Love Fortunes and Other Disasters (15 page)

 

chapter 12

SUN

“I saw Martin and Camille in the library,” Fallon admitted. “I don't know Martin that well, but after what you've just said, I agree with you. He was very passive with her.”

Nico's brow furrowed. “Passive, how?”

As usual, he fished for more details that would hurt his heart further. Fallon had no intention of indulging him. “Along the same lines as what you said happens. So what are we going to do about it?”

Nico took a shaky sip of his coffee.

Anais steepled her fingers in the fashion of a calculating villain. “Oh yes, we're doing something. Camille's gone too far this time.”

Fallon thought about what she'd learned so far about love charms. “Manipulation is a fact when it comes to love charms, isn't it? Either you do it to yourself or to someone else. But turning someone into a zombie has to be illegal. The police should get involved.”

“That would take too long,” Anais said. “Charm crimes aren't that common because there's a fine line between using a charm as it's meant to work and using it for an awful purpose. Remember when Alard Carlier got suspended from school for using a charm to cheat on his final exam in history? He could have gotten expelled if he hadn't claimed his retention charm malfunctioned. Of course, we all knew he tinkered with the charm so that his pen would gravitate toward the right choice on the bubble sheet. The administration believed it, though. If Camille hasn't been caught yet, that means that no one's noticed a problem. It's up to us to help Martin.”

Fallon felt a rush of pride for having a friend like Anais. “What should we do first?”

“Isn't it obvious? We go to Zita's shop and look for the deplorable charm.”

“Nico and I aren't allowed to buy anything there,” Fallon said. Even if Nico tried, they'd deny him any purchases in case he thought about using them in pursuit of Martin.

“My fortune was just fine,” Anais said. “I'll go in and find out what I can. You two will wait outside. I can go tomorrow evening. Dad will just have to cover for me.”

Nico put his coffee down and hugged Anais tightly. “Thank you.”

“No one messes with my friends,” Anais said bashfully. “I may be small and cute, but I've got a sharp tongue and I'm not afraid to use it.”

Fallon grinned. “We wouldn't expect any less.”

*   *   *

Pigeons occupied Verbeke Square the next day. They cooed and picked at the waffle crumbs leftover from the food carts. Fallon sipped milky orange blossom tea at a caf
é
overlooking Zita's Lovely Love Charms Shop. The pink-lemonade shop had been busy as usual when Anais went inside.

“She's been in there an awfully long time,” Nico said, sitting opposite Fallon. He rubbed the extra salt off his hot pretzel and took a bite.

“She won't find anything,” Fallon said, dejected. The plan had been so exciting, so hopeful, when they first formed it, but now she wasn't so sure. Would it really be that easy to find the potion Camille was using on Martin?

“It's good exercise for her,” Nico said. “Besides, maybe she'll find something that'll help her open up to Bear.”

Fallon almost choked on her tea.

“What?”

“I wish.”

Fallon hadn't spent much time thinking about Anais and Bear's relationship—and with good reason. They seemed perfectly happy together. Anais's had the energy and adorableness of a lapdog with her fluffy blond hair and big eyes. She fit him in a way opposites do, with her head tucked into his side as they strolled through the school yard. Bear was just her type—big, strong, protective—but it was his gentleness that kept Anais interested. If only Anais could show that she trusted him back. Fallon hated to think how Bear would take being lied to.

After half an hour of waiting and another cup of tea, Fallon spotted Anais holding a little pink bag with a devious grin on her face.

Nico chewed the last of his pretzel. “Did you find it?”

“Not really,” Anais said, pulling up a chair. “But I can be pretty persuasive when I want to. I had a long conversation with Camille Simmons about ex-boyfriends. As you know, I can't stand spending even a second in the company of a boy I broke up with. But I pretended that I still cared in order to wheedle information out of Camille. And it worked.”

When Anais had found Camille, she asked for a charm that would keep her ex-boyfriends interested in her.

“We don't sell anything like that,” Camille said, toying with her headset.

