Feathermore (19 page)

“
We need to talk,” I said as I grabbed Claire’s arm and pulled her along toward the cafeteria restroom. After making sure there was no one in the stalls, I said, “Why did she go for those kids? She could have gone for Avan.” It was hard to say, because doing so made everything suddenly, starkly real.

She pulled a paper towel off and wiped the counter, then sat on it and started to play with her nails, taking off the nail polish she had just put on last night. “She’s sending a warning. If she got Avan, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. There wouldn’t be a game for her to play.” She looked at me in the mirror. “But she’ll be coming for him sooner or later, and I would hate to see that happen, Jade.”

I swallowed the large lump in my throat. Thinking about it was one thing, but for someone else to agree made it tangible.

Claire had been right; in the middle of music class, two deputies came into the room, looking for me. A few kids snickered as if I was in trouble and had been sent to the principal’s office. I followed the two young men outside and leaned against the wall as the big guy closed the door behind him. The other one had curly red hair and looked barely out of high school. Curly pulled a pocket notebook out of his trouser pocket and opened it.

“
Good afternoon, Miss Lovecraft,” he said without looking up at me. He just scribbled on the small piece of paper.

I hadn’t even said anything. What could he possibly be writing down?

“
Do you mind if we call you Jade?” he asked, his eyes rising and meeting mine. He waited for my nod before he went back to scribbling.

It is my name, idiot,
I thought to myself. I wondered whether this was his first interview. It seemed as if he had spent the past couple of days practicing all the clichéd mannerisms in the book.

“
Did you know . . .” He fumbled with his notebook, looking for the information. This was going to be kind of fun, in a gruesome sort of way.

I looked over at the big guy. He had a military haircut and aviator glasses on. He was sort of cute, tall and muscular, if you were into those things.

“
. . . Melanie Kats and Jeffrey King?”

I stared at him. Was he for real? They came to school here—of course I knew them, even if I never spoke to them. We lived in a rather small town, after all. “Um, yeah, we all know each other around here.” I was never the sassy type, but there was just nothing I could do for them. They were putting all their attention into an animal when the threat was a demon. Would I ever get used to this new world I was living in? Angels and demons, and who knew what other supernatural creatures were crawling about?

“
Were you friends with them?” he asked as he scrawled something else onto his little pad.

“
No, just know them from here.” I rolled my eyes, but he was already writing some more and didn’t catch it. I could tell the big guy was getting antsy, too.

“
What do you know about their deaths?”

I put my right foot up against the wall and played with the hem of my skirt. “Not much more than the rumors going around.”

He stopped writing and looked at me, his glasses riding midway down his nose. He looked the way a psychologist might while awaiting a patient’s answer. “And those would be what exactly?”

“
That an animal killed them, just the way my parents were killed.” My voice was getting louder and angrier. This was not something I was in the mood to be talking about. I didn’t need another reminder of how they were dead because of me.

“
Yes, it is very peculiar that an animal would strike again this way, especially so close to such busy streets.” He stared into my eyes as if he was implying something. Something I couldn’t really catch. I mean, they couldn’t think
I
was responsible for this, could they? There was no way!

I stared back at him, not backing down. If he had anything to say, he should just spit it out. And yet, it caught me by surprise when he did. “Where were you last night?”

I stared at him blankly. Was I really a suspect all of a sudden? This could not be happening. “The same place I am every night: my house.”

The big guy finally spoke. “Seems there’s nothing else we need to know from you, ma’am. Appreciate your time.” He opened the door to the classroom, and I ducked under his outstretched arm and quickly disappeared inside.

I sat back down in my seat and could feel everyone looking at me, especially Claire. Her gaze burned through me, as if trying to steal the memories of what had just occurred. I didn’t return her gaze—I was too busy trying to figure out how I had gotten to this place. Could they really be questioning me as a suspect? Did everyone else in town think I not only murdered those kids but did in my own parents as well? This was not good.

