by Sarah Adams
“Child of the Firm, that sounds like a horror movie.”
“Feels like it too sometimes. It's full of thou shalls,” Tamara took a sip of her soda, “Thou shall participate in our scholarship fund. Thous shall do whatever it takes to complete the program.”
“Dad wants me to enroll.”
“You should,” Tamara nodded, “As long as they don't disband the chess club you should be fine.”
“Well, if we lose another tournament they might,” he laughed.
“I hope not,” Tamara shook her head, “Greg would never let us hear the end of it.”
“Welcome!” a microphone magnified voice said from the stage at the front of the room, “We're glad you all could come out and join us in celebrating yet another victory!”
“Here we go,” Tamara whispered.
“How are you going to make it through graduation? Hayden stifled a laugh.
“I'll be toward the middle section because of my last name. I'll just make snide comments then too,” she giggled.
Her dad shot her a dirty look over his shoulder and Tamara fell silent. She watched Hayden as he listened closely to the senior partner speak, mildly amusedly that he was actually listening. When she was younger Tamara would listen too, but after a hundred dinner parties all the speeches blur together into a bundle of melancholy. Her father expected her to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer, but Tamara couldn't imagine being forced to endure these dinner parties for the rest of her life. Glancing around she noticed the tables of adults dotted with wine glasses and liquor cups. Was that how they endured the mandatory attendence at such parties?
Tamara wiggled around in her seat trying to get comfortable. Hayden grinned at her and draped his arm around her shoulders and whispered, “It won't be much longer.”
“You don't know them very well, do you?”
Hayden chuckled softly and returned his attention to the front of the room. Tamara's ears rang and she rubbed their backs trying to rid herself of the buzzing.
“You hear it too?” Hayden asked, sticking a finger into her left ear.
“Yeah and I don't like it. It reminds me of the noise I heard when I found the hand prints on my mirror.”
“I think it's going to rain and the air pressure can cause a ringing in the ears,” he whispered.
“Yeah, but it's really loud. Why isn't it happening to anyone else?”
“They're probably ignoring it.”
A shattering crash sounded from behind the bar, startling the crowd and urging Tamara to her feet. The crowd turned the heads in unison, most wearing an expression of annoyance with the bartender who was busy trying to prevent another shelf of bottles from toppling over like its neighbor to the left had done, causing the resounding crash.
“A little help!” he shouted to the waiters, who were frozen in terror. The hiss of champagne, wine, and liquor spraying from over two dozen bottles nearly masked the noise of the tiny laughter, but Tamara could hear it. Through the showers of alcohol Tamara caught a glimpse of a pair of tiny shimmering wings.
“Did you see that?” she hissed to Hayden.
Taking her hang gently Hayden pulled her back into her seat and whispered, “Accidents happen all the time. This doesn't mean anything.”
“You didn't see the wings?”
“No,” Hayden shook his head.
“Why don't we just skip straight to dinner tonight, folks ?” Mr. Herold, the senior partner and owner of the firm said with a nervous laugh.
“Sounds like a plan!” Tamara said loudly enough for the entire room to hear. The crowd errupted in laughter and the tension that had been hanging in the air began to dissipate.
“You heard the lady,” Mr. Herold laughed, “Let's eat.”
The room quickly filled with waiters carrying appetizers. Tamara wasn't too fond of the dry salads they always offered, but she couldn't say no to the mozzarella sticks.
“At least the food is good,” Hayden said, although he was still watching the bartender and a couple of servers trying to clean up behind the bar.
Tamara was about to make a sound of agreement as she bit into her third mozzarella stick, but a clanging racket made her swallow hard and jump to her feet again. Several of the servers had dropped platters of food and drink. Large spots of the floor were splattered with various globs and heaps of what should have been the party's dinner. The distant laughter sounded again, but this time Tamara wasn't the only one who heard it.
Mr. Herold was on his feet and stalking towards the hotel's food director. The tiny bespectacled man was wringing his hands and apologizing loudly, but Mr. Herold wasn't listening. Another group of servers dropped more platters and marinara sauce splattered onto his brown suit.
“What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Herold yelled, his face turning a violent shade of red and his hands trembling, “Have you foolish baboons mistaken my firm's dinner party for a gathering of some clown college?”
“No, sir. I assure you, none of this was planned!”
“Like hell it wasn't!” Mr. Herold shouted, “I heard you guys laughing!”
“Sir, I assure you none of my staff would ever laugh at such a failure of an evening!”
“You won't be getting any more business from our firm nor any donations!” Mr. Herold shouted, waving his stubby fingers in the air.
Several people had already left and even more were on their feet and headed towards the door.
“Mr. Herold,” the bespectacled man plead, “If you just allow us a few minutes, just a few minutes, to clean up, your party can continue.”
“I think not!” Mr. Herold shouted. His mousey-looking wife appeared at his side, flushed with embarrasment and led him away.
“Tamara!” Mr. Page shouted over the crowd.
“I think that's my cue to leave,” she said.
“I'll text you later,” Hayden said.
