THE SHADOWED ONYX: A DIAMOND ESTATES NOVEL

by NICOLE O’DELL

  Act natural. “What’s up?” Don’t crumble. Joy leaned against the doorframe. She needed to look like she was ready to be out among people rather than strapped to a chair in the nut house.

  Coach’s eyes widened. She dropped her pen and leaned back in her chair. “You seem a lot better today than you did last week. Did you get some rest over the weekend?” She looked so hopeful, so proud.

  Yeah. Not exactly. Joy could never tell Coach the truth about what’d been going on. “I’m good. Anxious to play.” Joy held her gaze.

  Coach tipped her head and narrowed her eyes. “Just don’t push yourself, okay?”

  Joy nodded. “I won’t.”

  “All right. Get on out there. Let’s have a practice.” Coach stopped at the mirror on the wall beside her door and used a comb to perk up her blond spikes.

  Joy jogged out to the back row of the far court and stretched her shoulders as Coach arrived at midcourt.

  “Okay. Okay girls.” She clapped her hands a few times. “Let’s settle down and get this practice started. We only have a couple more before State. This is it.” She glanced at her clipboard. “Go ahead and divide up for scrimmage. You know what to do.”

  Joy took her position as outside hitter in the back row. She wiped the tops of her shoes on her kneesocks and stood ready, waiting for the other side to serve the ball. Heather had the serve. She tossed it into the air and swung at it, making perfect contact with a solid thud. It sailed right over the net and dropped. Karen set the ball with the tips of her fingers, then Cameron bumped it to Joy. Joy leaped into the air and pounded the ball right at the apex of her jump. It whistled over the net and landed in the hole. A solid kill.

  A cheer rose up from the stands at her right. Joy turned, expecting to see Melanie there cheering her on, but of course it was Lauren clapping and jumping in celebration of Joy’s spike. That sequence had played out like an instruction video for volleyball students. Don’t look at Coach. Don’t let the team see excitement. They didn’t need to know Joy had been concerned she might have lost her edge. Hmm. Maybe she’d gained an edge she hadn’t even known possible. Rage might do that.

  The serve sailed over Joy’s side of the net and was volleyed back. The setter did her job, and Joy went in for another kill.

  Beautiful. She was back.

  Lauren jogged to Joy with her hand up in the air. “Nice one.”

  Joy slapped it and laughed.

  “Feels good to be back, huh?” Lauren grinned.

  “Yeah it d—” Wait a second. How could Joy be there having fun, laughing and talking to the new team captain, when Melanie was dead? How could she have allowed herself to forget? Even for a moment? She shut down the light in her eyes, closed her mouth, and turned away from Lauren’s toothy grin. “Let’s just play.”

  She’d play well—for the team’s sake—but Joy wasn’t going to forget again. She owed it to Melanie.

  “Good practice, girls.” Coach glanced down the list on her clipboard after the trial match ended. She flipped the page and nodded. “We’ve covered everything we need to about the State competition. You all know how vital your rest and nutrition is over the next couple of days. Let’s be diligent so you’re all ready for the meet on Thursday. Good sleep every night until then, you guys. Promise?”

  Coach’s eyes roved the group, locking with Heather and Lauren. Then Joy.

  Joy nodded. She had every intention of crashing hard in her bed that night after she got back from hanging with Raven. In fact, it would be a bonus if she never woke up.

  Chapter 5

  Hey sweetheart. You home?” Mom’s normally singsongy voice held even more cheer than it usually did.

  Mom was home? She and Dad usually had showings somewhere between Ogallala and North Platte on Monday nights. Or they spent the evening out working on their rehab project at the lake. Not that she was disappointed exactly … but …

  Joy bent to pull her snow boots off and shook the November winter from her coat. Act natural. The computer and another Google search about the spirit world were only minutes away. “Yeah. It’s me. What’s up?”

  A head poked around the corner. Mom raised her hand to her mouth and jerked her head toward the room behind her, blond, permed curls bouncing to her shoulders. “You … um … have a visitor.” She spun and retreated back to the kitchen where the mystery person waited.

