Blue Moon (13 page)

Kate paused, unsure of how to continue. “It just seems a little odd, is all,” she said finally.

“What?” Annie asked. “Because I’ve never done anything interesting? Because you’re used to my being

the boring one? Because you guys are usually the ones who have all the cool stuff happen to you?”

Kate was silent. The truth was that Annie was right. They
were
used to her being the boring one. Well,

not boring, exactly, but certainly not like the way she was now. She was the practical one, the one who

didn’t do outrageous things.

“I’m sorry that you and Tyler are having problems,” Annie said. “And, Cooper, I’m sorry that things

aren’t going well with T.J. and that people liked my piece at the reading more than they liked yours. I

can’t help those things.”

“It’s not so much what you’re doing as how you’re doing it,” Cooper said. “You just seem to be

enjoying it all a little too much. It’s like you’re trying to show us up or something.”

“I’ll try to be more depressed next time something good happens to me,” Annie said, sounding angry.

Kate groaned silently. Things weren’t going at all the way she had hoped they would. “We’re not

accusing you of anything,” she said.

“Yes you are!” said Annie. “You’re acting like I did something wrong and need to be punished.”

“We just want to make sure you’re not doing anything that might be dangerous,” said Cooper.

“Remember what happened with the Tarot cards?”

“Yes,” said Annie. “I do. Do
you
remember what happened when Kate tried to do a love spell? And do

you
remember what happened when you talked to that reporter, Amanda Barclay? It seems to me the

two of you don’t have a lot to say about being careful when it comes to magic. So stop lecturing me

about it. You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

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Annie speeded up, pulling away from Kate and Cooper.

“Annie!” Kate called. “Come back. That’s not what we were saying.”

But Annie kept going, rounding a curve and disappearing. She clearly wanted to get away from her

friends, and Kate knew that there was no sense in pursuing her. Besides, Cooper was having trouble just

staying on her feet. There was no way they were going to be able to catch up with Annie.

Kate stopped, grabbing on to Cooper and slowing her down as well. “Let her go,” she said.

Cooper looked at Kate. “I think that went well,” she said grimly.

“She has a point, you know,” said Kate. “We
have
screwed up a lot more than she has. Maybe we are

just a little bit jealous of all the good stuff happening to her.”

“Maybe,” Cooper admitted. “So what now?”

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow and smooth things over,” Kate said. “I think she’ll take it better coming from

me than from you right now. You can talk to her later. Right now let’s concentrate on getting you back to

the rental place in one piece. Oh, and I have a question for you.”

“What’s that?” Cooper asked as they started off again.

“How good are you at balancing a tray on one hand?” Kate asked.

CHAPTER 13

Annie was fuming. How dare Kate and Cooper accuse her of doing something wrong? She couldn’t

believe it. They were supposed to be her best friends, and best friends were supposed to be
happy
for

you when good things happened. They weren’t supposed to act like you could only get those things by

doing a spell. But that’s exactly what they’d said to her.

Why couldn’t they accept that she had found a boyfriend and discovered a new side of herself all on her

own? Well, not entirely on her own. She knew that a lot of it had to do with the ritual she’d done asking

Freya for help. But that wasn’t the same thing as doing a spell. Not at all. It was just asking for a little

push.

So why hadn’t she told them about the ritual, then? That would have been the easy thing to do. They

would understand that. They’d have to. They’d all done rituals and meditations designed to help them

figure things out or to just focus and energize themselves. This was no different. But she hadn’t told them.

And why should I?
she asked herself as she snapped open a sheet and smoothed it over Mr. Bryer’s

bed. If they were going to jump to conclusions that was their problem. She wasn’t going to let that stop

her from enjoying what was going on in her life. She had Brian. She had her confidence. She had the

experience of being onstage and having people listen to her. No one could take those things away.

Besides, she deserved them. She’d been the only one who was willing to take time to do a ritual on the

blue moon. Cooper and Kate had been too busy. It wasn’t her fault that now they were feeling left out.

“You fold those corners any tighter and Mr. Bryer’s going to need a shoehorn to get into that bed.”

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Annie looked and saw Eulalie Parsons standing in the doorway of the room. She was wearing a pale

yellow dress that contrasted beautifully with her dark skin and reminded Annie of sunflowers.

“Good morning,” she said, happy to see the old woman. “How are you?”

“Oh, just fine,” Eulalie replied. “I’m trying to keep away from that nurse. She wants me to have a

physical, and I’m in no mood to be poked and prodded today. I keep telling her I’m not a prize melon

but she doesn’t pay me no mind.”

Annie laughed. There was something she’d been meaning to ask Miss Parsons, and now seemed as

good a time as any.

