Of Delicate Pieces (28 page)

Acta, Non Verba
.

Duvall cocked her head.
Actions, not words
. They had used quite a bit of effort to write such a vague message. And for what reason would they use Latin?

Duvall inspected the ground and the words etched into the stone at her feet:
Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice
. The message was inscribed during the construction of the city to remind spirits of the legacy of the town.
If you seek monument, look around.

The small handprints covered the word monumentum and instead spelled out malum. Crime. Evil. Damage.

If you seek evil, look around.

***

Jonas flicked the drooping branches of the large tree as he passed it, hating it. Bad memories came by the truckloads in Parrish. He and his brothers used to hide their loot under the roots. His initials loomed larger than the others because he thought the size of them would make him bigger, more significant, but that had never been the case in the Lasalle family.

He never wanted to come back to this godforsaken town, and he never thought he’d have to. And now, less than two years after his death, he trekked through these same damn woods again.

He was bitter that they threw him to the wolves in Astor, Oregon, but they were pleased he made contact with the gifted.
We needed to send you. You were the only one innocent enough not to offend them.

There were different spirits each time he went back to Home Base, as they called it. All of them were pleased he made contact with Alex. Some gathered together looking over documents. Others pinned up maps with shaded regions or blueprints with notes all over them. He didn’t know what they were doing, but he’d seen the spirits in charge, and that was enough for him. For now, at least. He would do whatever they wanted. Even if it meant going home.

He argued that there wouldn’t be witches living in a witch-hating town, but thinking twice, he had a hunch. He stood at the threshold of Thea Frank’s old shack and attempted to ignore the jingling of bells. Damn Jester. He forgot who he was dealing with because he walked right through the door and appeared on the other side, thinking he couldn’t be seen.

Liv squatted on the floor by the fireplace, trying to get the logs to ignite. He blinked and sent a jolt of energy her way. The flames erupted with a whoosh, like the sound of shaking a bed sheet.

Liv turned and her mouth fell open. “Jonas.”

Shit.

The thrill of the lockdown had worn off. Now that Alex was safe in her room and Rae was accounted for, she felt nervous about the sleeping arrangements. Chase draped himself over Alex’s loveseat as though this was no big deal.

“It’s
not
a big deal, Alex.”

“Stay out of my head.” She took her books from her bag and placed them on the shelf above her desk.

“Calm down.” Chase massaged his temples. “You’re going to give me a headache.” He stood up and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my room.”

“You said you wouldn’t let me out of your sight!”

The desk chair slid in front of him, but he walked through it. “What sort of trouble could you get into hanging out in your room? I’ll come back after you’re asleep when you’re not so … ” he waved his hand around, “ … analytical.”

The door didn’t open for him at first, and Alex saw Chase’s shoulders rise and fall as he sighed. The hinges creaked as the door popped out to give him a crack through which to escape.

Alex flopped down on her bed, fiddling with the edge of the comforter and trying to fight the disappointment rising inside of her. This was their chance. Westfall had given them an order so they couldn’t get into trouble if one of them didn’t stay in their own room that night. She’d blown it. Regret surrounded her in a cloud, and when she swatted at it, it thickened.

She slid off her bed to get away, but the cloud followed her until she reached the door, which still hadn’t shut after Chase’s exit. Actually, it was open even wider. She took it as a suggestion and headed out. The cloud dissipated.

She’d never ventured above the seventh floor. She assumed all the hallways were the same, resembling a hotel or dorm, but not the eighth floor. It looked like a door showroom. Some propped against the wall. Other doors were freestanding or flat on the ground. They were painted all different colors and shaped like keyholes or diamonds or crescents. Some had knockers or locks, wrought iron designs or windows with nothing on the other side. She stopped in front of her favorite one, a distressed orange door with ivy around the frame. It swung open to reveal Chase waiting with his arms crossed.

“I wondered how long it would take you.”

She knew him better than that. “You were worried.”

“Your door didn’t close when I left. Dead giveaway.”

