Текст книги " From Bad to Cursed"

Автор книги: Katie Alender

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

MONDAY MORNING, I found Carter sitting on a low brick wall in the courtyard, bent over a copy of Moby Dick. When I stepped into the sun, casting a shadow over the pages, he marked his place with the dust jacket and set the book down.

“Good morning,” he said, squinting up at me.

“Hi,” I said. “Sorry I missed your calls yesterday. I was doing a photo shoot with my sister and things got…hectic.”

“No worries.”

“But I missed you,” I said, scooting next to him. As soon as I said it, I meant it. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against his sleeve.

“You’re coming this afternoon, right?” he asked.

“What?”

“To my poster party?”

“Refresh me on what a poster party is again?”

“A campaign thing. Zoe Perry arranged it. She’s the girl I was talking to at the party for like a half hour. Keaton Perry’s little sister.”

I tried to remember her, but I couldn’t recall her face, just a voice and a bunch of political buzzwords: alignment, empowerment, proactivity. “The boring one?”

He laughed. “I hope not. What would that say about me?”

“That you’re good at humoring boring people?”

“Anyway, I need you there. I can’t be alone with her and her friends. They seem to be confusing high school politics with real politics.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “I can’t come.”

“Seriously? Why not?”

Honesty is the best policy, right? “I’m hanging out with my sister and her friends.”

The corner of his mouth went up in confusion. “The Sunshine Club?”

I shrugged. “You don’t have to call them that.”

“Why not? Everyone does. They’re like a cult.” His shoulders pressed back. “And when did you decide this? Because I asked you about the party last week and you said yes.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I forgot. Any other day except today. I need to do this for Kasey. She’s having some problems fitting in.”

“Are you joking?” he asked. “Does that look like someone having problems fitting in?”

I followed his gaze to the picnic tables, where the Sunshine Club had claimed a spot under the mottled shade of the school’s big oak tree. They sat close together, like sisters, talking and laughing among themselves. And Kasey was right smack in the center.

“You don’t understand,” I said. And he couldn’t. Because if he knew the truth, he’d flip out.

“Maybe I don’t,” he said. “You’re one of the people who really wanted me to run for president this year, and now you’re disappearing when my campaign needs you.”

“I’m not disappearing,” I said. “I’m missing one little arts and crafts party thrown by a bunch of boring preps.”

His laugh had no humor behind it. “Thanks, Lex. I love being called names.”

Just like I love being expected to make campaign appearances like some lame wifey with no life of her own. “That’s not what I meant!”

“Okay, well, I wish you could stop saying things you don’t mean. Like that I’m one of a million boring preps—or that you’ll spend time with me.”

“Where’s all this coming from?” I asked.

“I guess I don’t like being lied to,” he said.

“Who’s lying?”

He enumerated on his fingers. “You said you’d come today. You’re not going to. You say it’s because Kasey is having problems. She’s clearly not. If you’re somehow suddenly too cool to help with my campaign, I wish you’d just say it.”

“I’ve never been too cool for anything in my entire life,” I said, bristling at the accusation of lying. “I forgot about the stupid party, Carter. Sue me!”

“All right,” he said. “When you can clear some time between cult meetings, let me know.” He checked his watch. “I have to go find Zoe and tell her we’ll need extra help.”

“Stop. Please. I hate this,” I said, reaching out to him. “Can’t we just not be angry?”

“I’m not angry, Lex…I’m sad.” And he walked away.

We spent the morning exchanging terse text messages.

First, I apologized, and he said he accepted it.

The rational, grown-up thing to do would be to let it go. But I could feel the tension behind his words. So I texted him back that he didn’t have to accept my apology, and he replied that I was the one who couldn’t accept that he could accept it perfectly well…and then my fourth-period teacher made me put my phone away.

We managed about twenty words between us during lunch. Nobody noticed. Emily would have, but now she sat with the Sunshine Club. They’d moved inside to a table in the center of the cafeteria—not the prime real estate by the window, but creeping closer.

Certainly not the Janitor’s Table or the Doom Squad’s courtyard exile anymore.

