by Anita Oh
“Let’s go. We’re running late,” he said. “Nikolai may have killed people.”
Because the dance was the Spring Fling, they’d decided not to hold it inside in the ballroom. Instead, they’d set up a massive pavilion in one of the outer gardens, just past the old abandoned clock tower. The way was lit up with fairy lights, and everything looked magical as we walked down the path, the music filtering through to us. Even though I had a bunch of things to worry about, in that moment they all dissolved into nothingness. The night seemed heavy with possibility and wonder, and I knew that everything was going to be okay, even if it was just for the next few hours.
The pavilion looked amazing. Nikolai had been right to fight for the hydrangea, their understated elegance suited the night perfectly. The air was filled with their scent. Everyone stopped as we entered the pavilion and turned toward us. For a moment, I wanted to run away, but Sam’s hand tightened around mine and I stood my ground. I had every right to be there, as much as anyone else.
After a moment, they all went back to what they’d been doing, talking or dancing or sneaking drinks from hip flasks full of booze. The gloom about Hannah had lifted, and everyone was in high spirits.
“I assume that you don’t want to dance?” Sam asked me.
“Um,” I said, looking down at my feet. The shoes Althea had put me in were about a zillion inches high and already starting to rub on my feet. “You assume right.”
“I’ll dance,” said Althea, looking toward me to see if it was okay.
The two of them looked so graceful, moving together on the dance floor. I’d thought that for the dance, there would be a DJ or a band, maybe even a famous band, considering the high-profile school, but there was actually what looked like an entire orchestra set up at the edge of the pavilion. All the couples were twirling in complicated patterns that I could never hope to imitate. It was as if I’d stepped back in time. It wasn’t anything like I’d imagined a school dance to be.
“Shall we sit?” asked Tennyson, gesturing toward a small table with a centerpiece of hydrangeas and tiny candles that looked both pretty and like a fire hazard.
I followed him over and we sat beside each other, looking out onto the dance floor. It was nice to just sit quietly, watching the dancers and taking everything in. I could pretend to be someone else, just for a little while.
A light flashed in front of us, and Tennyson let out a low growl.
“For the yearbook,” said the person behind the camera, leaving again before our eyes could adjust.
This isn’t horrible, said Tennyson, then he flagged over a waiter carrying a tray full of drinks.
We sipped our drinks in silence for a while. They were some sort of juice concoction that looked scary but tasted like lime and pear. I vaguely remembered Nikolai raving about it at some point.
Don’t leave the pack, Tennyson said so abruptly that my juice almost went up my nose. I set it aside so I wouldn’t spill it on my dress.
I don’t intend to, I told him. You told me I was welcome here forever, remember?
He shrugged. I don’t think those were my exact words.
You know you guys would probably be better off without me, though, I said. So far, I’ve only brought you trouble. You said it yourself when we first met.
You were a stranger then. You’re pack now.
I didn’t see how that made the trouble any better, but I was pleased anyway.
And, at any rate, Sam would miss you if you left.
I turned to look at him and noticed that his pale cheeks had turned pink. He didn’t mean Sam at all; he meant himself. He should just say so, the big jerk. I pressed my lips together to hide my smile.
My heart seemed to pound in time with the music. I picked up my drink and sipped it. Over in the far corner, I could see Nikolai yelling at someone and pointing upward to where nets of cherry blossoms were suspended above the dance floor, ready to be dropped.
The song ended, and Althea and Sam came over and collapsed into the two free chairs.
“Where did you learn to dance like that?” I asked Sam, laughing as he fanned himself with his hand.
“Alpha Wilde taught me,” he said.
I couldn’t imagine that stern woman doing anything as frivolous as dancing.
“Are you sure you don’t want to?” he asked, pointing back to the dance floor.
I knew he was only saying it to be polite. He’d complained about bruised feet for weeks after we’d danced together in elementary school.
I shook my head. “I think I’d cause someone an injury if I tried,” I said.
“Come on, Lucy! It’s called a dance, not a sit!” Althea smiled at me. “Plus, you look so gorgeous, you should show yourself off.”
The song that had started was slower, and the couples were just swaying on the spot, so if I had to do it, this was the time.
“Okay,” I said, getting to my feet.
Sam led me out onto the dance floor and took me in his arms, keeping a respectable distance between our bodies. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but surely I was supposed to feel something more at this point. I should want to get even closer.
Sam turned me slightly, and I caught Tennyson’s eye across the dance floor. The look on his face as he watched us was something I didn’t recognize. I’d never seen him look like that before. It bothered me that I couldn’t decipher that look. By now, I should be able to read all of his expressions. It made me want to pull away from Sam and go to him, to grab hold of him and never let go, not until there was no part of him that was unfamiliar to me, nothing at all left unknown. It made me feel like a stranger in my own home, and that wasn’t right.
We turned again and Tennyson was blocked from my sight, but that feeling didn’t leave me. Sometimes, the bond between us was a little frightening. It was hard to tell which of my feelings were real and which were the bond going into overdrive.
