Текст книги "The Spider Ring"

Автор книги: Andrew Harwell

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 8 страниц)

As a final sign of how upside down the day was, Rob was allowed to spend the night with Rafi, even though it was a school night.

When Maria answered the door, and Rob dashed straight back to Rafi’s room with his overnight bag, Mr. McCormick handed Maria a bowl of banana pudding with an apologetic smile. Before she could say that they hadn’t finished the first one, Mr. McCormick said, “Sorry about this. I guess Terry’s gone bananas from all the party planning this week.”

Maria laughed politely and thanked him for the pudding. She’d completely forgotten Claire’s birthday party was the next day.

“Will we see you at our house tomorrow night?” Mr. McCormick said warmly.

“No, I —” She’d started to say that she hadn’t been invited, since apparently he didn’t know. She liked the idea of Claire getting in trouble with her parents. But now didn’t seem like the time to shatter Mr. McCormick’s image of his daughter, right when he’d done her family a kindness. “I just have so much going on this week. Helping my mom and all.”

“Right, of course. Where are my manners? I’m so sorry about your grandmother.”

Maria shrugged. She still didn’t know how to respond when adults said this.

“Please tell your mother hello, and thanks again for putting up with Rob tonight. You call me if he gives you any trouble.”

Mr. McCormick winked at her and headed back to his car. He really was a nice man. A little silly – not at all like Maria imagined her own father would be – but nice. How he was the father of two such different children Maria would never understand. But then, she supposed she and Rafi didn’t exactly have that much in common, either.

Maria took the banana pudding to the fridge and found her mother at the kitchen table, staring off into space again.

“You okay?” Maria asked.

“What? Oh, yeah,” her mom replied. “Just thinking.”

“Mrs. McCormick sent over another banana pudding.”

“But we haven’t even touched the last one.”

Maria held up her hands as if to say, What did you want me to do? Send it back?

“So Rob is here?”

“Yeah, he went back to Rafi’s room.”

“Good,” Mom said. “I’m glad Rafi is able to do some laughing tonight.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, nothing. I just worry about you kids sometimes. One death is a lot, but two? I don’t want you and your brother growing up thinking life is this big, sad thing.”

“I don’t think that,” Maria said. “I laugh all the time.”

“Do you?” Mom said, looking at Maria earnestly.

Maria laughed. “Yes, Mom. See?” She tugged at the edge of her shirt. “Derek makes me laugh,” she said quietly.

“That’s true. Derek is a good egg.”

“He seemed a little weird this morning.”

“At the funeral?”

Maria nodded.

“Well, he was very close to your grandmother, too, you know. Grief affects us all differently.”

“Yeah,” Maria said. She could hear the steady thwack thwack of two wooden swords from the direction of Rafi’s room.

Mom drifted back to thinking whatever she was thinking, and Maria left her to it.

She slipped back into her room and pulled down one of her favorite books, Agatha at Sea, about a royal kitchen maid who finds a sword in the castle moat and becomes a pirate. Rereading her favorite books always made her feel happy and safe, because she already knew what would happen in the end. She wished that real life could work that way – that she could see the future, and that the future she saw would be always happy.

Tonight, Maria was having a hard time focusing on reading. Her eyes kept drifting over to her nightstand, where the spider ring was hiding in its box. Finally, she set her book down in defeat, promising herself that she’d just look at the ring for a second and then put it away.

She took out the ring and slipped it on her finger. It was no longer warm, which was a small relief. Hopefully that meant it hadn’t tried to do any magic without her.

Maria made her breath as quiet as possible. She cupped her hands behind her ears, supposing that maybe she’d be able to hear the spiders the way she’d started to last night. But Maria heard nothing. Even the dueling sounds from her brother’s room had stopped.

Maria was shocked to discover that she knew why. Rafi and Rob were on their way to her room.

She followed the faint tremors of their footsteps as they tiptoed down the hallway and up to her door. It wasn’t that she could see them, exactly, or that she’d had a premonition of something that would happen soon – it was that she could feel the vibrations, actually, physically, as if the house were her web and Rob and Rafi had stumbled into it.

She stared at her door a full second before Rafi pushed it open. Instantly, her brother took a step backward and gasped.

“What are you doing?” he said, his voice cracking. Rob stood beside and a little behind him. Both boys looked terrified.

“What do you mean?” Maria asked, smoothing out the blanket on the bed next to her, mostly so she could hide her hand under her pillow and slip off the ring.

“You were staring at something, and your eyes …”

“My eyes what? What are you talking about, Rafi?”

