by Trinity Crow
“I'm not heartbroken,” the other girl said, sounding annoyed. She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and examined her pink nails coolly. “I was just doing you a favor.”
“By dating her loser brother?” Adam nodded understandingly as he gave me a wink. “You're a good friend.”
Both girls gave him a flat stare and I took a bite of my sandwich to stave off a laugh at his silliness. It was no doubt rude to eat in front of them, but I wasn't in a position where I could waste food.
“Is that tuna. . .and cheese?” Cassie's voice held a wealth of disgust.
“It's a tuna melt, sis, an American classic. And,” Adam gave his sister a flat look, “if you can't be polite, you can leave us to eat in peace.”
“You're not eating, “ Marlee put in suddenly, abandoning her pretense of disinterest. “She's eating and you look like you just sat down.”
Marlee and Cassie exchanged significant looks.
“He's mad they only have peach pie,” I said bravely. “So he's striking.”
Cassie frowned as this sunk in. “Yeah, he does hate peach.” She lost interest in her brother and started off on another topic.
“So are you excited about the auction?” She pulled out her phone and scrolled through to the page she wanted. “You should finish up that sandwich,” she told me. “We only have till four to bid and it's a two hour drive.”
“As much fun as a dollar raffle for houses sounds,” Marlee said, her face brittle and cold, “I think I'm going to pass. I can still make it to Annalee's house for spa day.”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “Marlee, how many times can you wrap yourself in seaweed and mud? I mean, come on! A house for a dollar!”
My eyes widened as I followed this exchange. Wrap herself in seaweed in mud? Did she mean actual seaweed and mud or was this just another saying I did not understand?
“A falling down wreck with a history of murder or suicide?” Marlee said with a pained look. “Pass. Even for a dollar, that's too expensive. No matter how you fix it up, it will always be a social nightmare.” She stood up and gave Adam a smile that even I recognized as an attempt to be sultry. “Nice to meet you,” she said, one cool, green eye twitching in a wink. With a toss of her head, she turned to go, pointedly ignoring me.
We watched her sway her way out the door and then Adam let out a low whistle.
“Wow, sis, I had no idea you hated me so much. You thought I was so lonely that I needed to be fixed up with the ice queen?”
Cassie shrugged and waved at the waitress for the check. “She can be pretty warm when she wants to.”
“Ewww,” I said without thinking and then turned bright red when they both stopped talking and looked at me.
Adam laughed, his eyes filling with that distracting light, and after a minute, Cassie did too.
“Okay, truce,” she said. “You know what's crazy? At first, I thought maybe my brother was pretending you were his girlfriend, but I'm not blind. I can see when it's true looooove.” She made kissy noises and then stuck out her tongue, pretending to retch.
I avoided looking at Adam as I fished out a few dollars to pay for the sandwich. I didn't want to see the look in his eyes.
“I got the tip,” Cassie announced.
A tip?
I opened my mouth, but Cassie hushed me. “ Listen, the four of us sat here taking up real estate, and if we don't leave a good tip, Edna may never let us back in.”
She threw down a ten without a second thought and stood up.
Ten dollars? My sandwich had only cost two-fifty.
“Come on, you guys!” she ordered. “Two hour drive, remember?”
“You don't have to come,” Adam told me quietly. “I think I'm out the danger zone.” He pulled a twenty out his wallet and passed it to me as he stood to leave.
I felt the lost of my temporary peace keenly. Danger was pressing me from all sides and this brief respite was ending too quickly. Could I go with them? Was it safe? Maybe there was another motel in that town. And what Cassie said about a dollar auction pulled at me. I held the money for a minute and then offered it back to him.
“May I take my payment in a ride?” I asked hesitantly. “To which ever town you're going to?”
He stared at me, eyes questioning, and I flushed, thinking how stupid I was. I should have played along, asked to go to the auction, pretended I met a friend and didn't need a ride back. Anything would have sounded more normal than what had just come out of my mouth. I hunched in my seat, miserable, and then jumped slightly as his warm, strong fingers closed over my hand, folding the money inside.