Everyone’s eyes followed me all the way to the parking lot. And even though I couldn’t actually hear them, I had no illusions about what they were thinking. They all thought I was some kind of murderous psycho running around town.

* * *

Rumors spread fast in this town, and it started getting really bad, really soon. When I went into town people would actually cross to the other side of the street when they saw me coming, or they would duck into a store.

I could not believe it had come to this. I had to put an end to all the rumors and cleanse myself of what they alone had created me to be in their heads.

The single benefit to everyone thinking I was a killer was the police car constantly following me, which hopefully meant that Lilith wouldn’t come near me. Instead, she would get bored and cause another distraction, absolving me of all the rumors and suspicions that I was a monster.

I wondered why heaven wasn’t helping me right about now. Surely they knew up there about everything that was going on with me. They knew what I had been through with my parents’ death and about Lilith being after me to kill me, and yet, they didn’t feel the need to intervene?

I started feeling deserted. They had let all this happen and left me to deal with it all. Did they even care? The more thought I gave to it, the less worthy of them I found myself to be. They were obviously not interested in me anymore. All I had now was Avan, and I hadn’t even told him the truth about myself, so maybe I didn’t even have him after all. I felt lonely, even with Claire and Nate always flanking me, since they were always keeping things from me and saying it was for the best.

I found myself not being able to trust anyone.

I kept coming to the same decision every time: tell Avan the truth and get it over with. If he wasn’t going to accept who I was, then I needed to know sooner rather than later. If I was going to let myself fall and be with him, I needed to know I wasn’t doing it all in vain.

19 STRANGER IN THE HOUSE

Claire’s eyes went from the police “escort” in the rearview mirror to the speedometer. “It’s a really bad idea, Jade,” she said. “You don’t know how he’s going to react or what he may do. What if he decides to expose us? It could turn bad in all kinds of ways.”

She always knew how to kill any spark of hope I had. I knew she was just being logical—something I should try once in a while—but I just hated lying to him. I didn’t respond to her. Instead, I just stared out the window at the buildings going by.

“
What the hell?” I followed her gaze to the rearview mirror. The police cruiser had its lights on.

“
Is he pulling us over?” I asked, leaning over and checking the speed. We were inside the limit, so what did they want? The siren whooped once, and the cruiser sped around us.

Claire and I looked at each other, partly in excitement that we had lost our tail for the moment, but dreading what it might mean. Had Lilith struck again?

Fear seeped onto my bones as I thought of who her latest victim might be. I grabbed the cell phone from the center console and dialed Avan’s number.

Voice mail.

“
Jade?” Claire said. “Are you all right? You look pale . . .”

***

I tossed the covers off and let them fall over the side of the bed. Sleep was eluding me as usual, and I was beginning to get frustrated. The coldness of the room made me shiver. That’s when I saw the window curtains billowing in the breeze.

What the . . .?
I stayed in bed while I surveyed the room. I was still alone, but I had
not
left the window open.

I hurried to the window, closed it, and checked the latch. It was working properly. Outside, a thick fog had crawled over the ground, making the trees look as if they were floating over clouds. The moon above shone brightly.

I pulled on Avan’s T-shirt—glow-in-the-dark Sebastian the ibis, the University of Miami’s football team mascot. I tried to pull it down farther, but it reached only halfway down my thighs.

I lay back in bed. Today’s earlier scare, that Avan might be Lilith’s latest victim, still burned in the back of my mind. I had tried his phone a few times to no avail, and Claire and I were heading over to his house when he finally called back. A wave of relief had washed over me with the realization that—for now, anyway—he was alive and safe. But we needed to come up with a plan, because sooner or later, she would go for him.

The darkness in the room felt as if it were somehow haunting me. I felt threatened by it. If I closed my eyes, I might never get the chance to open them again. My throat felt swollen as I sat on the edge of the bed, feet dangling.

