Mischief Night

by Phoebe Rivers

  “Keep that closet closed.” Her voice grew louder when she said “closed.”

  “That will work?”

  “With Henry, at his age, yes. Others, no. But now we are concerned with Henry. Understand?” I nodded. Her mood had changed dramatically. She was deadly serious.

  “Second thing. You are in charge. This is your house now. That is your room. Not Henry’s. You need to be firm. Assert yourself.”

  I nodded. “Firm, okay.”

  “Finally, this linking in with the spirits that you did, it troubles me. You can’t lose yourself to them. You must set boundaries.”

  “Boundaries?” I kept repeating words, because I couldn’t take it all in. I’d never been good at asserting myself, and now she thought I could assert myself to control dead people. How?

  “Boundaries with your mind. Boundaries with your body. You must stay in control at all times. Do not allow this little boy to override you.”

  Should I tell her about Marco and his mom? I wondered. That I had been in his mom’s head? That I felt what she felt?

  “Come with me,” Lady Azura ordered. She reached for a towel and wiped the yogurt mixture from her face. Bits of the goop clung to the skin by her ears, but she’d already thrown down the towel and was scurrying to her fortune-telling room. I hurried to catch up.

  She stopped in front of the shelves that lined the back wall. In the dim light from the small fringed lamp, she surveyed her display of multicolored crystals. “Citrine . . . agate . . . peach moonstone.” She mumbled the names under her breath as her fingertips grazed the stones.

  “Hematite,” she finally announced. She picked up a metallic-gray polished stone and dropped it into my palm. “This stone will deepen the connection between your soul and your body. It will help you keep your sense of self and your sense of purpose firm.”

  The small, smooth stone felt cool in my hand. “It’s really shiny.”

  “Hematite’s shininess will help you deflect the emotions of others,” she said. “Let it remind you to enforce boundaries.”

  “Should I keep these?” I gestured to the ruby and aquamarine crystals dangling around my neck.

  “Of course. Those are for you to keep. There’s a tiny hole in the hematite as well. Add it on.”

  I strung the hematite alongside the aquamarine and ruby crystal. The metallic gray stone radiated power next to the clear red and pale turquoise. Would it work? Would it keep the spirits out of my head? Did I even want it to work?

  For Henry, yes. But I was intrigued by Jayden’s mom and his life, even though experiencing her grief and worry disturbed me. I got to peer through a secret window into his world. Now I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what Jayden thought and why Marco guarded him. Was that wrong?

  I was afraid Lady Azura would say it was. She’d insist I set the boundaries she kept talking about. But did I really need to? Henry and Jayden’s brother, although both dead, were very different.

  At least, I thought they were.

  Chapter 8

  Happy day, happy day, happy day, I sang to myself as Miss Klingert read aloud the lab partners. I was paired with Jayden. I pressed the ruby crystal with my thumb and forefinger. Keep working, I encouraged it.

  I met Jayden at our assigned lab table, where Christine Wu and A.J. Carpenter waited for us. We often did labs with them. Marco waited too. He stood silently to the side, his expression blank. I decided to ignore him.

  I watched A.J. wrinkle his forehead, deep in concentration. He methodically placed one sugar cube on top of another, building a tower. We were supposed to use the cubes to test the effects of various chemicals on erosion. Jayden joined in.

  Christine glanced toward the teacher, who was helping another group set up their experiments. “She’s not going to like that,” she warned.

  “Almost done,” A.J. murmured. He straightened a cube. The tower was already a foot high.

  “Steady, man,” Jayden cautioned as the sugar skyscraper swayed.

  “We need to start the lab,” Christine reminded them.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Jayden waved her off. There was one white cube left. Jayden slid it across the table to me. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  I felt him watching me as I studied the angle of the tower. I slowly rested the cube on top. The tower trembled. We all held our breath.

  “Sweet!” Jayden said. I knew he was talking about the tower, but I pretended that he was talking about me. I couldn’t help grinning, as he took a deep breath and blew the tower down.

  “Are you going in costume to Dina’s?” Christine asked Jayden as we lined up our lab supplies.

