There was nothing to say, nothing that would make sense to her, so I kept silent, and her sobs got louder.
“Help me,” I said to Lou.
“Why should I?” he asked. Ugh. Teens could be so frustrating.
“For her,” I said, pointing to Mom, and prayed my hunch was right. That Lou was completely taken by her looks. “Do you want her to be like this? All afraid of powers and magic? How will you win her over then? Wouldn’t it be easier to get her to like you if she just accepted it all?”
“She’d like me either way,” he said, all full of himself. “I’m pretty charming.”
Teen devil was even more annoying than the adult version. “Look at her,” I said.
“I am,” he said, his smile getting bigger.
I rolled my eyes. “I mean, see how upset she is?” Mom was balled up on the floor. “If you like her, don’t you want her to be happy? Not some crying mess?”
Lou pursed his lips together. Then he finally spoke. “Fine,” he said. “But for her, not for you. We’re not done.”
My parents didn’t know each other as teens. They met at NYU. But it seemed no matter what age Lou was, he felt a connection with Mom.
Lou waved his hand in front of my mother and a moment later she was on her feet. “Okay . . . ,” she said impatiently, her hands on her hips. “What am I doing here?”
This time there were no tears. There was no hyperventilating, no trying to escape. There was just major attitude.
“Well,” I said, “umm, my mother asked you here to . . . to babysit me.”
“Yuck,” she whined. “I hate babysitting.”
And while she wasn’t happy about the circumstances, she didn’t question them. Lou did it! He made her go with the flow!
Mom crinkled her nose at me. “Aren’t you a little old to have a babysitter?” she asked.
“My mom is super-overprotective.” Understatement of the year. “It’s not my fault you’re here.”
“My guess is that this is very much your fault,” Lou said.
Did he remember?
Suddenly, Mom seemed to notice Lou for the first time. As she looked him over, her eyes got wide. “Hi,” she said and batted her eyelashes. “I’m Maggie.” Maggie was the name she went by as a kid—before she changed it.
“Lou,” he said and flashed her a dimpled smile.
Mom cocked her head to the side and bit her lip.
No way!! They were flirting with each other!
“So what were you saying about this being her fault?” Mom asked, not taking her eyes off of him for an instant.
“Some magical beings need more supervision than others,” he said, leaving out the part that he was the devil and needed a chaperone more than anyone.
“Totally,” Mom said, like she knew what Lou was talking about.
But I guess she did. At least part of it—like powers. I had asked Lou to make her accept everything.
“So, Lou,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “A guy like you, I bet you’re super-powerful.”
He just winked at her.
“Come on,” she said and swatted his arm, letting her hand linger there. “You’re not going to tell me what you can do?”
“You really want to know?” he asked.
“What do you think?” she responded, her voice practically giddy.
I could not believe what I was seeing. My mom was a monster flirt. And she was hitting on the devil!
“I bet you can make Harry Potter look like a store magician compared to you,” Mom gushed on.
Wait a second. “You know who Harry Potter is?”
Mom rolled her eyes at me, and then made the “cuckoo” gesture with her hand. “Who doesn’t?”
Oohhhhhhh. So I had turned my parents into modern-day teens. They had their old personalities complete with up-to-date useless knowledge. Too bad they couldn’t remember me or their actual, adult lives.
“I can do all sorts of stuff,” Lou told her.
“Like what?” Mom asked.
“Like anything your heart desires. Just name it.”
Talk about cheese! But Mom was eating it up.
“Anything?” she asked.
“Anything,” he answered.
Mom giggled. Giggled! She should have been freaking out. She was dealing with the devil!
“Then how’d you get stuck here babysitting with me?” she asked, flipping her hair again.
“Couldn’t leave you alone with her.” He pointed at me. “I wouldn’t want something to happen to you. She could be dangerous.”
Me?! What about him? If Lou wasn’t going to reveal his true identity to Mom, then I was going to do it for him.
“Do you realize he’s the devil?” I yelled. I expected Mom to have another breakdown, to sink to the floor in a frenzied panic. But she didn’t. She just twirled a strand of hair around her finger and said, “Oooh, bad boys are always more fun.”
“You are kidding me, right?” I demanded. “We’re not talking about some guy who just skips school or stays out after his curfew. We’re talking about the Prince of Darkness.”
“Even better,” she said and winked at Lou. “I’ve always wanted to date a prince.”
This was too much. “He’s evil!”
“He’s probably just misunderstood,” Mom countered and rolled her eyes at me.
I opened my mouth to object, but Lou cut me off. He was totally eating up everything Mom had to say and loving every second of it.
“Maggie, can you give us a few minutes?” he asked her. “I want to talk to this girl. See what she’s up to. Make sure you’re safe around her.”
Safe? From me? I had a lot to say to that, but I didn’t. Mom nodded. Her eyes were sparkling. She was totally smitten by Lou and his knight-in-shining-armor act. “Okay, I’ll go see if there’s anything decent to wear in this house. I have no idea why I’m in these mommy jeans. Gross.”
Clearly, she didn’t remember that this was her house. How could she just go rummaging through other people’s stuff? “Uh, hello?” I said. “You can’t go through the closets.”
