“I’m so excited for your party tonight,” she said. A few of the other girls around her nodded their agreement.
Hannah kept shuffling papers without looking up.
“I know it’s going to be so much fun!” Simmer gushed. “Jackie invited me! Can’t wait!” With a toss of her head she grabbed her paper from Hannah and was off.
I left right after that. Word had gotten around about the party, so maybe it wasn’t going to be as horribly lame as Lowe and I had feared it might be.
“Did something seem off with Hannah today?” Kelly asked as we left. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually kind of excited for this bird feeder business. It’s going to take a while, but it should be interesting. We just have to check that the feeders are all still where they should be, which shouldn’t be a big deal. We aren’t in charge of feeding them or anything. It seems like a pretty easy assignment, so I’m actually surprised she gave it to us.”
I glanced over my shoulder as we left the dance hall. I figured it was all right if I told Kelly my gossip, as long as I told no one else. Even Jackie wasn’t there.
I told Kelly that I had found Hannah and Taylor fighting, and her mouth fell open.
“No way,” she exclaimed. “Their unbreakable bond? The dynamic duo? The best of best friends? They couldn’t possibly be fighting. Taylor is just as much a part of Hannah as Hannah’s own arm. Very strange, very strange indeed.” She put on a thinking face that was meant to be both funny and serious.
“I know,” I said. “I don’t think Hannah is pleased that I walked in on it. Maybe she gave us a better assignment in hopes that I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Hannah is never pleased. We would all do well to remember that,” said Kelly sagely.
Chapter Seven
After the Young Witches meeting, Lowe and I went shopping. We ended up so laden down with purchases that at the party supply store we had to agree to have the stuff we were buying delivered to the house later that day.
We made our slow way home. As we passed the trailer park, several of the inhabitants waved and we waved back.
“I invited a couple of them to stop by, but I doubt they will,” said Lowe. “They don’t much care for other Twinkleford people.”
“Can’t see why that would be,” I muttered dryly.
When we were almost home, Lowe gasped. “I didn’t invite Lisa!” she said. “We can’t have a party and not invite the neighbors! Hopefully she isn’t working.”
“What about Lucky?” I said.
“She’s too close in age to Bethel. There’s no way that’s a good idea, but yeah, I’ll invite her. She probably won’t come anyhow,” she said.
After we deposited our bags of supplies in the cottage, Lowe hurried back across the street and I set to work putting away the groceries. The grocery bags nearly covered the counter, so there was a lot to do. I put the cheese away first, since it felt like there were more cats than usual in the kitchen, all of them eyeing me expectantly. The cheese needed to be safe.
When everything was put away I got to work on the decorations. I wrestled them of their packaging and laid then out on the table, then picked up a broom. We usually kept the cottage clean, but if we were having a party I wanted to give the place a good going over before the guests arrived.
Lowe was still gone, which seemed odd. I glanced out the window and saw her chatting away with Lisa in their driveway. I shook my head. Between the two of them, Lowe wouldn’t be back until the party was starting.
My nerves jangled as I got to work. I was no longer afraid that Bethel would discover our party. She probably wouldn’t. No, what I was nervous about was Quinn coming over. We had been dancing around being alone for weeks. If we weren’t alone, we could laugh and have fun and not have to be serious. When we were alone, everything turned serious very quickly. Now he was coming to this big party tonight, and my grandmother the chaperone was out of town.
We still weren’t likely to be alone, but what if he wanted to stay over? I would have to tell him no, and firmly. We couldn’t take advantage of Bethel’s absence like that. And we especially couldn’t defy her direct orders.
“She’s coming,” Lowe announced as she came in. I screamed in surprise and she stopped short. “Sorry for startling you! I know I was gone awhile. She’s a talker, that one. I had to tell her that we had a lot to do to get ready for the party, so I had to go,” Lowe explained.
“Yeah, we have a lot to do. I was just doing a quick sweep of the place,” I told her.
