A Blade So Black

by L. L. McKinney

“Hey, you know where my bag is?”

  Maddi crouched beside the bed. The springs creaked and shifted, then she popped back up, Alice’s backpack in hand. “Figured you’d want it close.” Which meant under the bed, apparently.

  “Thanks. Again.”

  Maddi nodded and gathered up her supplies. “Food?”

  The way Alice’s stomach twisted in on itself, she didn’t think she could keep anything down. “No. But some water?” Her throat was on fire.

  “Mmhm.” Maddi slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

  Alice tugged her phone free, intending to call her mom and let her know she was just going to spend the night at Court’s. The screen lit up. Message after message scrolled by. Missed call alert after missed call alert followed, along with several voice mails. With each notification, Alice sank in on herself, a hollow feeling widening inside her, threatening to collapse inward.

  “Oh no.” She kept scrolling, falling deeper and deeper. “No, no, no!”

  Most of them were from her mom, the usual in her newfound practice of angry demands wondering where the hell she was. The others were from Court and Chess, wondering the same.

  Above them all, 10:14 PM blazed against the screen. Beneath that, the words SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15.

  Courtney’s birthday party had started four hours ago.

  Nine

  A VERY IMPORTANT DATE

  Alice downed a couple of potions and asked Maddi for a ride home, promising her and Hatta she’d go straight to bed. Borrowing a pair of sweatpants from the Poet, which fit Alice more like sweat-capris, she sat in the front seat of Maddi’s car typing and deleting text after text to Courtney. After the dozenth delete, she tried calling. Something in her chest went cold as she pressed the phone to her ear. It rang. And rang. And rang.

  “Hay, it’s Court-nay. You know what to do.”

  Voice mail. Alice didn’t know if she was relieved or even more upset, but she tried again. And again. The fourth time, it went to voice mail on the second ring. Court had hit dismiss. There were few feelings worse than knowing you’d been intentionally ignored, revoked, denied.

  On the next call, it went straight to voice mail. Alice sighed and waited for the beep. “I’m late, I know, I’m sorry, but I’m on my way. I got hit. Hard. I didn’t wake up until like an hour ago. Maddi and Hatta can back me up, so please, call me? I’m on my way, love you, bye.”

  She tried Chess next. He picked up on the first ring, music blaring in the background. “Alice! Where are you, what happened, are you okay?”

  “I’m okay. It’s a long story. Are you with Courtney?”

  “What? Hold on.” He must have lowered his phone because the music hit loud enough Alice had to pull hers away from her ear. After a few seconds, it died away completely. “Sorry, what did you say?”

  “I said I’m fine. Where’s Courtney?”

  “She’s inside. Dude, what happened yesterday? Where have you been?”

  Alice bit into her lower lip. “I’ll explain when I get there. Can you put Courtney on the phone?”

  “Um, I can try.” His tone dipped toward irritated. The music kicked up again. Alice supposed she’d be in her feelings if she called someone, worried about them, and they called back to talk to someone else. Being her friend was the worst. She’d find a way to make it up to him.

  For a couple of minutes Alice listened to the party music and willed Maddi to go faster. When it finally died down again, she pressed the phone to her ear, an apology on her lips.

  “She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Chess said quietly.

  The cold feeling in Alice’s chest dropped into her gut.

  “I’m sorry. Alice?”

  She tried to respond, twice, but the words kept slamming into the back of her teeth. She took a second to just breathe. “That’s all right. Just tell her I’m on my way, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure, see you when you get here.”

  “Mmhm.” She couldn’t manage anything more, the sting in her eyes spreading to the rest of her face, clogging her nose and burning her throat. She let the window down, but that didn’t help. Buildings whizzed by, eventually shrinking down to houses as they reached her neighborhood. If Maddi sensed anything was wrong, she didn’t try to talk about it. Alice silently thanked her.

  When they pulled up in front of her house, she pushed the door open, but paused. “Maddi, I need one more favor. Can you drop me off at Courtney’s?” she continued when the bartender looked at her with quizzical blue eyes.

