Love Fortunes and Other Disasters (32 page)

Fallon sat up in bed. She looked down at her bandaged hands, surprised and pleased when they didn't hurt. She flexed her fingers. “Where's Sebastian?”

Nico lowered his voice, careful not to attract her family's attention from the kitchen. “Bram and the bachelors took him to the hospital last night, just to be safe. The doctors believed he'd had a heart attack.”

That was no heart attack. Fallon recalled the love fortune scrawled across his skin and shivered. “So, he's okay now?”

“Discharged this morning. His grandmother's with him,” Nico said.

“What about me? Do my parents know what happened?”

“They found you in bed by the time they wrestled the spare keys from Mrs. Smedt. Ms. Ward had brought you home right after you passed out.” Nico gave her a wry smile. “You look awful. I'm sure you can come up with a good excuse.”

The moment Fallon took a bite of toast, her stomach sprang to life, demanding sustenance. She concentrated on chewing slowly.

“I'd better go,” Nico said. “Martin's waiting for me.”

“Is he?”

“I should be mad at you for culling that confession out of me,” he said sternly, “but I'm too thankful to care.”

“You'd never have told him your feelings otherwise. I had to be sneaky.” Fallon smiled. She was thrilled to know that Martin had heard Nico after all. That had to have been what had broken Camille's hold over him. “Don't keep me in suspense. How
does
Martin feel about you?”

His expression softened. “He likes me, but the concept of liking a boy is so new to him. He doesn't know how to act. It's kind of cute.”

Fallon almost laughed at his words. She'd been friends with Nico long enough to know that he had never dated anyone. If Martin was new at this, so was Nico. “Go on, then. Don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting. Thank you for checking on me.”

Nico beamed. “Anais says hi too. She expects to see you at the drugstore once you're feeling better.”

Just as he left, her parents emerged from the kitchen with a heaping plate of sunny-side up eggs. Robbie followed behind, untying an apron he'd borrowed from her.

“Fallon Dupree, you've had us worried sick,” Mrs. Dupree said.

“Well, not sick, exactly,” Mr. Dupree said. “You're the one who's been immobilized by a bad decision.”

“So what was it?” Robbie said, more curious than angry. “Sugar-free ice cream? Dirty ice in your soda? Undercooked meat?”

Mrs. Dupree trembled. “Not another word. I'm going to faint.”

Fallon sighed, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around her. So they thought she had food poisoning?

“We were going to surprise you at the Welcome Love Fair,” Mr. Dupree explained. He placed the plate of eggs on the tray and handed her a fork, willing her to eat. “When we couldn't find you, we got worried.”

“Maybe we should move here, just to watch over her,” Mrs. Dupree said. “This town's perfection ends at its health inspectors. Nothing would get past our eyes.”

Fallon pierced one of the yokes, scooping the delicious mess on her fork. A Dupree army had cleaned her apartment while she had slept; not a speck of dust hovered in the air. She felt clean and loved, albeit still tired. She wanted to thank them, but her mother had fallen quite deeply into one of her tirades.

“But my daughter isn't concerned with health inspecting anymore,” Mrs. Dupree said, sniffing. “Wants to be a librarian now. I suppose you want us to cancel the table decorations for your wedding too. You'd rather have the venue at a dusty old library instead.”

“Mom's talking about your imaginary wedding again,” Robbie said, laughing.

Fallon yawned. She pressed her forehead against the blanket and wished that they would let her nap. “You always use that against me, Mom.”

“You should be happy that your father and I care that much about you. You've been single entirely too long for my liking. Zita must have gotten your fortune wrong.”

Robbie gasped in mock outrage. “Mother, that's blasphemy to speak of Zita like that!”

Fallon's chest tightened. She looked up, ready to blame her sudden fatigue on her fake stomach virus, when she noticed that her apartment door was open. Nico must have forgotten to lock it after he left.

Sebastian braced his hand on the doorframe, wearing a wrinkled white undershirt and jeans. He took in the scene with his usual smirk. “Hey, princess,” he said softly.