“Why not?”
“They’re not yours.”
“So?” she asked, like I was the one who said something stupid.
This was nuts. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation with her. Not that I got to finish it. Mom ran out of the room, sneaking a look back at Lou, before I could say anything else.
“So let me guess,” Lou said the moment she was out of earshot. “You’re just another angel trying to get me to reclaim my wings and come home? I already told the last guy and now I’m telling you. I’m done. I’m sick of being an angel. I’m never going back. It’s time for me to shine.”
This was bad. Way bad. Lou was back at the point in his life where he decided to go out on his own. Where he decided to become the devil.
“That’s not it,” I said, holding up my fingers in the Girl Scout pledge. I told him everything. How he was my father, how I inherited his powers, how I accidentally turned him back to his teen self. Everything.
But he didn’t buy it. His eyes turned into little slits. “You might have been able to summon me here. But no way you’d be able to do something that big. Not if I were as powerful as you said. Not some little girl. Not to me.”
“Only I did. I’m your daughter. Your powers are my powers.”
“I don’t have a daughter.”
“You will.”
He shook his head. His hands were tightening into fists and little energy waves were emanating from them. They formed a ball made of light and electricity. He was getting angry. At me! And who knew what this Lou was capable of. “What’s your game? Who put you up to this?” he asked.
“No one. Just calm down.” I needed to say something he’d buy. I was actually getting scared of him. Was he going to throw that energy ball at me? At his own kid? What would that do? Transport me to another galaxy? Or worse? “I made it all up,” I said.
“Wh
y?” he asked.
“Because that’s what, um, little sisters do, right?”
“I don’t have a sister, either.”
The energy waves were getting bigger.
“Wait,” I said, trying to weave together a believable story as fast as I could. “You don’t have a sister that you know of. But you do have one. I’m your half sister, Angel. I grew up on earth and just found out about you and my powers. I called you here to meet you. Honest. Look at the resemblance.” I smiled, showing off the dimples. “And my eyes. See. I just wanted to meet you.”
The energy waves went away. Lou was buying it.
“Trust me. You don’t want to be a part of my family. I’m waging war with some powerful people. And I don’t need some kid getting in the way. Do not summon me again. Got it?” He looked like he meant it. This Lou was not to be messed with.
“Hey,” Mom said, skipping back into the room.
Lou’s whole demeanor changed. He went from standing rigid and ready to attack me to Mr. Relaxed. He gave her a huge smile. He was totally crushing on her. Big time.
“Go back to your normal age, go back to your normal age,” I said over and over again. But it wasn’t happening. Mom just kept going on and on about her clothes.
“I was able to find this top in the back of a closet,” Mom said inspecting her shirt. It was the one-sleeve black tee I had created with my powers ages ago. Mom had confiscated it and said no daughter of hers would ever go out of the house in it—that it was too risqué. Apparently teen Mom didn’t think there was a problem with it. “But I couldn’t find any decent jeans.”
Please return to your normal ages! I thought, trying to wake my powers up, to force them to undo what I had just done. Focusing had worked for me in the past, but it wasn’t doing anything for me now. I tried waving my hands the way Lou had to make Mom all accepting, closing my eyes and wishing, and I even made up a little poem/spell and said it a dozen times: “It’s time to get everything on track, to your real ages you must go back. Okay, Mom and Lou, it’s back to adulthood for the two of you. So please this time, powers abide by my rhyme.”
My poem didn’t work. My parents weren’t aging. They were still teens. I couldn’t reverse what I had done.
“I could help you find a new outfit,” Lou said, ignoring me and taking Mom’s hand. “The world and beyond is at your disposal.”
And Mom was smiling. It didn’t bother her that Lou was going to use his devil powers for her. She actually liked it. This was definitely not the Mom I knew.
“Wait. You can’t go. What about me?”
“I think you’ll be just fine on your own,” Lou said.
And with a wave of his hand, my parents were gone.
chapter 14
I’d just set the devil—the old, well, actually, young incarnation of him, anyway—loose on the world. To do who knows what?!
Lou had finally sworn off taking souls. And what did I do? Sent him back to his old tricks. With my mother as his sidekick. This was seriously wrong.
Where could they have gone? Lou said the world or beyond was at my mom’s disposal. What would teen Mom pick? Probably somewhere with a lot of guys so she could toss her hair some more.
I leaned against the wall, banging my head back a couple of times. How could I have been so careless? How could I have let them leave as their young selves? I was at a loss.
My mom’s attitude was bad enough. But Lou’s was bound to be worse. Having a young devil on the loose put the whole world (as in universe!) in jeopardy. Who knew how many souls he’d try to take? I needed to stop him. To track him down. But how?
Summoning him was out of the question. Not that I knew how to go about it, anyway. But even if I did, he’d probably pulverize me with an energy ball for taking him away from his busy evil deeds and my mom. I needed to go to him. To find him and talk some sense into him. Yeah, because that would totally work. I’m sure the devil loved to be lectured by a thirteen-year-old.
