“I don’t charge. And for your information, Nathan and I are just friends.”
“That’s not what he’s saying. I don’t know what kind of spell you put on him, but it worked.” The fake smile was back in place. “And I want you to teach me how. I’m a quick study. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Astrology isn’t magic,” I said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with casting spells.” My heartbeat quickened. Was Nathan really talking about me? Saying that we were more than friends?
“All I know is that until a month ago, you were this shy, wimpy little sophomore,” she said. “Now, one of the two hottest senior boys in school is after you, and everyone’s saying you’ve got the power to bring down the Gears.”
“One doesn’t have anything to do with the other.” I was so embarrassed that I wasn’t sure what to say, let alone how to stop the sudden rush of heat to my cheeks. “Besides, I may not actually be able to bring down the Gears, as you so eloquently put it. And, Kat, there’s no way I can help you. There really isn’t.”
“My jean jacket?” She said it like a question, as if she hadn’t heard a word of what I’d just told her.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said you loved my jacket. Teach me how to keep a certain guy hot for me, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Are you serious?”
“My Coach purse too.” She crossed her arms, and the smile got even scarier. “Do we have a deal?”
“We do not,” I said. “I can’t teach you how to keep Trevor hot for you.”
Especially when you scream in his face in the school parking lot, you freak show.
Now she was the one with the red face.
“Come on. Everyone’s talking about what you can do.”
I picked up my backpack. “I’ve been lucky.”
“Lucky doesn’t get the kind of stuff you and your friend Chili have been getting.” She looked in the mirror and fluffed her short bob. As she did so, the jacket rose over her back, revealing a tattoo that appeared to be her own initials. Then she turned and looked back at me over her perfect chest the way she might look at dirt.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“That lucky would not get you Nathan Sullivan, Logan. Not in any lifetime.”
Heat flooded my face. “What are you trying to imply?” I managed.
Her smile was as acidic as her voice. “I think you know as well as I do.”
“Well, I’ve got to go, Kat. Nice talking to you.”
“Don’t you get what I’m trying to tell you?” Her voice rose, and I remembered the open house night in the parking lot. “I need your help.”
“Kat,” I said, “I’m leaving. Deal with it or don’t. I’m out of here.”
As I left the restroom, I could hear her yelling. Don’t you dare leave while I’m talking . . . Who do you think you are?
Double Aries. The book was right again.
NOTES TO SELF
Was Kat telling the truth? Am I just an absolute loser who wouldn’t have had a chance at Nathan without the help of astrology? Or did the book just give me an extra shot of courage? I can’t worry about her nasty comments. I’m starting to fear the Aries sign, though, even though it is my own Ascendant, and I can’t help wondering if it’s the sign of at least one of the Gears.
18
WHILE AQUARIANS ARE SOME OF THE KINDEST AND MOST GENTLE PEOPLE ON EARTH, THEY OFTEN ARE FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS. FURTHERMORE, IT IS THE NATURE OF AN AIR SIGN TO WANT TO KNOW WHY. EVEN WHEN SOMEONE CAN GET AN AQUARIAN TO SHUT UP, THE BRAIN WILL CONTINUE TO QUESTION. OTHERS OFTEN DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT AQUARIUS IS DRIVEN TO SEEK ANSWERS AND SPEAK OUT FOR ANY CAUSE HE BELIEVES IS JUST.
—Fearless Astrology
That was for sure. The more I got into the book, the more I was acting like its description of Aquarius. Almost as if Fearless Astrology was giving me permission to be who I’d always been secretly. It was also warning me about traits to watch—like being too detached, for instance. For trying to figure out a situation before asking myself how I felt about it.
That night we were hanging out at Chili’s, as usual, pretending to do homework. Actually, Paige was kind of doing it. Sitting cross-legged on the carpet in front of the French doors, she held an open history book and highlighted parts of it from time to time.