“It looked like your eyes were totally black,” Rob said. Rafi seemed to have gone mute.

“Very funny,” Maria said. She didn’t think the boys were kidding, but she hoped if she could convince them she did, they would drop the subject.

After a long pause, Rob smiled, and Rafi said, “Don’t do that again, whatever it was. It was creepy.”

Maria laughed, doing her best impression of someone who wasn’t afraid. “Whatever you say.”

“Hey, look at that,” Rob said, pointing at something over Maria’s shoulder. She followed his finger and saw, in the far corner of her ceiling, the biggest spiderweb she had ever seen. She didn’t know how she’d missed it earlier.

“Man, Maria, Mom’s going to be mad when she sees you didn’t clean your room,” Rafi chided.

“I did too clean my room,” Maria said. “And if you tell her about this, I’ll tell her you snuck in my room and tried to scare me.”

Rafi stuck out his tongue at her.

“It’s a good thing my sister’s not here to see this,” Rob said. “She hates spiders. What’s that thing called when you’re afraid of them?”

“Arachnophobia?” Maria said.

“Yeah, that’s it. Claire is totally that.”

Maria felt something click in the back of her brain. An idea was forming there, and she was a little ashamed of it, but she told herself it was more of a dream than a plan. At least, for now.

“Are you going to her party tomorrow?” Maria asked Rob.

“Ew, no,” he said. “I heard Claire tell one of her friends that she was hoping they’d play truth or dare. I don’t want to be anywhere near that party.”

Maria started to ask something else, but Rafi seemed annoyed that his friend and his sister were having a conversation without him, so he grabbed Rob by the arm and said, “Come on, let’s go back to my room.” Just like that, they left Maria alone.

She jumped up and looked in her mirror. Her eyes weren’t black, except in the middle where they were always black. They were brown and normal. She’d really been scared for a second there.

She decided she wouldn’t grab the broom and take down the spiderweb on the ceiling. As strange as it was, she had to believe the spiders were her friends. And if she was going to pull off her idea, which was seeming less and less like a dream and more and more like a full-fledged plan, she was going to need her new friends’ help.

She brushed her teeth quickly and got ready for bed. She pulled out the ring from under her pillow and slipped it back on, climbing under her covers.

She turned out the light and closed her eyes. In the darkness, she began to imagine another beautiful dress. This one wasn’t for a funeral, though. The dress in her head was a party dress.

As Maria made her way to English class the next day, she was playing a little game in her head. The game was like one of those books where the story changes based on the choices you make – if you open the locked chest, turn to page fifty-three. On page fifty-three, a snake jumps out and bites you. The end.

The choices that were playing in Maria’s head had to do with whether or not Claire was nice to her today. If Claire was nice to her, Maria would forget her whole plan. But if Claire was mean …

Maria smoothed out the folds in her new dress. She’d decided that it was too pretty not to wear to school, even though that meant wearing a jacket to cover her arms, and getting the knee-length skirt a little wrinkled on the bus.

She reached her classroom. She walked through the door.

She saw Claire’s face.

For the tiniest fraction of a second, Claire’s eyes went soft and her mouth turned down, registering sympathy for Maria’s loss. But then, like one of those movies they’d watched in science that shows a flower dying in fast-forward, Claire’s face twisted into jealousy before decomposing into a quiet rage.

Maria could guess why Claire was jealous. She got to the front of her row and did a confident twirl, letting the hem of her dress spiral out like a movie star’s. Her classmates all locked their eyes on her, enthralled. It was the first time they’d seen her since Grandma Esme had died.

But for the moment, the only reaction that really mattered was Claire’s, and Claire’s face looked like the snake from page fifty-three, ready to strike.

“Nice dress,” she sneered, although she was unable to hide all the envy from her voice. “Where’d you get it, the dollar store?”

“It’s from Europe, actually,” Maria said, sitting down.

Claire choked on a laugh, then lapsed into silence for a full ten seconds. She turned to Mark and Tina. “Don’t forget, my party’s at six thirty,” she said. “All the cool people will be there.”

Mark and Tina smiled, but they looked a little nervous, too. They – and the rest of the class – could feel that something had changed in Maria. Something that went deeper than just a strange and expensive new outfit. Maria had power. Claire’s insults practically bounced off her.

Maria faced the front of the class with a smile.

Let them wonder, she thought. Let them feel like outcasts for a change.

“So I’ve decided we should go to Claire’s party,” Maria said at lunch. It was true, she had decided this, but at the moment she was trying mainly to get Derek’s attention. He’d been staring at his food, hardly saying a word. He looked like Rafi had once when he’d gotten food poisoning.