“No payment for the ride,” he said quietly. “We were going anyway.”
My heart thumped in my chest and I nodded, not looking up. I wished I could push the issue but I couldn't afford to turn down twenty dollars.
“Thanks,” I said, my voice not quite steady.
“Thank you,” he said in a light voice. “I would be spending two hours in a car with Ice Queen Marlee if you hadn't saved me.”
“Her Royal Highness of seaweed and mud,” I added hesitantly. It had been a long time since I had been allowed to be silly.
“Her Royal Pain in the . . .” he trailed off, grinning as he made me laugh again.
“Now, you two,” Cassie bellowed from the door and then grimaced and waved at the frowning older woman who had come out of the kitchen. “Sorry, Edna!”
She motioned frantically at the two of us and we walked quickly towards the door, trying not to laugh too hard.
Chapter 2
The drive was over quickly. Mostly because, to my great embarrassment, I had fallen asleep. To be fair, I hadn't really slept properly since I had run two weeks ago. And then last night, once the door had started rattling, I had stayed awake, a tight ball of fear watching and listening, until dawn finally broke.
“Good nap?" Cassie teased. "Is my brother keeping you up at night?” A horrified look crossed her face as she processed her own words. “Oh, gross! Don't tell me.”
I changed the subject quickly. I had been too distracted to properly listen to the conversation in the diner. Surely I had not heard right. A house for a dollar? “What's this about an auction?”
“You didn't tell her?" Cassie said in surprise.
Adam snorted. “This is your project, Cass. Believe it or not, we have other things to talk about than you and your crazy ideas.”
“Well, brother mine, sounds like she's interested in my crazy!”
She leaned forward and folded her arms on the edge of my headrest. “So, my friend Jason's cousin? He works for the city clerk's office over in Spicewood and he told me about it. They're trying to encourage people to come live there, so they're having a special raffle for abandoned or foreclosed houses. The tickets are from twenty bucks to a hundred. They pull your name, you win. Super cool, huh?”
"But your friend said one dollar houses.”
“Yeah.” Cassie blew her bangs out her face. “But those are the hard-to-sell places."
"You mean impossible to sell and need to be condemned," Adam put in. He passed me a bottle of water and I smiled at him gratefully.
"They are not!" Cassie protested. "They've all been inspected and have a full report so you know what you're getting into. The reason they won't sell is their history. Like maybe somebody was shot or killed themselves there. So those are a buck a ticket. On the one hand, a dollar for a house? Sweet! But Marlee has a point about them being sort of pariah houses. Maybe I'll stick with the higher priced houses. Even a hundred bucks for a house is insanely cheap.”
“And you want a house?” I asked. I spoke as calmly as I could, but my pulse was pounding in my ears. This could turn the small sum of money in my pocket into a fortune. Three hundred chances for a one dollar house. I didn't mind if someone died there. Death was a part of life, after all. Murder was a little harder to adjust to. But even if living in a murder house was slightly creepy, it wasn't as bad as a real-life creep trying to get in your mo
tel room.
“Yes, ma'am!" Cassie chirped. "And I plan to flip it and make a ton of money.”
Cassie caught my puzzled look. “Flip it, you know…fix it up and sell it for more money.”
I nodded and smiled. Flip it. I had never heard that before. And I wasn't all that interested. I didn't want to flip a house, I wanted to buy one. I wanted a place to be safe and hidden. It seemed like the craziest of luck that I had stumbled on this chance, but I wasn't going to let it go without at least trying.
“There!” Cassie yelled, leaning forward and pointing. We had turned the corner into the town square and the crowd milling around was plain to see.
“Where, Cass?” Adam said, acting puzzled. “Point the way or I'll never find it.”
A peal of laughter spilled out of me before I could stop it. Adam shot me a grin.
“Oh, brother, “ Cassie said leaning back. “You've got it bad if you think he's funny.”
