“Whose life and death?” I demanded. “As you’ve so kindly pointed out, the whole issue here is life-and-death for humans. All humans.”
“This one is just you,” Josh said. His eyes were huge in his suddenly too-pale face. He turned to his father. “Do you think this means that Biet is working against Bartlef?”
Mr. Bevington shook his head. “I doubt it. Those two always work together.” He didn’t sound convinced, though.
“Enough with the cryptic,” I said. “Tell me what’s going on.”
The three of them looked at each other.
“Now,” I said.
Mr. Bevington sighed. “There are two possible translations of what Hazel said. Unfortunately, they’re almost directly opposed to one another. If she said ‘noy Dumaya,’ then it means she thinks that you’re not the Yatah and didn’t care what those boys did to you. If she said ‘nay Dumaya,’ then she believes you are the Yatah and she was hoping her boys would help complete the prophecy.”
The cold spot in my abdomen ached. “So why would she try to freeze me?” I asked.
Mr. Bevington shook his head. “I’m not entirely certain. I don’t have the same Power that she does, so my training isn’t as advanced. And I’ve never been much of a scholar—never needed to be, until recently—so I’ve never come across anything like it.” He looked and Josh and Mason. “You two?”
They both shook their heads.
“I could ask Oma Raina,” Mason suggested tentatively.
Mr. Bevington shook his head. “No,” he said sharply. “If you ask her and she’s in on it, she’ll figure out who killed those boys tonight. And if she’s not in on it, she might ask the wrong questions. . .”
“And figure out who killed those guys tonight,” Josh finished for him.
“Can I ask some questions?” I didn’t wait for a response. “Like, what the hell are you talking about? What’s going on? I thought you were all in on it together, trying to get me to have your Dumaya.”
Mr. Bevington shook his head. “Absolutely not. There are many of us who don’t want to see the Dumaya come into the world at all. We’re not interested in seeing humanity destroyed.”
“My mother was human,” Josh said quietly.
“Most of us are at least part human,” Mason added.
“People like Roger Bartlef and Hazel Biet want to try to purify our bloodlines,” Mr. Bevington said. “And they see the Dumaya as the answer to that problem.”
“But if I was the mother, the Dumaya would be half-human,” I objected.
Mr. Bevington smiled grimly. “Apparently that doesn’t bother them,” he said.
“So,” I said slowly, “if Miss Biet set up tonight’s business without Bartlef’s knowledge . . .”
“Then there’s a schism in their ranks,” Mr. Bevington said.
“Could that help us?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know,” Mr. Bevington said. “I’ll see what I can find out from the others.”
“Which brings me to my next question,” I said. “Since when are you two working together?” I flicked my hand back and forth, gesturing between Josh and Mason.
They both looked down, then at each other.
“Since the beginning, right?” I guessed. “So was everything you two did a set-up?”
“That’s my fault,” Mr. Bevington said. “When I found out that Bartlef wanted both of them to pursue you, I encouraged them to make it look good.”
“Great,” I said. “So it was all…what? Play-acting? A big joke? You were using me to trick Bartlef?” My voice hardened. “And tonight I was the bait.” I stood up. “Glad it worked out so well for you.”
“Wait!” Josh said. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Really? Did your father tell you to go after me?”
“Well, yeah,” he admitted, shame-faced.
“And to tell me part of the story?”
“Yes.” His voice was almost a whisper. “But . . .”
“And you.” I spun on Mason. “Did Josh’s father tell you to go after me, too?”
“Yes.” He wouldn’t meet my eye.
“Exactly.” I walked to the door. “So what am I supposed to do next?” I asked. “Just keep going to school like nothing happened?”
“Probably,” Mr. Bevington admitted. “At least until we find out more.”
“Which we have to do in the next week,” Josh added.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because,” Mason said, “we’re supposed to meet with Bartlef again next weekend. We need to figure this out by then.”
“So,” I said. “You’re both pretending to date me so that you can uncover your school counselor’s evil plan to wipe out humanity. By next weekend.”
Neither Josh nor Mason looked at me.
I gnashed my teeth together. “I have to go now,” I finally said. “I’ll be at John’s house, being grounded. And you can all just leave me alone.”
“So, um, Laney?” Mason said tentatively.
I stopped in the doorway but didn’t look back. “Yes?”
“Does this mean we’re not selling ads together today?”
I slammed the door behind me and stomped up the road, shaking with anger.
I couldn’t believe I’d let both of those guys kiss me.
Jerks.
* * * *
John didn’t even look up from his coffee when I walked in and headed back to my room, and Kayla was apparently still asleep. Guess Mr. Bevington’s mind-wipe was going to hold.
Lucky me.
I threw myself down on my bed, closed my eyes, and crossed my arms over my chest, hugging them tightly to my torso, as if I were trying to squeeze out the memory of the previous night by sheer force.
Of course, the more I tried to avoid thinking about it, the more the images crowded in behind my closed eyelids.
I sat up and threw a pillow across the room. It bounced off the wall harmlessly, and I growled. I wanted to break something.
At that moment, John knocked on my door. “Breakfast is ready,” he called.
