The Lingering Grace (6 page)

“Her mom told her to babysit, but she was making out with her boyfriend in the backyard and neither of them noticed until … ”

Alice walked across the parking lot, running through story after story. The only thing she’d really managed to do was stoke her already burning curiosity. Not that she would be able to figure out whether there was a curse or not from mere rumors. She would Google the story again as soon as she got home, maybe find a few more facts …

“Hey!”

Alice stopped short. She recognized the voice though the only time she had heard it before was in a whisper, and now Eva was almost yelling.

“Alice, right?”

Alice turned to see Eva running toward her, backpack slung over her shoulder, jingling. Eva wasn’t exactly smiling, but she looked as close to happy as Alice had seen her, eyes glittering as she slowed to a walk.

“Are you doing okay? I’ve been wondering.”

Alice found herself suddenly tongue-tied. She had too many questions to know where to start, what to say. “Yeah,” she finally gasped out.

“Oh good, good.” Eva nodded and broke into a smile—the first one Alice had seen. When she smiled, Eva looked like a different person; there was an unexpected warmth about her features.

“Yeah,” Alice said again. An image of Eva pulling her sister out of the pool, cradling the dead girl in her arms, popped into her mind for no apparent reason; she blinked hard, unsettled.

“I wanted to ask you … ” Eva continued, “what happened? You know … when you …”

She didn’t need to finish the sentence. Alice knew exactly what she was talking about. As she decided how to answer, Eva’s eyes searched her face intently. Her smile disappeared and she looked more severe than ever before. Alice’s heart raced. What if she told Eva the truth? What if Eva already knew the truth? She had seemed so certain of herself when she helped Alice to rein in the spell, that Alice—at least for a second—had been sure Eva had some knowledge of magic. But now that they were standing face to face, now that Eva had that look on her face, it was easy for Alice to second-guess herself. Maybe Eva had just gotten lucky—given advice without really knowing what she was doing.

Alice decided to play it safe, to make Eva show her hand first.

“It was … it was a panic attack,” Alice improvised. “I get them sometimes. Had them ever since I was little.”

Eva nodded. “Right,” she said flatly. “I thought that it was probably something like that.”

Alice looked down at her feet. Maybe it really hadn’t been something more. But she had to know for sure—had to push just a bit more. “You really helped me. How … how
did you know what to do?”

Eva shrugged. “Oh, you know … I just figured. You know, that’s what they say you have to do if you’re having an anxiety attack. Take deep breaths. In and out. I just recognized the symptoms and … ” She was rambling and she seemed to know it. She stopped, bit her lip, and looked Alice straight in the eyes. “Were you
warm
at all?”

“Was I warm?” Alice repeated, a little flutter of hope rising in her stomach.

“There was a moment when I was really hot. And I wasn’t sure if I had a fever or something. Did you feel anything like that? Or was it just me? I just … wonder if I might be getting the flu.”

“I don’t know … Maybe it was
magic
or something … ” Alice laughed nervously as the sentence slipped from her lips. She was giving Eva every possible opportunity.

Eva frowned as though Alice had just insulted her.

“I don’t see how that’s funny.”

“I just … sorry.”

Great. Not only was Eva
not
eager to talk about magic, she also thought Alice was crazy.

“It’s okay,” she said, her face unreadable. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re doing better now.”

She turned around and began to walk away.

“Wait!” Alice called after her. Eva stopped at once. “Do you want to get coffee with me tomorrow before school?”

Eva turned to look at her and Alice felt like an idiot. She sounded pathetic, like someone desperate for friends. She hastily tried to cover.

“I … want to make sure you know someone at school. It’s hard being new. I know.”

Eva considered her for a moment, then said, “Thanks, Alice, but my mom drives me to school and she wouldn’t want to get up early. I’ll see you in class.”

She walked away and Alice watched her, fully aware that Eva was making an excuse. She could have kicked herself. Eva had sought her out and Alice had promptly scared her away. She should have just left it at the panic attack and not dug any deeper. Of course Eva didn’t believe in magic—what sane person would?

Now Alice was the last person in school Eva would want to be friends with. The realization stung. There was no way she’d get the truth about Eva’s sister now. And Alice’s dreams of finally finding a friend who understood her were popping faster than soap bubbles.

Tony only lived a quarter mile from Alice’s school—a prime location if he had actually been a student there. His mom, however, didn’t believe in public education and insisted he enroll in a private prep school twenty minutes away. It was convenient to have him so close, though. Alice usually walked to his place after school and the two of them did homework—or pretended to do homework—for a few hours before he drove her home.

Alice’s dad’s protective instincts had kicked in when he found out about this arrangement, and he had made it abundantly clear that he thought she spent too much time with Tony. Fortunately, he didn’t have the free time or the energy to actually do anything about it. Plus her mom wouldn’t hear a word against Alice’s “new friend” and probably wouldn’t have cared if Alice announced she would be spending the night with him. In fact, during one intensely awkward discussion, she had told Alice that she hoped they were “being safe” and wouldn’t believe any of Alice’s adamant protests that it wasn’t like that at all.

Sometimes Alice wished it could be like that, but she knew Tony wouldn’t bring up the subject, and she certainly didn’t have the guts to do it herself. Besides, Tony’s mom had a much stricter sense of propriety than Alice’s; she made a point of poking her head into the room at least once every hour under the guise of checking if they “needed anything.”

So, partly by necessity and partly by unspoken agreement, Tony and Alice were taking it slow.

