Auracle

by Gina Rosati

  “Yeah, I know, four minutes. I have to go.”

  That wasn’t what I meant!

  I bounce back home to find Taylor mumbling little obscenities about me and my allergies, as if this is somehow my fault. She digs around the bottom of my closet until she finds a pair of seldom used clogs, and she unearths my black hoodie and backpack from the pile of castoffs on my bedroom floor. She doesn’t bother locking the front door behind her.

  Rei waits for her at the top of his driveway, one earbud stuck in his ear. When he sees Taylor, he whistles softly. “Whoa. I guess you forgot you don’t wear makeup.”

  “I do now,” she said shortly. “Does the bus pick us up right here?” She attempts her epic hair swish, which fails since my hair is not so swishable. It makes me laugh.

  Rei shakes his head and grins down at her, clearly amused, as well. “Nope. It’s up here.”

  She follows him toward the bus stop, and I follow along from a safe distance. Along the way, Taylor quizzes Rei about her schedule and asks more questions about things she ‘can’t remember.’ I realize now why I never wore those clogs. They are not compatible with mud.

  On the bus, Rei offers an earbud to Taylor, probably to keep her quiet. She frowns when she hears the music, and from my safe vantage point, I can barely hear her ask to see his iPod. Rei hands it over. She spins through his music, frowning.

  “Don’t you have anything good?”

  Rei sucks in his cheeks. “Define good.”

  “You know, good. Don’t you have anything, like, current? Some decent pop or R&B?”

  Rei laughs, probably because she used the words decent and pop in the same sentence. “There’s a lot of current stuff on there, but most of it is from indie bands you probably don’t remember.” He holds out his hand for the iPod, and when she hands it over, he surfs for something. “Here, try this.”

  She sits back with a look that clearly tells him she is settling for this music. Rei turns toward the window and rubs the center of his forehead just above his eyebrows.

  For the rest of the school day, Rei coaches Taylor on where to be at what time, tells her which locker is mine, takes the package of cookies out of her hands in the lunch line and reminds her she’s allergic to peanuts.

  “So? These are chocolate chip, not peanut butter.”

  Rei flips the package over. “Read the ingredients.”

  She huffs at him. “Flour,” she says sarcastically, “sugar…” she’s quiet as she scans the ingredient list. “Processed on shared equipment with peanuts and tree nuts,” she reads. “You’re shitting me, right?”

  “Wrong.” Rei puts them back on the rack. “And in case you forgot, you hardly ever swear.”

  “Yeah, okay, good. So what happens if I eat them?”

  “Bad things. Just don’t eat them. And make sure you keep your epi with you all the time. Okay? When we get back to the table, I’ll show you how to use it.”

  * * *

  Rei is helping Taylor find her spiral notebook for Spanish class, when Callie comes striding up.

  “Hey, I’ve been looking for you two.”

  “What’s up?” Rei greets her.

  “I just wanted to see how Anna’s feeling,” she says, and then she addresses Taylor, who is still poking around in my locker. “You okay?”

  “No, I have a concussion,” Taylor finds a sharp pencil on the floor of my locker and finally turns around.

  Callie gasps. “Wow, Anna! Why are you covered in makeup? You look like a…”

  “Hey, Callie,” Rei jumps in, “Anna’s having some trouble remembering things because of her concussion, and one of them is that she doesn’t wear makeup.”

  “Really? A concussion? Oh, you poor thing! Well, that explains the outfit, then. Nice sternum, by the way.”

  Taylor makes a face like she’s going to defend my lack of cleavage, but then Callie asks the worst possible question.

  “So what’s going on with Seth? I hear all these rumors about him and Taylor Gleason.”

  “Seth killed Taylor Gleason in cold blood,” Taylor cranks up the volume of her voice. “I was there, and I saw him throw Taylor right off the ledge. He’s a murderer.”

  Everyone in the hallway has now stopped to listen. Callie looks confused. “What do you mean, you were there?”

  “I was there,” Taylor repeats. “The police are looking for him, and when they find him, I am an eyewitness.”

