From Bad to Cursed (10 page)

“Okay, that’s everything!” Kasey said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh—” Adrienne said, looking around. “My bag.”

“I packed it for you,” Megan said. “I wanted to help! I love helping! I love being part of a sisterhood!”

Adrienne blinked a couple of times. There might have been a tear glinting in her eye. “Wow…thanks, Megan.”

“Yay!” Megan said, giving Adrienne a hug. I thought she was kind of laying it on a little thick, but Adrienne was loving it. She “yayed” back and stared dazedly at Megan, like a little kid presented with the most magnificent birthday cake in the world.

“We should drive Adrienne home,” Kasey said. “It’s a long walk.”

Adrienne blushed and self-consciously adjusted the hem of her pink blouse. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Oh my gosh, of course we do!” Megan squealed. “We’re
sisters!
”

As soon as Adrienne disappeared inside her house, Megan flopped back against her seat.

“Holy buckets,” she said. “I feel like my eyes are about to pop out of my skull.”

“‘I love helping?’”
I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Megan shot me an annoyed glance. “We got the book, didn’t we?”

I turned to see Kasey sitting in the backseat, staring out the window. “Thanks a lot, by the way,” I said. “Love the thing with the oath. Really appreciate you mentioning
that
. It was great. Just marvelous.”

Her face contorted with indignance. “You said you’d let me take care of it!”

“
You
should have told us the whole truth!”

She sat up. “You didn’t even tell
part
of the truth, Lexi!”

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t,” I said. “If you didn’t know enough to know that the oath was, like, the most important detail of the whole thing, you could never have figured it out on your own any-way.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Megan said. “We’re going to trash the book, and it’ll be a nonissue.”

My sister leaned forward, her face between the two front seats. “Maybe I didn’t bring it up because I knew you guys would butt in if I did!”

“Hey!” Megan snapped. “Stay sunny!”

Kasey folded her arms and slumped back.

I distracted myself by switching on the radio and searching for something good. Or at least loud.

I briefly considered telling them about how I’d foiled the oath with my left-hand switcheroo, but what would be the point?

A wave of foreboding passed through me, almost like a premonition of danger
.

But danger was what we were avoiding, by destroying Aralt’s power center. We’d be getting rid of him before he could come collecting on whatever promises the Sunshine Club had made.

“So let’s make an actual plan for destroying the book,” I said, as Megan made the turn into Silver Sage Acres.

“If it’s not waterproof ink,” Kasey said, “we could dump it in the hot tub by the community pool.”

“That would ruin the hot tub.” Frankly, I was more afraid of the homeowners’ association than of Aralt. “We need an incinerator.”

“A grill?” Megan asked.

“Yeah, that would work,” I said. “We can use the one near the playground.”

We sent Kasey inside to make a snack tray—really, we just needed her out of the way—while Megan and I looked for grilling supplies in the garage.

I hoisted the bag of briquettes over my shoulder and turned to go. “I’ll carry the charcoal and the book,” I said. “Can you bring the lighter fluid and ask Kasey for matches?”

I walked across the street to the tiny park and spread the charcoal out in the grill. Then I delicately set the book, velvet wrapper and all, on the metal surface.

Staring at it, a beautiful piece of handcrafted artistry, I felt a sudden twinge at the thought of dousing it in lighter fluid and setting it on fire.

But then I remembered the way, the previous year, Kasey’s evil doll almost convinced me to hide it and kill my family to keep it safe.

“Sorry, Aralt,” I said. No question—the book had to burn.

I did let my fingers trace its intricate leatherwork. You didn’t often see craftsmanship like this—like our old house, stunning and ornate just for the sake of itself. Not a generic, mass-produced box, like the town house.

I gently lifted the front cover and looked at the title page.

In impossibly elaborate script, it read:
LIBRIS EXANIMUS
.

Exanimus
…? I felt like I’d heard the word, but I couldn’t recall where.

What could be keeping Megan? I turned to look for her.

She was four feet away, standing perfectly still.

“Oh!” I said. “You startled me.”

Her eyes were wide and curious. In one hand, she held a book of matches. In the other, a bottle of lighter fluid.

“We protect your dwelling with our blood and our lives,” she droned.

Then she lifted the bottle of lighter fluid and doused me with it.

Time seemed to stand still, and I saw the moment suspended before me like I was watching it happen to someone else. Me, dripping noxious fluids; Megan, impassive as a statue.

