by Meg Cabot
“That is funny,” I said, but not because I actually found it amusing. “When did you hear that?”
“Oh, my God,” Farah said, “it’s been, like, all over the Internet.”
I guess my mom had gotten my note, and told my dad. He’d moved fast. But then, he always did.
“Right,” John said. “Well, we’re actually looking for someone, so we have to be going….”
“Wait —” Seth stepped in front of us. John removed his arm from around me and dropped Henry’s frozen fruit, keeping his fists loose and ready at his sides.
But Seth didn’t appear to want to keep us from finding Alex.
“Farah was kidding about the reward,” he said. “We’d never do that. And I hope there’s no hard feelings about our coming over and moving the coffin stuff out of your house,” he added, slurring his words a little. “But, like, we didn’t know when you were coming back, and your mom … it seemed like she was kind of flipping out. And you know, even though it looks like they’re probably going to cancel the game on account of this storm that’s coming, we still have to make the coffin. It’s a tradition, or whatever.”
I stared at him in astonishment. “Wait,” I said. “You moved the wood and stuff out of my mom’s garage?” All this time, I’d been sure it was Alex and that as soon as these guys found out he’d done it, his punishment for it was getting locked in the coffin afterwards.
But Seth’s next words proved me wrong. “Yeah,” Seth said. “Well, me and my dad. We came over and did it this morning. Your mom totally understood.”
Of course. Uncle Chris had mentioned Seth and his dad had been over earlier in the day….
“Oh, my God.” Farah wiggled up to Seth and put her arms around him again. “Tell Pierce about your dad and her mom. Wait, Pierce, you have to hear this. Tell her, babe.”
“Babe, not now,” Seth said, glancing at Farah in annoyance. He seemed to be growing uncomfortable under John’s stare. Seth was a big guy, especially in his shoulder pads.
But he wasn’t as big as John.
“Fine,” Farah said, making a little moue of disappointment. “I’ll tell her. Your mom and Seth’s dad used to go out, back when they were in high school. They were senior prom king and queen, and everything. Everyone thought they were going to get married. Did you know that?”
I looked quickly from her to Seth and then back again. The sounds of the festival seemed to fade. I barely felt John’s hand close over mine, strong and supportive.
Instead all I could think about was a conversation I’d overheard between my mother and father — not the most recent one, outside my mom’s bedroom, but one they’d had after my last court-mandated visit with my dad before I’d moved to Florida. Dad had been giving Mom a hard time about her decision to relocate to her old hometown, teasing her that it was because “he” was available again.
“I would think you’d have better things to do right now than look up the marital status of my ex-boyfriends on the Internet,” Mom had said to him, scathingly.
“I like to keep track of their mating habits,” Dad had smirked.
I hadn’t understood who they were talking about at the time.
Suddenly, it was all too clear: Seth’s dad.
Farah, noting my stunned expression, smacked her boyfriend in the chest again.
“See, babe?” she said. “I told you she didn’t know. Isn’t that insane? It turns out all of our parents used to hang out. Your mom and Seth’s dad and my dad and your uncle Chris, too. My mom — she went to IHHS, too, but she was a few grades younger — says they were like the four musketeers, or something. Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever heard? Well, I guess it was cute up until …” She paused, then held up a hand, trying to show how tactful she was. “Well, you know. What happened with your uncle.”
I didn’t want to admit that I had only the vaguest idea what had happened with my uncle, aside from the fact that the charges had been drug related, and that he’d been in jail for Alex’s entire life, practically.
Farah shrugged. “I guess that’s when your mom stopped coming back to Isla Huesos from college, and she and Seth’s dad broke up. But, hey, it’s cool, because she met your dad and had you, right? Although I was kind of hoping your mom and Seth’s dad would get back together now that they’re both divorced.”
Apparently, this was what my dad had assumed my mom was hoping, too.
