The girls were leaving, so Dex waited until they were gone before heading out himself. He hadn’t the slightest idea what a “cleaning party” was, but what did a nobody like him know about Pop girls? Maybe they sat around brushing each other’s fur coats like monkeys picking nits. He had much more pressing concerns, anyway. School started tomorrow, but for the first time in Dexter’s life, the thought wasn’t crippling. Not at all. He might even enjoy it this year.
Dex celebrated his new attitude by taking himself to a third movie. Then he sauntered home, all the while whispering his funny Word like it was the name of his new best friend.
CHAPTER 20
the cleaning party
The moment Daphna opened her eyes Sunday morning, she remembered Wren’s party. Despite not having thought about it for even one second since getting the invitation, it came back, unbidden, and it immediately elbowed all other concerns out of her head.
She’d been invited to a Pop party! Yes, it was true she’d nearly choked Wren and Teal to death in the park for what they’d done to her, pretending to be her friends, lying to her about their summer plans, lying to her for two years—but she didn’t tell them they had to invite her to a party! The only explanation was that either they were really scared of her, or they actually were sorry, and either way they wanted to make it up to her. What was the difference really?
Daphna leapt out of bed, showered and then walked tentatively down to Dex’s room. Finding him gone was a relief because she didn’t have to explain what she was doing.
She grabbed some cash and then teleported to the Village’s beauty salon for a full treatment: she had her bob reshaped, a manicure, a pedicure, and even a massage. It took all morning.
Afterwards, Daphna teleported to every department store downtown and wound up buying ten outfits and a ton of accessories. She had no experience whatsoever shopping for stylish clothes, but the nicest saleswomen helped her with everything. Daphna had no idea they did that.
Unfortunately, the saleswomen didn’t live with her, so once home, Daphna couldn’t decide which was the best of the bunch. Consequently, she anguished over the options until early evening. Finally, she settled on black slacks, a white blouse with a patterned collar and a long sweater jacket.
Daphna was just confirming her decision in the mirror when she heard Dex come in the back door. Avoiding her brother seemed advisable just then, so she prepared to teleport outside.
“Daphna!” Dex called before she got the chance. “There’s another message from Latty!”
Daphna sighed and headed to the kitchen, girding herself to endure a taunting. But Dex didn’t look the least bit surprised by her appearance.
“She said they’re in Ankara, the capital of Turkey,” he explained. “Dad, Adem Tarik, he’s been spending all this time in banks setting up some kind of account and buying some property in Eastern Turkey, in the mountains, right where those caves are. And there’s been some small earthquakes in the region. They’ve been happening on and off for months. Latty knows we’re okay from your message, so she sounded happy even though she still has no idea what he’s doing. We should probably change the message after every time she calls.”
“Yeah,” Daphna said, “good idea.” This was disturbing news, but not enough for her to worry about just then. Far more disturbing was Dex’s silence about the fact that she was wearing lipstick.
Daphna suddenly felt ridiculous for having spent an entire day worrying about how she looked. But how else was she supposed to go to a Pop party? If Dexter would just laugh at her or something, it’d be much easier because she could storm off in a huff. For lack of anything else to say or do, she picked up the phone and recorded another out-going message. Then she put it down.
Still at a loss for what to say, Daphna said only, “Um—”
“Better get to that party,” Dex finally said. “Otherwise, what’s the point of learning the First Tongue?” He’d tried to sound sarcastic, but not overly so. But now he regretted saying anything at all. If Daphna would clear out, he’d have total freedom to experiment with his new Word.
“Dexter,” Daphna retorted, pleased he’d finally gotten it out, “if you think I made them invite me to this party, you’re wrong. I admit I scared Wren and Teal. I learned a Word from Emmet that chokes people. They totally deserved it. But I didn’t tell them they had to be my friends. And besides, I didn’t even know about this party until Wren caught us outside that restaurant. And Dex, Latty told us to go on with our normal lives as best we could.”