“What—?” After a few blinking milliseconds, my brain caught up with reality. “Megan, stop!”

She stopped. Her blank eyes fixed on me. Then she raised the bottle again.

I didn’t try to talk anymore. I just ran.

She chased after me, flinging lighter fluid as she went. I felt the liquid in my hair, on my clothes. My shirt was soaked in it. The fumes rose up and stung my nostrils.

She cornered me against the wrought-iron fence and sprayed me with the last of it.

“Megan, this is insane!” I said. “Think about what you’re doing.”

She looked down at the bottle and dropped it into the soft grass, wiping her hands on her jeans. For a second, I thought I’d gotten through to her. She didn’t look homicidal; she looked perfectly normal.

Then she opened the book of matches and pulled one out.

Before she could light it, I plunged forward, dodging her, and raced across the street, down the sidewalk toward our town house. I could tell she was behind me, not only keeping up but gaining.

“Kasey!” I yelled, taking the front steps in one leap. “
Kasey!”

She pulled open the door. “Alexis? What’s wrong? Why are you wet?”

“Megan’s trying to kill me!”

Megan came tearing up the front walk, trying to light a match as she ran.

I stopped and looked around the house for something we could use to defend ourselves.

But my sister had it covered. As Megan flew into the house, Kasey stuck her leg out, sending Megan sailing through the air and landing hard on her stomach. The matchbook skidded harmlessly across the tiles.

“What is going
on
?” Kasey asked.

I started tearing my clothes off. “Megan tried to kill me,” I said. “She was going to set me on fire.”

“What are you talking about?” Megan sat up, looking like she’d woken from a heavy sleep.

“You? Me? Matches?” I said. “Ring a bell?”

Megan looked up at me, wincing and pressing her fingertips to her eyes, as if to wipe away tears. “What? No…I just felt really peaceful all of a sudden.”

I knew it wasn’t her fault, but I was shaking with anger and residual fear. “Well, I’m glad you find tranquility in attempted murder.”

My sister’s face was gray. “Where’s the book? Did you burn it?”

“No.” I pulled off my pants and dropped the matches in the kitchen sink. “Megan had better things to burn. It’s still outside.”

“I’ll go get it,” Kasey said, backing toward the foyer. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Do you mean, am I going to try to kill Alexis again?” Megan brushed her hands off. Her knees were hot pink, and a small bruise was forming on her chin. She touched it and sucked air sharply through her teeth. “I doubt it. I don’t even think I can stand up.”

Kasey skittered out the door and I stood at the kitchen sink in my bra and underwear, splashing water on my face, for once not caring if the floor and counters got sloshed. I could still smell the lighter fluid all over me, still recall the vacant look in Megan’s eyes. If I tried hard enough, I could imagine the brutal heat of flames coating my body like a second skin.

As I patted my face down, I heard Megan make a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a squeak.

“Want ice?” I asked. Not waiting for an answer, I got two bags of frozen peas out of the freezer and tossed them to her. She draped one over each knee.

“Sorry, Lex,” she said. “I swear, I didn’t mean it.”

My laugh came out like a huff. “Well, yeah, I hope not.”

“I don’t understand what happened.”

“We were threatening the power center,” I said. “It reacted, that’s all.”

“I guess,” she said.

The front door opened and Kasey came in, the rectangle of blue velvet tucked under her arm. Now her colorless face was punctuated by two pink cheeks from the effort of running back to the park. “You guys, look,” she said, her voice hoarse.

She set the book on the countertop and flipped the cover open to reveal the title page.
LIBRIS EXANIMUS
.

I was about to say I’d heard the phrase before when Megan made a fist in front of her mouth. “The Ouija board!”

I felt supremely stupid for not making the connection myself.

Kasey was already headed back to our parents’ bedroom, where Mom’s laptop was. It was the only computer in the house. The fact that it lived in our parents’ domain meant our research options would be severely limited once the workday was over.

Megan held on to my arm and limped along beside me down the hall. Not wanting to drip lighter fluid on my parents’ carpet, I stayed in the tiled hallway with a towel wrapped around me, while Megan hovered over Kasey’s shoulder as she typed.

“‘
Libris
,’” Megan read. “‘Book or volume
. Exanimus’
. . .”

Kasey sighed and sat back.

“‘Lifeless,’” Megan said. “‘Dead.’”

