A Tangle of Secrets

by R. G. Thomas

  “Garbage Baby.” He glared at his father, putting every ounce of hurt and sense of betrayal into it. “What do you think of that?”

  His father sighed and hung his head. “I’m sorry.”

  Thaddeus slapped his hand down on the table next to him, unwittingly mimicking how Andy had reacted to Crystal at lunch. The sound of it was so loud it startled all three of them.

  “You keep saying you’re sorry, but then you go right on lying!” He was so angry he was practically shouting. “First you kept the truth about what happened to Mom a secret from me. I spent all of my life thinking she was dead. Then you kept from me the fact that I’m a wizard. And then it was the fact that you and Mom weren’t even married when she had me, but she was married to your brother. Not to mention all the shit that went down with Isadora.”

  “Hey!” his father shouted. “You watch your language.”

  “I’ll watch my shitty language when you start telling me the truth and stop telling all these shitty lies,” Thaddeus shouted back. “How’s that for a deal?”

  His father pointed toward the stairs. “Go to your room.”

  “Gladly.”

  Thaddeus grabbed his backpack and stomped past his parents, through the dining room, and up the stairs. He slammed his bedroom door behind him and started to pace. It was several minutes before he had managed to catch his breath, and he sat at his desk and drummed his fingers on the wooden surface. He had several hours until he needed to leave to go to the dance, so he distracted himself by using magic to take the books out of his bookshelf and stack them on the floor, then put them back again, one by one.

  Concentrating on his magic helped push out some of the anger at his father, and he dug into his backpack for his textbooks. He selected the two heaviest and placed them on the rug. After a few false starts, he managed to lift both books and raise them to the ceiling. They wobbled a bit at first, but when he really focused his attention, he was able to hold them steady. He made them revolve around the light fixture several times, both books an inch or less from the ceiling. When he grew tired, he eased the books down onto his bed and let out a heavy breath.

  “Awesome,” he whispered, then looked over his shoulder toward the window. “I’ll show them a Garbage Baby.”

  Chapter NINETEEN

  THADDEUS PRACTICED his magic some more, then noticed the time and realized he needed to hurry up and get ready to leave for the dance. He eased his door open and listened to make sure neither of his parents was upstairs before he left his bedroom. With quiet steps, he went into the bathroom and closed the door. Thaddeus pulled his shirt off and dropped it into the hamper, then stood facing the mirror a moment and looked himself over. His face was as pale and smooth as the skin of his chest, except for the dark rings under his eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping well because the headache and cyst kept him awake most nights. Now that he really looked at himself, he could see the effect it was having on him.

  He washed his face and gently washed the back of his neck as well. The slightest touch on the cyst brought tears to his eyes, and he wondered if he shouldn’t just get a knife from the kitchen and cut into it. The thought made him queasy, however, so he pushed it away. He used his father’s electric razor to shave off the soft fuzz that had grown during the week, then searched through the vanity drawers until he found a small hand mirror. After taking a deep breath, he turned his back on the sink and the mirrored medicine cabinet, and then held up the hand mirror.

  Seeing the entire cyst was even worse, and the sight of it made his stomach clench. The red tendrils reached not only up into his hairline, but down along his spine as well. They crossed back and forth over the vertebrae to a spot past his shoulder blades before fading out.

  “What is this thing?” Thaddeus whispered.

  A soft knock on the door made him jump.

  “Yeah?” Thaddeus said.

  “Are you hungry?” his mother asked through the door.

  He hated to admit that he was because he didn’t want to take their food and be indebted to his father. But there was nothing he could do about that at this time. And he needed to eat.

  “Yeah,” he said but made a face as he considered having to sit at the table with his father while he ate.

  “I’ll leave your plate on the desk in your bedroom.”

  Thaddeus blinked in surprise. “Oh. Thanks.”

