The Accident (8 page)

Megan felt like she was yanking the wings off a butterfly.
“I know. And I’m sorry, Juliet, I really am. I know I promised you a whole week. But I didn’t expect anything like this to happen. Not being able to help my mother, Juliet, it was … it was horrible!”

To her dismay, Juliet burst into tears. Between sobs, she begged, “Megan, please, please, don’t do this! Your mother’s going to be fine, the doctor said so. This means so much to me! It’s the only chance I’ll ever have. I’ll help take care of your mother for you, I promise!”

Oh, God, I want this to end now
, Megan thought even as Juliet’s pleas tore at her resolve. She had never seen anyone so desperate.
“Juliet, it’s just such a bad time
—” she began weakly.

Juliet interrupted with fresh tears. “Megan, I told you,” she gasped, “there
isn’t
any other time for me!” Skinny rivulets of mascara streaked her face. “Any other time will be too late for me.” Her voice fell to a heartbroken whisper. “Too late, too late …”

The last ounce of Megan’s resolve disintegrated in the face of Juliet’s anguish. She had never in her life caused anyone so much pain, and she couldn’t stand it.
“All right,”
she said with a helpless sigh,
“we won’t switch back tonight. Now stop crying, okay?”

Juliet lifted her head, her face filled with hope. “You mean it?”

“I … I guess so. We’ll give it a little more time. But if anything else bad happens, Juliet, to my family or my friends, we’re trading back.”

“Of course, Megan.” Wiping her tearstained face with a towel, Juliet smiled and nodded. “But no more bad things are going to happen. I can feel it. Everything’s going to be fine.” Happy again, she slipped into Megan’s white pajamas and climbed into the canopied bed. “If we hadn’t switched,” she said calmly, “you wouldn’t have been down on the dock to find your mother and rush up to the house to call for help. So it’s not all bad, is it, Megan? Being me, I mean?”

She had a point. But Megan wasn’t consoled. The days and nights loaned to Juliet felt like years, centuries. On this, only the first night, they stretched ahead of her like an endless, dark, deserted highway. How would she ever get through them?

“Oh, by the way, Megan,” Juliet said cheerfully as she pulled the sheet over her legs, “when Hilary left, I asked Justin to your party. And he said yes. So now you can quit worrying.” She slid down in bed and closed her eyes. “Everything’s going to be great. Your mom will be fine, and Justin is coming to your party. So relax, okay?”

“Juliet, what happened to Hilary tonight? Why did she go home so early?”

“Oh, I guess she felt like a third wheel. Good night, Megan. See you tomorrow.”

A minute later, the sound of her deep, even breathing told Megan that Juliet was sound asleep. Just then, something on the worn blue carpet beside the bed caught Megan’s eye. She knew what it was immediately, and the realization sickened her. How could another drawing have found its way into her home?

She knew she had to look at it. Otherwise it would lie there all night like some dreadful insect, tormenting her.

The picture was on lime-green paper. There were two crude crayon drawings. One was of a man in a gray-and-black-striped uniform. A convict. The second drawing was of a leg, awkwardly bent to emphasize the knee. CON. KNEE. Connie. Mom.

She remembered Juliet pulling things out of her shoulder bag. The drawing must have been in there. But how had it got there?

The mall. Someone had to have slipped it into her purse while she was there. If she hadn’t been so distracted all day by the thought of what was ahead of her that evening, she would have noticed the drawing sooner. Then she could have done something, anything, to protect her mother. She could at least have warned Juliet not to leave her mother alone for a second.

At least her mother was alive. And she was going to be okay. She’d be home tomorrow, safe and sound.

But … it might not be over. What if there was another attack, this time on Juliet? Juliet had said she could prevent that. What if she couldn’t? Maybe she was wrong.

If she was … if something happened to prevent their trade on Saturday night, something that kept Megan from returning to her own body … what would become of Megan?

Megan had to know, and she had to know
now. “Juliet! Wake up, Juliet! I have to talk to you.”

“What …” a sleepy Juliet mumbled from bed. “What is it, Megan?”

“There’s one thing you haven’t told me, and I must know. What would happen to me … if you were … if something happens to my body while you’re in it? I need to know that, Juliet.”

