Falling (The Falling Angels Saga) (5 page)

I stiffened. “What’s the matter with Aunt Jaz?”

“We were in the kitchen cleaning up. I went out to the living room to get something, and when I got back, she was lying on the floor. Megan!” she repeated, her voice cracking, and I could hear hysteria creeping in. “I think she’s dying.”

When I arrived at the hospital, Maudrina was in the waiting room. I’d spent my share of time seated on those hard plastic chairs not too long ago, praying my mother would live through the night. Fortunately, she made it.

When Maudrina saw me getting off the elevator, she came over and collapsed in my arms, clinging to me like a baby, not say anything, just breathing me in, enjoying the closeness of a good friend. We stood holding each other for several minutes.

“What happened?” I finally whispered.

“Not sure,” she responded, still hanging onto me. Each word was an island unto itself. “But the doctor says she’s going to make it.” With that, the floodgates opened, and she cried into my shoulder. “I thought I’d lost her, Megan.” We stood there for several more minutes as I allowed her to silently unburden herself.

“I’m sorry I was mean to you at Aunt Jaz’s this afternoon,” I said.

“No. I’m the one who should be sorry for being so insistent about you running for junior class president. I just thought you could be a voice for—”

“Hi,” I heard from behind. I turned and saw Erin standing a few feet away holding two paper cups. “No tea, but I found the hot chocolate machine,” she said and wiggled one of the cups at Maudrina with a polite smile.

Maudrina’s demeanor changed instantly. “Thanks,” she said, putting up a stoic exterior. The tears vanished like a magician’s cheap trick. She had no desire for Erin to see her being vulnerable. She released me, moved to Erin, and took the cup.

Erin waggled the other cup at me.

“No, thanks,” I said. “Go for it.” I was surprised that Erin had beaten me to the hospital. “You got here fast.”

“I took a cab.”

My eyes widened. A cab wasn’t something we high school girls used regularly.

“Even though I hardly know Aunt Jaz, I know how important she is to you and Maudrina.” Erin shot us each a meaningful glance. “Besides, I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Aunt Jaz,” she said, and sipped the hot chocolate.

While I was surprised that Erin had rushed to be by Maudrina’s side, I was glad to see her trying to fit in.

“So she’s going to be all right?” I asked, turning to Maudrina.

She nodded. “All I know is it was her blood pressure. But now it’s under control.”

“Good,” I said.

We waited for several hours, trying to keep Maudrina occupied with mindless conversation. We talked about boys, fashion, school, our favorite TV shows. I remembered my own mother’s hospital stay and how nerve-wracking it had been.

Maudrina’s mother had died when she was just eleven, leaving Maudrina’s father to raise her alone. He loved Maudrina, but he didn’t know anything about raising a girl. He was an auto mechanic, good at fixing things, not so good at making princess dresses. Aunt Jaz was the mother figure in Maudrina’s life.

It was quite late when a nurse came out and said we could go in and see Aunt Jaz for a few minutes.

“Only family,” she said. But she didn’t balk when all three of us jumped to our feet.

When we walked into Aunt Jaz’s room, she was sitting up in bed. I’d never seen her without makeup before. She appeared tired around the eyes.

“My-oh-my! I didn’t know I had a whole entourage waiting to see me. I feel like a movie star,” she said and released one of her boisterous laughs. The laughter wasn’t as big or as loud as usual.

“Oh, Aunt Jaz. You had me so worried,” said Maudrina.

“You? I had me worried, too,” she said with more laughter. “Come here.” She opened her arms. Maudrina drifted in and they embraced. “I’m not going anywhere,” Aunt Jaz said in a soothing tone as she rubbed Maudrina’s back. “It ain’t my time. I’ve got a lot more cooking and baking to do.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Even with things as dire as they were, Aunt Jaz was thinking about cooking.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” I said as I moved in closer.

“My blood pressure. Nothing strange, so don’t go thinking it. My pressure got too high and knocked me right out. Chinese cooking doesn’t seem to agree with me,” she said with more laughter. I got the sense that all the laughter was part of a show she was putting on for our sake. “I know better than to eat food with all that sodium.”

Maudrina was now lying in the bed next to Aunt Jaz, holding onto her as if she were her lover. “No more Chinese cooking for you,” she said and pressed her head into her aunt’s bosom.

