by Diana Paz
“You little reject.”
“Oh, get over yourself.”
“Stop it, please!” Angie yelled. “Let’s unfreeze time and get through the day.”
Kaitlyn crossed her arms under her chest. “I want to be sealed. Now.”
Angie exchanged a glance with Julia. “We have to think things over.”
“And by ‘we,’ you mean the two of you? Give me a break.”
Angie reached the stairwell. “This is too big of a decision to make right this second. I’m sorry, Kaitlyn.”
Julia placed her hand in Angie’s waiting palm, but Kaitlyn glared fiercely. “No.”
Angie clenched her jaw and forced herself to take a deep breath. “Kaitlyn, please give us your hands. There’s nothing for us to do here.”
“There’s so much to do!” Her eyes gleamed with malice, sending a chill up Angie’s spine. “Just watch me.”
Angie knew the kind of harm Kaitlyn was capable of, and it would be worse than pushing a few people around in the locker room. With time frozen she could really hurt someone and completely get away with it. Angie’s heart sank. For the third time that day she grabbed Kaitlyn’s arm and forced her power, drawing it out of Kaitlyn, feeling her resistance, knowing it was wrong to overwhelm her this way. What choice did she have? It wasn’t just her and Julia anymore. It never would be again.
Chapter 8
Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn’s boots clicked on the smooth marble tile. Home right after school. It had been a while since she had done that. She passed the formal living room and headed for the den, hardly knowing what to do with herself. A few years ago she would have run to the kitchen to see what Irma had made for her snack. She would have rushed to finish her homework so she could lose herself to music practice, or to whichever video game she was in the middle of.
Her dad’s feeble attempts to buy her video games now made her laugh when she remembered his over-the-top rage over how she spent all day playing them. Now he probably wished video games were her only problem. She saw it in his eyes, the way he looked at her, like he wondered how to fix something that was so freaking broken.
Her clicking footfalls became muffled by carpet as she reached the den. The mark on her arm sent a soft, warm pulse through her body. It almost felt soothing. She glanced down at it, pleased at the thought that having a tattoo would bother her parents. She went out of her way to be a terrible daughter to them. She didn’t give a rat’s ass. They didn’t either, as long as she kept her mouth shut about the things that mattered to them.
But life would be different now, with the magic. If she could figure out how to use it without the little cheerleading princess and her spaz of a sidekick.
She unzipped her boots and threw them in the closet before lying on the sofa. The magic was strong inside her. Alive. It seemed linked to her emotions. She shut her eyes, concentrating on the power she felt growing inside her.
She glanced down at her hands and focused. White light collected in her palms, accumulating in strength and brightness. What could she do with it? Her gaze flitted around the room, landing on a large picture frame hanging on the wall. The girl in the picture had golden-brown hair and held a violin. Her teeth were crooked and her smile was forced as she posed in a frilly, lace-collared dress. Bright green eyes stared back through time.
Release.
A ball of pent up rage rolled through her, shooting out through her palms and blasting out with the magic. Twin streams of light hit the picture dead-center. The frame fell and glass shattered. Kaitlyn didn’t startle at the noise. She didn’t move from the sofa, but stared at the picture as it was, the frame propped at an angle on the floor against the wall. The picture hadn’t torn, but a scratch marred the girl’s face. The sight made Kaitlyn shudder. She touched her hair, which was now as black and lightless as the stylist could dye it. Who was that golden-haired girl in the picture? How had it ever been her?
She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, not bothering with the mess of broken glass. Nothing was on except reality shows, and she already had enough reality of her own. She paused for a moment on an old anime show that was being re-aired. Girls in school uniforms transformed into superheroes.
Her heart lurched. It seemed a lifetime ago that she and Dawn would watch this together. Images flashed through her mind and she changed the channel, wishing she could change her thoughts just as easily. Dawn’s face stuck there, like it always did. Dawn, who had been the first to give up playing violin. Kaitlyn had done the same, always faithful to her precious Dawn. Always an idiot. Then Dawn gave up video games and anime and everything else they used to do together.