  He listened through the door as she walked toward his room, and a few moments later, heard her footsteps as she descended the stairs. That had been easy. But now he needed to figure out what to do about this zit. He searched through the medicine cabinet and drawers of the vanity but found nothing in the way of cover-up. His mother didn’t wear makeup as far as he could tell—she was learning to be human again after so long being a dragon. Then he had an idea. Maybe Miriam would be able to help. He could stop by the Rhododendron house on his way to the dance.

  After checking the hall to be sure the coast was clear, Thaddeus crossed to his room and closed the door. Dinner consisted of scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast. He loved having breakfast for dinner, so that made him happy. But it was also a weekly tradition between him and his father, and that made him feel sad. He missed the close relationship they’d once had. But the lies had piled up over the last few months—Thaddeus’s whole life, really—and he wondered if he could ever feel as close to him again.

  Pushing aside thoughts about the past, Thaddeus focused on the present and what he was going to wear. He pulled on a black T-shirt and chose one of his better button-down shirts, white with soft gray lines that crisscrossed in a grid. He grabbed his black jeans and dug through the tumble of shoes on the floor of his closet for his rubber-soled black shoes. As he looked at his reflection in his dresser mirror, Thaddeus felt good about himself for what seemed like the first time in weeks. Maybe if he kept his back to the wall, everything would go well.

  He hurriedly finished his dinner before dashing into the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair. There wasn’t anyone specific he was trying to impress—certainly not Andy or Marty, and Crystal wasn’t his type—he simply wanted to look good after such a tough start to the school year. He wondered when he stopped by to see Miriam if Teofil would be back yet from his investigative trip.

  Wouldn’t it be nice if he was and seeing you so dressed up made him feel as hurt as you do now?

  Thaddeus frowned. He didn’t want to hurt Teofil, did he? No, he would never want to hurt Teofil. He wanted to get back to where they had been not very long ago. But there seemed to be such a distance between them now, Thaddeus didn’t know if that would be possible.

  “Focus on one thing at a time,” Thaddeus said to his reflection, and that seemed to quiet his inner voice.

  Grabbing the hand mirror, he checked to see how much of the hideous red cyst peeked over the top of the shirt collar. It wasn’t as much as he’d anticipated, and he felt a bit grateful at that. If Miriam had some kind of cover-up mixture in her large collection of homemade remedies, that would really do the trick.

  Thaddeus put his house key in his left front pocket and his lame flip phone in his right. He stuck his wallet with the few dollars he had remaining in his back pocket, took a breath, and slowly, carefully descended the steps. His parents sat in the kitchen, talking quietly, more than likely about him. He crept to the front door and gently turned the deadbolt. With very slow movements, he opened the door wide enough so he could slip outside, then eased it closed behind him.

  He jumped off the porch and ran up the driveway into the backyard and along the tall privacy fence. Pushing through the gate, he jogged across the yard, purposefully not looking at the hundreds of beautiful blooms because he didn’t want to think about Teofil right then. At the back door, he could hear Miriam humming in the kitchen through the screen, and he knocked gently.

  “Oh, Thaddeus, you don’t have to knock, love,” Miriam said when she appeared and pushed open the screen door. “You’re family, my dear. You can come right i
nside.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate that,” Thaddeus said, hoping his smile looked genuine.

  “My, don’t you look handsome. I’m sorry to say that Teofil isn’t back yet. He’s been gone this whole week, but I do expect he’ll be returning this evening.”

  “Oh, okay. That’s good to know. He didn’t tell me he was going away, so I didn’t know.”

  “Didn’t he now? That’s strange.”

  Thaddeus was glad to hear her say that, because it meant Teofil had not been talking him down, at least not to his mother.

  “I really did come by to see you, though,” Thaddeus said.

  Miriam smiled. “Well, it’s my lucky day. Come along inside.”

  He stepped into the kitchen and realized how much he missed being there. He had always felt at home in the Rhododendron house, but now he felt like an intruder.

  “What can I help you with?” Miriam asked.

  “I was wondering if you have a mixture that might be used to cover up… imperfections?” Thaddeus didn’t want to show Miriam the extent of the cyst. He only wanted to get something to hide it.

