The Stargazers

by Allison M. Dickson

  “I know who you are,” said Ivy. “You’re Oleander. Lily and Dahlia warned me about you. You’re… an abomination.” Spittle flew from the woman’s lips, but Oleander didn’t mind.

  “They send a child to impregnate herself and kill her own child, and I’m the abomination? Let’s not pretend we’re all high and mighty, Miss Ivy. We’re all selfish bitches. I’m just the only who isn’t afraid to admit it.” She grabbed a large rock lying nearby and raised it over her head. Her victim’s screams and thrashes began anew, and she bucked her hips in a fruitless attempt to escape, and Oleander had to fight harder to avoid the orgasm that so wanted to come. Oh how delicious!

  “Now lie still, Miss Ivy. I can take it from here.” Oleander brought down the rock in a swift and crunching blow against the woman’s temple. She stopped moving, but thankfully her heart was still beating. It wouldn’t have done well to kill her just yet. In fact, it would have ruined Oleander’s long years of work.

  She stood and wiped sweat from her brow. The next business would be gruesome, even for such as her, but it extinguished any sexual excitement she’d had, and she was glad to be rid of that distraction. If she didn’t do this part right, the potion would reverse itself and leave her as ruined as the old biddies back home. That was a gamble Oleander had been willing to take.

  From her knapsack, she removed a long, serrated blade kept sharp from years of butchering animals. Dropping back down to her knees, she raised the knife and plunged it into the unconscious woman’s chest, just shy of the heart.

  Ivy’s eyes flew open, and a gurgling scream exited her mouth followed by a spray of blood that coated Oleander’s new face in warm red lacquer. Working fast, she sawed through the breastbone with both hands wrapped around the haft and reached in through the bloody gash. The life inside the organ was a feeble tremble, really nothing more than reflexive, but it was as fresh as she could hope to get. Yanking the heart free from its prison with a meaty snap of its arteries, Oleander held the ball of muscle before her face and licked her lips, inhaling its raw coppery smell. She had never dined upon a human heart before, but it was a small price to pay for the reward to come.

  As she chomped through the tough gristle, blood dripping down her chin like the juice from a devilish fruit, her spirit fused into its new skin.

  -13-

  Aster paced back and forth while Ruby sat on the bed reading a book by flashlight. Larkspur lay curled up next to her, sleeping or at least pretending to.

  “You seem awfully uptight for somebody who just got some a little while ago,” said Ruby.

  Aster refused to take the bait about Bryon. The girl had been trying to get her spill the details ever since she got back, but Aster had been subjected to all forms of goading throughout her life, so ignoring Ruby’s needling was easy enough. “I’m worried about Ivy. It’s late. She should have been home by now.”

  Ruby put down her book and sat forward. “I don’t know what has you in such a twist. You’ve been here one day. You would hardly know what Ivy is like. Are you having a psychic moment or something?”

  Although Aster wasn’t born with any sort of clairvoyance, she’d always valued her intuition. That earthquake being centered right near the door between their two worlds was a coincidence too great to ignore. “Don’t you ever get a bad feeling about something that you can’t explain?”

  Ruby laughed. “You pretty much just explained my whole life.”

  “I just feel like something about this earthquake is, you know, a bad sign.”

  “You sound like my mom. She was all about signs and omens.”

  Aster looked at her. “You’re not?”

  Ruby shrugged. “I dunno. Shit happens. Sometimes you can smell it before it hits, but I think most of that is hindsight.”

  “Well, something stinks.”

  Ruby stood up. “Look, you don’t know Ivy like the rest of us do. She comes and goes a lot, especially if she’s on a rescue mission of some kind, and after what happened today she’s probably rounding up a whole herd of newly displaced strays to bring home.”

  “I guess so.” Aster wasn’t entirely convinced, but Ruby was right about one thing. The other girls knew her better, and no one else seemed worried.

  “Tell you what. Let’s go grab a few snacks downstairs and wait up for her. She’ll probably come rolling in right when the power comes back on.”

