He wraps his arms around me hesitantly, and for a moment we share the world’s most awkward hug. He makes it so easy to melt against him. That isn’t fair either.
“Sorry. I’m just tired.” And in pain. And confused. And trying my absolute best to not remember anything else from this evening.
“Of course! Anyway, your aunt’s on her way.”
“Is it after nine-thirty?”
“Yup.”
“Great.”
“Pretty much how I feel about it.”
“Darling, didn’t I tell you to try and make it home early?” Delia doesn’t waste time on even a hello as she steps out of the driver’s seat.
“Yes ma’am.” I answer glumly. Wrapped up in the beach towel and hanging my feet out of the spare car, I’m a sad sight compared to when I left the bakery this afternoon.
“Here.” She thrusts a thermos into my hands and jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “Go get in the passenger’s seat and drink your tea. It’s good for you.”
She doesn’t even sound rattled, just focused on getting home. Does anything ever surprise this woman? Or did she know this was going to happen? Could it be possible tonight was some kind of test? If it was, there’s no way she’ll tell me anything.
I scramble into the other car, and to my surprise, the floorboard is already lined with old newspapers to account for my bloodied boots. Either George wanted her over the phone, or she was waiting for something like this to happen. I slide my soles against the wrinkled paper and frown at the smeared ink. She did warn me to come home sooner.
“I may as well add you to the insurance at this point,” she tells Ellis. Giving him the spare keys to the car, she urges him to get George home and return the car in the morning. Nick and the others are long gone, scared off by me and the looming threat of parents descending on the grove. From my spot in the passenger’s seat, the fireworks no longer symbolize festivity for me, but horror.
George waves at me as we drive off, a trash bag in his arms and Ellis at his side. All that’s left of our night is a handful of lights still bordering the trees, and the two boys watching me leave.
Chapter Eleven
“OKAY, JUST TO CLARIFY, you have no idea why you followed the voices?”
I sigh, dropping my chin onto my arms as I lean over the edge of the back porch. The cemetery is very nearly shining at the base of the yard with how insistently bright it is, and it’s only freaking eleven in the morning.
“No, Ellis. Like I said a hundred other times, I have no idea why I followed them. It’s like I had to. I didn’t want to; I just didn’t have a choice. Like all the Greeks that had to tie themselves to their masts to keep from jumping off their boats.”
“Now you’re comparing your life to the ancient Greeks?” He wipes his mouth and sets his water bottle down beside me. God, he’s gorgeous.
Turning back to the graveyard to avoid staring at his perfect lips, I roll my eyes. “Well it seems like enough of a tragedy to me, so why not?”
“For one thing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in this town wear a toga, ever. For another, I seriously doubt that ancient gods are screwing around with your life for a laugh.”
I snort. “Ancient gods, maybe not, but something is after me.” Enough brittleness cuts through my tone, that Ellis sets his hand on my back, and the leftover condensation on his palm seeps through my shirt and sends shivers across my shoulders. My hair is already damp with sweat, and the cold is at stark odds with the sweltering heat around us.
“Addie enough is enough. If you’re that scared, you’ve got to tell somebody.”
“I told you.”
“I mean your aunt, maybe Sabrina. She might know something useful.” He purses his lips and shoves his hair back from his face. “It’s not like I’ve been much help.”
“Hey,” I stand up and point at him sternly, “you pulled me out of a scorpion nest. That’s something. And you’re the one who figured out Frank is a type of guardian. I would have never gotten that on my own. I mean I’d never heard of sentinels before. Who knew metal scorpions could be charmed to be tiny protectors? That was definitely helpful. Besides, I think I need to do this on my own.”
“Hardly. So, we figured out that someone in your bloodline must have bewitched the metal carvings to begin with, which wasn’t exactly rocket science. The only difference is now we have a name for what he is. It’s not surprising this place has so many weird things around it, considering the circumstances.” He shrugs at the back door, and one of the rickety shutters hanging off the porch window slams shut in response.
