by Neo Edmund
“Trust me, Red, darling. It’s nothing.”
From the way Ice said it, Red knew it had to be true. There was no doubt Ice had great wealth. “If it really isn’t any trouble, then I accept your offer.”
“Then it’s settled. The driver will arrive at eight. Feel free to bring a date if you can find one on such short notice.”
“I’ll see if I can work that out,” Red said with a shrug of doubt.
“If it’s too much of an inconvenience for you at such late notice, I could always arrange an escort. I know several eligible gentlemen who would just jump at the opportunity to accompany you.”
“Are you insane?” Just thinking about going on a blind date with somebody Ice picked was nearly enough to make Red’s stomach churn inside out.
“You don’t have to get like that about it. I wasn’t implying that you couldn’t get a date on your own accord.”
Red felt bad for the harshness of her response. “I’m sorry. That came out all wrong. What I meant to say is that it won’t be necessary.”
“Then we shall leave it at that.” Ice extended a hand. “It has been a pleasure, Red Riding.”
“Likewise, Ice Seether.”
“Onward.” Ice shouted.
The white horse raced off in a flash.
As Red stood watching Ice fade into the distance, she considered that she’d misjudged the girl. She then caught a glimpse of the bag holding the dead animal hanging from the back of the horse. It left Red having no idea what to think of Ice Seether. She figured she would have a better chance to get to know her at the party. That is, if she actually decided to go.
Chapter 8
Red was grateful that it was only a short walk to Granny’s house from where Ice Seether had dropped her off. Her thighs ached and her legs were a little wobbly from riding on the horse. Not that she had a bit of regret. The high-speed ride across Wayward had been one of the greatest thrills of her life.
When she emerged from the woods into the clearing around Granny’s house, she stopped and did a double take. Her little motorcycle was sitting near the porch. Its chrome pipes and faded blue paint glimmered in the afternoon sun.
A smile of joy lit up her face as she dashed over to get a closer look. She was delighted to see her little man had been scrubbed clean and polished to a shine. The broken gas line had even been replaced with brand new chrome tubing.
As she sat on the freshly polished leather seat, she knew that it had to be the work of the mysterious rider. Red considered the idea that she’d misjudged him, but was still suspicious of his motives. Perhaps it was a peace offering. Or maybe it was his way of repaying a debt out of a sense of obligation. She made sure not to forget it was his recklessness that caused the crash to begin with.
“Well, it was mostly his fault,” Red mumbled.
A troubling thought came to mind when Red noticed the gas gauge was on the full line. Could this be the rider’s way of telling her to leave town? Was he giving her a chance to get away before things got any stranger? The idea not only sounded quite reasonable after all that had happened, but she was seriously considering it. There might never be a better chance to leave Wayward in her memories.
Red only needed to give the key a quick turn to be on her way. She was certain that with enough effort the path leading away from Wayward could be found. Where she would go from there was another question altogether. The point was that it would be far, far away from the weirdness that would surely come her way if she stayed.
Closing her eyes, Red took a deep breath and began turning the key.
“Red Riding! Oh my goodness!” A high-pitched girl’s voice squealed out from nearby.
Red snapped her hand away from the key like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She looked to the front porch, where a rather odd-looking girl was jumping for joy. The girl was wearing the dorkiest glasses Red had ever seen.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” The odd girl spoke with a lisp that was caused by some kind of wire thing in her mouth that may or may not have been a dental retainer.
“Yes, I’m here,” Red said.
The odd girl shrieked and dashed toward Red in a frenzy of excitement. She locked her arms around Red, giving her a rather strangling hug. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
The joy the odd girl had in her eyes was so pure and contagious that Red couldn’t help but crack a smile.
“It’s good to see you. It’s surely been a long time,” Red said.
“Almost ten years to the day. That’s sixty-six percent of our lives we’ve been apart.”
“Sixty-six?” Red tried to do the math in her head, but just assumed that the odd girl was right. “So we were friends before?”
“The best ever.” The odd girl squealed with glee. She then slumped with a nervous gasp. “At least I thought we were?”
Red put on a big smile. “Of course we were. It’s just that I’ve been away for a long time.”
“Sixty-six percent of our lives.”
Red nodded in agreement. “Right, that long. I’ve been through a lot, and it’s just that I don’t entirely remember … well … almost anything at all.”
“You forgot me?” The odd girl began pacing in distress. “I’m not the most memorable person in the world, I know that. It’s just that we were almost like sisters. Not in the related by blood way, but more in the sisterly best friend sort of way.”
“Please don’t be upset. It’s not that I exactly forgot you.” Red recalled the photo she had seen the day before from her third birthday. It was safe to assume that the odd girl was one of the children with her in the photo. She just couldn’t remember the name written on it. “You were at my third birthday, right?”
“You do remember me.” The odd girl let out a sigh of relief. “That was only the best party ever.”
“Unlike any other.”
“Oh. You probably don’t want to talk about what happened on that day,” the odd girl whispered. “I understand if you’re not ready.”
