Chaos (Kardia Chronicles) (Entangled Teen)

by Christine O'Neil

  When I got back to my house, she was already walking up the pathway.

  “Hey!” She was dressed in a fake fur coat complete with earmuffs and a giant Russian hat that looked like it had come from a buffalo. Nice.

  “Hey. Awesome outfit.” I jogged up the steps and snuck by her to open the door.

  My mom must have heard us come in, because she called out, “There’s some fresh-brewed iced tea in the kitchen if you want, and I left something in your room for you.”

  We armed ourselves with glasses of tea, and I snagged a bag of pretzels from the pantry. It was the one snack food both Libby and I could agree on. Salty, crunchy, and semi-delicious for me, fat free and semi-healthy for her.

  I charged up the stairs, my mood still upbeat. A breather from Mac was a good thing. Whatever I’d been feeling toward him—I was leaning toward grateful, which was way easier to swallow than the other option—was getting all muffed up in my head and I needed the downtime.

  Then, I got home and Mom had a surprise for me. Good start to the weekend.

  I opened my door and smelled it before I saw it. That musty, leathery scent that always conjured a memory of the classics section at the library. My heart skittered as I looked around and spied the mini-mountain of books next to my bed. Maybe twenty or so, all stacked up like a neat little building made of bricks.

  “Holy stink,” Libby muttered and buried her nose in the crook of her furry arm.

  “Suck it up; it’s not that bad.” I set my glass on the vanity and crossed the room to kneel next to the pile. All of them were fat, with gold brushed onto the edges of the pages, and all of them looked realllly old.

  “What are they for?” Libby had come up behind me and peered down, her brows drawn together in a frown.

  “They are our research project for the next few weeks.” I gave her a bright, hopeful smile, but she didn’t smile back.

  “I’m going to need a little more info before I agree to touch those things. It smells like mummies in here, and I’m not big on the idea of soaking up the stench.”

  “That’s not even a quarter of them,” Mom said from the doorway. She crossed her arms and leaned on the jamb, a tight smile bracketing her mouth. “They’re pretty fragile, so I didn’t want to just dump them all in boxes, and I didn’t want to overwhelm you or take up your whole room. Start with those. Once you’re done, let me know and we’ll switch them out for others.”

  “What if I damage them?” I murmured, tracing the delicate scrollwork on the front of the top book with my fingertips.

  “They’re your grandmother’s books, and I know she’d want you to have them. If something happens to one of them, it can be repaired, all right?”

  I nodded absently, already itching to dig in. Finally, some real information that wasn’t bull.

  I looked back over at Mom to ask her more questions, but she offered an apologetic half smile, shook her head slowly, and backed out of the room. She’d done all she could bring herself to do, and that had to be enough for now. I may not have understood why she was so afraid or what her reasons were for being so against me learning about my powers, but I had no doubt that pushing her further could be the last straw for her.

  The fury that typically came with those thoughts didn’t this time. I loved her and she loved me. There might be a time in the near future where I didn’t remember that, or anything else. I had a job to do, and I wasn’t going to waste any more of my energy being angry with her for doing the best she knew how to do.

  At that moment, Libby sneezed so loudly, I startled. “Bless you.”

  She rubbed her nose and grumbled a “Thanks.” All was quiet when she stripped off her Siberian outerwear and then shuffled toward me. “So what do you need me to do?”

  “Mom brought these out of storage for me, so I could learn more about our history.”

  She looked at me for a long moment and nodded. “Makes sense. I’m in.”

  And just like that, once again, I wasn’t alone. Libby was with me, and she was going to help me figure this mess out. I said a little prayer that, if the Council decided to strip my memory, Libby and I would find our way back to this point again someday. Best friends. The sister of my heart. I wanted to flop on the bed and cry but settled for a wobbly grin.

  “Let’s both sit on the floor with a book apiece and start reading. Mostly, I’m looking for anything on my line. Kardia Aphrodite.” I debated and then tacked on, “Or the Council of Amaranth.” I wanted to try to find something about Mac…to figure out what line he descended from, too, but I’d do that when I was alone. I couldn’t have Libby asking too many questions.

