The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1) (25 page)

Jareth was watching me closely. Ignoring Grace and Ellison for the moment, he folded his arms and drawled, “So, Rafael, when is the wedding?”

With a cool expression, Rafael shrugged. “There will be no wedding. I broke the engagement last week.”

Jareth, Harmony, and Marquis stared at Rafael in stunned surprise. This was obviously not good news to them, but my heart felt strangely lighter.

“You cannot break tradition!” Marquis finally inhaled and hissed. “It … is simply not done!”

“Now isn’t the time to discuss this matter.” Rafael dipped his head gracefully and sent Grace a bewitching smile. “I’m sure our hosts have better plans than to discuss the small doings of my life.”

“Uh, sure!” Grace blushed under his attention. “We can play games or watch TV while Mom finishes getting the dinner ready.” Grabbing the remote, she turned the TV on and began flipping through the channels.

“Oh, but your life is fast running in unusual directions of late, Rafael.” Jareth noted, still clearly shocked. “Could it be that your mask of perfection is beginning to break or are there other …
colorful
factors at play here?”

Rafael drummed his long fingers on the table and scowled.

After a moment, Jareth glanced away, but as his eyes fell upon the TV, he raised his hand. “Stop!”

Grace paused in surprise.

We all stared as images of Jareth in a variety of ridiculous poses flashed across the screen.

“My, my, look at that.” He sounded vastly pleased with himself. “I’m on the news again.”

I snorted and then realized that I was still holding the teacup and staring with my mouth open. Annoyed with myself, I made my way to the kitchen just as I heard Al answering the door once again. I caught the sound of Maya’s voice.

Bounding into the living room, I enveloped her in a huge hug and subjected her to my inspection. She was looking good … too good, actually. She had a new haircut, a sleek bob, and she was wearing dark red lipstick. I didn’t recognize her brown dress or the thigh-high boots.

I frowned.

I knew the boots and the lipstick meant she was already on the prowl for another man. She was recovering unusually fast this time. We hadn’t even had a chance to reunite and move to a new place yet—not that I wanted to.

Babbling a little, I led her to the family room. As I tried to pull her through the door, she seemed rooted to the threshold.

“Is that really Jareth?” Maya gasped, looking over my shoulder.

“Don’t make his ego bigger than it is already!” I cautioned.

“Oh, Sydney! I didn’t know Jareth really
was
your boyfriend!” Maya’s shocked tones rose to drown out the TV blaring in the room.

Both Jareth and Rafael glanced up, and I felt my ears redden. “He isn’t my boyfriend, Maya.”

As Rafael joined us to bow courteously to my mother, she fanned her cheeks in embarrassment. I wondered what she thought of Rafael’s wild blond hair and rhinestones. I couldn’t help but grin a little, and then I glanced over to see she was watching me instead.

“I see!” Maya smiled at Rafael. “
You
must be Sydney’s boyfriend!”

Rafael’s eyes crinkled in overt amusement as I quickly said, “Maya, you know very well that I won’t date
anyone
!”

My mother pursed her lips a moment and then murmured, “Whatever you say, Sydney.” Then, her gaze swept over the room and locked on Marquis. With a smile, she sashayed his way.

I watched, horrified, and mumbled to Rafael, “Sorry.”

“Your mother has not insulted me.” Rafael said, patting me on the head in a way that reminded me very much of Al. His eyes gleamed with merriment.

“Well, you should watch out,” I advised. “She just might set her sights on you.”

Rafael chuckled lightly and opened his mouth to reply when the pigeon flew into the room followed by Tigger. Chaos erupted for the next few minutes as Grace and Ellison chased the bloodhound and the bird fluttered around the room, but then Rafael whistled and Jareth raised his hand.

Tigger skidded to a halt as Galahad landed to perch on Jareth’s hand.

Ruffling the fat rolls around Tigger’s neck, Rafael grinned at the dog. “I’m afraid you are headed for a calamity, my furry friend!”