I flinch, and while Ellis moves closer to me, eyeing the window warily, I stick my tongue out at whatever dead relative is eavesdropping on us now. It’s been a month since I started seeing them, and I’d hoped the chills and nerve-wracking sensation of being watched would fade by now... but no. Somebody is always there. Usually it’s Marlowe, which is even more unsettling because she’s so young.
“We also learned he’s bound to serve me. So, that’s cool.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure what exactly you expect a bracelet to do against the forces of darkness.” Ellis glances down at my wrist skeptically, and I know scorpions don’t really have facial expressions, but I swear Frank looks offended.
“I don’t know either. The first time I thought it was the gate and the rain, but I still can’t figure out what drove it away last weekend.”
Blowing my hair away from my face, I glance around the porch, and sure enough, there’s a couple of bobby pins lying beside the potted mint. Delia loves her teas, but graveyard mint is not meant for consuming. By the time I’m done winding and pinning the stray locks back, my hands smell like spearmint, and I can’t get Delia’s cats to back up.
Ellis lifts a calico away from my elbow and cradles it in his arm, where the furball promptly starts attacking his wrist. Unfazed, he scratches behind the little demon’s ears and stares off into the distance. “I didn’t see any shadows when we got to you, but then again, I don’t think anyone was looking at anything but you.”
“Yeah,” I roll my eyes, “nothing but me and scorpions and blood.”
“Hey! Anyone home?” Sabrina’s voice floats down the side of the house, and the calico tears out of Ellis’ arms.
“Oh shoot, I forgot she was coming over this morning!” I scoot the remaining cats away from my ankles and trek down the steps. “Hang on!”
I leave Ellis frowning at the bottom of the porch and run up the side of the house. The sweat at my temples doubles as I remember my last trek through here, but it’s a completely different day and there’s not even the hint of something watching me. The trees are silent, and the only sounds beyond the screaming of the cicadas are Sabrina’s impatient feet shuffling on the other side of the gate.
“Hey! Sorry. I was out back with Ellis.”
“Ellis is over?” Sabrina’s eyebrows shoot up halfway to her hairline as she slips through the gate. Her surprise is a little overdone, and I bet the klutz I turn into around Nick has something to do with that. “I was wondering whose truck that was out front.”
“We were supposed to work this morning, but Delia let us go early. He rode over with me.” I raise my shoulders defensively. Walking around the house set my nerves on edge and her careful attention doesn’t help.
“And you didn’t pick me up? Come on, girl! It’s like a hundred degrees out here and I had to walk the whole way down the street. Do you want me to get a heatstroke?”
“No, but I didn’t know what time you were coming over. For all I knew, you could have still been sleeping. I don’t mess with people when they’re sleeping.”
“You’re one of those really grumpy morning people, aren’t you?” She wrinkles her nose at me, and her glasses shine under the heavy sun.
“And what exactly is wrong with that?” I shoot back. My head is pounding, and I can’t get the knot in my stomach to loosen no matter how calm I try to act. Rounding the corner back into the yard,
I only half listen to Sabrina as she chatters on. Ellis is fidgeting with his water bottle, and his tight stance is more than just familiar.
“Are you okay?” Even as I ask, the air whooshes out of my lungs as harshly as if I’ve been knocked off my feet. The branches creak against the hot wind, and the screeching insects sound like omens of death. Only Sabrina is unaffected, her bright eyes flitting between us as she bounces at my side.
“Yeah.” He swallows and nods, his face pale and his hands shaking. “Just felt weird for a second.”
I sweep the yard with my gaze, searching the broad space for shadows that don’t exist, and violets that belong in the house. Nothing appears out of the ordinary, but there’s something different I can’t put my finger on.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say. Anything to stop the churning in my gut.
“Yeah, Eden’s waiting for us anyway. Ellis, are you coming with us? We’re getting some piercings done. You can redo your eyebrow, you know you want to,” Sabrina sings.