“No thanks,” I said.
“Look,” he said through the closed door. “I know you’re still angry with me for not letting you go out last night. I get it. That’s fine. I just want you to know that it really is for your own good.”
I choked back a strangled laugh. Oh, if only he knew.
On second thought, better that he didn’t know anything at all.
An hour later, I glanced out my window and saw Mr. Bevington walking deliberately around the house, sprinkling some sort of powder on the ground. He looked like he might be talking to himself. When he saw me looking, he smiled and waved. I closed the blinds.
Guess the house was “secure” now.
I didn’t feel all that secure, though.
I spent most of the rest of the day replaying all the events since I’d gotten to Fairy, and trying to remember if Miss Biet had said “noy” or “nay.” And which one meant what. Because the one thing I was sure of—just about the only thing I was sure of at this point—was that the best thing that could happen to me was for everyone to figure out that I was not this Yatah. Then I could go about my life, such as it was, make it through the next three years, graduate from high school, and run away to college. Maybe in Australia.
Yeah, right. I couldn’t even figure out how to get through the next three days.
Chapter F ourteen
Monday morning I woke up with what felt like a lump of lead in my stomach.
The gray light filtering in the windows from the overcast sky matched my mood. I had managed to get through the rest of the weekend by focusing on catching up on homework. I was even two chapters ahead in history. I had completed the paper that was due in English on Thursday. And all that work had almost helped me forget what was going on in the rest of Fairy, Texas.
Plus it had given me a legitimate reason for hiding out in my room and avoiding John and Kayla. I had come out for meals, but I let them both go on
thinking that I was pouting over being grounded. It was easier than actually talking to either of them.
But now I had to go back to school, where all my troubles were waiting for me.
“Ready?” Kayla asked as she headed out the door.
I gulped down the rest of my coffee and grabbed my backpack from the table. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I muttered.
The ride to school was beautifully silent. I spent the time focusing on my breathing. In. Out. In. Out. No hyperventilating.
Ally and Sarah were waiting for me outside the building. They grabbed me and pulled me away from Kayla, just barely outside her hearing range, before they started talking at the same time.
“Where did you go Friday?” Ally asked.
“Are you okay?” Sarah asked.
They both stopped and looked at me expectantly.
I had actually prepared an answer to the question about my Friday-night disappearance from the party. “Josh and Mason wanted to talk to me,” I said.
Ally’s eyes grew round. “Really? Both of them? At the same time?”
Sarah, on the other hand, looked suspicious. “Really?” she asked in a completely different tone from Ally’s.
“Really,” I said.
“So what did you talk about?” Sarah asked.
“Nothing I’m ready to discuss yet,” I said in what I hoped was a tone of finality.
“Hmph,” Sarah said, her eyes narrowed.
“Oh, no,” said Ally. “You have to tell us something. Anything.”
I laughed. It sounded strained to my own ears, but I hoped it would at least fool Ally. “Later,” I said. “I’ll tell you more later.”
I heaved a sigh of relief when the bell rang and I had to hurry off to geometry class. First time ever I’ve been grateful to go to a math class.
After class, I slipped into the girls’ bathroom on the second floor and hid out in a stall until right before the bell rang. By the time I slid into my desk chair in English, the teacher was talking and I could more easily ignore Josh, despite his increasingly obvious attempts to get me to look at him. Instead, I paid close attention to the lesson and raised my hand. I had a lot to say about Julius Caesar that day. I was especially vocal about the whole “betrayal” aspect of the play.
Josh quit trying so hard to get my attention after that.
By the time I got to P.E. it had started raining, so we played dodgeball in the gym. I purposely let myself get hit so I could sit out most of the games. Coach Laramie glared at me, but I ignored her. I was tired of letting the people of Fairy take shots at me. My wrists and ankles were still bruised from the manacles, and I didn’t see any reason to add to the injuries. I pulled on an oversized windbreaker and let the elasticized cuffs dangle below my hands so no one would ask any questions.
At lunch, Sarah sat next to me and watched with narrowed eyes while Ally tried to wheedle information out of me in her not-so-subtle way.
“I saw Mason at the party,” she said. “He was wasted.”
It was an act, I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud. I didn’t want to get started talking; I wasn’t sure I’d be able to shut up.
Natalie leaned over the table to Sarah. “So you went to this party, too?”
Sarah nodded without taking her eyes off me.
“Oh,” Natalie said, her tone hurt. She leaned back in her chair and shared a glance with Scott, then spent the rest of lunch glaring at me, as if somehow her difficulties with her best friend were my fault. I hadn’t told anyone to leave Natalie out of the Friday night adventures. In fact, I wished everyone had left me out.
“So I guess you and Josh didn’t get everything worked out,” Ally said. She turned to Sarah. “This time Laney was ignoring him in English class.”
“I think I’m done,” Natalie said loudly and stood up. “With lunch, that is.” She snarled at me and walked off.
Sarah looked after her, surprised. Scott jumped to his feet. “Oh. Well, I guess that’s my cue. I’ll catch you guys later.”
