“These looked interesting,” she said in a voice that sounded like they didn’t interest her at all. As she dumped the boxes in front of me, a ruby gleam caught my eye and I reached into the pile.
“I love these red patent heels! I’ll take them.” I pulled the lid off the box and caressed the shiny leather. Little gold charms. A sexy instep strap. Gorgeous. Irresistible.
She looked at me, shocked.
“I don’t think so,” she said.
I tilted the box upright to check the size. “They’re a ten, you’re a nine. They won’t fit right.”
“I’m a nine and a half.” She paused and stole a glance at the printing on the side. “And they’re Vivienne Westwood.” She put her hands on the box.
I tugged back. “Since when do you care about labels?”
“They’re too quirky for you!” Meg pulled again.
“They’re too conservative for you,” I argued, tightening my grip.
“I thought you said my challenge was to find something not black!”
“Since when do you ever listen to me?” I growled, not letting go.
“Katharine was right when she said that things hadn’t turned out as I expected. I saw her look at you when she said that. She was referring to us.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
“It’s been so obvious that you don’t want to be stuck with me.” Meg compressed her lips and looked away.
“Look, I know we don’t have that much in common, but—”
“Exactly,” Meg scoffed. “Miss Teen Vogue.”
“Like you’ve never looked at those magazines!” I shot back.
“Oh, yes—such great reading material. Everything I don’t want to know about making up, making out, and making prom queen,” she retorted with a sneer.
“That’s so mean! And I did you a favor by bringing you here!” My lip started to tremble. I would not cry! Instead, I got mad. How dare she speak to me like that! I gave her my angriest scowl. “Why would you want these shoes? They’re not fifty years old!”
The few people around us stopped to stare. Meg’s face turned a pretty pink, like a storybook piglet.
“And they’re designer, too! Oooh,” I rushed on, “if you get them, won’t you somehow be taking food out of the mouths of impoverished Far Eastern children and—”
“Big surprise,” she said, cocking her head and puckering her lips in a sarcastic attitude. “Just like I always thought. Shallow and selfish in the same package.” She shoved the shoes at me, then tore the sunglasses from her head and threw them on the ground. I whirled around to watch her storm out past the stragglers coming in late.
I scooped up the shoes. Someone had to get them at this price; it might as well be me. I nearly tripped over the mountain of boxes Meg left behind. In the center of the pile were the sunglasses she’d been using as a headband. I felt a sting of guilt—or was it that karma thing she was always talking about? Perhaps the last bit, about the starving children, was too much. But then, she did call me Miss Teen Vogue—as if! I’m more a Cosmo type.
I turned the glasses over in my hand. They were five dollars—her usual price limit. Getting them for her might help patch up this latest argument. I bought the shoes and the glasses.
The wind slapped me with a driving force as I bolted out the door. I strode quickly down the block, head down, gloved hands stuffed into my jacket. Looking up for a second to get my bearings, I spied the subway station with relief—and dread. I hated the subway. Down in its creepy depths, my footsteps echoed ominously. I swiped my metro card and slipped through the turnstile, praying my white down jacket wasn’t getting grimy.
At first, the platform looked empty, but then someone stepped out from behind a tiled pillar. My heart jumped into my throat. Sweet Jeans! I thought about Meg’s five-dollar sunglasses at the bottom of the shopping bag. Did good karma come this cheap?
She probably already caught a train, but maybe I won’t have to ride home alone after all. This couldn’t have worked out better if I’d planned it. Fate was on my side.
Oh. My. Gods!
My face still burned, even after several brisk walks around the block. Shar always acts like SHE got cheated being burdened with ME, I thought furiously. For four months I’ve dealt with her giggling girlfriends, OCD wardrobe, and coordinated bedding. And now this! I get publicly humiliated and miss a chance to see Elysian Fields with, oh, probably the most beautiful guy in the city. Talk about being divinely screwed. Why did I ever agree to go shopping with her? I’m insane, that’s why. There’s no other plausible explanation.
I trudged down the subway steps behind a gaggle of clubbers. Half of me hoped she’d be down there, the other half hoped we’d miss each other. If I did see her, I had a few choice things to say.
One by one we passed through the turnstile. As the club kids moved out of my way and toward the back of the station, I saw her. There she was, standing near the platform—talking to my Bad-Ass Jacket!
She was deluding herself if she thought he was interested in her. And that sad attempt to act like she knew what we were talking about? Pathetic! At least, that’s how it seemed back at the pizzeria. Shoes I could forget, but she’d made a mistake of global proportions by going after the guy. Apocalypse? NOW.
“Thanks for the great evening!” I said, stomping over to her. Bad-Ass Jacket backed up a step, while Shar gaped at me, mortified.
“Meg …” She trailed off and flicked her eyes at him. I hoped I was embarrassing her.
“I see you had time to buy my red shoes,” I said, pointing at the shopping bag.
“I can’t believe you’re freaking out over a pair of shoes!” she shouted, moving away from me, toward the tracks.
“Get over yourself, Mary Poppins.”
That earned me some applause from the club kids, a snicker from Bad-Ass Jacket, and a nasty glare from Shar. A muffled rumbling came from the tunnel. The train would be here any second.