I lead the way to the garage through the mudroom, not bothering to lock the back door. It’s not like anybody ever comes near the property anyway, not without watching over their shoulder and asking me when we’re leaving. Ellis shakes off whatever is bothering him, and Sabrina’s energetic mood is nearly distracting enough to calm the tremors that threaten to course down my body.
“If we’re going out for the day, I just need to grab my bag. It’s right over here, and we can leave the garage that way y’all don’t have to go through the house again.”
Delia really can’t mind us going through the garage, not when we used it to get in the house last week. Besides, we’ll only be in there for a few seconds. The dark space smells of sawdust and sage, but as I flick on the humming lights and approach the bench where’d I’d left my things, something putrid hits my nostrils.
“Ugh, what is that?” Sabrina gags, covering the lower half of her face with her hands.
“It smells like rotting meat,” Ellis grimaces. He’s slightly more graceful about it, but I tug my tee shirt collar up over my nose and breathe through the fabric.
“I have no idea. Oh, god, it’s terrible.”
My bag is lying on its side, just where I left it, but my ruined boots are nowhere to be found. In their place, is a pile of wadded up newspapers, dripping with dark liquid and dissolving on the cement floor.
“Nope, I am not dealing with this!” I cringe, grabbing my bag and racing out the side door.
Sabrina and Ellis follow in a rush, tripping over the crumbling steps and each other’s feet as they stumble through the screen door.
“Addie!” Ellis calls after me, but I hightail it down the driveway like there’s no tomorrow.
“What was that?” Sabrina demands, her happy demeanor absent as she twirls her many-colored rings around her knuckles in turn.
“No idea,” I gasp. Back in the sunlight, it’s easier to put on a brave face, but my throat is so tight, I think I’m going to puke. “Nothing good. I don’t know.”
I put my hands over my temples and slide down the side of Ellis’ truck, struggling to force the images of death and rot from my brain. I can’t keep them out of my subconscious, and every night since the fourth of July, I’ve woken up in a cold sweat, sure that something is watching me. How long will it go on? If this is some sort of proving myself thing, it’s just cruel. And if it’s not... Delia would have said something. She’s lived here as long as I remember, there’s no way she wouldn’t have sensed something wrong.
“Addie, what’s going on?” Sabrina asks, kneeling at my side, still twisting at her jewelry.
“I think something’s chasing me, and I don’t know why. It said,” I hesitate, chewing on my lip. I still haven’t told her about how Delia’s refusing to talk about my powers until I figure out whatever I need to on my own. Like the lack of specifics is somehow going to help me. “It told me that I forgot about it, and it was really upset. And then I keep having these dreams that Delia isn’t Delia, and on top of all that, my things keep disappearing.”
“Wait a second, you didn’t tell me things were going missing.” Ellis lowers his chin, looking so alarmed, I’m surprised he’s not ushering us into the truck to hide from the unseen horrors.
“Just, little things.” I shake my head. I can’t get the smell out of my nose, even out here. “My cell phone charger, a few headbands, my shoelaces. Weird stuff, nothing really big, just bothersome.”
And I can’t shake the vague memory of playing in the graveyard with someone who doesn’t exist. The thoughts only come at night, but someone must have traced the gravestones with me. Maybe the same person who sent the cars back through the hall followed me out, but wouldn’t Delia have seen them?
“Those are all things connected with going out,” Sabrina says. “Maybe the spirits don’t want you going out?”
If that were the case, I’d be stuck inside right now, and Marlowe wouldn’t have her translucent face pressed against the front window the way she does.
“Uhm, no, I don’t think so. There’s a difference between my relatives and whatever this thing is. I don’t know how to describe it, but I can feel it.”
“And now?” Ellis bends down, reaching out a hand to help me out. His shoulders are tensed, and his jaw twitches as his mouth sets into a firm line.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to stay here, but I don’t feel like anything is watching us either.” I let him hoist me up, and Sabrina follows suit as I struggle to put into words what my gut already knows. “It’s like, if I stick around, something’s going to happen. But I’m okay right now. Can we just get out of here? Please? I’m tired of thinking about it.”