“You have my permission to chastise that dog, my dear Galahad,” Jareth cooed at the pigeon and then raised his hand. “Return to the curtain rod. Go!”

The pigeon spread its wings and soared back into the living room.

“Wow!” Ellison gasped in awe. “What a smart bird!”

“I daresay he’s smarter than most humans.” Jareth yawned.

Al chose that moment to return, announcing as he entered the room, “Sorry to keep you folks waiting.”

He had changed into his fatigues and battalion cap. I wondered why, but then with Al, you were not quite sure what he was thinking sometimes.

Doffing his hat, he addressed his guests, “I want to thank each and every one of you for joining us in our Thanksgiving festivities. We must never forget those wars and how our forefathers fought for the independence of this country.”

Ellison, Grace, and I exchanged slightly perplexed looks as everyone else in the room gave Al their complete and respectful attention.

Placing his hand over his heart, Al continued, “Betty says the food is ready, but before we adjourn to enjoy this great feast, let us have a moment of silence and give thanks just as our Mexican forefathers did when they celebrated their deliverance from the Irish.”

The three of us stared at Al even as everyone else, including my mother, placed their hands over their hearts.

After a dramatic pause, Al rubbed his hands together, seeming vastly pleased. “Then, it’s time to dig in! Let us eat!”

As he led the way to the buffet, the three of us lingered.

“Is your Dad feeling ok?” Ellison muttered to Grace.

Noticing both Jareth and Rafael watching us, I pushed Ellison out of the door behind Maya. “We can talk later,” I said, wondering if Al’s behavior had something to do with Jack, his janitor friend. Suddenly, I didn’t want to leave him alone too long with whatever kooky plan they might have hatched.

Jareth and Rafael fell into step behind us as we joined the tail end of the buffet line, next to the small table of plates and silverware. As I collected my plate, I raised my brow at the pile of chopsticks on the side. I almost said something about it when from the corner of my eye, I saw Rafael selecting chopsticks instead of a fork.

It struck me all at once. My mouth dropped open in surprise. He reacted to iron, just like Harmony!
That
was why he hadn’t picked up the spoon!

“What is it, my dear Sydney?” Rafael leaned down and teasingly poked the tip of my nose.

“Uh, nothing …” I hurriedly smiled and turned back in line. I was confused. Why wasn’t Jareth bothered by iron? He had plucked the fork out of his hand with no problem, and that infernal alien detection kit hadn’t made a peep around him. But I’d seen him disappear right in front of my own eyes.

“You’re going to be eighteen soon, Sydney.” Maya broke into my thoughts. “I was married at that age! You should think about finding a boyfriend and settling down.”

Maya never encouraged me to go to college. She thought it was a waste of time. “I’m going to do something with my life, Maya,” I said. We’d had this conversation many times.

“Oh?” Marquis glanced back at me from where he stood next to Al in the line. His tone was scathing. “And might that be a professional dishwasher?”

I was unprepared for his cutting response.

“Sydney’s future is unusually bright.” Rafael announced from behind me. “I would say even Jareth would agree with that.”

I looked at Jareth, apprehensively. I expected him to make some sarcastic remark, but he merely replied, “Her potential is amazing.”

Grace broke the stilted silence that followed with, “I’m going to be a cop. Ellison, what are you going to do?”

“Huh?” he asked, apparently jolted from some kind of reverie.

“What are you going to do after you graduate from high school?” Grace repeated.

“Oh, I’m … studying architecture,” he replied gamely enough, frowning a little in distraction.

Curiously, I followed his gaze to discover Al serving himself the oddest arrangement of food that I had ever seen. He’d helped himself to a large piece of pumpkin pie that he’d covered with salad and had filled his glass to the brim with what looked like a mix of cranberry sauce and gravy. He was in the middle of crumbling a blueberry muffin over his potatoes.

Betty had apparently noticed as well. She plucked his elbow, whispering, “Honey?”

“Betty, can you get me some of those Blue Pickles?” Al smiled down at his wife.