Why couldn’t I just fall asleep already? I had been up most of the past four nights, dozing off from time to time but then waking up in a panic. The only time I managed to fall asleep fully, usually on the weekend, was in the early dawn, when the sun started shining in. Even leaving all the lights on in my room didn’t help—there was still a distinct fear in the back of my mind. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was turning into a vampire—if there were such a thing. Something was keeping me up at night, and I had to figure out what it was.

I walked into the bathroom and flicked on the light switch, and the lights flickered shortly before coming on. I stared at myself in the mirror, looking for any trace of what could be keeping me up, my hands holding the sides of the cool white porcelain. I turned the water on and cupped my hands under the stream that splashed over them. The coldness of the water made my hands ache. I wasn’t sure I wanted to splash my face anymore, but it seemed to have a calming effect. I lingered at the door, with my hand on the switch. Something about the darkness made me uneasy, but I couldn’t quite figure it out.

I slowly pulled my hand away and went back to the bed, leaving the light on. Maybe it would help a little and this time I would be able to sleep. I looked at the bedside clock. It was 4:45 a.m. After making sure the alarm was still set for six, I got back in bed.

I lay there staring at the ceiling for some time, watching the shadows of the naked trees outside dance carelessly in the wind.

My thoughts slowly moved on to happier topics, thinking about Avan and how much I wanted to be in his arms right this instant. I smiled at the thought that tomorrow was the last day of school before winter break.

In an attempt to keep Avan away from Lilith, we had decided to plan a little road trip. We were leaving Saturday morning. Avan’s mom was going to Miami for Christmas and was set on taking him with her, but he made it clear that he didn’t like that idea at all. It had taken some convincing, but he had done it: he was allowed to stay in town and spend Christmas with Nate and Claire and me. I was pretty sure Mrs. Blackwell felt a little bad about my staying on my own and must have figured I could use his support right about now. And it was true. I tried to keep it in the back of my mind, to think about it only when necessary, but the holidays were going to be really hard.

We made some plans to go camping—if the weather allowed, of course. Claire had researched places close to town where we could rent a cabin if the cold was too unbearable, although I kind of enjoyed having it as an excuse to cuddle with Avan.

We had seen a cabin that was totally gorgeous. It even had a name: Water’s Edge. The three-bedroom cabin was on a quiet mountain dirt road. It got its name because it sat at the edge of White Oak Creek. I could already imagine the sound of the water rushing by, and that alone was enough to sway my decision—there, I just might get the sleep that seemed to be evading me. The pictures on the Web site did the rest. Not only was the scenery breathtaking, but the inside of the cabin looked like something out of a fancy home decor magazine.

Its cathedral ceilings and oak hardwood floors gave it a homey feel, and the deck with stone fireplace, rocking chairs, and Jacuzzi—which I couldn’t wait to use—was the perfect place to let go and relax. The place also had a pool table, a big kitchen that I couldn’t imagine any of us using, a living room with big leather couches, and a large flat-screen TV hanging on the wall.

I felt myself getting even more excited than before and realized it would be almost impossible for me to fall asleep now. But somehow, at some point, I must have.

* * *

I walked outside to the backyard, where I saw Daddy standing next to the big barbecue grill. Mom was kneeling in the dirt, planting a bed of her lovely painted trilliums. The sun was out, with not a cloud in the sky, and there was no other noise except for the grill sizzling and a rather boisterous finch chirping in the maple tree. I walked slowly, not wanting to make a sound, afraid I would disturb the scene in this dream of mine and it all would go away. I just wanted to be able to appreciate them doing something as simple as gardening and barbecuing, since in real life I would never see them do anything ever again. I sat on the top step of the deck and rested my elbows on my knees. I cradled my face in my hands and watched them. The trees were dancing in the gentle breeze that came from the woods. Dad turned around and started in my direction, looking at Mom and asking if she would like a little more sangria. Then he looked up and saw me, although, by the look on his face, he looked as if he had seen a ghost rather than his own daughter. He stopped in his tracks and gasped, letting go of the metal tongs he had been carrying in his hand. They made a loud clattering noise as they hit the round white stepping-stones.