Actually, Latty had said that again on the message Dex just listened to, but he didn’t mention it. “Whatever, Daphna,” he said, “but I guess your normal life is over. They’re initiating you tonight.”
“They’re what?” Daphna was stunned. Dex told her then what he’d overheard in the ice-cream shop, and she couldn’t help flushing with embarrassment and excitement. Could it be true?
“I didn’t know they actually initiated people,” she said. “I mean, I know they have to start calling you a Pop and all, but—Wow.”
“And it’s a ‘cleaning party,’ whatever that’s supposed to mean. They said something about Wren’s sister and washing sheets. Oh and something about something being recalled. I don’t know. Maybe you guys will be dusting the mansion all night. Sounds like a blast.”
“That would be weird,” said Daphna. “Wren has two maids.”
“Whatever,” Dex said, “I’m just telling you what I heard. They said everyone will be talking about it all year.”
“Huh. Well—I guess I better go then.”
“Right. Have fun.”
Daphna walked out of the house, too anxious to wonder at her brother’s rather mild reaction to all of this. The party didn’t start for another half an hour, and Wren lived only a few minutes away, but she needed some time to prepare herself mentally. It was almost overwhelming to think she was going to become a Pop.
As she walked, Daphna wondered if she’d have to say anything in front of everyone. Would she have to answer questions, like Miss America? A vision of what her eighth grade year might be like came to her. Surely, she’d learn just how all the Pops manage to look and talk the way they do, the way they get boys to do their bidding and keep the non-Pop girls in their place, all without seeming to try. She could afford anything they could now!
Maybe being a Pop isn’t the greatest thing to aspire to in life, Daphna thought. But then again, she told herself, I’m going to be a Pop in one of my lives, so why not this one?
As splendid images of Popdom sashayed past her mind’s eye, all of Daphna’s troubles obediently backed away. Adem Tarik didn’t seem interested in them, anyway. Latty was keeping an eye on him, so why worry about it until they had to? Let him buy half of Turkey for all she cared. Maybe it was even possible, Daphna thought, that she wouldn’t have to use the First Tongue after being initiated.
Dizzied by the promise of her new life, Daphna continued walking with no particular direction around the Village. Eventually, she noticed the clock on top of the local wine shop. Somehow it had gotten to be just past seven.
After a deep breath and a check of her hair and clothes in the wine shop’s window, Daphna headed over to Wren’s street and began climbing the hill leading to her beautiful three-story brick and stone house. It was by far the largest and nicest home in Multnomah Village. Wren’s parents were divorced. Her dad lived in another state, and her mom was a semi-famous actress who was always overseas somewhere shooting movies in glamorous Mediterranean locales. That left Wren’s older sister in charge, and Wren’s older sister apparently didn’t take that job very seriously. As far as Daphna could tell, Wren could do pretty much whatever she wanted.
When she approached the house, Daphna could see that lots of girls were already there. They were sitting on the various stone sculptures in the front yard, sipping multi-colored drinks and watching fountains burble.
Daphna’s school had over five hundred girls, but only 21 of them wer
e official Pops. It looked like they were all there, actually. For a moment, the sight of them made Daphna stop short, horrified by the thought that every single one of them knew how she’d been used by Wren and Teal. But if that were true, why would they all be there? The initiation obviously wasn’t a secret if Dex heard some of them talking about it.
And if she’d scared Wren and Teal into this, she hadn’t scared them all. Those two were the most popular, but it wasn’t like they could just tell everyone else who was going to be a Pop. Everyone must have agreed.
This eased Daphna’s mind, but then she panicked about being late. Was that uncool since everyone was already there? Pops were always late for class, but this obviously wasn’t school. Daphna approached the glittering white picket fence that ran around Wren’s property, fearing the worst, but Wren and Teal jumped up and ran to greet her. They grabbed her by the elbows the second she stepped through the gate and led her to a little stone bench shaped like a unicorn.
“Daphna!” Teal sighed. She and Wren were both wearing pink baseball hats with little rhinestones all over them. Hats were their thing.