  In the living room, they found Tonya, Cynthia, and a girl whose name Aster couldn’t remember sitting around a board game illuminated by a lantern. “Where’s everybody else?” asked Ruby.

  Tonya looked up after rolling her dice and moving her metal car six spaces around a game board Aster didn’t recognize. “Bed. Most of them were too bored to stay awake without computers or TVs.” She looked back down at the board. “Hmmm, Marvin Gardens. That’s the shit. I’ll take it.”

  Ruby took Aster’s arm and led her toward the kitchen where they ate peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies and drank big glasses of milk from the cooler. Save for the bread and milk, all of it was new food for Aster, and its sweetness was both cloying and comforting.

  “So is Bryon your guy now?” Ruby asked, dipping a cookie into her glass of milk. Aster decided to try that next.

  “I don’t know.” Her apprehension started to creep back up at the thought of upsetting Ruby again. “I mean, I guess so. But I’m still trying to figure out what that means.”

  Ruby gave her a sidelong glance. “Look, don’t be so uptight about everything because of whatever, you know, happened between us. I can be a passive-aggressive twat sometimes, in case you didn’t already notice.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not okay. It’s summer. Have a little fun. Lord knows you probably need it.”

  “Do I really look that miserable?”

  “Miserable? Not exactly. Repressed to the point of being Amish? Definitely. Which is strange given that you dye your hair hot pink.”

  Aster laughed. “I don’t dye my hair.”

  Ruby gaped. “For serious? That’s fucking wicked. I’d like to see the family that spawned that.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.” Aster took another bite of her sandwich and tried not to think about her family. Especially Oleander.

  “I guess you’re right. I mean, if you had a great family you wouldn’t exactly be living here.”

  “They’re not bad. Well, not all of them anyway. My aunt Oleander is the biggest sore spot.”

  “It’s like her name was prophetic.”

  Aster nodded. “It’s funny you say that. My Nanny Lily would also say she chose the name as a warning. I guess she ended up being right, because Aunt O is…”

  “A poisonous bitch?”

  Aster grinned. “Yeah.”

  Ruby hopped off the counter and put her arm around Aster’s shoulders. “Well, she isn’t here. And if she were, I’d kick her ass for you, because I’m that kind of friend.”

  A moment of silence passed as the two girls smiled at one another, and Aster realized they must be the only ones still down on the lower level of the house. The rabble of the board game had since ceased. The two girls embraced and Aster felt that familiar warmth again as their bodies squeezed together. Her longing and guilt tore at her, but she gave in to another kiss.

  Aster broke away. “We can’t keep doing this.”

  Ruby sighed and stroked her hair. “Of course we can. We’re not doing anything wrong. Just go with how you feel.” Her eyes were like black pools. Aster thought of Mirror Lake at night, and how its silky water would caress her skin during her occasionally moonlit swims.

  But I didn’t come here for this! Oh what a mess this is turning into. Aster fought to find the right words, but her thought were broken by loud squeal outside, followed by a crunching sound. Both girls jerked their heads in the same direction, their quiet moment, along with Aster’s indecisive agony, at least temporarily broken.

  They ran to the front window to see what had happened. Ivy�
�s bright red motor carriage was sitting in front of the house, with its front end crunched into the maple tree at the head of the front walk.

  “What the hell?” asked Ruby. “Is she drunk or something?”

  The vehicle’s door swung open and Ivy stumbled out, holding onto it for a moment as if to make sure she could stand upright. Cold dread seeped into Aster’s veins as she watched the woman shamble up the sidewalk in a lurching and swaying gait.

  The front doorknob rattled in its lock and Aster heard a muffled curse as Ivy stumbled back down the porch stairs toward the car again. She emerged again with a ring of keys. “Jesus, she must really be wasted,” Ruby said, a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

  “Does she ever get like this?” Aster asked.

  Ruby shook her head. “Never. She’s purer than the Virgin Mary.”

