by K. C. RILEY
Chills pricked down my arms.
I flipped through the book to see if there was anything on the Codex Rose Sister Clara talked about, the love affair between Gadreel and Eve. I thought Gadreel was the one responsible for revealing heaven’s eternal secrets to man. There was nothing on it. I glanced at the clock. Time was up. I closed the book and gathered my things, but not before my stomach did backflips at the thought of Josie’s surprise, or the thought of having to swim if her surprise bellied up.
On my way out of the library, there was a note on the community board.
Help Wanted...waitress...part-time hours including some weekends...flexible...Vye’s Café...
I remembered how my mom managed the coffee house below our apartment. Even if it was only for a couple of weeks. When she wasn’t paranoid she was actually incredibly good at it. And she should have been. She had been managing coffee houses from town to town for as long as I could remember. I practically grew up pouring coffee and taking orders, especially, the past couple of years.
I tore the address from the notice and placed it in the front flap of my book.
“Over here, everyone.” Josie blew a whistle from around her neck and waved everyone over to her direction. “I know you all were either scheduled for swimming or archery. However, as chairman of the homecoming dance committee I’ve convinced Headmaster Wheeler to change PE for the next three weeks to learning ballroom dancing for the event.” Grumbles waved through the room. “I know, I know, it’s exciting. Both Headmaster Wheeler and I thought it would be nice to do something more formal this year, create some new traditions. Cassie, would you do the honors?” Josie pointed at two boxes on the ground next to her. “Now, if I can have the guys on one side, and the girls on the other.”
The crowd continued to grumble while Josie went to hell and back on the whistle. She was pretty fierce when left in charge, and even though the crowd was slow to pick up their pace to divide, I had to give it to her, she had a way of directing cattle. If it meant not stressing out in or near a body of water, I was all in. How hard could it be?
Out of the corner of my eye, I scanned for Meghan and made sure to shuffle myself as far away as possible to the other end of the line.
“Great, see, we’re having fun already. Pass those boxes down, and each person take a number.” Josie glared at Boyd. “One...number.” There was a box for the girls and a box for the guys. “These numbers are for selecting your dance partner for the three routines we’ll be performing for homecoming. Outside of that, come to the dance and boogie down the rest of the night with whoever the hell you want. And before you leave, make sure to sign the waiver. I will not be responsible for any heartbreak, hook-ups, new love, and or broken relationships, just saying.”
The guys called out their numbers as each girl raised their hand. Mine was seventeen.
Boyd called out Cassie’s number. Her face seemed a little pinched. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. More numbers were read until seventeen was called out by Jake.
I whipped my eyes from him to Josie. I don’t know. As a plea for help? Her mouth was as wide open as Cassie’s and everyone else that stared at me as I half raised my hand. The whole thing had to be rigged.
Jake rolled his eyes and scoffed. Of course, he did. And there was no way I was looking in Meghan’s direction.
Josie cleared her throat and motioned for me to step up to him. I didn’t budge an inch until she did it again.
I felt like a moron standing next to him as I tried to avoid all eye contact. And why not? It was clear the guy hated my guts. Not to mention, I wasn’t too keen on his either.
More numbers were read. I wasn’t quite sure which was worse, jumping to my death in a pool of water or partnering with Jake.
Mason was the next to read his number out loud. “Twenty-one.” It was dead quiet. “Twenty-one?” No one answered or raised their hand. Everyone looked around. “I said, twenty-one.”
Josie swallowed hard. She looked like she wanted to faint until the sound of a choking frog finally croaked from her throat. “Here.” She went and took her place over by Mason as he gleamed a wicked seductive eye at her.
The rest of the numbers were called off until everyone was paired.
“And now allow me to introduce our instructor, the world-famous Madame Nadya Blavatski.” The response was slow until Josie glared everyone into clapping.
Blavatski sauntered across the floor with the head of a silver wolf cane in one hand and pieces of sheet music in the other, which she practically threw at a rather nervous-looking woman seated at a piano. I supposed working for Blavatski was the reason for the condition.
“The first dance we will learn is the waltz. Everyone will assume first position like this.” Blavatski clapped her hand. “Well, let’s go, move it, move it. Good. Yes.”
Dance or no dance, I was not making the first move on Jake. Even if he did smell like a fresh mountain spring trickled with spices and musk. Whatever.
“Are you going to stand there all day, or take my hand?” he grunted.
I contemplated praying for the ability to breathe fire, hoping to singe his lush eyebrows. Maybe even those thick lashes. But, I thought about Riley, his sister, her death, and decided to give the guy a break. I placed my hand in his, and we positioned ourselves as Blavatski instructed.
Blavatski led off with a count and demonstrated the movements and direction again. “Everyone moves this way. Ready, yes?”
At the wave of Blavatski’s hand, the pianist began playing while straightening her frail body and bobbing her head up and down as though she was silently counting to the timing of the music. She sounded great until she struck the wrong key.
Blavatski’s head turned while her shoulders cringed to the plucked note. With a skittish grin, the pianist apologized and picked up where she left off.
