Book of Revenge (27 page)

“I know.” He was idly fiddling with his fingers. “That’s why I agreed to help you. It was servicing my own cause—my unfinished business of killing her, or at least that’s what I hoped your end game was.”

I smiled wide. “I want you to take Emily on Friday, after the Halloween party. I’ll get Jane sloppy on spring champagne. She’s gullible that way. Friday will be our night, the perfect night. I just love the way death sounds on Halloween. I’ve always wanted to try it. What better way to celebrate the day of the dead than with murder, or should I consider it sacrifice?”

Wes:

“Here,” I handed Lacy the costume Emily had handed me. They’d warmed up to each other, but not enough to yet transfer gifts hand to hand. I was still the mediator.

“What’s this?”

“A witch costume,” Emily answered for me, her head still buried in the wooden chest of costumes we’d found in the attic.

“
Witch?”
Lacy’s nose crinkled. “So cliché. Don’t you have anything better?”

Emily sat up, something pink and purple in her hand. “Of course I do, but I’m wearing it. Besides, a witch suits you perfectly.”

Lacy grumbled and marched to the other side of the room, holding the witch costume up in front of her. “I don’t even want to go to this stupid thing.”

“Then don’t,” I interjected, growing tired of her constant pessimism.

Stella was perched on another trunk in the corner, her eyes closed, unconcerned by the drama that was unraveling before her—apparently she was used to it happening, and that’s what scared me.

Emily turned and smiled a smile that was full of recollection. “It was my father’s once. I was a lost child that year, and he was my Peter Pan.”

I shut my eyes, seeing there was no way around this. Lacy was still giggling lightly, though her back was turned, her hands untangling a black wig.

“What time does this thing start?” I was stretching the purple leggings, hoping they wouldn’t castrate me by the end of the night.

“Eight.” Emily had a small grin on her face, the faerie wings in her hands unfolding as she straightened the wires. “Isn’t it funny? Here I am, about to wear faerie wings and they’re nothing like what real faeries are like. I should have feathers in my hair and tattoos across my skin.”

“People would think you were a biker-
bird
,” I added.

Emily’s energy only grew more excited. “I know! But that’s what the fairies in Winter Wood are like.”

Emily couldn’t get enough of Winter Wood. We’d gone there every day after school with Jane and Navia for a snack at the café. I wasn’t too keen on it, but watching Jane’s new friend made it worth the trip. It’s not that I had a crush on her or anything, it’s just that, well, she was breathtakingly gorgeous. It was like staring at a real life swimsuit model, only better. Luckily, I kept these thoughts in the vault of my mental mansion, behind a lead door that was three feet thick. I couldn’t risk having Emily hear them, and I couldn’t stop thinking them if I tried. Pixies had that effect, I guess.

“Emily!” Emily’s mother called from the bottom of the attic ladder. “You’re friend is here!”

Emily’s face popped out of the chest once more. “Jake’s here,” she announced a second time, as though we hadn’t heard.

“
Clearly,”
I murmured.

Emily ignored me and went back to rummaging in the chest, pulling out a black, furry lump of fabric. My brows were pressed together with interest.

Footsteps ascended the ladder, and Jake’s head popped through the hole in the floor. Since he’d revealed himself to us, I’d grown used to seeing the shiny eyed, clean cut version of Jake, but today it was all nerd, and he’d laid it on thick. A pair of suspenders held his pants above his waist, his glasses like thick picture frames around his dull, green eyes. “Hey, guys.” His braces made his voice wet and annoying.

“Hi, Jake.” Emily didn’t seem to care whether he was the nerd or the suave vampire. To me it just meant she didn’t find him attractive like every other soul in Winter Wood seemed to—that was all that mattered. Because he was a non-threat, I could be friendly to him.

Emily shrugged. “But I figured this way you wouldn’t have to wear the getup,” she motioned to the glasses on his face. “You can hide behind the mask instead.”

Jake grumbled, but conceded, trying on the mask that covered his head in a layer of black fur. Lacy eyed him sideways, and then leaned away. I’d told her about what Jake was, and she wasn’t too excited by it. She’d told me about shifters who had been attacked by vampires in Washington, thinking they were animals but quickly discovering otherwise. By then, it was too late to save the shifter.

Jake removed the mask and eyed Lacy in return. “Don’t worry, darlin`. I don’t like poultry, either.”

Lacy frowned, her cheeks turning a bright red that was accentuated by her fiery hair. “Good,” she grumbled.
“Imp,”
she added under her breath.

“Have you ever met a real imp?” Jake shot back. “You’d reconsider your accusation if you did.”

“
Ass,”
Lacy didn’t care what it meant.

Her anger wasn’t directed at me, but rather the names themselves. I grew curious. Drawing closer as Jake and Lacy continued their banter, I whispered, “What’s wrong?”

Emily was furiously detangling something in her hands, the wings she’d flattened now attached to her back by two loops of elastic around her arms. “Something about Navia bugs me. I don’t like what she’s doing to Jane.”

“You mean all the makeup?”

Emily’s eyes met mine. “Yeah, the makeup, the… I dunno.”

I brushed my hand across her face, drawing her attention away from the tangle in her hands. I leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. “Don’t worry so much. You’re starting to sound like Jane.”