A swarm of gnats descended upon those who remained. Tamara moved quickly, trying to stay out of the path of bugs, but upon closer examination she realized they weren't gnats at all. They were faeires! Hundreds upon hundreds of them, little winged people, pinching and proding people.
Tamara glanced over her shoulder to where Hayden had been, but he was gone now, too. Deciding it would be best to find her dad and get the hell out of dodge. She made her way through the crowd of people swatting at their attackers, trying to escape their sharp fingers. Three steps away from the exit Tamara slipped on a glob of banana pudding and landed hard on the floor. A pair of strong arms helped her to her feet.
She thanked the man as she attempted to get as much of the pudding off her dress as possible. Tamara cried out in frustration. Her mother was going to kill her if the dry cleaners weren't able to salavage the dress into something wearable. Not waiting for her dad, Tamara pushed her way through the crowd and out the double doors. Her father was waiting in the car.
“About damn time,” he said as she got in.
“Sorry, I slipped,” Tamara said, not looking at him. Hot angry tears threatened to escape.
“Let's just get home. We can order a pizza or something. The nerve of those servers and the director!”
Tamara zoned out as her father droned on and on about the incompetence of the hotel staff. She felt bad for them, because after all they were attacked just like everyone else, not that her father would believe her, though.
I bet Hayden believes me now, she thought, stifling a giggle. She was suddenly filled with the urge to break into a fit of laughter, but wasn't sure why. Tonight would have been funny if you were watching it from the outside or if you weren't one of the people who caused it, but Tamara had been there and was guilty, she felt she had no right to laugh. Her purse vibrated and she ignored it, not wanting to interrupt her dad's rant.
“I'm going to drop you off to get cleaned up and go get something to eat, any preferences?”
“Nothing with bananas,” Tamara said as she got out of the car.
Once inside the empty house Tama
ra headed straight for the bathroom. She kicked off her shoes halfway up the stairs and left her tights outside the door. After carefully taking the dress off without covering herself with banana pudding, she wiped off as much of the goop as she could. It was beginning to dry, so there wasn't much she could do about it. The dress was dry clean only.
After changing into her pajamas Tamara remembered the text she ignored on the way home and retrieved her cellphone, settling into her dad's armchair.
Surprise, surprise, she thought, it's from Hayden.
“Okay, I believe you now.”
“Good. If you didn't I'd say you were the crazy one.”
“Nope. I'm just as sane as you are.”
“Poor thing.”
“?”
“I'm being driven crazy very quickly.”
After sending the message she turned off her phone.
Chapter Nine
Tamara's alarm screeched and she jumped to her feet. She hadn't slept at all. Instead she lay awake counting down the hours, then the minutes, until she could climb out of bed without drawing attention to herself. Every creaky floorboard and flickering shadow made her nervous. Despite her lack of sleep Tamara was wide awake. Her eyes were huge and bloodshot. She dressed quickly and headed downstairs. Tina and Tally were staying home to go to their checkups, so they could sleep in. The house was quiet as Tamara ate a breakfast of a bagel with cream cheese. She had skipped dinner last night, having lost her appetite as a result of being covered in banana pudding.
When she was finished with breakfast Tamara dropped her plate into the soapy dishwater from the night before and turned to double check her backpack. She knew everything was still inside, where it should be, but she needed something to do with her hands.
The water in the sink sloshed and Tamara snapped in the direction of the sink. The plate was airborne and traveling straight for her head. Tamara's reaction time hadn't slowed since the volleyball team was disbanded. Her hands sprang up in front of her face instinctually. The edge of the plate collided with her palms and her fingers gripped the soapy dish. It slipped from her grasp, but she recaptured it inches from the floor.
“Stop it you guys!” she said out loud.
“Who are you talking to, Tam?” Mr. Page asked, entering the kitchen and heading straight for the coffee pot.
“I was practice my monologue for drama,” she lied.
“Sounds good. Am I taking you to school today?”
“What time did Mom get home?”
“Dunno,” he shrugged, “Guess I am then. Hopefully, she rises from the dead in time to take the girls to their checkup.
“Good luck with that.”
“Let's get going, kiddo,” Mr. Page said.
“Don't you need to get dressed first? I don't think Mr. Herold would like it if you showed up to work in your pajamas, not to mention the five o'clock shadow.”
“He gave us the day off to recover from the catastrophe last night. If you want I'll let you play hooky too,” he laughed.
“No thanks,” Tamara shook her head, “School is the only time I escape the insanity around here.”
“Then let's go,” Mr. Page yawned, stepping into his slippers.
Tamara sighed in relief upon seeing Amber and Josh standing at their morning meetup.
“I need to talk to you!” Tamara tugged on the sleeve of Amber's hoodie.
“We're okay now,” Amber laughed, “but I think you should go find Hayden.”
“Is he okay?” she asked too quick, her words slurred together.
“He was looking for you,” Amber giggled, “but I think it's something you need to see for yourself.”
“Okay,” Tamara sighed, “Which way did he head?”
“That way!” Amber and Josh laughed, pointing to the left.
Tamara turned, nearly running into Hayden.
“Why didn't you guys tell me he was right behind...” her words failed her and she bit her tongue hard trying not to laugh.