“If something happened to stop you from returning to your own form by midnight Saturday,” Juliet said slowly, “you’d … you’d be trapped in my world.”

Megan gasped.
“And you weren’t even going to tell me, were you?”

“I didn’t want to frighten you, Megan. Because nothing bad can happen to me. I can steer clear of evil better than you can. Your body is safer with me than it would be with you.”

Megan heard none of what Juliet was saying. All she could think of was being trapped in this horrible, empty world … forever. It was too terrifying to comprehend.

Megan went out on the terrace roof to try to fathom what Juliet had just told her. Everything was perfectly still. Not a single leaf on the oak tree stirred. The lake was quiet, lying between the two shores like a giant ink stain. One by one, the lights in the houses bordering the lake went out, until, with no moon visible in the pouting gray sky, the darkness was complete.

Megan had never felt so alone in her life.

R
ESIDENTS OF
L
AKESIDE WERE
severely shaken by the attack on Connie Logan. There was talk of hiring a private security patrol for the area. But the proposal was voted down because of the expense.

Megan called Juliet’s attention to the drawings.
“Keep your eyes open for more of these,”
she said.
“If someone else is going to get hurt, you might get another one. Check the art cubbyhole every day and the mailbox here at the house. And Juliet,”
she warned, “
I think Mom is right. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out alone. It might not be safe.”

Juliet didn’t argue. She didn’t want to be alone, anyway. She wanted Justin with her, preferably at all times. “I know he’s your boyfriend,” she told Megan happily, “but it’s okay because he thinks I’m
you.
So it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong, right, Megan?”

She didn’t seem to be taking the drawings seriously. That bothered Megan. How was she going to keep watch over Juliet
and
her family, too?

Megan wished she could feel as confident about Juliet’s safety as Juliet seemed to. If there was a list of potential victims somewhere, Megan’s name was surely on it. Everyone who had been hurt was close to her. If
she
could be next, that meant
Juliet
could be next.

She couldn’t forget Juliet’s answer to her question the night before.
“Juliet,”
she said as Juliet checked out the clothes in Megan’s closet,
“I wish you’d pay more attention to what’s going on in town. You don’t seem to care at all. But if something happens to you
…
”

Juliet selected several outfits and carried them to the bed. Spreading them out like food on a picnic table, she said nonchalantly, “Goodness, Megan, nothing’s going to happen to me! I told you, I’ll know if something evil comes near me.”

But that wasn’t good enough. It was making her crazy.
“But if something
does
happen … I’d have to stay
…
like this
…
forever?”

“The same thing would happen to you that will happen to me, come midnight on Saturday. I’ll disappear, poof!” She smiled happily. “But it’ll be okay now, because you gave me this week. Stop worrying. Nothing’s going to happen to me before Saturday.”

Poof? She would go poof? And disappear? Forever? The sharp-toothed edges of Megan’s trap closed around her. She could only pray that the hours and the days would fly by quickly.

And that Juliet was right about being able to protect herself.

Megan’s father brought his wife home from the hospital at noon. While she slept, he gave Juliet permission to go to the library with Justin. Reluctant at first to have any family member leave the house, he relented when Juliet pointed out that she had a report due in social studies.

“Nobody is going to attack me in the library, Daddy,” Juliet pleaded. “Besides, Justin will be with me.”

He gave in then, and Juliet ran happily upstairs to change her clothes.

But Megan wasn’t so sure the library was perfectly safe. The auditorium at Philippa should have been perfectly safe, too. But it hadn’t been for Hilary, had it? Maybe no place in Lakeside was safe. And if Juliet and Justin got lost in each other the way they had the night before, an army of attackers could surround them and they wouldn’t notice until it was too late.

By the time Justin arrived, Juliet, in a full white skirt and a silky red long-sleeved blouse and red sandals, Was waiting at the front door. Her makeup was still slightly exaggerated, but she looked very pretty.

The look on Justin’s face as Juliet came down the stairs depressed Megan. Would he wear that same expression when she was herself again?

When Justin had learned from Mr. Logan that Megan’s mother was okay and sleeping comfortably, he and Juliet left, hand in hand.

