The other Ellie. She’d been in on Dillon’s secret the whole time, I realized. She’d led us back to him, hurt at the bulldozer. And Dillon! He’d recovered so easily after he’d been hurt. He’d stopped the busses from running, he’d led us to believe he was real. He’d tricked us, used us to get to Aries. We had been his playthings.
Brennan sighed. “Let’s go.” He revved the boat’s tiny outboard motor. “The boat’s leaking.”
In my daze, I looked down at the silver bottom of the boat. Sure enough, the muddy river was pushing into a tear in the seam. One of the rivets must have come loose with the impact of the birthstone. Over my shoulder, I saw the flashing lights of the Coast Guard as their boat sped toward the Algiers Ferry.
We puttered toward land. We headed back to the West Bank, where we’d started. It was much closer, and it would have been near impossible to fight this river’s mighty current to reach the opposite shore in this tiny boat. We dragged ourselves on shore and lay on the riverbank. I was shivering so bad my muscles spasmed, though I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold river or my surrender or my confusion over who was what.
“I want to call my mom,” I said. If I could find some small inkling of drill sergeant left in her, I’d be renewed. We’d come ashore near the ferry station and inside were clusters of pay phones. Ellie, luckily, had a quarter in her messenger bag.
This time, my mom answered on the first half ring.
“Jeremy? Is that you? I’ve been trying to reach you. I just don’t think—I can’t keep going without you.”
Hearing my mom say my dad’s name, hearing her admit such desperation, made my heart fall. I swallowed and replaced the phone back on the hook. I found a sunny spot in the grass and lay down. My surrender played over and over through my brain.
A crowd of people was setting up for a party in the park. A wedding—a sunrise wedding overlooking the river.
A head appeared above me. I couldn’t see the face; the bright morning sun behind the person masked his face in shadows. I bolted upright, fists clenched, jaw tight to keep from chattering.
It was—who? How did I know this person? Oh, I used to be so good at recalling names and knowing faces before.
“The man from the bus stop,” one of the Ellies whispered. Two Ellies again. I’d let another opportunity to note Real Ellie slip by. Another shiver raced through me.
The man shoved his face close to mine and pulled back his chapped lips, showing his gray teeth. Was he smiling or sneering?
“Is Henry there bothering you, kid?” another man called from across the lawn. I looked from the grungy, stinking man hovering over me to a group of what appeared to be his coworkers. The crowd of people, all wearing the same uniform this guy was wearing, paused to stare at us. I unclenched my fists, my teeth. They could see him. The whole crowd. He was real.
I shook my head and stood, dusting myself off. “No,” I said, peering around this dirty man, this man who stood too close. “We’re all right.” The crew nodded and continued unloading white folding chairs.
The man from the bus stop thrust four huge tablecloths at me and motioned for us to wrap ourselves in them. His uniform was a golf shirt with a catering-company logo on it—NOLA NOM NOMS.
“He is and she is and he is and she is,” he spit at me. He jerked his greasy hair at Gemini, who was now standing nearby. “He is and she is and—”
“You can see,” I whispered. My pulse raced. How could he see the Keeper?
He nodded. “He is.” I felt my eyes grow wide as he said it again. “He is.”
I realized who he meant. “Dillon,” I said. “You were right when you told us before, at the bus stop. He is. A Keeper.” I sighed and pointed with my thumb at Gemini. “And so is she.”
He turned to the pair of Ellies and started trembling. “No, no, no. Two there. Not one. Two there. Not one.”
I sighed. “I know. Two Ellies. Can you—?”
He shook his head violently, as if he knew I was going to ask him which Ellie was real and which was pretend. He didn’t want to make a guess, either.
I finally stopped shivering, huddled under that warm tablecloth. The man motioned for us to follow him, and we did. He scuttled around the catering truck. He grabbed a bunch of bananas, four beignets, and four steaming cups of coffee.
“Dude, thanks,” Brennan said. We ate like we’d never seen food before. The beignets were still warm. The dough and powdered sugar melted on my tongue.
