Arcane Wisdome

by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  “What do you mean?" Lucy asked after a couple seconds of thought, though she was certain she already knew.

  “What happened with you and Nate?”

  Again Lucy hesitated. “You’re sure you want— ”

  “Just tell me, okay?”

  Lucy nodded. “Okay. But remember, you wanted to hear this." She took a deep breath, then launched into her account of Nate’s behavior, and her own; while she spoke, she glanced at Catherine from time to time, trying to determine if she were convincing her or not, and found it impossible to determine, for Catherine’s face was completely expressionless. When she had concluded, she added, “I’m not the only one he’s done this to.”

  Catherine hung on her crutches. “I know. He told me about seven others. He told me everything. All the ganzer things he did, and what the girls did back. I asked him not to." There was a catch in her voice now. “I didn’t want to believe him. I thought he wanted to break up with me since I can’t be head cheerleader next semester." Quite suddenly she started to cry, sobbing almost silently, her whole body shaking.

  Not knowing what else to do, Lucy put her hand on Catherine’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said. “He shouldn’t have done what he did.”

  “He shouldn’t have told me about it,” Catherine exclaimed.

  “Why not?" Lucy asked, truly shocked.

  “Because I’m supposed to be his girlfriend, and I can’t be that now. That’d be worse than anything." She began to weep loudly, not caring if some of the straggling students stared. “If he’d just kept quiet, I could have ignored the gossip. Now I have to break up with him.”

  Lucy tried to think of something to say, but words eluded her. She patted Catherine’s shoulder again, and wasn’t entirely surprised when Catherine shrugged away from her. Gathering up her courage, she asked, “Don’t you want to break up with him?”

  “Sure. Now. But I won’t have a boyfriend going into our Junior year. I can’t stand that!" This ended on a wail of dismay.

  “But ... “ Lucy began, trying to frame her thoughts.

  “You’re a brain—a real brain, not like a lot of us; most of us are smart enough. We can all get into college, and most of us will." Catherine tossed her head and leaned into her crutches.

  “You couldn’t get to go here if you weren’t,” Lucy pointed out.

  “Oh, yeah. We’re smart enough to get A’s and B’s in regular high school. But you’re more than that. You’re a lot more than that. You don’t need a boyfriend." She pulled back from Lucy. “If I don’t have a boyfriend like Nate, I won’t be popular. Everybody knows that!”

  “Sure you will,” Lucy said, trying to figure out why Catherine thought being smart kept her from wanting a boyfriend. She decided she’d have to ask Isadora about it. “You’re pretty, and the whole student body knows you. You’ll have your pick of the boys.”

  “No, I won’t. All the good boyfriends are taken." She turned away, and made her way slowly down the steps to where a bronze Lexus was waiting for her, her mother behind the wheel.

  Lucy watched Catherine get into the car, her crutches held clumsily between the front seats; a few seconds later, they drove away, leaving Lucy staring after them, pondering what had happened, and wondering what more the sending might do before the week was up.

  * * *

  “I don’t know what you did, but thanks for doing it,” Niki Martinu said breathlessly, whispering into the phone.

  Lucy stared at the receiver, then asked, “What makes you think I did anything?”

  “Nate’s been admitting ... all kinds of things. You can tell he doesn’t want to, but he can’t help himself." Niki sounded as if she might burst out laughing.

  “You think that’s good?"

  “I think it’s wonderful,” Niki exclaimed. “About time he had to own up to all he’s done, and the lies he’s told.”

  “What’s he been saying?" Lucy couldn’t help asking.

  “He’s talked about all the girls he’s ganzered and how he gets through his written assignments by having other people do them for him. He’s got Geraldine Ritter coaching him in science."

  “Geraldine? Really?" Geraldine was known to be the best science student in the sophomore class; she’d already been offered a scholarship to Stanford, and another one to Princeton.

  “That’s what he said. And he said he made guys who want to be popular do his exams for him when they can. He even said he’d cheated on his Geometry test." Niki was so pleased she was almost crowing.

  “Do people believe him?”

