Jenny Pox (The Paranormals, Book 1) (40 page)

She smiled and waved her pastel handkerchief at Jenny and Seth as they made their way up the steps.  They sat in the back row of folding chairs, as far as possible from the Goodling and Winder families.  Boo-hoo.  Seth ignored Ashleigh, but Jenny gave her a worried little frown.  This brightened Ashleigh’s heart a little, knowing that Jenny Mittens worried about her, maybe even feared Ashleigh’s coming revenge.

The white choir and black choir assembled in the shade of the gnarled old trees in front of the courthouse, where, Ashleigh had heard, men had once been lynched.  Her family wasn’t local; her father was from Arkansas, her mother from Texas.  Her father had moved to Fallen Oak over two decades ago, after completing his six-month “accelerated learning” theology doctorate from McGimmell Bible College, P.O. Box 2038B, Tampa, Florida.  Ashleigh’s mother, who’d been some kind of dancer, wanted to settle down somewhere nice.  The old Fallen Oak preacher had died, and there was hardly anybody willing to work for the meager salary—except her father, who had heaps of cash to launder but open arrest warrants in three states, under the name Waylon Humphries.  The statute of limitations had since expired on those, and anyway it was no longer his legal name or Social Security number.

Ashleigh had not learned all of this information directly from her father, but she had learned it.

The event opened with the joint blessing by her father and the Rev. Bailey, Neesha’s father.  The churches in Fallen Oak were segregated, but the preachers got along well, and had supper together frequently.  Between themselves, they viewed segregation as a matter of not poaching on each other’s territory.

The white choir sang “The Old Rugged Cross” and the black choir sang something upbeat that Ashleigh didn’t recognize, but judging by the frequent refrain, she would guess its name was “By the River Jordan.”

Then the event turned secular when Seth Barrett took the podium with Jenny Mittens at his side.  Ashleigh had finagled a copy of the speech prepared by the bank manager.  There was nothing unusual or threatening in it, just platitudes.

But Seth did not give that speech.

“Hundreds of years ago,” Seth said, “Our ancestors arrived in this wilderness and carved out a place to live.  Our families share a common history.  Nobody remembers it now.  We have suffered together.  And survived together.  And here we are, a great town of thousands.  Our ancestors would never have believed it.  That was a big city in those days.”  There were a very few chuckles.

“
Our families have built a great place to live together.  People in big cities dream of living in nice little towns like this.  And we owe a great debt to all our ancestors, who made this town for us.”

Ashleigh wanted to snicker.  When people saw Barretts in public, the last thing they wanted to hear about was debt they owed.  Big mistake, Seth.

“And I think we will continue to grow in the future.  This is the great settlement built by our ancestors.  And I think we should keep working together, to keep making this a better place to live.  And I was supposed to say some words on behalf of the Merchants and Farmers Bank, but I’m not going to bother you with that.  Happy Easter, everybody.”

There was a little smattering of applause as Seth and Jenny returned to the back row on the bandstand, but not much.  Ashleigh saw a lot of stony faces in the crowd, especially among the regular religious crowd.  Little rumors about devil worship and black magic had actually spread, thanks to a bored, willing audience and a preacher with time to fill.  Ashleigh’s father hadn’t had much choice but to thunder about the immorality of the young, given the outbreak of pregnancies among his teenage congregants.  And the young in question were happy to point to Seth and Jenny as the source of their corruption, the instigators of the “sex parties” that the media had invented, and the parents had consequently believed and interrogated their children about.  Gabby little Shannon McNare had rapidly spread the rumor that Jenny and Seth did such things as part of their witchcraft, that some other kids she knew had definitely gone to one.  So when the parents grilled their kids, everyone knew who to finger.  There was a lot of blame to go around, and not many targets beyond Principal Harris.  People needed more.

All of this had evolved without much effort from Ashleigh.  It was just the beautiful way things came together sometimes, and you got the sense that you were secretly one of God’s favorites, and that’s why He bestowed such great powers upon you.

