by ID Johnson
“These are crooked!” Liddy’s voice calling from the dining room pulled Ru out of her thoughts. “Why can’t you do anything right, Ruin?”
Before she could even think of protesting, her mother had jumped up and grabbed ahold of one end of the streamers along one wall and pulled them down. Ru felt a fire ignite inside of her but did her best to snuff it. Getting angry at Liddy never did her any good. She was certain the streamers were not crooked. She was a teacher after all—putting up borders, etc. with straight edges was second nature to her.
“Get down off of that ladder and go in the kitchen. Start plating the appetizers. Seriously, Ruin. I don’t know why I ever….”
The end of the sentence faded off as Ru dropped to the floor and her mother stormed out of the adjoining room into the living room to snatch up the ladder, but Ru knew how it went. “I don’t know why I ever took you in in the first place.” She’d been hearing the same thing since she was three years old. More than once, she wished Liddy Brown hadn’t taken her birth mother up on her offer—raise my daughter, and the state will help you with funding. Whatever happened to that mother, she had no way of knowing. There were no records of Ruin Sara Roberts ever being born. Liddy had to apply for a birth certificate after the fact, and there was no way for Ru to know that any of the information on it was true.
Greg was still in the kitchen, though he seemed to be eating the appetizers, not plating them. She forced a small smile in his direction and set in on finishing what her mother had started. They still had a couple of hours before guests would begin to arrive. Even if Liddy had done everything on her own, she would’ve had plenty of time. Still, Ru was ordered to help, and that’s what she did. She grabbed a plastic container of assorted cheeses and meats and began to spread it on a nicer platter.
When she was younger, she’d identified with Cinderella more than anyone else in the universe, except her mother wasn’t a step, and she knew there was no Prince Charming to rescue her. Her sisters, Melissa and Danielle, had been nice enough, though she never had a bond with either of them like they did each other. She told herself it was because they were so much older. Melissa was five years older, and they’d never even been in the same school as each other except when Ru was in kindergarten. Even though Danielle was only three-and-a-half years older than her, she was certain the younger of Liddy’s daughters regretted not getting to keep that status, though Liddy always treated her the same way, even after Ru arrived.
She didn’t remember anything at all about the first three years of her life except for occasional flashes of a beautiful woman with long blonde hair. She wondered if that was her mother, her real one, the one she wanted to assume loved her more than anything but was forced to give her up for some reason she’d never understand. That made-up story didn’t match the reality of what Liddy Brown repeated to her on a daily basis growing up, though. “Your mother didn’t want you. You were as much of a jinx when you were born as you are today. She said you destroyed her life. That’s why she named you Ruin. You ruined everything for her, you’re ruining everything for me, and you will always ruin everything for anyone unlucky enough to walk into your life.”
Thinking of all the times she’d cried herself to sleep, feeling unloved—unlovable—and all alone, Ru felt a sting in her eye and had to blink it away. She hoped Greg didn’t notice, but he said, “You okay, Ru?”
Blinking, she said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”
“She can be harsh, I know.” He took a step closer, running his hand through his short brown hair, which was graying at the temples. He had a larger, hook-like nose, and when Ru had first met him, she’d taken to referring to him as The Vulture—never out loud, of course. “Listen, Ru, you’ve done good for yourself. Don’t worry about what Liddy has to say. If anything, she’s probably just jealous of you.”
Ru looked up and met his brown eyes, not exactly sure how to take the comment. Since when was Greg interested in her feelings? “Thanks,” she managed again.
“Yeah. After all, neither one of her actual daughters will ever amount to anything. Off-off Broadway performer? And Melissa never finished college. If it weren’t for that boyfriend of hers, she’d be living on the streets.” He shrugged. “Guess that runs in the family.” He took a piece of fruit out of the basket in front of Ru and walked out of the room, muttering to himself. Once he was in the living room, she heard him ask Liddy if she needed any help and was thankful he’d finally decided to be of assistance, wondering what had taken him so long. But then, she couldn’t blame him for not wanting to get involved if he didn’t have to. It was enough that he’d paid for most of this party—except for the items Ru’d picked up—when he didn’t care for Melissa in the first place, clearly.