“I’ll start with decorations. We need to finish all of this up soon.”
“Why?” I had been envisioning working right up until the party.
Lowe gave me a look as if I was a total idiot. “Um, we need at least three hours to get ready. In order to make it happen, you might have to spell cast a third hand so we can also prepare the food.”
She was only kidding.
At least I hoped so.
Then I gasped.
How could I forget the most important part of any party?
What the hostesses wore.
An hour later we were staring grimly at our closets. We had gone through them several times and found nothing appropriate.
“I have the most boring clothes in the world,” Lowe lamented.
“You have the second most boring,” I said, feeling terribly depressed.
“Really, this is all Bethel’s fault. If she had given us some warning about going away we could have planned this event in advance and gone shopping. Then we would have had something to wear to the party that we weren’t supposed to be having,” said Lowe.
“That’s an excellent point. Let’s blame her. I can’t believe we don’t have anything at all,” I said.
“Yeah, I don’t know what to do. It’s too late to go back downtown, and even if it weren’t, we spent all our money on the supplies. We can’t also go buy outfits,” she said.
“Maybe Jackie and Kelly have something we could wear,” I said.
Lowe made a face. “I don’t know that Kelly’s closet is to my taste. She doesn’t really strike me as the wild type. Jackie might have something, but you’re too tall to fit into anything of hers. It might work for me, though. Can you ask her?” she said.
I told her I would, and went to call Jackie at work. She said she was going to pop home to change and shower anyway, so she’d bring some clothing options over for Lowe later. Okay, so that might be one of us taken care of. Jackie wanted to know exactly what Lowe wanted to wear, and I told her she wanted something flamboyant.
“I went through that phase of annoying my mom,” Jackie said. “I have a couple of things that would be perfect. Let me take them out and I’ll bring them along. Tell her not to worry.”
Now we were back in my room staring at my wardrobe, with Lowe trying hard to be supportive. She had picked out an outfit to wear in case Jackie’s offerings didn’t work. “It’s not great,” she said, holding up the leather skirt and sweater.
“Wear the leather skirt no matter what,” I suggested. “If Jackie brings a good top, you should be all set. As for me, I may have to just wear a t-shirt; I don’t know what else to do. I really don’t have anything for a party. Quinn has already seen the couple of nice shirts I have, and besides, they aren’t that fun.”
Lowe chewed her lower lip, thinking hard. While we sat there in silence, Tiger came sauntering into the room. He took one look at us, hopped onto the bed, and butted his head into my arm. I started to pet him.
“Jade doesn’t have anything to wear to the party,” said Lowe, looking at Tiger. “He asked me what was wrong,” she said, looking my way. I was getting used to having her translate things the cats said.
When she turned her head to listen to him again, her face lit up and she glanced at me with a big grin. “He just gave me the best idea. I’ll be right back,” she said.
Lowe darted away, while Tiger looked up at me with a smug expression and pressed his head harder into my hand. Under no circum
stances was I to stop my fingers from petting him.
While I waited impatiently for Lowe to come back, I heard a crash and some rummaging in one of the closets. One thing this place had was a lot of closets.
I heard Lowe’s step outside the door just before she burst in with a large box, still looking smug. “Tiger gave me the idea,” she said. “This is some of Ethel’s stuff. She didn’t take much with her when she ran away. Of course we had some clothes sent to her, but Bethel packed most of the rest away. She always wore a lot of cool black stuff. I’m sure you could find something in here to wear to the party. You two are about the same size.”
I nearly tumbled off the bed. “That’s a great idea. Hopefully she won’t mind.”
“Of course she won’t mind. You’re her sister! Besides, she’s probably moved on from these clothes anyway. You know how it is,” Lowe said.
I was about to open the box when I stopped. Lowe was so excited about her find that she didn’t notice at first. Then she realized I was hesitating. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“It’s just that Ethel’s stuff is so cool. I’m not cool. I’m sure whatever she wore isn’t clothing I can pull off,” I said.