Then it was Ashleigh and Neesha’s turn.  They went to the podium together.

“Hi, I’m Neesha Bailey, from New Calvary Holy Land Church—” Neesha said.

“
And I’m Ashleigh Goodling, from Fallen Oak Baptist Church—”

“—
and we’re seniors!” they said together, and embraced each other, to laughter and applause.

“
The town Easter Egg Hunt was officially desegregated in 1983,” Neesha read from her stationary. “By Mayor Jebediah Lowrence Guntley.”

There was applause.  Deputy Guntley, the obese nephew of the late Mayor Guntley, raised his hand and waved, grinning with his big buck teeth.  He wore a peach suit with a pink tie, which made him look larger than ever.  His pregnant teenage daughter Veronica rolled her eyes.

“Since then,” Ashleigh said, “Fallen Oak has a proud tradition of both churches coming together for Easter.  Last night, the police blocked off the roads around the square.  The teen groups from both churches hid plastic eggs full of candy, dollars and toys.  This year, there are also five American Eagle coins made of real gold, donated by the Merchants and Farmers Bank.”

The children oohed and aahed over this.  Some of the adults, too.  Ashleigh flipped her hair as she turned her head to look at Seth.  She blew Seth a kiss, and much of the crowd laughed, as did most of the people on the bandstand around them.

“But there is one problem, before the hunt can begin,” Ashleigh said. “And here to take care of that is Mayor Hank Winder.”  Ashleigh and Neesha stepped back and applauded while Cassie’s dad took the podium, then they returned to their seats.

“
Ever since 1921,” Mayor Winder said, “All forms of hunting are illegal within the town of Fallen Oak proper, except by special decree of the mayor or his authorized deputy.  Therefore, as mayor of Fallen Oak, I declare Easter egg hunting season open!”

This was the cue for all kids aged six to twelve to run around screaming, waving their empty Easter baskets, and spread out across the square.  They stormed in all directions, looking for eggs among the roots of trees, the bandstand, the courthouse lawn and steps, the church gardens, the narrow sunken windows of the bank, the shops and benches, the potted flowering plants that had been brought out to decorate the square.

Gradually, the crowd on the bandstand began to break up, going off to speak to their relatives or watch their grandchildren hunt.

Ashleigh waited until the crowd trickled out, then she stood.  With Cassie and Neesha behind her, she strolled to the back row, where only Jenny and Seth remained.  Jenny and Seth were whispering to each other and smiling, as if oblivious to how much the town hated them. 

“Hello there, Mr. Barrett,” Ashleigh said. “And Miss Mittens.”

They both looked up at her.  Jenny glared right into Ashleigh’s eyes. 

“It looks like somebody helped themselves to the Barrett closets,” Ashleigh said. “I never gave into the temptation myself.  A little too Seth’s-mom for me, you know what I mean?”

“
You look lovely, Ashleigh,” Jenny said.  She said with just the right inflection, the one that made it an insult, which Southern ladies could do.

“
As do my friends,” Ashleigh said, and Cassie and Neesha snickered behind her.  Ashleigh turned to them. “Go ahead.  I’ll catch up.” Cassie and Neesha left, with suspicious looks at Jenny.

“
Seth, congratulations on completely demolishing your own reputation,” Ashleigh said. “It was almost a work  of art how you brought yourself all the way down.  Even with all that money.” She tsk-tsked. “Or maybe because of it, am I right, Seth?  A little something there for everyone else to resent.  You know?”

“
School’s almost over, Ashleigh,” Seth said. “We don’t have to worry about this stuff anymore.  The world isn’t high school.”

“
Maybe it isn’t,” Ashleigh said. “But we’re all still tied up together by this town, aren’t we?  You own it.  And little Jenny the pauper isn’t going anywhere without you—because she can’t, can she?  Because you’re the only person she can touch, in the whole world.” Ashleigh looked at Jenny and laughed. “You’re stuck with his bumbly little ass for life, aren’t you?  Because it’s him or nobody.  No matter how he treats you.  Good luck with that.  Just wait and see how he really is.”

