The Last Changeling

by Chelsea Pitcher

  “I didn’t invite them,” Kylie said as Taylor and Keegan approached. Her voice sounded pinched. “I only invited Lora.”

  “Why?” Alexia scrunched up her face. I got the impression she was not used to showing such vulnerability.

  “I’ve got a better question,” Keegan said, wagging his finger between Kylie and Alexia. “How long has this been going on?”

  Kylie lowered her head, and Alexia glared at her before speaking. “Almost two years.”

  “What?” Taylor crowed.

  Keegan patted his shoulder as if sympathetic to his shock. “And you’ve kept it a secret because … ”

  Alexia scoffed, startling us. It had taken her a moment to gather her wits, but now she appeared to be back in control. “You really need to ask that question? Look at your life, Keegan.”

  “Oh.” He stepped forward. “You’re a coward.”

  “I’m ambitious.”

  “So? I’m ambitious too.”

  Alexia curled her lip. “Oh yeah. I heard you applied to Harvard. I got a full scholarship.”

  “Screw you,” Keegan spat. “It’s always the rich kids who get everything paid for.”

  “How ironic,” Alexia replied. “But why did I get a full scholarship?”

  “Gee, I don’t know. I guess you’re better than me.”

  Alexia laughed. “I’m Student Body President. Soon I’ll be elected Queen of the Prom—”

  “Wait.” I slid out of my arboreal seat, approaching slowly. “How does one get elected queen?”

  “You’re kidding, right? She’s kidding?” Alexia snapped.

  “She’s home-schooled,” Taylor explained.

  “That really isn’t an excuse.”

  Kylie turned, frowning at her girlfriend. To me, she said, “Next week, the senior class will nominate five girls and five boys to the Prom Court. Then, on prom night, we’ll choose one king and queen.”

  “One king,” I murmured, fighting back a smile. “And these victors are the most respected in the school?”

  “That’s one way of looking at it,” Keegan scoffed. “Really, it’s a popularity contest—”

  “Exactly,” Alexia said, to Keegan’s surprise. His eyes widened and he stepped back. “Every election in this school is based on popularity. And I win them—”

  “By sleeping with the faculty?”

  “By being a rich, beautiful, heterosexual bitch.”

  I stared at her. “But you aren’t.”

  “No.” Alexia shook her head. “I’m not even a bitch, really. I just play one on TV.” She flipped her hair with a wink. “Face it, Keeg. I’d never win these pointless little contests if everyone labeled me a big old bull dyke.”

  Keegan covered his mouth.

  “You laugh, but you know it’s true,” she said. “They don’t see complexity in the gay community. They don’t see personality. They see Dyke or Fag tattooed across your forehead and they act accordingly. But I’m going to be something amazing. I’m going to graduate at the top of my class, and I’m going to Harvard, yes, on a free ride, and you know why? Do you know the difference between you and me?”

  “I’m open about who I am and you’re a closet freak?”

  “I’m a leader,” Alexia replied. “You’re not. They look at your transcript and see that no one in this school even knows your name, so they pass you by. They look at my transcript and see that I command the respect, or at least the fear, of over half the school. That’s leader material. I was born to lead and I’m going to lead, and I’m sure as hell not going to let some small-minded stereotype keep me from achieving my goals.”

  “Whatever you have to tell yourself.”

  “Judge me,” she challenged, closing in on him. “Prove me right.” She turned to Kylie, who had taken to pushing the merry-go-round in circles. “Going somewhere?”

  “No,” Kylie said, removing her hand. “I’m not running, and I’m not hiding.”

  “That’s why you did this?” Alexia was beside her in an instant. “Is this because I’m not taking you to the prom? Honey, I told you it’s a formality. We’ll sneak out early and go to my mother’s beach house—”

  “That’s not why I did this.” Kylie frowned. “I said I didn’t invite those two, and I meant it.”