Whatever. God, junior high. It felt like so long ago, but the memories still hit hard. Dawn had used her. Every smile and whispered word of friendship had all become material for Dawn’s quest for popularity. Painful secrets, special moments—nothing had been sacred. Rumors followed her, words that spoke more truth than she could stomach.
Her gaze returned to the broken picture against the wall. Golden-brown hair. Forced smile. What would have happened if she hadn’t chosen to dye her hair? If she hadn’t changed herself completely, starting with exacting revenge on Dawn? That girl in the picture could have shut down and become invisible, gone back to her violin and fantasy world of anime and video games. She could have made friends with someone new and been a rainbows and sunshine idiot all over again. Angie had tried to be her friend, briefly, but Kaitlyn wasn’t about to trust anyone ever again. Especially not goody-goody Angie. The little cheerleader did everything she could to rub it in Kaitlyn’s face that she had the perfect life.
The picture stared back at her with green eyes that were too wide and vulnerable. Kaitlyn lifted her chin. Her eyes never looked like that anymore.
She stroked the jet black hair she had been dyeing since the summer before eighth grade. She looked like a witch. It suited her. A hard knot of triumph formed where the pain of her memories had been only moments before. She smiled as the magic grew within her. A new source of power. Strength. She would always have the upper hand now.
The door slammed and adult voices echoed across the high arched ceiling. Kaitlyn glanced down at her micro miniskirt and matching black top. Her father hated her in these clothes. What was he doing home? His work kept him out of the house more often than in it. And someone was with him. Damn. He always brought guests to the den, with its stupid billiard set and the bar in the corner. A spark of irritation ignited in her chest and her hands glowed brighter. She clenched them tight. Let him see the tattoo. Let him hate it and hate her for having it, but there was no way he was going to find out she had powers.
The voices grew louder. She heard her uncle’s laughter. For a moment her heart seized uncomfortably. Her gaze flicked over to the two figures as they entered the room, both in white polo shirts and ball caps. Her dad and uncle hadn’t been golfing together in a while. She had hoped they had given it up.
She returned her attention to the TV, tuning out their conversation about the stock market and what their portfolios were going through.
“Kaity, you’re home,” her father said when he noticed her.
Way to state the obvious. He sounded happy to see her. She changed the channel again without looking up.
“Hey,” he snapped. “It’s respectful to answer people when they talk to you.”
The moment crackled. She didn’t need to look at him to know his face had darkened. Manners, respect, common courtesy. The old fight would be taken out on her mother tonight. She didn’t care. In another two years she would be eighteen and this whole house and its jacked up problems would be a thing of the past.
“Teenagers,” her uncle said in a tone meant to diffuse the tension.
Kaitlyn turned up the volume, not allowing herself to feel any emotion at the sound of his voice. No disgust. No anger. She and her uncle lived in some sort of opposite world where they both acted as though nothing had ever happened. Which was true, the way mother told it.
“Are the boys upstairs?” her dad asked.
“How should I know?”
His voice rose. “Must everything be an issue? I asked a simple question.”
“And I gave a simple answer.”
“Turn that off and go to your room.”
She didn’t glare at him or argue. There was a limit she wouldn’t go beyond. She had to live here for two more years, after all.
As she walked out she felt her uncle’s eyes on her. Magic pooled in her hands, pumping with heated fury from the rage in her heart. How she hated that man. But she hated her mother more, because she knew. She knew everything, and still she convinced her father that it hadn’t been true. She had protected her brother instead of her daughter, and now they let him in here like it meant nothing.
