Tommy Nightmare (Jenny Pox #2) (20 page)

Jenny felt a little bit stunned. Nobody had
ever asked her that in years, if ever.

“Sure, Darcy,” Seth said. “Are you feeling
okay?”

Darcy sat on a fat tree root next to Seth.
“Thanks so much!” she gushed. “I hope it's okay I'm here. I didn't
want to bother anybody.”

“It's fine,” Seth said. “Right, Jenny?”

Jenny looked at Darcy. On one hand, Darcy had
always sucked up to Ashleigh and tried to be part of her group—but
so had most of the kids in school, because Ashleigh had a magic
touch that made people feel love. Darcy had been a committed Cool
Crusader and part of all Ashleigh's groups, and Ashleigh had
treated her like a servant.

On the other hand, Ashleigh was dead. Nobody
was under her spell anymore.

In a lot of ways, Darcy was like Jenny. Darcy
was awkward and regarded as an oddball by the other kids. Plus,
Darcy didn't have any real friends, and even her fake friends
weren't around anymore.

“It's okay,” Jenny said. “How are you taking
all this?”

“Gosh, the whole place is just bonkers now,
isn't it?” Darcy took a big bite of pizza, and talked with her
mouth full. “I mean, where did everybody go? Do you really think
they're all dead?”

“The news said only a few people died,” Seth
said.

“But so many people are missing!” Darcy said.
“And I don't know what to think about Ashleigh anymore, even. Since
she's gone, I feel so different. I don’t know why I tried so hard
to make her like me. You know what I mean?'

“Definitely,” Seth said. Jenny nodded.

“But maybe that's good,” Darcy said. “Because
I have to grow up and be a mom now.” Darcy patted her big belly.
“Babies are miracles right from Jesus, aren't they?”

Jenny thought of her own mother, dying of
Jenny pox as Jenny was born, and she doubted it.

“Anywho,” Darcy said, “Jenny, I've been
praying a lot. And I know it's been kinda rough in school for you,
with all us popular kids kinda picking on you.”

Jenny wanted to smirk at the idea that Darcy
considered herself “popular.” But she just nodded instead.

“I mean, I don't know why you wear gloves.”
Darcy nodded at the pink gloves on Jenny's hands. “But we're all
goofballs somehow. I just want to make amends before graduation.
Like, maybe we could hang out?”

Jenny automatically distrusted Darcy. Darcy
had been the last person Jenny spoke to before she died. Darcy had
seen her drown, like all the other pregnant girls. But she was
acting like that had never happened. Which was perfectly fine with
Jenny.

Though Darcy had gotten sucked into
Ashleigh’s spell, Darcy herself had always seemed like a nice,
earnest person on the inside, trying to do the right things, but
also desperate to be accepted. She was probably just lonely.

“Okay,” Jenny said.

“Cool beans!” Darcy said. “So do you want to
hang out after school today?”

“I don't know,” Jenny said. “I've got some
chores at home.”

“I'll help!” Darcy said.

“You don't have to.”

“Come on, Jenny. I really want to make things
up with you. I really think it's what God wants me to do.”

“Well...” Jenny thought it over. She'd never
really had a friend, until she met Seth. She would have to be
careful to avoid any skin-on-skin contact with Darcy, but she had a
lifetime of practice avoiding contact with people. “I mean, if you
really want to...it's cool with me.”

“Yay!” Darcy pounded her sneakers up and down
in the dirt, as if she couldn't contain her excitement. “This is
gonna be so rad!”

Jenny looked at Seth. He gave a slightly
amused smile, but he didn't look worried.

Jenny tried not to worry, either.

At Jenny's house, Darcy really dived into the
chores with enthusiasm, gabbing away while she helped Jenny
straighten up, do the dishes, sweep and mop the floors. Her main
topic was memories from church camp, but she avoided mentioning
Ashleigh, as if aware that this might annoy or upset Jenny.

Jenny tried to make her stop working—she
hadn’t really intended to have Darcy do housework. Jenny hadn’t
even really planned on doing any, it had just been an excuse to try
and avoid being social.

Darcy insisted on cleaning Jenny’s house for
her, though. “That’s what friends do,” Darcy had explained.

Jenny carried a bag of dog food out back to
feed Rocky. Darcy trailed behind her, talking about the time she'd
come to pick the tuba over the trombone when she joined the school
band.