So we sat like a pair of cordial strangers. We’d never had a disagreement this serious before. Some small part of me kept trying to suggest that maybe he’d overreacted and it wasn’t my fault. But it was shouted down by the rest of me, the part of me that wanted things to go back to normal as soon as possible, even if that meant taking all the blame.

Because without Carter, I didn’t even have a normal to get back to.

WE WERE EARLY, so Megan parked a few doors down from the enormous, well-manicured Laird house, and we sat in the car with the windows down, listening to the contented sighs of the engine.

After about fifteen minutes, a group of happy-go-lucky girls, including Kasey, turned the corner, coming from the direction of the school. We watched from the safety of the car, like tourists on safari.

“Look,” Megan said. “They’re all wearing skirts.”

“Kasey told my mom they’re more flattering than pants,” I said.

“Only if it’s the right skirt,” Megan snorted, staring out the window. “But they all do seem to be wearing the right skirts.”

“They do everything right. Haven’t you noticed?”

Adrienne, Kasey, and Emily went up the front walk together, all shiny hair and teeth, and disappeared through the door.

Another girl crossed the street in front of the car. She looked familiar, but it took me a moment to place her.

“Megan!” I gasped. “Is that Lydia?”

For three years, Lydia Small had prided herself on being the gothiest goth ever to stomp through Surrey in her giant steel-toed boots. But this…this was…

“Impossible,” I whispered.

She was dressed like Jackie O., and her stringy black hair had been cut and blow-dried in a perfectly turned-under bob. She glanced at us, and I saw that she was fully made up, her eyebrow ring gone, her lips a demure pink.

“She wasn’t at school today,” Megan said. “I guess we know what she was doing.”

Lydia flounced over to the car and leaned on the window ledge.

“Alexis! Megan! Hi!” She ducked down to glance into the backseat. “Where’s Miss Kasey?”

“Hi,” I said. “Uh…she’s already inside. How’s it going?”

“Perfectly!” Lydia beamed, peppy as a 1960s soda-pop commercial. “How are you girls?”

“Super-duper,” I said.

“No kidding?” Lydia asked. “So. When are you two going to join the Sunshine Club? I’m telling you, you won’t regret it.” She assumed the saintly expression of a beauty pageant contestant talking about world peace. “It has totally changed my life.”

“Actually…today,” Megan replied. I was looking down at Lydia’s hand. Gone were her many skulls and plastic spiders and other assorted jewelry (a lot of which, I’m sort of embarrassed to say, were purchased on shopping trips with yours truly, back in the day). The only thing on any of her fingers was a single, gleaming gold ring.

“Lovely!” she cried.

“Yes,” I said. “Lovely.”

“Do us a favor?” Megan said. “Don’t tell Kasey you saw us. We want to surprise her.”

Lydia’s face lit up. “No way! So fun. Of course.”

She mimicked zipping her lips shut.

If only that could be a permanent setting.

Lydia flashed us another smile and bounded away, up the rose-bordered sidewalk toward the house.

“What…on earth…was that?” I asked.

“That,” Megan said, “is what the Sunshine Club is all about.”

We were the last ones inside. Pepper sat in the kitchen, eating a banana and keeping a suspicious eye on the front door. When she saw Megan and me, her jaw dropped. “What are you guys doing here?”

I shrugged. “We’re going to the meeting.”

Pepper dropped her peel in the trash. “Megan? Explain?”

Megan smiled, like the whole thing was a lark.

“Whatever.” Pepper grabbed her car keys. “I’m going to Kira’s.”

Megan knocked lightly on Mimi’s bedroom door, and Adrienne pulled it open.

“Oh my God!” she squealed. “Hi!”

Behind her, I saw my sister’s face turn white. But Megan and I pushed our way in, and there was nothing Kasey could say in front of the other girls.

The ten of us fit in Mimi’s bedroom with room to spare. It was pristine, like an ad in a decorating magazine—the perfect backdrop for the array of immaculately dressed girls, wearing blissful, self– satisfied smiles, legs crossed at the ankle, posture perfect.