“You want them so bad, come get them!” Shar taunted, waving the bag and clonking Bad-Ass in the chest with it.
He backed up a step into the yellow zone. “Hey, it’s just a pair of shoes,” he started to say, but without warning I lunged for the bag, latched onto the handles, and pulled.
“Hands off!” Shar tugged.
I lost my balance and tottered backwards toward the tracks. Time seemed to slow as I felt my heart thudding in my chest and my legs starting to give way. The roar of the train grew louder. I turned my head—lights twinkled down the tunnel, growing larger and larger. It was coming up fast.
Death by train! Death by train! I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the inevitable smack of a subway car.
“Meg!” I heard Shar scream.
I felt my arm being yanked almost from its socket, then my whole body hitting something soft yet solid. Turning my head, I opened my eyes to see a wall of crackly leather and my nose filled with the scent of patchouli and sandalwood. I shrieked and fell sideways into Shar.
The thunder of the train filled the station, and we watched in horror as gorgeous Bad-Ass Jacket slash Sweet Jeans stumbled forward and teetered on the brink, his arms fluttering over the empty blackness.
He tumbled off the platform.
Instantly the train was there, racing through the station. Didn’t they see him? Wasn’t it going to stop? The cars screamed by like silver bullets and Katharine’s prediction flooded my mind: A chain of events is going to alter your current situation.
The last car shot past, and the rumbling reverberated into a distant hum. Nobody spoke.
I realized then that Shar was holding my arm with both hands. The shopping bag with the shoes in it lay on its side a few feet away, the corner of the box peeking out of the top of the bag. She’d stopped me from going over the edge.
“O
h my God, oh my God,” Shar’s voice shook, breaking the silence. “He … fell. He …”
Unable to stop myself, I peered down at the tracks and gasped, waves of nausea coursing through me. He lay sprawled out over the tracks, a dark pool growing under him—both pieces. He’d been sliced in half more cleanly than a tomato. Now he was Mr. Sweet Jeans and Mr. Bad-Ass Jacket.
Up came dinner. I hurled over the platform, missing the body by mere inches. At least I’d spared him that last indignity. Then a crackling noise came up from the rails, along with a smell like pork rinds, and whatever was left in my stomach decided to vacate. Poor guy—this time I didn’t miss him.
The club kids ran over to the edge of the yellow line and peered over. One of them screamed, and another stared at us and pointed. They didn’t think we did this on purpose, did they?
“Don’t look,” I gagged, grabbing Shar’s arm and dragging her back a few steps. “Why was he standing so close to the edge?”
“He’s … dead? Oh my God!” Shar choked, and put a hand over her mouth. “We—”
“Oh man!” one of the clubber girls shrieked. “Like, he was just standing there …” She trailed off and started sobbing. Then she looked at us with angry, accusatory eyes. “You totally shoved him in there. Poor dude!”
“No!” shouted Shar. “That’s not what happened!”
An acne-pocked boy in neon goggles cursed. “You were messing around and you killed this guy! He was trying to break you two apart!” The boy looked over the edge and gasped. “Look at the blood!”
The club kids huddled together and started pulling out cell phones.
“It was an accident,” I insisted, but none of them listened to me. I turned to Shar, taking hold of her shoulders. “We didn’t mean to hurt anyone. You saved me, I was falling—”
Shar looked at me helplessly. “What are we going to do? They’re going to call the police!”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” My head dropped. Then I lifted it and stared up at the ceiling, blinking back tears. “I would give anything to make this go away. Anything.”
“Me too,” she sobbed. “Anything! ”
“I believe I can assist you with that.” A silky voice wafted through the murky silence. That’s when I noticed that the station was uncannily quiet, and my heart stuck in my throat when I saw that the club kids were still gaping in horror on the brink of the platform. They were frozen in various poses. No one was moving.
“What’s wrong with them?” Shar whispered, clutching my arms. Even with my winter coat on, her nails hurt.
“They’re perfectly fine,” the voice spoke again.
We turned around to see a tall man standing nonchalantly by the tiled wall. He wasn’t just tall; he was towering tall, well over six-six, and dressed like the guys in the foreign fashion magazines that Shar always kept in our room. Long, elegant fingers hooked the collar of an expensive-looking black coat he held over his shoulder, and his gleaming white shirt was unbuttoned far enough to see a chest of rippling muscles and taut, olive-toned skin. He gazed at us with dark eyes. But where did he come from? He wasn’t here before.
“Wh-what?” I stuttered in disbelief.
“That poor man was simply waiting for a train,” he sighed. “Then you two came along. Now he’s dead.”
“Excuse me?” I didn’t like what he was insinuating. “We are NOT responsible for this!”
He glanced down at the tracks and made a doleful face. “If he could, I think he’d argue that point.”
“It was an accident!” whispered Shar.
“My dear Sharisse and Margaret, this poor soul is dead. You both had a hand in killing him. Do you think that will matter to his family and friends? To the courts?”
“How do you know our names?” My voice, steady until now, trembled slightly. I glanced over at Shar, who stared back, looking as pale as I felt.
