by Carla Thorne
“We’ll talk about this another time.” Paige slammed the door in her face.
What a witch!
More importantly, what was I doing there with that witch? I glanced around the room. I was in over my head. I guessed it was because it was her last homecoming at Stonehaven, but Paige was in more of a tizzy than I’d ever seen her. She was in an unusually harsh mood, and would chew me up and spit me out if given the chance. And so far, not one of the handy voices in my head or a vivid hallucination had shown up to help me know what to do.
Then I glanced at Corey and remembered. The tender-hearted blossom had to get through the national anthem without Paige ruining it for her.
I passed Paige her earrings as she passed me a silver box and continued her speech. I hated the gaudy rhinestone purple arrow pin and wanted to put it back in its box, but Paige made it clear she expected everyone to wear them. The hideous piece was going to ruin Trinity’s flawless look, not to mention my sweater from Aunt Connie.
“So, wear these in honor of Ariel and Trinity and, of course, the Arrows.”
“And to you Paige,” someone added. “We’re rooting for all of you.”
I glanced at my phone. Corey was due on the field with the band by seven o’clock. I stepped to her side as she tried to repair one of Paige’s fingernails.
“Go on, Corey,” I said. “It’s almost seven. I’ll take care of this, and we’ll be out there in time to hear you. Break a leg.”
Corey smiled and handed me the polish. “It’s fixed, but needs a swipe of color.”
“Got it.”
Paige’s features turned to stone. “Where do you think you’re going, Corey?”
“I have to get to the field. For the national anthem, remember?”
Paige frowned as she waved her hand in the air. “No, you didn’t tell me about that, and I’m counting on you to help me right now.”
“Yes, I did tell you.”
“I think I would have remembered that, Corey. This night is very important and I need you.”
I’d had enough. I pushed Corey toward the door. “Go, Corey.”
“Stay, Corey,” Paige snapped.
“C’mon, Paige, she’s singing the national anthem. She has to be out front at seven sharp. She’s supposed to be at the mic when the ROTC presents the colors. The director’s probably looking all over for her.”
“I’m sure there’s a substitute,” Paige said. “Corey has to re-pin my hair. One of the pearls came off my comb. There’s super-glue around here somewhere.”
“Are you kidding me right now? This has nothing to do with homecoming. This is The Star Spangled Banner and Corey’s been practicing all week.”
Tall Paige bent to snarl directly in my face. “You sure do have a lot of guts, Ivy, I’ll give you that. But don’t let this happen again. It doesn’t concern you. Step back, and keep your voice down.”
“It doesn’t concern you either, Paige,” I ground out between clenched teeth.
Paige turned to smile at her prey. “Fine, Corey. Go.”
Corey took a tentative step toward the door.
“Just know this,” the queen arrow witch said. “If you leave now, don’t bother coming back.”
Tears rimmed Corey’s eyes and she visibly swayed beneath the words.
I rushed to hold her up. “Go. Now. Take a couple of deep breaths and sing.”
Paige pulled off her shoe and traced her finger along the heel Corey had evened out with a marker. “And there’s that other thing I’m afraid I won’t be able to sit on any longer.”
My head jerked so hard I felt my neck crack. “Leave her alone.”
“Do you really want that made public again, Corey?”
Corey stepped back toward her clutches. “No…” She sucked in a sob. “No….”
“I still have it, you know.” Paige put her shoe back on. “That embarrassing picture and love note your unwilling object of affection posted all over social media. I made that disappear. I can make it come back. You’ve put on a few pounds, but I’m sure everyone will still recognize you.”
I fully expected Corey to faint. With her sagging shoulders and snow-white face, how could she stay upright under Paige’s withering assault? What kind of monster did that?
My heart beat so fast I could barely hear over the pulse in my ears. I begged for a voice, a vision, anything to help Corey get out of that room.
Nothing came. Where was my help the one time I’d trusted it to show up? Then again, what made me think it would, based on one spontaneous decision to heed the voice and say yes to the Arrows?
I opened my mouth and was stopped by a sharp pain.
Trinity had her fingers pressed into my upper arm. When I jerked at the surprise, my shoulder thrust upward.
Shock didn’t scratch the surface of what I felt, but as it wore off, I couldn’t decide who I was gonna punch first.
Trinity’s gaze changed my mind.
“Stay in your lane, fish recruit. I know you’re new here but this is not the way we talk to senior Arrows.”
Help her, I begged with my eyes. Help me…
She pulled me toward the door. Despite the ruckus she and Corey and Paige had made, the dedicated Arrows hadn’t seemed all that concerned with the drama. “You’re not helping,” she whispered. “Corey has to decide.”
“She’s being bullied… tortured… blackmailed. Not to mention she’s supposed to be out there about to sing the national anthem.”
“Look at me.” Trinity let go of my arm. “Look at me right now.”
I couldn’t help but meet her desperate gaze with my own. “What do I do?” I tried to control my heart rate.
“Two things. Number one, you let Corey decide.”
