The Zodiac Collector (34 page)

We huddle together, our arms an interlocking knot of unity. Zeena has been so corrupted by power that she's forgotten about love and family. Still, she controls the weather, the stars, and the entire Zodiac and we're defenseless against any smiting. I cringe, swallowing the sticky lump of terror rising in my throat. Whatever happens, at least I'm spending my final moments with my closest friends and family.

Lightning does not flash. Thunder does not boom. Wind does not howl.

Curious, I open one eye, then the other. The night is still. Zeena stands a few feet away from us, arms spread wide, palms facing the universe above.

“Gamma, why isn't anything happening?” I whisper.

“The signs. They're not responding to her.”

“Is it because we're all here?” Mary asks.

“I'd say so, dear. You've swayed the Zodiac to listen to you.”

“Signs, why have you abandoned me?” Zeena screams.

Gamma tries to stand. “Help me, boys. Girls, keep hold of me.”

William and Evan steady her while Mary and I grip her hands tight.

“This is your last chance, sister,” she warns.

Zeena lowers her gaze to us. The cold fire burning inside them flares, then hushes, stifled and somber. “I have nothing left. I'm all alone.”

“You don't have to be, Eneaz.” Gamma reaches out to her sister.

“It is too late for me, Edith. I cannot go back to my old life.” She drops to her knees, broken, pitiful, powerless. “Send me away, but be merciful.”

Gamma sniffs. Her face glistens with falling tears. “I love you, sister.”

“I do not deserve your forgiveness.” Zeena folds her arms into her robes and closes her eyes.

Gamma chants:

Zeena opens her mouth in a silent scream. The four Zodiac colors stream out of her mouth in a rainbow of vomit. She flails and arches.

Mary stuffs her face into my shoulder. Evan cocoons her in an embrace. William presses into my back. I lean against him, but don't look away. Gamma cries. I can only partially understand the agony she's feeling. I'd thought I'd lost Mary once and it almost killed me. I can't imagine being the one to send her away.

The rainbow fades and the world darkens. Zeena—Eneaz—disappears in a blink. An empty void is left in her place.

Gamma releases my hand. “She's gone.” Mary pulls Gamma into a hug. I wrap my arms around her too.

Her body shakes with sobs. She struggles to catch her breath. “Where are the others?”

All the kids from the Zodiac plane crowd around us, somber and quiet.

Gamma's smile is the smile of someone who's lost everything and still is brave enough to set aside her own pain to help others. “Let's send you home.”

Callie steps closer. “What'll happen? When we get home, I mean. Will everything be normal?”

Gamma nods. “It'll be as if you've never left.” Gamma opens her arms wide. “Gather ‘round, kids and hold hands.”

She chants:

Epilogue

T
he bell rings and Ms. Sutters announces, “Time is up. Please stop working.”

A collective sigh escapes all the students in the room. I lean back in my chair and stretch my aching muscles. Sludge fills my skull instead of brains. That's what math does to me—it takes fresh, young, pliable neurons and liquefies them.

Twenty chairs scrape across the floor as the students rise.

Mary files in line behind me. We dribble out of the room half-dead from all the knowledge we just belched out. A whole day of testing. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.

“How'd you do?” Mary bops my ponytail and hops next to me so we walk side by side.

I shrug. “Uh, well, I answered all the questions.”

She hooks pinky fingers with me and swings her arm. “I bet you did great. Once Shequan showed you his trick, you got every practice problem right.”

“I wish I had your confidence.”

She pauses. Students flow around us like river water breaking over stubborn rocks. Some stare straight ahead with vacant expressions while others toss us annoyed frowns.
“My
confidence? You're the one who always acts so certain of herself.”

“That's just it. I'm
acting
. I don't know what I'm doing.” I duck my head and start walking again.

“Anne. I'm beyond impressed by how you,” she balls her hand into a fist, “go after stuff. You don't let fear stop you.”

I clap a palm over her fist. “And I'm impressed by how you always think things through and ace every single test put in front of you.”

She smirks.

“We make a pretty good team, though.”

“When we work together.”

William and Evan crash into us from behind. They both yell, “Huzzah!” William wraps an arm around my shoulder while Evan circles Mary's waist with his. He lifts her up.

She squeals and kicks out. “Put me down!”

He lets go and pecks her on the cheek.

She giggles.

“Time to celebrate.” William shakes me.

“Definitely,” I reply. A pleasant buzz carries me along the hallway, out the front door. Humid air swirls around us in a sticky, sweat-inducing welcome to summer.

“Okay guys, assume PG positions in 3…2…1…” I nudge Mary and nod toward Dad's truck.

Mary and Evan separate and William unwraps his arm from my neck.

“We'll see you later,” William says.

Evan nods and waves. “Later.”

They're swallowed up by the crowd before I have a chance to ask them where we'll “see” them and when “later” is.

Dad waves and leans over to unlock the door. Mary slides into the middle while I hop into the passenger seat. “How'd it go, girls?”

“Okay.” Mary clicks her belt in place.

“We're still alive,” I mumble.

Dad chuckles. He flips on the AC, opens the vents, and merges into traffic. Fifteen minutes later, instead of taking a left at the intersection toward home, he turns the wheel right.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“Your grandmother's.” He smiles and clicks off the AC. “What do you think about spending a couple days there? You know, get out of the house and have some fun. Be kids.”

Mary glances at me, then Dad. “Huh?”

“Mom's going through a lot right now. She's very sick, so I'm going to stay home with her and help her get back on her meds.” He pulls into Gamma's driveway. “I just think it's best if you guys hang out there and come home when she's feeling better. Besides, your grandmother has a surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” I grip my seatbelt.