  “Most of ‘em don’t want to, but they do,” said Niki. “There’s a few who think he’s making it up, so he can have an excuse to change schools over the summer. But I don’t think that’s why he’s talking.”

  “Does he want to change schools?" Lucy was baffled.

  “He says he does. But who knows?" She let the question hang between them.

  Lucy thought about this for the better part of a minute. “What do you think?”

  “I think after all this, he’d be smart to change schools. Not that rumors wouldn’t follow him." This time she actually laughed.

  “How do you think he’ll manage if he has to stay at Bender? It’ll be really dazed for him if he comes back in the fall." She felt a pang of guilt; no matter how furious she had been with him, she hadn’t intended for him to have to go through so much.

  “He won’t be the uber-hunk, like he is now,” said Niki. “But who knows, he might prove he’s got guts.”

  Lucy did her best to smile, although Niki couldn’t see her. “I wish I knew what to say.”

  “Just tell me what you did. I’ll keep it secret.”

  Lucy hesitated. “I didn’t do anything." She didn’t like lying, but this was getting too complicated; she realized that she didn’t want the whole school to know that she was using witchcraft, not for anything. People would probably want her to do spells for them, and her grades would go down because the teachers would claim that she cheated by using magic.

  “You can tell me,” Niki wheedled.

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “If you’re going to be that way ... ” Niki huffed.

  “I’m not being any way,” Lucy said, trying not to raise her voice. “I told you, I didn’t do anything. Maybe someone threatened to tell on Nate, and he got scared. Maybe someone found out and made him tell.”

  “Maybe,” Niki echoed, clearly not believing either suggestion might be possible.

  “And don’t go speculating about what happened with other kids, okay? I don’t need more people talking about me.”

  “I guess you don’t,” Niki conceded. “Okay." And with that she hung up, leaving Lucy fretting, wondering how long Niki would keep silent. Thank goodness, she thought, summer vacation’s almost here.

  * * *

  “English final, and American History final today,” Lucy announced to her mirror as she finished brushing her hair, the last thing she did before leaving the bathroom in the morning. She tossed her head, and watched how her hair fanned over her brow. She really did need to do something new with it. She’d set up an appointment with Claudia at Pearls and Sable for next week, after the Seniors and Juniors had their proms on the coming weekend and Claudia would have some open slots on her calendar. “Maybe short,” she said to her reflection. She’d been thinking about a short style since Ditch Day, something that would reveal another side of her. She put on her lip-gloss and scrutinized her face for any sign of blemishes. It was almost that time of the month, and her complexion always broke out then. Just to be on the safe side, she rubbed her prescription cream into her forehead and cheeks. Satisfied, she left the bathroom, stopped in her room for her backpack and wallet, then hurried down the stairs.

  24

  Gweneth was waiting for her at their gym lockers. “I guess you know all about Nate?" She began to undress so she could get into her gym clothes.

  “I’ve heard.”

  “Yeah,” said G
weneth, and laughed once.

  Lucy spun the dial to open her locker. “What does that mean?”

  “Just that you’ve already fixed the Geeks’ computer ... mess." She pulled off her ballet flats and stuffed them into her locker along with the rest of her stuff. “Nate was with you at Ditch Day, and he was telling everyone how you came after him. But now he’s saying that he was chasing you, that he made up the part about you chasing him. He’s admitted he didn’t do half his term projects, or his reports. Something must have changed for him on the weekend. Well?”

  “He felt ashamed.”

  “Nate Evers felt ashamed. Sure he did." Gweneth finished tying her kicks and got ready to hurry off to volleyball. “Can’t blame me for thinking what I’m thinking, Lucy. Maybe we can talk about it at lunch.”

  Lucy’s heart sank. “Sure,” she said. “We’ll talk.”

  * * *

  Lucy was hoping for a little quiet at lunch, but Gweneth insisted on taking a table with six chairs. To Lucy this looked ominous; she had to suppress a shudder as she sat down, her lunch still on her tray.