  Maddi frowned. “You’re supposed to be not this.”

  “Huh?”

  Maddi pressed her hands together and pretended to be asleep, fake snore and all.

  “O-oh. I know, but it’s her birthday and I’m late for her party. I’ll take it easy, just drink punch and eat cake.”

  Maddi’s eyes narrowed before she gave a single, sound nod. “Cake is important.”

  “Oh, thank you! I’ll be right back, I need to change.” Alice jumped out of the car and raced for the porch. The driveway was empty, but that didn’t necessarily mean Mom wasn’t home. Sometimes she put the car in the garage. A couple lights shone in the living room window.

  Quiet and careful, Alice unlocked the front door and stepped inside. She held her breath, listening for signs of movement, the TV playing upstairs, anything. Silence greeted her from all directions. Light in the kitchen was dim, most likely from over the sink. The hall upstairs was completely dark. Mom was out, thank god. Alice raced upstairs and into her room. With a pang of pain here and there, she stripped down. Maddi had cleaned the blood and mud off her, but she still needed some soap-on-skin action.

  After the fastest shower in human history—thankfully, the magic bandages were also waterproof—she slathered some lotion on and slipped into her costume. She’d spent weeks on this dress, trying a couple of patterns before getting it right. She was out of practice. The satin felt cool against her skin, the skirts fanning out at her feet. She pulled the shoulder puffs into place, checking to make sure they were straight. The gold collar blazed, radiant even in the dull glow of her ceiling fan light. She threw on some sneakers to wear out, then brushed her gel-slicked hair into two puffs atop her head and hastily pinned two extra-long tails of silk Yaki at the base of each. Her hands still sticky, she looped a sock donut over each puff and smoothed the hair around the material to form two buns. More pins ensured they stayed in place. She hoped. She nearly forgot her jewelry, completely skipped makeup, and raced out of the house.

  Maddi made it to the highway by the time Alice worked up the nerve to call her mom. She may have evaded the threat for now, but she needed to at least put in some communication time if she didn’t want Mom to go completely awf, and a text wasn’t gone cut it. She steeled herself, shoulders hunched and one eye shut, and called. She felt like she was launching a nuclear missile.

  Mom picked up halfway through the first ring. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Alice flinched before launching into a story about how she texted her a few times today, a boldface lie, but she only just now noticed that her messages weren’t going through because she somehow accidentally put her phone on airplane mode. That also explained why she didn’t get any of her mom’s calls or messages, either. Court used that line on her mom once, and Alice decided to steal it for just this occasion, but Courtney’s mom was super suburban white and Alice’s mom probably had TRY ME tattooed across her knuckles in a previous life.

  After Alice spun her web, she waited in silence for judgment to be passed.

  “You must think I’m stupid,” Mom said way too calmly.

  “No, I don’t. I seriously just thought you were cool with me helping Court get everything ready for the party.”

  “And that’s where you been? Since yes. Ter. Day?” Mom cut the word in pieces. “’Cause that’s the last time I heard from you. And even if I believe your lil story about you messin’ up your phone or whatever, I called Courtney, too, and she didn’t
pick up. Y’all think it’s a game. I could’ve been calling ’cause of your grandma or some other emergency, maybe to wish her happy birthday, y’all don’t know. I called Maxine, but she and Robert are off somewhere neglecting their children, ain’t talked to Courtney all day, neither.”

  Just from the way Mom chewed on her words, Alice could picture her lips twisting to the side and her head cocked, especially when she talked about Courtney’s parents. Mom didn’t like the way they weren’t around, even when they were.

  “Y’all must think I won’t come over there and embarrass the both of you,” Mom went on, just shy of yelling. “I’m not above scene-causing.”

  “I don’t know what happened to Courtney’s phone. She probably set it down somewhere and forgot it during all the craziness.”

  “Don’t play me, Alison. That lil girl would lose her damn right hand before she lost that phone.”