I turned back and Corey had inexplicably made her choice. It defied explanation that she was carefully working the top off a tiny tube of glue. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I can’t believe she’s staying. Her parents are out there… It’s time.”
“You need to get out there and sing.”
“What?”
“You’ve been practicing with her all week and it’s not like you don’t know the song. Get out there and do it.”
“I can’t.”
“You can, but, like Corey, you have a choice. Please don’t let everyone down because she made hers.”
“What about Paige?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
I propped the door with my knee and prepared to run toward the field and hopefully still be able to sing. “You said there were two things. What’s the other?”
Trinity leaned in. “Trust the Creator.”
Chapter 20
Scout
Ivy streaked down the sidelines much faster than our best senior wide receiver. And she did it with one hand holding her dress down so it didn’t fly up and expose her whole backside.
I jabbed Deacon in the ribs from our seats in the crowded student section. “Look. What is she doing?”
Popcorn bounced out of his bag as another student bumped him toward me. “I don’t know.”
Mary leaned in from the other side and had to raise her voice over the crowd. “Why is Ivy running across the field?”
“I don’t know, but there’s no one out there to sing the national anthem.”
“I thought Corey was doing it.”
“She’s supposed to. Something’s wrong.”
Ivy slowed as she approached the band and their director. It was a flurry of waving arms and Ivy’s heaving chest as she caught her breath and approached the mic stand. If the director had a problem with the change, he calmed down about it fast.
Everyone stood as the announcer started the customary welcome and introductions.
“Something is wrong,” I said again. “Corey should be out there. Where are all the homecoming people?”
“The guys are about to play football,” Deacon said.
“And the girls are somewhere destroying the ozone with hairspray,” Mary added
with a snort. “They’ll be out soon to sit over there on those benches and wait for halftime.”
“Hey, we’re part of halftime,” I said. “Why don’t we have a bench?”
“I don’t want a bench.” Deacon passed the popcorn. “I’m happy to meet everyone where they told us to meet and get this thing over with.”
“Wait,” I said. “Deacon, look at Ivy. Do you umm…feel anything?”
Deacon looked at me like I was crazy. “Dude! You’re being weird. Give me back my popcorn and go sit at the other end of the bleacher.”
“C’mon, don’t be a jerk. Something is wrong. Do you feel anything? You know…”
His eyes widened as my real question dawned on him. “Ohhhhhh…. No. Absolutely not. And stop talking.”
Mary leaned in again. “I don’t feel anything either. Something is definitely wrong, but it’s not our kind of wrong.”
“I knew it. You have a weird signal thing too. What is it?”
“This is not the time, Scout.”
She was right about that, but one day we were gonna have to get it together. Curiosity exploded in my head at the possibilities. Everything I’d considered defied logic.
Ivy rocked from foot to foot and held the mic stand in what looked like a white-knuckled death grip. I remembered her heart rate acceleration issue and imagined it hammering out of her chest. “I’m going to meet her when she’s done.”
Mary grabbed my arm. “Not now. You can’t walk down there during the national anthem when everyone else is standing still. Wait till she’s done. And what about our plan to give her some room?”
“I have given her room, but no one’s going to stop me from checking on her after whatever this is that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Watch out for Wayne,” Deacon said. “He stands at that side metal gate so spectators can’t get on the field.”
“I’m not worried about Wayne.” The snare drums started an introductory roll. “C’mon, Ivy. Breathe,” I mumbled. “You can do this.”
…and the home of the brave.
At the final word, I bolted. And forget Wayne. There were so many extra people at the game, he’d brought on more officers and they were all otherwise occupied.
I slipped through the gate and waited on the track. Ivy seemed to be taking a long, calm stroll off the field—then she spotted me.
“Scout!” She all but crashed into me. “It was awful.”
“No, it wasn’t. It was great.”
“Thanks, but no. Not the song. That was awful too.”
“You were great.”
“No, it was Paige and Corey… Wait. I can’t breathe.” She fanned her face as her cheeks reddened. “And my mouth is so dry. It was awful.”
I pulled a couple of dollars out of my pocket and rushed over to the cooler full of bottled water for the cheerleaders. “Can I please buy one of those?” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “She needs water. Bad.”
“Take two. Keep your money,” the cheer mom said. “Good job!” she yelled toward Ivy.
Ivy nodded and wandered toward the grass as if disoriented.
“C’mon.” I tugged her under the bleachers and toward concessions. I cracked open a bottle and led her to as private of a spot as possible. “Drink.”
She drank until the bottle caved in and then motioned for the other.
“OK,” she finally said on one last gasp for air. “Better. My lips were so dry they were stuck together.”
Water dripped off her mouth. She ripped one arm free from her sweater and tried to bend far enough to wipe her face on the bottom of her dress.
I pulled nacho napkins from my pocket. “Here, use these.”
Her face paled as she straightened. “Uh-oh.”
“Yep. Let me guess. Your heartrate’s up, you drank too fast, and stood up too quick.”
She nodded. “I’m gonna barf.”
“Breathe. And give me that sweater. You need to cool down.” I pointed to the girls’ restroom not ten feet away. “Go. I’ll be right here.”
