mercy? That sounds like something we’d do. Right after our annual charity project.”

  “Or he was useless because he was so upset after everything that happened.”

  “Last I saw, he was doing just fine.”

  I refused to give an ounce of sympathy to Alec. He made a bargain and it was time for him to hold up his end of the deal. “What goes around,” I said quietly.

  “What was that?” Haley asked sharply.

  “Umm...nothing. Just thinking out loud. Alec’s getting what’s coming, you know?”

  Haley nodded and left the theater room without another word.

  Whether she knew it or not, April was about to be an accomplice in a Red Court job.

  * * *

  I left the theater room and headed to debate practice, my head swimming. The day was far from over, and now I had an unscheduled trip to Alec’s. The timeline for musical auditions didn’t broker any room for a night off, even though the stack of homework in my bag was literally weighing me down.

  “Hey, Ember,” a bright voice called from the main office as I passed.

  “Hi, Gigi. How are you?”

  “Good, good. I’m excited for the next meet.” She bounded up next to me, buzzing with energy, and looked back to her mom. “Bye.”

  “I’ll come by the debate room in an hour,” Mrs. Martin said. “It’s good to see you, Ember.”

  I gave her a friendly wave. Martin was my assigned guidance counselor. I hadn’t had much cause to occupy the couch in her office. Direction was the only thing I didn’t need. I knew what I needed to do.

  “I’m excited for the next meet, too. Only a few more practices left. Saturday will be here before we know it.” I gave her as bright a smile as I could muster, which I think was about half its normal wattage.

  The anticipation of an upcoming debate meet used to get my blood thrumming, but I’d moved on to harder stuff.

  “I’ve been reading through your notes, and I can’t thank you enough. I think I’ll place this time.”

  A softer smile formed on my lips. “I bet you will, too. You work harder than anyone else.” Gigi’s commitment reminded me of myself.

  “Thanks. I’m really trying. I want debate to be my thing. The thing that I’m good at, you know?” She peeked up at me with a shy grin. Gigi wasn’t typically bashful; she must not share how much her success on the debate team meant to her very often.

  A strange impulse struck me. I wanted to guide Gigi, be the person who gave the advice that got her where she needed to go. Just like my work with the Red Court, I was in a position to help someone else. And help I would.

  “You know what? I’m feeling pretty prepared for the next meet. How about you and I work together today?”

  A high, girlish giggle sounded from farther down the hall. I turned to see Shauna, Chase, and a few of their friends on their way out to the parking lot.

  Chase looked in my direction and gave me a sly grin. He’d managed to stay clear of me since his little stunt with the heart note.

  Wise choice, Merriman.

  Little did he know that Carson approved a special extra credit project for me to do independently. When I would be finding time to do it was a problem for Future Ember.

  I shook my head at him, my own sly grin snaking its way across my lips. He was going to be eating his words. Topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. An eat-my-dust sundae.

  Shauna gave Chase a playful shove and continued laughing on her way out the door. I almost didn’t catch the glare she shot my way. She had to know it was Gideon and me spying on her the other day, and it seemed like we were caught in a bizarre game of “I know that you know that I know.” My only hope was that I’d end the Red Court before she decided to act on what she knew.

  “What was that about?” Gigi was staring at me.

  “What was what?”

  “That smile that Chase Merriman just gave you.” A slight teasing edge tickled her words.

  “We’re pretty competitive, and he was just reminding me that he set the curve on our last Lit exam.”

  Gigi made a “humph” noise, clearly not buying my story.

  I rolled my eyes. “Come on.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised me that even Gigi knew who Chase was, either personally or by reputation only. Even more reason for me to avoid him. Being around Chase would only get me noticed, and not in a way I’d like. If only my foolish heart would stop stuttering every time I saw him.

  CHAPTER 23

  I WAS BACK in my ridiculous cat burglar outfit, creeping in front of Alec’s house just after dark. Hopefully, the ensemble didn’t prove unlucky a second time. If it did, I was going to toss it into Gideon’s fireplace and light it on fire to exorcise the demons. A patch of scrubby ponderosa pines across from Alec’s house provided good cover for my stalking. Only the puffs of white from my breath were visible in the golden glow of the streetlight. I shuffled farther back, hugging myself to conserve as much heat as I could.

  Waiting alone in the dark left my mind time to wander. How could April not have told me about meeting Alec? Just over a year ago, April had tried to rekindle things with Alec, but he’d moved on and told her to do the same. She’d dated a couple of guys since then, all of whom were a hundred times better than Alec as far as I was concerned. Was that what this coffee date was about? I was her sister. She could have confided in me. Although I would have done my best to talk her out of meeting Alec. Maybe that was why she didn’t say anything.

  A text drew my attention away from the stakeout.

  Gigi: Thanks for helping me today! I feel so much better about Saturday.