  “Imperfections? You mean on your skin?”

  “Yes. Like a cover-up for blemishes or freckles or something.”

  “You know, I do have a little something left up here somewhere.” Miriam turned her back on Thaddeus to rummage through the shelves of glass and clay jars. As she moved the jars around, they clinked and tinkled like a tiny orchestra warming up before launching into a symphony.

  “Ah, here we are.” She handed over a very small clay jar with a cork stopper. “There’s not much left, but it should match your skin tone.” She leaned in closer and squinted at him. “Where are you going to apply it?”

  “Oh, a few spots on my face,” Thaddeus said. “I’m going to a school dance tonight and want to look my best.”

  “Well, you look quite dapper. I’m sure Teofil will be sad to know he missed seeing you.” Her eyes went wide, and she clapped her hands together. “You two could attend one of these school dances together sometime! Oh, wouldn’t that be grand? I would love to see you both dressed in your best and send you off together. Teofil could use some mingling with the outside world. He’s been so caught up in things around here, it would do him a world of good.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Thaddeus said. He held up the small jar as he backed toward the door. “Thank you for this. I’ll bring back what’s left.”

  Miriam waved his statement away. “No worries, dear. I can always whip up a new batch. I should probably do that soon anyway. Meadow and Rose are getting to the age when they want to look their best around the young gnome men. Fourteen children… I must have been out of my mind.”

  “Thanks again.”

  Thaddeus let himself out through the back door, jumped down the steps, and tore across the yard. He clutched the clay jar tight in his fist as he slipped through the gate and ran through his own yard to the sidewalk. If he went a few blocks out of his way, he could stop into SuPERKstition and use the coffee shop’s restroom to apply the mixture. From what he remembered, there were two mirrors set at an angle to each other in the restroom which would allow him to see the back of his neck.

  When he arrived at the coffeehouse, several people stood in line to order, a few of them kids he recognized from school. A girl noticed him and leaned in to whisper to her girlfriends, who all looked his way. One of them laughed and shook her head.

  The urge to use magic to push her through the plate glass window was strong inside him, but he restrained himself. He kept his gaze averted as he walked past the line, along the glass-fronted counter filled with muffins, cookies, and other treats, and toward the restrooms. He remembered being there with Teofil, and was surprised when he realized that had been only a week before. So much had changed between him and Teofil in that short span of time.

  There were two single-occupancy unisex restrooms in the back hallway. The first bathroom was occupied, but the second was available, and Thaddeus locked the door behind him.

  At the precise moment he uncorked the clay jar, the milk steamer behind the serving counter screamed into life, and he jumped, then laughed at himself. He looked at his reflection straight on a moment, steeling himself, then adjusted his stance so he could see the back of his neck in the angled side mirror. The top half of the pimple was visible, like an angry, infected sunrise appearing over the top of his shirt collar.

  “Gross.”

  Thaddeus removed his shirt and hung it on the hook on the back of the door. He put his finger over the top of the clay bottle and shook it. A drop of flesh-colored cream sat on his fingertip, and he held it up next to his face to check if the tint would match his complexion. When he held it close to his cheek, Thaddeus was surprised to see the cream subtly lighten its shade to match his skin.

  “Miriam, you’re amazing,” he whispered.

  After some changing of position, he managed to apply the cover-up over the surface of the pimple and the red lines that extended up into his hairline. He checked the cream in the mirror, smoothed it out in a few places, then washed his hands and put his shirt on again. There was still some mixture in the bottle, so he pushed the cork back in and slipped it into his front pocket. With a final look at his reflection, he gave himself a nod and left the restroom.

  Keeping his gaze averted from the kids waiting in line, he left SuPERKstition and walked at a brisk pace toward the school. The front-facing windows of the school were dark, but the gymnasium in back was a different story. The parking lot was filled with cars, music thumped, and colored lights flashed and strobed out of the open doors where two students were taking the dollar admission charge from kids going inside. Thaddeus paid his dollar and stepped into the noise and flare of lights. Many kids were dancing at the far end of the gym, gyrating and grinding to the music played by a student behind a sound system. More kids sat in groups at tables set up in the nearer half of the gym. Off to the side were tables where members of the student council sold sodas and snacks.