Fallon dropped her blanket. Her cheeks flushed, embarrassed to have her family as an audience, but she didn't hesitate to go to him. “Your heart…?”

“Perfectly sound,” he said. Sebastian walked over and gently brushed her hair away from her face. Her gaze fell to his lips. Remembering their first kiss, something low in her belly ached.

Mrs. Dupree cleared her throat. “Fallon, is he … is he the one?”

The Dupree family waited, expectant.

Fallon studied the creases on his shirt. “We'll see.”

Despite her noncommittal answer, Mrs. Dupree claimed she heard wedding bells.

*   *   *

There was no snow on February 1, nor on any day after. People claimed that the Welcome Love Fair finally served its purpose that year by bringing spring early, but Fallon knew the warmer weather marked a new chapter for Grimbaud.

Love Being Cherished
had been moved back to its home in the park. A celebration was being held. The town was in the mood to entertain.

On her way to the park, only Fallon seemed to notice how crisp the air tasted in the absence of Zita's cloying rose scent. The shops' electric signs flickered on and off mysteriously in the middle of the day. Heating charms went on sale immediately.

Sebastian bought her truffles from an enthusiastic chocolatier; some bitter like tears, others spicy and sweet. They shared the last one by messily splitting it in half, licking dark chocolate filling off their fingers.

The stone cupids that Zita had charmed were suddenly back at their posts throughout the town; Fallon recognized the paint-splattered cupid that had attacked her in the labyrinth, perched above the art college's front doors.

Fallon had expected the park to be packed with people. She expected children to plunge their hands into the gurgling fountain, trying to grab shiny coins, while their parents sipped from wineglasses and shared their joy over the statue's return. There would be food and drinks while the townspeople took turns at the podium to talk about love. But when Fallon and Sebastian entered the park, they found it near empty.

Ivory cloth-covered tables bore ham-and-endive gratin, white sausages topped with apple compote, and fried sweet dough drizzled with pink chocolate; the caterers fidgeted at their stations, finding ways to keep the untouched food hot. A few town officials wearing their best suits huddled around the podium, discussing whether to cancel the event.

“Where is everyone?” Fallon whispered, searching for their friends.

“Hijiri's over there,” Sebastian said, pointing to the girl standing in front of the statue.

Hijiri studied the marble statue with her arms crossed, her long, now-silky hair falling freely down her back. “Love looks so content here,” she said once Fallon and Sebastian stood beside her, “but do you think it ever is? Always running around, making sure the people of this world keep loving.”

“We're supposed to be celebrating, not dissecting Love,” Sebastian teased.

“Well, this isn't much of a party,” she said.

The twins came running into the park, their matching silver-sequined dresses sparkling sharper than the coins in the fountain. They wore plastic clips in their hair meant to look like marble.

Fallon was surprised to see Femke and Mirthe. After discovering the missing fog, tornado, and tremor charms, Mr. De Keyser grounded them. Because of their potency, those charms must have cost a fortune. Fallon wasn't sure how many years it would take for the twins to make up the monetary loss, but hopefully their parents were the forgiving sort. Yet, here they were, dressed to attend the statue's party.

“The Square!” shouted Femke and Mirthe at the same time. They stopped just short of the statue, gasping for breath. Sweat beaded at their temples.

“You have to come to Verbeke Square right away,” Femke managed first. “Everyone's there.”

Everyone. Anais and Bear. Nico and Martin. What were they doing at Verbeke Square when the party was here? Fallon was about to ask, but Mirthe cut her short.

“No time to explain. Let's go,” she said.

The urgency in Mirthe's voice stirred her to move. Fallon grabbed Sebastian's hand. With Hijiri in tow, they ran toward the square as fast as their feet would take them.

Policemen sectioned off half of Verbeke Square with barricades. They urged the gawkers to move along. Anger and astonishment peppered the air. Fallon stood on her toes, trying to see what the trouble was over the crowd. That was when she saw Zita's Lovely Love Charms shop in shambles.

The pink building had somehow been split in half, the brickwork crumbling and creaking even as the police swarmed the area. Conflicting scents of broken charms and smashed love potions perfumed the air. Fallon pinched her nose and breathed through her mouth.

