Dead Is So Last Year

by Marlene Perez

  I gasped. I hoped I hadn't made him mad, talking about him behind his back. Who knew what an angry doppelganger was capable of? But DoppelDad just looked more hurt than anything. He turned and ran off, slamming the front door behind him.

  Problem solved?

  I called Chief Mendez and spilled the whole story, anyway, but DoppelDad was nowhere to be found by the time he got to the house. I kicked myself for not calling him earlier. Now that stranger who looked like my dad was on the loose in Nightshade doing who knows what.

  I paced around the house all day, waiting for my sisters to get home from work so I wouldn't feel so vulnerable. Poppy got home first. When our big sister finally made it home from the lab, it was late.

  "What took you so long?" Poppy said. She was sprawled out on the couch, cell phone still in hand. She'd spent the evening texting her friend Candy, but when Rose finally showed up, she clicked off the phone. "Daisy and I have been waiting forever."

  I took a closer look at Rose's face. It was drawn and pale.

  "Poppy, shut up for a second, will you? Can't you see something's wrong?"

  Rose drew a shaky breath.

  "Rose, sit down. What happened?"

  She took a seat on the couch next to Poppy. "Dr. Franken fired me today."

  Poppy's jaw dropped.

  I had a similar reaction, but also knew Rose was badly shaken up. "I'll make you some tea and then you can tell us all about it."

  After making Rose's favorite tea, I added some biscotti to the tray and hurried back into the living room.

  Rose had had a shock. A little sugar would be good for her. She'd never been fired from anything before. She was a perfect student and employee.

  I handed Rose her cup, then set the tray down on the ottoman between us.

  Poppy snagged a biscotti and munched down happily. I smacked her hand. "Those are for Rose."

  "There are plenty," she responded, and then stuck out her tongue at me. It was good to see a little of the old Poppy, even if it meant putting up with a little attitude.

  "Do you know why she fired you?" I asked.

  "That's the horrible part," Rose said. "I don't, not really. Dr. Franken was sweet as pie at first. And she's so brilliant that I didn't even mind all those frivolous errands she sent me on sometimes."

  "What changed?"

  "I don't know," Rose replied. "She asked about Dad a few weeks ago, and I didn't think anything of it. But then he stopped by the lab today. He looked upset."

  "That must have been after he heard me on the phone." I groaned.

  "They went into the back room of the lab together for a few minutes," Rose continued.

  "Did you follow them?" Poppy asked.

  Rose shook her head. "No, I'm not allowed in that part of the lab. But I heard them talking. He mentioned my name."

  I wondered why that part of the lab was off-limits, but I let my sister continue her story.

  "When Dr. Franken came out, I told her that the person she was talking to wasn't Rafe Giordano, that he was an impostor," Rose said. "I was just trying to help, but Dr. Franken went berserk. She called me a liar. She said she didn't want me working in her lab anymore."

  "Dr. Franken is a friend of Dad's," Poppy said. "It makes sense that she would defend him."

  "Not really," I said. I went on to tell my sisters what Mr. Devereaux had told me about Dad's relationship with Dr. Franken.

  "Well, she sure seemed offended by my calling him a fake," Rose said. "I felt like they were conspiring against me. On my way out of the lab, DoppelDad peeked out from the back and smirked at me. Like he wanted me to be fired."

  "Doppelgangers do create chaos," I reminded Rose.

  "They sure do," she said, looking crestfallen.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The next day, Rose was still bummed out about losing her job, so Poppy convinced her that a little retail therapy would make her feel better. We were driving to the mall when we saw the smoke coming from the direction of Mrs. Mason's.

  "Call 9-1-1," Rose said calmly.

  Poppy had her cell phone at the ready, as usual, and punched in the number.

  Rose pulled the car over and parked far away from the flames, which seemed to be coming from the greenhouse in the back. As we got out of the car, a soot-covered figure dashed from the rear of the house.

  He approached us, out of breath. "Call the fire department," he wheezed. I'd know that voice anywhere. It was Slim.

  "Already done."