The girl had the rare ability to carry on a conversation and keep track of what she was reading at the same time. Next to her on the floor was an open fashion magazine, and I would not be surprised if she were stealing glances at it too.
When I told them about Kat’s crazy antics, they were outraged.
“She’s just jealous of both of us,” Chili said. “Nathan would like you without the astrology. It’s just kind of . . .”
“Escalated his interest in you,” Paige finished, looking up from her book.
“And it sure escalated . . .” Chili giggled “. . . Trevor’s interest in me. That’s what Kat’s really going nuts about.”
“Wish it would escalate Hunter a little,” Paige said.
Chili had managed to get Hunter’s birthday from J.T., whose sister went out with him last year. “Just find out his exact time and place of birth, and I can do an in-depth chart. We know he’s an Aries, and as Kat has demonstrated, that can mean a lot of hot-headed tantrums.”
“Not Hunter,” she said dreamily. “He’s the sweetest, most soft-spoken . . . ”
I thought about the tattoos and the musicians he hung out with.
“Well, maybe he’s got a great Venus and Mars. The only way we can know that is if you figure out a way to get that information.”
“How would I ask?” she said. “I can hardly speak around him.”
“Aries are one of the easiest signs to approach, and they like to talk about themselves. Just ask.”
“What if he asks why?”
“Okay, I’ll talk to him,” Chili said. “We have to find out, for your sake.”
“I’d be too embarrassed.”
“All right, all right.” Chili began pacing the room in her tank and shorts the way she liked to when she was dreaming up a wild Gemini scheme. “I think I’ve got it. Logan, what if you had a drawing to give away a free astrological reading, and what if Hunter won it?”
Paige still looked worried. “Wouldn’t he know? I mean, he’s not even a student.”
“Not if we had more than one winner. We could just say we had a drawing, and someone entered his name.” As usual, I was getting caught up in Chili’s excitement. “Maybe I could select a winner a week. I could do Frankenstein too. I still need more than his Sun and Moon. Of course, they wouldn’t have any idea that it was for our own snoopy reasons.”
“Brilliant,” Chili said.
Just then, my cell phone began to chime.
I didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway. I’d been getting calls and e-mails from a lot of kids in school. This was probably just another one, like Kat, who thought I had the answers to all problems thanks to my supposed shortcut to the stars.
“Hey, Logan.”
I didn’t recognize the raspy voice and couldn’t even tell if it was male or female.
“Who is this?”
“Lay off, Logan.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.
“Lay off, or look out.”
Now I was mad.
“Lay off what?”
Chili and Paige gathered around me.
“What are they saying?” Chili whispered.
I shook my head and waited for the voice.
“Lay off the Gears.”
“That will be a cold day in hell.” One of my gram’s antique clichés. It rolled out effortlessly. Like breathing.
“Lay off the Gears, or you don’t want to know what will happen to you.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
Silence for a moment, and then, “Try this.”
Just then, something crashed through Chili’s bedroom
window. Shards of glass shattered everywhere.
We screamed.
Paige grabbed her foot, and I watched with horror as a tiny trickle of red bled through her white sock.
Chili jumped over the glass shards on the carpet to inspect Paige’s injury.
I started to join her, then realized that I was still holding the phone to my ear.
“Hey, Logan. We’re closer than you think.”
The phone went dead just as Stella burst into the room.
“What happened?” she demanded. “Oh, honey, what’s going on?”
I realized that she was looking at me.
“I’m not sure, Stella,” I said. “But I think I’m the reason for it. I should go home.”
“You’re not leaving this house.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her faux leopard robe and stood in front of me. “Logan, honey, unless you’re going to walk right through me, there’s no way you’re leaving here tonight.”
Like the idiot that I was, I began to cry.
“It’s all right.” Stella pulled her hands out of her pockets and wrapped her arms around me.
“It’s going to be fine.” Chili’s arms now. And Paige’s.
Chili’s dad burst into the room.
“Cops are on their way,” he said. “Those little punks are not going to get away with this.” Then he left to wait for the police.