“You don't understand how lonely I am without my exes fawning over me,” Anais said, batting her eyes. “I know they still love me. They just need a little encouragement. Surely Zita has a charm for that.”

Camille tugged her headset off. She crooked a finger for Anais to come closer and whispered, “What would you do if you got their love back?”

“Use them.”

Camille smirked. “Are you looking for a job here? You might fit in with that attitude.”

“Just the charm, thanks.”

“Zita won't sell anything like that,” she said, “but I've cooked up a little charm that fills a boy's head with lake fog. Ripe for using. Maybe I'll be able to sell it to you soon.”

“Why not now?”

Camille picked up the headset. “I'm not the boss.”

Anais stepped back as another customer quizzed Camille on the display of heartache-be-gone potions. She bought a hanging charm that was supposed to enhance peacefulness in torrid relationships (“It smells like chamomile,” Anais had said) and left the shop as quickly as she could.

Fallon trembled when the gravity of Anais's discovery hit her. “Camille made the charm herself,” she said, sharing a stunned look with her friends. “It isn't Zita's creation. How did she get away with using it without getting in trouble?”

“Camille's quite the businesswoman,” Anais said. She snatched Fallon's empty teacup and poured herself some orange blossom tea from the pot. “She had a twinkle in her eye. Some people would call it smugness.”

Nico crossed his arms. “Zita, or at least one of the managers, must already know about Camille's love charm. We can't get her in trouble that way.”

“That makes sense,” Fallon said. Could there be another way? “If we could find out where and how Camille makes the charm, then we can steal the ingredients and prevent her from making more.”

Nico pressed his hand to her forehead. “No fever.”

“I'm fine.”

“You don't sound like the Fallon Dupree I know. Breaking and entering?”

“I like this Fallon,” Anais said, “but he's right. We're not thieves. It sounds like something out of an action film.”

After leaving Verbeke Square, Fallon asked Nico to walk back to the complex with her. She told him more about what she had seen at the library, though she was careful to leave out the details that would upset him. The pink phone. Camille's desire to succeed Zita's legacy. “Regarding poor Martin, I have another idea.”

Nico's thinning hair twisted in the wind. He burrowed into his jacket. “Another one? I'm not surprised. You're just as clever as Anais.”

The compliment warmed her. “Thanks. I just have a feeling that Zita's shop won't have all the answers. Lucky for us, our rebellion has a love-charm expert.”

“Do you mean the twins?”

“Hijiri, actually. She doesn't want anyone to know, but she actually makes love charms.”

His eyes widened. “Would she help?”

“I hope so. That's why I asked you to come with me. We're going to find her right now and see.”

The student housing complex lit up like a string of broken lights as night fell, marking who was awake and who had actually turned in for the night. As they approached the gate, a dark figure appeared. Sebastian. He held his tape recorder in his hand.

“What did you catch this time?” she asked.

Sebastian tilted his head, surprised. “You really want to know?”

“I wouldn't be asking if I didn't.”

“Hm.” He pocketed the recorder and shrugged. “Found some quiet near Verbeke Square. Sometimes that area's dead silent between groups of pub crawlers.”

“There's something I'd like to ask you,” Fallon said.

“Have you decided to go out with me?”

Her heart scrambled up her throat, choking her words.

“Stop teasing her,” Nico said. “We're looking for Hijiri. Do you know where her apartment is?”

“Actually, we're neighbors.”

“Really?”

“You can't miss her when the door to her apartment creaks so loudly. Mrs. Smedt hasn't fixed it yet.” Sebastian opened the wooden gate and waited until both Fallon and Nico passed through before following. “There's a good chance that she's still awake.”

“Good,” she said.

“Is that what you wanted to ask me?”

“No.”

Sebastian brushed up against her; numb from the cold, she barely felt him, but she heard the scratchy sound their coats made rubbing against each other. “Mind telling me?”

Fallon regained her composure and bumped him back. “It's for the rebellion. We're going to need your keen hearing.”

He laughed. “You make me sound like a dog.”

“Aren't you?”