“Sir?” I asked after we’d eaten. He whipped around at the sound of my voice like I’d slapped him upside the head. I jerked back my arm like I might punch him. Instinct. But slowly, he raised his hands, palms open.
“Do you have any more of those shirts and pants?” I pointed to his NOLA NOM NOMS shirt. My clothes were wet, and Brennan and the Ellies still reeked of crab guts.
He held up a finger—one moment—and left, hugging himself and muttering. “Two there. Not one. Two.” He returned a few minutes later with long-sleeved shirts and khaki cargo pants for us. Mine were way too long and had to be cuffed four times. Brennan’s were way too short, and he and I chuckled that he looked like Michael Jackson. I unfastened Nina’s pin from the T-shirt I was wearing and clasped it over my heart, just above the NOLA NOM NOMS logo.
We were fed and dry, and we needed to move on. I decided to extend my hand in handshake. “Thank you, sir.”
He ignored my hand but nodded at us, then at Gemini. “Two there. Not one.” Two.” He turned and twitched away. The other caterers chuckled at him.
When had he become so broken? Had he been like that prior to the personality shift?
Or had I done that to him?
“So…now what?” Brennan asked. I was glad someone asked it. I wasn’t sure what we should do next.
“Wait for the next ferry?” I knew as I was saying it that the idea would get nixed.
“No,” an Ellie said. “No ferry.” The other Ellie shook her head in agreement.
We stood near the back of the park, behind the rows of guests at the wedding. I thought we were being quiet until the bride turned toward us.
“Shhhhh!” she hissed. Her eyebrows furrowed in a deep V. “Can’t you see I’m getting married here?” The bride turned back to her groom, her face transforming from a sneer to a smile. She looked up at her husband-to-be with a huge, moony grin.
My face grew hot. “Sorry!” I whispered. The bride whipped toward me again.
“Jalen!” she whispered through gritted teeth. “I’ll be with you in a moment!” The bride motioned with her head at the preacher, the groom. The preacher, oblivious to the bride’s interruptions, welcomed everyone to this momentous occasion with a booming “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today…” The groom never looked away from his bride, adoring her so fully, it was almost like watching someone bleed. Come to think of it, none of the guests turned to see who the bride addressed, either.
The bride was a Keeper.
One of the Ellies was a step ahead of me, already flipping through The Keypers of the Zodiack. “Virgo. My new sign,” she said, skimming the page. “Here it is.” She read.
“‘Virgo, the maiden. Virgo, thou art modest, conscientious, industrious—everything a pet of thine elders is expected to be. This can make thy peers see thee as distant and unworthy of their trust, questioning thy motives. But not to worry—thou shalt win o’er most with thy charm and ceaseless wit. Love, to thee, is something to withhold to only the truly deserving; deep and true relationships art rare for thee. Thou prizest honesty, and thy keen eye can see order in the midst of chaos. Take note that thine obsessions and ambitions can plant the seed of distrust deep in thy heart. Should that cynicism take root, thou canst be fully and wholly uncooperative.’”
Ellie snapped the book shut. “Uncooperative?” Her bottom lip stuck out. I, coincidentally, bit mine.
“Keep it down back there!” Virgo slammed her bouquet against her thigh. Daisy petals rained onto the platform.
Th
e preacher, oblivious to that outburst, continued, “If anyone here knows why these two should not be married today, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Gemini whipped out her nail file and began sawing it across her fingertips. “I do. That sneak cannot get married. She’s Virgo, for heaven’s sake. It’s against the laws of nature.”
At that, Virgo stomped off the platform and stormed down the aisle, striding toward us. All the guests remained facing forward, listening to the preacher prattle on. The groom turned to watch his beloved walk away, but he was so far gone, he just grinned goofily at her antics.
“Poor sucker,” Brennan said under his breath, lifting his chin at him.
Virgo came back and pushed Gemini in the chest with her bouquet. “You just couldn’t let me have my first kiss, could you? Could you?! Jalen wouldn’t have known!”
Gemini’s face tightened. “Do not push me. And do you really think tricking your Challenger is the best way to win, Virgo? You’re smarter than that, are you not? I know Jalen is.”