“Can I come in?”

He stepped back with an outstretched hand.

Alex felt her pulse quicken, though without a body she felt detached from it. The stronger feeling within her was Chase’s anticipation as she took in the scene. She spun around to face him.

“Really?”

He shrugged and ran his hand over the top of his hair. It was his room in Parrish. Every single detail was the same even the family and sports photos pinned to the wall next to his ball caps and concert tickets. On his desk sat the picture of him with his arm slung around Alex, and they smiled so wide their toothless grins took up their whole faces. A note in Danya’s handwriting stuck to the desk, telling him to please finish his laundry. Next to that was a sticky note that said she loved him. Atop the laundry pile was his white dress shirt from the night of the dance. Also from that night, Alex’s blue dress lay in a heap on the floor by his desk.

He stared down at it, too. “I didn’t want to move it. I didn’t ever want to forget that night because what if you never showed up here? What if this was all I had to remember?”

Alex ran her fingers along the note that Danya had written. Those simple words stretched from the page and reached out to her. They wrapped themselves around her heart.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked.

“I know.” He lifted himself to sit on the desk.

Over his shoulder, a photo of Chase and Jonas caught Alex’s attention. They held up fishing rods on their family boat. It must have been late summer considering their deep brown tans and sun-scorched hair.

“His pictures are bigger than they used to be. I guess that means I’m thinking about him.”

“You don’t sound happy about it.”

Chase placed his hands on Alex’s waist and pulled her to him. “When we were at the haunted house, I asked Gabe about this feeling I had. I knew Jonas was nearby. I get it with all my brothers. It’s nowhere near as strong as what we do.” He drew an invisible line between her head and his with his free hand. “But it’s there. I wish it wasn’t because I’m guessing that was the day he came to find you and didn’t bother visiting us.”

Alex thought of a way to ease his worry. “Do you want to try to find Jonas right now? We don’t have to stay long. You can … we can … you know.”

“You mean meditate again?”

She nodded.

“I don’t know. Last time my head hurt for like a week.”

“We make sure that we only stay for a minute.”

A dimple struck his cheek as one corner of his pink mouth lifted. “Are you suggesting we do this because you’re nervous to be in here with me?”

It shouldn’t be a big deal. They slept side by side so many times but as children with Popsicles staining their faces or marshmallows from the fire pit stuck in their hair. And sure, lately he wandered in to her room at some time during in the night, but there was something so intimate to Alex about tucking herself under his arm for the entire night. In his bed. Lying against him while she was still conscious and aware of the setting. His brothers would look at them differently, knowing the arrangements, whether they were sleeping or not. In life, Alex always thought those couples stuck out when they had that closeness. You could see the secret hiding in the space between them, or lack thereof, an affection that bound them, separating them from everybody else.

Chase kept his head low. “We already have that, Alex.”

She should have known that he’d hear her thoughts. “I know.”

“Let’s try to see if we can find Jonas. It won’t take us more than a few minutes. Then we’ll come back.”

“Anything weird, we get out.”

“Agreed.”

This time, it wasn’t as alarming to fall away from reality. They walked the same path as before.

“Why are we in Parrish?”

“I’m beginning to think that we’re obsessed with it.”

“Or it’s obsessed with us.” Alex felt something odd stirring within her. In life, anticipation felt like trying to breathe with a barbell on her chest. This sensation struck her when they reached Thea Frank’s house. Chase suddenly ran forward, yanking her along.

She blinked, and they stood in Thea Frank’s blurry living room yet again.

Jonas was the only clear figure in the room. He looked worse for wear. Strands of long hair fell over his face as he leaned over the table separating him from Thea, who puckered her bright red lips.

Her image, though more visible than the last time, still seemed like a colored pencil sketch. “Your past begins much earlier than your date of birth.”

Jonas groaned. “No more riddles. Spirits really love to beat around the bush, and I’m sick of it.”