“
I’m not interested in your advice, Ashleigh,” Jenny said.

“
And I still have my girls to think about,” Ashleigh said. “And my little babies.  My little army.  I can’t just abandon them.  No, the three of us are stuck together.  I think we all understand each other now.  So why should we fight?  We each have our separate lives.  Why can’t we have a truce?”

“
Have we had a war?” Seth asked.

Ashleigh scowled.

“A peace agreement,” Jenny said. “You don’t bother us and we don’t bother you.  Let’s agree to that, Ashleigh.”

Jenny held out her hand.  It was sheathed in a cream-colored, elbow-high glove, but Ashleigh still didn’t want to touch it.  The girl was a bag of pestilence.

“We can do that,” Ashleigh said.

“
That’s not a fair agreement, Ashleigh,” Seth said.

“
What?” Ashleigh asked.  Jenny asked the same thing, turning on him.

“
Look at what you do,” Seth said. “Look at all these girls.  And it’s just so you can get yourself close to powerful people.  Isn’t it?”

“
That’s ridiculous, Seth,” Ashleigh said. “I am trying to help them—”

“
After you put them in this condition,” Jenny said. “And pretended to be their friend while you did it.”

Ashleigh didn’t like this new, defiant Jenny, the manipulative boyfriend-stealing Jenny.  Ashleigh had felt in control so long as Jenny was the hopeless reject, walking with her hair in her face and her eyes on the ground, laughed at by everybody.  Jenny had woken up and gotten control of her powers and taken Seth at the same time.  With Seth under her thumb, Jenny had even more power at her command, power she’d taken away from Ashleigh.  It had been a bold and brilliant move by Jenny, who had laid low for so many years Ashleigh had nearly forgotten what she could do.  But it was time to remember.

“You do dangerous things,” Seth said. “You hurt and manipulate people.  We can’t just leave you alone.  First you have to promise to stop doing it.”

Ashleigh looked around.  She spoke in a low whisper.

“I cannot stop doing it!” she whispered. “I can’t turn it off.  I can turn it down, but not off.  Okay?”

“
You can block yourself off,” Jenny said. “Think about it.”

Ashleigh’s eyes fell to Jenny’s gloves.

“Oh, no,” Ashleigh said. “I am not going to be some mitten-wearing freak.”

“
Just stop pushing people around,” Jenny said. “Try to be a normal person.  Don’t try to be powerful.”

“
And try to be a good person, and help people,” Seth said.

“
Oh, well, fuck you,” Ashleigh whispered. “Fuck you both in the head.  I am not going to be some worthless little nobody just so you two can laugh at me.”

“
That’s what we have to do, Ashleigh,” Seth said. “All three of us.  It’s the right thing.”

“
I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Ashleigh stepped back from them. “And I don’t care.  You two are not standing in my way.”  She turned her back and walked down the bandstand steps.

So the war was on.  Ashleigh liked to think she could escape to Washington, and leave all this small-town nonsense behind her.  But she knew they would pursue her.  Jenny hated her.  Besides, Ashleigh needed the option of coming back to Fallen Oak to open a political campaign office, to be staffed and partly funded by the town that adored her.  She needed to stay in close touch to oversee “Ashleigh’s Girls,” as some of the media now called the pregnant teens, and see that the unborn children into whom she’d invested so much power were raised the right way, by the group that she would bind together in marriage.

There was no breaking away from Fallen Oak, or Seth and Jenny.  And Seth and Jenny would only grow strong together and more in command of their powers.  They would never be any weaker than they were today.  The time to strike was now, while they were young, before they became any more of a threat.

***

When Ashleigh, Cassie and Neesha were in Ashleigh’s car, with the windows up and doors closed, Ashleigh said it.

“
I want them dead,” Ashleigh said. “I’m not kidding.  I want them to die today.”

“
Whoa!” Neesha said. “Somebody needs to hit the pond, get stoned and relax.”

“
No,” Ashleigh said.