The Stargazers (18 page)

Before she left, she decided to create a little insurance. Reaching down
,
us
ing precise care with her plump but somehow
elegant
new
fingers, she plucked a strand of hair from the tough girl’s short black mop. 

There was so much a woman of her prowess could do with a single strand of hair. 

-14-

Aster awoke the next morning to the sound of birdsong coming in on the tail end of Ruby’s snores. She looked over t
o see the other girl dozing, her hair standing up in crazy tufts and spikes,
scar-covered arms cradled against her chest. A few hours ago, they had been wrapped quivering around Aster’s waist as Aster coaxed her through a nightmare. Ruby hadn’t been wrong about her bad dreams, and the recent turn of events had
undoubted
ly made them worse.

She now
saw no evidence of that traumatized
girl
right now
, and Aster wanted to let her remain that way for as long as possible. Slowly rolling out of the bed, she
dressed
and then headed downstairs
.

Her heart was still chilled over everything she had seen last night, and it was possible that Ivy was down there right now. She hoped not. Her plan was to eat a little something and avoid the strange woman entirely. Better that than to let her see the anxiety, the knowledge that things had change
d
, pasted on Aster’s face.

Downstairs, she was relieved to find an empty kitchen. She did, however, notice a pot of hot coffee. Someone had been awake, but that also meant the
electricity had returned at some point
during the night. She had just ducked her head into the refrigerator in search of some breakfast when she heard the brush of slippers on the floor behind her.

“Good morning, Aster.”

Ivy stood in the doorway wearing her bathrobe. Her appearance was a drastic improvement from last night, with her face clean and shiny, her hair gathered into a
tight
bun, and the smell of gardenia wafting off
her skin. Aster hated gardenias. They reminded her of Oleander, who regularly used gardenia soap,
but the friendly grin on Ivy’s face was
enough to make her question whether she had seen what she thought she’d seen last night
.

“Hi.”
She turned toward the sink and started rinsing out the few plates and cups that were stacked in it. It was a good distraction. “How did your trip go yesterday?”

Ivy
fetched a mug from the cabinet and poured herself some coffee. She took a sip, grimaced, but kept drinking. “Everything’s as right as rain.”

“Nothing was up in the woods then?”

“I detected nothing out of the ordinary.”

Something was off with the other woman’s speech
, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what
. “Well that’s good, I suppose.”

“Y
ou should eat some breakfast. Things are going to get a little busy around here
today
.”

Aster turned off the faucet and dried her hands. She grabbed a banana from the fruit basket beside the refrigerator and busied herself with peeling it, still unable to meet the other woman’s gaze.
“Is there a lot of damage from the earthquake?”

“Have a seat.” Ivy gestured toward the table.

“Is something wrong?” Even though the other woman’s temperament seemed normal—or at least close to what Aster had learned to expect
in the short time she’d known Ivy
—a knot tightened in Aster’s gut
. S
he pulled out a chair and sat down.

“You might not notice, but this whole house is falling apart.”

Aster couldn’t see what
she
was talking about. There was some obvious clutter, but the house was far more solid than the one she lived in back in Ellemire, even after the earthquake. “It is?”

“I did some inspecting
early
this
morning
. The shutters are loose. Paint is peeling on the outside, and the walls could use it on the inside as well. Also, I noticed some loose tiles on the bathroom walls and a ceiling leak in the living room. The garden is also far too small. We should be planting more herbs, and most of the plants need to be replaced. In fact, the whole thing should be
plowed under,
fertilized and expanded. And that’s only the beginning.”

Aster gaped at the growing list of chores. “That’s a huge amount of work. You expect us to do all of that?”

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing. These girls live here free of charge thanks to me. They can at least show their gratitude by making sure their free home doesn’t turn into a dump.” She smiled.
The corners of that smile quivered just a tad
, and Aster felt more unsettled than ever
.
This wasn’t the Ivy she’d met on the other side of the Door. It just couldn’t be.

“I think we can
be putting o
urselves to better use, my dear,
”
the woman said.

Aster didn’t want to argue anymore.
This conversation was reminding her too much of home
. She stood up. “I suppose I should get started in the garden.”

Ivy’s grin widened
to show teeth,
and Aster was reminded of a story she’d read once about a little girl who fell down a hole in the woods and befriended a cat with a sinister smile. “You, my dear, are going to do absolutely nothing. You aren’t one of them. You’re
special
. Remember?”

Aster’s jaw dropped. “I’m not special, though. Not here. If I don’t help them, they’ll hate me.”

“Oh come now. Hate is a strong word. Mildly irritated, perhaps, but what do you care? You won’t be taking any of them home with you. You didn’t come over here to make friends. You came here to find a mate. Stargazers don’t have friends, remember?”

Aster’s heart sank
, and she fought back tears
. She remembered what Ivy had said to her the ot
her night, about having fun here, making friends, living life
. What
had happened to change that? 
The words flew from her mouth before she could stop them. “Something got to you in those woods yesterday. I can tell.”