I was scared, and worse, I felt like a failure. It wasn’t the fifteenth and sure wasn’t the twenty-fifth. I hadn’t anticipated this. And I hadn’t predicted the column sabotage either. If the big danger days were still ahead, I was in trouble.
I tried to trace the call, but somehow they had gotten past the caller I.D. “The Gears did this,” I choked out. “And Paige got hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” she said. “They scared me more than anything.”
“Because they hate me.”
“Well, we love you, honey.” Stella refused to let me escape her tight embrace. “It’s going to be all right.”
“They didn’t do it because they hate you.” Chili shook my arm. “They did it because they’re afraid of you, Logan.”
“That’s right.” Paige looked down at her foot. “They know you can identify them.”
Of course. “If they think I can do that, you know what that means?” I asked.
Chili’s eyes grew wide. “It means you’re close.”
“Honey, I don’t want you worrying about matters that it’s up to the school and the police to solve.” Stella put her hands on her hips and gave me that mom look.
“I understand,” I said.
She hugged me again, and over her shoulder, I grinned at Chili and Paige. All the Gears could do was run naked, make anonymous phone calls, and throw rocks. They were afraid of me because I was close. And you know what? I was going to get even closer very soon.
NOTES TO SELF
Idiots. As much as they scared us, they gave away too much about themselves. They’re the ones who are scared. Chili was right about that. And the book was right about this Aquarius and Aries Rising. There’s no way I’m going to back down. In the meantime I have to ask Snider who to interview next. It’s going to have to be a great interview to make everyone forget what happened to the first one.
19
BENEATH THE ELEGANT SURFACE, CAPRICORNS ARE DRY. DRY WIT, SOMETIMES EVEN DRY SKIN. MANY GOATS EXPERIENCED A CHILDHOOD LACK OF LOVE OR MONEY AND FEEL DEPRIVED AND DRIVEN TO BUILD A SECURE FINANCIAL FUTURE. THEY BECOME LESS DRIVEN AND MORE FLEXIBLE AS THEY AGE AND ALL OF THEIR HARD WORK BEGINS TO PAY OFF. IF YOU WANT TO WIN OVER A CAPRICORN, MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU’RE NOT AFRAID OF HARD WORK EITHER. THEN PROVE IT.
—Fearless Astrology
Capricorn, Earth.
Capricorn, sign of Ryan Seacrest, Tiger Woods—and Ms. Snider.
Capricorn, the practical Goat.
Reading the Capricorn chapter was almost like peeking into Snider’s journal—not that a Capricorn would waste her time on such an indulgence. I went down the list. Rich, earthy colors. Check. Understated elegance. Check. A need for praise. Now, that was a new one.
I wrote that down and made sure I got to journalism class a little early. Not early enough, as it turned out. Charles Bellamy was already there. He was standing as close to Snider’s desk as possible, gazing up into her eyes. Bummer. I didn’t want an audience when I told Snider what happened at Chili’s.
Snider’s olive green top had a square neck that played up her shoulders but in a classy way. She touched Charles on the arm and nodded. Whatever they were discussing had to be pretty intense. I wondered if I should leave the room and come back later.
“It’s all right, Logan,” Snider said, without looking up. “Take a seat, and I’ll be right with you.”
Charles whispered something to her and started to walk away from her desk. When he passed me, he flashed a sly little smile that almost made him cute. I thought about Charlie Bell, whom I’d already Googled. If Charles were not so shy, if he grew his blond hair a little longer, ditched the glasses, and talked a little more and a little louder . . . he would look a lot like his famous late father.
Just then, I realized why Charles was taking auto shop. Chili had said the two of them were the best students. She’d also said he could take apart a car’s engine like no one she’d ever known. I’ll bet Charles wanted to be like his dad. He probably thought he could drive like a champion as well, the way I once thought I could slam a golf ball across the course just because my mom could.
Oh, no. Had Charles been right when he said we weren’t all that different?
