Raj led Mrs. Perez around the block and walked her to her car. Without her powers she suddenly seemed more vulnerable.
As Mrs. Perez fished inside her purse for her key, Raj lifted the locks on her car. She shot him a look that made him feel at once abashed. “Sorry, habit,” he mumbled.
As she reached for the handle, Raj called out, “Mrs. Perez.”
She waited.
“I’ll do everything I can for Gray.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gray got up at seven on Saturday. When you knew you wouldn’t be around the next day, it was highly motivating to get a crack on the day you did have.
As soon as Gray’s feet touched the floor, she snapped her fingers for her worn jeans and favorite T-shirt, but nothing happened. She looked down. Still wearing the negligee. Okay. Gray snapped again for a pair of ripped jeans with fun fabric patches sewn in, but again she stood in the slip.
“Now what the heck?” she said, storming to her room.
Gray threw open her closet door and gasped. Empty.
She ran to her dresser and began opening drawers. Empty. Empty. Empty!
Gray raced back into Charlene’s room and practically tore the cover off their communication notebook when she ripped it open.
Charlene had left her a simple message: Maybe it’s time you remembered you’re supposed to be me and that means dressing and acting appropriately.
Gray chucked the notebook across the room. It smacked the wall and dropped to the ground. “You are so dead, Charlene!” Gray didn’t realize she was shrieking.
Footsteps came racing down the hall. “What’s going on?” Mom’s eyes widened when she saw Gray yanking clothes out of Charlene’s closet. She held up Charlene’s favorite pink cashmere sweater and began ripping it down the middle. Halfway down it would no longer tear and Gray screamed in frustration.
“Gray!” her mother shouted. “What are you doing?”
Gray threw the sweater down and sunk to the floor. She put her head into her knees and sobbed. “She took all my clothes. They’re all gone.”
“What?”
“My closet, my dresser—Charlene emptied everything.”
Mom straightened up. “Well, then she can replace it all.”
Gray sniffed.
“Come on.”
“What?”
“Get up. We’re going to breakfast.”
“I can’t go to breakfast. Raj is coming over this morning.”
Mom didn’t even blink. “Then I think you better get dressed.”
“In what?” Gray cried out. “It’s bad enough wearing Barbie prep wear to school. Now I have to spend my Saturday in the Clueless skirt. I refuse!”
Mom was trying not to smile.
“What?”
“As much as you hate the skirts, I think it would be more appropriate than the teddy.”
Gray looked down and then back up at her mom. Maybe she was going crazy, because in the next instant she burst into hysterics. She fell back on the floor holding her stomach. Mom laughed above her. And just as suddenly Gray was crying again.
“Come on,” Mom said. “Up with you.” She extended a hand and pulled Gray to her feet. “We can go shopping later.”
“Shopping,” Gray said suddenly. “Good idea.” More like good excuse while she went out of town with Nolan soliciting help from Brock. “Nolan and I were planning on hanging out at the mall today, anyway.”
“Since when do you hang out at the mall?” Her mom looked her over.
Gray’s anger momentarily subsided to be replaced by guilt and bashfulness, the bashfulness due to the slip better suited to a Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogue model. A skirt wasn’t sounding so bad anymore. Gray glanced at the garments dumped on the floor and snapped into the ruffled skirt. It was the closest to her sense of style. Did Charlene own leggings? Gray would have to be able to picture them to get them to snap on. She couldn’t just go making stuff up.
The appearance of Gray in clothes only distracted her mom for a moment. “That’s better. So today you’re spending time with Raj and then Nolan?”
“Yeah.”
Mom tilted her head to one side and looked at Gray sideways. “Honey, I think you’re going to have to make up your mind and choose one of these guys.”
Gray’s hands dropped to either side. “What? It’s not like I’m going out with either of them.”
“Yes, but that’s what they’re hoping for and isn’t that what you want: to go out with one of them?”
Gray studied the carpet. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I think they’re both nice boys. You should go with your gut.”