“You know the other day when you said I was sort of glowing?” Annie asked her.

Eulalie nodded and cocked her head. “Sure I do,” she said.

“What exactly did you mean?” said Annie.

Eulalie smiled, her bright white teeth flashing. “Well, you know how people talk about guardian angels?”

she said.

“Yes,” Annie said.

“Well, it’s something like that,” Miss Parsons explained. “Some people also talk about seeing auras

around folks—colors and whatnot. It’s kind of like that, too.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” said Annie.

“We’ve all got energy around us,” Eulalie said. “But there are different kinds of energies. Some of us

have spirits who follow us around looking after us. Some of us have all kinds of darkness that hangs over

us like rain clouds. And some of us have bright light just radiating out from the inside. We’re all different

that way. Some of us might have a lot of different things hanging around, or different things at different

times.”

“And you can see these things?” Annie asked.

Eulalie nodded her head. “Sometimes I can, yes,” she said. “Like I told you before, sometimes I see the

spirits. Sometimes I just see colors or what have you. Take that nurse Abercrombie. She’s got so much

white light around her it’s like looking into the gates of heaven sometimes. She just wants to help

everybody, and it shows. But then you got Mr. Charles down in room 301—he’s just sitting there waiting

to die. Hurts me to see him in there, all surrounded by grayness and gloom.”

“And what did you see when you looked at me?” said Annie.

Miss Parsons smiled. “Around you I saw something special,” she said. “You got light there, all right.

Pink and white and gold. Like a field of flowers. But you got something else there too. You got someone

walking with you, standing behind you and watching out.”

“An angel?” asked Annie. “Is that what you mean?”

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Eulalie shook her head. “No. This is something else. Not an angel, not a spirit. Can’t say I ever saw

anything quite like it before. Can’t say as I understand it. That’s why I told you to be careful with it.”

Annie thought about what the woman was saying. Could she really see something around Annie, or was

she just talking? She
was
old. It was possible she was a little mixed up. But she seemed so sharp, and

what she said about Mrs. Abercrombie and Mr. Charles made sense.
I wonder if she really is seeing

Freya
, Annie wondered excitedly. Was the goddess really with her all the time?

“You don’t think this thing could hurt me, do you?” she said.

“Not on purpose,” said Eulalie. “But even good energy can cause problems when you get too much of it.

Whatever this is with you, it likes helping you out. I can see that. But it might try to help you a little too

much sometimes. Do you see what I’m saying?”

“I think so,” Annie said. “Miss Parsons, when did you start being able to see these things around

people?”

“Call me Miss Eulalie, girl,” the old woman said. “That’s what everybody down home calls me. And to

answer your question, I’ve been seeing things since I was just a little girl. My mama used to see me

talking to people who weren’t there, and she knew I had the gift. But it wasn’t till later that I started

understanding who and what I was talking to. As I got older and understood more, the gift got stronger.

That’s how it works, you know.”

“Yes,” Annie said. “I do know. But I just started using my gifts, so I have a long way to go.”

Miss Parsons laughed. “That you do,” she said. “But you’re on your way, child. You’re on your way.

And now I’ve got to get me out into that garden back there. It’s too nice a day to be locked up in here.

Besides, I don’t think that nurse will think to look for me out behind the azaleas.”

She waved at Annie and left. When she was gone, Annie went and stood in front of the mirror over Mr.

Bryer’s dresser. She peered into it, looking for any trace of the figure Miss Eulalie said she saw around

her. Annie knew that the old woman had to be talking about Freya. But was the goddess really with her

all the time? She recalled the glimpse of the face she’d seen in her own mirror after her bath. Maybe

Freya
was
there. She liked that idea. She liked thinking that she had her very own goddess. It made her

feel special.

You
are
special,
a voice in her head said.

“You’re right,” Annie said. “I am.”

She smiled at her reflection before going back to work. For the rest of the day she felt really good. She

kept thinking about what Miss Eulalie saw when she looked at her, and she imagined Freya standing

behind her, enveloping her in her light.
I wonder what will happen next?
she thought as she changed

beds, swept floors, and helped Mrs. Abercrombie in the office.

When it was time to go home she decided to go say good night to Miss Eulalie. She felt as if the old

woman was becoming a friend, and that made her feel great, too. It was one more good thing that had

come her way since doing the ritual.

She walked to the old woman’s room. As she neared it she heard the sound of Miss Eulalie’s voice. She

was talking to somebody. Annie paused outside her door, not wanting to interrupt her visit. But as she

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listened she realized that while Eulalie was talking, no one was answering her.

“I know you worry about her,” Miss Eulalie said softly.