“Addie, you can’t just like, not talk about this stuff. If there’s a problem, you have to deal with it. I’m sure your aunt would get that. She wouldn’t just leave you in the dark if she knew you felt like you were in danger.”
Ellis nods adamantly behind Sabrina and I grimace at them both. My mouth is dry the longer we stand out here, the worse it gets.
“Whatever. I’ll deal with it later. If it gets worse, or something.”
“Addie!” Sabrina scolds me again, this time with her hands on her hips and looking a little bit like her mother.
“I can’t just dump this on her!” Tears spring to my eyes before I can stop them. “She already has enough to deal with. My dad called the other day and his treatment isn’t doing so great.” My voice cracks, but I push on. “Delia’s been the one arguing with the insurance company and getting the bills sent out for him, so he doesn’t have to think about it. And then there’s the bakery and all the registration for school, and pretty much everything else. I need to do this on my own.”
“I hate to break it to you,” Ellis says. “But that’s not happening. It sort of goes against my code as your moral supporter, and you appointed me so...”
“Moral supporter? What is that supposed to be?”
“It’s my role,” Ellis frowns. He opens the passenger side door and motions for me to get in. “My title.”
“Yeah? Well I have a title too,” Sabrina snaps. “It’s called best friend. And I vote we get a little help, because this is like, seriously freaky. And I’ve done way more stupid scary things than you have, and you know it. So, you don’t get to argue with me.”
“Okay, okay, whatever y’all want to call yourselves!” I raise my voice and my hands, still working to shake the nervousness from my veins, “Can we please just get going?”
They scramble into their respective seats, and after each seat belt clicks in place, Ellis revs the engine and checks the rearview mirror. “Eden’s house, here we come.”
When Sabrina suggested piercings, I didn’t realize they would take place in the middle of her friend’s bathroom. The green tiled walls reflect over the counters in a way that makes sitting in the damp room feel like a jungle.
“Are y’all sure this is safe? I’m not going to end up with an infection or anything, right?”<
br />
Sabrina rolls her eyes at Ellis, who’s lounging on the side of the tub. “She’s worried about an infected earring, but not an evil ghost chasing her.”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” he shrugs. He’s idly reading the backs of the shampoo bottles, flipping the tops open and closed every few seconds. “You’re the best friend. I’m just the moral supporter.”
“Alright, y’all ready?” Eden walks in, blue nitrile gloves on her hands, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol cradled in her palm. Tall and freckled, she reminds me of a modern Anne of Green Gables, and her name suits her.
“Yeah, uhm, I think, uhm, I think Ellis was going to go first,” I nod.
Eden laughs and starts tearing into various packages containing sterile needles and plain jewelry she apparently took from her sister’s tattoo parlor. “You’re not as tough as I expected you to be.” Her lip ring shines under the fluorescent light as she grins at me, and her swinging red pigtails brush against her shoulders.
I glance at both Ellis and Sabrina, unsure of how to react. He pushes himself up and sits on the barstool in front of Eden, sparing me a wink that I can’t decipher, but remains silent. Sabrina, on the other hand, looks up from the mirror to nudge me in the ribs.
“Girl come on! You live in a haunted house and you survived a swarm of like a thousand scorpions. Not to mention you did it wearing a shirt that literally marked you as a witch. You’ve got a rep.”
I shoot a dirty look at Sabrina, wishing I could get after her for mentioning the oddities at Nix House, but there’s no way to do so in front of Eden unless I want to confirm it. Instead, I touch a hand to the bobby pins still clinging to my hair and push down the faint anxiety still wriggling around in my chest.
“I guess it doesn’t help that I hang out with you, Miss Graveyard Trespasser. Is that your bragging rights, or did you get caught sometime?”
Eden snorts, and scrutinizes the dot she placed on Ellis’ face to mark where to place her needle. “Hey, no making me laugh once the needle’s in my hand,” she warns. “I’m already going through scar tissue here, so don’t mess me up.”
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