Occult Suspense for Mothers Boxset: The Nostalgia Effect by EJ Valson and Mother's by Michelle Read (2 ebooks for one price)

by EJ Valson

  “But I hardly know her at all—”

  “Exactly,” she said plainly. “None of us at the school, no one else in town, knew anything about her. Except that she was a very quiet, peculiar, amiable counselor. She never offered any personal information, and as you know from being around her, she isn’t the kind of girl you ever get around to asking questions like ‘Where’d you grow up?’ or ‘What gave you that scar?’”

  I must have made the most horrendously inquisitive face, because she flitted her hand and added, “Never mind.”

  “Anyway,” she continued. “She never offered any details about herself to anyone and no one ever asked. Until last year.”

  Just then my kitchen door opened. The door Charlotte kept looking out of. I spun around, nearly suffering a heart attack. Azura slammed the door shut only slightly more forcefully than she had opened it, and my insides jumped again.

  “Sorry, Charlotte,” she breathed, dropping her cell phone into her slacks pocket. “I was tired of waiting in the Jeep.”

  She slid into the chair nearest Charlotte.

  “What did I miss?”

  “Well . . . I was just getting ready to explain some things to Erin.” Charlotte pursed her lips. She obviously disapproved of the interruption.

  “Things like ‘the basics of the situation’ or like ‘your side of the argument’?” Azura’s voice was thick with impatience. Charlotte cleared her throat authoritatively.

  “The basics,” she uttered.

  “Seems like an awful lot of time spent on the basics.” Azura pulled her phone from her pocket again, looked at it, then slid it right back in. “May I have some water please?” she asked, turning to me.

  I got up without saying anything and grabbed a fresh bottle from the fridge.

  “Thank you,” my newest guest said with her trademark nod. I took my seat silently and waited for someone to speak.

  “I’m sorry, Charlotte,” Azura chimed after only a few seconds of silence. “But I really don’t see the point in dragging this out. Not if you want her to make the decision.” She looked at Charlotte and raised her eyebrows as if she were challenging her.

  “Yes, well.” Charlotte looked unsure of what to say.

  “Then I’ll take it from here, if you don’t mind.” Azura folded her hands around the unopened bottle of water in front of her and peered at me through her giant lenses. Charlotte dipped her head and sat back in her chair.

  “I’m not sure how far in to ‘the basics’ you’ve gotten, but knowing Charlotte, it isn’t very far. What would you like to know?”

  I had no idea what to say. I had so many questions, but they weren’t really questions I knew how to ask.

  “Why doesn’t anyone at school like me?” It was the first thing that came to mind, but it sounded a little silly once I had said it aloud. Azura didn’t seem to think it was ridiculous at all.

  “It’s not that they don’t like you—” Charlotte began in her empathetic tone. Azura raised her hand in front of Charlotte’s face, though, and cut her off without even glancing at her.

  “Rumor has it that Charlotte is leaving the school next year, and that someone new has been brought in to take her place.” She adjusted her glasses. “She made no secrets last year that the two of you are quite close friends, so naturally everyone has been assuming that you are the replacement.”

  This wasn’t what I had expected her to say at all. Actually, I expected her to avoid the question altogether or to tell me I was crazy for thinking such a thing. I was offended.

  “Well that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason not to like someone they don’t even know.” I could feel my ears turning red. I was partially proud that everyone thought I could be promoted from ‘school pet’ to the new principal, but I could also feel myself getting angry again. Angry that everyone had wasted so much time avoiding me for no reason.

  “This isn’t a group of women who is open to change, Erin. They see any transfer of power right now as a very bad thing.”

  I started to speak, but Azura interrupted me.

  “Besides . . . you haven’t been exhibiting a lot of confidence, if you will be honest with yourself.”

  Excuse me?

  “Your attitude toward everyone ‘not liking you’ has been to sink into the background. To shy away from confrontation, and to try to be invisible. Those aren’t really the star qualities of a good leader.”

  I was sure I had been behaving exactly as she had described me, but it still wasn’t easy to hear.

  “Besides, the idea of Charlotte leaving is ridiculous. It’s simply not true, so they really have nothing to worry about.”

  My ears were throbbing.

  “So why didn’t you just tell everyone that I wasn’t there to take over?”

  “I was feeling you out,” she admitted. “Getting to know you, and how you naturally respond to people. That’s a very important part of what I do.” She seemed to have a concrete, almost mystical answer for everything.