Hurt flashed in his eyes. “That's not how I see things.”

Fallon reached out for his hand. She hadn't meant it like that. Her stiff fingers met air as Sebastian backed away from her. “I shouldn't have said that.”

Sebastian glanced her way, his expression softening. “You wound me, Dupree. But maybe my hearing skills are that good. I should really take it as a compliment.”

“I
am
sorry,” she said. Hearing him say her last name was a pinprick to her conscience. She had sounded like her parents just then, hadn't she? They rarely held their tongues.

“I know.”

Nico coughed behind them. “Guys, it's getting even colder out here. Can we please find the apartment?”

Sebastian strode ahead with his chin down. The ground-floor apartments looked the same on the outside as the higher floors, including the decorations taped to the doors. “Mine's over there,” he said, pointing to a door with a paw-print sticker under the number plate, “and Hijiri's is to the right of me.”

Hijiri's door had nothing on it, but that was normal for a freshman. She had only been living there for two months. Some students took longer than others to make it a home. Fallon knocked on the door and waited.

After a few minutes, Hijiri appeared, half-asleep and wearing a faded, oversize T-shirt and shorts. “Have you no pity for sleeping people? I was having a good nap,” she said, but she didn't sound too angry.

“Can we come in?”

Hijiri glanced at Sebastian and Nico. “Okay.”

The heater in her apartment was running full-blast, creating a tropical atmosphere. Fallon shed her coat and left it at the front door. Although clean, the apartment was barren. Standard-issued furnishings did little to take up the gaping space. “I know you didn't want me to tell anyone, but we have an emergency.” Fallon started, knowing that she had to get over this part first.

Hijiri plopped down on the worn brown couch. Her hair, more tangled from sleep, covered her round face.

“I'm sorry,” Fallon continued.

Hijiri played with the hem of her T-shirt. “What's happening?”

While Nico talked, Fallon stared down at her hands. The guilt of having revealed Hijiri's secret snuck up on her.
The rebellion would have needed to know about her skills eventually,
she thought. But not this way. This wasn't just about the rebellion. No, it was entirely selfish. Fallon had wanted to help Nico, one of her very best friends. However, nothing would compel her to divulge Hijiri's plans to make a true love's kiss charm. Hopefully keeping that a secret still was enough to make up for what she had told the boys.

“So Camille could be more dangerous than we thought,” Sebastian said, gripping the back of an empty chair. “It's not just about her almost catching Fallon at the meeting.”

Nico sank onto the couch next to Hijiri and put his head in his hands. “I'm having a hard time absorbing all this.”

“You're the one who's always hated Camille,” Fallon pointed out.

“Naturally. I'd hate anyone dating the boy I love. But this is going too far. I didn't think she'd be this extreme about keeping Martin.”

Fallon thought about what Camille had said in the library. “Maybe it's not about Martin. She's ambitious. Camille might want to keep him around for another purpose.”

Nico moaned. “That's even worse!”

“And probably true,” Sebastian added.

Nico lifted his head and stared at Sebastian. “What do you know about Camille?”

“Me?”

“You've dated her, right? You've dated everyone.”

Sebastian's expression darkened. “Camille Simmons stays out of my way. She's a serious girl, like Fallon here. Her standards keep her from wasting time with me.”

Fallon flinched at his words. She didn't want to hurt him, but she couldn't possibly date him. His idea of dating was pretending, and even if she tried, he'd break her heart sooner or later.

Hijiri tapped her fingers on the couch. “How much do you love Martin?”

“Very much,” Nico said brokenly. “More than I can say.”

Fallon breathed through her own tears, pushing them back. Maybe she was just tired. She rarely stayed awake this late at night, and Nico's emotions were affecting her. She caught Sebastian's eye and couldn't smile. Her mouth wasn't working. He looked as upset as she was.

Hijiri's gaze remained on the floor, but she pivoted so that she was facing him. “Okay, I'll help, but you must promise to do what I say. Love charms are powerful, dangerous things when abused. If Martin's as affected as you say, you'll have to draw him out of it.”