Rocky stepped out of the shed, tail wagging.
The moment he saw Darcy, he began to bark.

“Rocky!” Jenny said. “Relax.”

But the dog grew more agitated, jumping and
barking.

“Is he gonna chomp me?” Darcy said.

“No, he's okay,” Jenny said. “He just don't
like strangers. Rocky! Quit barking!”

As they approached, Rocky darted off into the
woods. He let out a long, low bay, as if he were frightened or
hurt. Or had trapped a raccoon in a tree.

“I don't think he likes me,” Darcy said.

“He's just shy.” Jenny poured the food and
filled his water dish from the garden hose. “I guess that's all my
chores. Thanks for helping.”

“No prob.” Darcy winked.

“What should we do now?”

“I dunno. What do you usually do for
fun?”

“I kind of do this pottery thing.” Jenny led
her inside, to the dining room, where Jenny's old potting wheel was
waiting. She showed Darcy the assortment of flowerpots she'd made,
plus her attempts at sculpture, like a statue that was supposed to
be Rocky but looked more like a mutant cow.

“Coolsville!” Darcy said. “I didn't know you
did stuff like this.”

“It's just a hobby,” Jenny told her. “Ms.
Sutland used to sell them at the Five and Dime, but that's closed
now.”

“Oh, the Five and Dime closed?” Darcy said.
“I didn't know that. What a bummerino, huh?”

“It feels like the town's falling apart.”

“Good thing we're outta here, right?”

“What do you mean?” Jenny asked.

“You know, college. Aren't you going?”

“No,” Jenny said. “Seth is, though.”

“Where?”

“College of Charleston.”

Darcy snickered.

“What?” Jenny asked.

“Oh...nothing,” Darcy said. “It's just,
well...um, that's where I'm going!”

“Really? Charleston?”

“I wanted to go to Duke, but I blew my GPA.”
She tapped her big stomach. “Hooked up with Bret instead. And now
he's not even around anymore. God's punishing me for everything I
did.” Darcy looked like she was about to cry.

Jenny reached out with a gloved hand and gave
her an awkward pat on the arm. Darcy gasped and pulled away from
her.

“Are you okay?” Jenny asked.

“Oh...” Darcy looked down at the place where
Jenny had touched her arm. “Yes. I guess I'm fine. I guess I wasn't
expecting that.”

“You just seemed upset.” Jenny felt weird for
trying to touch her.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“Who wants cheese sandwiches?” Jenny's dad
asked as he walked in the front door, carrying two Piggy Wiggly
bags. He paused when he saw Darcy. “Oh, I didn't know you had
company, Jenny.”

“This is Darcy Metcalf, Dad,” Jenny said.

“It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Morton.”
Darcy shook his hand, and Jenny's dad smiled.

“You too, Darcy,” he said. “Want a cheese
sandwich? I got some good hoop cheddar at the Piggly Wiggly. On
sale, too.”

“Oh. Actually, I need to get going,” Darcy
said. “My mom'll have an orangutan if I'm not home by sunset.
Thanks, anyway!”

“I'll give you a ride.” Jenny picked up her
car keys and Darcy headed out the door.

“Y'all gonna miss some good cheese
sandwiches.” Jenny’s dad laid the bags on the counter and began
unpacking them. “Got Miracle Whip, too.”

“I'll have one later, Dad.”

He watched through the front window as Darcy
got into the car. “That Darcy seems like a real nice girl.”

“She does seem nice.”

“It's good to see you having friends,
Jenny.”

Jenny's eyes stung a little at his comment.
Jenny rubbed them with the back of her glove before she went
outside to take Darcy home.

That night, Ashleigh searched Darcy's room.
She knew Darcy kept a diary, and Ashleigh wanted to read it. She
needed to piece together what had been happening in Fallen Oak
since she died.

While she was dead, Ashleigh had quickly
found her way to her opposite, Tommy, and devoted all her energy
and attention to haunting him and trying to get him to do what she
wanted. That had probably only worked because he was so deeply
connected to her.

When she wasn't incarnated, Ashleigh had all
her memories of all her lifetimes, but no power to be seen or heard
or influence the world. When she was incarnated, she was usually
focused on that single lifetime, usually with no clue about her
past lives or what she really was.