“Thank goodness you made it!” said Teal. “We were thinking of calling to remind you, but we didn’t have—”
“We didn’t have any doubt you’d remember,” Wren said. “But we were worried anyway ’cause we didn’t want to miss the chance to show you that we’re really sorry. We want to start fresh.”
“We’ve got a surprise for you.”
“For me? What is it?” Daphna asked, hoping to sound startled and pleased. Should she apologize for choking them? But they couldn’t really know she’d been the cause of it.
“Can’t tell you yet,” Teal answered with a conspiratorial smile. “We’re gonna watch a movie first.” She stood up and shouted, “Movie time!”
Everyone in the yard got up and headed inside straight away. Daphna joined the crowd with some trepidation, but her fears vanished when virtually every single girl said hi to her on the way in. Even Branwen said hi, and she was a notorious snob, even among the Pops themselves.
By the time everyone was seated in Wren’s gorgeous basement theater, Daphna was electric with anticipation. She wanted to hop up on the professional quality mini stage in the front of the room and dance for joy, but of course she sat down quietly with everyone else when the lights went off.
Someone pressed a button somewhere, and a screen slid down from above the back of the stage. When it stopped, someone behind Daphna said, “I’m just glad these seats are soft. My butt was starting to kill me out there.”
This struck Daphna as odd. She’d gotten there after seven, but not long after. Did the party actually start at six? She was pretty sure Wren said seven, but she didn’t have a memory for details like Dex. How long could they have been sitting out there?
The movie was coming on, so Daphna put the issue out of mind. It was a cheesy old black and white horror movie about a girl who gets infected by alien spore from a meteorite then goes on to infect everyone in her school, turning them into flesh eating zombies who infect everyone else in town. It was idiotic in the extreme, but maybe it was the Pops’ favorite movie. Maybe they liked it because it was so bad.
This explanation satisfied Daphna, and her excitement welled. In a matter of hours, she’d be a Pop! She felt as if she were standing in the brightest, most beautiful field of flowers looking up into a perfect blue sky of possibilities.
But as the movie went on, something began to gnaw at Daphna. A tiny black speck appeared in her perfect sky. She couldn’t immediately identify what was bothering her about this story, but it flustered her enough to get up to find a restroom so she could think clearly. It seemed like everyone looked at her as she made her way to the aisle, and with alarm.
When she whispered ‘bathroom’ someone pointed to a door in the back. She went through into a laundry nook with a marble-tiled half-bath. Daphna splashed cold water on her face, but it didn’t help. She decided to let it go and stepped back into the laundry nook—then stopped.
There, laying sideways on the laundry machine was a detergent, a brand that gave her pause. It had been in the news recently. Daphna wracked her memory. Yes! It had been recalled. Dex said something about that. It had been recalled because it caused a horrible rash. Daphna opened a cabinet next to the washer and saw dozens of boxes of the same product. They were all empty. Finally, she got it, and the now massive black shape in her sky revealed itself for what it was: a falling anvil—and it hit her in the head. Daphna understood everything.
She was being set up.
In less than an hour she’d built an entirely new life for herself, all based on an invitation to a party thrown by people who were hateful. Why was it so important to be among them? Daphna despised them. She admitted that now. She’d always despised them. It’s just that despising them seemed totally unrelated to her wish to join them.
Standing there with tears cascading down her face, Daphna figured how it all must have gotten planned. Wren and Teal, after getting over their fright at being choked in the park, probably laughed it off. Why would they think Daphna had what would have to be supernatural powers? The very idea would’ve seemed absurd. They probably decided it was some kind of fluke—allergies or asthma maybe. One of them probably said she was diseased and made the connection to their movie. Then the other no doubt said, Hey, wouldn’t it be the best if we—? And so, here they were, waiting for Daphna’s final humiliaiton.
Wait a minute, Daphna thought, here we are.