Virgo slammed her bouquet to the ground in a pile of petals. Her black glare shifted from Gemini to me, back to Gemini. “Are you telling me—you’re helping her? This…this…kid?”
Gemini paused, and it was a near deadly hesitation. Virgo slid her breezy wedding dress up to reveal a frilly blue garter. There, tucked in the garter, was a knife with a pearlized handle. In one swift move, she whisked it from her makeshift holster, wrapped around Gemini, and raised the sleek blade to Gemini’s throat.
But Gemini was swift as well. She flicked her metal nail file up toward her neck, blocking the knife blade from slicing into her skin. It was a weak shield against Virgo’s sharp weapon.
“What’s to stop me from eliminating you from the zodiac right now?” Virgo said. She jerked her headlock even tighter around Gemini. Cords in both their necks strained. “Huh? Tell me? Why not just get rid of you once and for all?”
The silvery sheen of the knife’s blade flashed. Such power-hungry beings these Keepers were! I stepped forward.
“You can’t do this,” I said, my voice low but growling. “It’s not fair.”
Virgo smirked at me. “Fair? What a child you are! Fair!” Every heaving laugh of Virgo’s made Gemini strain as she tried to hold back that knife’s edge.
“Fair,” I repeated with a nod. Oh, what had her horoscope said? “It’s not honest.”
“Honest!” Virgo tossed Gemini aside. Our guide crumpled to the ground. My pulse slowed its pounding a bit. “Honesty? Is that what you want this to be about, Jalen?” She scooped up her bouquet and backhanded my head with it. “Then honesty you’ll get. You get to decide.”
I took a wavering breath to douse my anger and plucked a petal from my hair. “Decide what?” I asked. “And how come that guy can see you?” I pointed to the groom. The groom had been watching Virgo like she was a perfect present, a surprise with a bow on top.
Virgo snapped around to look at the man in the tuxedo waiting at the altar. Her face softened. “It’s love, Jalen. Just like any kind of love. He sees what he wants to see of me.”
I blinked. Was that true? Do we see only the parts of others we want to see, both good and bad? I motioned toward the guests. “And them? What do they see?”
“They see two people in love.” Virgo’s eyes narrowed and she smirked. “Don’t you believe in true love, Jalen?”
So this was it. What I had to decide. My Challenge was to decide if Virgo’s love was true, pure. Or if she—a Keeper, a thing so adaptable it could imitate my best friend and I couldn’t tell the difference—if she was faking it.
Virgo leaned close. “Allow me that kiss, Jalen,” she whispered. She smelled like sticky-sweet flower petals. “It is true love.” She gathered my hand in hers.
“I can give you true love, too,” she said. She glanced over my shoulder at Brennan, then winked at me. My face flamed.
“True love.” Virgo looked down at my hand and linked my pinkie finger with hers. She lifted our knotted fingers, then pulled her knife out from behind her bouquet. The blade rested at the base of my knuckle. “For the price of a finger.”
I saw the horror written on my face in the blade of that knife, and yanked my hand away. Virgo tossed her head back with laughter. She was just trying to scare me, confuse me. Right?
Gemini shook her head. “Jalen, you cannot allow Virgo that kiss. She must remain totally innocent.”
Virgo huffed, reached in the folds of her wedding gown, and produced a large blue sapphire, her birthstone.
“Jalen,” she whispered, pressing it into my hands. All her teasing had evaporated. “I was using this as my something blue, but I trust you with it. I trust that you’ll allow me my first kiss.”
She turned and climbed back onto the platform, scooped up the groom’s hands, and pressed them against her heart. But she furrowed her eyes at the groom. “Straighten up, William. This is your wedding, you know.” He straightened his back into a line.
Gemini shook her head, the nail file twiddling between her fingers. “No. No, Jalen, she’s playing you for a fool. You must cast her to the skies. Now.”
The preacher turned to the groom. “Do you, William, take Virginia to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
The groom, William, glowed. “I most certainly do.”
Gemini was pacing now. “Jalen, cast her to the skies!”
