“Are you offering yourself in her place?”
“No!” Jennifer shouted it from the floor at the same time Eddie did while lowering his bow. Eddie was faster, and he pushed Elise first, who tumbled back into Jennifer and sent them both sprawling.
The arachnid sorceress could not help but sigh as she watched the three of them. “You all make quite an impressive force.”
Eddie didn’t answer. Instead, he stripped off his jacket and tore at the shirtsleeve where Skip’s bullet had already made a hole in the fabric. Then, keeping his brown eyes fixed on Dianna, he presented his arm.
“Very well,” she said.
Before either Elise or Jennifer could stop it, Dianna had dissolved herself and sunk two barely visible shafts of green light into Eddie’s wound. He sucked air through his teeth but did not complain as she began to drink. All around the room—Jennifer and Elise staring from the floor, Tavia glaring next to a barely alive Edmund, the warriors around them looking on in awe, and Andi and Nakia gazing anxiously from where they stood—people watched Eddie Blacktooth die.
The spider drank from him, steadily and deeply, until he fell to his knees.
“That’s enough!” Jennifer reached for her daggers as she raced forward. “You’ve taken enough! Let him go! Eddie!”
There was no need to strike. Dianna abruptly released Eddie and shifted back into human form. The woman’s throat was still engorged with blood as she staggered to the center of the chamber floor. From one hand, she fed herself the moon leaf, and from the other, she washed it all down with a vial of the poison Jennifer had offered.
A nova’s light filled the observatory, and then dimmed enough for Jennifer to see the stars unbending on the walls around them. From somewhere unseen came a profound series of bass tones and the faint scent of sulfur filled the air.
From where the nova had begun, a frail light now shone in front of Dianna—white and spindly, like a thin spider curling and uncurling its legs. On top of the bass tones, a soft melody arose. It sounded strangely familiar, so much like the tune Jennifer had heard when she fell asleep in Skip’s arms on the Winoka park bench. She did not pay attention to it for long; Eddie was slumping to the floor not far from Skip’s torn body. The boy’s sparrowlike eyes glazed over. There’s no going back now, she knew. The only Eddie that’s alive is back home. Oh, please, let this work.
Dianna stood near Jennifer and pointed to the frail light. “Take your place there! When you are ready, reach out and hold the light.”
“And that’s it? Everything will change back?”
The sorceress nodded as she stepped closer to Jennifer. “As I said before, unraveling is simpler than weaving. Given who you are, the fabric of this universe will quickly disintegrate in your hands. All will return to last Monday evening, before the sorcery started…and it will simply never happen. Nobody except you will even know what truly happened—not even Skip, or Edmund, or Tavia. Who you tell and how much, of course, is up to you.” Now she leaned in, gave an indigo wink, and whispered, “I’m glad you and I didn’t have to fight today, Jennifer Scales. And not just because you are my dear Jonathan’s daughter.”
“Your dear—?”
“One last favor? Please give this to Skip.” She handed Jennifer a sealed envelope, the color of her own dress.
Jennifer was confused, but nodded as she put the envelope in her pocket. “Sure. Uh, what about Evangelina? Shouldn’t she come with me?”
The right side of the woman’s mouth curled up. “We’ll be spending some mother-daughter time together. I hope your grandfather doesn’t mind.”
“Time together?! Where? Neither of you will be alive anymore!”
Dianna’s brows lifted. “You’re a lovely young woman, Jennifer Scales, and a hell of a fighter. But if you think I’m going to spill all of my secrets to you right here, Jonathan hasn’t raised you to be as bright as I’d expect. Now, off you go!”
Despite the woman’s firm (and somewhat rude, she thought) pat on her buttocks, Jennifer stayed where she was. She looked around the room one last time. She saw its stark architecture in the obsidian arcs above, which caught the music of the spiders so softly just before bouncing it back down upon them. She saw Nakia, her bright olive skin shining, eyes aglow as she witnessed the play of light in the center of the observatory. She saw Andi next to Nakia, head bowed low and reverent before the display of sorcerous power and resonant music. She saw Eddie sprawled upon the floor with his bow lashed to his back, blood still spilling from his muscled arm, and Skip behind him, leading the other boy on the cold path of death. And last of all, she saw Elise in front of the remaining warriors, looking back at her and everything around them in wonder. They stepped toward each other.
