Sunblind (29 page)

“You know me,” I reply. “I love a party.”

“Then you've come to the right place,” Nadine remarks. “I thought my brother might extend an invitation.”

So much for making a surprise entrance.

“Kinda low attendance,” I say, looking around the cabin. “Sucks having no friends.”

“We're only expecting one more,” Nadine says, smiling. “And here she is now.”

Jumping off the couch, Nadine rushes to the door, as excited as if this were a real party, and practically drags Rayna into the cabin.

“Hi, Rayna,” she beams. “I'm so glad you could come.”

Once Rayna gets an eyeful of what she's walked into, she definitely doesn't share the sentiment. Coming to a remote cabin without her boyfriend probably sounded like the recipe for some no-strings fun, but now that she's here, Rayna doesn't look happy. Guess she never imagined she'd be splitting the six-pack she's holding in her arms with a grandmother.

“You never said this was going to be a family party,” she groans.

“Sorry, Ray,” Nadine replies. “I didn't think you'd mind.”

Luckily Rayna Delgado is not a shrinking violet. She's one of those girls who loves to play dress-up and look pretty, but underneath she's as tough as any of the guys in school.

“Well, I do mind,” she barks. “I'm outta here.”

Rayna hasn't even turned completely around and Nadine is standing in front of the door. She looks relaxed, but there's no way that she's letting Rayna leave. She has plans.

“What did I tell you, Rayna?” Nadine asks rhetorically. “Didn't I tell you that we have a lot in common and if you just gave it a chance we could be really good friends? And aren't we?”

Even watching Rayna from behind I can see that she's uncomfortable, head bowed to avoid Nadine's gaze, standing with one hip jutted out, just waiting for a chance to get out of here.

“Yeah, sure, you know, despite what I first thought of you, you're not bad,” Rayna stutters, “but . . .”

“Then trust me, we are going to have a super memorable night tonight!”

And I don't even have to see Nadine's face, but I know that she's moving her lips and casting a spell on Rayna to make the girl agree to stay. Napoleon's lips are clamped tight; he's not even opening his mouth to breathe. Nadine is on her own, but I guess there are some things she can do by herself.

“Fine!” Rayna gasps. “I'll stay for like a half hour.”

“That's all the time we'll need,” Nadine says.

What is she planning? And why has she invited Rayna here by herself? I know the two of them have gotten chummy, but I figured it was just two rotten eggs getting together to compare notes and see which one smelled worse. I had no idea that they had actually developed a friendship.

“I'd like you to meet my grandmother,” Nadine says with too much sweetness in her voice. “This is Luba.”

Rayna's body language is as unsubtle as her vocabulary; she actually flinches when Luba shakes her hand. I'm a little surprised that she doesn't wipe her hand on her thigh to get rid of the elder cooties.

“So very nice to meet you, Rayna,” Luba murmurs. “You were right, Nadine. She is lovely.”

I have absolutely no idea what's going on or why Nadine has arranged this little get-together, but it seems that Rayna's figured it all out. And it appears that there has been a huge misunderstanding.

“Whoa, Nellie!” Rayna shouts, raising her free hand like it's a stop sign. “Sorry to disappoint you, Nay, but I'm not like
that
. I didn't think that sort of thing ran in the family, but you being twins and all must mean the gay gene just got divided between you and Nap.”

“I am not a lesbian!”

I want to slap the disgusted expression right off of Nadine's face. Being a lesbian would be a huge improvement over being what she really is.

“Don't freak out, Nay; there's nothing wrong with it. I think your brother and Archie make a really cute couple,” Rayna replies, gaining some respect from me at least. “It's just that I have a boyfriend, and I'm not in the market for a new one, let alone a girlfriend. Sorry if I led you on or anything and, you know, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't flattered, but I'm so not curious about how the other half lives.”

Rayna catches my eye, but she doesn't catch my meaning. I'm trying to urge her to leave, to stop talking and just dash out the door before it's too late. But she thinks I need her help.