“I thought we weren’t invited,” Derek said, almost bored.

“Well, I wasn’t. I mean, I’m still not. I’ve decided I want to crash Claire’s party.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Derek held the same silver dollar from earlier in the week. He gripped it in his right hand like he was afraid he might drop it.

“Is everything okay?” Maria asked, though she felt weird saying it. Usually in their friendship, he was the one who made sure she was okay.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just don’t understand why you’d want to go to a party where you’re not wanted.”

He didn’t sound like Derek at all.

“I heard about a special surprise that was happening, and I thought it might be fun to see.”

“Heard where?”

“Um, from Claire? In English? Or maybe Rob told me. I can’t remember.”

Clearly, Derek didn’t believe her. “Does this ‘surprise’ have anything to do with your magic ring?” he said. She did her best to keep her face totally blank.

“No,” she lied. “Rob spent the night with Rafi last night, and he said this thing about … Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

“Are you still going to bring it by my dad’s shop?” Derek said, ignoring her outburst. “Grandma Esme’s ring?”

“If I do, will you start acting normal?” Maria snapped.

Derek seemed like he was about to snap right back, but then thought better of it.

“Yes,” he said. “I mean, sorry. It’s been weird not having you at school this week. I’ve been worrying about you and that ring. And now you show up in this fancy dress, saying you want to go to Claire McCormick’s birthday party? It just doesn’t seem like you.”

If Maria had been surprised before, this sudden role reversal really caught her off guard.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I’m still the same Maria. And if that stops being true, you’ll be the first to know.”

Derek nodded. He spun the silver dollar on the table, and he and Maria watched it until it finally wobbled and fell on its side, heads up.

“I’ll have my mom bring me by the shop after dinner,” Maria said.

“And then, if you really still want to, we can go crash Claire’s party.”

“Really?”

“Really. I wouldn’t want to miss this special surprise.”

Maria smiled. “If it’s half as good as Rob said, you’ll never forget it.”

Maria had no problem convincing her mom to take her to the shop, in yet another dress she claimed to have gotten from Grandma Esme. After what her mother had said last night about wanting them all to enjoy life, Maria probably could have asked for the car keys and driven herself.

With a quick call to Derek’s parents to let them know they were on the way, Maria and her mother hopped in the car and drove to the historic downtown district. Maria loved this part of town, over by the railroad tracks. You could still see the original brick roads peeking out where there were holes in the asphalt, and the old-timey streetlamps looked as if they could be powered by gas. Maria liked to picture the people who would have shopped here when it was the only place to go, before there were cars and outlet malls.

“Derek’s dad said he’d bring you home when you’re ready,” Mom said. “Have fun.”

Maria walked up to the front door of the shop, sandwiched in between two large display windows. There were a few new items since the last time Maria had been here. An eerie porcelain doll sat on a rocking horse with chipped paint. Maria couldn’t imagine anyone in this town buying either item, but you never knew. Sometimes the most ordinary people liked the strangest things.

It was five o’clock now, which meant the shop would be open for another hour. Derek’s family usually hung around after closing on Friday nights, though, checking inventory and setting up displays for the weekend shoppers. Saturday was a busy day for the historic district.

The old cowbell above the door clunked as Maria entered.

“Well, look who it is, dressed all nice to see us,” Mr. Overton called from behind the counter. He stepped out to meet her by the front tables. “I’m so glad you’re here. We just got in a necklace this morning that made me think of you.” He reached out his hand as if to pat her on the shoulder, but then, so fast she could hardly see it, he’d clasped the necklace around her neck. It was a string of black and purple rocks with little silver beads in between.

“Wow,” Maria said, “it’s so pretty. But there’s no way I could afford this, even with the family discount.”

“Are you kidding?” Derek’s dad said. “This beautiful necklace was clearly made special to go with this beautiful dress. Let’s call it a gift.”

It was true, the match was perfect.

“Oh, Mr. Overton, my mom would never let me accept this.”

“Please,” he said, waving his hand like it was nothing. “Besides, those look like gemstones, but they’re really just colored rocks. I couldn’t sell it for more than twenty dollars.”

“All right, then,” Maria said, laughing. “Thank you.” Fake rocks or not, it was still the third-nicest gift anyone had ever given her.

“Derek’s downstairs,” Mr. Overton said, nodding to the door in the back that led to the basement. “And do me a favor when you see him? Tell him to lighten up.”

So Maria wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Derek’s recent mood swings. That made her feel a little bit better, and a whole lot worse.

“Will do,” she said, making her way through the maze of display tables.