  Gweneth, right behind her, took the place directly across from Lucy. She had about twice as much food as Lucy did. “So what kind of formula did you use?”

  Rather blankly, Lucy answered, “It’s called a sending. And if you tell anyone, I’ll say you made it up.”

  “Sending,” said Gweneth as she took her plates off the tray and turned around to put the tray on the bussing cart. “I like the sound of it. How does it work?”

  “I don’t know how it works. I just know how to do it,” Lucy said, wanting to discourage Gweneth; she stared at her taco salad that now seemed about as appetizing as a buzzing wasps’ nest.

  “Can you teach me how to do it?" Gweneth tried not to sound too eager. “I’d use it carefully.”

  Lucy shrugged, and picked up her fork, and was about to take a bit of her salad when she saw four more people coming up to the table, lunch trays in hand: Tom Foster, Curtis Ng, Spencer Ryan, and Niki Martinu. “Hi,” said Lucy with a quick glare at Gweneth; she felt as if she’d been ambushed, and had to stop from getting up and walking away.

  The four took seats and unloaded their trays. When everything was ready, Tom spoke up.

  “We had a vote last night. We decided that arcane math has a place with the Gothic Geeks, because of the Gothic part, and we agreed to let you know we’d be glad to have you as a member.”

  All the Gothic Geeks were smiling now, even Spencer. Niki clapped a little, stopping when no one joined in.

  Lucy thought that had they made the offer before Ditch Day, she might have hesitated, wanting to be sure that she could fit in with them. She was surprised to hear herself ask, “Why do you want me?”

  “Because you have something going on with that formula thing you do,” said Tom.

  Lucy studied him. “I don’t want to become your backup, the one you go to when other methods don’t work.”

  “Nothing like that,” said Curtis when Tom faltered.

  “Do you think that we’d do that to you?" Spencer inquired, his jaw set. “What kind of ganzers do you think we are?”

  “You might want the back-up,” said Lucy firmly. She thought, and realized that with this group she’d need an ally, someone to take her side if there were any pressure to use spells in ways she didn’t want to. “Okay. I’ll be a Gothic Geek. But make Ben a member, too. If you can take my formulae, you can take his gaming." She looked around at the others. “Things’ll work better that way.”

  Before Spencer could argue about this, Tom spoke for all of them. “That’s fine with us. We were planning on asking Ben to join, in any case." He picked up his bottle of tropical fruit mix and held it up in a toast. “To the Gothic Geeks.”

  “The Gothic Geeks,” the others echoed, and drank whatever drinks they’d bought for lunch.

  “We’ll have a cake for you and Ben on the weekend,” said Gweneth, looking a bit abashed, “and we can do a real celebration. Sorry I set you up this way, but thanks for becoming a Gothic Geek.”

  “It’s okay,” said Lucy, beginning to think it really was.

  * * *

  On Thursday night, sometime after midnight, Lucy took her flashlight and went up into the attic again, seeking out more of her mother’s books. She opened two boxes she hadn’t yet explored, and pulled out Animals of Asia; volume 1 of Encyclopedia of Mammals; Wildlife of Patagonia; Mollusks, Sea Urchins, and Sails, and Snakes of the World. Feeling queasy as she remembered how her mother had died, Lucy put the books away and tried the next box. This was better, she thought as she pulled out a book on architectural engineering and another on ice core analysis on the cycles of climate change. There were biographies of Rachel Carson, Nicola Tesla, and John Muir, of Leonardo da Vinci and Archimedes; books of paintings by Wyeth and Turner, Manet and Monet, books on teas and coffees, a book on the history of ballet; a Hungarian cookbook, a book on Japanese flower arranging, a history of sailing ships, two books on herbs, a book on the spice trade, and one on Venetian glass-blowing. Appalled at herself, Lucy realized she had forgotten how eclectic her mother’s tastes had been.

  One of the last books she found in the box was Synergy and Sympathy: a survey of the philosophy of magic and alchemy. On impulse she took it, thinking that she might find something useful in its pages. All the books she had taken from the attic had led her to a better understanding of lots of things, and maybe these would add to her understanding.