  Well, Mom wasn’t wrong. “I’m not. I’m on her back porch. I can go get her if you want me to.” Please don’t want me to.

  A moment of silence passed. Then another. Mom sighed heavily. “As soon as that party is over, you better have your butt in a car on your way home. If I have to come get you, and I will, you’re gonna regret it.”

  Relief swept through Alice with enough force to push the air from her lungs. “I’ll come home right after, I swear.”

  “You better. And you better get your party on ’cause you’re grounded for the next two weeks.”

  The relief evaporated. “What!”

  “You heard me.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, except yours in this house, you got me?”

  Alice sank down in the seat, her dress bunching at her back. She bit into her lips, her grip on the phone tightening. A crack sounded as the screen split across the middle. Her grip eased with a faint gasp.

  “Hello? I know I’m not talking to myself. You wanna add an ass whuppin’ to this order?”

  “N-no, ma’am. I’m here.”

  “Uh-huh. We’re going to have a conversation when you get home, young lady.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Tell Courtney I said happy birthday, and she better pick up next time my name hits her screen.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I love you.”

  “Yes, ma—I love you, too.”

  “Bye.” Mom hung up before Alice could respond.

  Alice stared at her now-broken phone. It took everything in her not to just chuck it out the window or something.

  Maddi had been shooting her looks during the whole conversation. Alice kept her eyes on the street. They rode in silence save for Alice giving directions now and again. Eventually, they pulled into a gated community. Fancy lights made to look like old-timey gas lamps lined the streets. Massive houses sat back on multiacre sites, some of them with an additional gate of their own, the driveways long enough to have separate lighting. Big and expensive, or sleek and also expensive, cars sat parked around fountains or in front of multicar garages.

  Courtney’s house was one of the bigger ones, a white monstrosity that looked part wedding cake, part Mediterranean castle. The lamps lining the driveway were all different colors, a string of bright bulbs threaded between them. The fountain at the center of her roundabout in the front spouted rainbow-lit water in crisscrosses. There were only a handful of cars still parked. Alice managed some eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick on the ride over. Her face wasn’t beat, but it would have to do.

  After a thanks to Maddi and a quick shoe swap, she hurried up the front stairs to the large double doors. She’d worry about her mom and that nonsense later; right now she had a friendship to save. She didn’t know how, but she had to make this work. One thing had to work!

  She rang the doorbell, waving as Maddi pulled off. When no one answered, she rang again and fidgeted with her bag. There wasn’t anything but her shoes, makeup, phone, and a card for Courtney inside, but it felt like it weighed a million pounds. Alice rang a third time, her heart jumping around in her chest. Sweat slipped down her back, despite the chilled October air prickling against her bare skin. Court wasn’t mad enough to leave her literally standing out in the cold, was she?

  Finally, the locks clicked as they were turned on the other side, and one large door swung inward. Crystal, Court’s thirteen-year-old sister, filled the small opening, blinking up at her with Court’s same green eyes from behind a pair of glasses. A pointy black hat sat on top of her long, yellow hair, and a green and silver scarf curled around her neck and fell over her shoulders. Robes concealed the rest of her clothes, the Slytherin crest bright over her heart.

  “Hey.” Crystal adjusted her glasses, and a lightning bolt mark was visible through the fringe of her bangs.

  “Hey.” Alice stepped into the house, glancing around for signs of the party, but the place was pretty quiet.

  “You’re late.” Crystal closed the door.

  Alice bit down on the flare of irritation and smiled at Crystal. “You’re … Harry Potter?”

  “If he chose right.” Crystal stepped around Alice and headed for the large staircase that wound up along the wall to the second floor. “They’re downstairs.”

  “Thanks.” Alice clicked down the side hall and headed for the basement. A few kids she recognized from school were on their way up, dressed as Wonder Woman, a Jedi, and something Alice didn’t recognize at all. They seemed surprised to see her but greeted her all the same in passing. God, she was so late.