The whole room fell silent when Adrienne went to her bag and lifted out a large object wrapped in midnight-blue velvet. She set it on the dresser and unwrapped it, then held it in front of herself while everyone in the room sat perfectly still.

You had to admit—it was quite a book.

Ten inches wide, sixteen inches tall. The cover was leather, densely embossed with runes and symbols—stars, moons, vines, Celtic knots.

For a moment, I considered just grabbing it and taking off, but then Adrienne spoke.

“We protect your dwelling with our blood and our lives,” she said, in the vague drone of a pod person.

“We protect your dwelling with our blood and our lives,” everyone repeated.

Megan and I glanced at each other. They did not sound like they were kidding.

Even if I did manage to wrench the book out of her hands, there were five girls between me and the door. Self-defense training or no, odds were I’d never make it.

Adrienne broke into a smile. “I’m thrilled to announce that Alexis and Megan are joining us today! Alexis was one of the first upperclasswomen I met at Surrey, and she was so nice to me, even though she’s popular and has a boyfriend and I was a gross loser. And of course, Megan is well-known for her leadership.”

The way Adrienne talked about herself, you’d think she was dishing on some sad reject—not the sweet, well-meaning girl she’d been a few short weeks before.

“Megan and Alexis.” Adrienne could hardly speak through her giant smile. “Please stand.”

Stand? I glanced at Kasey, whose face was buried in her hands.

Suddenly I felt like maybe we should have thought this whole thing through a little more.

I got to my feet, my heart beating as if I’d climbed ten flights of stairs. Megan stood next to me.

“Please put these on your ring fingers.” She passed each of us a thin gold ring. I slipped it over my finger. Adrienne looked into my eyes, her gaze as smooth as a polished stone. “Place your right hand on the book, and repeat after me.”

Megan blinked with alarm and obeyed. Angling my body, I lifted my left hand and set it against the underside of the open book, hoping Adrienne wouldn’t notice. And if she did, I could just pretend I was confused.

But she didn’t notice.

“Geallaim dílseachta…”

“Geallaim dílseachta…”

She went through a whole long spiel of words that were nothing but nonsense—to us and to her, I could tell. I repeated as well as I could.

“A tu, Aralt,” Adrienne said with finality.

“A tu, Aralt,” we repeated.

My nerves felt like a writhing bundle of live wires.

Adrienne gently closed the book and leaned in to give us a kiss on each cheek.

“Our sisters,” she said.

Everyone clapped politely. A path cleared back to my seat on the bed, and I sank down, trying to figure out if I felt different. I felt on edge, somehow, but that was probably adrenaline. After all, I’d taken an oath in a language I didn’t understand to a supernatural being I knew nothing about.

An oath. Why hadn’t Kasey said anything about an oath?

It occurred to me that maybe she’d planned this all along. She had to know that Megan and I wouldn’t just leave the subject alone…just because we’d said we would.

No. She’d been shocked to see us. And she didn’t look happy. She really believed she could fix this herself.

But an oath…

I caught sight of myself in the mirror over Mimi’s vanity and was struck by how dumpy and unkempt I looked, especially in contrast to the perfection surrounding me. My forehead and nose gleamed with oil. I raised my sleeve to try to wipe my face.

Someone gave my arm a gentle pat, and I looked up to find myself staring into Lydia’s untroubled eyes. She smiled reassuringly.

“What a joy,” Adrienne said. “Now, sisters, let’s get down to business. Does anyone feel called to start off Betterment?”

Betterment?

For a moment, no one said anything, and then a hand rose. “Monika?” Adrienne said.

The girl she’d called on, a tall brunette, stood up. “Everyone looks wonderful today,” she said, her glance traveling quickly past me. “But I noticed at lunch that some girls were eating very large portions. Small meals in public, and then eat in the bathroom if you’re still hungry. You know we want to appear our best, inside and out.” She sighed and continued with a mournful it has to be said air. “I’m talking about Emily and Paige.”

For a few long, uncomfortable seconds, everyone stared at Emily and Paige, who ducked their heads and gazed at the carpet.