Lowe rolled her eyes and made a frustrated noise. “You can pull off whatever you want to pull off. Are you kidding me? She’s only cool because of the clothes she wears,” she said.
“She’s cool because she has the confidence to wear them,” I said. “I don’t.”
Past conversations with my stepmother were playing through my mind. Blossom had always told me not to wear this, and I didn’t look good in that, and that other outfit made my hips look large. I had never worn anything splashy or revealing. I had certainly never worn leather. I hadn’t seen much of my sister since I found out I had one, but if I knew one thing it was that she wore a lot of leather and was comfortable doing it.
“I think you can wear anything in this box. I don’t even know what’s in it yet, but I’m sure you’ll pull it off,” she said.
I took a deep breath and said, “Thanks. Maybe I can just forget my insecurities for one night.” Here’s hoping.
We opened the box and looked inside. “Wow. These are awesome. I mean, I remember that she wore awesome stuff. I would always see her with your mom and think how cool she looked,” said Lowe. Then she trailed off and looked at me. She rarely mentioned my mother. It was one thing for Bethel to do it, but another for Lowe.
I smiled and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I like hearing about my mom. It makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way I’ll never actually get to be,” I said.
We were lost in thought for a moment, then I shook it off. “Okay, now we get ready for the party,” I said.
Lowe was only too happy to oblige. We started pulling clothes willy-nilly out of the box, where Bethel had left them folded nicely. We destroyed all evidence of organization within minutes.
“I think you should try this and this,” said Lowe, holding up the two items that I had seen and thought there was no way on earth I would ever wear.
I raised my eyebrows. “Are you sure? I was more thinking this,” I said, and held up a cozy jumper. “I can wear a skirt to make it fun.”
“You could do that next time you have a date with Quinn,” said Lowe. “Tonight is a party. On top of that, you’re hosting said event. I think this is the way to go.”
In her right hand was a corset top. It wasn’t as revealing as you might think. In fact, it even had shoulders. It was meant to be a shirt, and instead of my sister’s usual black, it was white. It still had the tags on, so I figured she had never worn it because it wasn’t black.
There was also a beautiful skirt that shimmered with sequins and sparkles, pastel pink, yellow, and green. The moment I saw it I knew it was the kind of skirt I’d absolutely love, and yet would never have the courage to wear.
I took in a huge breath.
“Okay, I’ll wear them,” I grinned.
While I was checking to see if Ethel’s stuff fit me, there was a knock at the door and Lowe raced to open it. Jackie and Kelly were supposed to arrive early, and Lowe wanted to see her outfit options.
When I emerged in my own outfit, I felt amazing. I also felt very different from my everyday self, since these clothes weren’t like anything I would ever normally wear.
I went to the kitchen to find Jackie, Kelly, and the cats working on the food.
“You look amazing,” said Jackie. She was wearing a sweater dress, while Kelly had chosen slacks and a sweater.
“You do too,” I said, “both of you. Thanks for coming to help. Is Lowe changing?”
“Yeah, she liked a couple of the outfits I brought, so she went to try them on,” said Jackie.
I twirled around in my skirt and Jackie grinned. “Where did you find that?”
“My sister’s stuff,” I said. “She left a bunch of it here when she went on the run.”
“It sucks that she isn’t here to see all of this. She would’ve thought it was cool,” said Kelly.
“I know she would,” I said. “I thought about trying to get in touch with her to invite her, but I don’t know how. Besides, with Quinn coming that’s probably not a good idea.”
I wasn’t sure if he was still technically trying to arrest her or not. She was no longer a murder suspect, so I would have thought she was free to come and go if she wanted to. Except: her life was still in danger: the Vixens had it out for the Rhinestones. They hadn’t known about me, but Ethel was a target of theirs, whoever they were. Until we knew what they wanted and neutralized them one way or another, she wasn’t going to be safe.
