The Jumbee (24 page)

“I’ll take you to Manchineel Cay,” he said in defeat.

Esti’s body quivered with the overwhelming sensation of his hands holding her hands hostage, his breath tickling her cheek. Although the afterglow of the halogen lamp blurred her eyes, she could almost make out his dark shape crouched in front of her.

“It will be a mistake, of course,” he said “But such is my love, to thee I so belong, that for thy right, myself will bear all wrong.”

“Is it dangerous?” Esti could barely whisper the words.

“The island is mine.” His fingers tightened on hers, seeming to tremble with the effort. “You’ll be quite safe, as long as you’re with me. The danger is only to me.”

“Why is the cay dangerous to you?”

“It’s not the cay that frightens me.”

She forced out a tiny laugh. “Are you worried that I’ll find out your real name is Elon Somand?”

He moved so quickly that she couldn’t keep him from pulling away again. “When you come to my house, perhaps you will finally know who I am.”

“You’re here!”

The moment Esti walked into the theater the next day, Carmen leaped out of her chair in the back row.

“I
said
you’d be back today,” Carmen cried, flinging her arms around Esti. “I knew the new rumors weren’t true.”

Esti returned Carmen’s hug, feeling confused and a little silly as everyone turned around to look at them. “More rumors? Fancy that.”

“I guess the jumbee didn’t possess you during Carnival.”

Esti twitched her toes, aware of the soft cloth wrapped around her foot beneath her sneaker and secured with a rubber band that Alan had found on the stage before she left. She had studied the bandage in detail after she got home last night. A jumbee wouldn’t carry around a fine linen handkerchief, she quickly decided. Of course, she wasn’t sure a normal twenty-five-year-old guy would have one either.

“Do you know,” Carmen added, “you’re the strangest girl I’ve ever known?”

Esti snorted. “
That
I believe.”

Carmen pulled Esti down to the seat beside her, leaning close so no one else could hear. “Rafe asked me out last night. He was pretty insistent about it.”

Esti caught her breath.

“I finally met him at the park, even though Chaz would kill me if he found out.”

Esti felt a stab of jealousy, tinged with dismay. Was Rafe going after Carmen in revenge? Would Carmen do that to Chaz—or to Esti? Not that Esti had any right to judge what either one of them did.

“Carmen, look . . .”

“All he wanted was to talk about you. He said you dumped him for a jumbee dancer.”

Esti scowled. She had warned Rafe that he might get hurt. She’d
tried
to be truthful with him.

“He kept asking if I knew what was wrong with you,” Carmen continued. “I finally managed to dig out of him that you were dating this other guy all last semester, even though you never told me a thing. Why are you keeping all these secrets from me? I swear, Rafe was seriously bummed. I never thought in a million years you were really his type, but he’s totally into you. Honestly, Jane Doe, what else do you have going on behind my back?”

Esti’s head spun in sickening loops as she tried to think how to answer Carmen. She didn’t know what was going on. She’d been doing all she could to get over Rafe, spending hours in her bedroom studying Manchineel Cay with bin-oculars. She knew the cay wasn’t visible from Coqui Beach, but it was within shouting distance from The Boardwalk. Would Rafe shout at her, if he knew she would soon be there with Alan? If Rafe pulled her into his arms, would she melt into his kiss without a second thought?

“I have some things going on right now,” she finally said. It sounded pathetic, even to her.

Carmen’s eyes narrowed. “Like fooling around with a jumbee?”

“I’ve never fooled around with anyone but Rafe.” Esti’s cheeks grew warm as the words blurted from her mouth. She couldn’t believe she’d just said that to Carmen. Now the whole school would know.

“I knew it,” Carmen crowed. “Rafe’s always gotten every girl he ever wanted. But you dumped
him
before he could dump you. Jane Doe has out-Rafed the infamous Rafe Solomon!”

“Carmen.” Esti closed her eyes. “I’m never telling you anything again.”

“You never tell me anything in the first place. All I can say is, I can’t wait until your name really is as big as your dad’s. You’re gonna give the paparazzi a field day.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“
Now
what’s going on?” Carmen abruptly raised her voice. “Lance, stop messing with the lights.”

As Esti opened her eyes again, she was half blinded by the brilliance surrounding her. Every light in the house had come on. Over the excited voices of the others, she heard a muffled shout from center stage. She raised her hand against the floodlights in time to catch a movement followed by a pained cry. Frowning, she rose to her feet.

“Mr. Niles.” Danielle’s strong voice pierced the air. “Oh, my God!”

Fear shot through Esti as she ran down the aisle behind Carmen, trying not to limp from the pain in her right instep. The theater had become so bright it almost seemed on fire, light blazing from every corner. The rest of the class was gathering in front of the stage, where Mr. Niles huddled on the floor beneath the lights. He clutched his leg, swearing in a harsh, steady stream of unintelligible West Indian dialect. Danielle crouched beside him, glancing up at Greg with frightened eyes.

“What happened?” Carmen asked Chaz.

“No idea.”

Esti strained to hear Chaz over Niles’s cursing.

“The lights came on,” Chaz said, “and then Niles charged out from backstage. I didn’t see him fall, but Danielle says he went off the edge of the stage like a jumbee pushed him.” Chaz shook his head, his eyes wide. “This place
is
haunted.”

The swearing stopped in time for Chaz’s last words to be clearly heard.

“It’s because of you,” Mr. Niles said. “Everyone on Cariba knows it.”

Chaz turned deep red, but Esti felt a profound apprehension as she met the theater teacher’s frightened eyes. Mr. Niles wasn’t talking to Chaz.