It went on for another ten minutes, girls being called out for infractions of an extremely strict and meticulous behavior and dress code. Even Adrienne was chastised for the length of her skirt—more than three finger-widths higher than her kneecaps.

Megan looked at me, her eyes asking when we were going to make our move. Then I watched as her gaze traveled to the mirror, and her eyes narrowed in distaste.

I didn’t understand—she looked fine. Just as good as any of the other girls, maybe better. I was the ugly one.

After bettering each other through the magic of nitpickery, we listened to Adrienne give a pep talk about the qualities of a successful young woman.

It was fine, I guess, if you wanted to spend every waking hour at constant attention, never relaxing, never letting down your guard. But how could a group of teenage girls keep it up? By the end of the hour, I felt like we’d been through a self-help seminar at a religious cult.

The thing was, for the time being, Aralt only seemed to want his Sunshine Club girls to be pretty, fashionable, thoughtful, and well-spoken.

It was kind of twisted—but was it evil?

“All right, everybody, that’s it,” Adrienne said, closing the book and setting it on the dresser. “Stay sunny!”

With the meeting over, all of the girls wanted to welcome Megan and me personally. There would have been no way for us to grab the book without being noticed. They held our hands and looked into our eyes and said sweet and encouraging things, like something out of a sorority in the 1950s.

“I can’t wait to see you…after,” Emily said, giving my hands a squeeze.

“After what?” I asked.

Her smile faltered. “Well…after…”

“Remember: the only people we’re called to judge are ourselves,” Lydia said. “Except during Betterment, obviously.”

Emily hurried away, leaving me alone with Lydia.

“Welcome, Alexis,” she said, touching my shoulder.

“Thanks.” I tried to act like the other girls were acting, a peculiar blend of eyes-down modesty and utter self-consciousness about the way they held themselves and moved.

“I know you don’t totally get it yet,” she said. “But it’s only your first meeting. Let me tell you—I didn’t even really want to join.” She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “I thought the whole thing was a joke.”

“No kidding.”

“Then I took the oath, and suddenly it all made sense.”

I was starting to feel like I’d had enough of this for one day. “I’m so glad for you.”

“Anyway, you have to let me do your hair.”

I’d been drifting, but that snapped me back to attention. “Do what to it?”

She laughed. “Fix it. You can’t leave it all…pink and…unfinished. A real lady doesn’t need flashy clothes or dyed hair.”

“Or eyebrow rings?” I asked.

“Exactly!” Lydia grinned like I’d finally gotten it. “She has poise, charm, and intelligence.”

“I think…I’ll just wait a few days,” I said.

Lydia’s joy evaporated. “Why would you do that?”

Obviously I couldn’t tell her that I intended to destroy the book that night, thereby removing any need to try to impress Aralt.

“You represent us now, Alexis,” Lydia said. “You’re not a single person anymore. You’re one of many.”

“Good point,” I said. “I just can’t tonight. I have a huge project to finish.” I smiled apologetically. “Gotta keep those grades up!”

“I guess.” She tried to hide her displeasure but did a pretty bad job. “Well, I’m around, as soon as you’re ready.”

Over by the bed, Megan and Kasey were busily talking to Adrienne. I edged closer to listen to them.

“And I’m excited about all the meetings and the improving and the—Alexis!” Megan said, turning to me. “I’m telling Adrienne and Kasey how much I look forward to growing and improving!”

It was totally obvious to me that she was acting. And Kasey was just as manic. But Adrienne was so delighted by their gushing enthusiasm that she just looked from one to the other while they fluttered around her like a couple of hyperactive fruit flies.

Then I saw what Megan and Kasey were doing as they talked: packing up their book bags.

Megan kept pushing. “I’m just so elated! Aren’t you, Alexis? I’m, like, beyond…”

Beyond sanity, I thought. But I had to pull my own weight. “Yeah,” I said. “Totally. I’m totally, I mean…I can imagine that this is going to be a great opportunity to…uh…grow. And, like, improve.”

“Yes!” Adrienne said, practically glowing. “Totally!”