  “It’s a costume party?” he asked.

  “I thought so. But maybe not.” She turned to me. “Do you know?”

  I didn’t, of course, because I wasn’t invited. A minute earlier I would have told her that and not cared, but now I did care. Jayden was going to the party. Everyone was going to the party. Everyone except me.

  “Nope,” I said. My gaze settled on the translucent form of Marco. Marco had a strange, satisfied-looking smirk on his face. Was he glad I wasn’t invited? Then I had a horrifying thought. Had he somehow manipulated the invites, so I wouldn’t be at a party with Jayden? I narrowed my eyes at him. Could a spirit do that?

  “Someone will know.” Christine twisted on her stool. “I’ll ask Marlee when we’re done.”

  “Whatever,” said Jayden. He placed a sugar cube in a petri dish. He didn’t seem to care about Dina’s party. He probably went to a different party every weekend, I figured.

  “Well, it’s not like you’ll show up anyway,” Christine said.

  “I might,” Jayden replied.

  “Oh, please. You never go anywhere. You decline every invite! You always have an excuse,” Christine countered.

  Jayden waved his hand like he didn’t care. “What can I say? I’m a busy guy.” But I knew he was lying. I watched his shoulders tense and his posture stiffen. Christine had gotten to him.

  Suddenly it made sense to me. Jayden might be invited to all the parties, but he never went. He didn’t want to worry his mom. Or maybe his mom wouldn’t let him leave the house. Either way, I knew this to be true the same way a mother lion can sense when her cub is in danger. I knew it deep inside me, as if I were the one worried for his safety.

  “Time to get busier,” I said, handing him a beaker of yellow liquid to change the subject. “Let’s do this.” My hand brushed his, and he caught my eye. I smiled.

  Jayden’s secret.

  I gazed back at Marco, who was clearly fuming at our slight touch.

  Secrets, plural, I thought. There were many secrets to keep.

  I handed Lady Azura the brown bag filled with her honey, yogurt, and Swedish fish from my afternoon Elber’s run as the doorbell rang.

  “Maybe another new client,” Lady Azura said hopefully. “Go see.”

  I flung open the front door. “Oh, it’s you.”

  Lily stood on our porch. I couldn’t hide my disappointment for Lady Azura. Our flyers and posting had gotten her a bit of business, but people were far from lining up on our sidewalk. Very far.

  “Nice. Real nice greeting.” Lily wore a black leotard and black stretch dance pants. She moved to step into the house, but I blocked her path. She shifted to the left. I moved with her, blocking her again. “What’s with you? Can’t I come in?”

  She couldn’t. I had vowed she’d never enter again. Henry had remained locked in the third-floor closet for the past few days. At least I thought he had. I was avoiding the third floor, but I didn’t want her Randazzo-ness drawing him out.

  “Well, I’m kind of busy.” I tried to answer without answering. I couldn’t tell her I had to keep the living people away from the dead people.

  “With what?” Lily demanded, her hands resting on her hips.

  “Let the poor girl in the house.” Lady Azura grabbed Lily’s hand with her free hand. “The manners of your generation are abysmal. My mother
would never abide leaving a guest waiting on the porch.”

  I stared as Lily waltzed past me into the house. This was the beginning of trouble, I knew. Big trouble.

  “Now, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Lady Azura asked as if she were greeting a guest at the queen’s palace. Lady Azura wore a long, silky olive-green skirt with a matching flowy top. She’d knotted a tan-and-navy scarf around her waist. She always dressed as if she were expecting company, but few people ever came over. Lily had provided the perfect opportunity to entertain.

  “I just came from dance. I wanted to tell Sara something. And talk to you, too,” Lily said. She wasn’t just being polite. Lily seriously enjoyed hanging out with Lady Azura. The two of them could debate the merits of mauve lip gloss for hours. With them, the huge gap between their ages didn’t matter.

  “Excellent. Let’s visit.” Lady Azura led Lily through the foyer and into the kitchen at the back. “Snacks. I shall prepare snacks.” I trailed behind. Lady Azura rested the paper bag on the counter and opened the refrigerator.