When the song ended, I went searching for the food table. By the time I got back with a plate full of tasty treats, Nikolai was sitting in my seat beside Tennyson, telling some angry story that I bet was about cherry blossoms.
“The creepy poetry guy is coming over,” Althea whispered across the table. “Somebody dance with me, quick!”
Sam swept her away, and Nikolai complained about Laura Montgomery, and I carefully avoided looking at Tennyson. After Sam, Nikolai danced with Althea, and eventually she even convinced Tennyson. I couldn’t help but watch, mesmerized, as he glided around the dance floor. Sam and Althea had been graceful together, and Althea and Nikolai had been dynamic, but this was something else entirely. Tennyson moved like liquid magma, like fire and water melded into one, flickering and flowing. Every movement was purposeful; nothing was wasted. I’d been spending so much time with him that I’d started taking for granted the way that he moved like a panther, but this was so much more than even his usual fluidity.
I wasn’t the only one transfixed by Tennyson. Everyone else there was watching him as well. He was something more than human, more than lycanthrope, even.
“Do you want to take a walk?” Sam asked, sounding far away.
It took me a moment to register that he’d spoken. I couldn’t look away from Tennyson: the way his shoulders strained against his jacket, the twist of his hips as he turned Althea across the floor.
“Sorry?” I said, finally dragging myself away.
Sam didn’t look good. He’d turned pale, and sweat had broken out on his forehead. He was half bent over in his seat with his arms wrapped around his stomach.
“Are you okay?” I asked him. “You didn’t eat the salmon canapes, did you? Because Nikolai got the cheap…”
Sam shook his head. “Something strange is happening. I’m losing control.” He reached out his hand to me to show me his claws.
“Don’t panic. Let’s just take a walk,” I said, standing up and taking him by the arm. It must be nearly midnight. I wondered if this had something to do with my father’s punishment. It would be j
ust like him to threaten my brothers and then attack Sam somehow.
I led him out of the pavilion, past the couples who had snuck outside for some privacy in the gardens and the groups of kids who had started up their own parties. Outside the pavilion, away from all the people, it had turned cold. I shivered, but Sam’s skin felt hot to the touch. We’d just passed by a couple who had left a trail of formal clothes that led to their feet sticking out from the bushes when there was a loud clap of thunder and out of nowhere, rain started pouring down.
I turned to go back to the shelter of the pavilion, but Sam pulled me in the other direction.
“The clock tower!” he yelled over the rain. “It’s closer.”
We took off at a run. Already, puddles had formed in the grass, and my shoes squelched and slipped around. I stumbled and fell to my knees, getting mud all over Althea’s beautiful dress. Sam stopped and turned back to me, already half-transformed. Sam did still lose control from time to time, but he hadn’t for ages, so this couldn’t be a coincidence. He’d been doing so well.
I could see the clock tower over his shoulder, rising up into the stormy sky. A fork of lightning shot out, glowing an unnatural blue. I screamed and tried to climb to my feet. The lightning looked as if it would hit Sam, but instead it crashed into the clock tower, right into the face of it. The moment seemed to last an eternity as that jagged finger of lightning thrust into the clock.
Rain streamed down over us, numbing my skin and weighing me down. And slowly, as I watched, the hands of that clock began to move. That clock hadn’t worked for years. There was some story about it, how it had stopped the moment someone or other had died. But it was working now.
The hands of the clock moved around and around, faster and faster, but that wasn’t even the strangest thing. The hands were moving backwards.
The clock chimed.
I blinked, and it was morning.
Chapter 6
It wasn’t only morning, but I was in my bed. For a moment, I lay there, trying to process what had happened. One minute, I’d been outside and it had been night; the next, it was morning and I was in my room. Maybe I’d blacked out and someone had brought me to my room – that was the most logical explanation. My alarm clock said it was 7:47. My phone buzzed with a message, and I reached out to open it, thinking it was probably Sam telling me what was going on. I hoped he was okay.
The message was from Sam, but it took me a second to register what it said.
“Are you okay? I thought we were meeting at 7:30?” With a smiley face at the end.
The message itself wasn’t anything special, except that it was the exact same message he’d sent me the day before. A heavy weight settled at the bottom of my belly.
“What day is it?” I messaged back.
“Friday,” came the reply, almost immediately, followed by, “Is something wrong?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Maybe Sam was messing with me, but he knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t find this funny, especially after the threats from my father and his partial transformation at the dance.
What day is it? I asked Tennyson.
Friday, he said. Are you with Sam? Did you get the message about the special assembly? We’ll meet you there.
If it was Friday and they weren’t messing with me, that meant the special assembly was about to start. If they were messing with me, no way would the assembly actually be on. Even though every student in the school would jump off a cliff at Tennyson’s command, Assistant Head Noel took himself way too seriously to go along with a hoax like that.
“Something strange is happening,” I sent to Sam. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can make it.”
“That’s fine,” he sent back. “I hope everything is okay.”
My heart hurt at the thought of Sam sitting there in the greenhouse all alone, that amazing picnic spread out around him. But if this wasn’t a hoax, if it was somehow Friday morning again for real, I needed to get all the information I could. I’d make it up to him later.