  “Then it’s just a coincidence they’re in this park in the middle of the night? Out for a lovers’ stroll, boys?” Alexia raised her eyebrows.

  Taylor looked at me before meeting Alexia’s stare. “We followed them.”

  “Why?” I heard Kylie’s voice, but my eyes were trained on Taylor. Cold liquid was spreading through my guts.

  “Duh, you were sneaking around in the middle of the night.” Keegan smirked at his sister.

  “You followed me?” I said quietly to Taylor.

  “I tried to,” he confessed. “Sorry.”

  “What do you mean, you tried to?” I couldn’t keep the nervousness from my voice. What had he seen?

  “I saw you, down the street from my house, but then you turned the corner and I couldn’t catch up to you.” He narrowed his eyes, like he hadn’t quite gotten that right. And he hadn’t, because I’d let the darkness swallow me. I’d summoned it.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” I murmured.

  “I just wanted you to be safe.”

  “That’s not your responsibility.”

  Alexia was watching us with interest, as if our discord was a small consolation for Kylie’s betrayal. But as silence fell over the grounds, she trained her gaze on her girlfriend. “Well?”

  Kylie hugged herself. “I needed Lora’s support.”

  “For what?”

  “Something happened,” I said when Kylie didn’t answer. “Brad did something.”

  “What did he do?” Alexia snarled, unaware that Taylor and Keegan were nearing the merry-go-round. “Tell me.” Her face wore the oddest look, as if all the contents of her world had been dropped on the ground.

  “He didn’t. He just tried to … ” Kylie looked to me for help. “It’s not what it sounds like.”

  Alexia knelt, sliding an arm around Kylie’s shoulders. The movement appeared instinctual, as if she was barely aware of her own actions. Her gaze settled on me. “Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on.”

  I inhaled, glancing at Kylie. She nodded, and I stepped up to her side. Quickly and quietly, I recounted her experience with Brad.

  When I was finished, Alexia just stared. Fury flashed in her eyes. “That worthless piece of—”

  Keegan stormed past her, back toward the street.

  “Keeg!” Kylie called after him. “Keegan!”

  “I’m fine,” he replied, not stopping.

  Taylor jogged over to him and touched his arm. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to take care of it,” Keegan said, his voice flat and emotionless.

  “Just wait a minute,” Taylor said.

  “I think enough time has been wasted,” came Keegan’s reply. Again, he began to walk toward the street.

  “Oh, please be a hero,” drawled Alexia.

  Keegan stopped and rounded on her, showing the first hint of anger in his eyes.

  “Please do something stupid and end up in prison,” Alexia said. “Please cause your sister more pain.”

  Keegan’s face crumpled at her words. “This is your fault.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Why was she there?” he yelled. “What’s the one reason she would go to that asshole’s house?”

  “Oh, God.” Alexia turned to Kylie.

  Kylie looked up. “I just thought, if he liked me, maybe things would be different for us. You wouldn’t have to hide—”

  “Oh, sweetie.” For a moment, I thought Alexia might cry. “You’re right,” she said to Keegan, blinking he
r eyes. “I should have stopped him when I had the chance.”

  “How would you have stopped him?” I asked. When we’d made our plans to meet here tonight, Kylie had hinted that Alexia had her own personal vendetta against Brad, but she wouldn’t give me details.

  Alexia sighed. “The truth is, I’ve been watching Brad for a while. He has quite the little business selling sedatives to the underclassmen.”

  “So you knew he did things like this?” Keegan asked.

  “I knew he sold drugs to immature children who’d take anything to get high. Calm down, baby,” she said, steadying Kylie’s shaking hands. “Some freshman almost died last year from an overdose, and no one said a word. They’re afraid of him. Well, the students are. See, when I said I commanded the respect of half the school, I wasn’t just talking about the students. I’m friends with the principal. I’m also friends with security. In fact, you could say security and I have gotten pretty close, as much as friends can.”

  “You’ve been flirting with Janky Jim?” said Taylor.