A group of people, similarly attired in the Isla Huesos High School colors of red and white, walked by, noticed Seth and Farah, and shouted, “Wreckers rule!” Several of them pumped their fists in Seth’s direction. He pumped his fist back at them and yelled, “Yeah!” Then they all began bumping their chests together and talking enthusiastically about some party that was going to be off the hook.
Suddenly I understood the reason why Uncle Chris had expressed relief that my dad was coming to town. He’d never shown any particular fondness for my dad before, but he’d liked the fact that Mr. Rector had started hanging around my mom’s house even less.
Now my mom’s weird reaction when I’d been making fun of how ostentatious the Rector mausoleum was that day we rode past it on our bikes made sense. My mom had almost been a Rector — well, married to one, anyway. I’d been standing there making jokes about how some people had money to burn.
Sure. Like her ex-boyfriend from high school.
Why hadn’t she said anything? It wouldn’t have been weird for her to tell me, “Pierce, back when I was in high school and had terribly poor judgment, I used to go out with an extreme douche.”
Was she hiding something? Or was it that she wanted to put as much distance as she could between her high-school self and her new self?
“Are you all right?” John asked, his voice penetrating the swirling cloud of confusion in my mind.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s just … some things are starting to make sense that never did before.”
“What kind of things?” he asked curiously.
“Nothing that really matters, I guess,” I said, shaking my head. “Just some stuff about my mom.” I reached out and wrapped both my arms around one of John’s. “Promise me we’ll never be like them, okay?” I asked, with a shudder, nodding at Seth and Farah. “Calling each other babe in that annoying way?”
“We could never be like those two,” John said, leading me away after giving Seth one last stony-eyed glare.
“Why do you hate him so much?” I asked, amused.
“Hate him?” John looked surprised. “I only just met him. And you don’t seem particularly fond of him yourself.”
“I’m not, but every time anyone says the word Rector around you, you get this look on your face.” I illustrated, lowering my eyebrows into a deep scowl and frowning.
He laughed. “Do I? I had no idea.”
“Alex does the same thing whenever he sees Seth,” I said, thinking back.
“Well, then I think I’ll like your cousin,” John said, “if we ever find him.”
“I think you will, too,” I said. “But why —?”
Light footsteps sounded behind us, interrupting me. We turned to see Farah racing breathlessly up, her cheeks flushed.
“I’m such a ditz,” she said. “I almost forgot. We’re having a Coffin Night party tomorrow night. And you guys are totally invited.”
“Wow,” I said. “Thanks, Farah. That is so nice. But we probably won’t be able —”
“Oh, come on,” Farah said, looking disappointed. “Try to come. Everyone in the senior class is invited … but don’t tell any juniors. We’re going to try to have the coffin done so it can be there. We want everyone to sign it. You know, as like a memento to remember the year by.”
“The coffin’s going to be there?” Suddenly the invitation sounded a lot more tempting. “Where’s the party going to be?”
“At the new development our dads are building, out on Reef Key. You remember, Pierce, we took you to see it.”
I did remember. Mr. Rector and
Mr. Endicott had basically taken a beautiful island paradise and bulldozed it into an ugly subdivision, complete with tennis courts and a tiki bar.
“You can’t miss it,” Farah said. “It’ll be in the only spec house that’s done. I really hope this hurricane doesn’t come like they keep saying it’s going to, or of course we’ll have to cancel the whole thing. This afternoon they downgraded it to a Category Two but I just heard it’s back up to a Three. So even if it only brushes us, for sure no one is going to —”
Someone yelled “Farah!” and she looked back towards the group from which she’d disentangled herself in order to come over and issue her invitation.
“Oh,” she said, biting her cherry-red lip. “I gotta go. But try to come, will you? It’s gonna be epic.”
Then she ran back to Seth with an excited wave to us.
I stood there for a moment, feeling dazed. Not too long ago, someone else had said It’s gonna be epic to me.
It had been Jade.