“Is that why you said you believed me now?” she managed to say.
She ran her fingers through Hayden's hair. Yesterday it had been a dark chestnut brown with natural highlights of lighter browns. Today it was splotched with bright pink patches. Hayden didn't speak while Tamara examined the damage.
“Your little brother did this too?” she said, biting back a grin. me
“No, I think this was the work of our little friends,” Hayden said, looking rather miserable.
Tamara frowned up at him, “Sorry.”
“So what do we do?” he asked.
“I only have one more idea. Let's go somewhere to talk,” she said, tugging on his coat sleeve, “Don't you have a cap or something you could wear?”
“No, I don't even own a ball cap,” he said, walking beside her.
“Well, I think I have a black beanie in my locker. It'll have to do.”
“Thanks,” he said.
“So how did they?” she pointed to his hair.
“Don't point at it!” he snapped.
“Sorry.”
“They put something in my shampoo.”
“Well, at least it only took in some spots.”
“I look like I'm wearing the hide of a cross dressing cow on my head,” Hayden said.
“One second and we'll have a short term fix, anyway,” Tamara said, turning the combination lock to her locker.
Tamara dug through the bottom of her locker until she found the beanie she had put there at the beginning of the school year, in case of a bad hair day, and offered it to Hayden.
“Thanks,” he said, putting it on.
Tamara rose to her tiptoes and pulled it down over a patch of pink that was still showing. Her hand brushed against his cheek and he grinned at her.
“Thanks,” he said again.
“So I didn't sleep last night,” Tamara leaned back against the lockers, “and I had a lot of time on my hands and I think I put it to good use.”
“What do we now have a few faerie trap?” he asked, “Because I wouldn't mind catching the little..”
“No,” she cut him off, “Nothing like that. I doubt we could catch them even if we tried and if we did manage to catch just one of them it would just make them angier.”
“So what did you do all night?”
“I remembered what I read before the crow stole the book,” she grinned, “It said to leave them milk and honey.”
“We can get milk in the lunch room, but where the hell are we supposed to get honey?”
“At the store. We'll just have to survive another night and leave it in the morning.”
“I don't know if I want to risk another night of faerie wrath,” Hayden said.
“Well, you'll have to. Besides you didn't even believe they were real until last night.”
“Seeing is believing.”
“If you would have believed me to begin with maybe you wouldn't be wearing pink polka dots on your head.”
“Fair enough.”
“Bring some bowls tomorrow, okay?”
“Sure,” he frowned, tugging the beanie down as far as it would go when the bell rang.
Chapter Ten
Tamara examined the bowls carefully before placing them before Sir Bedivere. The statue's black eyes stared her down when her hand brushed against his wooden bust. She took a deep breath and coughed. The classroom smelled of sour grape lip gloss.
What, she thought, do the faeries live here?
“You don't even trust me to buy bowls that won't leak?” Hayden laughed. His forehead creased giving away his anxiety.
“I'm not leaving anything up to chance. I want this to be over with, for good,” Tamara said turning to her bag, “I had dad stop at the gas station this morning. The guy thought I was crazy when I asked where the honey was. He didn't even know they sold the stuff, but thankfully they did. At least in that luck was on our side.”
She handed the honey to Hayden and pulled out the milk, “Dump it all in there. I don't want them
to say we cheated them.”
“Got it,” Hayden said, twisting off the top and pulling off the safety seal.
“And I'll pour the milk.”
“Of course you would take the easy job.”
“Yeah, I did,” she laughed, “but that's because I already gave up a lip gloss and had a dress ruined. Well, it might not be ruined, but still.”
“Fair enough,” he shrugged, “If you forget about my hair.”
“I haven't forgotten about your hair,” she said, stifling a giggle.
After she filled the bowl with milk she watched as the honey drizzled from the bear shaped bottle. This is going to take forever, she thought.
“We should have heated it up first,” Hayden laughed.
“Where would we have done that?”
“Maybe in the teacher's lounge.”
“Um. No,” Tamara shook her head, “I think we've broken enough rules for one school year and I'm not sure that I can breathe without pissing off the faeries.”
“I'm sure, it's okay to breathe,” he chuckled.
“I hope so,” she said, bumping into him.
“Hey, don't make me spill it.”
“I don't think it would be possible to spill that stuff. It's moving so slow you'd have time to juggle it in between drops. Maybe you could like lean it against the side of the bowl until it starts coming out.”
“It's worth a shot,” Hayden nodded, “Do you think this is going to work?”
“I don't know for sure. I only had time to read like one paragraph of the book before the crow stole it,” Tamara admitted, “but I hope it works. If it doesn't I don't know what else we can do, besides moving to a different state and changing our names.”
“I don't know if that would work. Don't faeries have wings?”
“I was being sarcastic, but if it comes down to it, I might follow through.”
“Nah,” Hayden shook his head, “We'll figure something out.”
“If you want, today after school, I'm pretty sure I can fix your hair,” Tamara said, reaching out and touching a bright pink patch of Hayden's hair.
“As long as you promise not to turn it all pink,” Hayden laughed.