Ru had all of the food plated before Liddy came in to check it. The grapes were wrong and needed to be re-organized, and Ru tried again, wondering how one poured grapes into a bowl incorrectly. The second try was better, though they were still “messy.” Liddy prodded a few into place and then let it go with a loud sigh.
Once Danielle arrived, Liddy forgot Ru was even there as her “youngest daughter,” as she liked to refer to her, launched into a discussion of how much work she’d been doing to prepare for her understudy role in the new production she was working on. Ru said hello to her sister and then went about making sure everything was cleaned up. Soon enough, other guests started to show up, most of them friends of Melissa’s from high school or her mother’s friends from church or around town. Exactly what it was Liddy Brown did while she was at church, Ru was never sure. Clearly, she didn’t take any of the scriptures to heart. The second Ru was free to choose for herself, she’d decided on a less restrictive interpretation of God and hadn’t stepped back inside of a holy building since. If Liddy Brown was religious, Ru would be something else. Anything else.
It was no surprise that Ru would spend the evening running around refreshing drinks, setting out more food, cleaning up plates, etc. She was fine with it. It gave her less of a chance to talk to people she didn’t really know. She did get a few pitied glances from some of the women who had known her most of her life, but few people attempted to talk to her. She did have a short conversation with the birthday girl, who was ecstatic about her new job as a personal assistant. Her boyfriend, Chuck, who worked on Wall Street, though Ru didn’t understand what he did no matter how many times she heard him explain it, seemed both proud and relieved that she’d finally be contributing. Melissa had quite the shopping addiction, always had, and since Liddy had done her best to make both of her older daughters appear to have more money than they did, she was used to wearing clothes and accessories with price tags beyond her means.
“How’s teaching going?” Melissa asked, catching up with Ru in the kitchen. “Still teaching third grade?”
“Fourth,” Ru said, smiling. “It’s great. School starts on Monday.”
“Wow, I just don’t know how you do it,” her sister replied, taking a drink of her champagne. “All those little brats wiping their snotty noses on you all day long.”
Ru had no idea how Melissa could be under the impression that fourth graders were that needy, but she knew there was no point in trying to clarify. “When do you start your new job?” she asked, turning the focus back onto Melissa’s favorite subject—herself. This launched a long discussion into how she’d be working for one of the top directors in the fashion industry, who sounded an awful lot like the woman in The Devil Wears Prada to Ru, but she let her sister talk. Even though Melissa was nervous about working for someone who was known for being so rude and ugly, she was still excited.
“I mean, can you imagine having to see someone everyday who hates you and thinks you’re trash?” she asked, crossing one arm under the other as she took another sip and giving a little chuckle.
The irony wasn’t lost on Ru, but she only said, “No, that might be tough. But I’m sure you can handle it.” She gave her sister a reassuring smile.
“Sure I can,” Me
lissa nodded confidently before emptying her glass. “Do we have more of this?”
Ru grabbed the bottle off of the counter and filled her flute up again. It was pretty obvious Melissa had had enough to drink, but since she’d be spending the weekend in the house, Ru didn’t see any harm.
“Oh, there you are,” Liddy said, coming into the kitchen. “Why are you in here? Your guests want to see you.”
“I was just talking to Ru,” Melissa shrugged, taking an unsteady step toward her mom. “When do we get to open presents?”
Ru didn’t hear what her mother’s response was as she finished placing more vegetables on a platter and prepared to take it to the dining room where Liddy had all the food displayed. Her cell phone buzzed, and she decided now might be a good time to check it since chances were Liddy was preoccupied and wouldn’t see her and get angry.
