And we all had to get out of the woods.
But the creature was too close; we didn’t dare move a muscle until it disappeared. It was traveling again, that quick movement that sounded like a bundle of branches being dragged along the ground.
And it was coming closer. Much closer.
Kasey and I were pressed together, holding our breaths, as the thing came within ten feet of us. Maddeningly—or maybe it was for the best—you still couldn’t make out anything about it. It seemed to be made of shadows.
It paused briefly at a tree near us, sniffing the air like Barney had done.
And then there was an explosion of outraged barking, the release of an hour’s worth of pent-up fear and anger, and Barney came crashing through the woods.
“No, Barney!” I called. I tried to grab for his collar, to keep him away from the creature, but right behind was Carter, using his belt as a leash, holding on to the leather strap.
“What are you guys doing?” Carter demanded. “Lex, you said you’d be right back!”
“Nothing,” I panted, looking around. The shadow-creature had vanished. “Nothing, we’re fine.”
“I thought I heard something,” he said, his lip curling in irritation. “I was worried.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But we’re totally okay.”
I glanced back into the darkness. Carter looked around, too.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “If you don’t mind.”
Kasey clipped the leash to the dog’s collar, and Carter put his belt back on. We made slow progress through the forest and emerged right where Carter had left the car.
“Where’s Adrienne?” I asked.
“She wanted to walk,” Carter said. “Said she’d go home if the car wasn’t here when she got back.”
“Maybe we should look for her,” I said, thinking of that thing in the woods.
“I called her,” Kasey said. “To tell her we found Barney. She could see Lydia from where she was, so they’re probably at the house by now.”
We drove to the Streeters’ house, and Kasey rang the doorbell. We heard shuffling inside, and finally, Mrs. Streeter pulled the door open. Her hair was pulled back, and she gave off an air of stylishness that clearly wasn’t hereditary. Her eyes were ringed with worry lines.
“My Barney!” she cried, wheeling her chair around the door. The dog flew into her lap. “Thank you guys so much.”
“No problem,” Carter said.
“You sweet, dirty little dog!” she said, letting Barney lick her nose. “I was so worried about you!”
It was cute. I smiled at Kasey, but she frowned.
Mrs. Streeter turned her attention to us. “Hello!” she said. “You must be Alexis. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Yes,” I said. “Hi. And this is Carter.”
“You guys really saved the day. Can I get you something? Water? Soda?”
“No, thanks,” I said. “We should probably get going.”
“Please, just stay till Ay gets back. She’ll want to thank you.” She wheeled backward and closed the door behind me. “How’d your pictures turn out?”
I froze.
“That was you, right?” she asked. “I recognize the hair.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Um…Actually, they’re good.”
And they were. Mother and daughter, hopeful companions. A little optimistic for my taste, but not bad.
“I’d love to see them,” she said.
I nodded, too fast, too apologetic. “I’ll send a print home with Adrienne.”
She shook her head, her earrings swinging gently from side to side. “Don’t do that,” she said. “I’ll never see it. She hides from cameras these days.”
“Oh, okay,” I said.
“Forgive me!” she said. “I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Courtney.”
Just as she said it, the front door opened and Adrienne came in.
“Barney’s home! Now, tell me what happened.” Courtney gave Adrienne a knowing look. “You left the gate open, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know.” Adrienne sighed. “Not like he ever goes anywhere.”
“But I keep telling you, dogs don’t think the way we do. If something scared him, he could take off.” She gave the dog a kiss on the head. “He did take off. Poor old stinky guy.”
“We’d better get going,” I said. “I need to change out of these wet clothes.”
The front door opened again, and Lydia and the other girl came inside. They hovered behind Adrienne.
“I—I might go home with my sister. I don’t feel very well,” Kasey said. In the light of the hall, you could see pine needles in her hair and my well-defined shoe print on her shirt.
The girls tried to cluster around her, but she ducked away and disappeared down the hall.