I shrugged. “I do think he's funny,” I said, surprising myself. “But I also think you have a good idea.”
“You do?” Cassie leaned forward again and hugged both me and the car seat. “Marry this girl, Adam! Finally, someone who recognizes my genius. Someone who understands how important support and encouragement are!”
I shook my head at Cassie's silliness, but there was a warm glow inside me just the same. Was this what a normal family was like? At New Eden, all children belonged to the Family. Most of them didn't know who their birth mother or father was. I was different. My mother had not joined until I was nine, and from the minute I had found my birth certificate among my mother's things, my plan had been to leave.
I took a deep breath as I stared at the crowd milling around the tables. I didn't believe in miracles anymore, but maybe luck had finally turned my way. Determinedly, I stared at the raffle that could be my saving grace. I would make my own luck if I had to, all three hundred pieces of it.
***
Adam found a parking space and we all piled out the car. Nervously, I smoothed down my skirt. A sense of otherness came over me as I noticed how differently the people around me were dressed. Few women were wearing skirts and none of them ankle-length. I touched my uncovered hair self-consciously, seeing the amount of styling the women had gone to. The bright colors of clothes fascinated me and I wanted to wear all of them at once. Such bright shades of purple, red and blue felt like it could also be a sort of armor against fear and heartache. How could they not lifte your spirits, I wondered. New clothes would also help me fit in and hide me if the brethren from New Eden came hunting. Although they couldn't legally force me to go back, it turned out that a lot of things done at the isolated compound weren't legal.
Cassie dragged us both by the hands to the crowded tables, chattering excitedly. "I want to look at the twenty dollar houses first," she said firmly.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and make myself speak up. Women were not allowed to disagree at New Eden. It was God's will that men be given dominion over us and women be silent. I forced that thought out of my head. All around me, women were making decisions, making plans and not one was being struck by the wrath of the Almighty. Their bare heads and bright, shiny hair spoke of a freedom that should be everyone's right.
"I, um, I would like to see the one dollar houses,” I said as forcefully as I could manage. Though it came out a breathless squeak, I had done it. I took a deeper breath. “I'll catch up with you in a bit, okay?"
Cassie barely nodded, intent on her own interests, but Adam looked at me, concerned.
"I'll be fine," I told him, touched that he was worried about me. I offered him a shy smile before I wandered down the length of the sidewalk. People were calling and shouting to each other. The sense of excitement in the air was palpable. I had never felt such energy and marveled at how alive it could make you feel.
The farthest table bore a sign declaring One Dollar Properties. The table was set up with a number of mounted pictures. In front of of them was a binder that gave details such as the number of bedrooms and square footage as well as the dark history of each dwelling. And behind each picture sat a raffle box with a slot in top for the tickets. This table had few people looking. From the state of the houses in the pictures, I could see that maybe people preferred to take a chance on a twenty dollar house like Cassie. I counted ten houses in all, from a very modest one bedroom to a giant structure with massive stone columns. I watched as a dark-skinned girl, her face drawn with intensity, studied the pictures. Like me, she seemed to be both fiercely aware of the crowd and trying to avoid all notice of it. My heart went out to her and I prayed she got what she came for.
A fierce excitement welled inside me at the thought of actually winning. But which house? The possibilities made me breathless. I could bid on more than one or go all in. Maybe even watch the crowd until I saw which had the fewest bids. I trembled with anticipation and nerves at my own daring. I had come from a life where owning even the smallest of possessions was forbidden to me and now I was going to own a house . . .and land? I pulled my shawl close around me though the day was warm and balled my hands in the ends to hide their shaking.
Did I dare?
Fear, determination, panic all welled up inside and I forced myself to turn towards the table selling the raffle tickets.
I was doing this.
I fought my way through the crowd, intending to spend every penny.
"Thr. . ." I stuttered and swallowed hard, mortified. "Thr. . . thr. . ."
"Speak up, honey,” the woman in front of me said, shaking her head. "I can't understand you."
I stared, transfixed as the woman's hair moved as a solid unit, her head held fast with what must be a gallon of hairspray.