She descended the steps to the cavernous basement. All the buildings in the historic district had these carved-out, cave-like spaces beneath them. They were never open to the public because the sandy Florida soil made them a little unstable. Nowadays, it was rare to find a basement in any Florida building at all.

The Overtons used their basement for the antiques they were still polishing, painting, or otherwise restoring. Maria always thought it looked like a dragon’s horde down here. The old mirrors scattered around only added to the effect, multiplying the space and the treasure infinitely.

“Derek? Are you down here?” Maria called out at the bottom of the stairs.

“Maria!” Derek said, appearing from behind a bookcase with the sound of crashing objects trailing in his wake. He held an old clock in one hand and a wrench in the other, and he was scratching at his neck as if he’d just hit it on something. “What are you doing here so early? I thought you weren’t coming over until after dinner.”

“Mom had such a busy day she forgot to eat lunch, so we ate an early dinner. We called fifteen minutes ago to say we were on the way.”

“My dad didn’t tell me.”

“Oh. Well, sorry. Do you want me to go?” She said it jokingly, but Derek hurt her feelings by actually seeming to consider. “Your dad says you should lighten up, by the way.”

Derek frowned. Then he asked, “Did you bring Grandma Esme’s ring?”

“It’s my ring now, and yes, I did. Just like I promised. Any moment now, you’re going to stop acting weird, just like you promised.”

Derek looked around skittishly.

“You’re right,” he said, scratching his neck again. “It’s just, I thought you were coming later.”

“Well, Claire’s party starts in less than an hour, so …”

They stood there staring at each other, as if they were having an argument instead of a conversation between friends. For the life of her, Maria couldn’t figure out what the argument was.

“So did you want to show my ring to your dad? See if he can tell us anything?”

“No, that’s okay,” Derek said. “Aunt Luellen is the one with all the jewelry knowledge, and she’s out right now.”

“Why would Aunt Luellen know anything about jewelry?”

“She’s an appraiser. That’s what she does in New York, and all over the world. She works for one of those big auction houses, telling them how much to sell things for. Stuff that’s a lot more valuable than anything around here.”

“I like the stuff here,” Maria said, her hand going to the rock necklace at her neck. Now she knew something was really wrong with her best friend. The Derek she knew would never insult his family’s shop. “Well, is your aunt getting back before Claire’s party?”

“I don’t know,” Derek said. “She left to go see her friend again. She didn’t say when she was coming back.”

“Okay, then,” Maria said, feeling increasingly exasperated. She nodded to the wrench in Derek’s hand. “What are you working on?”

“This? It’s nothing. Just fixing up an old clock. Come on, do you want to head upstairs and walk around outside? I feel like I’ve been in this basement forever.”

Maria couldn’t agree more. She followed Derek around the piles of antiques back toward the stairs, but jerked his arm suddenly when she saw a spiderweb in their path.

“Whoa, what gives?” he said, rubbing his arm.

“You almost walked right into that web.”

“Oh, wow. I didn’t even see it.”

He leaned in to take a closer look at the web just as Maria located the spider that had made it. The spider was looking right at her, but she could still see its body, and its bloodred hourglass.

“Derek, don’t!” she exclaimed. “That’s a black widow spider. Their bites are poisonous.”

Derek jumped away.

“Jeez. Thanks, M. Now I really think it’s time to go.”

He grabbed her hand and started to lead her around the web. It was strange, she thought, that he didn’t at least want to cut the thing down.

“Derek, wait.”

“Seriously? You want to stay down here with a poisonous spider?”

“It’s just … if a black widow bites you, my mom says you can go thirty whole minutes before you feel it. I noticed you scratching your neck earlier. Do you think the spider could have already bitten you?”

“What? No way. I’m fine, Maria. But I might not be if we stay down here a second longer.”

“Do you want me to take a look at your neck?”

“I said I’m fine.”

“All right, all right,” Maria said. She didn’t want to be down here another moment, either, with the black widow spider she could swear had been watching her. She let Derek pull her up the stairs that led back to the shop. She waved helplessly to Mr. Overton as Derek gave him a very gruff good-bye, mumbling that they were going to grab root beer floats at the old-fashioned pharmacy down the block.

Outside, the sun was just beginning to set, the pinks and reds reaching out to them like fire filtered through a gemstone. Maria remembered what her mom had said about old people who got more confused as the sun went down. Could it happen to young people, too? Would Derek be warning her about lurking enemies next?

And if being confused was the first sign of something worse, would Maria be able to save him, the way she hadn’t been able to save Grandma Esme?