“Sorry you girls have to look at me without my face on. I must look like The Creature From Hideousland,” said Aunt Jaz, starting another wave of laughter.

“You look fine,” said Erin. “We’re just happy you’re well.” Maudrina and I both agreed with her. A short time later, a nurse came in and told us Aunt Jaz had had enough company for the night.

“Don’t worry about me,” Aunt Jaz said as we got ready to go. “I’ll be out of here tomorrow. Nurse, what time is checkout?” she asked as if she was staying in a hotel.

The nurse smiled. “Whatever time your doctor says it is. But I imagine he’ll sign your release in the morning when he does his rounds. So, early afternoon.”

“Maudy, swing by my place in the morning a pick up my makeup kit.”

“No problem, Aunt Jaz.” Maudrina was looking much better, more like herself.

“And while you’re there, why don’t you pick me out a nice outfit to wear home.”

I caught the look in Maudrina’s eye. She shot a quick glance at me and we both started laughing. I couldn’t imagine what Maudrina would pick out from Aunt Jaz’s sizeable, eclectic wardrobe. I’m sure she couldn’t, either.

*

It was too late for the bus, so Erin and I shared a cab. We still didn’t talk much, but the conversation was less stilted than earlier. We were working our way back.

The cab dropped me off around twelve-thirty. As I started up the walk, I spotted my hell cat, Amanda on the walkway halfway to the front door. She was pacing back and forth like a sentry on guard duty.

I stopped and looked around. I’d seen Amanda do this before, back when I didn’t know she was a hell cat. It was a gorgeous evening with a slight breeze blowing from the south. No one was on the street. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“What’s the matter, Sweetie?” I called. She stretched her front legs then, moved to me with a lazy gait. I scooped her up and kissed the top of her head. She mewed softly, contentedly. “Is there something out here I should know about?” She nuzzled my arm.

I looked back up the walk toward the street and thought of Orthon. I hadn’t seen him since July when he confessed his undying love for me, or more to the point,
my
undying love for him. I didn’t love Orthon. I was grateful to him for the heroic gesture at Tavares Castle, but I didn’t love him. If he ever showed up again, he needed to be happy with the fact that at least I no longer
hated
him.

I started up the walk toward the house with Amanda in my arms, scratching the top of her head as I walked. Her soft purring tickled my chest. “Thank you, Amanda, for watching over me,” I said. I unlocked the door and entered. She continued to purr.

I was pleased to see even more of the clutter had been removed. The living room was now clutter-free. Our home was returning to looking like a home.

“Everything okay?” Suze called from behind her bedroom door when I reached the top of the landing. The door was open several inches. I continued down the hall and pushed into her room. She was lying atop the bed; a book lay open in front of her.

“Aunt Jaz is fine. Her blood pressure spiked, but they have it under control. She’ll be home tomorrow,” I said.

“Good,” she replied with a soft sigh. “I’m sure Maudrina’s resting easier.” She’d never met Aunt Jaz, but she knew how important she was to us.

I nodded. “You’re still dressed,” I said.

“I wanted to make sure everything was okay before I turned in.” She got up from the bed and stretched.

“Thanks, mom. And thanks for getting rid of the clutter.”

She rewarded me with one of her brilliant smiles. “You’re welcome.” I could tell she wanted to say more but was fighting to hold her tongue. I knew if she weren’t holding her tongue, we’d start talking about colleges again, and when I’d be leaving, and how much she’d miss me, and the trip down memory lane would start anew.

“And thanks for not saying what you’re thinking,” I added with a knowing smile of my own. “You’re showing considerable restraint.”

“You know me too well,” she said, then quickly added: “Homework?”

“You know it,” I said with a soft sigh. “Gotta keep up that GPA. Sleep tight.”

I continued on into my room where I moved to the desk and pulled my books from my bag. Instead of nesting on my lap, one of Amanda’s favorite spots to nap during homework, she climbed down and moved to the bedroom door where she sat with her back to me, facing the door. I again felt she was guarding me against something.

“What?” I called to her. She didn’t acknowledge me. She continued sitting stone still, like an Egyptian statue. “I know if it was a demon I’d be seeing a side of you I haven’t seen in a long time. So, we can cross demon off the list. Right?”

She continued staring at the door, as if expecting someone to enter.

