Luminosity (Gravity Series #3) (The Gravity Series) (17 page)

The picture from the prayer group flashed in my mind on several occasions. I went to the library, wary of either shadows or Cheryl Rhodes, and looked through the microfiche files of the local newspaper. The year that my parents had graduated, a young girl named Stephanie Laylon had suffered a serious accident, falling down the basement stairs at the school. It struck me as very suspicious.

I scrolled farther forward in time, the screen flashing across my face, watching events unfold. Stephanie had survived, but had moved out of town before graduating. There were no more articles about her. It was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth.

I gathered my coat to leave and rushed out of the small alcove. A tall man was standing by the drinking fountain. I noticed in quiet, stunned shock that it was Roger, Cheryl’s assistant. His hands were folded politely, but his hollow eyes bored into me. I rushed past him and didn’t look back.

###

I didn’t know what I’d gotten myself into. Two weeks later, after a quite period on both the home and the spook front, Theo had asked (practically begged and totally pulled out old favors) me to come over for a dinner between her parents, Alex and herself.

Richard Weaver’s table manners weren’t much better than his social graces. He slopped his food all over his shirt and kept his mouth open the entire time he chewed. I couldn’t see for the life of me what pretty, kind Ms. Vore saw in him.

Alex was sitting next to me, stiff as a reed. It seemed like he could barely keep himself from slugging Richard the instant he said a word.

“Have you had any luck finding a job at a dealership like you were talking about?” Lucy asked in her pleasant teacher voice.

“I stopped looking,” Richard said flatly.

“Dad, how could you stop looking?” Theo asked, dropping her fork like her appetite had disappeared.

Richard started to light a cigarette. Lucy’s face went hard and she shook her head at him. Richard rolled his eyes and stubbed his cigarette out on his plate, right in the rice pilaf.

“I have enough to get by with my business,” Richard said. “This is a slow time, that’s all. I wouldn’t talk about money, if I were you. Just because you have a job now doesn’t mean you’re some kind of financial expert.”

I bit the inside of my cheek hard, trying to keep my words in. I stabbed fork into the vegetables on my plate, imagining each one to have a little, ugly Richard face.

Alex didn’t have the luck or constraint to staying composed.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” he growled.

“Excuse me, you little prick?” Richard sneered, looking offended and surprised. “I don’t care what you are to my daughter, you don’t get to talk to me like that.”

“I’ll talk to you however I want. It’s a free country. You’re an asshole and you need to leave now. Nobody wants you here,” Alex shouted.

In one swift motion, Richard threw his plate against the wall, the scene of the red barn splitting in half and brown sauce oozing down towards the carpet. Lucy had buried her face in her napkin.

Both she and Theo stayed eerily quiet and still, staring at nothing. It was a rehearsed look, like they had experienced this particular mood swing many times before.

“I think Alex is right,” I said. “You should leave.” I knew I was probably overstepping my bounds, but at the moment I just wanted him gone.

“I don’t listen to the likes of you,” Richard said, throwing his napkin on the table and puffing out his sagging chest. “I could just as easily tell you to leave. They are still
my
wife and
my
daughter.”

I was standing by now, too, along with the two men. Alex sidestepped in front of me so that he was blocking me from Richard’s view.

“Richard, you need to go home now. It’s been a long night and you need to rest,” Lucy commanded firmly. It was the first time she’d used that tone with him all night. For a second, it looked like Richard might retaliate. Then he stormed out into the night, slamming the door.

Theo finally looked up, her eyes apologizing at both of us. It hurt to think that she blamed herself. “I’m sorry, please don’t think less of him. He has bad days, like I said.”

“One of these times I’m going to show him a bad day,” Alex grumbled. He didn’t speak for the rest of the night.

CHAPTER 15

“I GOT A
job at the Dollar Daze!” Theo told me excitedly at the end of June.

“Congrats. Do you get a discount?”

“30% off, baby. Can’t beat seventy cents for all the plastic crap I could ever need.” She paused, her blue-tinted lashes fanning out across her cheek. “Had any luck yourself?”

“Nope. I’ve put in applications everywhere. I wonder if it’s my technique? Maybe instead of merely handing them the application, I should tap dance on my way out the door.”

“Don’t do that. They’ll call the cops,” Theo said, grinning at me. “You’ll find the right place. I’m just glad I can distract myself from drawing. I figure the time off will do me some good.”

Theo’s words of encouragement did little to settle my racing mind. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. Most of the other kids I knew already had summer jobs. Theo and I had even rehearsed interview questions. She dressed up in a baggy suit with a little penciled-on mustache and pretended to be a manager. I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time and it was hard to see the answers on my index cards through my mirthful tears. At least I got a few answers stored away, not like I got to use them.

Putting in another round of applications, I stopped into the local gift shop. They sold cards and teddy bears, and I knew of a few kids at school that had worked there part time in the past.

The owner seemed perfectly nice, a cheerful woman about my mom’s age who asked me about my experience. I left feeling good. But then I stopped outside, watching her through the window. Another lady who was working came up to the owner, pointed to my application, and said something that made the owner’s mouth twist into a frown. She crumpled my application up and tossed it in the trash.

“She only had time to glance at my name,” I told my father that weekend.

He was at the table, going over his own paperwork for Erasmus. “I think it’s time to consider that we’re being shunned. Between the sales at the gallery and your lack of finding a job, I don’t think it’s out of the question.”

“Madison said something similar about her parents.” I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her much with school being out. She’d gone on vacation to Miami. “They own the Topps stores and they haven’t been making nearly as much money as they used to.”