Tony wasn’t always home by the time she got there, so she was a little surprised to see him sitting on the porch when she arrived.

“Hey,” he said. “I thought we could go to the park today. I have a huge math assignment and I think it might be less soul-crushing if I work on it in the sunshine.”

“Ms. Moon strikes again?” she asked. She sat down on his lap and put her arm around his shoulders. He laughed and kissed her forehead—a quick peck that barely brushed her skin. As he pulled away, his eyes darted back toward the house.

“I honestly think she’s made a pact with the devil to enslave innocent high school students.” Another glance behind him. For someone who was usually comfortable at home, this behavior was out of the ordinary. Maybe he had gotten into a fight with his mom. Alice hadn’t ever seen them argue before.

“I thought she
was
the devil?”

“She still could be. She does have horns.”

Alice laughed. From Tony’s frequent complaining, Alice knew that Ms. Moon was an eccentric older woman who wore her shockingly white hair in two narrow buns.

At that moment, there was a loud laugh from inside the house—a man’s laugh. Alice turned around and tried to see through the front window, which wasn’t easy through the glare. There was no one in the front room, but the television was on in the living room, and sitting on the couch, his back to her, she saw the rough outline of someone who was definitely not Tony’s mother. It couldn’t be Tony’s dad either—not only was he unwelcome in Nora’s house ever since the divorce, he was also on a ghost-hunting expedition in Mexico at the moment.

“Is your mom dating someone?” Alice asked, shocked. She had never seen a man around before and Tony’s mom hadn’t mentioned anyone. Now that she thought about it, it didn’t seem so strange. Nora Waters was gorgeous, smart, and easy to get along with. Any guy would be lucky to catch her eye.

But Tony shook his head.

“No, she isn’t. Let’s go—I got snacks.” He grabbed a plastic bag from the chair next to him and tried to stand up, but Alice, still sitting on his legs, wouldn’t budge. She looked at the driveway and saw a beat-up red sedan that she didn’t recognize.

“Who is that?”

“Who?”

Now he was just being difficult. Alice crossed her arms. “The guy inside,” she said, gesturing toward the window.

“Oh, him.” Tony wouldn’t meet her eyes. He glanced over his shoulder, as though he had only just remembered that there was a stranger in his living room. Finally, in a flat voice, he said, “That’s just my brother. You ready to go?”

They stood up, but Alice was far from ready to drop the subject. “Your
brother
? I thought he lived in Iowa. How long is he visiting? Can I meet him?”

Tony grabbed his books and the bag of snacks in one hand and took her hand with the other. “Maybe tomorrow. He just barely got here.” He started walking down the porch steps, pulling her with him.

“Tony, I won’t embarrass you.”

He shook his head. “You could never embarrass me, Alice, I’m worried about
him
.”

“But why—?”

Just as they reached the sidewalk, the front door of the house popped open. Alice looked up hopefully, but it was just Tony’s mom. She hurried down the front steps, holding out Tony’s phone.

“You left it on the table,” she said. “I’m glad I caught you! I didn’t realize you were headed out.”

She smiled at Alice, but the bags under her eyes were darker than usual and her normally shiny curls looked frizzy and flat. Alice, who liked Tony’s mom and frequently told him so, was worried. She had seen her own mom look that way after particularly vicious arguments with her dad.

“Are you feeling ok, Nora?” Alice asked. Using Ms. Waters’ first name still made her uncomfortable, but Tony’s mom insisted on it. (“You’re practically an adult,” she had said. “And God knows, sometimes I still act like a teenager.”)

“I’m fine, sweetie, thanks,” she said with a wan smile that said exactly the opposite.

“Thanks, Mom,” said Tony.

“Decided you’d rather spend the afternoon outside?” she asked. Her tone was light, but there was something knowing about the way she looked at Tony.

“That’s why we live in California, right? Best weather in the world!” he said with a forced cheeriness that grated on Alice’s ears—and her nerves.

“Say hi to Danny for me,” said Alice. “Apparently I’m not allowed to meet him yet—I knew I should have dressed up today.”

“It’s not that. You look great,” said Tony automatically. He was gripping his backpack strap so tightly that Alice wondered if it would be permanently misshapen. Here she was acting grumpy about not getting to meet this brother while Tony was clearly miserable. She already regretted complaining.

“I’m sure Tony just wants to make sure Danny has a chance to settle in. It’s been a long few weeks for him and moving is always hard,” said Nora.

“He’s moving in?” Alice asked, turning to Tony. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I hadn’t gotten around to it … ” he said, with a longing look down the street.

“Well, what’s he doing? Will he be here long?” she asked Nora directly, as Tony wasn’t eager to give her any satisfying answers. Now that she thought about it, Tony had never been particularly forthcoming about his only sibling. All she knew was that Danny was twenty-five and had dropped out of college to work. She didn’t know where. She didn’t even know if he and Tony got along. Of course, with Danny being a full eight years older, it was possible that they’d never had the chance to become either friends or enemies.

“He’s looking for a job, but you know it’s always hard for someone in his situation. He had some temp work for a month or so after his release—manual labor, no questions asked—but that ended a couple weeks ago and without any savings he had no choice but to come home.”

“I guess he wishes he hadn’t dropped out.”

Nora shook her head wearily. “I wish that was the problem. Unfortunately, it’s his background that’s the issue.”

“His background?”

“Alice—” Tony pulled her hand and looked pleadingly at his mother. Nora, however, either didn’t see or simply chose to ignore him.

“Yes. Danny just finished a two-year sentence. No one wants to hire an ex-convict.”