I took the bag of cookies from my pocket, and Barney hopped off Mrs. Streeter’s lap and zipped over to me. “You’ve probably had enough for one night,” I told him.
“I’ll take them.” Adrienne came up to me. As she approached, Barney backed away.
There was silence.
“He’s scared of you, Ay,” Courtney said. “Did something happen during your meeting?”
Adrienne blinked. “No,” she said. “Nothing happened.”
Meeting?
The voice came from behind me.
“Alexis, right?” I turned to see the fourth girl standing with her hand extended. She had beautiful light bronze skin and a mess of golden brown curls. “I’m Tashi.”
I shook her hand and gave her a quick smile before turning toward the front door. Kasey was coming down the hall, and I was ready to get home.
In the car, Kasey stared out the window.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She was quiet for so long I thought she was ignoring me. But finally, she spoke.
“Mrs. Streeter really loves that dog,” she said.
Carter seemed all right on the drive, but when we got to Silver Sage Acres, he pulled past the guest lot and idled in the driveway, keeping his seat belt fastened.
Kasey went inside, but I lingered in the front seat.
“Want to come in?”
Carter traced the underline of his jaw with his thumb. “I…I don’t think I should. I mean, you need a shower, and it’s getting pretty late.”
“I can shower in three minutes,” I said. “I’ll put on a pot of coffee. We can watch a movie.”
“Lex.” Carter turned to me and grabbed my hand. “I don’t want to lie to you. I really am tired, but…even if I weren’t, I’ve had enough for the night.”
“What does that mean? Enough of me?” I pulled my hand away as a thought occurred to me. “Or enough of Kasey?”
He sat back. “Out in the woods…did you see what was making that sound?”
I counted three heartbeats before I could answer. “No,” I said. Technically it wasn’t a lie. I didn’t see what it was, after all.
He rubbed his eyes. “I know this sounds mental, but I think I kind of did see…something. I heard more noises, and I thought I saw a shadow go by. The dog went nuts and I got really worried, but by the time I reached you, there was nothing around.”
“Right,” I said. “Nothing.”
He grabbed the steering wheel. “Except your sister.”
“So, okay, if the noises were Kasey,” I said, “which maybe they were …then what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is…” He shook his head. “I think I saw her try to kill a squirrel.”
I was pretty shocked that Carter thought my sister would be capable of attempted squirrel murder. But what could I say? No, it wasn’t Kasey, it was just the shadowy beast lurking in the trees.
“No way,” I said. “There’s no chance of that. I know my sister.”
His head jerked up. “Do you?”
“Yes! Of course.”
“I saw something out there,” he said. “I know I did.”
“It was probably a rac
coon,” I said archly.
“Don’t get mad at me, Lex.” He raised his hands helplessly. “It’s not an accusation. I just thought it was weird. The whole thing was really…weird.”
“Maybe it’s a full moon,” I said.
“There’s no moon tonight,” he said.
I sighed and leaned on my door; Carter leaned on his—and we were as far apart as we could be while still sitting in the same car. A shadow came to the front window of the town house and paused for a moment before disappearing.
“Parents are stalking,” I said. “Better get inside. Thanks for driving.”
He turned and looked at me, and his jaw finally relaxed. He reached for my hand and ran his thumb across my palm. “Of course,” he said. “I’m glad we found the dog.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Oh,” he said. “That girl left her cane in the backseat. Can you give it to Kasey?”
We smiled at each other shyly, like a pair of seventh graders parting after a school dance. I gave him a quick kiss and walked up to the front door, the cane hooked over my arm, thinking that this would all blow over soon. Maybe it already had.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of the gardeners mowing the grass in the median. The buzz of the leaf blowers and the sun streaming through my window made it impossible to get back to sleep, so I went to the living room. But Kasey was already sprawled out on the couch, watching TV. She moved over to make room for me, but I shook my head and went to the fridge instead, making a mental note to be the first one out to the living room on Saturdays.