“I know,” Hugh said. “Erasmus is definitely being targeted, I can’t deny it. Even Callie noticed the dip in sales. My business is dropping every week. I’ve hardly sold four prints this month. Being my daughter, you’re an easy target. I might have to close up shop soon.”

“It’s that bad?” I asked in surprise. “What about Claire? Doesn’t her participation in Thornhill help?”

Hugh snorted, looking up at me. “She doesn’t mean as much to them as she wishes she did. They only asked her back to be their servant. For all I know, she might be actively working against me now that we’re not living together.”

“Would she actually do that?” My mom could be cruel, but she certainly wasn’t completely heartless. And she loved my dad—or, at least, she had at one time.

“The old Claire would. The one I thought was long gone before she started back with Thornhill. I don’t really feel comfortable telling you, but your mom used to be something of a backstabber.”

“So what do we do?”

“I’m working on getting us out of town. You can come live with me, until you get into college.”

“But wouldn’t I have to switch schools?” I asked.

“Possibly. I thought you hated it at Hawthorne.”

“Yeah, well, I do…” I stalled. “But all my friends are there.” Not to mention Henry. And Jenna couldn’t leave Hell; if I moved, she’d be alone, exactly what she’d been afraid of.

“Well, at least you can come live with me now. Here.” He gestured to the modest apartment like it was a palace.

“You say that every time I come and visit you,” I said, shaking my head.

Inside, I was truly considering his offer. But I stubbornly wanted to stay in my house. Even if I was mad, part of me hoped I could convince him to come home. Moving out had been a rash decision, no matter what had caused it. Without him there as a buffer, Claire and I could barely stand to be in the same room.

No matter what his excuses were, I was mad at him for leaving us. For leaving me.

###

I drove Theo up to the gallery one afternoon on her request She hadn’t seen my father in a while. She wasn’t feeling great because she still had painter’s block. The schedule at her job was harsh and she kept having to pick up extra shifts. Between Jenna’s still sullen mood and Theo’s absence, I was getting lonely.

“I was supposed to have a couple of new sketches done for him,” Theo confessed. “But I have zip.”

“He’s not going to care,” I told her. “He’s got bigger fish to fry. He knows that you’ve got big responsibilities now.”

“I know, but he gave me my start,” Theo said, rubbing one red eye. She seemed to be having trouble adjusting to the contacts; her glitter kept getting on the lenses.

“How about your dad? Is he doing any better?” I asked as kindly as I knew how.

Her face suddenly went cold and I regretted asking. “He’s doing about the same. I’m just trying to keep up enough with what he needs without lingering around.”

“Look, I’m sorry for confronting him at that dinner….”

“Please don’t apologize,” Theo said emphatically, holding up her tiny hand. “I’m in no way mad. I was hoping you wouldn’t have to see that side of him.”

“Hey, I no longer think my dad is a prince, either,” I said with a wry grin.

“I still think your dad is a good guy,” Theo said. “There’s something I haven’t told you about my dad. It’s not just his personality. He’s bipolar and he has to take medication. Well, he’s
supposed
to take it. But he doesn’t. When he’s off his meds, he can do okay for weeks and suddenly drop into a storm like that. He’s actually been fine ever since that dinner. You wouldn’t recognize him.”

I felt like a jerk. How did I not see it before? I should have known she was trying to be careful about the issue. “I’m sorry I was so harsh.”

“How were you to know? And you’re right, he is an ass. Sometimes. And sometimes, he’s a great dad. He has these mood swings a few times a year, like bad storms. Hurricanes. We weather them and then he goes back to normal.”

When we walked in through Erasmus’ open door, I saw Hugh dangling up on a ladder. I was about to make a comment on his lack of balance, when I noticed with a shock that Callie was standing below him. Each was holding one end of a poster advertising an artist’s showing. Both of them were talking and laughing, in a manner I could only interpret as flirtatious. Did they have to be so obvious?

“Your balance is terrible. You need to get your ears checked,” Callie said, giggling. Stealing the joke, too. My stomach twisted and I felt a wave of nausea. If Theo hadn’t been there, I would have left that instant.

Callie’s hair was braided down almost to her waist. She was a good fifteen years younger than Hugh, though they both looked like teenagers caught in a fogged-up car to me.

Callie spotted us first. “Hi, girls!” she crowed, finished with her side of the poster. She was completely oblivious to the fact that her presence made me unhappy. Hugh arched his head around, noticing us.

“Why are you here?” I blurted to Callie. I knew it was rude, but I didn’t care.

“Ariel,” Hugh said, looking surprised at my tone.

“I offered to work here for a while to help Hugh. So, we’re going to be seeing more of each other,” Callie said cheerfully.

“What about Gwen?”

Hugh had finished pinning his side of the poster and hopped off of the ladder, folding it together.

“Gwen’s doctor told her she needs to be on bedrest for the remainder of her pregnancy. I can’t keep up with all the bills and paperwork alone. So Callie is going to be here for a while.” His eyes seemed to be pleading with me, as if he thought I was going to make a scene.

I lingered while Theo explained her lack of art to Hugh.

“The job isn’t helping. People try to bargain a sale on stuff that is less than a dollar! I’m running out of inspiration,” Theo said.

“You and me both kiddo,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “It’ll be better once you’re back in the city. Your muse will come knocking.”

“As long as I don’t answer the door with a shotgun,” Theo muttered.

I was still watching Callie. She strolled casually behind the front counter, flaring my irritation. No one was supposed to go behind there except for Gwen and Hugh. I didn’t care if she was on the payroll; she was trespassing. She flipped through their folders, already acting at home with the job.

A new painting hung on the wall behind the desk. A black tower stood in the middle of a flat field of blood-red poppies. Menacing clouds swirled in the dark sky.