  Callie looks at Rei for some kind of confirmation, but Rei just reaches into my locker, grabs my Spanish textbook, and thrusts it into Taylor’s hands. “You have Spanish in room 137,” he says coldly. “Meet me back here after.”

  “I’m not…” Taylor begins.

  “Go!” Rei orders in a voice that seems to jump-start all the eavesdroppers on their way again. Taylor huffs and stomps off toward Spanish.

  “So what’s really going on?” Callie asks. “I heard that Taylor’s dead, but I can’t believe Seth had anything to do with it. And what’s up with Anna? She’s acting really weird!”

  “She is,” Rei agrees. “But don’t worry about it,” he slams my locker door. “As soon as Anna’s memory comes back, everything will be fine.”

  * * *

  “Well, the good news is Spanish is a Latin-based language, so this shouldn’t be too difficult,” Taylor greets Rei after class.

  “That’s good. Because Spanish is one of your best subjects,” Rei points out.

  Of course it is. I love Spain. I spend enough time there when I’m out of my body that I’m practically fluent in Spanish.

  As the day drags on, I notice Taylor’s eyes are lingering on Rei for longer and longer periods of time when she thinks he’s not looking. During the bus ride home, Taylor gradually scoots closer to Rei until their hips are touching. By the time they get to their bus stop, Rei is hanging halfway off the seat in an effort to leave some space between them.

  On the walk home, she turns to Rei. “So I really said you were like a brother to me?”

  I swear I don’t remember saying that!

  “Yup,” Rei answers without looking at her. He looks tired again. I think Taylor sucked even more energy out of him today than I did yesterday.

  “You don’t seem like a brother now,” she says coyly.

  Something between amusement and annoyance is simmering in his eyes. “No?”

  “No, in fact, I think since we know each other so well, maybe we should, you know, go out sometime.”

  He still won’t look at her. “What if I still think of you like a sister?”

  “Trust me,” Taylor tells him in a silky voice, “I’m nothing like your sister.”

  They’ve reached the top of Rei’s driveway now, and as far as I know, Saya is expected home at three o’clock. I’m curious if Rei has given any thought to the bundle of sage that’s hidden in his desk drawer. In my opinion, it would be tough to light that thing with Saya around. How would we explain that? I suppose we’ll have to talk about it tonight.

  “So, it’s settled,” Taylor turns the corner and starts walking down Rei’s driveway. “I’m coming over.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Rei is a badass poker player. I know it goes against the moral, upstanding reputation he’s so well known for, but the reason Rei consistently wins all of Seth’s pennies is because he’s a master at hiding emotions. After nearly seventeen years with him, though, I can read the subtle changes in Rei’s poker face that Seth cannot. The reason Rei consistently wins all of my pennies is because I can’t remember the difference between a flush, a straight, and a full house.

  When I’m out of my body, though, I have the added advantage of seeing Rei’s aura. Right now, he’s sick of Taylor and wants nothing more than to go for a long, hard run, but on the other hand, he wants her out of my body.

  “You’re welcome to come over,” he tells her in a vanilla cream puff voice, “but I have some stuff I have to do.”

  “Like what kind of stuff?”

  “Well, I have
to babysit Saya. And I have to start dinner, stuff like that.”

  “I can help you.”

  “Do you remember how to cook?” I materialize behind Taylor’s back just long enough to give Rei a snide look, which he ignores. Taylor has no way of knowing I’m a really good slicer/dicer, my tuna salad rocks, and I make awesome zucchini-carrot muffins. Just don’t ask me to cook meat unless the fire department is nearby.

  She must have picked up the double-edged sarcasm in his voice, because she asks, “Could I cook before?”

  “Some things,” Rei admits as he follows her down the driveway.

  * * *

  Something is wrong. Rei’s meticulously clean porch has somehow become smudged by a path of muddy footprints that lead directly to the front door. I look for the obvious explanation, but I see no packages waiting by the door, and the footprints don’t turn around and head back the other way. Rei’s colors deepen and there’s a subtle shift in his expression, a slight tension in his shoulders.

  “Why don’t you wait here just in case the bus comes to drop off Saya,” he tells Taylor calmly, gesturing toward the swing. “I’ll go get something for us to drink.”