  “I talked to Dina.” Lily tried to sound casual, but her tone betrayed her. I knew she hadn’t gotten an invitation for me.

  “Did she forget about me or does she not like me?” I asked.

  “Hates you is more like it.”

  Lady Azura popped her head out of the fridge. “How could anyone hate our Sara?”

  “Sara beat out Dina to be Harvest Queen. Dina has believed she was queen of the universe since she was old enough to strut down a hallway, but then Sara came along and won. It bummed her out big-time.” She turned to me. “Not inviting you to her Mischief Night party is a revenge thing.”

  I didn’t even know Dina, but the thought of her not liking me made my stomach queasy. I suspected she’d turned her popular eighth-grade girlfriends against me, even though most probably didn’t know who I was. Would she try to convert the kids in my grade too?

  I gave an exaggerated shrug, like it didn’t matter. “Parties aren’t my thing.” Especially now, I thought, since Jayden wouldn’t be showing up.

  I thought ahead to the night before Halloween. Apparently they called it Mischief Night in Stellamar. We didn’t have a name for it in California, but it was the same night. The night kids toilet-papered trees and ding-dong-ditched houses. It was also the night spirits moved about. Not like I saw them now. That night they were everywhere. Agitated. Active. Wandering. Scary. Even in California, where the spirits had mostly left me alone, it was a night I dreaded all year. I couldn’t even imagine what it was going to be like in Stellamar, where spirits lived in my house and approached me on a regular basis. Mischief Night was actually the perfect name for this dreaded night. It was a night I always stayed home, wrapped in a comforter, watching cartoons. No scary movies for me. Real life was scary enough. I planned on doing the same this year.

  “If this Dina girl is so mean, though I suspect her meanness is really a disguise for her insecurity, why would Lily want to go to her party?” Lady Azura asked me, although it was obvious the question was really directed at Lily.

  “Lots of kids will be there,” I offered. “Everyone at school is talking about it.”

  “I’m not going,” Lily announced, anger now spiking her voice. “Dina thinks she’s so great, but she’s not. She can’t dump on my friend and then think I’m showing up for her party.”

  “Thanks, Lil, but you don’t have to—”

  “Yes, she does,” Lady Azura cut in. She plopped the bag of red Swedish fish, a bowl of raspberries, and a pitcher of pink lemonade on the table. She liked to color-coordinate food. “Lily understands that the power of friendship should dominate the power plays of silly girls. Besides, Lily has other plans that night.”

  “I do?”

  “She does?” I echoed.

  “Lily has been invited to my party. My legendary party.”

  “Really?” Lily bounced with excitement. “My mom only went once, but she still talks about it. I thought just adults were invited, though. I thought you chose a small group of people whose karma was connected in some way.”

  “I used to, but this year will be different. Change is in the air.” She turned to me and smiled. “This year, I have just decided I will be having a Blue Moon party on October thirtieth, and I will invite people of all ages, including you girls and your friends. We’ll make it an open house.”

  “A Blue Moon party?” I asked.

  “Precisely.” Lady Azura noticed our blank stares. “You girls don’t know about a blue moon?” She nibbled a Swedish fish. “Usually we have one full moon a month, or twelve a year. But about every three years, there is an extra full moon—a thirteenth full moon. That rare thirteenth full moon is called the blue moon.”

  “What happens when there’s a blue moon?” I hoped my eyes conveyed what I was really trying to ask. If Mischief Night riled up the spirits, would a blue moon on Mischief Night make it worse?

  “Anything can happen on a blue moon.” Her eyes twinkled. “It’s a magical night.”

  “Yes, anything!” Lily jumped in. “This party will have mystical and spooky all rolled together. I can’t wait to tell everyone.”

  All the kids from my school, here, at my house on the night the spirits were at their most active? My heart thumped an irregular beat just imagining it.

  “What about Dina?” I asked. “She did send out invites first. It wouldn’t be right to have a party at the same time.” I wasn’t really concerned about Dina’s feelings or social manners, but I was scrambling to come up with a way to stop this party. I had to stop it.