“Don’t you mean with my heart?”
“No,” her mom said, smiling wistfully. “Go with the gut.”
That made sense in a way. Gut instincts were supposed to be the most trustworthy and it was in her gut where she felt the butterflies. The heart had its purpose as a blood-pumping muscle, but love . . . love blossomed and sparked through the body—originating from the gut.
How romantic. I love you with all my gut. Gray stifled a giggle.
“When’s Raj coming over?”
Gray glanced at Charlene’s alarm clock. “I told him to come at eight.”
“On a Saturday?”
“Well, Nolan’s coming around ten.”
Mom clucked. “Cutting it close, aren’t you?”
“It’s not like I want to be juggling two boys. I have enough problems, thank you very much. But Nolan already made these plans with me. And Raj . . .” Gray lifted her shoulders. “I owe him a spell.”
Mom headed to the door. “How about I get muffins and mochas from the Muffin Man? I’m sure Raj would appreciate a little pick-me-up this early on the weekend.”
Gray wrinkled her nose. “He’ll be here any moment. You’re okay leaving me alone with a boy?”
“I trust Raj.”
“If you say so.”
Okay, weird. So obviously Charlene wasn’t a virgin any longer (and who knew how many guys she’d slept with) and Gray was the same age as her—exactly the same age, in fact—but sometimes she felt like a younger sister: innocent and inexperienced when it came to the world of boys.
Gray’s mom hadn’t been gone five minutes when Raj knocked. She was happy to let him inside—the house felt eerily quiet, like that first morning she woke up from death.
Raj wore a snug burgundy ribbed sweater over black jeans. Gray felt like a guy copping a peek at a chick’s chest. She looked away quickly and invited him inside.
Raj looked around. “Where’s your mother?”
Gray rolled her eyes. “She thought we might like muffins and mochas. She’ll be back soon.”
Raj’s eyes practically lit up upon hearing the words "muffins and mochas."
“Come on,” Gray said. “We don’t have much time.” She started up the stairs, expecting he’d follow.
“Are you undercover today?”
Gray squinted at Raj. “What? Oh, right,” she said, following the direction of his eyes. “The skirt. Not really. Charlene destroyed all my clothes. It was this or a silk chemise.”
“She did what?”
The moment they entered her room, Gray began pulling open dresser drawers. She lifted her finger and the closet door sprung open, revealing empty hangers and a shoe rack without a single pair of shoes.
Raj looked around with a sort of stunned expression on his face, though nothing compared to the way her own eyes had bugged out earlier when she tried to snap herself into a pair of jeans and T-shirt and nothing had happened.
Gray wasn’t angry anymore. She was beyond angry. Just wait till Charlene woke up the next day with a nose ring or “Blake’s a dick” tattooed across her arm. Gray could make threats, too. She could threaten to break up with Blake and start going out with pimple-faced Bobby Phelps. If Charlene wanted to take away her clothes, Gray could show up to school naked. It wasn’t like anyone would know it was her, except Raj, Nolan, Ryan, Shay, a
nd Max.
Gray’s cheeks heated, but luckily Raj’s attention was diverted by the clothing raid that had taken place inside her room.
“What’s in the drawer?” Raj nodded toward the one drawer Gray had kept closed.
She rolled her eyes. “Charlene left me my socks and underwear. Apparently she’d rather not share those items even though this is technically her body.”
Raj stared at the drawer a moment longer. “Why would she do this?”
“Probably ’cause I slapped her boyfriend upside the head.” Gray’s lips quivered when she caught Raj’s blossoming smile. Finally she couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into peals of laughter.
Raj laughed beside her. “I’m sure he deserved it.”
“Oh, he did.”
Raj’s lingering smile sent shivers straight down to Gray’s toes. She moved away and looked at her digital alarm clock. “Right,” she said. “So are you feeling all rested, refreshed, and ready to go invisible?”
Raj frowned. “I can’t concentrate in here. There’s too much bad energy lingering.”