“It would be great if she were here,” said Jackie. “On the bright side, a lot of people are coming. Pretty much everybody I invited sounded excited about it,” said Jackie.
“I can’t imagine why,” I muttered, suddenly feeling self-conscious again and wondering if maybe I should change into something else. Who knew what Quinn Merchant would think when he saw me. He’d probably be shocked.
“Why not?” said Jackie. “The Rhinestones are famous. Besides, everyone likes that your family holds the line against the coven queens. We need more witches like that. Your grandmother isn’t a pushover. The balance of power would be all wrong without you. Also, you and Lowe are nice. What more could you ask for?”
“I suppose it would also help if we were fun,” I said.
“Don’t worry about that. Everybody’s going to have so much fun on their own that they won’t notice if you aren’t any fun,” said Kelly with a wink.
I glanced out the window at the unicorns in the pasture. I had checked on them earlier and they were in fine form. They had come to realize that their usual caretaker wasn’t there, but I told them she’d be back in a few days. It was anyone’s guess if they understood me. I thought maybe a vague sense of panic that they’d be stuck with the well-meaning but clearly incompetent young woman standing before them had set in on them, so that they were at once nervous and resentful. I had given them some hay, and they hadn’t even argued with me about it.
Now, watching out the window before the party, I could see beyond the pasture to the trees and gentle hills in the dark night. The sky was clear and there were a million stars. It was cold outside, but we were inside and warm. I was about to host my first real party. The temperature was going to rise.
And now it was time for the guests to arrive.
Chapter Eight
The party was supposed to start at eight. When eight rolled around, the only person who had arrived was Lisa, who had come across the street with banana bread.
Lowe had told the cats what was about to happen, and needless to say they had all disappeared except Spunk. Tiger had swished his tail worriedly and gone to join the unicorns. He figured they might need defending by the end of the night.
Lowe looked at me in shock when Tiger left. “He said not to mistake his small size for cowardice. If anyone comes after the unicorns they’ll regret it,” she said.
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Spunk had jumped onto the mantel and was prepared to watch the action. He was in fact downright excited about it.
By eight-thirty Lisa was still the only guest besides Jackie and Kelly, and I was despondent. The five of us were sitting around the kitchen table chatting, and don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun. It was also apparent that the Rhinestones were the most unpopular family in town.
“I thought you said people were coming?” I said to Jackie.
“Nobody arrives on time to a party, they all have to be fashionably late. Don’t worry. They’ll be here,” said Jackie.
“I am worried. I’m the host, and I’m already incredibly uncomfortable. Of course I’m worried,” I muttered.
Just then a knock at the door made Lowe and I exchange glances. We hadn’t agreed on who would answer the door when guests started arriving, but after a bare moment’s hesitation, Lowe bounded out of the room. I was content to sit and keep chatting with my friends.
We had done a great job with the decorations, and there were large spreads of food scattered around the house. I knew, because I had been munching on them for the past half hour. Kelly turned up the music, so we were all set and ready to go. All we needed were guests.
The second Lowe opened the door there was a blast of noise, a gaggle of laughter, and raised voices. It sounded like there were at least ten people outside.
“That’s Gill. It’s just enough chaos to be right,” said Kelly, who had been sitting serenely all evening but now looked like she was bracing herself. Kelly was so obviously less interested in partying than the rest of us that I felt certain she’d either go home, spend her time cleaning up, or find a quiet corner with a good book long before the end of the night.
Lowe stuck her head into the kitchen and said, “The party’s started!” She raised her hands triumphantly and popped back out.
Gill had brought a few friends from school. He introduced them as January, TJ . . . and then I lost track of the names. TJ was a sweeping air spirit, which I had never met before. The slightest breeze would buffet him about. January was a season shifter. At the moment her hair was autumn leaves.
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