A bored policeman looked at his watch and then climbed onto a crate. He used his megaphone to relay a message that he'd probably repeated all day. None of the officers wore pink pins. “There's been an accident of unknown origin. In light of this incident, Zita has come forward with instructions regarding her business. Zita's Lovely Love Charms will not reopen. The property will be reconstructed at a later date.”

“What about our fortunes?” bellowed a middle-aged woman.

A chant started. People took their anger and fear out on the policemen, shaking the barricade and demanding Zita's return.

“Love must have kept its promise about it being over,” Sebastian said. “No more fortunes. I'm glad.”

“Me too.” She refused to let the angry crowd ruin her hope for the town. Grimbaud's people had lived comfortably with Zita's monopoly for quite some time. Losing that stability would be devastating—for those who received the good fortunes. Now everyone was left in the dark. They had to fend for themselves, stumble and break their hearts, instead of being given the answers ahead of time. Those secrets belonged once again to Love. Fallon preferred it that way.

“Besides,” she said, “this isn't the end of love charms. It's just the last of Zita.”

Bram De Groote and Emma Ward climbed on top of a crate, sharing the tiny space with their arms wrapped around each other for balance. Bram had brought his own megaphone and captured the crowd's attention with his particular radio-show voice. “It's time for a change,” he said. “Forget Zita. Love is back in charge. And, as much as I complain about love, I could get used to it. Now that, you know, I don't have a bad fortune hanging over my head.”

The energy shifted from anger to excitement and curiosity.

“I've forgotten to introduce myself,” Bram said with a grin. “Or don't you know me already? Hard-boiled Hal. In the flesh.”

A few gasps broke out. People stood on their toes to get a better look at him. Fallon felt their excitement at a long-held mystery solved.

Ms. Ward plucked the megaphone from his hand and added, “The villas are going to be demolished. They were rotten buildings anyway. No more spinsters. No more bachelors.”

Yasmine and Helena hooted from somewhere in the crowd. Sebastian started clapping; it spread from one end of the square to the other and grew stronger by the second.

With the tension in the crowd dissipating, Bram had one last thing say. “What are you standing around here for? Love's statue has been returned to us. Go on to the park and celebrate!”

The townspeople cheered.

Fallon's hands stung from clapping so hard. She stood on her toes, searching for the rest of her friends. Bear and Anais were a few feet away. Bear offered her a tin of Peake & Brown's biscuits. Anais looked at him in mock outrage that quickly dissolved into giggles when he kissed her hand. Hijiri moved through the crowd in her usual fluid matter, getting a closer look at the crumbled shop. A few boys turned their heads to watch her, but she seemed not to notice them. Martin sat on top of one of the caf
é
tables; Nico used a chair as a boost and joined him. Their hips bumped; Martin looked flustered and adjusted his glasses. Femke and Mirthe grabbed each other by the elbows and danced, their laughter joining the warm February air.

“Look over there,” Sebastian said, touching Fallon's shoulder. “Of course she's not clapping.”

Camille stood on the edge of the crowd, still red-faced from her very public expulsion from school.

Fallon smiled to herself. Camille's absence from school would be a comfort. Without Zita's tutelage, she'd hopefully find a less treacherous career to pursue. Love charm-makers would be welcome to practice their craft in town again, but that also meant that the charms would have to be policed; others just like Camille might push their manipulations too far.
I wonder if that's something I can do,
she thought. Most towns had detectives, private or public, that specialized in particular types of charm crimes. If Fallon started studying love charms now, perhaps she'd have the makings of a great love-charm detective by the time she graduated.

After the police took Bram's megaphone, the crowd began thinning out. Most headed in the direction of the park, while a few stayed behind to say heartfelt good-byes to Zita's shop.

Sebastian's breath warmed her ear. “Come with me after the party,” he said. “I've got a promise to keep.”

Fallon wondered what he'd come up with instead of a stolen kiss in the school library. Her cheeks flushed pink. “I'm looking forward to it,” she said before tugging him over to join their friends.