“Oh, right, Charlene,” Gray said, rolling her eyes skyward. “We’ll go outside. Obviously her room would be a thousand times worse.”
* * *
“We should probably stand behind the tree so we don’t freak my neighbors out,” Gray said once they stepped into the front yard. “Unless you know how to do a mind erase?”
“Nope,” Raj said. “Not one of the tricks I have up my sleeve.”
“Dang, I haven’t met anyone who can do one of those.”
“Or maybe you just don’t remember.”
Gray tilted her head to look at Raj and then laughed.
Raj clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “All right, so operation Etch A Sketch.” He jerked his head side to side. “Did I do it? Am I invisible?”
Clearly, from his smile, he knew he wasn’t.
“Maybe we should start with an object. Hand me your lighter.”
Raj just looked at Gray’s outstretched hand.
“Give it.”
He sighed and slowly pulled the Zippo out of his pocket. Gray nabbed it from him then held the lighter in front of her face. “Now you see it . . . now you don’t. Now you see it again. You try.”
Raj held his hand out for the return of his lighter. Gray glanced at the Zippo between her fingers and smiled. “Let’s give you a little incentive. I’ll keep your lighter until you can make it go invisible.”
“Hand it over,” Raj said.
“Giving up already?” Gray tossed the lighter in the air and reached out her hand to catch it. When it landed in her palm, a dull ache traveled up her arm and burned at her shoulder. The Zippo felt as though it was about to scorch the skin around her palm even though the cap was snapped shut. She handed it back to Raj. “Take it.”
“What’s the matter?” Raj asked, studying her face.
Gray was frowning. “You shouldn’t be carrying that object around.”
Raj flicked it open and closed. “Why not?”
Gray kept frowning, trying to read the expression on his face. A dull throb still lingered in her arm as though it had been used to cushion a blow to the pavement.
Raj took a step closer. His face was contorted, angry. “Afraid I’ll burn down another house?”
“I’m afraid that thing is hurting you!” Gray hadn’t meant to yell.
Raj’s eyes widened briefly and then his entire face dropped. Even his cheeks seemed to sink into his face.
Gray didn’t like where this was going. “Keep the damn thing for all I care.” She avoided eye contact as she bit out the words. “Let’s just get back to the spell before my mom returns and I have to go. I thought you wanted to be invisible.”
“I do,” Raj replied calmly.
“Then concentrate! You have to want it.”
Raj squeezed his eyes shut. Gray’s breath caught. An image sprang into her mind of Raj holding her, kissing her like mad. She took a step back, but the image followed her. His hands caressed her shoulders, moving down her back. She tilted her head, exposing her neck to a trail of kisses, and then opened her lips to allow Raj’s tongue inside her mouth.
Gray sucked in a quick breath, hoping the projection hadn’t reached Raj. Her heart was hammering wildly inside her chest. It felt like a thousand drumbeats pulsing in front of a blazing bonfire.
Raj opened his eyes and stared directly at her.
Gray felt the blush high in her cheekbones. She pressed her lips together and shrugged. Raj’s face darkened and he took a step toward her.
“What are you doing?” she asked in alarm. “Are you inside my head?”
“No,” he said. “You’re inside mine.”
Gray felt her cheeks turn to flames. “Stop thinking those thoughts.”
“Maybe you should get out of my head.”
“I can’t.” Gray choked. She began to flail around and gasp for air. If she died suddenly would Charlene die, too? It wasn’t entirely out of the question to drop dead in her front yard. It had happened to Gray in her own bedroom.
This time there was someone around to resuscitate her. Was that why Raj’s lips were over hers?
Gray grabbed Raj by the shirt and kissed him roughly back. Where did that come from? Maybe Charlene’s body instinctively knew what to do because it certainly couldn’t be Gray wrapping her hands around the back of Raj’s neck and pulling him closer.
It wasn’t helping matters that Raj returned her kisses and caresses as though without them he’d perish.