It was a text from Cutter, and Ru couldn’t help but smile thinking about him. “I just wanted to make sure you got to your mom’s house on time,” he said. “And that your phone was still working.”
When Jane had insisted they all exchange phone numbers earlier in the week, she hadn’t protested, though she wasn’t expecting a Friday night text from the new teacher. Now, she was very glad he had her number. It was tempting to vent to him; Cutter was so easy to talk to. But now wasn’t the time or place to get into her history with her mother. “Yeah, made it on time,” she said, forgetting that she was actually three minutes late. “Party is in full swing. Phone is working just fine thanks to you.”
“Great,” Cutter sent back almost immediately. “Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Hope you have a nice evening.”
“You, too,” she replied, wishing she could have invited him along for moral support. She couldn’t even imagine the look Liddy would get on her face if she thought her throw-away daughter was dating someone as attractive and charming as Cutter Michaels. Maybe someday she’d get him to agree to pull one over on her mom. Now, that would be funny.
“Ruin! Where are those carrots?” Liddy screeched from the dining room.
With a sigh, Ru slipped her phone into her pocket and picked up the tray, glad that her mother hadn’t actually come into the kitchen and caught her with her phone in her hand. Someday, she thought, maybe I’ll move away from here. Away from Tarrytown and Reaper’s Hollow, away from New York. Then, I’ll only have to speak to Liddy on holidays. Freedom will be mine at last. It was a dream she’d had since she was old enough to realize her place in life, but one she didn’t know if she could ever carry through with. Even though she knew she didn’t really belong in this family, in their world, it was the only one she could remember, so she’d done her best to make it work. How much longer could she keep it up before the last thread finally broke?
Chapter 6
Cutter put his phone away and picked up the piece of paper Lyric had produced for him earlier that afternoon. It was a nice fall evening, and he sat on the porch swing, listening to the leaves rustling in the wind and the fading sounds of insects that would soon find their winter homes.
Rider walked out onto the porch, the sagging wood protesting and the door creaking behind him. He had a beer in his hand, and he took a swig as he crossed over. The porch swing seemed as unhappy at his presence as the porch. “So… now what?” he asked, leaning back as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
With a sigh, Cutter said, “I think… we give it another week or two, and then I figure out how to explain all of this to her.”
“Do you really think we have a week or two?” Rider asked, running a hand through his blond hair which was beginning to get a little shaggy around the edges.
“I hope so,” Cutter replied. “Otherwise, I’m not sure how we can handle it at all. I mean, I’ve only known her a week. She’s not going to trust me at this point.”
“But if you show her what you can do…”
“I’ll freak her the hell out, and we’ll lose her for sure.” Cutter didn’t know that for a fact, but the few times he thought he knew someone well enough to show them his gift, he’d lost them completely. He couldn’t afford that with Ru, especially not in light of the piece of paper he was holding in his hand.
“I just wish we’d been smart enough to look under the right name in the first place,” Rider went on.
“We didn’t have a first name,” Cutter reminded him. “And… we had no idea she’d be here, right under our noses.”
“Our old stomping grounds,” Rider mused.
“In fairness, this hasn’t been a hotbed for over a century.” Sure, Upstate New York had a history every Keeper was well-aware of, but not since the early nineteenth century had anything significant happened there, though the mansion had still been occupied for decades after the activity had died down.
“It’s called Reaper’s Hollow for a reason,” Rider reminded him, a fact Cutter was well-aware of.
“Right, but it’s not called Keeper’s Hollow. How would we have known she was here? Especially if there is something preventing us from seeing her, which there has to be.” He still hadn’t figured that one out, and even with the information Ivy had been able to collect they were no closer to unraveling that riddle.
“Well, it’s been a week or so since Nat reared his pretty little head, so maybe we need to go out tonight, try to trip him up a little bit.”
Cutter turned to eye his cousin directly. “Do you have any idea where he might be?”
“Not a clue,” Rider admitted. “But it wouldn’t hurt to let them know we’re around.”