  She took a long gulp from her glass of tea and set it on the nightstand. “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Some sort of watchdog unit. My mom was telling me about them, and I’m trying to learn more about our laws and what their role is.” Annnd to find out if I am throwing myself on the mercy of a bunch of harpies. Once this was all over, I wouldn’t hide anything from Libby ever again. Still, my gullet ached with all the deception and I swallowed hard to dislodge the lump.

  “Okay.” She shrugged and sank to the floor across from me, settling into the soft peach carpet. “Pass one over.”

  I carefully lifted the top book from the pile and handed it to her. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the thing disintegrated in my hands, it felt so fragile, but it held up nicely and she settled it on her lap.

  The next in the pile had an elaborate hand-drawn picture of a flower on the cover but no title. I peered at the precariously balanced tower and shrugged. I had to look at every single one, so might as well start at the top. “And I’ll take this one.”

  I opened the cover and read the inscription.

  To my dearest Delphine,

  Every day we spent together was magic.

  Yours,

  S

  I flushed, trying not to think too hard about what that meant. My grandpa’s name was Harold, so Gram must have had herself a man before they got married. Funny, I’d never really thought of her as anything but Gram. The idea that she had a boyfriend at some point, and they’d done…magical stuff together made me want to squirm in discomfort.

  “Seems like this one is about the rules and regulations of the early governing body, before the Council of Amaranth was formed,” Libby said after a few minutes passed. She gently leafed through to the middle and nodded. “Yep, that’s what this whole book is. Do you want me to skim them or move on?”

  I tore my attention from the book I was reading on medicinal herbs and considered that. “I guess do a quick skim to see if anything jumps out at you and then go to the next one. If you get to the Amaranthus, though, let me know.”

  Skimming was easier said than done. My ancestry was the cause of a butt-ton of problems, but it was also fascinating. The second book I grabbed seemed to focus on alchemy. I’d always thought of that as bullshit, but it was fascinating and I couldn’t keep myself from reading.

  Libby was apparently having the same problem because she still held the same book she’d started with when I looked up an hour later.

  “I thought you were moving on?”

  “Yeah, I am,” she said with a smile. “I keep getting caught up.” She set the book gently next to her and reached a hand out for another. “Lay it on me.”

  I gave her the tome titled Gods and Man and jerked my chin toward it. “That might be a good one. Want me to get a notebook so we can jot down page numbers if we see anything I should be reading? I don’t want to dog ear any of them.”

  “Good idea.” She grabbed a pen off my dresser, and we went to work again.

  By the time we were both all read and noted out four hours later, Mom had called up the stairs to let us know that she and Gram were going grocery shopping but could drop us at the mall for a while if we wanted. It sounded like the perfect break, so we bundled up and headed out.

  I had a few things to pick up—namely a couple more sweaters like the one I’d worn today
—and Libby wanted to get some perfume. Once we got that taken care of, we stopped off at the food court. While Libby was oohing and ahhing over the fruit and salad selection at Soybean Me Up, Scotty’s, I headed straight for Pretzel Place and asked for my usual. She’d placed an order and had to wait but gave me the stink eye from the line.

  As soon as her food came, she barreled toward me with hell in her eyes. “Seriously, how can you put that in your body?” she asked, eyeing the pretzel-dog case like it was full of freshly minted dog crap.

  “I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.” She already knew why. Because it tasted good. “What’s your beef with delicious food, anyway? I don’t get it.”

  “Chemicals and trans fats aren’t delicious to me. I bet if aliens came down they wouldn’t even recognize that as food.”

  “See? Another reason to get used to it. My digestive system is all prepped for an alien invasion, and yours isn’t. Once they come and wreck shop on our fruits and vegetables, what will there be left?” I held up the dog to my nose and took a long, appreciative sniff. “Trans fats and chemicals. Come to Mama.”