“You did it,” Elise said.
“We did it,” Jennifer corrected her. She took a last glance at Eddie’s empty brown features. “We all did it.”
The woman reached into her jacket and drew out her moon elm leaf. The last one left in this world, Jennifer reminded herself. “Take this,” Elise told her. “I won’t need it here anymore.”
“You won’t miss anything. Not ever again,” Jennifer promised her, sliding the leaf into the pocket of her jeans. She turned, walked into the brilliant magic of the sorceress, and seized the light in her hand. As she collapsed into a deep sleep, she heard the same words she had heard nearly a week ago.
She’ll be home soon.
CHAPTER 19
Monday Night
Jennifer woke up with her face on a plush, carpeted floor. Opening her eyes, she saw forest green, with piles of dirty laundry in the distance. Her head jerked up.
My clothes. My bedroom.
My house! My world!
She stood up and took everything in. Geddy was in his terrarium, lapping up the last of his water from the molded plastic bowl. Not far from him, a cricket hid behind a cactus. Out the window, a crescent moon shone brightly through the window.
It’s last Monday! It worked! I’m back!
She couldn’t wait to see everything again the way it was supposed to be: her home, Winoka High, city hall, the farm, Crescent Valley! It would all be right again. She had to see it all!
But first things first.
“Eddie!” She flung open her door and ran down the hallway to the guest bedroom. He was there, beautifully alive, wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt, with no signs of grimness or pain. And best of all, there was no blood seeping from his elbow.
Red-faced, he stuffed whatever he was reading under the pillows and jumped off the bed. “Jennifer! I was just—”
Her mouth was already on top of his. He had brushed his teeth, thank heavens, but he still wasn’t that good at it. Jennifer didn’t care. She stayed with the kiss until they both had their eyes open again.
“What’s going on?” he asked, bewildered. “Y-you said—”
“I was wrong,” she told him. “About you. I’m sorry.”
“No, you were right. When you needed me, I—”
“When I really need you, Eddie, you’ll be there. I know that now.”
“How—”
“I’ll explain another time. Right now, I gotta go.”
“Huh. Okay, but this was really weird.”
“Don’t I know it.”
Jonathan no doubt heard her as she ran down the stairs into the living room, but he nevertheless was surprised when she grabbed his wing claw and pulled him toward the front door.
“I’m sorry, I was a jerk, come on, let’s go.”
“Honey, I know your mother’s upset, but now is not the time. She’ll calm down and be back in a little—”
“She’s—Wait! Hey, Phoebe!” Jennifer bent down and gave her modest black dog a hug. “You were so brave. Thank you.” The dog accepted the affection with her typical, unconditional enthusiasm.
She looked back up at her father, who had a bemused look on his face. “As I was saying, she’s waiting. And the time is now.”
He wrinkled his scaled forehead
as she let go of Phoebe and shook her wings and tail out. “She’s what?”
“We’re going, we’re going!” she yelled at him, pushing his squirming body out the door. “I’ll tell you everything on the way!”
“On the way where?”
Jennifer had guessed from the moment of her return that there was really no other place her mother could be. Nevertheless, she was relieved when she saw the minivan parked outside the lakeside cabin.
“Huh,” Jonathan said. “She backtracked on us. How’d you guess?”
She didn’t answer him as she landed on two human feet, but instead reached inside her coat pocket and handed him the only object she had left from her lost week: the leaf Elise had given her.
Its image sparkled in his silver eyes. “Jennifer, is this—”
Before he could finish his question, his winged body trembled. His scales shrank and paled, while the horns at the back of his head disappeared. His tail withered away, and his teeth grew blunt. In a matter of a few seconds, he was standing in the twilit backyard on two bare feet.