“So we have a dead book,” I said. “Or a live book with somebody dead living in it. Somebody who doesn’t want anything happening to his ‘dwelling.’”

Megan turned back to Kasey. “So what was the oath for? What did we promise?”

“Hold on,” Kasey said, running back to the kitchen. She returned with the book and opened it next to Megan on the bed. “Can you read to me?”

“I’m going to take a shower,” I said. “If I got a static shock right now, I’d go up in a fireball.”

I shampooed my hair three times and loofahed my body to a bright shade of coral before I was satisfied that I was really noncombustible. By the time I put on a new shirt and a clean pair of jeans and set my other clothes to soak in a cold tubful of water, twenty minutes had passed. I went to my parents’ room and plunked down on the bed next to Megan. “Any progress?” I asked. Kasey was too busy studying the screen to look up.

Megan shot me a heavy glance and handed me her notebook, where she’d been jotting notes as they worked.

I PROMISE LOYALTY TO HE WHO GIVES ABUNDANT (JEWEL/COSTLY GIFT/TREASURE?) AND (GRACE/FAVOR?).

I INVITE HIM TO A (UNION/CONNECTION?) AND SWEAR THAT UPON HIS CALL I WILL RETURN A (JEWEL/COSTLY GIFT/TREASURE?).

TOGETHER WE WILL (GROW/PRODUCE?) AND BESTOW HONOR TO HE WHO IS _________________ IN THIS SACRED VESSEL.

THIS I SWEAR TO THEE, ARALT.

“It’s Gaelic,” Megan said. “Irish.”

“What’s the missing word?” I asked.

Suddenly, Kasey raised her head slowly and turned to look at us, her lips open. She licked her dry lips and shook her head.

“Kasey, spit it out,” I said.

“Noble,” Kasey whispered. Just as I was thinking, Well, that’s not so bad, she went on. “Vigorous…lusty.”

“Lusty,” I repeated.

Megan sat back. “
Ew
.”

Kasey was starting to look like this was all too much for her. I was about to suggest we take a break, when the doorbell rang.

We broke into action all at once. Kasey scrambled with her notes at the computer, Megan wrapped the book up and limped back toward her book bag, and I ran to Kasey’s room to peer through the blinds.

Tashi stood on our front porch, looking radiantly serene in the way only a Sunshine Club girl could. Her dress, a dark sky blue, was cinched to show off her tiny waist, and her curly hair gleamed in the sun like something out of a Renaissance painting.

The three of us met at the door at the same time. Megan smoothed her hair, and Kasey straightened the sleeves she’d pushed up over her elbows.

Tashi didn’t ring again. When I opened the door, she wasn’t even looking at me. She gazed out at the sky, which was streaked with the first pink clouds of sunset.

“Hi, guys,” she said, turning around.

“Hi,” we all said at once.

She looked slightly embarrassed. “So…Adrienne just called me in a panic. She can’t find the book, and she thinks you might have it, but none of you are answering your phones. She asked me to walk over and check, because I live right down the road.”

“Oh, you do?” I asked. “Which unit?”

“One thirty-three,” she said. She peered inside my house and gave a short laugh. “It looks…the same as this one, actually.”

“Big surprise,” I said.

That was when I noticed her eyes on my wet hair. I froze.

But she didn’t ask about it. “So…my mom’s holding dinner for me,” Tashi said. “I kind of have to go. Do you guys have it?”

“The book?” I asked, glancing behind me into the house. “I don’t
think
so…”

Tashi raised a finger and pointed. “Could that be it? In that purple backpack?”

We all three spun in place to see a tiny piece of blue velvet sticking out of Megan’s bag.

“Oh, my gosh!” Megan exclaimed, walking over to it. “
Wow
, how weird is that? Yeah, look. Somehow it ended up in my bag. I’ll drive it back over to her house right now.”

“I can take it,” Tashi said. “I’m going over there later to study.” She had a slow, easy energy about her—like a cowboy. You got the idea that nothing ruffled her. But then I noticed how her left hand was gripping her skirt so tightly that the fabric was wrinkled and sweaty when she let it go.

“But if Adrienne wants it now—” Megan said.

Tashi rolled her eyes, which seemed to me to be pushing the outer edge of Sunshine Club decorum. “Adrienne needs to learn to relax,” she said. “She’s
way
too obsessed with that book. It’ll be good for her to see that she can take her eyes off it for twenty minutes.”