  He was covered in soot, so I could almost make out what he'd look like if he weren't invisible. He was tall and thin, with sharp cheekbones and a narrow jaw. I was thankful to see that he was clothed in baggy trousers and a shirt. He smelled like burnt sugar.

  "What happened?" I cried. "Where's Natalie and her grandmother?"

  "Natalie's not home," he said, panting.

  "Mrs. Mason!" Poppy cried. "We've got to try to save her."

  "It's too late," Slim said. He took a long gulp of air. "She was already dead when I found her."

  I gasped. "Was it arson?"

  He shook his head. "Accident. There was an explosion."

  I wanted to ask for more details, but the Nightshade Volunteer Fire Department arrived and set to work. One of the firefighters said it was too late for the greenhouse, but they'd try to save the main house.

  The fire crept closer, so we retreated to a safer distance, where we were standing when Chief Mendez arrived. To my surprise, Mr. Bone was with him.

  "What happened?" Mr. Bone said to Slim.

  Slim didn't say anything, but his glance at us spoke volumes.

  "Does this have anything to do with the doppelgangers?" I asked Slim. "Flo told me you were doing undercover work."

  "Way to blow my cover, sis," he said sarcastically.

  Mr. Bone chuckled. "The Giordanos already know most of the council's business. And what they don't already know, they do a pretty good job guessing."

  Slim nodded. He cleared his throat. "The council's suspicions were correct. Mrs. Mason was making the doppelgangers, using witchcraft."

  Poppy looked incredulous. "One little old lady caused all this madness?"

  Chief Mendez looked thoughtful. "We think Mrs. Mason had help. Did you ever see her with anyone unusual?"

  I recalled the time we saw Natalie's grandma arguing with Dr. Franken. But then again, Mrs. Mason argued with everybody.

  "We saw Mrs. Mason at the college," Poppy said.

  "She volunteers at the campus arboretum," Rose replied.

  "Any idea why she was at the lab when we stopped by?" I asked.

  Rose gave me a sharp glance. "No idea."

  "Or why she was arguing with Dr. Franken?"

  "Dr. Franken didn't have anything to do with Mrs. Mason's death," Rose insisted. "Slim said it was an accident."

  "I said it was an explosion," he said. "From what I could see in the short time I was in the greenhouse, it was an accident."

  "How did you find her?" I asked.

  "My ... unusual circumstances allow me to move about undetected," Slim replied. "I was observing Mrs. Mason in the greenhouse when the explosion occurred."

  "How did it happen?" Poppy asked.

  Mr. Bone said, "It most assuredly happened while Mrs. Mason was practicing magic. The spell to create doppelgangers takes a lot of energy and is quite volatile."

  Slim explained, "The spell got away from her. The whole room took on a green glow. It let out a tremendous amount of heat and then I heard a popping noise as the glass in the greenhouse shattered."

  "Then what happened?" Poppy prompted.

  "Everything went black. When I woke up, I was on the ground and there was fire all around me. I saw a little bit of pink. It was Mrs. Mason's jogging suit. I tried to get her out of there, but she was pinned under a potting table. Just her sneakers were peeking out."

  "Why would she create doppelgangers to create havoc in Nightshade?" I asked. "Especially since she was part of the council."

/>   "That's a good question," Chief Mendez said. "She'd become bitter in the last few years, since her son, Natalie's father, was killed. She blamed the council for his death, but I never thought she would actually turn against us."

  "Do you think this will be the end of it?" I asked. "What will happen to all the doppelgangers?"

  "I don't know," Slim said."But I don't think Mrs. Mason was working alone."

  "You don't think it was Natalie?" I was horrified by the thought.

  "There's no way," he said. "I'm absolutely sure that it's not Natalie. Her grandmother wouldn't let her near the greenhouse. Besides, Natalie's a good person."

  "Speaking of Natalie," Chief Mendez said, "I'd better find her. Someone needs to tell her about her grandmother's death."

  "I'll go with you," Slim said. "She can stay with me for a few days."

  He and Chief Mendez left. I stood staring after them, thinking about what had just happened.