“Okay, that’s everything!” Kasey said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh—” Adrienne said, looking around. “My bag.”

“I packed it for you,” Megan said. “I wanted to help! I love helping! I love being part of a sisterhood!”

Adrienne blinked a couple of times. There might have been a tear glinting in her eye. “Wow…thanks, Megan.”

“Yay!” Megan said, giving Adrienne a hug. I thought she was kind of laying it on a little thick, but Adrienne was loving it. She “yayed” back and stared dazedly at Megan, like a little kid presented with the most magnificent birthday cake in the world.

“We should drive Adrienne home,” Kasey said. “It’s a long walk.”

Adrienne blushed and self-consciously adjusted the hem of her pink blouse. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Oh my gosh, of course we do!” Megan squealed. “We’re sisters!”

As soon as Adrienne disappeared inside her house, Megan flopped back against her seat.

“Holy buckets,” she said. “I feel like my eyes are about to pop out of my skull.”

“‘I love helping?’” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Megan shot me an annoyed glance. “We got the book, didn’t we?”

I turned to see Kasey sitting in the backseat, staring out the window. “Thanks a lot, by the way,” I said. “Love the thing with the oath. Really appreciate you mentioning that. It was great. Just marvelous.”

Her face contorted with indignance. “You said you’d let me take care of it!”

“You should have told us the whole truth!”

She sat up. “You didn’t even tell part of the truth, Lexi!”

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t,” I said. “If you didn’t know enough to know that the oath was, like, the most important detail of the whole thing, you could never have figured it out on your own any-way.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Megan said. “We’re going to trash the book, and it’ll be a nonissue.”

My sister leaned forward, her face between the two front seats. “Maybe I didn’t bring it up because I knew you guys would butt in if I did!”

“Hey!” Megan snapped. “Stay sunny!”

Kasey folded her arms and slumped back.

I distracted myself by switching on the radio and searching for something good. Or at least loud.

I briefly considered telling them about how I’d foiled the oath with my left-hand switcheroo, but what would be the point?

A wave of foreboding passed through me, almost like a premonition of danger.

But danger was what we were avoiding, by destroying Aralt’s power center. We’d be getting rid of him before he could come collecting on whatever promises the Sunshine Club had made.

“So let’s make an actual plan for destroying the book,” I said, as Megan made the turn into Silver Sage Acres.

“If it’s not waterproof ink,” Kasey said, “we could dump it in the hot tub by the community pool.”

“That would ruin the hot tub.” Frankly, I was more afraid of the homeowners’ association than of Aralt. “We need an incinerator.”

“A grill?” Megan asked.

“Yeah, that would work,” I said. “We can use the one near the playground.”

We sent Kasey inside to make a snack tray—really, we just needed her out of the way—while Megan and I looked for grilling supplies in the garage.

I hoisted the bag of briquettes over my shoulder and turned to go. “I’ll carry the charcoal and the book,” I said. “Can you bring the lighter fluid and ask Kasey for matches?”

I walked across the street to the tiny park and spread the charcoal out in the grill. Then I delicately set the book, velvet wrapper and all, on the metal surface.

Staring at it, a beautiful piece of handcrafted artistry, I felt a sudden twinge at the thought of dousing it in lighter fluid and setting it on fire.

But then I remembered the way, the previous year, Kasey’s evil doll almost convinced me to hide it and kill my family to keep it safe.

“Sorry, Aralt,” I said. No question—the book had to burn.

I did let my fingers trace its intricate leatherwork. You didn’t often see craftsmanship like this—like our old house, stunning and ornate just for the sake of itself. Not a generic, mass-produced box, like the town house.

I gently lifted the front cover and looked at the title page.

In impossibly elaborate script, it read: LIBRIS EXANIMUS.

Exanimus …? I felt like I’d heard the word, but I couldn’t recall where.

What could be keeping Megan? I turned to look for her.

She was four feet away, standing perfectly still.

“Oh!” I said. “You startled me.”

Her eyes were wide and curious. In one hand, she held a book of matches. In the other, a bottle of lighter fluid.