The leaf crinkled in his tightening palm. He wiped his bangs out of his face and looked up at the crescent moon. “It looks larger,” he noticed.
Jennifer averted her eyes with a snort. “Not from where I’m standing, it doesn’t. Here. You should, er, take my jacket.” She dangled it on the end of a finger behind her, refusing to look at him.
He chuckled, taking the jacket. “You know, I’ve got clothes inside. Though I hardly expected to need them for another few days.”
“Then, please, pretty please, let’s go inside.”
They went up on the porch, Jennifer first. Everything was the way it was supposed to be, from the well-kept porch to the new library wallpaper visible from beyond the glass doors. Once they were inside, Jennifer could see her mother, blonde hair disheveled, hunched over the kitchen table facing away from them. She could also hear the clink of a spoon against a ceramic ice-cream bowl.
“Mom?”
The woman turned, and for a moment Jennifer thought she was looking at the cold, hard stare of Elise Georges. Then the face softened a touch, before Elizabeth Georges-Scales turned back to her ice cream. “What are you doing here?”
Keeping my promise. “I’m…I’ve been…I missed you.”
Jennifer heard her mother sigh and the spoon clatter into the bowl. “I missed you, too, honey. I’m sorry I drove off earlier. It’s just that your father sometimes—”
“—drives you into the seductive arms of double chocolate ice cream?” Jonathan guessed, stepping out from behind his daughter.
His voice made Elizabeth turn again, and she gave her husband a skeptical look up and down before dismissing him. “Your idea of an apology needs work. Put some pants on to go with that jacket.” She pushed her chair back and brought the empty bowl over to the sink.
“Elizabeth. Look.”
“Dammit, Jonathan, I’ve seen your—”
“Mom!” Jennifer lost all patience. “Look!”
Elizabeth bit the inside of her lip and squinted at them, still not understanding what they meant. Finally, though, she saw the silver moon elm leaf in Jonathan’s hand. A brief expression of wonder escaped before she slammed her features shut again.
“Liz, I’m sorry.” Jonathan stepped forward and held the leaf out to her. “I never told the Blaze about what really happened that night, because I was too scared of what they’d do. Not to me, but to you.”
“I can handle myself.” Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, but did not move away as he got closer.
“I should have told them the truth that day. I should have told them the truth when we got married. I should have told them the truth when Jennifer was born, when she had her first change, when Evangelina showed up. I had so many chances, and I blew them all. If you forgive me, I’ll do it right tomorrow. Actually, I’ll do it right even if you don’t forgive me. You deserve that.”
Elizabeth didn’t move for some time. She pinned him there, standing half-naked in the kitchen, with her emerald gaze.
Finally, Jennifer couldn’t stand it anymore. “I found him for you, Mom. You told me you were missing him, and I helped you find him again. I promised I would. You have to forgive him.”
Her mother shook her head. “Jennifer…”
“You have to forgive him!”
“For heaven’s sake, Jennifer, calm down! It’s not what you think. It’s like I told you on the highway. I don’t need your relationship advice.”
With that, the woman reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out…her own silver moon elm leaf.
“I figured I’d spend the night here and clear my head,” she explained. “As I drove up, this flew into the windshield. At that point, all I figured I had to do was—”
“—eat a bowl of double chocolate ice cream?” Jonathan guessed.
Her eyes narrowed again. “I was going to say, ‘wait for the love of my life to show up.’ But at this point, Mr. I-Can’t-Let-My-Wife-Finish-a-Single-Sentence, a second bowl of ice cream is looking better and better.”
Seeing a possible opportunity slip away into sarcasm, Jennifer panicked. “So are you forgiving him or what, Mom?”
“Of course I’m going to forgive him, honey. I’m just mulling over the price.” A sly grin spread over her face, and she reached out to grab her husband’s earlobe.
Jonathan returned the smile. “How about we go negotiate upstairs?”
“Deal.”