  She shot me a dirty look as we headed off toward the seating area. We weaved our way through the food court until we found two empty spots. Libby dragged a red vinyl chair out and plopped down onto it with a sigh, hefting her shopping bags onto the table.

  “You said you wanted to get in shape for the dance. I don’t want to nag you because you look great like you are, but what’s going on? You’re not going to bail on me, are you?”

  I hated the pleading note in her voice and that sad-sack face she was making so much. I looked away and took a honking, defiant bite out of my pretzel-dog. She was the sweetest person I knew, but some part of me was also aware that she wasn’t above emotional blackmail and she knew I hated seeing her unhappy. I chewed and swallowed before responding.

  “Not bailing so much as reassessing. It was a momentary interruption of sanity. I forgot that formal dances are stupid. It’s a bunch of girls dressing up in gowns that look like they belong at a drag show or on some wussy little Disney princess, and that’s just not my thing.”

  “You said you were going, like, a week ago. I don’t get what’s changed.” She shook her head in disgust, forked up a slice of melon, and plugged it into her piehole.

  “I know I did, but I realized if I have to wear that stupid stuff all night I’ll be miserable.”

  She looked like she was about to cry and after she spent her whole day helping me, that felt like shit. Plus, I was trying to stay positive, but there was a very real chance this might be the last month we spend together where I even recognized her face. I didn’t want to spend even a second of it fighting with her. I searched for a compromise.

  “I’ll make you a deal.” I set down the uneaten half of my pretzel-dog that Libby had so graciously ruined for me with all the dance talk and held out a pinkie. “If you find a way to make it so that I don’t have to wear some froofy dress and can rock my Vans instead of heels, then I’ll come to the Swirl.”

  Libby squealed and thrust out her pinkie so fast I almost pulled mine away.

  The school had never allowed people to show up at the formal in anything less than full-on formalwear, so I had no idea how this year could possibly be any different. So what did she know that I didn’t, and why was she so happy?

  That last chunk of pretzel-dog lodged in my chest, and I clutched Libby’s pinkie, sealing our deal. It felt bad. Real bad. Like contract-with-Rumpelstiltskin bad.

  She pulled her hand away and started chattering nonstop, ending with, “So now we’ve just got to find you a date.”

  “Wait. I never said anything about a date.” An image of Mac flashed through my head, and I shut it down quick. Everyone else was off-limits. “Not happening. No way. I go solo or not at all. I said I was trying to move on, but I’m totally not to the dating stage yet.”

  She wrinkled her perfect little nose and waved me off. “Whatever. It doesn’t have to be a real date. We’ll all go together. You, Bink, and me! He and the girl of the month broke up, and he was planning on going alone anyway.”

  “They broke up already?” He hadn’t mentioned it, but then again, they’d only seen each other once out of school, so it wasn’t exactly big news.

  “Yeah, today.” Her face lit up and she chuckled. “She was mad because he told her she looked like Taylor Swift, and apparently that was the wrong thing to say because she was shooting for more of a bad girl, Ke$ha vibe.”

  That had me grinning.

  “Did you hear that Ella asked Mac?” she asked.

  I had not heard that, and the news made my power sizzle against the Diet Coke in my hand, hard enough that I could feel the wax on the cup heat and drip down the sides.

  “Oh, that’s cool. So are they, like, serious all of a sudden?”

  Libby waved her hand back and forth. “Kinda, I think. She was getting annoyed because they haven’t been hanging out as much, and he still hadn’t asked her to go, but then when she asked him, he said yes. I don’t get it. I can’t stand him, but he does at least seem anti–silly clique high school stuff. Then he blows his one redeeming quality by asking out the most popular, annoying girl in school.” She rolled her eyes in disgust. “They don’t have anything in common that I can tell, either. The gossip at the last dance committee meeting was that she’s a frontrunner for Snow Queen. Be interesting if Mac is crowned King.”

  Would it? “Yeah. Interesting.” A weird, acrid taste filled my mouth, and I wadded up the rest of my hot dog in some napkins and launched it into the can over Libby’s shoulder.