“We protect your dwelling with our blood and our lives,” she droned.

Then she lifted the bottle of lighter fluid and doused me with it.

Time seemed to stand still, and I saw the moment suspended before me like I was watching it happen to someone else. Me, dripping noxious fluids; Megan, impassive as a statue.

“What—?” After a few blinking milliseconds, my brain caught up with reality. “Megan, stop!”

She stopped. Her blank eyes fixed on me. Then she raised the bottle again.

I didn’t try to talk anymore. I just ran.

She chased after me, flinging lighter fluid as she went. I felt the liquid in my hair, on my clothes. My shirt was soaked in it. The fumes rose up and stung my nostrils.

She cornered me against the wrought-iron fence and sprayed me with the last of it.

“Megan, this is insane!” I said. “Think about what you’re doing.”

She looked down at the bottle and dropped it into the soft grass, wiping her hands on her jeans. For a second, I thought I’d gotten through to her. She didn’t look homicidal; she looked perfectly normal.

Then she opened the book of matches and pulled one out.

Before she could light it, I plunged forward, dodging her, and raced across the street, down the sidewalk toward our town house. I could tell she was behind me, not only keeping up but gaining.

“Kasey!” I yelled, taking the front steps in one leap. “Kasey!”

She pulled open the door. “Alexis? What’s wrong? Why are you wet?”

“Megan’s trying to kill me!”

Megan came tearing up the front walk, trying to light a match as she ran.

I stopped and looked around the house for something we could use to defend ourselves.

But my sister had it covered. As Megan flew into the house, Kasey stuck her leg out, sending Megan sailing through the air and landing hard on her stomach. The matchbook skidded harmlessly across the tiles.

“What is going on?” Kasey asked.

I started tearing my clothes off. “Megan tried to kill me,” I said. “She was going to set me on fire.”

“What are you talking about?” Megan sat up, looking like she’d woken from a heavy sleep.

“You? Me? Matches?” I said. “Ring a bell?”

Megan looked up at me, wincing and pressing her fingertips to her eyes, as if to wipe away tears. “What? No…I just felt really peaceful all of a sudden.”

I knew it wasn’t her fault, but I was shaking with anger and residual fear. “Well, I’m glad you find tranquility in attempted murder.”

My sister’s face was gray. “Where’s the book? Did you burn it?”

“No.” I pulled off my pants and dropped the matches in the kitchen sink. “Megan had better things to burn. It’s still outside.”

“I’ll go get it,” Kasey said, backing toward the foyer. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Do you mean, am I going to try to kill Alexis again?” Megan brushed her hands off. Her knees were hot pink, and a small bruise was forming on her chin. She touched it and sucked air sharply through her teeth. “I doubt it. I don’t even think I can stand up.”

Kasey skittered out the door and I stood at the kitchen sink in my bra and underwear, splashing water on my face, for once not caring if the floor and counters got sloshed. I could still smell the lighter fluid all over me, still recall the vacant look in Megan’s eyes. If I tried hard enough, I could imagine the brutal heat of flames coating my body like a second skin.

As I patted my face down, I heard Megan make a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a squeak.

“Want ice?” I asked. Not waiting for an answer, I got two bags of frozen peas out of the freezer and tossed them to her. She draped one over each knee.

“Sorry, Lex,” she said. “I swear, I didn’t mean it.”

My laugh came out like a huff. “Well, yeah, I hope not.”

“I don’t understand what happened.”

“We were threatening the power center,” I said. “It reacted, that’s all.”

“I guess,” she said.

The front door opened and Kasey came in, the rectangle of blue velvet tucked under her arm. Now her colorless face was punctuated by two pink cheeks from the effort of running back to the park. “You guys, look,” she said, her voice hoarse.

She set the book on the countertop and flipped the cover open to reveal the title page. LIBRIS EXANIMUS.

I was about to say I’d heard the phrase before when Megan made a fist in front of her mouth. “The Ouija board!”

I felt supremely stupid for not making the connection myself.