Dad shifts into park. “Mom packed your bags, and I brought them and the dogs over earlier.”

“Mom packed our bags?” God knows what's inside them.

He grips the steering wheel until his knuckles turn white. “She says she's sorry for putting you girls through…hell. I'm sorry too. I know it's too little, too late, but I hope that when Mom is better we can all sit down and talk.”

“For real?” Good thing I'm buckled in because if I wasn't I'd probably fall out of the truck.

He splays his fingers and taps the wheel with his palms. “You don't have any reason to believe me, but things will be different. I promise.” He swings his arm around Mary's neck and kisses her head while squeezing my shoulder. “I've been a crappy dad and I have no excuse. So I can understand if you don't believe me.”

“You can't drink anymore,” Mary whispers.

“I know.”

“And Mom has to stay on her medicine all the time,” I add.

“I know.”

“How can you promise us that it'll happen?” Mary picks at a fingernail.

“I can't, Mary, but I can promise to do the best I can.”

“Why now?” I twist so he can't keep hold of me. “You've had plenty of chances before this to do something.”

His hand flutters through his hair. “I don't have a good answer for you, Anne, except that I've made some bad decisions and I'm trying to make amends.”

Mary turns her head to face me. Her brows are low and she's sucking on her lips. I don't envy her, sitting between Dad and me. She has no buffer, no way of escape from his sudden awakening to stepping up to the parenting plate.

“I love you, girls.” Dad hits the “unlock” button. “Remember that.”

I unclick my buckle and open the door, insides quaking from a clash of anger, fear, and hope—a trifecta of emotions that leaves me speechless. We grab our bags from the truck bed.

After Dad reverses out of the driveway, Mary elbows me. “What do you make of that?”

I shake my head. “Absolutely no idea.”

“Could it be magick?”

“Magick doesn't change people.”

Mary's eyes darken. “I don't know about that. It changed Eneaz. It changed William and Evan. It changed us.”

“Fair enough. The question is, who chanted and what did they say?” I turn and knock on Gamma's screen door.

The dogs bark. I smile at the
click, click click
of their toenails scratching on the floor as they scramble to greet us. “Maybe Grandmother did.”

Gamma pops into view. She's drying her hands on a dish towel. She must've been in the kitchen. “Hello, girls. Come in. I'm cooking up a surprise for you, so why don't you hang out in the living room and watch TV? I'll come get you when it's ready.”

“I'm not sure I can handle any more surprises.”

Gamma grins. “Oh, you'll like this one.”

* * *

Gamma leads Mary and me by our hands, blindfolds pressed against our eyelids. I twist my mouth to the side, fighting the urge to tear the fabric away.

“Can I open my eyes yet, Gamma?” My heart thumps away, pumping excited blood through my veins. Waiting hours for a surprise is not healthy. Neither is passing those hours by debating why Dad claimed he and Mom would change. It has my fingers itching for my inhaler even though I'm not wheezing or short of breath.

“We're almost there.” She chuckles and eases us forward a few more steps. “All right, girls. Take off the kerchiefs.”

I whip the blindfold off. My jaw drops.

The woods behind Gamma's house are completely transformed. Hundreds of colorful streamers sway in the warm evening breeze. Tied to dozens of tree branches above, they create a squiggly canopy of celebration and fun. Chinese lanterns dot the paper sky in random constellations of pastel light. White Christmas lights are strung along an archway leading to the magickal oasis.

“Come on.” Gamma hooks her arm.

We follow her inside. To our left, a harp sits on an oriental rug. To our right is a table full of presents—dozens of them. More tables decorated with white tablecloths, fancy place settings, and hydrangea centerpieces are tucked amongst the trees. The center table has a three-tiered cake centered on it. Silver Zodiac symbols are piped along the lower tier, gold swirls ring the middle one, and silver stars orbit the third level. On the top rests a silver Gemini symbol.

“Grandmother, it's beautiful.” Mary clasps her hands and holds them to her chest.

My vision blurs from the shock bursting from me in tears. “It's perfect.”

Mary's grin falters. “How many people are coming?”

I do a quick count of chairs. “I'm not sure I know enough people to fill all these seats.”

“Turn around, dears.” Gamma eases Mary around.

She gasps.

I spin.

Our entire class huddles on the other side of the archway. Shequan stands at the front.

“Shequan.” I suck in a breath.

“Hey, Anne. Thanks for inviting me to your party. This is pretty cool.” He smiles and traipses inside, releasing the dam. He pauses in front of us while the other guests flood in,
ooh
and
ahh
over the cake, and settle down to pick seats.

The vacant stare he'd sported at the psych ward is gone. “I didn't bring a gift. I figure I can give you guys a couple of riding lessons. What do you think?”

Mary giggles. “That's a great gift.”

I'm tempted to ask what he remembers about Zeena, but I don't. What's the point of wrecking the moment? Besides, he's back to normal. We all are. “It's an awesome present. Thanks.”

“Cool.” He claps my shoulder with his palm and heads off to find a chair.

The harpist from the faire brings up the crowd's rear. She greets us with a bow and smile, then joins her harp and starts plucking a soothing tune.

Mary hugs Gamma. “This is the best birthday party ever, Grandmother.”

Gamma chuckles. “I'm glad you like it.”

Evan pops through the archway. He scoops Mary into a hug. She giggles and wraps her arms around his neck. They couldn't be more perfect together, really.

With a sigh, I turn from them and wander toward the arch, gaze trained on my sandals. Everyone's here. Except…

I smack directly into someone. My head jerks up.