  I follow him in through the door, and the footprints stop abruptly on the mat just inside the door. I do one fast loop around the downstairs to see if anyone is there, but Rei heads directly upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. I reach the landing at the same time he does, just in time to catch the bedroom door opening wide on its own accord and a deep voice calls Rei’s name.

  Rei’s hand flashes out like a bolt of lightning, silencing the voice, and he body slams the intruder into his room and kicks the door shut behind him. It takes me a second to process exactly where the danger is.

  It’s downstairs sitting on the porch.

  “Shhh!” Rei whispers. “There’s someone here. You need to be quiet!”

  Seth doesn’t seem all that surprised by Rei’s reaction. “Who’s here? Anna?” he whispers back.

  “Yeah, but I don’t want her to know you’re here.”

  Seth shrugs. “Rei, I need to talk to you!” he whispers urgently. “I think the cops might be looking for me!”

  “The police are looking for you, you idiot!”

  “Shit!” Seth moves to punch the wall, but Rei’s hand intercepts his fist. “I knew it! You know for sure they’re looking for me?”

  “They were here yesterday asking me questions.”

  “Here? Asking you questions? Like what?”

  “Like we don’t have time to talk about it right now.” Rei shepherds Seth over to the door of his weight room and opens it wide. “Wait in here until I get rid of her. And don’t abuse my walls!”

  Now Seth is surprised. “Get rid of her … what, are you two mad at each other?”

  Rei glances toward his bedroom door. “It’s a long story. She can’t know you’re here.”

  “I didn’t push Taylor. You know that, right?”

  “I know you didn’t, and we’ll figure this out when I get back. Here,” Rei pulls his iPod out of his jeans pocket and hands it to Seth without bothering to untangle the earbud cord. “I have Saya home today, too, so this may take a while, but I need you to stay in here and stay quiet.”

  Seth shrugs. “Okay, I get it. Hey, hope you don’t mind, I borrowed some of your clothes.”

  I hear the bus growling up the street, and from the look on his face, so does Rei. “Fine, whatever, just stay in here until I come and get you, okay? We’ll talk later.” The bus is pulling up in front of his house.

  Rei gives Seth one last look before he closes the door quietly behind him.

  And of course I’m not allowed in the weight room, which will make it nearly impossible for me to spy on Seth.

  In one fast fluid motion, Rei leans down the stairs while he slides his hands halfway down the railings, then he locks his elbows and swings himself to the floor below. He bolts out the door just as Saya jumps off the bus.

  “I thought you were getting drinks,” Taylor chides him.

  “Sorry, I heard the bus. I’ll get them in a minute.”

  Saya is like a single ray of sunshine on an otherwise dreary day. She runs down the driveway and doesn’t slow down until she hops onto Taylor’s lap, catching her by surprise.

  “Oh! Well aren’t you an energetic little thing! Look at those eyes!” The first thing anyone ever notices about Saya is the color of her eyes, which are blue like her daddy’s. “Aren’t they gorgeous!” Then Taylor makes her first mistake at the Ellis home. “Your eyes are the color of forget-me-nots.”

  No, they are definitely the color of morning glories, but I learned a long time ago not to engage Saya in a conversation about eye color.

  Saya giggles and looks into Taylor’s stolen eyes. “Your eyes are the color of overcooked asparagus.” That’s pretty mild. Over the past two years, my eyes have been every unappealing shade of green from algae to zucchini.

  Taylor’s jaw drops, and she looks owlishly at Rei to gauge his reaction. He’s had a minute to calm himself down, and he’s sitting with his back against the porch column, his legs stretched out along the top step. He drops his chin to hide a smile.

  “Well, isn’t she charming,” Taylor says sarcastically.

  “I wouldn’t feel too bad if I were you,” Rei assures her. “Saya, what color are my eyes?”

  “Your eyes are the color of elephant poop!” Saya giggles uncontrollably. The names of the animals will change, but as far as Saya is concerned, Rei’s eyes are always the color of poop. Yumi forbade Rei and me from playing this game with Saya a long time ago, so she’s pretty thrilled she’s getting away with it now.