“It would if he isn’t aware and thinks we are around for the same reason he is,” Cutter argued. “You’re always itching for a fight.”
“Damn right I am,” Rider nodded. “It’s in my DNA—literally.”
Smirking, Cutter shook his head. He was right, of course. He just wished his cousin could control his urges a little better like the rest of them tried to. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Rider. We need to lay low until we secure Ru. Then, we’ll have plenty of time to track him down and destroy him.”
“Destroy him?” Rider repeated. “Hell, we’ll be lucky if we can even send him back to where he came from. Destroying him is kinda out of the question, don’t you think?”
Cutter was aware that he had a point, but he felt like it might actually be possible once they had Ru. If she was as powerful as he suspected, she could accomplish a lot more than they’d been able to do in the past. “Maybe, but if we don’t at least aim for destruction, then we’ll never know.”
Rider seemed to be mulling over the remark in his head. “Okay, I’ll give you that,” he finally said. “But in the meantime, what do we do if he keeps claiming unmarked souls?”
“Then, once we catch up to him, he’ll have to pay for his crimes.”
“Great, but in the meantime, more people die.”
Cutter nodded. That was part of the job, an aspect he wasn’t a fan of, but in this instance, there was no easy answer, and he had to make sure they didn’t lose Ru, or worse, drive her right into Nat’s waiting arms. “Look, I don’t like it any more than you do. But if he knows we’re here, he’ll think he’s close.”
“Don’t you think he already knows?” Rider asked, his voice showing his exasperation.
“Surely not,” Cutter reasoned. “If he did, we’d know, I think.”
Rider was shaking his head. “I think we’re the reason he’s here.”
Cutter didn’t really have a response to that, at least not one he was willing to vocalize. “Just give me a few more days.”
With a sigh, Rider clapped his hands down on his thighs. “Fine,” he acquiesced. “But I have a feeling he’ll be out tonight.” He stood and headed back toward the house, clearly disappointed that Cutter hadn’t agreed with his proposition.
“I hope not,” Cutter mumbled, although something told him Rider might be right. It had been almost a week, and Nat usually wasn’t that patient. He’d typically take a few days to find the best mark for his
cause, and then he’d move in, so the fact that he’d taken this long made Cutter hopeful that he’d found other hunting grounds, although he didn’t think that was the case. He had a suspicion that Nat was not only aware that the Keepers were in the area but that the missing one was as well. Cutter had to avoid showing his hand until they had her.
Looking at the certificate he held, he was at least satisfied in knowing they’d found her at last. While he’d questioned the situation even a few days ago, there was no doubt now that Ru was exactly who he thought she was. What was most troubling of all, perhaps, was the fact that she was not who she thought she was—not in the least. The poor girl didn’t even know her own name.
Sandra Delvecchio heard a noise and stumbled out of bed, certain it was her cat, Tiger, wanting out. Without fully opening her eyes, she shuffled toward the back door, the backs of her heels sticking out of her house shoes.
She didn’t glance at the clock to see what time it was, but she felt like she’d been asleep for at least a few hours. Since she’d gone straight to bed after Bull, she figured it was close to midnight. Tiger usually wanted out about this time, and even though it was a pain in the ass, he was her only companion, so she tried to keep him happy.
Opening the back door, she said, “Here you go, kitty,” expecting to feel him rub against her leg as he darted out into the fall evening, but there was nothing. “Tiger?” she called. Turning around and finally opening her eyes completely for the first time, she didn’t see him anywhere. “That’s odd,” she muttered, wondering what the noise might’ve been that woke her. She pushed the door closed, not bothering to lock it. No one ever broke into anyone’s house in Reaper’s Hollow, and shuffled back toward the bedroom, thinking she wasn’t getting up again if Tiger asked before the sun came up. Even though the next day was Saturday, she’d be up in enough time to watch Saturday Morning Q, and Tiger could wait until then to do his prowling.