  I agreed with Slim. It couldn't be Natalie, but, then, who was it? "Maybe now we'll find out who else is out to get the Nightshade City Council," I said. But I wasn't sure we really would. I had a dreadful feeling that, this time, the bad guy had outsmarted all of us.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Mrs. Mason's funeral was held early in the morning a few days later. Slim asked my sisters and me to attend. Grandma came with us, but there was no sign of our father figure. Word of Mrs. Mason's involvement in the doppelganger scare had spread and the paranormal community avoided her burial.

  The service was held at Mort's, of course, but besides my family, and Nicholas and his dad, who kind of had to be there, only Ryan and his dad showed.

  "Daisy, thanks so much for coming," Natalie said. She gave me a hug. It looked like she'd been crying for days.

  Natalie was surprisingly composed during the service, but when it was time to leave, she broke down and Slim led her away.

  "What will she do now?" I asked Chief Mendez.

  "Slim will take care of her," he said. "Natalie didn't do anything wrong."

  "But that hasn't stopped the paranormal community from avoiding her," I said. "Bad or good, Natalie loved her grandmother." It wasn't fair.

  Ryan put his arm around me." We won't avoid her."

  I smiled and leaned in to him. "You're the best."

  Ryan came over afterward and we made a cake to take over to Slim's later. It was the only thing I could think of to show Natalie that we wouldn't abandon her.

  It took a tragedy to make it happen, but things were back to normal with me and Ryan. He forgave me for lying about DoppelDad. After all, all bets were off when it came to family. Ryan even admitted to me that he would have probably done the same thing if his mom—or a doppelganger of her—showed up at his house.

  I was surprised when DoppelDad showed up at our house again late that afternoon, after Ryan had left for football practice. DoppelDad had to knock this time, since we had the locks changed. I didn't know where he'd been, but there were rumors of him being spotted with various gorgeous young women (although, thankfully, not Natalie) all over town.

  "Hi," I said cautiously.

  "I heard you're going through some tough times," he said. "I thought we might spend some time together."

  I toyed with the idea of slamming the door in his face after what he'd done to Rose, or of calling Chief Mendez, but the desperation in his voice tugged at my heartstrings. He was dressed as my father might have been on a Saturday afternoon: khaki shorts, a faded T-shirt, and a UC Nightshade hooded sweatshirt. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that I wasn't really looking at my own father.

  "Want to walk to the beach?" I asked, figuring it would be safer to talk to him in public.

  "Sure," he said.

  It was a long walk, but the idea was to get him to talk. And besides, Poppy was working at the Snack Shack, so she'd be there for reinforcement, if needed.

  We walked in silence, but finally my curiosity got the better of me. "Where have you been lately?"

  "With a friend," he replied.

  Not exactly forthcoming.

  We finally reached the beach. It was the middle of summer and we'd have an audience. Half of Nightshade, the non-nocturnal half, was at the beach.

  It didn't seem to bother DoppelDad, though. He smiled pleasantly at everyone who greeted him by my father's name.

  The whispers and stares didn't seem to bother him, but they were definitely getting to me.

  "I'll get us something from the snack bar," I offered. "What would you like?"

  He clapped his hands like a little kid. "Do they have cotton candy?"

  "I'm sure they do. Wait here. I'll be right back."

  He settled on a bench with a clear view of the water while I went to get the snacks.

  The Snack Shack was busy and Poppy couldn't really talk. So I made it quick.

  "DoppelDad's here," I said.

  "Has he said anything about where he's been?"

  "Not really. He wants cotton candy."

  "Hmm. That's what Mrs. Wilder's doppelganger gobbled down," Poppy said.

  "I know, spooky, huh?"

  "I dunno," she said. "Everyone likes cotton candy in the summer. We've been selling tons of it. It can't all be to doppelgangers." She handed me the sticky treat. "Anything else?"

  "A chocolate-dipped cone?"

  I handed her my money, and she said, "Daisy?"

  "Yes?"

  "Can you guys hang until I can take a break? Just so I can say hi?"

  The note of yearning made me ashamed of myself about suspecting him. For Poppy's sake, I hoped he was our dad. So our dad wasn't perfect. I tried not to let it bother me that our real dad might be a player. That didn't mean he didn't love us. Did it?