“Oh, that’s—” Ugh. Gross? Twisted? Sweet? Romantic? “Gross! Yes, please, you two, take it upstairs.” She continued calling after them as her mother’s clothes came tumbling down the stairs. “By all means, celebrate our family reunion by ditching your daughter for a blundering roll in the hay! It’s not like you owe her anything, not even a simple ‘thank you!’ Because you know what? You’re not welcome! Yeah, that’s right, you’re not…”
“Jennifer, honey.” Her mother’s voice came drifting down along with her father’s giggles. “You’re really killing the mood here. How about you fly around the lake for a while, pick up some firewood, rake some leaves, build a shed…?”
CHAPTER 20
New Tuesday
Jennifer was still fuming by the time she staggered into school Tuesday morning. She had spent hours circling the cold farm last night before she had finally lost patience with her parents, reentered the house, and screamed up the stairs that she was going back home to commiserate with any teenaged boy who happened to be staying there as a guest. That had gotten them moving, but they hadn’t made it home until after midnight. Unfortunately, school started just as early here as it had in the other, more wicked universe.
She ambled blearily though the front door, letting Eddie race ahead with an energetic wink good-bye. Trying to wink back, she ended up closing both eyes and drifting off until a group of kids bumped and shoved past her. Beaststalkers, she sighed to herself. So rude. They don’t even appreciate what you did for them. Where are the balloons and cake? Where’s the welcoming committee?
Working her way to her locker, she was just reaching for the handle when the most beautiful voice in the world sounded behind her.
“You’re still a bitch for blowing me off.”
“Oh, Susan.” With a slow sigh, Jennifer stumbled around and draped her tired arms around her best friend. “I missed you. I’m sorry. I’ll cancel on Amanda and Bob as soon as I see them.”
“Hmmph.” Susan kept her back rigid and her books held tightly against her chest as Jennifer tried to make herself comfortable, maybe get a quick nap in. “I guess you sound sincere. Hey, what the hell happened to you last night. You’ve got circles under your—”
“My parents did it. Like, for two hours.”
“Oh, you poor thing!” The brunette let her books drop to the hallway floor and accepted Jennifer in a warm hug. “You poor, wretched thing! Did you go to your happy place? Whenever my dad brings a date home, I use a memory of snorkeling off a Caribbean beach
with no one there but me and some completely asexual fish…”
I have a happy place too, Jennifer thought. And I’m back in it. Her nose nuzzled Susan’s neck, taking in her friend’s cheap, apple-scented perfume.
“Woot! Go, girls!” The dull roar of Bob Jarkmand’s voice startled them both out of the forgiving embrace. He and another football friend were mere inches from them. “Matty, check it out, my date’s goin’ at it with another babe! Yeah, Jennifer, you can bring Sandy along here with you to Amanda’s Friday night! The three of us can—”
Susan was actually faster than Jennifer. She reached up, grabbed Bob Jarkmand by the lapels of his letter jacket, and shook him violently. “My name is Susan very simple name Susan S-U-S-A-N and I wouldn’t go to party with you or kiss you or do anything else with you even if you flayed the skin off my fingers and IT’S A VERY SIMPLE NAME!”
“Bob,” Jennifer added with as soft a smirk as she could manage, “I’ve had a change of plans. I can’t go to Amanda’s Friday night.”
“Aw, man.” His dreams of sexual adventure in tatters, Bob hung his head. “So, um, when do you think we can go out?”
She reached up and locked fingers with Susan’s hands, forcing her friend to relax and let go of the giant boy. “When you can remember my girlfriend’s name. You, me, her, Eddie, Amanda, a few others. It would be nice to go out to the movies, maybe talk a bit. No macking. No feeling. No girl-on-girl action.”
“Huh. Whatever.” With all interesting options removed from consideration, Bob put a desolate arm around his buddy Matty and walked away, grumbling about fickle girls and a certain time of the month.
“He’s a real winner, Jennifer. I can see why you fell for him.”
“Yes, a rude comment about female anatomy really is the way to my heart.”
Susan took Jennifer’s arm and walked her down the hall. “Hey, by the way, did you do your geometry homework last night? Most of that stuff, I couldn’t get. I don’t think Mr. Slider even cared if we got it all done!”
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