“Esti was with me,” Carmen said into the silence. “We were talking in the last row when the lights . . .” She trailed off uncertainly.

As Mr. Niles lifted both hands in a deliberate warding gesture, Chaz stood up. He glanced uneasily at Esti before running toward the main door with a mutter about getting some help.

“You have hear the news?” Lucia stopped beside the courtyard bench, her expression even more somber than usual. “Mr. Niles he quit.”

“Great.” Carmen stared morosely out at Manchineel Cay. “Esti, are the talent scouts not coming, then?”

“I told you, I don’t know what’s going on,” Esti said. She hadn’t seen Lucia since Carnival, and they exchanged a cautious glance. Carmen instantly sensed the new energy in the air, her eyes darting back and forth between Esti and Lucia.

“I hear the melee,” Lucia said darkly.

“More gossip?” Carmen briefly grinned.

Esti glanced at the theater building. Alan couldn’t have caused Mr. Niles’s accident. Danielle had seen it happen with every house light on; a bunch of them had watched Niles leap from the stage, pursued by nothing and no one.

“It have melee the jumbee he is a talent scout.” Lucia stared at Carmen with narrowed eyes. “Or the jumbee had curse talent scout them. Could be that Rafe save Esti from the jumbee or”—she gave Esti a somber look—“maybe Esti have curse Rafe.”

Esti’s stomach turned at the thought that Lucia might really believe that.

“It have melee also”—Lucia’s eyes turned back to Carmen—“Carmen had curse Esti. Carmen want Rafe come to she instead.”

“Stop it, Lucia.” Now Carmen looked shaken. “What is up with you?”

“It have melee the jumbee he curse Mr. Niles,” Lucia said. She caught Esti in her piercing gaze, then shrugged. “When melee does convince a West Indian he got a jumbee after him, he ain’t so stupid to stick around, nah.”

“There she is!”

Esti shrank against her bench as Greg burst from the theater building, followed by the others.

“Danielle just called Mr. Niles on his cell phone,” Greg said as they approached. “He’s at the hospital. He canceled auditions. Theater class is over.” Greg threw his hands up into the air. “Manchicay’s theater department is history, my career is shot—” He looked at Esti in angry confusion. “What did you
do?
”

“Get off her case, you moron.” To Esti’s huge relief, Carmen instantly jumped to her defense. “If Niles quit because he’s so clumsy, it’s not Esti’s fault.”

“Theater class isn’t canceled.” They all swung around as Headmaster Fleming approached them. He was followed by the thin, artistic-looking man who’d fawned over Esti at the Christmas party.

“I would like to introduce all of you to Frederick McKenzie, an agent from one of New York’s prime talent agencies,” Mr. Fleming continued.

Everyone grew wide-eyed at the name. Esti studied the man in wonder as Mr. Fleming talked. At the party she’d had no idea who he was, but even her father had mentioned
the
Frederick McKenzie from time to time.

“You probably all know that his background is in theater. Mr. McKenzie saw your Christmas performance. He was dropping by to talk to Mr. Niles when all the excitement happened this afternoon. To make a long story short, he signed a contract as your temporary teacher for a few weeks, until I can find someone for the rest of the semester.”

When the new man beamed at Esti, she could only stare back at him in disbelief.

“I’ve assured Mr. McKenzie he won’t have any problems, particularly with superstitious students.” Headmaster Fleming glanced around the class, turning last to Esti. His eyes locked on her for a long moment before he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“Isn’t that correct, Miss Legard?”

Act Two. Scene Nine.

“Did you talk to Frederick at the Christmas party?” Esti still hadn’t gotten over Mr. Fleming’s bombshell announcement this afternoon.

Aurora sat down beside Esti on the balcony, her expression solemn. “Of course. We were introduced last year at one of your father’s ceremonies.”

“Oh.” Esti couldn’t help feeling deflated. “Frederick was one of dad’s friends, then.”

“A business acquaintance. I’m sure you never met him.”

“Because I stopped going to dad’s events?”

Aurora shrugged. “You obviously need to have your own life.”

Esti picked at the label on her soda bottle, worried about the edginess in her mom’s voice. Esti had always thought of Aurora as so independent, but she was clearly miserable these days. Maybe she had secretly needed the credentials of The Great Legard to be happy.

“I mean,” Aurora added, “look how busy you were with Rafe at the Christmas party. I was surprised to see you disappear right after Frederick McKenzie gave you an extremely rare compliment. Then again, I’m beginning to wonder if I ever really understood you.”

“I talked to Frederick this afternoon.” Esti yanked the soda label off with a jerk. “He insists we all call him Frederick instead of Mr. McKenzie, and he calls everyone ‘Darling,’ even the boys. Carmen loves him.”

Aurora raised her eyebrows. “When will he hold auditions?”

“We’re not doing a new play yet.” Despite her lingering pain—and guilt—Esti couldn’t keep her enthusiasm from growing. “He wants us to do
Romeo and Juliet
again, two weeks from now. It will be a special showcase for Manchicay School. He’s got a couple of Broadway producers coming from New York to see us. He talked the art teacher into loaning him her best students to help with sets, because he’s already redesigned the entire stage. This guy is good.”

“Two weeks?” Aurora’s voice remained distant. “He certainly set that up fast.”

“He started making phone calls before Christmas. He told us he doesn’t know a single New Yorker—even a busy one—who hasn’t scrambled to rearrange their schedule for a free January weekend on a Caribbean island.”