  Mom’s whisper had sounded too strained for comfort. Who could it be? Joy strode across the foyer and around the corner, stopping beside the refrigerator so she could peer into the breakfast nook without being seen. Mom faced Joy from the other side of the dining table, the guest’s back was ramrod straight in front of Joy. But even from behind, she knew who it was. Those sandy waves. That heart-shaped mole on the back of his neck that he hated, but Joy had loved. His broad swimmer’s back and long arms.

  Arms crossed on her chest, Joy glared over his head at her mom. He shouldn’t be there.

  Mom shrugged and mouthed the word sorry.

  Joy exhaled. “What are you doing here, Austin?”

  His shoulders stiffened.

  What had he expected? Joy wasn’t going to open her arms and welcome him back or offer him comfort. Not after what he’d done to her. To them all. He deserved to suffer.

  Mom looked at Austin, her eyes heavy with … what was that? Anger? Disgust? No … it was pity that flecked her blue eyes with gray. Figured. Mom stepped around Austin’s chair, squeezing his shoulder as she passed. She moved through the kitchen and the same hand reached for Joy’s and pulled her close. “Go easy. He’s hurting, too,” Mom whispered, her hot breath tickling Joy’s ear.

  For the entire year since Joy had started dating Austin, Mom had either complained that they were too serious or that they were spending too much time together. Every single day she said she wished they’d go back to the innocent, childhood friendship they’d enjoyed for ten years. Now she wanted Joy to show him sympathy and give him a chance? Mom should just stay out of it. Go back to her home renovation shows and fixer-upper magazines. Stop trying to repair what couldn’t be mended.

  Joy watched as Mom tiptoed toward the family room in silence and then continued on to her bedroom. Probably to pray. Keep praying, Mom. It would either work, or it wouldn’t. Only time would tell.

  Austin cleared his throat. “What can I do, Joy?”

  He didn’t face her. Not that she blamed him. After all, how could he?

  Too weary to think, Joy rubbed her temples. “What can you do? You can erase the past month—or however long it’s been since you and Mel first—.” Not that Joy wanted to know. What if it had been many months? Or longer? “You know what? You can go back to being honest and good.”

  Austin’s shoulders slumped lower with each suggestion.

  “You can keep your promises.” Joy took a shuddering breath. “Oh, no, wait. It’s quite evident you can’t.”

  Joy waited. Austin said nothing. He wanted more? She had plenty.

  “You can go back in time and leave Melanie alone from the start. Better yet, you can just trade places with her now.”

  He flinched. “You don’t mean that.”

  Oh? Want to bet? “Look. This is too much. Just leave.”

  Austin didn’t move.

  Okay. Fine. Joy had no energy to fight with him. Someone had to leave the room. If he wouldn’t, she would. Flinging her hair over her shoulder, Joy huffed from the kitchen. It wouldn’t be the first time Austin had sat by himself at her kitchen table. Hopefully he would see himself out and make it the last time.

  If only she could get from the kitchen to her room without walking The Path. The journey to the safety of her bedroom was strewn with memories. The zillion times she and Melanie sprawled on the family room floor watching their favorite chick flicks and old classics over and over as they recited the lines. The hours and hours of late-night giggling and talking about boys. The junk food, especially Nutella Puppy Chow—their own concoction.

  Oh, then there were the t
imes she and Austin sat on the floor in front of the fireplace playing chess. He always won. Sometimes the victory was even deserved. And on the window seat across the room, where they’d shared their first kiss. And many more after that one.

  Memories. Blinking didn’t blot them out. Maybe more tears would wash them away.

  But no amount of tears would wash away the moment she stepped from the bathroom, toweling her hair dry to find Austin and Melanie lip-locked in an embrace. She could still see the carpet imprint of their toes facing each other. Touching. Or maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her. Surely Mom had vacuumed since then.

  Hurry. Joy felt ghosts nipping at her back as she scurried down the hallway. Finally safe in her bedroom, she closed the door and leaned against it as though holding back the crowds that wanted to press in. Wanting to invade her consciousness with more regret.