“What should we do?” she whimpered.
The man turned to us with a saccharine smile. “That depends. I could call the police and tell them everything, and you can take your chances that they’ll believe it was a tragic accident.”
Impulsively, I grabbed Shar’s hand and squeezed it. “It was an accident.”
She nodded vigorously, and I turned back to GQ Man.
“You saw what happened.”
“Indeed I did. But I’m afraid I’ll have to tell the authorities that I saw this man standing by himself. Then Sharisse and you attacked him, pushing him in front of the train just as it was going through the station. You waited until the last possible moment, giving him no time to react. And it sounds like these young people will back me up.”
“That’s not how it happened!” I stamped my foot. As badly as I felt about all this, I wasn’t about to go to prison for it.
“Yes, it looks like the two of you killed him,” he tsk-tsked and flicked his wrist. The club kids vanished. We were alone in the station, shaking like we’d spent the day downing double shots of espresso.
“Now,” he said, casting an all-too-admiring glance at Shar, “let’s attend to business.”
“Who are you?” I demanded.
When he smiled, a full set of white, even teeth peeked out. Everything about him was uncannily perfect. His suit was spotless and he looked too polished, like a statue.
“Allow me to introduce myself, ladies. I am—”
“Deranged,” I murmured.
He smiled easily. “Not in the least, Margaret. I am Hades, Lord of the Underworld.”
“You mean like … the devil?” Shar trembled.
“No,” he corrected her in a voice that sounded like she’d just insulted him. “I am not the devil. He’s a pale, corrupt version of me, created by humans. I can assure you that I am very real.”
“The devil’s real!” Shar insisted.
He clucked his tongue. “I suppose I can’t fault you for believing what’s been passed off as truth for thousands of years. But it’s an inspiring piece of fiction, and it certainly worked for the people who invented it. There’s no better way to scare people than to conjure up a devil! Fear is how to control people. It’s how I got into my current business endeavor.”
Shar and I clutched each other. This reality was very unreal.
“You see,” the man continued, now circling around us like a wolf cornering its prey, “I liked the way that whole devil setup worked—a little temptation, some soul trading, and then, eternal servitude. And I thought, I should get into that! It’s easy to find desperate people who’ll sell their souls to me for fame, wealth, talent, revenge, whatever. Once they’ve attained a certain level of success, I call in their contract. When I first started out, I would collect them myself, but it was always so melodramatic. They’d plead their case to the other gods and we’d end up in negotiations. Too time consuming! That’s when I came up with the idea of delegating, and hence, where you come in.” He grimaced at my feet. “Those shoes have got to hurt.”
“Everyone’s a fashion critic,” I snorted. “But seriously, soul selling? Are you joking? Who would sell their soul to you?”
He stopped moving and stroked his chin. “Cleopatra is a wonderful example. A more lusty and ambitious woman never lived. She wanted to preserve Egypt, no matter what the cost. That meant bringing Caesar, then Marc Antony, to heel. Romans!” he spat. “We Greeks brought civilization to the world, and then they come and change our names only to abandon us a few centuries later! They brought chaos and ruin!” He sniffed. “I was only too happy to deliver both those men to her. Of course, once she had what she wanted, her deal was complete, and I called in her contract. A nasty business—I had to transform myself into a serpent to finally get the job done. After that, I vowed never to make an asp of myself again!”
“Who else sold their souls?” Shar asked, seriously interested. She didn
’t really believe him, did she?
“You’d be surprised at the number of people who’d like to make a deal with me. Take a look around—they’re not hard to pick out,” Hades replied smoothly. “Rock stars and petty actors with no real talent. Multi-billionaires with no common sense and too much greed. How do you think people like that manage to achieve anything?”
“Hades plays Mephistopheles, is that it?” I interrupted boldly. “Look, I don’t know who you are … or what you are, but we—”
Suddenly, a circle of flame danced all around us, and we huddled closer together.
“Please, Margaret, don’t make me resort to parlor tricks. But let’s get back on topic. You killed an innocent man.” He grinned sardonically. “And if I heard you correctly, you both said that you would do anything to make this situation go away. I’m here to oblige you. I’ve never seen such natural talent!”
“Talent for what?” I asked.
“Think about what happened. You met that young man tonight, and you made quite an impression. He was going to take both of you to a music venue, yes? You saw what you wanted and wasted no time in engaging him. And then Sharisse”—he turned a lascivious grin on Shar—“not to be outdone, moved in, and all she had to do was smile. How could he stay away from either of you? He was completely enchanted. You lured him to his doom, and he happily followed!”
“Nooo,” Shar stepped in. “We only talked to him for a couple of minutes over a slice of pizza.”
Hades wagged a finger. “Oh, no no no! You two did much more than that. You were a duet of connivance. The fact that you don’t realize just how beguiling you are makes you even more perfect. I have an offer you can’t refuse.”
“I’m not selling my soul,” Shar declared dramatically, fingering the small gold cross dangling around her neck. “I’d rather die!”
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t want your soul. I want your service. You two will be my new Sirens.”
The Fine Print
Sirenz Page 2