“Ready?” Red was almost too afraid to ask the odd girl what she was talking about, but it was a chance to learn a bit of her history. “So what did happen?”
“You really don’t remember?” The odd girl tapped a finger on the tip of her nose as she pondered this. “Oh, I get it. I’ve read about this sort of thing. When something real bad happens to somebody, they block out the memory because it’s too painful to remember.”
“Is that what I’ve done?” Red considered this odd notion as she stepped off her motorcycle.
“Now don’t get all gloomy.” The odd girl tried to comfort Red with a hug, but she squeezed so tightly it felt more like an attempt to suffocate her. “And don’t worry. When you’re ready to talk about it, I will be here for you.”
“Honestly, I would be okay talking about it right now.”
“Don’t be silly. We haven’t seen one another in sixty-six percent of our lives. This is a happy day. I would never dream of ruining it with such sadness.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Red slumped a little. “Maybe another time.”
“Any time you’re ready.”
“Any time but now,” Red mumbled. Her face lit up with a smile as the name she was searching for popped into her mind. “Dote. That’s who you are.”
“You remembered.” Dote danced around in a whirlwind of excitement. “I thought you were going to call me Luna, and we both know how much I hate my real name.”
“Right, I can see how you would much prefer to be called Dote.”
“No joke. I mean it’s a little freaky that my mother named me after some nutty old witch that got all mental and ate the souls of a thousand children.”
“Yeah, that is a little weird.” Red figured Dote had to be talking about an old myth or fairytale. Surely not something that actually happened.
“Right, as if I would ever do something so crazy. Only a witch totally twisted in the head would ever mess with spellcraft that requ
ires using human souls.”
“Exactly.” Red faked a smile. “And it’s not like something that terrible actually happened.”
“Oh, it happened. It’s a messy stain on my family name. We don’t talk about it much. Especially on holidays.”
Red shuddered with a nervous chill. “I can see why.”
“And don’t think for a second that I’m not grateful that your family doesn’t hold it against us.”
“Why would we ever do that?”
“It’s just that there are a lot of people who look down on families with such a dark history. Look at the way everybody treats the Helheim Clan,” Dote said.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that around here,” said Red.
Dote whispered, “Just because three witches in my family line have been burned at the stake doesn’t mean we’re all bad.”
“Burned at the stake?!” Red yelped.
“Don’t get me wrong, Red. Every one of them had it coming. The trouble is that people look at a thing like that and wonder if all the women in the family have some kind of psycho witch gene.”
Red faked an awkward smile. “I guess I can see how that might make sense to some people.”
Dote frowned. “Oh, I wish I could stay here all day, so we could catch up on old times, but I need to get home soon. You know how mental my mom can get when the sky gets all crazy like it is today.”
Red glanced to the perfectly calm blue sky. She decided to just skip asking. “That’s okay. There’ll be other chances.”
“How about I come back tonight? We can have a slumber party. We can stay up all night reading our favorite fairytales to each other, and bake cake, and pie, and eat candy, and draw funny pictures of each other, and make fun of Ash because he’s a boy, so he’s not allowed to stay over, and it will be wonderful, just like old times.”
Red smiled fondly. “That does sound wonderful.”
“Then let’s do it.” Dote wailed out. “Please say ‘yes.’ Pretty, pretty please?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to.” Red frowned, not wanting to let Dote down. “It’s just that I have this party to go to.”
“Party? Don’t tell me you’re going to Ice Seether’s party,” Dote blurted out with awestruck eyes.
“Well, yes. How do you know about it?”
Dote squealed so loudly it could have shattered the windows. “Everybody knows about it. How did you ever get invited?”
“It’s no big deal. I met Ice Seether in the woods earlier today. She said I could come.”
“No big deal? It’s only like the biggest deal ever!” Dote clutched her heart and twirled around in longing. “Oh, the breaks you get. Sometimes I wish I could be the bloodline descendant of Wayward’s high protector.”
Red gave Dote an odd look. “You know about that?”
“Well, yeah. My great-great-grandmother only stood by the side of your great, great-great-grandmother in the final battle against Ragnarok.”
“Oh,” is all Red could manage to say.
“You have forgotten a lot.”
“I have, Dote. Would you tell me more?”
“There’s so much to tell. It’s hard to pick a place to even begin.”
“Any little thing you can think of would be fine.”
Dote tapped a finger on the tip of her nose. “Wait, I know. Your mom and my mom were best friends as little kids. Then something happened involving some dumb boy when they were our age, and they stopped being friends.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t be sorry, Red. We weren’t even born yet. My mom blames your mom, but I only know the story as my mom tells it, and we know how she exaggerates everything.”
“Well, I do hope they worked things out.”
“It’s more like the problem worked itself out. The boy they were fighting over fell off a bridge and got eaten by a pack of razor rats. Once he was out of the way, they got over it and were friends again.”
Red cringed at the thought of this. “Well, I suppose that’s good news.”
“It really was. If not for that guy dying an awful death, our moms might have just kept on hating each other and we might have never gotten to be friends.”