She darted for the door.
“Take your time but hurry. We have to be in our places by the end of the second quarter.”
A while later, she emerged and crept to the bench where I waited.
“Well, that wasn’t too embarrassing.” She dropped beside me and took the sweater from between us.
“Don’t worry about it. What happens under the bleachers, stays under the bleachers.” I handed her a diet Dr Pepper. “What the heck happened? Where’s Corey?”
“Uh… It’s…”
“Start from the beginning.”
“I was worried about Corey after what happened at the campfire. We have classes together and we’re both in drama and choir, so we got to be friends. She thought I’d been asked to be a member of the Arrows, but you know I didn’t want anything to do with Paige.”
“But you joined.”
“Yes, because I had to.”
“You don’t have to do anything, Ivy.”
“Do you want to lecture me, or do you want to hear the story?”
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, Trinity tipped me off that Paige was about to ask. She told me how to stay out, but by the time Paige approached me, things had happened.”
I knew in one sideways glance she’d been rattled to the bone by one of her psychic events. “Did you have another dream? Like the cart dream?”
She glanced around. “Worse. It was a full-blown hallucination.”
“You mean it happened in the daytime?”
“Yes. Right there in the choir room beside Corey. And there was no question about being awake.”
“What did you see?”
“I don’t want to say yet…”
“OK. Then how did you get from that to the national anthem?”
“I had to show up with the other lowly Arrows and help the homecoming court Arrows get ready.” She paused to take a drink. “It’s a snobby girl mad house in there. Paige had Corey jumping through hoops, and when it was time to go sing, Paige acted like Corey hadn’t told her about that and said she couldn’t go. It was so humiliating and frustrating to watch Corey be bullied into staying. She has something on her. Something so big that Corey was willing to give up her song.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“A general idea, but I’ve never seen someone so desperate. Or defeated.”
“And you tried to step in.”
“Sure did, because I’m that big of an idiot. Got my butt handed to me by her and Trinity.”
“Trinity? I thought she was on your side.”
“I think she is, but it’s weird. Can’t tell how to read her, but anyway, it was Trinity who told me to get out there and cover for Corey.” She brushed hair away from her face and clutched my arm. “I don’t remember anything, Scout. How was it? I mean, we all know the national anthem, but that thing is one of the most awkward songs in all the world to sing. I’d been listening to it all week with Corey, but never did I ever think I’d be out there doing it… And I couldn’t breathe at all after that sprint from the field house. Did I sing the whole thing? Or stand there and gasp for air? I have no idea.”
I laughed. “I’m the last one to ask about music, but it sounded great to me, and all the words came out in order. So there’s that.”
She smiled. “Yeah. We’ll go with that. All the words came out.” She studied her fingernails as if trying to decide which to bite. “As for everything else…”
“C’mon, stop. You did a great thing tonight, Ivy. You listened to your instincts, you tried to help your friend. You covered for her in the hardest way possible. You were like Wonder Woman charging across that field. You didn’t care who was watching. You needed to take care of something and you did. Most of the people here couldn’t or wouldn’t have done that.”
Her eyes glittered with tears. “Yeah, that’s my problem. I have to take care of everything. That’s probably why my brain is so messed up. I can’t think sometim
es, or sleep, or focus. I don’t know where the beginning is… I can’t see the end.”
I panicked. I’d done OK for a while, then boom! Tears.
I searched for another wad of napkins in my pocket. “I’m sorry, Ivy, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s not you, and I’m not crying. I got a little slushy there for a sec.” She snatched a napkin from my hand and patted her cheeks. “See? No tears.”
“No, the tears are OK. I just don’t want to be the one who causes them.”
She glanced up at me through those long, damp lashes and blinked twice.
And twice, my heart blew a valve.
She cleared her throat and jumped from her seat. “Now what?”
“Uh… Let’s think. You had another premonition. We already know Deacon has a supernatural reaction to danger. And.” I pointed in the air. “I’ve recently confirmed Mary has a supernatural reaction, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Yeah. That’s fun and all there what you got going in that little group, but I’m still worried about Corey.”
“I know. And I also know you don’t want to admit it, but you’re a part of our little group. You need to come clean and talk to Deacon and Mary. It’s becoming clear the four of us only work when we’re on the same page.”
“You don’t know that for sure, Scout. You’re basing that on a couple of weird days.”
I stood and leaned on a support beam nearby. I didn’t know why she was so hard-headed when it came to trusting Deacon and Mary, but she was going to have to come to it on her own. And while she was doing that, I would have to examine why I so readily fell in with them when I had no apparent supernatural ability of my own.
“Forget all that for now,” I said. “Time is closing in for our ceremony.”
“And Corey’s still in trouble…”
“Yep. Corey’s still in trouble.”
She joined me against the support. “Let me ask you something.”
“Sure.”
“If I said to you trust the creator, what would you think I meant?”
“Where did that come from?”
“Don’t worry about it. Use that big, fat brain of yours to answer the question.”
“It’s a subject too big to explore under the bleachers in the time we have, especially since there’s no clear-cut answer.”