  “What about Dina?” Lily raised her eyebrows. “She can still have her party. Now kids have a choice. Choice is a good thing.”

  “That it is,” Lady Azura agreed, sharing a partners-in-party-planning grin with Lily. “My late-night days have long passed, so my party will start early. Your friends can come here first, and if they are inclined to leave, they can proceed on to that girl’s fete.”

  “Or not,” Lily finished. “If you do fortune-telling, everyone in town will come. And you’ll get new business.”

  “Now that’s an idea. This party will have to be planned.” She gathered the small notepad by the phone, and a pen. “What we need is a list.”

  “We should decorate using a midnight-blue theme. You know, to combine blue moon with Halloween spooky. I think it’s much more fashion-forward than the orange-and-black thing,” Lily suggested. She and Lady Azura scooted chairs next to each other and bent their heads over the list. Decorations, food, and the rearranging of furniture were discussed and analyzed.

  I ate all the raspberries. One after the other. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I’d temporarily lost my new best friend to the charms of an elderly party planner.

  “Oh, goodness, look at the clock,” Lady Azura said suddenly. “The dry cleaner closes at five, and I desperately need my lavender skirt. You’ll go, Sara?”

  I nodded. The more I listened to their menu suggestions, the more my growing sense of panic made breathing something I had to think about. I couldn’t imagine why she urgently needed the skirt, but I didn’t feel like asking. I just wanted to leave—and take Lily with me.

  “Come on, Lil,” I said. “We can grab your bike on the way.”

  “I’m going to hang here for a while, if that’s okay, and come up with fake scares. You know, cold spaghetti for brains, a fog machine for ghosts, maybe a dangling skeleton. What else can we do?”

  “Record spooky noises to play throughout the night,” Lady Azura suggested. “Screams and groans and footsteps and—”

  “What about crying and the creak of a rocking chair?” I finished. I knew my tone was a bit nasty, but I couldn’t help it. I was angry with Lady Azura. What was she doing? Having a party on Mischief Night out of pity for me wasn’t going to be fun. It was going to be a disaster. She should have asked me first. She knew spirits wandered about, and she especially knew about Henry. Didn’t she understand how high the potential f
or disaster and ultimate humiliation was for me?

  I turned to go.

  “Sara, wait—” Lady Azura started.

  I wasn’t going to stay and help plan a party that was sure to end with everyone making fun of my obviously haunted house. “They’re going to close. Be back soon,” I called over my shoulder.

  I needed to get far away. For now, the dry cleaner would have to do.

  I’d calmed down by the time I pedaled home. I concentrated on the thwamp, thwamp the plastic bag covering the skirt made as it flapped in the breeze. I still wasn’t happy about the party. But I had a plan to talk to Lady Azura quietly. Calmly. Rationally. Get her to cancel it. I practiced my speech in my head. I hoped Lily was already gone.

  A blue dirt bike rested against the bottom porch step. I groaned. My speech would have to wait. One of Lily’s brothers must be here too. Was it Sam or Joey? I didn’t recognize the bike.

  The familiar scent of cinnamon greeted me as I let myself in the front door. Cinnamon candles burning meant clients. The heavy purple curtains were drawn across Lady Azura’s rooms. The low rumble of voices drifted into the foyer.

  I hadn’t been gone long. I wondered who’d shown up.

  I kicked off my sneakers and padded quietly down the hallway.

  “Sara! Sara!” Lily repeated my name in an urgent whisper. She stood steps away from the purple curtain.

  “What?”

  “Shh!” Lily grabbed my arm and pulled me close. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! You are never going to believe it. Never!” She shifted her weight from foot to foot, unable to hold back her news. “Guess who came to see Lady Azura with one our flyers—our flyers—and wanted to get a reading!”

  “Who?” I whispered.

  “Totally blew my mind when the doorbell rang. We thought it was you. Lady Azura answered. I was in the kitchen, but I saw him. He didn’t see me, but I saw him!” Lily’s whispered words ran into one another as her excitement grew. “You have to see this.”

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the curtain before I could protest. Slowly she peeled back a corner of the heavy velvet.