So Alex had done that, and then insisted that Lauren go there, too, because Touhy had beaten her pretty badly. Somehow David and Karen were already waiting in front of the hospital when Alex pulled up with Lauren.
Well, there was really no somehow about it, was there? Lauren had said David knew everything that happened in this town.
Even if there was nothing else he could accept, Alex knew for certain that there was something different about David.
Different. Ha. Yeah, that’s the word for it. And Lauren, too. Just a couple of very different kids.
(different kids who saved you twice)
Alex knew he’d seen a lot of strange and unexplainable things. He also knew that his mind wanted to force those unexplainable things away, to return to a safe and comfortable place where there were no monsters, no magic, no trees that tried to grab people and pull them into the ground, no mobs of people under supernatural control.
But maybe now it wouldn’t be like that. Maybe now Smiths Hollow wouldn’t be the perfect town. Maybe it would be a regular town, with regular people who fought and lived and loved and prospered and lost and made mistakes.
Maybe it would be a town without shadows.
Alex thought he could live in a town like that.
36
Tuesday
Lauren hated hospitals, hated the way they smelled like sickness and pain no matter how much disinfectant they used.
But nobody could make her leave Jake’s room, not even the doctors and nurses who told her repeatedly that visiting hours were over. She just looked at them and told them she wasn’t leaving, and they suddenly decided they needed to do something elsewhere.
She held his hand, which sat still and lifeless in her own. His eyes were closed and his face was covered in bruises. His right arm and leg were in casts. Touhy had run him over with the car at the top of the hill. Lauren was thankful that Jake’s head hadn’t been crushed beneath the wheels.
But he wouldn’t wake up.
Still, she sat next to him, and held his hand, and told him everything that had happened from beginning to end.
“Nana’s house burned down,” she said. “That happened yesterday. David says it was because the tree disappeared, because the hill and the tree kept the same time. I don’t really know what that means, but David does. He knows an awful lot for a little kid. I don’t think Mom knows what to do with him anymore. I don’t think she’s sure what to do with me, either, but she’s a lot nicer than she used to be. Or maybe I’m nicer than I used to be. Maybe we’re meeting each other halfway. I think that’s what we’re supposed to do, anyhow, and we’re trying.
“Anyway, it was probably a good thing that the house burned. I don’t think it was a place where there was ever very much happiness. And I don’t think any of us could have lived there, not after what happened to Nana.
“Everybody in town has been kind of milling around for a couple of days, trying to avoid everyone else’s eyes. It’s really weird, because you can tell that they all remembered but none of them wanted to admit remembering. They can’t forget but they don’t want to talk about it either. I think they’ll have to, though. Because they want to bury their girls properly.
“I don’t mean bury them in the ground. I mean remember and be sad, the way you’re supposed to, and then later remember the things that you loved about that person. Like your sister. I remember Jennifer now, really clearly. I remember that she loved Stevie Nicks. Do you remember that? She liked to wear all those scarves around her neck and those gauzy tops like Stevie Nicks, and when she came over to babysit me she would bring her Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks records and play them really loud and we’d dance all over the living room.”
Lauren looked at Jake’s face expectantly. She was sure he’d heard what she’d said about Jennifer. She thought maybe his eyes moved under the closed lids, just a twitch. She thought he must remember how much his sister loved Stevie Nicks.
“Miranda loved Def Leppard. That made me crazy, you know that? We did not have the same taste in music. But when I slept over at her house we would never actually sleep, because we would just stay up all night talking, and whenever one of her parents would come and tell us to be quiet and go to bed we would pretend to be asleep until they left, and then we would whisper and giggle some more. We never seemed to be able to stop giggling when we were together.”
Lauren let out a soft little sigh. She’d never had a chance to tell Miranda she was sorry. But she could remember what had made them best friends, once upon a time.
“You have to wake up now,” she said, leaning close to his ear. “You have to wake up because we never ended our date properly. You have to kiss me at the end. I’m sure that’s how dates are supposed to go.”
He didn’t move, didn’t speak. His breath rose and fell but so softly that if it weren’t for the continual beeping of the monitors she wouldn’t have been certain he was still alive.
“If I were any kind of real witch I could fix you,” she said. “I think there’s some kind of power in me. I can feel it, like a little ember in my stomach, though I don’t know what to do with it. I suppose Nana could have taught me, if I’d listened. I’m going to be a better listener from now on. I think that’s just what David does, you know? He listens more carefully than the rest of us.”
She sighed again, and looked out the window. Outside the sky was blue and the sun shone. If it had been a different day, a day like so many before, she would have been on her bike, pedaling away under the sunshine.
Meet me by the old ghost tree, Miranda whispered in her ear.
Lauren started. “Miranda?”
Jake opened his eyes.
Photo by Kathryn McCallum Osgood
Christina Henry is the author of Alice, Red Queen, Lost Boy, The Mermaid, The Girl in Red, Looking Glass, and the national bestselling Black Wings series, featuring Agent of Death Madeline Black and her popcorn-loving gargoyle, Beezle.
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The Ghost Tree Page 35