“
Ewwww
…”
Lacy squealed from across the room. “I told you guys to stop doing that kissy stuff in front of me.”

I looked toward her, seeing that Jake also appeared awkwardly disturbed by our display of affection.

“In front of
us
,” Jake added.

“Sorry.” A half smile lifted my cheek.

Emily blushed with embarrassment, once again fumbling with the fabric and turning away. Jake and Lacy had their costumes just about on.

“Help me?” Lacy turned her back to Jake, exposing the unzipped zipper of her
muumuu
-like black frock. I was amazed to see them working together.

Max and Jane’s supposed split was something we’d all been obsessing over all week. Jane’s explanation at lunch on Monday had given us zero leads, and we couldn’t understand why something so seemingly perfect could end so fast.

I shrugged. “Maybe Max will be there tonight. Then we can ask him. I’m much more comfortable asking him, you know, man to man and all.”

“So now you’re willing to talk to him.” Emily sighed. “Regardless, I doubt he’ll be there.” She looked at her watch and sighed again. “We should get going.”

A chill ran down my spine, remembering my first and only party experience a few weeks ago, when Greg had shown his first signs of provable insanity with Emily’s friend, Alexis. She hadn’t been the same since, and her parents ended up removing her from school all together, not that that act alone hadn’t done the school some good. Emily picked up on my apprehension.

“He’s gone, Wes. This party will be much more normal, I swear. Come on. Let’s go.” She stood and met Jake and Lacy, ushering them down the ladder.

I went down last, shutting the attic latch behind us. Fully dressed a few minutes later, we all met in the hall for pictures.

“You guys look great!” Emily’s mother exclaimed, snapping photos from low, then high, having us sit on the stairs. “What’s your name again, sweetie?”

“
Jake.”
Jake’s voice was muffled by the mask.

“Give me a big
grrrrr
.”

Jake obliged.

Emily rolled her eyes. “Okay, Mom. We really need to go.” She took the camera from her mother’s hands, placing it on a nearby table.

“
Awe…
Bye, guys. Have fun!” She wiped her nose with a tissue, looking as though she was going to cry, though it was more likely just the remnants of the flu she’d had.

We all piled in my car, and on the way to the party, Jake was already complaining.

“I feel like my butt is swimming in sweat,” he disclosed from the backseat.

I heard Lacy gag slightly. Stella was perched between them and even she was leaning away from Jake at this point—no deodorant would have been strong enough to stifle the scent. We all laughed except Emily. She had remained distant since the conversation in the attic.

“Here!” Lacy squealed, making me jump. “This is
so
the place!”

I looked where she was, seeing a house up ahead, swarming with teenagers in any array of costumes.

“This is so awesome,” Lacy added. “My first human party!”

“Sure,
now
you’re excited,” I teased.

Lacy shrugged. “A girl is allowed to change her mind.”

I parked on the street and shut off the car.
“It’s not that great,”
I mumbled.

Jane:

“Really, being Disney princesses feels a little young to me, don’t you think?”

Navia fanned me away with her hand. “
Pish
posh,
darling. I’ve been around much longer than you and I know for a fact that Disney Princesses are the best princesses in the world, except for us, of course!”

We were crammed into Navia’s other car, her white BMW sedan. Why we didn’t just take the Tahoe was beyond me. We stopped at a light, our blue and yellow dresses like layers of meringue. I felt funny, but I knew that every year the senior class went overboard with their Halloween party—hopefully this meant I would be fitting in with an outfit like this, unlike my dress in this car.

The light turned green and we turned onto the streets of suburbia. I had no idea where we were, but Navia seemed to know her way as though there was also a GPS embedded in that perfect, little head of hers. Soon, the loud pump of music began to shake the car and I knew we were close. Turning another corner, our destination was obvious. We drove past rows of cars I was used to seeing in the school parking lot, now lined down the street. Each car we passed was a reminder of just how far I would have to hobble in three inch heels. Navia had to fight to find a spot. After what felt like miles, we at last parked. Navia backed against the curb without utilizing her mirrors, ever aware of her surroundings as though every move was a well choreographed dance at the ballet.

She shut off the car. I popped open the door, feeling like I’d just opened a can under pressure. The hoops of my ridiculous Belle costume nearly sprung me right out and onto the sidewalk. Navia’s Cinderella dress naturally flowed in comparison as she gracefully spun out on her side of the car. Her curls bounced, so perfect and platinum it was as though Cinderella Barbie had suddenly become life-sized. If I could walk her through Disney World at this moment, packs of screaming girls would surround her, demanding an autograph.

I tried to steady myself as best I could, hobbling to meet Navia near the bumper. She took my arm, nearly lifting me off the ground as she did so and making walking so much easier.

“Better?” She wasn’t even struggling to hold my weight.

I nodded. “Much.”

We pranced toward the house at an alarming rate. The smile on Navia’s face looked permanently carved there, just like a Barbie’s would be. I saw Wes’s car parked thirty cars closer to the house, and wondered how early he’d arrived to snag such a spot. Reaching the door, the pounding music penetrated my soul. Navia simply walked in, demanding attention as she swept into the front hall. It was as though she were arriving at her own personal ball. I felt grand on her arm as everyone seemed to stare.