Interesting.
“Look, Mason,” I said, “I just don’t think this is a good time—or a good situation—for us to be getting together.”
He frowned down at his hands, resting on the steering wheel.
“So you’re choosing Josh?”
I shook my head. “You two are such . . . such guys! You act like you’re my only two choices in the world. You both need to get over yourselves. I don’t belong to either one of you.”
And I’m not about to let either of you convince me to have your love child, dude.
I didn’t say that last part out loud. Just in case you were wondering.
And Mason didn’t try to kiss me again, either.
* * * *
The next morning the bell to end first period rang early. Don’t get me wrong; I was perfectly happy to get out of geometry class early. I was just confused. Everyone else seemed to understand what was going on, though, so I moved with the crowd to my next class.
“What’s with the time shift?” I asked Ally as we walked into English.
“Pep rally this afternoon,” she said.
“So we’re getting out early?”
She did that one-eyebrow thing. “Not really. We all go to the gym at the end of the day.”
“For the pep rally?”
“Yes.”
I stopped walking toward my desk and stood in the middle of the aisle. “As in a mandatory pep rally?”
“Yes.” She sat down.
“You people have mandated pep.”
“Yes, Laney. Pep rally. Mandatory. As in you have to go. You’d probably get grounded again if you didn’t. Now sit down.”
I sank into my seat, shaking my head. “That’s just weird,” I said.
“So you didn’t have pep rallies at your school in Atlanta?” she asked.
“We had metal detectors at my high school. We had drug dogs. But no pep rallies. Not mandatory, anyway,” I said. “I think there were some in the parking lot before football games, but I might be wrong. Those might have been keggers. In any case, I didn’t go to those, either. I’m not really a footbally kind of person.”
“So you’ve never even been to a pep rally?”
“No. Never even considered it.”
Josh slid into his seat. I could tell he wanted to ask what we were talking about, but he wasn’t sure he was speaking to me yet.
If he’d talked to me, I could have explained everything.
Jerk.
At lunch, I discovered Natalie dressed in a way short skirt and matching shirt in the school colors. Carrying pom-poms.
“You’re a cheerleader?” I asked, stunned.
She laughed. “No. Drill team.” She went on to tell me, in excruciating detail, about the routine they were doing that night at the game.
“You’re going to love it!” she said. Then she stopped, took a breath, and said, “Oh! I forgot! You’re grounded. I’m so sorry. You really would love it if you saw it, though.”
“We’ll all love it,” Scott promised her. She smiled beatifically at him.
Sarah stared down at the table.
“What’s up with her?” I asked Andrew quietly.
“Her old boyfriend Quentin used to be on the football team,” he said quietly. “But he moved away last year. I don’t think he’s been in touch with her much. She’s pretty bummed about it, I think.”
I wondered if having ethereal wings helped out on the football field.
Mason would know.
Not that I could ask him, of course.
We didn’t go sell ads for yearbook that day, either. When we got to class to check in with Mr. Carlson, he was handing out pep rally assignments.
“Gina, you interview the football players while they’re lining up outside the gym. See if you can get some good quotes about how they feel about their first game. Kayla, you take the cheerleaders and drill team. Cynthia, you and Greg get digital shots. Laney, use the thirty-five to practice your black-and-white photos. Try to get some action shots.”
I nodded and headed to the darkroom to get film. When I came back out, Mason was sitting on top of a desk, waiting for me.
“Hey, Laney,” he said quietly.
“You people sure take your football seriously around here,” I said. “What’s it like around here during baseball season?”
He looked confused. “Baseball season?”
I groaned. “Figures. The one sport I’m interested in, and you act like you don’t even know what it is.”
He laughed. “I know what it is, Harris. I just don’t think about it until practice starts.”
“So you’re on the baseball team, too?”
“The school’s not that big. We all pretty much do a little bit of everything.”
Including fly around on your big wings when no one’s looking.
Ah. More stuff I couldn’t say aloud.
And the pep rally? Weird. I suppose for people who have been to those sorts of things, it was all perfectly normal. But here’s the deal: the entire school body got onto bleachers in the gym, and clapped and cheered while the football players strutted out onto the floor. Then they sat down on chairs while a bunch of girls danced in front of them—first the drill team, then the cheerleaders. Then the principal of the school gave a speech about what big things he expected from the team that year.
Actually, I suspect it was just like every other football pep rally in every other small town in Texas—or any other part of the country.
But as I moved around the edge of the gym floor, snapping pictures of the participants and the crowd, I kept finding myself wondering how many people in the room weren’t humans at all.
I started taking pictures of everyone I even suspected might have wings.
At one point, I took a shot of all the teachers lined up against one wall. When I looked through the viewfinder, Roger Bartlef was watching me speculatively. The tall, thin woman who had been in the rock house the other night stood next to him. When I took the picture, she leaned over and whispered in his ear, then stared at me. Her bulging eyes protruded from a long, horse-like face, and her stare made me shudder.
I left the floor and made my way up to Sarah and Ally in the bleachers.
“Who is that woman?” I asked, pointing.