Blavatski sighed and recomposed herself. “And...One, two, three, one, two, three...That’s it, yes, good.”
“Ouch,” Jake said, sighing.
“Sorry,” I said, stepping on his toes. I swore, if he rolled his eyes one more time. Just one more.
We bumped into the couple next to us. They both stopped and glared at me like it was my fault.
“Again.” Blavatski motioned her arms in the air. “One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three...”
“Ouch.” Jake clenched his jaw.
I had stepped on his toes again. And okay, so dancing a waltz was way harder than I thought. Not to mention, everything about Jake was making me nervous. From the way he smelled. His hair. The outline of his lips and standing so close to him. Never mind, the way his eyes seemed to weaken my knees.
“You know if you stand this way...” he suggested.
“I’ve got it, thanks,” I scoffed.
“Fine.”
“Fine,” I replied.
“Are your hands always this sweaty?”
It was official. I didn’t care how beautiful he was, I hated him. As far as the guy was concerned, there was nothing I could do right. I know Josie meant well, but I was almost certain swim class would have been the better option, even if it meant drowning.
I grumbled low enough so he couldn’t hear me. “Are you always such an ass?”
“I thought we established that this morning,” he sneered.
So he did hear me. Good ears.
“Focus everyone, focus.” Blavatski glanced at me again as if I was the problem.
My thoughts shifted to the job notice for the café. It was a brilliant idea, a chance to get away from school and away from Jake.
5
After two days down, I felt caught up to myself, caught up to sleep, and had found a genuine appetite for food again. Cassie and Josie had been right. The Dining Hall’s sushi bar was to die for. Then again, every station in the Dining Hall was to die for. Pad Thai was my favorite.
My morning routine was pretty much the same, two clucks to the radiator, a morning run, and then a shower. Classes
were fine, mostly art, science, theology, and computer graphics—also an unexpected course in French cuisine. My first dish was Escargots à la Bourguignonne, Herb Buttered Snails. It was a mouthful, both the pronunciation and the dish itself. Neither went over well. I spent most of that period in the bathroom gagging over a toilet.
There was no hope for gym either. I wasn’t any better at waltzing, and Jake was still an ass. But I was trying. The blog was also at it again, posting my supposed love affair with Jake. However, there was still no mention of my time in the loony bin. It was odd.
Meghan still hated my guts, but staying clear of her, and her crew seemed to be working.
The more I thought about it, the more I was desperate for some time away from school, and I needed money. Josie and Cassie showed me how to sign in and out of campus if I wanted to work a part-time job or go out on my own. A curfew pass for employed seniors was 10 p.m. during the week and midnight on the weekends. I found out from the campus office that there weren’t too many of those going around, given most students had trust funds. Lucky them.
After my last period, I went to my room and decided I was settled enough to inquire about the job at Vye’s Café. I threw on a T-shirt and jeans and was about to pull my hair up in a bun but it was too short to do that anymore. Old habits die hard.
Someone knocked.
The shadow of something being placed on the ground bled from underneath the door.
I checked down the hall, but no one was there, only a package left from Mom’s lawyer. Before the accident I never even knew Mom had a lawyer. My hands went cold and my heart thumped out of my chest at the thought of what it could be.
I set the package on the desk and opened it. There was a note.
You’re Mom wanted you to have this. My Deepest Condolences, R.J. Friar. Please don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.
Folding away the cardboard flaps revealed a sea of foam-like popcorn that I dug my hands into until I lifted out an object wrapped in an old cloth. I peeled the folds away and gasped. It was the doorknob from my dreams, the lion’s head.
The whispers in my head grew louder as images from the dream washed over me. The beast on the other side of the door. The burnt symbols. The whole thing creeped me down to the bone. I quickly folded the cloth back over the knob and placed it back in the box. The madness of Cassie’s tarot card peered up from the desk, so did the stupid stuffed rabbit.
The room felt like it was closing in on me and I couldn’t breathe.
“I. Am not. Crazy. I’m not.”
I was never going back to Crown Hill, not if I could help it.
I turned Cassie’s card over so I couldn’t see it, so that it couldn’t see me. I then threw the rabbit with practically one eye in the trash and grabbed my car keys and the note for the job.
Rows of antique stores, craft shops, an old movie theatre, and a Farmer’s Market stretched for blocks down the tree-lined sidewalks of Main Street. There were also a few restaurants, a tea shop, and an old bookstore, from what I could make out. A bus-like trolley and lampposts decorated with hanging flower baskets were the final touch to the little downtown area of Shadowick.
After parking, I opened the glass door to Vye’s Café. The shop bell tinkered overhead.
A waitress with her back to me yelled, “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
The first thing to hit my nose was the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, almond croissants, cinnamon, apples, and chocolate. Mmmmmm. It smelled like just like our apartment in Nashville, the one above the coffee house. A quick glance around the room, and I could see why the place was full at 4:30 in the afternoon. Warm oak-wood floors and cozy antique chairs comforted a room full of customers buried deep in a cup of coffee, a phone, a book, a laptop, or all of the above.