Kasey was already headed back to our parents’ bedroom, where Mom’s laptop was. It was the only computer in the house. The fact that it lived in our parents’ domain meant our research options would be severely limited once the workday was over.

Megan held on to my arm and limped along beside me down the hall. Not wanting to drip lighter fluid on my parents’ carpet, I stayed in the tiled hallway with a towel wrapped around me, while Megan hovered over Kasey’s shoulder as she typed.

“‘Libris,’” Megan read. “‘Book or volume. Exanimus’ …”

Kasey sighed and sat back.

“‘Lifeless,’” Megan said. “‘Dead.’”

“So we have a dead book,” I said. “Or a live book with somebody dead living in it. Somebody who doesn’t want anything happening to his ‘dwelling.’”

Megan turned back to Kasey. “So what was the oath for? What did we promise?”

“Hold on,” Kasey said, running back to the kitchen. She returned with the book and opened it next to Megan on the bed. “Can you read to me?”

“I’m going to take a shower,” I said. “If I got a static shock right now, I’d go up in a fireball.”

I shampooed my hair three times and loofahed my body to a bright shade of coral before I was satisfied that I was really noncombustible. By the time I put on a new shirt and a clean pair of jeans and set my other clothes to soak in a cold tubful of water, twenty minutes had passed. I went to my parents’ room and plunked down on the bed next to Megan. “Any progress?” I asked. Kasey was too busy studying the screen to look up.

Megan shot me a heavy glance and handed me her notebook, where she’d been jotting notes as they worked.

I PROMISE LOYALTY TO HE WHO GIVES ABUNDANT (JEWEL/COSTLY GIFT/TREASURE?) AND (GRACE/FAVOR?).

I INVITE HIM TO A (UNION/CONNECTION?) AND SWEAR THAT UPON HIS CALL I WILL RETURN A (JEWEL/COSTLY GIFT/TREASURE?).

TOGETHER WE WILL (GROW/PRODUCE?) AND BESTOW HONOR TO HE WHO IS _________________ IN THIS SACRED VESSEL.

THIS I SWEAR TO THEE, ARALT.

“It’s Gaelic,” Megan said. “Irish.”

“What’s the missing word?” I asked.

Suddenly, Kasey raised her head slowly and turned to look at us, her lips open. She licked her dry lips and shook her head.

“Kasey, spit it out,” I said.

“Noble,” Kasey whispered. Just as I was thinking, Well, that’s not so bad, she went on. “Vigorous…lusty.”

“Lusty,” I repeated.

Megan sat back. “Ew.”

Kasey was starting to look like this was all too much for her. I was about to suggest we take a break, when the doorbell rang.

We broke into action all at once. Kasey scrambled with her notes at the computer, Megan wrapped the book up and limped back toward her book bag, and I ran to Kasey’s room to peer through the blinds.

Tashi stood on our front porch, looking radiantly serene in the way only a Sunshine Club girl could. Her dress, a dark sky blue, was cinched to show off her tiny waist, and her curly hair gleamed in the sun like something out of a Renaissance painting.

The three of us met at the door at the same time. Megan smoothed her hair, and Kasey straightened the sleeves she’d pushed up over her elbows.

Tashi didn’t ring again. When I opened the door, she wasn’t even looking at me. She gazed out at the sky, which was streaked with the first pink clouds of sunset.

“Hi, guys,” she said, turning around.

“Hi,” we all said at once.

She looked slightly embarrassed. “So…Adrienne just called me in a panic. She can’t find the book, and she thinks you might have it, but none of you are answering your phones. She asked me to walk over and check, because I live right down the road.”

“Oh, you do?” I asked. “Which unit?”

“One thirty-three,” she said. She peered inside my house and gave a short laugh. “It looks…the same as this one, actually.”

“Big surprise,” I said.

That was when I noticed her eyes on my wet hair. I froze.

But she didn’t ask about it. “So…my mom’s holding dinner for me,” Tashi said. “I kind of have to go. Do you guys have it?”

“The book?” I asked, glancing behind me into the house. “I don’t think so…”

Tashi raised a finger and pointed. “Could that be it? In that purple backpack?”