The uneasy feeling inside me suddenly got a little worse … and not only because of what I’d learned about my mom and Mr. Rector’s high-school relationship. A drop of rain hit me squarely on the cheek. I held out one of my hands. Another drop hit me in the center of my palm.
The groups of people around us began to move more quickly, searching for shelter. Henry started taking extra-large bites from his cotton candy, fearful the rain would melt it before he had the opportunity to enjoy it.
“It’s not as bad as all that,” John said, grinning as he noticed my expression. “It’s only rain. And at least now we know where the coffin is.”
“Where it’s going to be tomorrow,” I said. I couldn’t keep the anxiety I felt out of my voice. “It isn’t even built yet. What if you’re right about that image I saw on my phone? What if it’s of the future … the distant future? We can’t keep chasing after Alex like this every night.”
I remembered asking John that morning if I could have a tablet like the one he kept in his pocket, and his response — Definitely not. Now I knew why he had been so curt.
“If all your magic mirror thing ever shows is people suffering, but there’s nothing you can do to help, what’s the point in even having one?” I asked him bitterly.
“That’s not all they ever show,” John said. “They show your heart’s desire … what you most want to see — or who — at the time you’re looking.”
“Then mine must be broken,” I said. It made sense. Why wouldn’t mine be broken? I was broken, too. Or at least I hadn’t felt normal in a long time.
“Yours isn’t broken,” John said. “Considering it’s a mobile device from earth, and no mobile device from earth has ever functioned in the Underworld before, I don’t quite understand … yet.” He was looking at me speculatively. “But it did exactly what ours do. You were worried about your family, so what you were shown was your heart’s desire: the one member of your family who’s in immediate danger, and needs your —”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. Something dawned on me. “Was that how you always knew when I was in trouble and needed help? Like that day at school, with Mr. Mueller? And at the jeweler’s that time? Because I was the one you most wanted to see when you looked down into your —”
“Oh, look,” John said, seeming infinitely relieved by the interruption. “Here comes Frank.”
Frank was sauntering over. “Found him,” he said, with casual nonchalance.
My heart gave a swoop. Only something as monumental as my cousin finally being located could distract me from the discovery that all those times my boyfriend had rescued me from mortal peril, it had been because he’d been spying on me from the Underworld via a handheld device seemingly operated by the Fates. “Where?”
“Exactly where Miss Kayla left him.” Frank led us a few booths down, to a dark passageway set back from the street. Over the passageway was an arch made of wrought iron, covered in twinkling fairy lights, through which vines of bright yellow bougainvillea twisted.
On top of the archway sat Hope, cooing to herself. When she noticed me, she lifted her wings and took off, ducking inside the arch.
The archway led to the large outdoor courtyard, thickly canopied by tree branches through which more fairy lights had been strung, and colored lanterns had been hung to give the place a deeply romantic air.
It was from this courtyard, I realized, that the lively Spanish music we’d been hearing all night had been playing. I could see a small stage lit with floodlights, with several musicians standing on it, including a few guitar players and a beautiful singer in a tight red dress, a hibiscus flower in her hair. In front of the stage, couples of all ages were dancing. Small tables were scattered throughout the yard, many of them empty. That was probably because most people preferred the vibrant activity on the street.
There was food available, however. A long table on one side of the courtyard offered up a buffet. Hope had planted herself in front of this table, pecking the ground for any morsel that might have dropped from diners’ plates. I didn’t blame her. I could smell the delicious aromas of marinated chicken and seafood, and realized once again how ravenous I was. The frozen fruit I’d eaten hadn’t been enough to satisfy my appetite.
“Madame.” Kayla startled me by stepping out of the deep shadows of the archway and giving a dramatic sweep of her purple velvet cape. “Your cousin Alex awaits.” She pointed at one of the white plastic tables sheltered by the branches of a large tree.
There was no mistaking the figure sitting slumped in the glow of his cell phone. It was Alex, all right. His thumbs were moving rapidly over his keypad.