  Andy got up from a nearby table and approached him. “You blew off your bedtime and came!”

  “I’m here,” Thaddeus said with a roll of his eyes.

  “Good, because I’ve got plans.” Andy put an arm around his shoulders and led him back toward the table, leaning in to whisper loudly in his ear. “Dixon’s car is all by itself out in the parking lot, and I thought we could give him a nice Spirit dance present.”

  A combination of nervousness and excitement thrummed through Thaddeus. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll see. Come on, Crystal and Marty have been looking for you.”

  They were waiting at the table where Andy had been sitting, and they smiled at the sight of him.

  “Well, look who came out of his bedroom,” Crystal said. “And with a nice shirt too.”

  “Yeah, sometimes I manage to clean myself up,” Thaddeus said with a grin.

  “How’s your third eye look?” Andy asked, and tugged down the back of Thaddeus’s shirt collar.

  Thaddeus pulled free and pushed Andy away. “It’s fine. Thanks.”

  “Touchy, touchy,” Andy said, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

  “Dick alert,” Crystal announced, and Thaddeus and Marty laughed while Andy simply glared.

  Laughter so loud it could be heard above the music drew Thaddeus’s attention. Dixon sat at a table near the dance floor, his girlfriend Joy close beside him. A variety of jocks and cheerleaders sat around the table with more standing behind, sodas in hand.

  “Hey,” Andy whispered in his ear. “Ready to do this?”

  “What are you going to do?” Thaddeus whispered back.

  “Anyone want a soda?” Marty asked.

  “I’ll take one,” Crystal replied. “Regular, no diet.”

  Marty looked across the table. “Andy? Thaddeus?”

  They both declined, and Marty got up and walked toward the refreshment table.

  “What are you two whispering about?�
� Crystal asked.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Andy said.

  “Pretty much the reason I asked you, idiot,” Crystal said.

  Andy sneered. “Never you mind. It doesn’t concern you.” He got up and tugged Thaddeus’s shirtsleeve. “Come on.”

  Thaddeus hesitated, feeling conflicted. Part of him knew Dixon deserved whatever Andy was planning to dish out. But another part of him understood that nothing good would come of something like this. He didn’t want to go with Andy, but he also didn’t want to leave Andy on his own. If he went along, maybe he could keep him from doing something really, really stupid.

  Yeah, tell yourself that if it will get you outside to take revenge on Dixon the Dick.

  He gave Crystal a quick wave before following Andy out the doors and into the parking lot.

  “What are you going to do?” Thaddeus asked, hurrying to keep up.

  “Give Dixon the Dick a little present.”

  Thaddeus was surprised Andy had used the same phrase the voice in his head had just used. But when he saw Andy pick up his pace across the parking lot, he pushed that thought aside and hurried to catch up.

  “How about we go back inside and forget about this?” Thaddeus suggested.

  “He got you suspended,” Andy said over his shoulder. “Don’t you want to give him some kind of payback for that?”

  “He got suspended as well, and for a day longer than me,” Thaddeus said, then flinched as a sudden throb of pain emanated from the pimple on the back of his neck.

  Give Dixon the Dick a taste of his own medicine. It will be good for him.

  His thoughts seemed even more tainted with darkness now. Dixon had a mean spirit, and he had been lashing out at Thaddeus and the rest of their group with no provocation since the first day of the school year. Thaddeus may as well have been forced to use his magic to torment Dixon because of all the crappy things the football star had done. Whatever Andy had in mind, Dixon deserved it, and more.

  Yes, that’s right. Let’s go get some good, sweet revenge.

  With his mind now set, Thaddeus mimicked Andy’s stealthy, bent-over posture as they maneuvered through the parking lot. It would feel so good to sit back and watch Dixon’s reaction as he discovered what they had done.