  Why hadn’t she just let go of Austin in that instant? Melanie could have had him if that’s what it would have taken. If they were in love, Joy would have stepped aside. She was prepared to, once she’d thought it through. They didn’t have to sneak around. The cost of betrayal had been too great. Too final. But would she have realized that then? Or would she still have raged against them?

  What’s done can’t always be undone.

  Well, look at that. Even holding the bedroom door closed with all of her weight did nothing to keep her pain from following her inside. Joy slid to the floor and wrapped her arms around her legs. What was she going to do? What could she do? She couldn’t outrun the past. Eventually she’d have to face it.

  Maybe that’s where Raven would come in.

  Speaking of Raven … Joy sloughed off the weight of the past and crawled across her shaggy area rug to the desk near the window. Slipping onto the pink-and-purple polka dotted chair pad, Joy tapped the touch pad, bringing her hand-me-down HP laptop to life and went directly to Google.

  Is it possible to talk to dead people?

  Joy chewed on her thumbnail while the search engine churned out its results. A flake of pink polish chipped onto her tongue. She spit it over her right shoulder.

  Over one hundred million results. Well, she could start with the first one. “How to talk to the dead.” Nah. She didn’t need a play-by-play after what she’d experienced.

  Was it real? That’s all she wanted to know. Because it sure seemed real.

  Reading down the list of search results, Joy found that countless others had the same question. Click after click, she discovered that for as many people that asked the questions, three had a different answer, and everyone thought they were right. Hah. Sounded exactly like every other religion that existed. A bunch of beliefs backed up by nothing but opinion and emotion.

  Except this time Joy had some proof. She’d seen it with her own eyes, yet she was having such a hard time believing.

  Joy rocked back in her chair. What made this facet of the spirit world so difficult to accept? The Bible said there were all sorts of spirits. But it also said it was bad to consult any other than God. But what if that were wrong? The Bible had been written by people. What if they just didn’t get how it all worked?

  Is it dangerous to reach out to the dead?

  Things like Occultism, Satanism, Wiccans, and other scary words popped up before Joy’s eyes like the ticker tapes on Times Square. But none of that had anything to do with what she and Raven had been doing. At all. Joy wasn’t following Satan. She had simply seen her friend’s name spelled out from the beyond. Had Melanie reached out to her, or was it someone or something else? Had she sort of communicated with her best friend somehow? That couldn’t be wrong. Not on any level.

  Maybe it wasn’t wrong at all. Maybe Joy had finally found something right for a change.

  A knock jerked Joy from her thoughts. Mom cracked the door open and stuck her perfectly coiffed head into the room. “We’re leaving, honey. Dad and I will be back in a few hours. This dinner shouldn’t take too long.”

  Joy nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  The door clicked shut. Hmm. Mom and Dad off partying with the Realtors of America, or whatever it was called, meant she had the house to herself. Perfect. Joy scrolled through Netflix and selected three movies. She’d watch them all. It was time to find out if Hollywood depicted the supposed dark side the way she’d been experiencing it to really be.

  Joy stuck a bag of popcorn into the microwave and poured a huge Coke while she waited. When the timer dinged, she reached in and pinched the corner of the bag, shaking it to spread the salt and butter evenly. She pulled on the seams to open the bag, careful to keep her face out of the steam. After dumping the whole thing into a red plastic bowl, she was ready.

  Here goes nothing. Joy pressed PLAY on the first movie and settled down on the couch with her blanket and a pillow. She lifted a few pieces of popcorn to her mouth.

  Hmm. The actors—if she could call them that—recorded supposed spirit activity while they slept. First of all, if that were real, why did they stay in the house? Secondly, why couldn’t the guy get the woman to listen to him? One good conversation, a letter, a recording, something would have gotten her attention.

  Yeah. That one had to be totally fake.

  On to movie number two. A classic, the reviews had said.

  She munched on the popcorn. Okay, this one was pure Hollywood entertainment—vomit, heads spinning in circles, bodies thrown against the ceiling. Really funny stuff.

  Bang!