The tears dried up at once. It was no comfort now to think that with an endless number of lives, this humiliation would eventually happen to each and every girl sitting in the dark with her. If it has to happen to me, too, Daphna thought, it didn’t necessarily have to happen now. She was perfectly free to do whatever she could to make sure it didn’t.
Let the next Daphna get covered in rashes, she fumed. There was still plenty of time left in the film, so Daphna hurried back into the theater. She didn’t fail to notice the looks of relief on the faces she passed going back to her seat. She got right to work.
She whispered her new Word and willed the girl in front of her to go for a drink of soda. It took almost fifteen minutes, and the girl only got up and walked away for a moment before returning to her seat somewhat confused. It was a start, though. It took twenty minutes to get a girl in the front row to go to the restroom, but she went all the way in.
Daphna could tell the Word was weak, at least the way she was using it. For the duration of the movie, she worked on making girls scratch their heads or brush their shoulders, and with each attempt, it got a little bit easier.
By the time the lights came back on and the screen was raised, Daphna was reasonably sure she could handle whatever they had in store for her.
“Okay, everybody!” a voice boomed from speakers overhead. It was Teal. She and Wren had made their way up onto the little stage. They wereleaning over a microphone on a stand they’d pulled out from the wings, and they were positively glowing now in little black berets.
“We have a surprise for Daphna,” Teal announced.
We really do look alike, Daphna thought. And then, once again, despite everything, she’s the pretty version.
All atwitter now, everyone turned to look for the guest of honor. Daphna realized instantly that they all knew what was coming. The reason they’d gotten uncomfortable outside was that they’d all been there for some time before she came, planning, envisioning how hilarious it was going to be. Well, it was going to be hilarious all right. Daphna stood up, and everyone began clapping.
“Come on down!” Teal called out with the enthusiasm of a game show host. Daphna obliged, having noticed the way Teal’s eyes had flicked upward momentarily. She felt completely calm, almost numb, as she worked her way to the aisle in the center of the room. Things seemed to be moving in slow-motion as she approached the stage, but Daphna maintained her presence-of-mind.
Once on the steps, she flicked her ow
n eyes upward. The bucket was there—a trash can, actually. It was suspended from the rigging right above the microphone but behind the proscenium, so it wasn’t visible from the seats. A thin dark cord ran from the barrel back over the lights and then behind a curtain covering the back wall, where no doubt someone stood, hiding, waiting for the cue to yank it.
Wren and Teal reached for Daphna and maneuvered her between them.
“It’s not every year we initiate someone before school starts,” Teal announced, “but this year, we’d be crazy not to. I nominate Daphna Wax. Will anyone second?”
“I second! I second!” shouted various girls from around the room. Then everyone was shouting it. They could barely contain themselves.
Daphna cast a cold eye over all the smirking faces. Only Branwen’s was missing.
“Okay,” Wren called out, “now we need to make it official with a vote. We need three unanimous ‘Yea’ votes to swear in a new Pop. Do we have one?”
“Yea!” the crowd yelled, and as it did so, Wren and Teal both took a large step away from Daphna on either side.
“Do I hear two?” Teal shouted. She was too far away from the microphone to use it. She and Wren took another step.
“Yea!” the crowd roared.
“Do I hear three?”
The girls rushed offstage. The crowd didn’t respond at first. They wanted to savor the moment, so there was a collective pause. And into that pause, Daphna, standing alone, spoke her new favorite Word into the microphone. Then she said, quickly, “Bran, be still.”
“YEA!” everyone screamed.Then—nothing happened.
The Pops turned to one another. They looked to Wren and Teal, both of whom were leaning in from the wings and glaring at the black curtain backstage.
Daphna took the microphone and cleared her throat. Everyone looked at her with mouths agape.
“I am so honored,” Daphna said. “This is the best day of my life, of all my lives.” Then she added, “But it’s not perfect yet.” Daphna turned round to look backstage. She pronounced her Word, then said, “Bran, come out here. Wren and Teal, would you join me, too?”
Book of Knowledge Page 16