Kasey and I hadn’t talked at all about what had happened in the woods.
It wasn’t a conversation I was dying to have, to be honest.
Best-case scenario, Kasey thought what we saw was an animal, and she wanted to hide me from it. Worst-case scenario…I don’t know. I’m sure there was a whole range of mid-grade scenarios, too. But where my sister was concerned, I’d gotten pretty used to the worst.
Finally, after sitting through two hours of cartoons, I gave her a soft kick. “So…”
She stood up. “I need to take a shower.” And then she trudged off down the hall to the bathroom.
After her shower, she locked herself in her room for another hour. I finally gave up and took a shower myself, only to find her door wide open and bedroom deserted when I emerged.
In the kitchen, Mom was shuffling through the mail. “Morning, hon,” she said.
“It’s afternoon,” I said. “Where’s Kasey?”
Mom glanced up at me. “Dad drove her to a friend’s house. The girl you used to hang out with—Lydia?”
“Oh,” I said.
“Didn’t she used to live in Riverbridge? In that big house with the little stream in the front yard?”
“Yeah,” I said. All the yards in Riverbridge had bridges. Imagine that.
“They live over west of Crawford now,” Mom said, making a sympathetic face. “It’s not a very good neighbor- hood. I’m surprised she’s still in the same school district.”
Lydia’s parents had been serious go-getters. Her dad drove a sports car, and her mom owned a high-end salon, which made Lydia’s sloppy home hair-dye jobs all the more offensive. It was hard to imagine them in a dumpy house on the outskirts of town.
I was about to turn and leave when Mom tossed an envelope to me. “Young Visionaries?” she asked. I took it back to the sofa, deliberately ignoring her curiosity.
So this was it. My form rejection, with a request to come collect my portfolio. I slid my finger under the corner of the flap. All week, the contest had been bugging me—the thought of being ranked somewhere in the middle of that giant stack of entrants.
CONGRATULATIONS! was the first word I saw, and I felt the oddest combination of emotions—happiness and apprehension at the same time. Like my heart inflated and then ran away and hid under the bed.
The letter went on to say that I’d survived the first cut and was now one of twelve semifinalists. At the bottom was a scrawl in a thick, black permanent marker: Your work stands up well against the competition.—FM
And there was a note about an interview session being conducted the following week.
“What is it?” Mom asked.
“Nothing.” I shoved the letter back inside its envelope. At some point I’d be forced to tell my parents. But for that moment, I wanted it all to myself.
Dad and I arranged the Chinese take-out containers on the counter while Mom got plates and silverware.
“So…” I said. “I have some news.”
In about four milliseconds, bustle turned to dead silence. Dad froze and looked up at me, and Mom came around the counter.
Wow, that worked.
“I’m not pregnant or anything,” I said, and Dad exhaled. “Seriously, Dad? You think that’s how I would tell you?”
“What is it, honey?” Mom asked, setting down the plates.
“That letter I got today,” I said. “It’s for this photography thing. Like a contest. With a scholarship.”
Her eyes lit up. “You’re going to enter?”
“No,” I said. “Well, yeah. I did enter…and I made the semifinals.”
I couldn’t decipher their expressions. Mom looked pensive. Dad looked blank.
“That’s the news,” I said, pulling out a bar stool and reaching for a fried wonton.
I would have given my parents credit for having more self-control, but they immediately started carrying on, Mom hugging me and saying, “I’m so proud of you! I’m so proud of you!” and Dad cuffing me on the arm like an old college buddy.
“All right, that’s enough,” I said, peeling away. “It’s not that big of a deal. There are twelve semifinalists.”
“But Alexis, this is wonderful!” Mom said. “It is a big deal. Wait until Kasey hears!”
I looked around. “What time is she coming home, anyway?”
“Not until tomorrow,” Mom said. “She’s sleeping over. I guess they all are. Since she had to miss the party last night, I thought it would be all right. I actually have to take her some clothes.”