The other woman’s expression could have curdled fresh milk. “You know, there is nothing in Ellemire law that states I
have
to house a Stargazer when she comes over to this side. She is free to wander as she likes, so long as she fulfills her obligations. If you like, you can endure the rest of your journey on your own. Perhaps you could make a living as a whore. It would speed things along, at the very least.”

Her words hit Aster like
daggers, but what made them particularly painful was the sweet, smiling way in which she said them.
Aster’s jaw worked, but no words came out. She was too shocked, too heartbroken, to articulate what she felt. She was also afraid.
So easily cowed, aren’t you?
She’s no different than Oleander
.

“Go mill about the town today. Think about
why you came here, and fulfill your duty. It shouldn’t be too hard for you to find a boy to spread your legs for. All male creatures want nothing more than to stick their wands into something soft and wet.
”

The crude speech reminded Aster
so much of
Oleander, who relished every opportunity to shock and disgust people with her words. Aster clenched her teeth
, biting back a
fury of words that wanted to
fly forth and slice the other woman’s face and heart like razor blades. But what came out was the same weak dribble
that always did when she was presented with a possible confrontation
. She hated herself for it the same way she hated the
hot
tears that were always close behind. “I just don’t understand what’s happening…”

Ivy got up and stood before her. She picked up Aster’s hand i
n hers and gave it a
squeeze.

The touch filled Aster with a familiar euphoria, but it felt a little off this time. Like
a chorus where the harmony is off key
. “
If you do this, you can go back home, Aster
. You do want to go home, don’t you?”

“Yeah... I guess I do.”
Her spun lazily around, making her feel dizzy and a little sick to her stomach
.

“Good. Remember your obligations and do what you need to do. These girls are n
one of your concern.” Ivy dropped her hand
, leaving Aster reeling with vertigo.

She gave her head a shake,
and a brief memory floated up that she hadn’t thought of in years. It was of the
first time she had
tried to duplicate one of
Oleander’s potions for menstrual cramps. The pain had subsided as it was supposed to, but it had also turned her skin
a violent
green
color. S
he vomited for days
, and it was about a month before her skin returned to its proper hue. Oleander’s fury had been
both righteous and immense.
That’s what you get when you try to copy someone else’s magic. No one ever gets it exactly right. You especially
, you ignorant twat
.

“I smell coffee.”

Ruby was standing in the same spot Ivy had been a few minutes earlier
, when Aster’s world had been standing on more stable ground
.
She’d
groomed and dressed herself in her usual bla
ck attire and dark eye makeup. Aster’s heart felt a bit lighter at the sight of an
ally. 

Ruby glided over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup, which she then cradled and cooed to as if it were a newborn. “Sweet, sweet java. Miraculous electricity. Oh how I’ve missed you both.” She took a sip and looked over at Ivy.

“Hey, you were out past curfew last night. Everything okay?”

Ivy
didn’t even bother to grin
. “All’s well. Now hurry up and get the rest of this house out of bed. There’s work to be done. You girls are sleeping in far too late as it is.”

Ruby’s eyes moved between Aster and Ivy.  “Well I guess we can do that.” She put down her coffee cup and started to move from the kitchen. “Come on, Aster.”

“No, I said
you
. Aster has other things to do.”

“Uh, sure.” She gave Aster a bewildered look before she left.

“So what do I do now?”

“Get out. Do your job. Save the world.”  She sneered a little at the last phrase, as if it had disgusted her to say it. Aster thought of Oleander again.

Ivy headed toward the stairs, bellowing for everyone to wake up as she went, leaving a stunned Aster standing in the kitchen pondering her future. A few seconds later, Aster heard a loud shriek followed by a thud. She raced to the stairs just as Larkspur darted down them. When he reached the bottom, he coiled around her legs.

Ivy stumbled down the stairs after him with a large feather duster in her hand and a wide-
eyed snarl
branding her face. “You keep that creature out of my room, do you hear me? Or he’s out. I won’t even tell you next time.
I’ll put you both on the street!
”
She stomped
back upstairs
. Tonya and Cynthia, bleary eyed but awake after that little scene, looked down at Aster from the landing
.

“What’s gotten into her?” Tonya whispered.

Aster shook her head. “I wish I knew.”
Oh you know. You know exactly what’s gotten into her. Or who. You just have no way of knowing how
.

She
picked up her cat and looked into his crossed but intelligent blue eyes. “You shouldn’t have gone into her room. What’s gotten into you?” The cat turned his head and Aster spied something caught in one of his whiskers. She plucked it out. It looked and smelled like chocolate. Dread closed over her mind. Oleander never went anywhere without chocolate.

Part of her mind still tried to insist reason.
Maybe Ivy has a soft spot for the stuff too, you know. Everybody loves chocolate
. But the voice was every bit as feeble and uncertain as Aster felt.

She considered sending a message home. That is, after all, why Larkspur had been sent with her.
T
o call home already would send the signal that she was too weak to fix this.
She wasn’t a child anymore, and she couldn’t go calling home to her mother when things started getting a little more difficult. Besides, if Oleander was over here, they would certainly know something about it by now. Especially Holly. Holly knew everything that Oleander did.