  Besides, people changed and he'd been held captive all those years. No wonder he wanted to kick up his heels a little. That didn't mean he was cheating on Mom.

  "Of course! We'll hang out until your break."

  As I walked back, I heard Samantha calling my name. She waved at me from a bright pink beach towel, so I cut through the sand to go say hi.

  I was halfway there when I noticed that she was accompanied by Sean and several of his new and obnoxious buddies from the football team.

  "Daisy, want to join us?"

  "Uh, no, thanks. I'm with someone." I took a lick of my chocolate cone.

  Wolfgang snorted gleefully and I turned and glared at him.

  My ire didn't seem to faze Wolfie at all. "Trolling for dates?" he asked.

  I glared at him.

  Sean nudged him and said, "Let's go throw the ball. See ya, Daisy."

  He wouldn't meet my eyes and I could understand why. I wouldn't want to be seen with Wolfgang Paxton, either, especially not after the way he acted at the movies.

  I wondered if Ryan knew that Sean was still hanging out with Wolfie.

  After they left, I turned to Samantha." I can't stand not knowing for sure if that guy is my father."

  I pointed to where he stood ogling Mrs. Justus, who was smokin' hot and almost age appropriate.

  "Just hang in there until you guys figure out what's going on," she said. "Have you talked to the council?"

  "Not officially," I said. "But Rose has been updating Nicholas and his father."

  "Why haven't the council acted?" she asked.

  " There's not much else they can do. They know that Mrs. Mason was the one who created the doubles, but they think she had help. There's someone following the doppelgangers around in the hopes that it'll eventually lead to whoever was helping her."

  We were silent for a minute. We watched as Wolfgang purposefully tripped one of his cronies and rubbed sand in his face.

  "Why is Sean hanging out with that guy? He's a creep."

  "He's okay," she said. "A little aggressive, maybe."

  "A little?" I said incredulously. "He's a menace."

  As if to prove my point, Wolfgang threw the football right at a couple of little harpy kids. If you looked really closely, yo
u could see the nubs of their baby wings. The youngest started to cry, and her older brother, who was barely old enough to toddle, extended his claws and glared at Wolfie, who just laughed.

  "Why is he such a jerk?" I asked.

  Samantha avoided my eyes. "I don't know," she said. "Sean's my boyfriend, but it's not like I can tell him who to be friends with."

  "I know," I said, "but Wolfgang is so obnoxious. Just look at him. Next he'll be kicking sand in the faces of little old ladies."

  Sam sighed." I don't know what to do," she admitted." Sean won't listen to me. He's been really moody lately and hardly has any time for me."

  I was surprised by this. Samantha was gorgeous, one of the most popular girls in school, and she had Sean wrapped around her little finger.

  "Give him some time," I advised. "But try to get him to spend less time with Wolfie. Maybe you and Sean and Ryan and I can go out again soon? We haven't done that in ages."

  "I'd like that," she said.

  "I've got to get back," I said, nodding toward where he still sat on the bench.

  I wandered back over and handed DoppelDad an enormous mound of cotton candy. I expected him to gulp it down, but instead, he tore off a strip and offered it to me.

  "No thanks."

  He shrugged and popped it into his mouth."Were those your friends?"

  I shrugged. "Some of them. Would you like something else?" I asked. "Poppy works at the Snack Shack, over there." I pointed to the stand.

  Poppy saw us and took off her apron before heading our way. "I'm taking a break," she called to her coworkers before she left the shack.

  I wandered a little, to give her some time alone with DoppelDad. When I came back, they were sitting at a picnic table and DoppelDad had a cup of soft serve ice cream in front of him.

  Poppy bounded over to meet me. "It is him, I'm sure of it," she crowed. "It's Dad."

  "But Poppy, we talked about this—"

  "But he was being so nice just now," she said. "Just like Dad used to be. He even said he'd talk to Dr. Franken about getting Rose her job back."

  "If he was our real dad, he never would have gotten her fired in the first place," I snapped.

  Poppy was grasping at straws. "Well, how else would he have known about my hair?" she challenged.