  “See, there you go. Isn’t overcooked asparagus a whole lot better than elephant poop?”

  “Charming.” Taylor repeats and brushes Saya firmly off her lap. Saya bounces from Taylor over to Rei, and climbs on him like a monkey, stepping on his legs and tugging at his arms.

  “I’m hungry. And I wanna go to the falls,” she pleads.

  “Hey, that’s a great…”

  “No!” Taylor cuts him off.

  “Please?” Saya gives Taylor the look no one can resist.

  “I thought your brother had work to do,” she says icily.

  Rei lifts Saya off his lap, stands up, and heads inside. “Are you hungry, too?” he asks Taylor.

  “Hungry for what, exactly?” Taylor asks in a smoky voice as she follows Rei.

  Rei opens the fridge and scouts around. A devious little grin appears on his face. “How about an orange?” he asks.

  “Sure, I love oranges. They smell like your body wash.”

  That comment wipes the smile right off Rei’s face. “It’s not body wash, it’s soap,” he informs her. “Here, catch.” He tosses the orange over his shoulder, and I’m surprised she catches it.

  “Thanks.”

  He pulls a bunch of carrots out of the refrigerator as Taylor struggles to peel the orange with my blunt nails.

  “Need some help with that?” he finally offers.

  “Thanks.” She hands the orange to Rei. “So, how long have I been a nail-biter?”

  “When we were four, your father broke a few of his vertebrae.” Rei strips the orange down in seconds and hands it back to her. “That’s when you started.”

  This revelation doesn’t inspire any comment from Taylor besides, “Well, I’m cured now, so I guess this concussion wasn’t such a bad thing after all.” She winks and pops a section of orange into her mouth.

  Rei mumbles something about carrots and pulls a paring knife out of the wooden block that sits on the counter. As soon as he cuts the green tops off the carrots, Saya swipes one. “Tickle, tickle!” she waves it under Taylor’s chin.

  Taylor stares at her impassively. “Why don’t you go watch TV or something.”

  “Hey, you’re right!” Saya hollers at Rei. “Anna doesn’t even remember the TV rule.”

  “You have TV rules? You poor, unfortunate children,” Taylor sucks
orange juice off her fingers. “Where’s your bathroom? I need to freshen up.”

  “Down the hall, first door on the left.”

  Rei has three carrots peeled before Taylor wanders back.

  “You’re out of bathroom tissue.” She smiles as if this is a very classy thing to say.

  “What’s bathroom tissue?” Saya asks.

  “Toilet paper,” he tells her impatiently. “Hold on. I’ll get you some.”

  But Taylor is already halfway up the stairs. “I’ll just use your upstairs bathroom. No problemo.”

  The towel in Rei’s hand falls onto the floor as he charges after her. “Wait!”

  “Can’t I have a little privacy?” she asks from the top step. “Or are you one of those guys who like to listen outside the bathroom door?” She grins wickedly at him.

  “Okay, fine,” he says as he pivots on the step he’s on and heads back down.

  Rei is definitely not one of those guys, but it’s my body, so … oh, ew! I just realized she’s seen me naked. I barge right in on her. Well, she’s not here to pee, that’s for sure! She opens every cabinet door, every drawer, even peeks behind the shower curtain, and besides finding the orange glycerin soap Rei faithfully showers with, she learns that Rei and Saya use cinnamon-flavored toothpaste and Rei is almost out of razor blades.

  Rei paces at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Taylor, trying hard not to appear as though he’s listening.…

  Somehow, he doesn’t hear her as she slips out of the bathroom noiselessly and walks the few steps to Rei’s bedroom door. The knob turns easily and the door pushes open with no complaint.

  Rei’s room is, as always, neat and clean. Rei is a minimalist. There are no piles of papers cluttering his desk, no dirty clothes strewn around his floor, no empty cups stacking up. His bed is made, his bureau is bare except for several trophies he’s earned in karate, even his hardwood floor is free of dust. The look on her face says it all. Boring!

  I don’t want to risk scaring Saya by materializing in front of her, but Rei needs to get up here fast. I try to knock over one of the trophies on his bureau to get his attention, but they are heavy suckers, and I can’t budge them.