“God, I wish you could talk,” I said, my tone reflecting my exasperation.

I opened my statistics book. I couldn’t wonder why Amanda was behaving so strangely any longer. It was late. I had to get to my homework and then, hopefully, another night of dreamless sleep.

The sun was wrong.

The angle of it streaming into my room was wrong for seven-fifteen in the morning. I sat up in bed feeling disoriented. My heavy-lidded eyes scanned the room. It was like looking in a funhouse mirror. Eventually they found the digital clock on the nightstand and something in my mind clicked. My eyes widened in horror. The angle
was
wrong. It wasn’t seven-fifteen in the morning, it was seven-forty five.

“WHAT?” I screamed, jumping out of bed and hopping across the floor and into the bathroom like the barefoot countessa walking on hot coals. I’d slept right through the alarm clock. First bell would be ringing in thirty minutes.

Why didn’t Suze wake me?

I jammed my toothbrush into my mouth as I turned on the shower. I couldn’t even wait for it to get good and hot. I climbed into the chilly water. This was going to be a world record shower.

Seventeen minutes later I was clean, dressed, and, with my hair still looking like a natural disaster, I left my room to make to dash for the bus stop. There was a note on my bedroom door. It was from Suze:

I tried to wake you, but you were sleeping the sleep

of the dead. So I decided to let you sleep in. There’s

a note for your teachers on the kitchen counter along

with cab fare. See ya later alligator.

“Thank you, Mom,” I said out loud as I raced downstairs. That woman was a saint—a clutter-making saint, but a saint nonetheless.

I found Amanda in the kitchen staring at her dish as if staring at it long enough was the key to making food appear. It worked because I fed her, which took another seven and a half minutes, then I called a cab and went outside to wait for him to arrive.

I made it to class midway through the period. Mr. Percival looked at me with his easy eyes, accepted my late pass without comment and went back to the lesson. Tran and Jenny both smiled as I moved to my seat. New knots of tension clamped onto my arms and neck. With all that had happened since I’d left school yesterday, I’d totally forgotten all the damage my dark half had caused that needed to be undone.

I considered dashing out again at the bell to avoid them but thought better of it. The longer I put off telling the geeks I wasn’t going to run for junior class president, the longer this tension and uneasiness would stay with me.

Despite all that was going on in my life, I followed the lesson easily. I again thanked my lucky stars I had such high retention skills. When Mr. Percival announced there’d be a unit exam on Friday that would count for one quarter of our grade, I wasn’t among the students who groaned. Statistics was a breeze.

When the bell rang, Tran made a beeline for me. No way was I escaping this time.

“Hey, Barnett, weird stuff yesterday, huh?” he said, plopping his overstuffed messenger bag on my desk with a loud thud. “A freakin’ earthquake.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Did you know there’s an eight point seven six zero chance of an earthquake within fifty miles of Phoenix in the next fifty years?”

“I do now.”

“And we had one right here in our school. I’m still figuring out the probability of that happening. I bet it’s astronomical.” He raised an eyebrow. “Where did you run off to when it was going down?”

I shrugged. “Panicked. I panicked and ran.”

Jenny, who had trailed Tran over, lowered her voice. “Tran told everyone you were going for help. He made a hero out of you.” From her tone, she didn’t approve.

“I know you weren’t scared, Barnett. I know you too well.” He turned to Jenny. “That’s the kind of person she is.
Modest
,” he said. I could read the innuendo between the words.

He was wrong about me not being afraid. I was very afraid of killing or injuring my classmates.

“Umm, thanks, Tran,” I replied. Jenny remained silent and tight lipped.

“I told everyone to come back this afternoon after school to hear your speech.”

“Oh, about that,” I said, feeling the knots in my shoulders begin to tighten. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to withdraw from the election.”

“What?” Jenny squawked, while shooting Tran the evil eye.

“Yeah. I have such a big load this semester, and my mom wants to make sure I keep my GPA up.” That was sort of true. “She thinks it’s best I don’t run in the election. Let’s just concentrate on winning the state championships, okay?” I added, throwing him a bone. Winning the Mathlete State Championships was the most important thing in Tran’s life. “State!” I called and pumped my fist, the way Tran always did when he chanted
State! State! State!
I threw in a smile. None of it worked.