  Me: Of course. You’re going to do great!

  I smiled to myself, happy to help someone like Gigi. I had the odd sense that she reminded me of the person I could have been if my life didn’t revolve around revenge.

  I tucked my phone away and shifted in position for a better view of the street. Alec may have graduated from Hell High, but he was still living at home, two neighborhoods over from my house. The picture of Alec and April weighed heavily in my pocket, along with the note instructing him that his fiancée would be receiving a copy tomorrow unless he called Mrs. Conrad to recommend some silly freshman for a role in the musical. Never mind that I didn’t think Alec’s word was worth anything. Apparently, the Red Court thought differently.

  The flash of headlights spooked me as a car came around the bend. I recognized it as Alec’s truck. Haley’s plan dictated that I should leave the note on Alec’s car or wrap it around a rock and chuck it at him if I was feeling less charitable. But neither option was very appealing.

  I imagined the look in Alec’s eyes when I showed him th
e photo. I wanted him to see me and know that I held his future in my hands. This wasn’t high school. It was the rest of his life I could be affecting. My pulse was already racing at the implication of what I was doing, catapulting me to a whole new level of Red Court high.

  As Alec gathered his bag and coat from the front seat, I deserted my hiding place and crossed the street.

  “Alec?” I called out.

  He turned and squinted into the darkness. “Hello?”

  His confusion turned to surprise when he recognized me. “Ember? What are you doing here?”

  Ruining your life.

  “I have a delivery for you, actually.”

  “From April? Listen, I can’t accept any gifts or notes. I tried to tell her over coffee the other week. I’m engaged now.”

  He held up his left hand like he was wearing the engagement ring. So dramatic.

  “That’s not what this is.” I gave him a withering glance, my best Gideon and Haley hybrid.

  “Oh, ok. I was sorry to have to tell April I didn’t want to get back together. I know things haven’t been easy for her.”

  “They haven’t, but if you ask me, she’s a whole lot better off without you.”

  I yanked the picture and note out of my pocket and shoved them at Alec’s chest.

  “Ow! What’s this?” He looked down at the note and photo.

  “The Red Court wanted me to give that to you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Alec’s fingers clenched around the paper. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d bet he did understand. This was his reckoning. A past mistake finally catching up to him. He should have run farther.

  “The Red Court says that if you don’t call Mrs. Conrad by tomorrow morning, like they’ve asked, your fiancée will be receiving a copy of that photo.”

  Alec’s chin lifted and he narrowed his eyes. “So?”

  He just had to be difficult. The Red Court wouldn’t have given me the photo as ammunition unless it was capable of striking a killing blow. “Does your fiancée know that you met your ex-girlfriend, one who broke up with you, for coffee? Recently?”

  His eyes flicked quickly to the left, but I caught what they said, even if Alec wouldn’t admit it out loud.

  “If you were going to meet April for coffee just to tell her that you two are definitely over, why not tell your fiancée? If that was the case, April would surely back you up.”

  Alec grimaced. If I was a betting girl, I’d wager that Alec hadn’t told my sister that they were well and truly done. Maybe his vanity couldn’t let go of some girl pining over him.

  “And you? What’s your part in all this?”

  Wouldn’t you like to know, asshole.

  “I’m just unlucky to know you, and the one they tasked with delivering the message. Just do what they ask. This photo would be a hell of an engagement gift for her.”

  “I can’t believe you, Ember. This is my future wife. You’d really ruin everything for me because of some promise I made to a stupid high school club?”

  We were more than a club and he knew it. I continued to aim my practiced stare at him, silent.

  “I thought I was done with this crap,” he muttered.

  In his dreams. I bit my lip to keep from smirking. This jerk made a deal and thought he was in the clear. It was time he learned the Red Court motto.

  “Don’t you know? You never stop owing them.”

  * * *

  I was nearly back to my car a few blocks down from Alec’s house when a twig snapped behind me. I whirled around, searching the darkness, and groped desperately in my hoodie pocket for the key-chain pepper spray my mom had given me. Safety first.

  “Hi,” a quiet voice from the shadows murmured.

  “Umm...hi,” I said back. My numb fingers finally grasped the pepper spray bottle. Carefully, I pulled the tiny canister out, trying to keep it concealed in my palm.

  A petite dark-haired girl stepped into the light. Gretchen Goldberg.

  Uh-oh.

  “So, you’re Ember Williams.” Her voice, so shaky when she was talking to Shauna, now sounded sure.

  “Yeah. You’re Gretchen, right?”

  She smiled and gave an encouraging nod like I answered a question correctly. “I was wondering who they were going to give my job to. The Red Court always finishes its jobs.”