She rounded the corner and took off, running down the hall and racing up the stairs like a little kid. When she reached the top she wished the stairs went even farther up, right through the ceiling and up to heaven. But there was no heaven because there was no god. There couldn’t be or else the world wouldn’t let monsters near little kids and pretend those monsters were good men.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Why had she come home? Why hadn’t she gone to someone else’s house or hung out until late at night when her family was asleep? She slammed her bedroom door shut. Screw her family. Screw the whole world. She heard her brother and cousin, their voices muffled against the blast of punk music coming through the walls. A small bubble of longing formed inside her and she squelched it. Her gaze narrowed. Longing for what? Friendship? She almost laughed. Calvin and Greg could keep their stupid friendship. So could Angie and Julia and the whole rest of this world.
The only thing that mattered now was the magic. It would give her the upper hand in everything. And she wouldn’t need anyone or anything anymore, if she could only figure out how to use it.
Chapter 9
Julia
Julia rushed home and showered off as quickly as she could. Brian was picking her up at six, and thanks to Angie’s way-too-long discussion after school, she only had an hour to get ready. Why did the whole Kaitlyn-thing have to happen this week? It almost made Julia believe the Fates were really out there, conspiring to make her life as crappy as possible.
She toweled off and threw on a bra and panties before digging under her bed for her curlers. Why, why, why had Angie needed to talk about Kaitlyn for so long? There had been nothing to say. Kaitlyn was a capital B who didn’t deserve any powers. Julia plugged in her rollers and took out the hairspray. Crap, it was going to suck becoming normal again. She hadn’t even learned how to push stuff around from across the room. And they hadn’t gotten to try being invisible for very long.
She shook her head. Stop it, Julia. Magic or not, it just isn’t worth it.
Prom. That’s what was going on, and that’s where her thoughts needed to stay. The light on her rollers changed from red to green. She grabbed a chunk of hair, spraying it up and down as fast as she could. Cool, sticky mist landed on her fingers. She pulled her fingers apart before starting on the roller, her mind wandering to the night ahead, to the steamship and the ocean and Brian’s long, black hair.
The roller fell from her fingers.
Blond hair. Brian had blond hair.
Who the heck had she been thinking about? Ethan?
He didn’t have anything to do with anything. Especially not once the magic faded. And that was fine, because she didn’t even know the guy. Why was she thinking about him?
Angie’s tinkling ringtone chimed. Julia hit speakerphone, relieved to have her thoughts broken up. “Hi, Angie. What’s up?”
“Hi! Oh, sorry. You’re probably getting ready for prom.”
“It’s okay,” Julia said, “just expect to hear spraying in the background.”
“I wanted to make sure you’re really okay with letting the magic fade. After midnight there won’t be any way to take it back.”
This again? Thoughts of Ethan bubbled back to the surface of her mind. No! Kaitlyn was evil ... and she had Brian. How could she make it work with Brian if she had a hot guy with a magical connection being all smexy and intense with her?
“Julia?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” She cleared her throat and picked up another roller. “I have no doubts at all about letting the magic fade. Really. Kaitlyn isn’t the kind of person anyone willingly joins their life with.”
“After what happened in the locker room, I guess you’re right.”
They had already gone through this, but Julia continued anyway. “I mean, as long as you’re okay with letting the magic fade. You’re the one who wanted to fulfill your destiny ... for your grandma and everything.” She clamped her jaw shut before she said anything else. What was she trying to do, change Angie’s mind?
“I worry, though,” Angie said. “It’s been so many generations since the last Daughters beat back the creatures of Mythos. I’m afraid they might be gaining power.”
Julia’s fingers fumbled on the hairspray.
“But there would’ve been signs,” Angie continued, “changes in the world timeline. We would be the only ones to retain memories of the true past, while everyone else would think that Nazis won the Second World War, or that the American Revolution had been suppressed, for example.”
The history book. Crap. Whoever those people were, they didn’t matter, though. Did they? “If nothing big like that has happened, we’re okay?” Julia gnawed on her cheek, wondering what the heck to do.
“No, not necessarily. It starts on a smaller scale. History books changing.”