  At the bottom of the stairs, a short hall to the right led to another pair of double doors, propped open into what was pretty much a private ballroom. The lights were up, but the decorations along the walls and high ceiling gave the impression of a dramatic Victorian manor turned rave. Balloons and sparkling confetti littered the floor. A long table full of empty trays and punch bowls sat against the far wall. On the stage, a few guys were packing up some massive speakers and what looked like DJ gear. There was no sign of Courtney or Chess until Alice stepped farther into the large room and the wall full of high windows and French doors came into view.

  The amazing decorations continued out onto the terrace, where a bunch of lights had been set up to contour the space and give it the same Victorian flare. A fire flickered in the large pit at the center of the courtyard, where the furniture had been drawn back to open up the area. The large pool was also lit in various colors, the water dazzling. Courtney definitely went all out.

  With a fortifying breath, Alice pushed through one of the doors. Court and Chess paused midconversation where they were seated on the large stone bench that circled the fire. Court looked stunning, and scary as hell with that glare on her face, as Maleficent. Chess was some sort of lord, maybe, in a tuxedo and cape. He didn’t look angry, but he didn’t look happy to see her, either.

  “H-hey.” Alice twisted the beaded bracelet on her wrist.

  Court looked to Chess. “Did you hear something?”

  He sighed. “Courtney.”

  “Surely, that’s not my supposed best friend wandering into my birthday party four hours late after ghosting on me all damn day. Surely.”

  Alice swallowed. “It’s not like that. I was—”

  “Oh, it’s not?” Court whirled on her. “You’re not just now showing up after everyone’s gone? You’ve been here the whole time, and we just kept missing each other in my freaking house?”

  “There was a problem at the pub.” She stressed the last few words, hoping Courtney understood what she meant. She couldn’t talk about this stuff in front of Chess, though she desperately wanted to explain. “It was an emergency. I—”

  “There’s always a problem at the pub!” Court jumped to her feet. Her eyes glistened with anger and tears. “Or a crisis, an emergency, something important that’ll just take a second, that turns into hours that turns into days. But silly me, I thought, surely, this time, my best friend wouldn’t let it happen. Surely, if she didn’t make it tonight, she’d at least fucking show up for
my birthday!”

  Tears spilled over Courtney’s cheeks. She swiped at her eyes, smudging the green and black eyeshadow that had completed her look. One glance at her hand and then she rubbed it on her black robes.

  “Court,” Alice tried, her voice breaking. She could feel her own tears slip down her face. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t—”

  Courtney lifted a hand as she stalked toward the door farthest from the one Alice stood in front of. Each angry clack of her heels sent a shard through Alice’s heart. She wanted to explain, tell her friend it wasn’t her fault, but her lips locked up and her throat was swollen shut. This wasn’t fair. Courtney had every right to be angry, but this wasn’t Alice’s fault. She’d been attacked, nearly killed, recovering for over a day, but the minute she was up she got out of bed—where she was supposed to be resting—and came to this stupid party. Dammit, she was even grounded now for all this mess!

  She sniffed and it threatened to break into a sob. No. She clamped down tight over the ones trying to follow. They bubbled up with the feeling that she might throw up. I’m not gonna cry. I’m fine. This is fine. You’re fine.

  Something soft pressed to Alice’s fingers. She opened her eyes, not realizing she’d closed them, and blinked past the blur of tears at Chess. He took her other hand, holding both of them in his gloved ones, the white fabric tickling faintly. His violet gaze was dark in the party lighting, his eyebrows pinched. He tucked his head forward a little, meeting her gaze.

  Alice waved a hand. “I’m fine.”

  “You always say that.” He squeezed her hands. “What happened? You just disappeared on us.”

  The last thing she wanted was to have this conversation right now, tonight, and here of all places. “I already said it. There was a—”

  “—problem at the pub,” he finished with her, heaving a dejected sigh. “I know. But that can’t be it. Can it?” His voice lifted in a plea, like he was begging for something to believe other than she’d flaked on them because of her job without so much as a text.

  No, that’s not it. “It’s a long story.”