“I’ll take them,” I said.
“Really?” Mom asked.
“Yeah,” I said, forcing a smile. A chance to drop in on Kasey and her friends, possibly learn more about these “meetings” they were holding? I couldn’t pass it up. “I can tell her about the contest.”
Right on Crawford, left on Morrison, right on Baker.
This was an older section of the city, a grid of tiny houses packed together like eggs in a carton, not a fancy subdivision in sight. Lydia’s house must have been cute once, but its glory days were long gone. The siding peeled like a bad sunburn, showing multiple layers of old paint, and the upstairs window was blacked out with aluminum foil. In the driveway was her father’s red sports car, his baby. But the whole length of the driver’s side was dented, and the bumper seemed to be hanging on for dear life.
I grabbed Kasey’s overnight bag and Adrienne’s cane from the passenger seat and made my way up the weed-covered sidewalk. The doorbell was broken, so I knocked.
A few seconds later, Adrienne opened the door. “Oh, hi!” she said. “Come on in!”
“Here,” I said, holding out the cane. She took it and bounced through the house, without even using it. She was as hippity-hoppy as a toddler.
As we entered the kitchen, all activity stopped. The four of them were sitting around a small breakfast table with arts and crafts supplies strewn everywhere. Each girl worked on her own poster board. To my left was a stack of yellow flyers.
I reached for one.
WANT TO DEVELOP YOUR CHARM AND INNER BEAUTY?
JOIN THE SUNSHINE CLUB!
There was a big cartoonish drawing of a grinning sun with flirty eyelashes, and underneath that was a phone number—not ours, thank goodness—and an e-mail address, [email protected].
“What’s this?” I asked.
“The Sunshine Club,” Adrienne began, like she’d rehearse
d it a billion times, “is a self-improvement club for young women who—”
“Why just women?” I asked, ignoring my sister’s warning glower.
“Because it’s only for girls!” Adrienne chirped, as if that answered my question. “For young women who want to nurture their inner beauty as well as their outer beauty. You should join, Alexis. You’d have so much fun.”
“Well, thanks,” I said. “But I’m kind of busy this year.”
“We’re going to do really cool stuff!” she said. “Like study groups. And makeovers.”
I basically had to bite a hole in my tongue to keep from reacting. If Adrienne thought making people over in her image was a good idea, she was highly misguided.
But then I looked at her, and noticed that her outfit wasn’t as wacky as usual. She wore a pair of jeans and a nice shirt. Nothing fancy, but a huge improvement over her typical ensemble.
I mean, look. I’m not going to win any awards for personal style. Some people, like Megan, could look at a closet full of clothes and put together a great outfit without even trying. Even Kasey was pretty good at it—she’d only been home a week, but she was already the more stylish sister.
I admired Adrienne for the fearless way she put herself out there. But she was more like me. Her pants were always too long or too short; her shirts were too baggy or just a little too tight. Any time I ever went out of my way to try to look cool, I ended up feeling like some celebrity’s dressed-up Chihuahua.
While Adrienne chattered on about all of the wonderful things the Sunshine Club would learn and experience together, I glanced at the other girls. Kasey glared at me while Tashi glued glitter to her poster. And Lydia—well, let’s just say that cheerful self-improvement definitely wasn’t on Lydia’s to-do list. I expected her to be rolling her eyes or snickering. So it was a pleasant surprise—heavy on the surprise—to see her politely following along.
When the pitch was finished, they all looked at me.
“Um, great,” I said.
“We’re going to put flyers up at school on Monday,” Adrienne said. “And Tashi goes to All Saints, so she’s going to put them up there. New members, here we come!”
Surrey High didn’t have metal detectors or anything, but it wasn’t really the type of place where kids are on the lookout for the next wholesome activity to devote their afternoons to. I felt bad, thinking how disappointing it would be when nobody joined.
From Bad to Cursed Page 6