Megan left, too. The only advantage to this horrible feeling of separation from the world was her ability to watch and listen without being seen or heard. She might as well use it. But it didn’t take her long to realize that she wasn’t going to learn anything on a dismal, cool Sunday afternoon in a village whose residents were too scared to venture from their homes.

The town was virtually deserted. A damp gray mist fell steadily on a lake empty of boats, on streets bare of automobiles and bicycles, on lawns free of children and pets, on deserted tennis’ courts and pools. Curtains and blinds were drawn on every house, gates closed and locked, garage doors firmly latched.

And Megan had no idea what to look for. A stranger with maniacal eyes skulking through backyards seeking out victims? Or someone familiar who
seemed
no different — but on the inside was sick and twisted?

It had to be someone she knew, someone who knew
her.
Someone who knew which art cubbyhole was hers, since there were no names on the boxes, someone who knew that denim shoulder bag belonged to her.

All kinds of people had been in the lake area last night. Which one of them had attacked her mother? And who did they intend to attack next?

Vicki Deems had been out on the lake. But if Vicki wanted Justin Carr for herself, how would hurting Connie Logan help her get him?

Maybe Vicki just hates everyone in Lakeside.
That was a scary thought. But, picturing Vicki’s cold, dark eyes, Megan found it easy to believe that the girl could hate someone enough to hurt them.

Discouraged because there was nothing to see or hear, Megan explored the lake for a while, then moved through the cool gray mist toward home.

She arrived to find Justin’s red car parked in the driveway, facing the lake. That was no surprise. What was a surprise was finding Juliet and Justin still in it, seated so close together they looked like one person.

And they were kissing. Intensely.

Justin had kissed Megan before. But never like that. It had been more of an I-like-you-Megan-and-I’m-glad-we-know-each-other kind of kiss. Not a Wow-are-you-ever-terrific kind of kiss, which was what he was giving Juliet this very minute.

It was so hard to remember that Justin believed he was with
her,
Megan. She wanted so much to tell him the truth, to shout, “Justin, it’s me, Megan, over here. That’s not me you’re kissing, it’s a ghost named Juliet!”

But he wouldn’t be able to hear her.

Justin pulled Juliet even closer. Mist clouded the windshield and the windows, obliterating the outside world. The pair didn’t seem to mind.

Megan fled.

Twenty agonizingly long minutes later, when Juliet entered the bedroom, a dreamy smile on her face, Megan was waiting for her.

“Juliet,”
Megan said,
“someone could have come up behind that car and pushed it straight into the lake, and you and Justin wouldn’t have known it until your shoes started to get soggy. I don’t call that being careful!”

Juliet threw herself across the unmade bed, rolled over on her back, and thrust a lace-edged pillow under her head. “Sounds to me like somebody’s jealous,” she said with a grin. “Gosh, Megan, I don’t see why. Justin thinks that was
you
he was kissing.” Another grin. “And kissing and kissing and … listen, I was doing you a big favor. Jump starting his motor for you.”

“Justin’s going to get suspicious. He knows I’m not that … that outgoing.”

Juliet grinned, catlike. “He doesn’t seem to mind.”

Just then the phone rang.

“Oh, hello, Hilary.” Juliet’s voice became ice cream, smooth and cold. “Yes, my mother’s fine. She came home this afternoon.” She listened for a moment and then said, “Well, I just don’t think I have anything to apologize for. You’re too sensitive, that’s all.”

There was an audible click on the other end.

Juliet shrugged and replaced the phone.

Megan had been listening.
“What did you do to Hilary? Why does she want an apology?”

“Because she’s silly, that’s why. And because she never learned that three is a crowd. My goodness, Megan, I learned that when I was two years old.”

Megan, thinking that the last thing in the world Hilary needed right now was to have her feelings hurt, said,
“She didn’t really leave last night because she was tired, did she? Juliet, what did you do?”

The heat wave had finally broken, and a gust of wind sent a cool mist into the room, stirring the curtains. Juliet jumped up to close the window and then went to the closet and grabbed a white terrycloth robe hanging on the back of the door. “I simply said that it was too bad she didn’t have a date on Saturday night and had to hang around with Justin and me. The next thing I knew, she was calling her father to come and pick her up, and five minutes later she was out of here. It’s really not my fault, Megan. I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, but I wanted to be alone with Justin.”