“Or one of them might have ended up with the guy, and then one of us might have never been born,” Red said.
Dote held her head in confusion. “I never thought of it that way. I mean if I wasn’t born as me, that would be a bummer, but if you weren’t born as you …” Dote stopped cold and looked at Red with a rather startling expression.
“Dote, what is it?”
Dote looked away. “Nothing. It’s not important.”
“You can’t leave me wondering like that. What were you going to say?”
“Well, it’s just that you’re the Alpha. There’s no telling who would have ended up with the powers.”
“I see. That is an interesting thought,” Red said.
“I mean we could almost say that it was fate that made such a thing happen.”
Red took a nervous gulp. “Why would we say that?”
Dote giggled. “I’m not saying it happened that way. I’m just saying it could have.”
“The idea that a boy had to die to make sure I was born is bad, right?”
“It’s not a happy thought, that’s for sure. What would be bad is if somebody did something to make sure it happened that way.” An odd look overcame Dote’s face as she pondered this.
Red took a nervous gulp. “Something like what, Dote?”
“You know, something like …” Dote made a pushing gesture.
“Dote, that’s a terrible thing to even suggest.”
“Red, I’m not saying I would do such a thing.”
“I would hope that nobody would.”
“Oh, there’s a bunch of people I can think of who would do it in a heartbeat.”
“You’re freaking me out here, Dote. Can we move on from this?”
Dote gave Red a warm smile. “You’re right. We shouldn’t talk about such odd things on this wonderful day.”
Red sighed. “I could not agree more.”
For a lingering moment, Red and Dote stood in an uncomfortable silence.
Dote finally grabbed Red’s hands and looked her in the eyes. “So listen, you have to promise to tell me all about the party. Take notes because I want to know every little detail, all the way down to the color of the napkins.”
Red saw the longing in Dote’s eyes and could come to only one conclusion. “I’ve got a better idea. Ice said I could bring a friend. Want to come with me?”
“Are you kidding? You know I would love that more than anything in the whole world.” Dote took Red’s hand and began to lead her around in a ballroom style dance. “I’ve been practicing for this for as long as I can remember. I know you know all about that, unless you forgot that too, which is fine with me.”
“What are you talking about? Ice said this is just a small party with a few friends.”
“Red, don’t be silly. Ice Seether doesn’t have small parties. This is her birthday ball.”
Her birthday ball? Red halfway stumbled off her feet.
Dote continued to lead Red around in the dance. “It’s only the biggest event of the summer. Hundreds of people will be there. Thousands, maybe. They come from all over Wayward. Some further than that. Everybody who is anybody will be there. And we are going to be there with them.”
“Oh, joy.” Red’s heart dropped to her feet. She knew nothing of high society, nor did she want to learn. Making it all the worse, there was no way she could get a dress suitable for such an event. As much as she wanted to tell Dote it was a huge mistake, doing so would break her heart into a million pieces. She already knew that Dote would become her greatest friend—for the second time in her life.
“I guess we’re going to a ball,” Red mumbled.
“Oh, happiness.” Dote hugged Red, again just a little tighter than she should have. “Red, you are the best friend e
ver.”
“So are you, Dote.” Red sighed. “I guess you’d better hurry home so you can get ready. Be back here by eight o’clock.”
“Oh, I will be. You can count on me not to be late to the greatest night of my life. I mean, our life, because we’re together again, and nothing is going to ever pull us apart.”
Red smiled as she watched Dote dance away in a whirlwind of excitement. When she turned back toward the house, the good feelings faded away. She would now have to deal with Grenda after having stayed out all night without permission. Doing this at an orphanage would have brought with it swift punishment. There was no way of knowing what it would lead to with her granny.
Chapter 9
“Granny, are you here?”
As Red peered in through the front door, she was baffled to find that the place looked like an abandoned shack. A thick layer of dust blanketed the room from floor to ceiling. A musky odor hit her senses so hard it made her eyes burn and stomach churn.
She wanted to dash right back outside out of fear of what might be lurking in the house, but that just wasn’t an option until she knew for certain that her granny wasn’t in danger.
“Granny, if you’re in here, please say something.”
It was so icy cold that Red could see her breath as she stepped over the threshold. The instant she pushed the door shut, the room transformed to the warm and welcoming home she had come to adore.
All the dust was gone without a trace. A flame ignited in the fireplace, filling the room with comforting warmth. The aroma of fresh baked blueberry muffins filled the air. It was enough to make Red’s stomach rumble with hunger and remind her that she hadn’t eaten since the previous day.
Curious about the strange phenomenon, Red reached back and pulled the door open. In a flash, the room was again the lifeless tomb she had first seen.
An eight-foot serpent slithered in from the kitchen doorway. It showed Red its venomous fangs and hissed as it raced toward her. Red screamed and slammed the door. The snake vanished seconds before it would have bitten into her leg.
The room was once again warm, clean, and safe.
“It’s a pretty good trick, eh, Red?” said Grenda.