"Hon? You want some tickets or not?"
I, who had never stuttered in my life, tried again. "Thir, thir. . ." My throat seized up and then the words spilled out. "Twenty tickets for Rickrack house," I said smoothly in someone else's voice.
The woman frowned and then shrugged. "You could probably win that wreck with a single ticket," she said with a snort. "Now, you'll need to read the binder. . .fully, mind, and read this waiver. You have to sign off on it if you win. And I'm thinking you will."
I nodded, my heart beating too fast. Where had the words come from? Why had I only asked for twenty tickets?
Go back! I screamed at myself, but my feet were moving me back to the raffle boxes.
I must have seen the house names when I had looked the table over, I reasoned with myself. And it sounded from the woman's comments as if twenty was more than enough. I began to sweat in a fever of indecision. Buy more tickets and stand a greater chance of winning or keep some money in reserve for food and other necessities? I clutched my tickets and the pen the woman offered me and hurried back to the raffle table.
Just put the tickets in, I told myself. You can go back for more if you want.
Anxiously, I scanned the pictures looking for the Rickrack house. Another girl with pink-streaked, blonde hair was lifting the lid of each raffle box and peering inside. It was a smart idea, I thought, to see which of the houses had few or no bids. From what I could see, it looked like most of them were empty. The girl caught my eye and shrugged, giving me a cool smile.
"There is no rule against checking," she said. She pointed to a man in a suit walking around the tables. "That uptight looking dude told me it was cool if I wanted to."
“Oh, that's so helpful,” I said gratefully. “Thank you so much.”
The girl gave me a friendlier smile. "Stay away from that brick house on the end," she advised me. "The people who lived there last were seriously messed up."
I nodded my head and murmured another thank you, but one of the houses had caught my eye. It stood alone on an empty lot, proud and bare. The roof, more rafter then shingles, etched stark lines against the sky. In a place so open, no one could sneak up on you.
The house was covered in intricate fret work. Hand-cut, wooden rectangles had been painsta
kingly placed to make patterns along the exterior walls. I bent to look closer at the photograph and then shivered just slightly. It looked as if the front windows had all been bricked in. I supposed it was to stop vandals, but it gave the poor house such a desolate air as if it were waiting for someone to come rescue it. I looked down at the binder and froze as the words reached my brain. . .Rickrack house. Without conscious thought, I reached for the binder, but someone's hand closed over mine, squeezing it painfully.
Chapter 3
The suited man held my hand in a vise-like grip. His smile was grim and insincere and his eyes cold.
"Yes, well. . . the Rickrack house is a historical treasure," he said pointedly. "I do believe the city was looking for someone more. . .shall we say respectable?. . . to restore it to its former glory.”
I jerked my hand free, ducking my head submissively as I started to move away, but my fingers inexplicably tried to tighten on the binder.
"Let go, little girl," he said, his voice chilling.
"Hey! She had that first!" Cassie pulled the binder out of the man's hand and handed it to me. "The raffle is open to the public, buddy, and if Abby wants to throw her dollar away on this broken-down wreck, she has as much right as anybody else."
Cassie pinned him with a fierce glare, staring up at him with her hands on her hips. Her bravery and defiance stunned me. With a dismissive sniff that shocked me, she turned to squeeze in beside me as we opened the binder together.
"Listen here," the man started, his brows drawing down in a scowl.
Adam jogged up and put himself between us and the man. I hadn't realized just how tall Adam was and how broad his shoulders until I saw him towering over the shorter man.
"Is there a problem?" Adam said, frowning.
"Abby wanted to look at this house and that man was giving her a hard time," Cassie said indignantly.
"It's fine," I said quietly, flushing at all the attention.
"Yeah," the man said. "It's fine."
Adam leaned slightly in his direction. "It is now," he said coldly. "Don't you have something better to do then harass young girls?" The man scowled, straightened his suit coat, and then with a glance at the people beginning to stare, gave up and walked away.