There was a pause, as if she were listening as her companion spoke. Then she said, “You know you

can’t tell the young ones what to do any more than our parents could have told us.”

Who is she talking to?
Annie wondered. She peeked inside the door to see if maybe someone really

was in the room. But there was Miss Eulalie, sitting on the edge of her bed and looking at the empty air

beside her.

Eulalie laughed. “I see why the two of you hit it off,” she said. “And yes, I’ll tell her. When the time is

right I’ll let her know you miss her. I think she misses you, too. I can see it in her eyes. She’ll be happy to

hear from you, I’m sure.”

Annie was puzzled. Who was Miss Eulalie talking about, and who was she talking to?
Maybe she’s

crazy,
Annie thought suddenly.
Maybe everything she’s been telling me is just made up.

“Okay then,” Eulalie said. “I’ll be talking to you later, Ben. Good-bye.”

Ben?
Annie thought, hearing what the old woman said. Was Eulalie talking to Ben Rowe? Annie didn’t

know what to think. Eulalie had said that she could talk to spirits. Was she talking to the ghost of Annie’s

dead friend? If so, had he really said that he missed her? She wanted to rush in and ask Eulalie if what

she’d heard was true. But she didn’t want her to think that she’d been spying.

Ben,
she thought, suddenly feeling very lonely.
I
do
miss you.

She walked away from Miss Eulalie’s door. She knew she wouldn’t be able to pretend that she hadn’t

heard anything, so the easiest thing to do was leave. If Eulalie was talking to Ben’s spirit, she clearly

didn’t want Annie to know about it yet. But what had they been discussing? Eulalie had mentioned

something about Ben’s being worried about her. What had she meant? Why would her old friend be

worried about her?

She would ask Miss Eulalie later. There was time. Right now she wanted to get home. She was

supposed to meet Brian at the record store later, and they were going to go to a movie. She’d bought a

new dress, and she couldn’t wait for him to see her in it.

When she got off the bus half an hour later she was surprised to see Kate walking down the sidewalk

toward her. Annie was tempted to just keep walking, but Kate waved at her and she stopped.

“Good timing,” Kate said. “I was just walking over to your house.”

“Why?” asked Annie coldly.

“I want to talk to you,” said Kate.

Annie shifted her backpack on her shoulder. “Why, so you can lecture me again?” she asked.

Kate shook her head. “I’m sorry about last night,” she said. “So is Cooper. We didn’t mean all that to

come out the way it did. We were just both a little worried.”

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“Were?”
Annie asked.

“You’re right,” said Kate. “We should have known you wouldn’t do anything that was out of line. It’s

just that you kind of took us by surprise.”

“I wanted you guys to be happy for me,” Annie told Kate. “I wanted you to be proud of what I’ve

done.”

“We are,” Kate said. “But you have to admit that you really haven’t been acting like yourself.”

“Well, this is a new me,” Annie said. “I was tired of the old Annie.”

“Do you mind if I ask what made you decide to do all of this?” asked Kate.

Annie looked at her friend. Was it time to tell her about the ritual? Did she want Cooper and Kate to

know that she had invoked Freya? No, she decided. Not yet. She wanted to keep Freya to herself, at

least for a little while longer.

“It was nothing in particular,” she said. “Really,” she added when she saw Kate looking at her

skeptically.

“Well, we’re sorry if we hurt your feelings yesterday,” said Kate. “We really are happy for you.”

“It’s okay,” Annie replied. “I know I’ve been having all the luck lately. But don’t worry. I’m sure you

and Cooper will have your turns, too.”

“Maybe,” Kate answered. “In the meantime, I have to get home and help my mother wash about a

billion pounds of fruit. Which brings me to the other reason I wanted to talk to you. How would you like

to make a hundred bucks?”

“Doing what?” Annie asked.

“Helping out at this wedding on Saturday,” said Kate. “My mom needs servers. Cooper and I are going

to do it. I think I’ll ask Sasha, too.”

“Well, Brian and I were going to go to the beach,” Annie said doubtfully.

“Please?” asked Kate. “I’m really in a bind here. And it will be fun. I hope.”

Annie looked at her friend’s face. Kate wore a pleading look. Annie sighed. “Okay,” she said. “The

beach can wait.”

Kate beamed. “Thanks,” she said. “Be at the museum at nine, and wear something black.”

“Nine?” Annie repeated. “On a Saturday?”

“I owe you!” Kate said, pretending to not hear her as she walked away.

Annie turned and walked toward home.
Kate’s right,
she thought.
She
does
owe me. Big time.
Not only

was she giving up a date with Brian but she was getting up at an ungodly hour on a weekend to go help