Dark wooden shelves behind the main counter and register cascaded from the ceiling to the floor like a waterfall lined with specialty mugs, teapots, herbs, spices, and recipe books. The entire place was bathed in the glow of old lanterns that hung across the main dining area.
“I’ll be there in one sec,” the waitress said again.
I peeped through a glass case full of every kind of pie I could imagine. “No rush.”
When I looked up, the woman’s eyes widened like she had seen a ghost. Her face went ashen, and the plates that were stacked on her tray went crashing to the floor.
I ran over to help. “Are you okay?”
She stared at me, dumbfounded. There was no way I could have done something wrong already. I had just gotten there. I carefully stacked the broken pieces back on the tray.
“I’m fine, thanks. It’s been a long day. You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
I would have guessed she was in her early to mid-forties, a solid woman with rich black hair streamed with silver strands here and there. Even though she seemed spooked, there was still something kind about her eyes.
“Jessie,” she yelled. “Clean up.”
A young busboy came out as she got up off her knees.
“He’ll take care of it, don’t you worry about it, but thank you,” she said. “Now, is that a table for one?”
“Oh, uh, I’m not...I mean...I don’t need a table.” I pulled the folded notice from my pocket. “I’m here for the waitressing job?”
She wiped her hands in her apron. “I see.” The woman stared blank-faced for a moment. “Do you have any experience?”
The bell chimed behind me, and all my senses went off the chart, like an intense tingling at the back of my head. I glanced over my shoulder. Meghan, Camilla, and Abby strolled in and sat themselves. Great. My phone buzzed over and over again with a slew of texts.
“You okay?” the woman said.
“Sorry, yeah. I spent a couple of years working with my mom at the coffee house below our apartment. She was the manager before she passed.”
Her face went pale again like she was going to faint.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Sorry...” She drifted off again. “...I mean, for your loss. Where are my manners? I’m Vye.” She shook my hand, almost crushing it. “Let’s have a seat over here.”
Meghan and her groupies were making me nervous.
I still couldn’t figure out why they were there, not when they could have had anything they wanted back at school. I wanted to look over my shoulder to see what she was up to but couldn’t. “Nice to meet you. I’m Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Lizzy,” I said, slipping into a leather booth.
A customer with an attitude waved his hand. “Uh, can we get some service?”
“Well, as you can see, we need some help. It’s a friendly place, and typically most people are harmless.” Vye eyed the customer asking for service.
For the next few minutes, we talked more about my experience, school, and my hours of availability.
“You’re hired,” Vye said.
“What?”
“You’re hired.”
“Just like that?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yep. You’ve got the experience, and I need the help.”
The adrenaline rushed through my arms as I grabbed and shook her hand. “I promise I won’t let you down.”
“We’ll give it a dry run and see how things go, but first let me tell my night manager in training, I’ll be right back.” Vye smiled and got up to leave. “I’m sorry. What’s your name again?”
“Lizzy, Lizzy Maverick.”
“That’s right. I’ll be right back.”
“Uh, service, please?” It was the same customer. Vye threw another shady look at him, and he sighed.
I wanted to turn and see if Meghan was still there, but I was feeling too good to spoil it. Vye was only gone but a minute when I heard dishes crashing to the floor in the back.
She soon returned afterward, but not alone.
Holy shit bombs.
“Jake Patrilo, this is Lizzy Maverick. Lizzy, meet Jake, my night manager in trainin
g,” Vye said.
It was official. I was cursed. That’s all there was to it.
“We’ve already met,” he gritted.
Vye broke up the stare down. “She did say she went to All Saints. Small town. Everybody knows everybody. Go figure.”
“Yeah.” A wimpy chuckle managed to climb its way out of my mouth as I struggled to smile.
“I don’t think this a good idea.” Jake wasted no time being an ass.
“And why not,” I snapped back. “I make a great waitress.” He wasn’t ruining this for me.
The bell at the door chimed. There were more tingles at the back of my head and neck, but I couldn’t turn around.
“Of course you do,” Vye interceded. “I think the two of you are going to get along just fine. I can feel it.”
I wasn’t sure about all that, but I liked Vye. Like I had known her my whole life.
“Uh, Vye?” the poor customer said again.
“I got to go. But listen, there’s no time like the present.” She looked around at the crowded room. “Can you start now? I could really use the help.”
“Sure,” I said, excited.
“Great, I’ll leave you two to work out the details. Jake will get you a uniform.” Vye then left to take the customer’s order.
“Wait here.” Jake’s voice was cold and empty as usual.
He came back with a gray and white logo T-shirt and a white apron. “You can start over there.”
He pointed to the table with Meghan, Abby, and Camilla. At another table were Cassie and Josie. They both shrugged and smiled. And at a few other tables were some other girls I recognized from All Saints.
Jake smiled like the evil troll he was. He knew exactly what he was doing.
My blood continued to boil with the idea of knocking that stupid grin off his face. “Great, no problem.”
“There’s a bathroom in the back.”
After changing into my uniform, I took a deep breath before stepping over to Meghan and her fan club.
“Hi, guys, welcome to Vye’s.” I sounded like a complete idiot. I scanned the table and noticed someone had already gotten them waters.