“Which one?” Ally almost had to yell to be heard over the music.
“The one next to Bartlef.”
“Oh! That’s Miss Biet. Senior English teacher.”
Okay. So that made two faculty members who were creepy demons in real life. If I hadn’t been so distracted by all the other weirdness in my life, I might have actually bothered to find out who she was earlier. Not that it made any difference, really—I was beginning to think of the entire Fairy High School faculty as demonic. Even more demonic than most high school teachers, which is really scary when you stop to think about it.
When the pep rally was over, I tracked Kayla down to take me home.
She was as gracious as ever.
John ordered pizza that night and we ate it in strained silence. Kayla didn’t look at me even once. I didn’t look at John. Just a happy family dinner.
After that ordeal was over, John moved into the living room to watch television and Kayla left for the football game. “Bye, Daddy!” she said as she danced out the door. “Bye, Laney!”
I ignored her, went straight back to my room and pulled out my laptop. I had emails from several friends in Atlanta. I opened and read them—they all contained cheerful bits of news from my old life, and I didn’t know how to answer them. I mean, really, what could I say? Dear Leah, I am being alternately seduced and ignored by demons here in Fairy, Texas. Please send help. Love, Laney. Yeah, right.
I started to close the browser down when a message popped up from an email address I didn’t recognize. I opened it and read the short message inside: “Rescue is on the way. Be ready to escape at midnight. –Ally.”
I had to laugh even as I shook my head in wonder. Way too much went
on at midnight around here. Plus, clearly someone was reading my mind. All I had to do was think about sending an email asking for help, and Ally answered my request. Maybe she had some creepy powers, too.
I considered the email invitation.
Mom had told me to follow John’s rules. John had told me I couldn’t do anything other than go to school and come home.
John’s rules were totally unfair.
And if she knew the whole truth, Mom would clearly agree with me.
Okay, okay, so I was stretching it a bit. If Mom knew the whole truth, she’d either drop-kick me into Counseling for Crazy Kids or, if she actually believed me, snatch me up and go running back to Atlanta with me.
But she wasn’t here. And she didn’t have all the information.
And I really, really didn’t believe I should have been grounded. And it was more important for me to save myself from becoming the demon version of the Virgin Mary—would that be “Virgin Laney”? I wondered with a giggle—than it was to stick to rules that John set up.
Justifications firmly in place, I turned off my lamp, leaned back against my pillow, and waited for midnight.
I was awakened hours later by a scratching at my window. I peered out and saw several vague shapes hunkered down by the wall of the house.
This was a terrible idea.
But right then, I didn’t care.
I slipped the window open and pulled the screen off. Once outside, I pulled the window almost completely shut.
Ally, Sarah, and Andrew were waiting for me outside. We moved quickly and quietly down the road away from the house. Once we were out of earshot, I said, “So? What are you all doing here?”
“Game’s over,” Andrew whispered. “Time to party.”
He had beer on his breath. Great.
“Is there a designated driver here, or is that why y’all came to get me?” I asked.
“I’m not drinking,” Sarah said. She looked at me significantly. Unfortunately, the significance was lost on me, so I just moved on.
“Party where?” I asked.
“Josh Bevington’s dad is out of town, so he’s having a party at his place.” Ally smirked at me.
“Like, here on the ranch?”
“Exactly,” said Andrew. “So you’re not really breaking the rules. It’s hardly like leaving home at all.”
“Oh, I bet John would disagree,” I said. “And Kayla’s bound to tell him.”
“The beauty of this party,” said Ally, “is that Kayla is not invited. She doesn’t even know about it.”
I looked at her skeptically. “In this town? Please. Everyone knows everything.” Well, almost everything, anyway.
Ally shrugged. “Your call, Laney. We’re going.” She headed down the road toward the ranch hands’ houses.
This might be my best chance to actually talk to Josh again, I thought. I weighed out the pros and cons of that—or at least, tried to. If I were totally honest with myself, I’d have to admit that the best thing that could possibly happen would be if Mason and Josh both stopped speaking to me. Then I could go about my life as if I didn’t know the first thing about fairy-demons.
But apparently I didn’t actually want the best thing for me.
I sighed and fell into step with my other norm friends.
Looked like I was going to a party.
Chapter Eleven
The Fairy High football team had won their game, and everybody was celebrating.
Oh, and they weren’t the Fightin’ Fairies, after all. They were the Hawks. Apparently they used to be the Tomahawks, but that got changed in the ’90s because of racist overtones. The Fairy Hawks.
Lovely.
I was amazed at how many kids had shoved into Josh’s dad’s tiny house—and even more amazed that they had all managed to get down to the ranch hands’ houses without anyone up at the main house hearing them. For that matter, I was more than a little surprised that the other ranch hands hadn’t complained. When I walked in, a version of “Kung Fu Fighting” was playing at top volume and teenage boys were jumping around hand-chopping at each other in the middle of the living room. Andrew joined in with a loud whoop.
“Great party,” I said to Ally in my driest tone. “I can’t wait for my turn to jump over the couch.” The sarcasm might have been muted by my need to talk at top volume, though.