  “Okay . . . well. I don’t know if that totally answers my question, since I’m more confused than ever,” I confessed.

  “Understandably,” Azura stated with a nod. I looked at Charlotte, who had an oddly blank look on her face. She was fidgeting with her hands.

  “So,” I continued, trying to think of another topic to touch on. “Why does Elizabeth, in particular, seem so bothered by me? I mean – she really seems to hate me, and I’ve barely even spoken to her all year.”

  “Again,” Azura reassured, “it’s the thought of competition.” She rolled her eyes. “Elizabeth is particularly territorial, which can be very irritating, but relatively harmless. She is, as you know, a very talented woman. She can get much accomplished in a very short amount of time.”

  I nodded in agreement. But there was obviously something in my face that challenged her assessment of Elizabeth Asch, because she sat back a little and raised one eyebrow.

  “Is there anything else that you noticed about her? Any other outstanding qualities?”

  Her change in body language threw me a little, and I felt slightly embarrassed. Like there was some part of this conversation that should be so very obvious, and I was too thick to see it.

  “She . . . is. Well, she’s very organized.” Recalling her refrigerator labels the first time I met her almost made me laugh out loud. I didn’t chance even a smirk, though, and tried very hard to remain serious. “And she is always put together. She always always looks nice. No—perfect. She always looks perfect.” I wondered if she could detect the hint of jealousy in my voice.

  “Yes, she does.”

  And? I thought.

  “Elizabeth’s special qualities are things that are very important to her. Attributes she values, and that make her who she is. As I said, the part of her personality that feels threatened easily, well, that part can get quite irritating.”

  It was such a relief to hear someone else finding Elizabeth irritating.

  “Next.”

  “Excuse me?” I muttered, startled at the odd command.

  “What have you noticed about the others?” Azura insisted.

  “What others?”

  She leaned forward on the table again, her eyes suddenly more intense.

  “The other women you work with. Has anyone else done anything questionable? Out of the ordinary?”

  Of course it wasn’t difficult to come up with an example of something unexplainable. Questionable.

  “Danna.” It was all I could get out. I would feel foolish saying the words “superhuman strength” out loud.

  Charlotte made a noise and cringed a little, letting me know that she remembered the encounter in the hallway before school had started.

  I looked back at Azura, who nodded, but otherwise said nothing. Was I supposed to be piecing something together, here? Were we done asking questions? Or maybe I wasn’t asking the right ones?

  “Danna,” Azura broke my dumbfounded train of thought, “was not very fond of be
ing weak – physically.”

  Charlotte began wringing her hands together like a nervous old woman. She looked at me in horror . . . really looked at me for the first time since she had been kicked out of the conversation. And she looked as though she might have the most silent, inward nervous breakdown.

  “It was all she really wanted,” Azura continued, as if her friend and co-worker were not feeling mentally ill in the chair right next to her. “And Claire,” she smiled when she said her name—an expression I rarely pictured on her firm face, and her features were illuminated for a fraction of a second. “Well, Claire is just lovely.”

  “I agree.”

  “She would never want for anything, even though before I met her, she literally had nothing. Her husband worked very hard, and still does, but made barely enough to keep the lights on, let alone a fridge full of food or— ”

  “Or clothes for her kids,” I interjected. She smiled again.

  “Precisely.”

  I turned to look at Charlotte, who had now taken to rubbing the back of one thumb with the other, both of which were trembling slightly. It looked like she was working on claming herself down.

  “So I simply enhanced what she came by naturally. An inner beauty, if you will, that simply shines through to the outside now. And if you will notice, it often helps meet her needs, being such a lovely person inside and out.”

  “Like the success of her garage sale.”

  “Yes, like that.”

  “But,” the sheer ridiculousness of this conversation was about to overtake me. “You enhanced— ?”

  “And our dear friend Charlotte,” she put her hand firmly on Charlotte’s wrist, which made her jump. “One of Charlotte’s most endearing natural qualities is her compassion.” Azura rubbed her arm, and patted it intermittently. It seemed like an irritating, acerbic sort of touch. “And her knack for thinking she can protect people. That she can save them from feeling things that are necessary.”

  She turned to look Charlotte in the eyes. “Or from making decisions that are theirs to make.”

  “What decision is this that I’m supposed to be making for myself?” I demanded. I was suddenly tired of playing games. “And why is she shaking?” Charlotte’s hands were growing more spastic, despite Azura’s firm grasp on her arm.