Now, possessing Darcy's body, she had a weird
mix of both. Her power seemed intact, if her effect on Esmeralda
and Jenny's dad were any indication. At the same time, she had a
huge store of past-life memories—jumbled together, not linear or
organized at all, but they were there. The past-life memories gave
her insight into her past relationships, and into her own power,
and into the powers wielded by Esmeralda and Tommy.

And the horrific power wielded by Jenny.

Ashleigh found the diary under Darcy's bed, a
pink journal decorated with kitten and puppy cartoons. It was full
of Darcy's bulging handwriting.

She began to read. Darcy had seen Jenny
stagger into the pond at Ashleigh's house. She'd been shocked to
see Jenny alive and well at school.

From her past lives, Ashleigh knew what that
was about. Seth, if he was really determined to come back, could
sometimes heal his own dead body and return to life—if he was fast
enough. And he'd healed Jenny's body, too, to restore her to
life.

Opposites, when close to each other, had the
effect of amplifying each other's power. That was why Seth had been
able to come back, and why Jenny had been able to unleash hell on
Fallen Oak.

There were other issues, too—something called
“cross” powers, and “complementary” powers, a whole tangle of
information that was jumbled inside Ashleigh's head. She would have
to think long and deep to figure it out, if she needed to.

The main thing, though, was finding your
opposite. Your opposite could be a powerful ally, or a dangerous
enemy.

Ashleigh read on. Darcy described a
conversation with a CDC doctor, to whom Darcy had tried to explain
about Jenny.

The squeaky sound of Darcy's dad's wheelchair
approached. After only a day of pretending to be Darcy, she had
already learned to hate that sound.

Darcy's father arrived at the open door to
the bedroom. She had to keep it open all the time, or Darcy's
parents would knock and demand that she open it. The Metcalf
household was a semi-fascist state.

“Darcy!” he shouted. It seemed easier for him
to shout than to talk normally.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Your cousin Heywood just got promoted to
assistant manager,” he said. “Over at the Taco Bell in Vernon
Hill.”

“That's...great.” Ashleigh wasn't sure if she
was supposed to be excited. Maybe this represented a huge step
forward in life for Cousin Heywood.

“He says he can get you a job,” Darcy's dad
continued. “You got to start working nights at the drive-through,
and then work your way up. I bet you could make assistant manager
in a couple years.”

“Um...can't it wait until after graduation?”
Ashleigh asked.

“Jobs don't wait, Darcy!” he shouted.

“But I have finals coming up. I need to
study.”

“I don't see why. You ain't going to college
no more. You got to earn some money and take care of that
baby.”

Ashleigh thought it over. She had no
intention of working at Taco Bell, or anywhere else. That was
Darcy's problem, not hers. Just like Darcy's pregnancy. Darcy's
mother insisted she take prenatal vitamins, but Ashleigh secretly
spat them out, because they made her feel sick.

“If I graduate with good grades,” Ashleigh
said, “Maybe I can go to college later, when the baby's older—”

“Yeah,” Darcy's dad snorted. “And maybe Santa
Claus gonna come down on a flying carpet and make you shit diamonds
and gold.”

“Okay.” Ashleigh heard the wonderful sound of
her beloved caramel Jeep rolling into the driveway. She dropped
Darcy's diary into Darcy's big canvas purse to take with her.
“Well, I gotta go.”

“Where you goin’?” he shouted as Ashleigh
squeezed past him.

“Out!” Ashleigh hurried to the front
door.

Outside, she climbed into the passenger seat
of her Jeep. Tommy was driving, and Ashleigh gave him her biggest
smile. He was nearly immune to the enchantment of her touch, but he
mostly did what she wanted, anyway. They'd been married several
times, in other lifetimes. Ashleigh had murdered him several times,
too, but happily, he didn't remember any of it.

He was cute in this lifetime. She especially
liked his eyes.

“Hi!” Ashleigh said. “Let's get the fuck out
of here. I've always hated Darcy's family.”

“You got it.” He stomped the accelerator and
peeled out as he left the driveway, leaving smoking rubber tire
tracks behind him.

Darcy's father glared at them through the
screen door as they roared away.

“Where's our pet necromancer?” Ashleigh asked
him.

“She's watching TV back at your house.”

“Damn it, Tommy, you can't let her out of
your sight like that. If she gets control of herself, she can knock
me out of Darcy's body anytime she likes. And if she runs off—”

“She's not running off,” Tommy said. “She
likes me.”

“Don't get cocky. I hope you dosed her up
with fear before you left.”