Virgo looked at me with tear-brimmed eyes. “Please, Jalen? Just a few more minutes?” Was she truly in love? Or was she an excellent actress? Oh, who knew!
I looked to the closest Ellie, who motioned to Gemini. “I’d do what Gemini says, Jalen.” I threw my head back. I knew better than to ask an Ellie. That would just confuse me more.
A tear slid down Virgo’s cheek.
The preacher continued. “Do you, Virginia, take William to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
She nodded and could barely squeak out the words past her tears. “Of course I do. No one else would have me.” The crowd of guests chuckled at her charm.
I turned to Brennan. “What do you think?”
Brennan’s head swiveled from Gemini to Virgo as though he were watching a tennis match. “Gemini says it’s the law, Jalen. I’m not so sure we want to go breaking any laws.”
This, from the guy who had been driving since he was thirteen. Orange fire swelled inside me. Why couldn’t I tell?
Virgo and William exchanged rings. William slid a big sapphire ring on Virgo’s finger and said, “With this ring, I thee wed. I offer you my hand and my heart, as I know they will be safe with you. All that I am I give to you, and all that I have, I share with you.”
My heart tightened. My mother and my father had once said these same vows to each other, long before me. I’d seen their cheesy wedding video, with its bad lighting and awful hairdos. Had they truly been in love? Yesterday, based on my mother’s boiling resentment, I would’ve said no.
He left when I was sick, so sick I was in intensive care, tied to a bed with tubes and machines of my own. So sick the doctors had told Mom and Dad that they’d tried everything, that nothing else could be done, that they should expect the worst. That’s when my dad left. Mom carried so much anger about it. I remember Mom’s face changing when she told me Dad was gone. It never changed back.
But now—now, it seemed, she was leaving us all to find him. She had loved him. She still did. She just had a funny way of showing it before.
“Jalen—” Gemini said, alarm in her tone.
“Jalen, please!” Virgo begged.
I raised the birthstone over my head.
“You have declared your everlasting love with the exchange of rings,” the preacher said. “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
Before, I would cast Virgo to the skies now. Before, I followed the rules.
“You may kiss the bride.”
William reached up and cupped his bride’s chin ever so gently with his fingertips. He saw her. Without the book, without the key. He saw.
How do you ever know if another person loves you? Truly? You just have to believe it when they say they do. It’s all we’ve got. I had to believe she saw him, too. I had to believe that.
Gemini turned her head.
Lips touched, soft and perfect.
“Sic itur ad astra,” I whispered.
Virgo was swept to the heavens, her veil a trail of light. She left one very confused groom standing alone. My insides twisted, watching him watch her disappear.
“Thank you, Jalen,” Virgo’s voice whispered soft as a sigh. Behind us, metal cages clacked open, and hundreds of white doves spiraled into the sky behind her. They were breathtaking, swooping, swirling, wings pumping open, flapping closed. Open, closed. Tiny flying heartbeats, each one.
“Virginia?” William was now shouting. “Virginia!”
Looking up, I had missed spotting the cat lurking under the bushes nearby. But now, this creature, orange and speedy, pounced into the air, wriggling and writhing to get ever higher.
His sharp teeth locked around one of the doves and dragged it back down to earth, a spray of blood and a tangle of feathers leading the way. He groaned a mangy, stray-cat groan, but he was wearing a flashy collar and appeared to be well-fed, his fur sleek. There was no reason this cat needed that dove.
“Virginia?” the groom wailed, his cries echoing the cat’s.
What had I done? His new bride, now gone, forever. Would it have been easier for him if I’d cast Virgo to the skies before the kiss? But I’d made the right choice, right? Virgo had disappeared. And yet…
I looked down at the weight in my hands. The cool blue stone glistened in the morning sun. Virgo’s birthstone remained with me.
In a panic, I showed Gemini the flashing blue sapphire. “Did I lose? Why do I still have the stone?”
“I don’t know.” Gemini was stunned. “I’ve never seen this happen before.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off the stone, heavy in my hands.
The 13th Sign Page 10