“Dom, you want to hitch a ride with me?” she asks.

Of all the times to start being polite! No, I do not want a ride. I just want you to leave here before Nadine reveals why you're here in the first place.

“No one is leaving,” Nadine says.

“Watch me.”

Once again Nadine is too quick for Rayna. Before she can even take a step closer to the door, Nadine raises her arm, and the doorknob bursts into flames.

“What the hell?!”

“I told you!” Nadine declares. “No one is leaving.”

I know exactly what's going on inside Rayna's mind; she's trying to give reason to the unexplainable. She's trying to logically understand how a doorknob can burst into flames, but she can't. So now she's eyeing all of us suspiciously, wondering which one of us is going to crack, tell her that it's a dumb parlor joke that Nadine's been performing since she was a little girl. When the silence threatens to choke her, Rayna starts to look around the room for an escape. Maybe she can jump through the window, or if she can make it to the back room, maybe there's a window there that she'll be able to open and crawl out of. I can't be a hypocrite and say that I like Rayna; I don't. But I feel sorry for her right now because I know exactly how she feels. Luckily, I know exactly what to do. Divert the attention away from the innocent bystander and onto me.

“Great trick, Nadine,” I say. “Now why don't you let Rayna go so you and I can finally have it out.”

“I don't know what you're talking about, Dominy,” Nadine replies. “I don't want to have anything out with you.”

As she shakes her head disapprovingly, Luba's face is practically covered by her long, straggly hair. “Some girls are so egotistical,” she says, each word an effort. “They think every moment is about them.”

“Everything you people do is about me!” I shriek.

Luba looks up at me, her two black eyes surrounded by bloodshot red veins.

“Not tonight, dear.”

Clutching the six-pack tightly with one hand, Rayna starts to flail her other arm in the air. She's trying to come off as forceful, but she merely looks frightened. “You people are all seriously in trouble!” she rants. “I told Jeremy I was coming out here to a party, and he's . . . he's meeting me here in like ten minutes so you better . . .”

Nadine's harsh laughter silences Rayna. “You didn't tell Jeremy anything because you're a whore and you were hoping to have some fun here tonight without him,” Nadine correctly surmises. “You're bored silly with college boy because all he wants to do is wait until marriage, and you're so slutty you can't wait until lunchtime to have some fun. Isn't that right?”

It's obvious by Rayna's shocked expression that Nadine hit the nail on the skank's head.

“Oh my God, how do you know that?” Rayna asks. She's so amazed by Nadine's knowledge, she's not even trying to defend her own morals. “Did you read my mind?”

“No,” Nadine replies. “But Grandma did, and she likes what's locked inside that pretty little head of yours and your pretty little body.”

“Dom . . . Dominy, do you know what's going on?”

“I have no idea,” I reply honestly. “But stay by me. I'm going to help you.”

Once again Nadine's laughter, loud and guttural and unnatural, spills out of her body and into the room. “How are you going to help her from up there?”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

Nadine doesn't answer. Instead she raises both hands as if she wants to wrap them around my neck, and, although she's several feet from me, I feel pressure around my throat, but nothing like the impact when my back rams into the ceiling.

“Dominy!” Rayna screams.

Her scream is so loud I hardly hear the beer bottles break into little pieces when they crash onto the floor. I try to move my arms and legs, but it's like they're super-glued to the ceiling. The second I sense that the connection is loosening, I see tiny silver ropes break through the ceiling and wrap around my wrists, my ankles, my waist, and my throat before disappearing once again into the wooden slats above me. I'm chained up tight, and I have a perfect view for what they're planning to do next. If I had any sense I'd bang my head against the ceiling until I blacked out or stretch my arm through the silver rope so I can gouge out my eyes and go blind. But curiosity makes people stupid, and I'm about to become a fool.

“Dominy!!” Rayna shrieks. “What's going on?!”

The poor girl tries to twist the doorknob that is no longer engulfed in flames, but as expected it's locked. She rams her fist into the window, but the glass merely bends as if it's rubber and not glass.