She grinned at me and tugged me toward the kitchen. Sarah followed us, quiet as usual.
“Did you and Josh plan this together?” I asked, remembering the way they had been whispering in class the other day.
“Maybe.”
“Laney!” I heard someone say my name loudly. And perhaps drunkenly. “Laney Harris! I can’t believe you’re here.”
Mason staggered over and draped his arm around my shoulder. “Did you hear? We won. We kicked their asses.” His breath in my face was sharp with alcohol fumes. Apparently demons can get drunk, too. Who knew?
I removed his arm and placed it gently back at his side. “I heard. Congratulations.”
“Want a drink?”
“No, thanks,” I said. “I think I’ll sit this one out.” I had demons hoping to impregnate me. The last thing I was going to do was have a drink with any of them. I needed to keep my wits about me.
“Where’s Josh?” I asked.
Mason looked around blearily. “I don’t know. Somewhere. Maybe outside? But hey. Hey. You don’t want to see him. Stay here. With me.” Again he tried to wrap his arm around me, and again I disentangled myself.
“Thanks, but no,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later.” I stepped to the kitchen door and pushed it open, grateful for the fresh air.
“Wow,” Sarah said as she followed me outside. “He’s really into you.”
I shook my head. “You know what? I don’t think he is. Not really.”
“Seems interested enough.”
“I don’t think his heart’s in it.”
“Hey, Laney.” Josh spoke into my ear. I jumped.
“God, you’re sneaky!” I said.
“Maybe you’re just not very observant.” He stepped out of the shadow of the house.
I glared at him.
“I think that’s my cue to leave,” Sarah said.
“No,” I said. “Stay. Please.”
She shook her head and stepped back inside. “See you later,” she called.
“Mason catch you in the house?” Josh asked.
“Briefly,” I said. “Man, he’s soused. Didn’t know that could happen with . . .” I glanced around, but none of the kids in the back yard seemed to be listening to us. Still, I dropped my voice. “With you People,” I finished.
Josh laughed. “It’s not that easy,” he admitted. “Mason must have gone through a lot of hooch if he’s wasted.”
“Hooch?” I asked, amused.
Josh grinned. “Yeah. You know. The hard stuff.”
I leaned back. “So are we okay?” I asked seriously.
The grin faded from his face and he looked away. “I guess so,” he said.
“That’s not really fair, you know,” I said. “You’re the one who warned me that he’d use a glamour on me.”
Now Josh was the one looking around to make sure no one was listening. “That was so you could actually avoid it,” he muttered. “Not just notice it while you sucked face.”
“I couldn’t totally avoid it,” I said. He looked away from me again. I reached up and placed my fingertips on his chin, gently forcing him to turn toward me again. “But I could resist it. And I did. Thanks to you.”
“Really?” he asked.
I smiled. “Really. All I kept thinking was ‘This is just a glamour.’”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t see any reason to tell him how Mason’s kiss had affected me. “So,” I said, changing the subject to something more neutral. “Did you go to the game tonight?”
He nodded. “Pretty much everyone did. Except you, of course.”
“Except me.” I si
ghed. “Everyone seems to be pleased about the game.”
“Oh, yeah. We stomped the Yellow Jackets, and they’ve been state champs several times.” He shrugged. “The team’s totally worked up.”
“Thus the drunken revelry.”
“Indeed.” He started to say something else, but just then his attention was caught by something in the corner of the yard. He stared intently at what looked to me like an empty patch of grass. “Wait here,” he said distractedly. He stalked slowly toward the empty space, scanning around him as he went.
I felt a frown furrowing my brow as I watched him. What was he doing? I was so intent on following his progress that I didn’t initially react when I felt an arm snake around my waist from behind. I guess I thought it was Mason, and I half-turned to tell him to quit it when a second hand clamped down over my mouth.
“Be very quiet,” a voice whispered in my ear, and it wasn’t alcoholic fumes I smelled this time. It was the rotten smell I’d come to associate with Bartlef. I stilled, trying to remember what Josh had told me about how to deal with demons.
Not much, I realized. Just how to recognize a glamour. And that things that would kill a human would generally kill one of his people.
I didn’t have the first idea of how to kill someone. Especially not when that someone had me firmly in his grasp.
I rolled my eyes back in my head and caught a glimpse of his profile.
It wasn’t Bartlef.
It was a guy about my age, but it wasn’t anyone I recognized from school. This guy was a complete stranger.
At that moment, I saw the air shimmer around me and felt a wrenching in my gut, as the demon holding me moved us into the ethereal plane and took off all at the same time, enormous wings making a huge rushing noise and stirring the hot Texas night air. By the time I thought to struggle, we were so far in the air that I was afraid of falling. Instead, I clutched the arm around my waist, holding on as tightly as I could.
As I watched the figures below me grow smaller and smaller as we flew higher, I realized something awful.
No one had even noticed that I had disappeared.
* * * *
I started shaking when I realized that there was a good chance no one would have a clue where I was.
Fairy, Texas Page 9