He backed her up against a tree and kissed her roughly. Gray closed her eyes, seeing sparks light up all around them. She could feel them erupting all through her body. It was the most alive she’d felt since returning from the dead.
It was the most alive she’d felt ever.
Angry tires screeched and then sped up. Gray’s eyes flew open, but all she saw was an empty road.
Gray opened her eyes and came back to earth. She took her arms off Raj and moved aside. “You have to go!”
Raj’s face fell. “Why?”
“You just do.”
“But what about the muffins?”
“You can’t be here!” Gray cried. “Please.”
The skin around Raj’s eyes wrinkled. “Gray, I didn’t mean to . . .”
“Just go,” Gray said. “I’ll call you later.”
* * *
Gray paced the driveway. She’d eaten two muffins without really tasting them and become edgier the later it got. It was now ten forty-five. She and Nolan needed to get on the road right away if they were to have any chance of seeing this warlock and getting back by dinner.
On one hand, she’d rather be with Raj; on the other, she needed her body and twenty-four-hour access to it. How was she supposed to even entertain the idea of dating a guy when she went off to la-la land every other day?
Gray walked through the grass to what she now thought of as The Kissing Tree and leaned against it. She closed her eyes. Focus, Gray. Not the time to daydream about mind-blowing kisses.
Why was Nolan taking so long?
Finally, Gray couldn’t take it any longer and went inside to call him. “Hi, Mrs. Knapp? This is . . . Charlene Perez. Is Nolan there?”
“Oh, Charlene.” Mrs. Knapp’s voice rose. “How are you, my dear? We miss seeing you at Gathering.”
“Um, thanks.”
“Let me see. Nolan left early this morning. I know he had a lot of homework to do at the library. Those teachers are always making everything due at the same time. I’m sure you know how it is?”
“Yeah,” Gray answered feebly. Where the hell was Nolan? “Well, thanks for checking, Mrs. Knapp. Can you let him know I called?”
“Certainly, dear.”
* * *
Once Gray accepted the fact that Nolan had stood her up, she drove to the hospital to visit Stacey.
Why Gray felt this sudden empathy for Stacey Morehouse was beyond her. Perhaps their balancing
act on the tightrope between life and death was their shared bond. What had Stacey’s last moments of consciousness been like? What could she tell Gray if she were to suddenly awaken?
When Gray walked into her room, a physical therapist was in the middle of massaging Stacey’s arm. “That a girl,” the therapist said. “We want you to be nice and strong when you wake up.” She moved to her other side. “Your father tells me you play softball every spring, and honey, spring’s coming.”
Gray shut her eyes gently. The therapist’s soothing voice continued. She could picture everything the woman did just by her descriptions.
“Now we’re going to move these long, lovely legs of yours. Think how wonderful it’ll be to walk again.”
Gray tried to imagine that in addition to being invisible, she was weightless. She tried to imaging floating away from the room, away from the voice, the pain. Was that what a coma was like? Or was it like the days she didn’t exist—when even the comforting voices of loved ones couldn’t reach her?
She no longer had a body to return to. This replica of herself might appear similar, but it wasn’t hers. It didn’t bear the scar below her left knee when she’d fallen out of a tree at age ten just before her father died. He’d fussed over the wound and said he’d fix it. Gray had known he had the power to make it disappear forever. “No, Daddy, leave it,” she’d said.
“Why, baby?”
“Because it is a part of me now.”
He’d kissed her head gently and said, “You are wise beyond your years, Gray girl.”
Gray opened her eyes and tears spilled out. They appeared on the floor in wet splashes—transparent yet totally visible.
Gray looked at Stacey lying unconscious on the bed. She was breathing. She still had a chance.
How long had Gray been lying in her bed—a lifeless corpse? Nearly four hours before her sister found her.
Gray choked back a sob.
The therapist stilled and leaned over Stacey. The room had gone too silent for Gray to risk walking out, but she couldn’t help it. She rushed out of the room and down the hallway as though spirits were after her. She would have left altogether if she hadn’t heard the receptionist speak as she passed.
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