  “You are to decide whether or not you want to be involved.”

  “In what?”

  “In the situation at hand.” She released Charlotte’s forearm. “And she is upset because this isn’t how she wanted you to find out about our little community.” She checked her phone quickly. “However, there is simply no more time for pleasantries— Charlotte, do it now. Or I will.”

  I was rapidly becoming more horrified. The past hour of confrontation made me think of sorority initiations and horrible pranks. What kind of community? And what kind of choice?

  “Erin,” my dearest friend sighed. “You know I love you.” She looked at Azura. “And I want what’s best for you.” Then her eyes met mine again. “And what’s best for your family. For Vy, and John.”

  I didn’t say anything. It would be silly to respond to the obvious, I knew she cared about us. But why was she caring so much, right now?

  “Azura is capable of . . .” she looked as though she was about to cry, but also as if I wouldn’t believe her. “. . . she can give you your own set of ‘special abilities’.”

  I was sure I looked confused, what other expression could I possibly have? Charlotte looked exhausted. And Azura looked positively impatient – checking her watch every few seconds now.

  “Erin, honey. Do you understand?”

  “Not really,” admitted. I didn’t laugh, though, like I probably should have done. They were both staring at me so very seriously. Azura checked her watch again, and leaned onto the table.

  “There is a war coming, Erin. To our small society of friends. And I need to know if you are to be a part of it . . . if you will fight with us.” She spoke quickly, and a little too quietly, considering it was just the three of us at the kitchen table.

  “Alright ladies.” I stood forcefully, nearly knocking my chair over backwards. “I’m thoroughly confused, still frustrated with all the secrecy—you’re both being so cryptic, and now I’m hungry.”

  I turned around and stomped across the small kitchen, trying once again to take hold of the anger I was feeling. My sudden departure from the table and little stomping fit left them both taken aback.

  Unable to focus on anything in particular besides being hungry and frustrated, I snatched a Pop-Tart package from the cabinet and ripped it open. Then I leaned back on the counter facing the table.

  “So what you’re saying,” I crammed half the Pop-Tart in my mouth, “is that you two are in some kind of trouble. And you want me to help. Well—you do,” I mused, pointing dramatically toward Azura. “And you,” Charlotte only blinked when I waved my hand at her, “know that I’m a weeny and would be no good in a fight, so you want me to stay out of it. Is that right?”

  Charlotte started to speak, but I closed my eyes and waved my half of a Pop-Tart through the air to cut her short.

  “Even though,” I added loudly, “I still have no idea what’s really the issue here. And you,” I now realized that I was mimicking Charlotte’s body language from the big argument I witnessed earlier this morning. I thrust one finger toward Azura, who seemed to be enjoying herself, though she was clearly growing more impatient. “You are going to give me some special power that I can use to save your butts. To help you, and all the people who have been giving me the cold shoulder all year long?!”

  “Don’t be dramatic, Erin,” Azura chimed. “It’s not like we couldn’t do this without you. But of course our chances are greater with greater numbers.” The woman sounded like a war general, giving simple statistics in the middle of my kitchen.

  “Okay, so . . . say I believe that you are capable of bestowing on me some supernatural ability,” I was really hamming it up now. “What would it be? Do I get to pick it? By the way,” I added, “this is ridiculous.”

  “It’s only ridiculous because we’re throwing it at you like this.” It was Charlotte’s voice now, trying to maintain reason, as usual. Trying to help me understand. “It usually goes much more smoothly, and is easier to digest.”

  “Mm-hmm.” I highly doubted that.

  “I am capable, and no, you don’t get to choose. I chose for you.”

  “—Chose?” My eyes bugged out involuntarily.

  “Yes. Chose. Please try to calm down and pay attention. I visited your home earlier in the year. You were returning from Claire’s house, I believe. I tested you then.”

  I drew my eyebrows together, trying to recall actually talking about anything that day. I only remembered her leaving sooner than I had expected her to.

  “You wouldn’t remember,” she added, rolling her eyes slightly, as if this fact should have been obvious.

  “What, did you erase my memory?” I was being overly sarcastic, of course, and shoved the other half of my Pop-Tart in my mouth.

  “Yes.”

  As if on cue, Azura’s phone rang in her pocket. It vibrated, actually, and only once. How I heard it, I had no idea. She rose from her seat in one swift move.