The rest of whatever Angie said became lost to the buzzing in her ears. History books changing? She scrambled to her backpack, knocking her chair back. Rollers became unpinned from her hair and rolled to the floor as she jerked her bag open. Crap, crap, crap. This was the part where she was supposed to admit that her book changed, right before her eyes. And that Kaitlyn wasn’t the only reason she didn’t want to be sealed. It was because she had a magical protector guy, and she was afraid of what she would do.
But she didn’t say anything.
“Okay, then,” Angie said. “I guess we’ll trust it to the Fates. We’ll let midnight happen.”
Julia flipped page after page in her history book. Had anything else changed? How would she even know the difference? The only time she opened the thing was in class.
In her hurry to pull out her book, a sheet of crumpled paper fell out.
“Hello? Julia, are you still there?”
She swallowed, picking up the printout of Kaitlyn’s portrait. “Yeah, I’m here.”
“Oh. I thought I lost you.”
Her heart thumped louder, rising high up into her throat as she watched the printout change.
Kaitlyn’s image became watery, turning into a completely different painting. A landscape with trees and a little path with lots of flowers.
“See you at prom,” Angie said, ending the call.
Julia stared at nothing for almost a minute.
So that was it. With their decision not to seal themselves to Kaitlyn, that portrait was never painted. Yesterday, their futures had included a trip into the past. Today, their future had changed. The world would be different now.
She swallowed.
Letting the magic fade was for the best, right?
Yes. Definitely.
She sprayed her hair again until sprinkles filled the air. She kept spraying, the smell of chemicals burning her nostrils.
If it was for the best, why was she keeping secrets from Angie?
And why was she thinking about Ethan while getting ready for prom with Brian?
She set down the can of spray. Ethan was moody and weird. Brian was sweet and caring. She wouldn’t think about Ethan anymore. In fact, now that the magic was over, she would focus more energy on being there for Brian. Starting tonight.
She saw the vision in her mind. The sun setting over the water. Brian in a tuxedo, his silvery eyes drin
king her in. Wait. Dark brown. His eyes were dark, like melted chocolate. She clenched her hands into fists, the sweat mixing with hairspray residue. Messy hands that looked clean.
There was a knock on her bedroom door. “Crap,” she muttered, realizing her arm was exposed. She jammed her hands through the sleeves of a button-up shirt just in time to hide the sparkling tattoo.
“It’s just me,” her mom called from the door, as if it could be anyone else.
“Come in,” Julia said, sitting on her bed.
Her mom’s smile lit up the room. “I got off work early in case you needed help, preciosa ... and it looks like you’re behind schedule.”
“It wasn’t my fault this time,” Julia said, leaning into her mom’s hug. “Anyway, Brian’s boutonniere is in the fridge and I got my nails done with Angie right after school.” She waved her French-tipped fingers.
“Very nice. I hope her organization rubs off on you.”
“Gee, thanks. Maybe you can adopt her.”
Her mom smiled again. Nothing could break into her good mood today, apparently. “Here, let me roll up the hair in the back. Your arms must be tired.”
“Thanks, Mama,” she said, letting her arms drop. She relaxed, liking the way it felt to be taken care of, to be a normal sixteen-year-old whose only problem was getting ready for prom on time. She wondered how Angie was managing, if she used the magic to put her makeup on and get her hair done. Angie knew so much more about it than she did.
Not that it would matter anymore.
“You look beautiful, mija.”
Julia beamed at her mom, spinning around one last time in front of the closet mirror. Her dress was strapless, fitted to the waist in layers of gauzy violets and lilacs and soft blues. The skirt flared out and was cut to just below her knees, where it ended with a sweet underlay of ruffles that matched the trim on the bodice. A thin, purple bow adorned the front, with long ribbons trailing down past her waist, and she had purple heels with satin bows tied at the toes and ankles to match. Not to mention the most important piece of her outfit, the sheer lilac wrap, carefully pulled around her shoulders to hide her mark.