He walked out of the room, and Snider approached me. Decent, I thought. When most kids would have just flopped down at their desk, Charles was cool about giving us some privacy.
“We’re going to re-print the newspaper,” Snider said. “Your column will run as it was originally written and laid out.”
Visions of Frankenstein danced in my head. Happy Frankenstein. Appreciative Frankenstein. Thrilled-for-me-and-committed-to-my-summer-fellowship Frankenstein.
“Thank you,” I said, and tried to find the courage to say the rest.
It was the truth, and I owed it to her.
She reached out, squeezed my shoulder. “What’s the matter, Logan?”
“I got a threat last night,” I told her.
“No.”
“Afraid so. Someone called me when I was spending the night at Chili’s house. Said it was the Gears and told me to lay off.”
“How could you be sure it was the Gears?” she asked.
“Because they did more than just call. Someone threw a rock through the window. Paige got a cut on her foot, and Chili’s dad had to call the police.”
“Oh my goodness.” She pulled a desk over and sat down in it next to me. “Mr. Chiliderian was right to call the police. There’s no way you should be trying to identify the Gears right now.”
“But I kind of promised Geneva. I don’t want to lose the column.”
“She’ll understand,” Snider said. “You can worry about the Gears later.”
Why didn’t she see how important this was, especially since the Gears had attacked her reputation? And, yes, I realized I was doing the Aquarius why, why, why thing.
“I already know when they’re going to strike next,” I said. “I have to try, Ms. Snider.”
“You actually know?”
“I think I do.”
“You can’t, Logan. No one can.” She leaned forward in the chair so close that I could smell her minty breath. “No writing about or investigating them until we learn more. Do you understand?”
“Don’t you want to see them stopped?”
“Not if it puts a student in jeopardy.”
I remembered what I’d read in the book about impressing Capricorns and said, “I’m willing to work hard to figure it out. As many hours as necessary.”
She paused only momentarily, then shook her head and gave me that firm, icy look. “Spend all that time on your next
column.”
I didn’t bother to protest. There was no way she could stop me from what I wanted to do, and no way to convince her.
“Which teacher should I write about?” I asked.
She shrugged and replied, “Your choice.”
“What about you?”
“Me?” Her hand flew to the real-looking green stone in the pendant around her neck. “I’m the least-interesting teacher on campus. All I do is work.”
“It will pay off,” I said, remembering what I read.
Workaholic.
Secretly building wealth.
Focused.
Lonely.
Yes, she was probably lonely too.
“I’m sure it will.” She ran her fingertip over the jewel around her neck. “We’d all like to reach the goals we set for ourselves.”
“Many Capricorns feel that way.” Why was I showing off? I wasn’t sure. But I did want to help her, and, yes, impress upon her what a good job I could do with the column. “They build up huge savings accounts too.”
She looked flustered and a little miffed. “How could you know anything about that?”
I’d shot my mouth off again and way too soon.
“A good guess?”
She bristled in the chair. “Security isn’t just possessions, Logan, but that’s probably something I should not be discussing with you. You need to find another teacher for your column. I’m way too boring.”
“Not to me,” I said.
She sighed. “Thank you for that. I have an idea, though. We need someone really positive and upbeat after what happened with the first column.”
I wanted to say that she was positive and upbeat but knew that she wasn’t going to allow me any further into her head. Didn’t blame her. If I weren’t already residing in my own head, I wouldn’t want me poking around in there either.
“Why not interview Ms. Berry?”
Jillian Berry, the art teacher? Not one of my favorite people.
“But I’d rather—”
“Trust me, Ms. Berry’s a lot more fun than I am.”
Fun meaning the really lame jokes Berry told in class and a mass of frizzy carrot-red hair that made even mine look smooth and normal. Fun meaning she took kids on field trips to galleries, lakes, and mountains. Fun especially meaning those nude paintings of hers that hung in local shops, and the way everyone in town wondered who the faceless men in them were.
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