  Ivy staggered up the sidewalk again, holding her keys outward like a blindfolded child playing a birthday party game. Ruby pulled Aster back toward the kitchen. After a few more seconds of the sound of jingling keys and jigging lock, presumably as Ivy tried to find the right one to open the door (why wouldn’t she know the right key?), Ivy stomped inside. From the shadows of the kitchen, Aster could see her standing in the foyer looking around, panting either from fatigue or rage. Probably both.

  Illumination from the porch light fell in through the open door, revealing the dirt caking her dress, which had been ripped in several places and hung on her body like a bunch of rags tied together. Bloody scratches and scrapes covered her arms and face, and a great dark stain spread across the front of her dress from the neck down like a grotesque bib. Aster refused to believe it was blood, but she thought she could smell it, even from a distance.

  This woman looked like Ivy, but she was definitely not the Ivy that Aster knew and she suddenly realized—though she struggled to figure out why—that if the other woman saw them, it would be very bad. “We need to hide,” she whispered.

  Ruby frowned and opened her mouth, probably to deliver a snappy retort, but Aster slapped her hand against Ruby’s mouth and said, silently, “Trust me.”

  Ruby nodded slowly and pointed toward the basement door. After Ruby latched it, they came to a stop about halfway down the steps. It was pitch black, but since they had already been sitting in darkness, it didn’t take long for Aster’s eyes to adjust. “Is it locked?” Aster whispered.

  “It locks from the inside. Ivy had that done in case there were ever any break-ins and someone needed to hide down here. Not that we should be hiding. What the hell’s with you?”

  “Something is very wrong.” Aster’s voice shook with terror and tears burned at her eyes. She couldn’t explain why her body was going into panic mode, but it was.

  Ruby huddled in close and the two girls held each other. “Shhh… It’s okay.”

  Aster struggled to quiet herself, though her entire body continued to quiver like a leaf. She was certain that someone or something had possessed Ivy or stolen her skin. She wasn’t even sure if such magic was possible, but if anyone in Ellemire could do it…

  Oleander. No. It couldn’t be.

  Heavy footsteps shuffled into the kitchen a minute or so later and then stopped so close to the basement door that Aster could hear Ivy’s raspy, shallow respirations. Then the footsteps moved away again and next came the sound of various jars and containers being moved around in the refrigerator. Both girls jumped at the sound of glass shattering on the tile floor. “Bah,” grated Ivy’s familiar-but-not-familiar voice.

  “Miss Ivy? Everything okay?”

  Aster whipped her head around to Ruby. The other girl mouthed word, “Ton-Ya.”

  Gods!

  “Huh? Oh. I can’t see a thing in all this dark. Where are the lights?” The words lacked any of Ivy’s underlying pleasantness and warmth. And her speech was clumsy and slurred, as if she’d forgotten how to use her tongue.

  “Well… the power’s still out from the earthquake,” said Tonya with a note of concern in her voice. It was amazing that the girl could keep it together at all. Aster was about to faint from fright, and she was hidden behind a locked door.

  “I know about the earthquake, girl! Why don’t you fetch me a lantern then?”

  “Y-yes, ma’am.” Quick footsteps retreated and Ivy’s feet moved closer to the basement door. A second later, the knob turned, but it was stopped in place by the bolt. Aster had never been more grateful for a locked door. She had no idea how they would explain their presence down here if Ivy discovered them.

  Aster felt Ruby squeeze her wrist and the other girl made pointing and unlocking motions with her hand. Aster understood. Ivy had the key. This was confirmed by the jingle of a keychain on the other side of the door. Hot blood throbbed in Aster’s ears as her heart hammered away in her chest. They were stuck. It was too late for them to get down the stairs and hide without being heard.

  Ruby uttered a minute squeak when the key slid home, but then their savior intervened. A yellow glow filled the kitchen. Tonya had returned with the lantern. “Here you go, Miss Ivy. Is there anything else you need? There’s hot water in the heater for you to get a warm bath if you want me to run one for you.”

  Ivy grunted. “Fine, do it. Go on.”

  The key slid back out of the lock and the heavy footsteps faded toward the living room and eventually upstairs. Aster and Ruby huddled together for a few minutes, clutching one another in their horror. Once they were sure no one was there, they arose and emerged from the basement. After she shut the door, Ruby leaned against it and exhaled a shaky breath. “I normally get off on tempting fate, but that was way too close.”