Once, the thought would never have occurred to me that the day might’ve somehow reset, but so many weird things had happened now that it was just as likely as anything else. This was my life now, weird and improbable. I really hoped I was wrong, but my father had warned me that something would happen, and the clock had spun backwards.
I pulled on my school uniform and dashed out the door, barely noticing that Katie wasn’t in her bed.
Like the day before, the paths were crowded. I knew there was no point rushing ahead of the other students – that wouldn’t make the assembly start any sooner – but still, I felt impatient. I sensed that the others were almost at the main school building, so took a shortcut to catch up with them. By the time I found them, they were already outside the assembly hall.
“Do you have any idea what this is about?” asked Althea.
I shrugged. I did, but explaining why would take too long, and there were too many people around.
“Where’s Sam?” asked Tennyson. “I thought the two of you were together.”
I was saved from answering by the doors creaking open.
“Hang on,” said Nikolai. “There’s Laura Montgomery. She needs to be taught a lesson in good taste.”
He shoved me out of the way as he forced a pathway through to Laura.
“He should never be put in charge of anything, ever,” Althea said as she led us into the hall and to some seats near the back. “Oh, this doesn’t look good.”
The three of us stared up at the massive picture of Hannah Morgan.
“Whatever they have to say is probably a lie,” said Tennyson, and I could tell that even though he believed it, he’d only said it to be reassuring.
“Well, I suppose they can’t exactly tell the truth,” I said.
The seats in the assembly hall were close together, and Tennyson’s arm was warm where it rested against mine. A few rows down, I could see Nikolai harassing Laura Montgomery. I wondered if he had a crush on her, poor girl. The hall was filled with the murmur of voices, all talking about the same thing. Why were we there, and why was there a big picture of Hannah beside the podium? Some people didn’t know who she was, and the others were trying to describe her — pretty, curly hair, Red House, quiet. None of them knew anything about her, not really. They didn’t know how she’d been so powerful, or funny, or obsessed with Harry Potter.
Assistant Head Noel stepped up to the podium and began to speak. He started just as he’d finished, with a bunch of platitudes. Grave news, a time to be together and appreciate your loved ones, blah blah. A bunch of words that didn’t say anything.
Except they did tell me one thing. They told me it was Friday. Again.
I tuned Assistant Head Noel out as I tried to get everything straight in my head. Sam had begun to transform against his will. We’d been caught in the rain. Lightning had struck the clock tower and made the clock go backwards. The lightning had been strange; it had seemed to glow blue. I wasn’t sure what time it had been when the lightning had struck, but it was around midnight.
Midnight was the deadline my father had given me before he carried out his threats. I’d been worried he’d hurt my brothers, and while that wasn’t off the table, I was certain he was behind this time reset or whatever it was. I had no idea what possible motive he could have for making me relive the same day again. Maybe he wanted me to die of boredom from listening to Assistant Head Noel.
If it was still Friday, that meant that the phone my father had hidden would still be in the lighthouse. As soon as Assistant Head Noel stopped his jibber-jabbering, I’d go straight there and get some answers.
Tennyson nudged me in the elbow, and when I looked up, he raised his eyebrows. I remembered that we couldn’t brain-talk in the assembly hall, but I figured he was asking if I was okay. I shrugged. There was no way I could explain what was happening with only facial expressions. I wasn’t sure how I’d even do it with words. If only Tennyson, or Althea, or somebody remembered th
at we’d lived this day before so I could confirm that I wasn’t actually going nuts.
Assistant Head Noel talked on and on. I was glad that yesterday, the real Friday, I’d missed this in favor of delicious foods. Finally, he got up to the part that I’d heard before, and I knew the assembly was close to ending. Just before it did, the hall doors banged open, and Katie stumbled through. She looked even worse than she had on the real Friday. Her eyes darted around madly until they rested on me, and she came staggering toward me.
“I warned you!” she yelled. “I told you this would happen, and you didn’t listen. We’re all doomed because you didn’t listen!”
Whispers broke out, and a few people laughed.
Assistant Head Noel cleared his throat. “Display some decorum, please! This is a time of quiet reflection!”
I stood up and pushed past Tennyson, but he caught me by the wrist.
“It’s okay,” I said quietly. “I know what she’s talking about. I’ve got this.”
My heart pounded as I made my way toward her. Did Katie’s words mean what I thought? It had been the real Friday when she’d warned me. She hadn’t seen me on this day at all. That meant she knew that this was the second time we were living this same day.
I put my arm around Katie and led her out of the hall, waving to Assistant Head Noel that everything was okay.
As soon as the doors had closed behind us, Katie wheeled around on me.
“He’s not going to let us out of this until you agree to his terms, you know that.”
“It’s Friday,” I said. “What day was it yesterday?”
She rolled her eyes. “It was Friday. He’s stuck me in this with you as punishment for siding with you and giving you information.” She sighed, raking her hands through her hair. “Fat lot of good that did. You still blamed me for everything, anyway.”