Grace and I both blinked as we recognized the Mackenzie Covert Code Phrase. Even Ellison appeared to have remembered it because his eyes suddenly took on a lively look and he began to grin.

“Oh … umm …” Betty cleared her throat, looking more bewildered than ever. “I think we are out, honey.”

“What a shame!” Al heaved a sigh and then turned to Marquis. “It won’t be much of a Thanksgiving Feast without those pickles now, don’t you think?”

“I’m sure we’ll do fine without them,” Marquis muttered.

“Oh, don’t worry!” Zelphie smiled brightly. “Blue Pickles were never my favorite, anyway. After all of the wonderful food Betty has made, we couldn’t ask for anything more!”

I found myself responding with a fake laugh. It was then that I noticed Marquis and Harmony using the plastic ladle to fill their glasses with gravy.

Their plates were a carbon copy of Al’s.

Behind me, Jareth snickered under his breath.

“So, Rafael here is studying medicine!” Al revived the conversation, topping his potato-blueberry mess off with whipped cream. “Cellular research?”

“That is correct,” Rafael replied, but his tone was subdued.

Finished filling his plate with the most obnoxious mixture of food that I’d ever seen, Al beckoned to Marquis and Harmony, and led them back to the family room.

“Hey, what’s Al up to?” Ellison began but fell silent.

It didn’t seem polite to discuss it further when Zelphie was busy crushing blueberry muffins over her potatoes.

Perplexed, the rest of us hurried to dish our own plates. I noticed that Rafael helped himself to everything that I had put on my plate, minus the meat, and Jareth chose only blueberry muffins.

I walked into the family room just in time to hear Al ask, “Marquis, I’m curious what your take is on Yoda. Do you think he’s a better candidate to run for Parliament than Darth Vader?” Using his chopsticks, he took a big bite of blueberry muffin potatoes.

Ellison choked back a laugh as Betty sent everyone a nervous smile.

“I normally don’t discuss politics at the dinner table,” Marquis replied in a lofty tone. “I’ll just say I don’t care for either candidate. They’ll both have to work hard to convince me that either one will amount to anything.”

Al nodded seriously.

The rest of us stared.

“Would you mind pouring me a glass of wine?” Betty leaned over and whispered loudly to Grace.

I took my seat, Maya on one side and Rafael on the other. Jareth lounged across from us, appearing somewhat amused but also a little tense as he and Rafael exchanged wary glances.

I nibbled at my food, watching as Rafael, Harmony, Zelphie, and Marquis maneuvered their chopsticks. It would have been funny if they had struggled, but they were all experts. Jareth just lounged back, popping blueberry muffins in his mouth.

After shoveling down his pumpkin pie salad, Al drank his cranberry gravy with Marquis mimicking his every action. Harmony, however, sat and observed her food in disgust while Zelphie only picked around the edges.

I felt sorry for them, but not for Marquis.

Taking a piece of paper out of his pocket, Al read it to himself and then stuffed it back in. After a moment, he asked casually, “So, Zelphie, how many cats do you have?”

“Cats?” Zelphie sniffed aloofly. “I’m afraid I can’t stand the beasts. No offense.”

He appeared crestfallen with her answer, and a strained silence fell around the dinner table.

My mother could never stand silence or not being the center of attention. Glancing at everyone, she struck up a conversation. “So, I was browsing the internet this morning and saw on the news that Amazon.com might be taking over Pepsi. What do you think about that?”

After a stilted moment of silence, Marquis pompously spouted, “The Amazon is a vast region. I fail to see why they need more land. They haven’t even explored the forests they already have! It’s just another example of human greed.” Apparently, his opinion of humanity was very low.

“That is disheartening!” Zelphie sent my mother a friendly smile. “Do you think the EU will help these Pepsis if they move ahead with their invasion? I’m sure it would be devastating for the Pepsis to lose their tribal lands! Surely something can be done!”

Ellison choked again, burying his face in his napkin as Grace pounded him on the back, but her eyes were brimming with laughter.