But I couldn’t worry about that now. First I had to find him. Then I could deal with how to get through to him.
Okay, how to reach him? His hPhone! The hPhone was like an iPhone, only with otherworldly applications. Lou probably had it with him. I could just call him.
I grabbed my cell. One hundred twelve missed calls! What? Who could want to reach me that badly?
Please let it be Mom and Lou coming to their senses.
As I reached to dial, the phone vibrated. I didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?” I answered.
“Finally, I’ve been trying you forever.”
“Max? Is that you?”
“Yep. Turn on channel five. I have a surprise for you.”
A surprise? Surprises never ended well. I raced to the living room, turned on the TV, and braced for the worst. And that’s pretty much what I got.
The news was on. Some blond reporter guy was doing a live broadcast from the mall about the Lance signing. There was Max standing behind him, blowing a kiss!
“That’s for you, Angel,” he said into the phone.
“You’re on the phone with Angel?” someone off-camera asked.
Cole’s head popped on-screen. The reporter tried to shoo him away. “I miss you, Angel. I love you. Where are you?”
What was happening? Why were they acting like this?
All of a sudden, a bunch of other people chimed in. They were waving at the camera, sending me their love.
Then I remembered.
They were all smitten with me. When I’d left the mall they had practically bombarded me with compliments and flattery. I hadn’t paid much attention, but they were definitely crazed.
Lance’s mother hadn’t just sent the love spell back at me. It went way beyond that. Everyone standing in the vicinity of the stage was affected! Max, Cole, Gabi, Courtney—gobs of people were now infatuated with me. I had my very own fan club. And no idea how to fix it.
I dropped down onto the couch and just stared at the TV.
What came on-screen next was even more disturbing than my love-struck posse. It was Lou. And my mom.
She sidled herself up next to the reporter and winked at him.
Lou watched her lick her lips at the guy. Then with a wave of his arm, he pushed the crowd, including the reporter, to the side.
Mom laughed and put her arms around Lou. Had she been trying to make him jealous? If so, it was working! He put his arms around her and held her tight. They just stood there for a moment looking at each other. Then Lou planted a huge kiss right on Mom’s lips for every channel five watcher, including me, to see.
Gross! If Lou ever got back to normal, I was going to make him erase that memory from my brain. Because watching your parents, even younger versions of them, make out was incredibly puke-inducing.
I had to turn away, only looking back at the screen when I heard Lou speak. “It’s my show now,” he said, pulling a grinning Mom closer toward him. If that was even possible!
Then he snapped his finger. And just like that, the TV went black. I reached for the remote. The other channels worked. But the live report from the mall was gone.
“Max!” I screamed into the phone. “What’s going on? What’s happening there?”
But there was no answer. The line was dead. I tried calling him back. Nothing. The same went for Cole and Gabi.
There was no communication coming from the mall.
Which could only mean one thing.
The devil was up to something.
chapter 15
My calves were on fire, I was biking so hard. I had to get back to the mall. I couldn’t believe I was making a second trip there in one day. I don’t even like shopping. But this wasn’t about shopping. This was about stopping Lou from being Lou.
And that definitely warranted a return visit to the mall.
Who knew what I’d find when I got there? The whole place was probably a mini-underworld. I didn’t really know what the underworld looked like, but I always pictured lots of flames a
nd people shoveling coal. My classmates were probably chained together, forced to do whatever the devil said.
And my mom?! What was with her? I wanted to blame Lou—say it was his powers making her act this way. Only I had a feeling that wasn’t the case. Lou made her accept her circumstances, but he didn’t turn her into a flirt or a troublemaker. That was all her. What happened to the goody-two-shoes woman who punished me for every little thing? Like even sticking my tongue out when I was five? This Mom wore sexy clothes, engaged in PDA, and dated a bad boy. How dare she be so hard on me all these years when I’m way better behaved than she ever was? She had some serious explaining to do.
To get my mind off my parents, I checked my voice mail. The inbox was full. There were messages from Max, Cole, Gabi—everyone who had my cell phone number. Even Courtney, Lana, and Jaydin, who all had it from the three seconds we were friends.
They all thought I was incredible. And I’ll be honest, the first few messages were fun to hear. Cole gushing about how he was the luckiest guy ever to get to have me for a girlfriend. How he needed me to come back to the mall for him. And how I was beautiful, smart, funny, breathtaking, inspiring, etc. Basically every nice adjective he could think of before the phone cut him off. But that didn’t stop him. He called back and listed a slew more until the message reached the time limit again. I thought I’d never get tired of hearing him say cool things about me. But after a couple of minutes . . . I got bored. He was just saying the same stuff over and over again. The same with everyone else.
There were about three more messages by the time I pulled up to the mall. I didn’t bother listening. There was no need. Because unless I could figure out a way to reverse what Lance’s mom had done, I was about to hear all the compliments live and in person.
My public was waiting inside just a few feet away.
This was going to be a total mess.
chapter 16
I put the hood of my sweatshirt over my head and pulled the strings tight, making sure to keep my face toward the floor. It’d be a lot easier to deal with this without a group of people following me around.
Love Struck Page 5