“Thanks, Kayla,” I said. To John, I said, ignoring the hunger pangs from my stomach, “I’ll be right back,” and started walking over to my cousin’s table.
“I’ll accompany you,” John said, falling into step beside me. “If you don’t mind.”
I stopped. “John,” I said. I felt flustered because of the aroma of the food and the fact that I’d come so far only to find Alex texting — texting — in such a beautiful courtyard while everyone else was having a good time at the festival, even if what they were celebrating was something macabre … the death and burial of my boyfriend. At least underneath the thick canopy of leaves I couldn’t feel the hard intermittent drops of rain. “I know your magic mirror probably doesn’t work up here on earth, but you can see with your own eyes that I’m not in danger right now.”
His dark eyebrows lifted. “I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t need your help right now,” I explained. “You’ll actually only get in the way. You don’t know Alex. And he doesn’t know you. All he knows is whatever my grandmother told him about you … and I highly doubt that was anything good. He isn’t going to talk in front of you.”
“Perhaps not.” John’s smile was polite. “But you’re wrong about not being in danger right now.” He nodded at my chest.
I looked down. In the rosy glow of the party lanterns, I saw what he meant. The diamond dangling from my necklace had gone the same color as the storm clouds that had been gathering all night.
Somewhere close by lurked a Fury.
Don’t worry,” John said. “We’ll take care of it … without getting in your way.”
Already, Mr. Liu and Frank had split up, Mr. Liu taking the outer edges of the courtyard, scanning the few people at the tables, and Frank whirling Kayla out onto the dance floor so he’d have a reason to be in the middle of all the couples gathered there. Even Henry left his cotton candy and drink on an empty table, and scrambled up one of the trees for a better lookout position.
“What will you do if you find a Fury?” I blurted. “Kill it?”
Even before the words came out of my mouth, I regretted them. A cloud as dark as the ones blackening my diamond came over his face, and John looked away, saying, “No. As you reminded me earlier, killing doesn’t stop Furies … unfortunately. But pain can be a remarkably effective deterrent sometimes.”
I bit my li
p. His tone was flippant, but I’d heard the wounded pride behind it.
I put a hand on his arm and said, “John, I’m sorry. Surely we can find another way to defeat them.”
He shook his head, looking vaguely amused.
“Go and talk to your cousin,” he said. “I’ll keep watch.”
Pressing my lips together, I walked to where Alex was sitting. I guess I could understand it. John had been doing this for nearly two hundred years, after all. Who was I to think I was such an expert, after less than a week?
“Alex,” I said, sliding into a chair next to him.
He didn’t acknowledge me, still entirely focused on his phone. It took me a few seconds to realize it was because he was wearing earbuds. Sitting in a courtyard where fantastic live music was playing, and he was wearing earbuds. Unbelievable.
I reached over and yanked one out. “Alex.”
He jerked his face from the screen, and turned to look at me. When he realized who I was, he didn’t smile. He frowned.
“Oh, hey, Pierce,” he said. “My dad said you were back. He just called, actually, and said all hell has broken loose because you went to the house with your new boyfriend and left some kind of note saying that you’re running off with him to get married or something. Congratulations. So what are you doing here?”
Married? I hadn’t said anything about getting married. Why was everyone in my family so dramatic?
“What are you doing here?” I shot back. “Didn’t Uncle Chris tell you to come home?”
“What are you now, the parental police?” Alex asked, with a laugh. “You’re one to talk. Where have you been for the past two days? Off with this guy? Who is he, anyway? Did you know the cops are looking for you? Your dad is on the way into town, and I hear he isn’t too happy with you. Better watch out, or he might cut off that thousand-dollars-a-week allowance.”
“It isn’t a thousand dollars a week,” I said, even more annoyed. “Who are you texting?”
He showed me his screen. “World of Warcraft.”
“Well, Alex, put it down,” I said. “I need to talk to you.”