“Let me out!” she cries.

“Oh we'll let you out, Rayna,” Nadine says. “In our own special way.”

Terrified, Rayna starts to run around the circumference of the room but doesn't get any farther than the corner. She whips around to face her three captors. Her mind understands that something horrific is going to happen, but her body refuses to give in so easily. She's twitching; her fingernails are clawing at the walls; her jaw is shaking, but nothing other than unidentifiable sounds are coming out of her mouth.

“Leave her alone!” I scream. But when I see Nadine and Luba join hands, I know there's nothing else I can do. Wait! If I can just reach Napoleon, if I can prevent him from holding his grandmother's hand, maybe I can stop them; maybe I can save a life instead of watching one end.

“Napoleon, don't!”

Nadine looks at me, and I can see the silver light surrounding her become tinged with black. She doesn't want any competition when it comes to controlling her brother's spirit.

“Don't listen to that animal!”

“Napoleon! I know you don't want to do this!” I cry. “Think of Archie!”

And sometimes the most obvious thing to say is also the most idiotic.

Nadine's sneer turns into a smile. I haven't prevented disaster. I haven't convinced Napoleon to stop helping his family. I've given Nadine all the ammunition she needs to ensure that Napoleon will do exactly as she wants him to.

“That's right, Napoleon. Please do think of Archie,” she whispers. “Think how beautiful his white skin will look lying inside a red velvet coffin. It can be easily arranged. Just make a choice. You're either with your family or you're against us.”

I can hear every heart in the cabin beating. It's like thunderous drums banging and banging and banging, only relenting when Napoleon's sobs become too loud. And when a bloodcurdling scream erupts from Rayna's body as she sees him grab hold of his grandmother's hand.

Immediately, three pieces of silver light fly out of Nadine's, Luba's, and Napoleon's bodies, traveling through the air in quick, jagged spurts until they connect, and then like a rocket the single stream of light pierces Rayna's heart.

She begins to convulse, her body slamming against the wall, her eyes rolling back into her head, so all I can see are two white orbs staring at me blindly. She is too consumed by pain and fear to even beg for help. And then the change begins.

Slowly another silver thread starts to fly out of her mouth. As it exits, her body begins to shrivel, the smooth skin on her face wrinkling like a dried leaf; her luxurious black hair turns brittle and gray, and her back curves as if the bones underneath her skin are no longer strong enough to keep her upright. They're sucking the life out of Rayna and transferring it right into Luba.

The silver thread moves through the air and enters Luba's open and eager mouth. Just as Rayna aged before my eyes, Luba becomes younger. Her skin color turns from ash to alabaster, her hair regains shine and returns to the beautiful ebony color it had when she was a younger woman, and her body grows strong and vital. By the time she's swallowed all of the silver light, she is no longer frail and breakable and old, but healthy and sturdy and, as disgusted as I am to think it, beautiful. This is the woman who cursed my father; this is the woman who started all this agony.

Seconds after I watch Rayna collapse to the floor, a mass of wrinkled flesh barely covering a skeletal frame, I feel the ropes retract, and I fall. Luckily, my wolf-like instincts prevail, and I hardly feel the impact when I land. I almost give in to my primitive nature, the part of me that wants to devour Nadine and attack Luba and even rattle Napoleon by the shoulders for his part, but there's another person in the room who needs my help. Rayna.

It doesn't matter that I don't like her. It doesn't matter that she isn't my friend. What matters is that she needs my help, and she needs it desperately.

Racing to her side, I kneel next to her and tenderly lift her body until I'm cradling her in my arms. I gasp because she feels so lightweight, it's as if she's made out of paper. Her eyes are dull and unfocused, like they used to hold meaning until someone erased them with a dirty eraser, leaving behind dark blotches. She has no idea why they've done this to her, but she understands that all hope, along with her youth, has left her body.

“Finish . . . this,” she whispers.