  There was something almost childlike in her lilting words, like wonder, or like she was one of a set of demonic twins in a horror movie. I checked behind me to be sure there weren’t two of her. We were alone, but the back of my neck still prickled, alerting me to the dangerous situation I was in. If they weren’t frozen, my palms would be itching.

  “Lucky me.” I unsuccessfully tried to choke out a laugh.

  “I wanted to see it through, even though I’m on probation. But you knew that.”

  I shook my head fervently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You overheard my conversation with Shauna. I saw you and Gideon when you went up the stairs.”

  Shit, shit, shit.

  I couldn’t pepper spray her, could I? No, I needed to find a way out of this.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. It’s just a little secret between us. I was worried until I saw you here tonight and figured out that you’re one of us, too.” Gretchen leaned in, a conspiratorial smile on her lips. “What you said to Alec was genius, by the way.”

  I faltered, completely off-kilter. “Thank you. But why are you talking to me? You had the upper hand knowing who and what I am. I would have never said anything to you about what I heard.”

  “I was curious. I know that’s a dangerous thing to be in our line of work, but I couldn’t help myself. I want to know everything about the Red Court. That’s why I called her. I just had to meet her.”

  Her? Shauna. She didn’t pull her fire alarm because of her boyfriend’s suspicions; she was playing Shauna that day in the hall.

  Well done, Gretchen. She sure fooled me. “But you only get one and you wasted it. I don’t understand.”

  Weirdness notwithstanding, her stunt seemed like a poor use of a valuable resource. Maybe I only felt that way because when I pulled my alarm, I really needed it.

  “It wasn’t a waste. It was the price of knowledge. Aren’t you curious about everyone else, too? We were chosen to be part of the Red Court, and there’s so much we don’t know about it.”

  Of course I was curious, but I had a feeling that my curiosity and Gretchen’s were not the same. Still, maybe I could use this to my advantage.

  “Gretchen, why did you join the Red Court?”

  “I wanted to be part of something great.”

  The Red Court may have been great, but in the worst sense of the word. It was powerful and bigger than any of us, but it was also terrible.

  She continued, “I even got a position as a TA in the main office because I heard a rumor they were always looking for ways in there. You have a lot of access.”

  I tried to remember if she was the girl who’d dropped off my note, excusing me from class the day I received my invitation, but my mind was spinning like a top and I couldn’t recall. I shook my head to bring myself back to the conversation.

  “What about you? What brought you to the Red Court?”

  “The favor,” I lied. It was too cold outside for a more elaborate story.

  She nodded her approval in return.

  There wasn’t a way I could accurately describe the girl from the carnival, but I wanted to know if Gretchen had found out who the Queen of Hearts was and if there was a chance I was right. “Have you found any other members besides me and Shauna?”

  “Like the most important member?”

  Busted.

  She gave me an impish grin. “Not yet, but I have my suspicions.”

 
I swallowed my disappointment. “Well, I better get going.” I pulled my keys out of my pocket and gave them a nervous jingle as I backed away. “I’ll see you around, Gretchen.”

  “Not if I see you first,” she said, the eerie smile back on her face.

  I flicked my eyes to the rearview mirror as I pulled away. Gretchen was washed in red from my taillights and I had a terrible premonition. If my plan didn’t work out, I could see Gretchen as the next Queen of Hearts. The fanatical gleam shining in her eyes was unsettling. For the first time, I was really scared—not for myself—for everyone else. Someone like Gretchen, who loved being in the Red Court with a fervor I couldn’t fathom, could wreck the entire school without blinking an eye. I couldn’t let that happen.

  If the Red Court always finished its jobs, so could I.

  CHAPTER 24

  ONLY ONE CROSSFIRE stood between me and a place on the stage. After a long day, the Public Forum final was the last event of the debate tournament. I looked over at Gigi and gave her an encouraging nod. Her confident smile was a far cry from the despair of that morning.

  I’d arrived at school bright and early to catch the bus with the rest of the debate team to our in-district rival’s tournament. I stood at the door of the motor coach checking everyone in as they climbed onto the bus. Our car wash turned out to be a roaring success, probably thanks to Chase’s onstage stunt, and the team could afford to ride in style instead of in the standard banana-yellow bus. When everyone else was on board, I noticed Gigi lingering in the parking lot, throwing anxious glances back to the road in front of the school. I checked my list and noticed her partner hadn’t checked in yet. If she didn’t show up soon, we’d have to leave without her.

  “I don’t think I’m coming,” Gigi murmured when she finally walked over, eyes downcast and voice defeated. “I can’t do a two-person event by myself.”

  It took me only a millisecond to decide I was ditching the original oratory I was scheduled for. “Yes, you are. I’ll do it with you.”

  Her head snapped up. “Really?”

  The hope and awe in her tone made my chest swell. Gigi had worked so hard to improve over the last few weeks. She deserved a chance to compete. “We went over your argument so many times, I think I know it by heart.”