  She was almost to her bedroom door when she heard a sleepy voice behind her. “Lucy? Anything wrong?" Melinda asked.

  Trying not to jump, Lucy answered, “Couldn’t sleep. Cramps. I took a couple pills." She decided to brazen it out, and held up the book, its titled concealed by her hand. “I’m going to read until the pills kick in." She was so relieved that she was in her sleep-sweats and not her regular clothes.

  “Um. Okay. Goodnight,” said Melinda, and stepped back into her room.

  Lucy ducked into her bedroom and stood still, shaking. That had been close—too close. She’d have to be more careful next time. As she got into bed, she decided she ought to call Grandma Doris; she might understand. Grandmother Doris had been a hippie once. Lucy lay awake trying to think what she could tell her grandmother, and what she would have to keep from her.

  * * *

  It was the last day of school, and everyone seemed to be already on vacation, romping more than studying and acting as if they were on vacation. To Lucy’s surprise, Mister Faccio brought in some small Italian pastries for the class.

  “One each,” he ordered. “And make sure you take a napkin. I don’t want powered sugar all over the floor.”

  There was an eager surge forward and a scramble for the pastries, half the class pushing and shoving to get at the treats.

  Doing his best to keep the attention of the class, Mister Faccio raised his voice. “My mother makes Saint Honoré’s Cake for her birthday. These honey-glazed cream puffs are part of the structure of the cake. She made extra for you, for your last day of the semester." He paused. “Saint Honoré’s the patron saint of bakers.”

  “This stuff is sure good,” Rich Purdy enthused; he flattered himself that he was Cosmo Bender’s gourmet.

  “You doing this for all your classes?" Lissa Hammond asked as she licked a little of the cream off her lip.

  “Yep. My mom’s like this—loves to cook." Mister Faccio grinned. “That means I get six of these little darlin’s today.”

  Alison Saunders took her cream puff and bit into it a second time, more carefully, her free hand held to catch the crumbs. “This is delicious! I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about Mister Faccio.”

  “I’ll tell my mother,” said Mister Faccio.

  Ignoring the teacher’s little jape, Alison caught sight of Lucy and started toward her. She swallowed and spoke quietly. “They’re saying that you’re the one who made Nate Evers tell on himself.”

  “I can’t help what they’re sayi
ng,” said Lucy. She hadn’t claimed her cream puff yet, and found that she had lost all taste for one.

  “They’re saying that you can do spells. Can you?”

  “I wouldn’t call it that,” said Lucy. “I tried something I found in an old book about stuff. Most of it’s pretty ozwonked.”

  “But you did something to Nate, didn’t you?" Alison persisted. “Everyone says you did.”

  “I don’t know,” said Lucy, becoming annoyed at being questioned where so many people could hear.

  “What else can you do? Can you get me an A in — ”

  “No,” said Lucy, cutting her off. “I did an experiment, and maybe something worked, or maybe it’s just coincidence that Nate decided to tell the truth. I can’t take any responsibility for what he did or did not do." She folded her arms and retreated to her desk, hoping that there’d be no more requests for spells. That would be too uber-wonked.

  Alison followed her. “Bruce Paxton said you did a lot more than that.”

  “Bruce!" Lucy exclaimed. “That figures." She sensed that for once in his life, Bruce might be useful to her. “Eeeuw.”

  “He is kind of awful, isn’t he?" Alison said.

  “I can’t see why anyone would believe him—about my experiment or anything else." Lucy looked directly at Alison. “And you can tell anyone you like that I said so.”

  “Okay." Alison finished off her cream puff. “But not everyone will, you know, go along with it.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s the truth,” said Lucy, not liking to lie, but unwilling to become Cosmo Bender’s resident witch. She told herself that she wasn’t a witch, or a wizard, or anything like that. Cosmo Bender wasn’t Hogwarts and she wasn’t studying magic. She’d got lucky a couple of times with her experiments, but that was all there was to it.

  “You doing anything special this summer? My family’s going to Europe for a month,” said Alison, changing the subject.