  “That’s good for three!” she crowed, holding up her hand for a high five. She forked up the last of her fruit salad and made an over-the-shoulder shot of her own that bounced off the rim before tumbling in.

  “Touchdown,” I said, holding up both arms halfheartedly.

  “No. Not really, but you get an A for effort.”

  We wiped off the table and stood to get our bags. I still had to pick up a new backpack and some boxer shorts to sleep in, but the desire to shop had disappeared sometime between dance talk and the mention of Mac and Ella becoming King and Queen. I reached into my pocket and cupped the ring nestled there, but despite the little jolt, this time it didn’t soothe me.

  “I’m shot. If you have what you need, we can head out. I’ll come back another day.”

  Libby eyed me hard and pursed her lips like she was thinking about arguing, but then let it slide. “Okay. But if I get permission for you to wear sneakers, we’re going to be spending some serious time here soon. I like the fact that you’re wearing something that fits for once, but we’ve got to step it up a notch.” She gestured to my jeans and sweater like she was pointing at a nest of rats.

  So much for my improved image, but whatevs. If she wanted to dress me, I’d let her. To an extent. At that point I was just glad to be leaving the mall. Mac and Ella at the Swirl. My stomach lurched and I swallowed hard, solid in the knowledge that my pretzel-dog wouldn’t taste nearly as good in reverse. Suddenly, I had the overwhelming urge to sit on my floor surrounded by my collection of treasures, and until I’d done that, I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.

  Half an hour later, I got my wish. I nestled in the middle of my room with my legs crossed beneath me, inside a circle of shiny stuff. There were rings and bracelets. A picture in a frame and an eagle feather. A locket—that one made me feel both the best and the worst because of the picture inside—and an old pocket watch. I counted them slowly, running my fingertips over smooth metal, nubby fabric, and sharp edges, and a low hum of power spread through me, bringing with it a sense of peace and warmth. I kept Mac’s ring in one hand as I counted and re-counted.

  Thirty-eight. Thirty-eight little treasures. Thirty-eight pieces of other people’s lives that I’d nabbed and marked for my own. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t good.

  But then again, maybe I wasn’t, either.

  Chapter
Fifteen

  The next ten days flew by in a blur. Things with Mac had been stilted ever since I’d found out about him and Ella going to the dance. Or maybe since he asked me not to tell Libby anything about him. I couldn’t say which thing started it; all I knew was that the whole heart-to-heart in the closet and the whole talking while we lay side by side, staring at stars type deals were never repeated, and although the weird arcs of energy were still there between us, I felt like I’d lost a friend. Strange that someone who was in my life such a short time could make that kind of impact. I wish I knew how to get it back. Or where it had gone in the first place.

  On the plus side, I was getting better with my power every day. Mac kept his promise, and the training was going well. I wasn’t feeling confident by any stretch, especially after what I’d read about the strict and often brutal ways of the Amaranthus, but I was trying my hardest and at that point, it was all I could do.

  Still, it was all getting to me, and I’d deciding playing hooky from school today was my best bet. I was still wrecked from the day before when I saw Ella and Mac strolling down the hallway, his arm around her and her hand in his back pocket. I’d just managed to convince myself that tearing her arm off and beating her to death with it would be ill-advised when he walked into art class and had the nerve to bust my chops, calling my and Rafe’s papier-mâché giraffe a crime against art. I’d flipped him the bird, still too raw from the grab-ass I’d witnessed to even respond.

  Prick.

  If I hadn’t been close to tears, I would have ripped him a new one.

  I stared at the ceiling that looked exactly the same as it had two hours ago when I’d started staring at it and groaned. Lying here alone with my thoughts was worse than being at school. Time for a distraction. I rolled to my feet and bent low to examine the pile of books. Libby and I had gotten through a lot of them, but there was still a stack high as my knee that we hadn’t even cracked open yet. I plucked the top one from the bunch and flopped back onto my bed with it. Maybe I’d find out something more about Mac and his kind, because at this point, I could only imagine that his true power was fucking with people’s heads.