“She’s upset that you didn’t invite her,” I said quietly to Sarah.
“I don’t want her anywhere near any of this,” Sarah hissed. “Besides,” she said in a more normal tone, loud enough for Ally to hear, “She was going out with Scott after the game.”
“So you’re not speaking to Josh?” Andrew asked, his eyes avid.
Ally rolled her eyes. “Spare us, Andrew,” she said. “You know she’s not interested in you.”
He turned bright red. “I guess I’m done with lunch, too,” he mumbled, and hastily left.
“Thanks,” I said to Ally, my tone harsher than necessary. “Now you’ve run off everyone else who might be friends with me, too.”
Ally looked unrepentant as she applied lipgloss, one eyebrow raised. “Not my fault you’ve got everyone all riled up.”
I sighed. “Look. All I want to do is get through the rest of this school year without any . . . incidents.”
She laughed out loud. “Then maybe you shouldn’t disappear with two guys at parties,” she suggested, as she gathered up the remains of her own lunch and headed after her other friends. “Or at least come up with a better cover story.”
I stared after her. “What did she mean by that?” I demanded of Sarah.
She shrugged. “She doesn’t believe you. None of us do. What were you really doing Friday night? Why did you blow us off and disappear like that? Where did you go?” Her voice got more intense as her questions multiplied. “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on? What did you find out? What did Bartlef mean when he called you that ya-whatever thingy? Does it have anything to do with Quentin?” Her tone turned plaintive when she asked the last question.
I winced. In my own misery I had completely forgotten Sarah’s personal interest in the demons of Fairy, Texas. “I don’t really know, Sarah,” I said. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
“But you do know something,” she said.
“Yes,” I admitted reluctantly. “A little. A very little.”
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she asked in a tiny voice.
“I think so, Sarah,” I said softly. “I’m not sure, but I think so.”
A sob escaped her, but she quickly tamped it down. As she gathered up her belongings, her eyes filled with tears. She dashed them away with the edge of her hand and walked off without looking back at me.
At least I’d ducked the question about what Bartlef meant by “Yatah.”
I sat at the lunch table all alone for another moment. When I stood up, Kayla smirked at me from across the room and waved.
I ignored her and left the cafeteria.
* * * *
In history class, Natalie and Scott chose seats on the opposite side of the room from our usual spot. Sarah hesitated for a brief moment, then sat down behind me. Natalie turned pink and stared down at her history textbook, blinking hard and fast. Scott put his hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear.
“You should probably go sit with them,” I said to Sarah.
“Probably,” she said. “But Natalie’s been pissed at me before. She’ll get over it. And she doesn’t get to pick who my other friends are.”
I stared at her levelly. “So we’re friends?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But I think you’re the best chance I have at finding out what happened to Quentin, so you’re stuck with me for a while.”
I couldn’t decide whether or not to be happy about having her as something of an ally in this. She’d be better off if I made her go away, but I couldn’t figure out how to do that.
Andrew ignored me in Spanish class, too, though he didn’t move to another seat. I sighed. It wasn’t my fault that everyone else had seen him give me The Look, too. But apparently I was the one getting blamed for it.
By the time I made it through the day and got to yearbook class, I was fuming.
“Come on,” I said brusquely to Mason, who was talking to another boy—Billy, I remembered. �
��Let’s go sell ads.”
Mr. Carlson looked up at my tone. “You okay, Laney?”
I forced myself to speak in a more cheerful voice. “Just tired,” I said.
He nodded, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn’t believe me. Still, he just bent back over his gradebook and made a mark in it. “Okay, then. I’ve got you both recorded as here today. Go sell some ads!”
Ah. Bless you and your determined, cheerful ignorance, Mr. Carlson, I thought.
Mason followed me out of the building and into the rain. I pulled the hood of my windbreaker up over my hair. It blocked my peripheral vision, so I didn’t see Hazel Biet until she stepped out right in front of me.
Then again, maybe she really did pop in out of thin air right at that moment, since demons can do that and all.
“Hello again,” she said quietly.
My gut clenched in response to her voice. I took a step backwards and bumped into Mason’s chest.
“Miss Biet, right?” I asked as if I didn’t already know. Calm, Laney, calm, I thought.
She smiled, but her eyes were completely flat. Dead. “Good to see you up and around today.”
“I’m sure you feel that way,” I replied. “How are your—” I searched for the right word “—minions today?”
She trilled out a laugh. “Oh, you’re funny! You know, I have been absolutely zoning over what could have happened to those boys while I was gone. Obsessing, really. But I see that you have a hero.” Her smile grew wider as she gestured to encompass Mason.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, and stepped wide to the right. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re supposed to go sell ads.”
“Is that what you’re supposed to be doing, then?” she murmured, staring at Mason. He ignored her, reaching out to take my hand. I could feel him shaking. Or maybe it was me. Hard to tell.
We gripped each other’s hands tightly and walked away, neither of us speaking until we got to the truck.
“She scares the bejesus out of me,” I admitted once we were both in the cab.
“Me, too,” Mason said, “and I’ve known her my entire life.”
“Why do you think she stopped us?” I asked.
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