  Alexia smirked at the security guard’s nickname. “I’ve been talking to him, which is more than any other woman will do, so I suppose he might consider it flirting.”

  “But why would you do that?” Taylor asked. “Wouldn’t that distract him from Brad’s dealings?”

  “Exactly.” Alexia kissed Kylie’s forehead, brushing the hair from her face. “I wanted Brad to believe that security was severely lacking. I wanted him to think he could deal whatever he wanted, anywhere, any time.”

  Taylor wrinkled his brow. “What am I missing?”

  “I wanted him to get sloppy. That way, when I suddenly blew Mr. Jenkins off—an act that would undoubtedly make him feel abandoned and angry—he would devote all of his time to busting wayward students. And when he did, his disappointment at my sudden lack of interest would cause him to come down on Brad twice as hard. He’s usually pretty lenient, you know?”

  “Last year he caught me skipping,” Taylor said, nodding in agreement. “I talked him out of telling Ms. Bates.”

  Alexia nodded. “He’s a big believer in giving second chances. I couldn’t risk him going soft on Brad. I needed him to come down with the full hammer of justice.”

  “Holy shit,” Keegan breathed. “You’re trying to get Brad expelled.”

  “My plan was to get him kicked out right before the prom.”

  “You think he’ll care about the prom?”

  Alexia rolled her eyes. “I think Brad’s the type of boy who slacks off the entire year and then preys on his teachers’ sympathies to get extra credit at the end. If he got kicked out a month before graduation, he’d have no chance to catch up at another school.”

  Keegan’s eyes widened. “You mean … ”

  “He’d flunk senior year. It seemed a decent plan at the time. But now I see I let myself get greedy. I’ll set this plan in motion right away.”

  “No. You can’t!” Everyone turned to look at Kylie.

  Alexia narrowed her eyes. “You don’t want him kicked out of school?”

  “We do,” I said, stepping into a pool of moonlight. “But we want to send him off in style.”

  –––––

  The excitement should have ended there, but it didn’t. My phone started buzzing just as I was falling asleep. There was a short moment of panicking, when I thought I was in danger, and then I felt foolish for forgetting the obvious.

  I’m always in danger.

  I glanced across the room. Taylor was mumbling, so I knew he was asleep. I should have taken the call elsewhere. But I didn’t, because in spite of everything, being close to him made me feel safe.

  I pushed the green button.

  “Danger hovers on the horizon,” hissed the voice on the other end.

  “What happened?” I whispered.

  “The Queen has organized a search party.”

  “Headed up by the Traveling Trolls, or the Brigade of Backless Ladies?”

  “You know who she appointed to lead it. You must know.”

  “I have a pretty good idea. But has Naeve risen to the occasion?”

  “All too well. He’s interrogating each of us before he leaves.”

  “Interrogating,” I repeated, allowing the euphemism. Closing my eyes, I watched a scene unfold behind my lids: Naeve stood by in his regal armor while his favored courtier, Olorian, broke mountain trolls piece by piece. Beside them hovered the Lady Claremondes, my mother’s lady-in-perpetual-waiting, who was hanging pixies from her noose.

  “Has he come for you yet?” I asked.

  “He’ll have to catch me first.” Illya laughed, a sound born of fear rather than amusement. “He suspects I know something. And he will stop at nothing to bring you back to Court safely.”

  “Safer dead than alive, I imagine.”

  “The Queen would not allow it.”

  “She may not be able to stop it this time.” I paused, pushing away my bitterness. My fear. “I am sorry to make you endure this treachery.”

  “It is not all suffering. The servants continue to bond. Even the centaurs and the naiads have put away their feud.”

  “The courtiers created the feud,” I confessed, awed by the way my time in the human world had loosened my tongue. “They always create a feud when the servants become too friendly.”