  Joy squealed and slid to the floor, popcorn flying everywhere. What was that noise? She flew to her feet and spun in a full circle, searching for the source. She tiptoed toward the kitchen. Ridiculous because if someone, or something, were in there, it already knew she was in the house.

  Oh. Her heart slowed, and she tried to rein in her breathing. Oreo lay in a heap on the floor by the refrigerator. The ancient cat must have climbed onto the counter and fell off again. The only cat on earth that never landed on her feet.

  Joy strode to the kitchen and scooped her up. “You okay, Oreo?” She soothed the trembling kitty as she surveyed the room.

  Well, so much for Hollywood entertainment. She wasn’t quite as brave as she’d thought, obviously.

  Didn’t matter. It would have taken a crazy person to laugh off a bang like that. She hadn’t completely lost her sense of reality. Yet.

  Chapter 6

  It’s Tuesday. You in for hanging out at the park tonight?” Raven sidled up next to Joy in the lunch line.

  “I don’t know about that.” Joy glanced down at Raven’s tray. “You seriously going to eat all of that?” Hamburger, fries, apple, and a candy bar? “Where do you put it?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing.” Raven rolled her eyes at Joy’s side salad and water.

  “I’m not really hungry.” Joy shrugged. She probably wouldn’t even eat the salad. Everything sat like lead in the pit of her stomach. The more she faced the possibility that Melanie actually reached out to her from the great beyond, the more she didn’t like it and the more difficulty she had doing normal things. Like eating. Why couldn’t she go back to just before it happened? To the time when Joy just believed. Before she’d felt the need to put everything under a microscope. Or even better, to the moments before Melanie’s death … or before the kiss.

  Raven nodded and swung her leg over the bench and set her tray down. “I get it. But take it from a girl who’s had her share of parental intervention”—she did air quotes with her fingers—” ‘for my own good.’ You don’t want to raise any red flags.”

  Joy slid her tray onto an empty table. With Melanie gone, she hadn’t cared where she ate every day. Or if she ever ate at all. “Red flags?”

  “The more weight you lose, the more sunken your eyes get, the more strange stuff you do—you’ll make everyone nervous. When parental-types get nervous, they come at you with doctor visits, counseling, medication even. Trust me. Life is much better when they leave you alone.”

  Oh right. Joy had forgotten that
about Raven. “You had to go away to that place freshman year. Where did you go?”

  Raven nodded, her mouth full. “Yeah. Colorado. Diamond Estates. ‘Where the finest gems are pulled from the deepest rough.’” She rolled her eyes.

  “What was that about?”

  “Oh, you know. I raised too many red flags. Dad got a little nervous and sent me away to find God.” Raven shrugged. “At least that had been the plan.”

  “What happened?” Joy poked at her salad.

  “I got into some trouble over there. Was asked to either make a commitment or move out. I picked move out.” Raven jabbed a ketchup-laden french fry at Joy. “That’s why I said what I did about avoiding parental intervention. It can get pretty intense.”

  Raven made a lot of sense. Joy wanted to fly under the radar and get through as best and as privately as she could. “Point taken.” She snatched Raven’s candy bar, ripped the wrapper off, and shoved half of it in her mouth.

  “Hey! That was uncalled for.” Raven’s eyes sparkled as she laughed.

  “Just following orders.” Joy bit off another hunk.

  “You learn well, young student.”

  Joy laughed. “Very funny.”

  “So anyway, back to the point. Tonight? We on?”

  Joy wondered what Raven had in mind. Not that it mattered anymore. “Sure. It’ll have to be somewhat early though. Coach gave us a big lecture yesterday. Made us promise to get lots of sleep this week.”

  Raven made a talky hand in the air. “Blah, blah. Fine. Whatever. Meet me at the lake at six o’clock sharp. We’ll hang out. I’ll invite some people.”

  “It’ll have to be six thirty for me. Practice doesn’t get out until six.” Joy forked a hunk of lettuce into her mouth.

  “That’s fine.”

  “Just no funny business, okay?” Hanging out didn’t always have to mean some great big spiritual awakening.

  Raven laughed. “What are you, thirty years old? What do you mean, ‘Funny business’?”