Footsteps erupted from down the hall, and the form of Liv appeared. “You’re still here?”

“Shut up, Liv.” Jonas took a seat on Thea’s desk. “What were you doing back there?”

“Practicing some of the things my grandmother’s been trying to teach me.”

Their voices are too clear
, Chase said.
Is your head hurting?

It was pounding, but Alex wanted to hear more.

Jonas crossed his arms. “What sort of things?”

“Why do you care?” Liv asked.

“The gifted are breaking into spirited cities.” He glanced from Liv to Thea. “Judging by the looks on your faces right now, you hadn’t heard.”

Liv sat down next to Jonas. “How do you know?”

“My people know everything.”

Thea’s image faded in and out of clarity. Alex tightened her mind and held on to her silhouette.

“Please tell me you haven’t left Parrish, Liv. I told you—”

Liv jumped up. “I didn’t! Not really. I went somewhere in my head. With Rae.”

Rae?

“It’s illegal,” Thea warned.

“I don’t think she meant to. I was thinking about something, and she was there with me, and it just kind of happened.”

We have to go right now.
Chase squeezed Alex’s hand.
Don’t you feel like you’re going to pass out?

Alex blinked and saw gray. Only gray.

Chase?

Nothing.

Panic set in. Barbell on the chest times ten. She shoved against her mind with her thoughts but it didn’t budge. She clawed at the gray around her and it scraped away like mud under her fingernails. Where was she? Where was he?

She felt a pressure against the front of her and prayed it was Chase. She began to dig at the foggy coffin with more ferocity.

She was stuck.

“Alex!”

Her eyes popped open to find Chase lying on top of her. “What happened?”

He lifted himself up and grabbed her hand to pull her upright. “We stayed too long, that’s what. Where did you go?”

“It was like the first time we meditated. Gray. But you weren’t there.”

“No kidding. I was here and I could feel you, but I couldn’t see you.”

A wave of dizziness struck her. “I don’t think we should meditate like that anymore. Did you hear Liv mention Rae?”

“Yeah.” He smoothed the hair from her head. “We might never find out why though because we can’t meditate again. You want to go back to your room?”

“No!” She didn’t want to be alone. The familiarity of his room comforted her: the chipped edge of the dresser where Jonas had chopped it with a light saber, the overflowing laundry basket, and Kaleb’s college banner.

She opened her mouth to ask a question, but Chase held up a hand. “I don’t want to talk about Jonas. My head hurts enough already.”

“I wasn’t going to ask about him.” She pointed at the dresser. “What do you keep in the drawers now that your mind dresses you?”

“It’s the same stuff I had there in life.”

She opened the top drawer. “I thought you said you lost that sweatshirt,” she said, looking down at the logo for the University of Maryland.

“I lied. I kept it in there after you wore it on the boat that one night.”

“Why?”

“Because it smelled like you.” He combed his fingers through his hair. “How’s your head?”

“Ouch. Yours?”

He nodded. “I need to lie down.”

She slid from his lap and they both stood, staring at one another. Alex fiddled with the ends of her hair and followed him to his bed. She couldn’t figure out which throbbed more, her head or her heart. He leaned back on his pillows with an arm open and waiting for her. They both left their shoes on.

She gazed up at a ceiling of stars. In Parrish, they spent a week positioning glow-in-the-dark constellation stickers all over his bedroom. Now they shone and twirled.

“Are those real?”

“They seem like it. I had to have some fun with the place, didn’t I?”

She watched clouds pass over the stars. “What was your favorite memory in this room?”

His chest moved up and down and she wondered if they would always continue to breathe out of habit. “Isn’t that obvious by the setting?”

“The last night?”

“The last night. And my teenage mind of possibilities.”

She lifted her head and placed her chin on his chest. “What’s your second favorite?”

“This could take all night. A lot happened in this room.”

She got comfortable, placing her cheek right over his heart. “I’ve got nothing but time.”

And as surely as she could feel his chest rising and falling, she could feel his smile.