  “The courtiers killed that naiad? But I thought—”

  “You believed what you were meant to believe,” I said. “One decade ago, the centaur and naiad servants planned an uprising against their masters. Unfortunately for them, the Lady Claremondes learned of their secret while lurking in the waters of the Selyphin.”

  “Slithery little snake.”

  “Indeed. It was she who dragged that naiad’s corpse into the centaurs’ forest quarters.”

  “But the girl had clearly been trampled.”

  “The girl was already dead when the Lady Claremondes found her. Poisoned by polluted waters, I’m afraid.”

  “But the trampling … ”

  “An effect the Lady Claremondes created by a rockslide and simple glamour.” I closed my eyes, unable to escape the memory of the girl, the way one bruise blended into the next, purple and yellow and black.

  “But everyone believed it,” Illya breathed, her voice laced with despair. “The centaurs became exiles among the servants.”

  “Until the naiads retaliated by leading that foal into waters too deep, inciting discord that spanned years.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have warned them. I could have saved lives.”

  “Anyone who spoke of it was silenced.”

  “But Lady—”

  “I was a coward, Illya.”

  “You were afraid,” she said, excusing my transgressions. “We all were.”

  “I am still afraid. But I no longer let it stop me from doing what is right.”

  “Then you’ve completed your task? You know who the bane of the darkness is?”

  “I have my suspicions.” I peered out from under my blankets. Taylor had turned onto his stomach and was snoring into his pillow. “But suspicions are not enough to … spirit someone away from his home. And his family. I need evidence.”

  “How will you get evidence?” Illya asked.

  I thought it must not have sunk in yet, that I was walking among humans, engaging with them. Touching them.

  “That, my darling, is the greatest part of all. In a little over a week, the local students are hosting a ball, where one boy will be crowned king of the school. After that … ” I closed my eyes, blocking out the sight of the sleeping mortal. “I’ll be seeing you shortly.”

  16

  TayloR

  Friday came, and then I was trapped. Trapped in my least favorite room of the house. Trapped in one of a million forced, awkward meals.

 
In short, I was having dinner with my parents.

  Lora sat beside me, a multicolored tapestry compared to the black-and-white photo that was my family. Teal eyes, blue veins, red lips. But it was her hair, crawling like fire toward the yellowed tablecloth, that had the power to burn away the façade of a happy home and reveal the house for what it was. A skeleton stuffed with forgotten artifacts, emitting an unnameable stench.

  A carcass.

  I knew she could sense my nervousness. My hands were so sweaty I’d dropped the ketchup twice. I couldn’t stop bouncing my foot.

  She poked me with her plastic fork.

  That made me smile. She’d carried the utensil to every meal since her first dinner in my bedroom; and though an allergy to silverware wasn’t something I’d ever heard of, stranger things had happened since her arrival. Like every time we touched, I felt the electric charge of a thunderstorm. And tonight she was wearing a mysteriously acquired dress, an emerald vintage cocktail dress that made her hair crackle and pop.

  My eyes traveled from her dress, where they’d lingered without her permission, to the place settings laid out before us. The table was designed to seat six, so the four of us could have been arranged one on each side. But Mom had put Lora next to me, leaving one side of the table unoccupied.

  No one was allowed to sit in Aaron’s place.

  “Well, this is nice.” Mom sat across from us, disappearing into her hideous floral dress. She was shrinking, the way people did when they aged, but that was nothing compared to Dad’s khaki shirt and pants. He looked like he was going to sink into the wallpaper.

  Maybe he’ll fall into the family room.

  Then he’d be with his real family: the people who lived in the TV.

  “It is nice,” I said to Mom, wondering if lies were the glue that kept all families together.

  “Thank you for inviting me,” Lora chimed in.

  Mom squinted, like she was seeing her for the first time. “You’re welcome,” she said. Then, silence. It seemed like she was searching for the right words to say: an I’ve heard so much about you, or a Taylor tells me you two have caused quite a stir at Unity. But she knew nothing, not even a whisper of Lora’s influence in my life.