  “So you believe me then?”

  Ruby nodded slowly. “Yeah…something’s not right.”

  “What do you think she would have done if she saw us?” Aster already had a good idea, but she wanted to hear the other girl say it.

  “I don’t think she would have killed us, but we would have wished she had. I’ve been living with Ivy for awhile and I’ve seen her around town my whole life, so I know her. That… thing isn’t her.”

  Aster sighed with relief. “What do we do now?”

  “We go to bed and hope like hell she’s better in the morning. After that…” Ruby seemed at a loss.

  Aster supposed there wasn’t much else they could do right now. It had been a very full and stressful day for everyone. While Ivy may have encountered something amiss up in the woods, they were too frightened and fatigued to do much about it now.

  Arm in arm, the two girls climbed the stairs to their bedroom, tiptoeing past Ivy’s room. Ruby guided her away from the squeakiest spots on the floor. Once they were up on the third floor, they changed into pajamas and slid into their beds. A few minutes later and nowhere near sleep, Aster felt a nudge on her shoulder. Ruby stood over her with the big, dark eyes of a frightened child. “Do you mind if we shared beds for tonight? I… I don’t want to be alone.”

  Aster scooted over to make room and turned onto her side. Ruby got in, facing her and the two linked arms. There was no more kissing that night, but their contact seemed to create a circle of security, not unlike how she felt as a child when she’d snuggle against Dahlia after a nightmare. Ruby seemed to feel it too, because seconds later, she closed her eyes and not long after that her breathing slowed to a regular, sleeping rhythm that Aster followed into her own fitful sleep.

  ***

  Oleander watched the two whores sleep with a disgusted sneer. She should have known the pink-haired tramp would come over here and involve herself with another little slut just like her. She could smell the hormones wafting off the two of them like sex stink. What would Lily make of this little development? If only she could send a portrait of this little love scene back to the old bat, just to break her heart.

  But this ragamuffin girl seemed different from the other wilting flowers in this house. Her boyish haircut and scarred arms were like armor, which meant she was probably as malleable as clay on the inside. Oleander might be ab
le to use her eventually.

  The journey following the full transformation was wrought with agony of every kind. First, she hadn’t anticipated problems with her old muscle memory holding sway over limbs that were now shorter and stouter. This Ivy was soft of flesh after years spent in a world where she likely had to do little by way of actual labor. As a result, she was heavier and clumsier. Oleander stumbled and fell countless times as she dragged her doppelganger’s body to a clear spot where she could steal her clothes and dispose of the body.

  She was unable to bring a potion in great enough quantities to dissolve an entire corpse. Instead, she used what she liked to refer to as an “insect siren,” which would call out to all the creatures that loved to dine upon dead flesh and make Little Miss Ivy a feast for the entire kingdom. However, her new fat fingers were as ungraceful as sausages, and she had dribbled some of the liquid down the front of her dress as she removed the cork. A tidal wave of insects rose from the ground and filled the air around her, she screamed as hundreds of beetles, flies, ants, and worms lit upon her body, squirmed up her legs, and knotted themselves in her wiry hair.

  Running down the path and beating at her head with one hand, she dug into her bag with the other for an antidote: a simple floral spritz of gardenia and citronella. But one bug had locked its pincers around her earlobe, and she fell to the ground howling her voice hoarse. She ripped the bug off her ear and crushed it in her fist. Shards of its exoskeleton dug into the soft flesh of her palms, but she didn’t care. Finally, she located the bottle of spray in her bag and kept squeezing the bulb until nothing more came out.

  Once she had brushed the last bug off her body, she staggered toward the place where Ivy’s body lay. Or once lay, rather. The hordes of insects had reduced the witch to nothing more than meat-flecked bone and a clump of hair, and there would be organisms along soon enough that would take care of that by nightfall. Although it was a struggle to even remain upright after everything she’d been through, Oleander was satisfied with her work and ready to move on.