“You think I can leave the Sisters to keep an eye on themselves? You know Thelma hasn’t been the least bit clear herself, since the accident.”
“Oh, Miss Amma. Quit your fussin’. I only get the eensiest bit confused, now an’ again,” Thelma called from the next room, where she was straightening the couches just so. Aunt Mercy liked one pillow and two blankets. Aunt Grace liked two pillows and one blanket. Aunt Mercy didn’t like used blankets, which meant you had to wash them before she’d let them near her. Aunt Grace didn’t like pillows that smelled like hair, even if it was her own. The sad thing was, since “the accident” I knew more about their pillow preferences and hiding places for coffee ice cream than I ever wanted to know.
The accident.
“The accident” used to mean my mom’s car crash. Now it was polite Southern code for Aunt Prue’s condition. I didn’t know if it made me feel better or worse, but once Amma started invoking “the accident,” there was no getting her to change her mind.
Still, I tried. “They don’t stay up past eight o’clock. How about we all hang out and play Scrabble together, and then I’ll go out once everyone is asleep?”
Amma shook her head as she pulled trays of cookies in and out of the oven. Snickerdoodles. Molasses. Shortbread. Cookies, not pie. Cookies were for delivery. She never fed cookies to the Greats. I don’t know why, but the Greats weren’t much for cookies. Which meant she still wasn’t talking to them.
“Who are you baking for tonight, Amma?”
“What, you’re too good for my cookies now?”
“No, but you took the paper doilies out, which means these aren’t for me.”
Amma started arranging the cookies on the tray. “Well, aren’t you a smart one. Takin’ these down to County Care. Thought those nice nurses might want a cookie or two to keep ’em company, these long nights.”
“So, can I go?”
“You’re simpler than I thought, if you’re thinkin’ Savannah Snow wants you anywhere near her place.”
“It’s just a regular old high school party.”
She lowered her voice. “There’s no such thing as a regular old high school party when you’re takin’ a Caster and an Incubus and a worn-out Siren with you.” Turns out, Amma could even whisper a pretty fierce scolding. Then she slammed the oven door and stood there with an oven-mitted hand on each hip.
“Quarter Incubus,” I whispered back. Like that changed anything. “It’s at the Snows’ house. You know what they’re like.” I did my best impression of Reverend Blackwell. “Fine, God-fearin’ folk. Keep a Bi-ah-ble right next to the bed.” Amma glared at me. I gave it up. “Nothing’s gonna happen.”
“If I had a nickel for every time you’ve said that, I’d be livin’ in a castle.” Amma covered the cookies in plastic wrap. “If the party’s at the Snows’ house, why are you goin’ anyhow? Didn’t even invite you last year, as I recollect.”
“I know. But I thought it would be fun.”
I met Lena on the corner of Dove Street because she’d had even less luck with her uncle and ended up sneaking out of her house. She was so afraid Amma would see her and send her back home that she parked the hearse a block away. Not like her car was hard to miss.
Macon had made it clear no one was going to any parties, not while the Order was still broken—especially not at the Snows’. Ridley had made it equally clear she was going. How did they expect her to fit in as a Mortal if she wasn’t allowed to do normal things with her new Mortal friends? Things were thrown. In the end, Aunt Del caved, even if Macon didn’t.
So Ridley had walked right out the front door, while Lena was left to find a way to sneak out.
“He thinks I’m in my room, sulking because he wouldn’t let me go out.” Lena sighed. “Which is where I was until I figured out my exit strategy.”
“How did you get out?” I asked.
“I had to use, like, fifteen different Casts: Hiding, Blinding, Forgetting, Disguising, Duplicating.”
“Duplicating? You mean you cloned yourself?” That was a new one.
“Just my scent. Anyone who Casts a Revelation on the house might be fooled, for a minute or two.” She sighed. “But there’s no fooling Uncle Macon. I’m dead when he finds out I’m gone. You think it’s bad living with a Seer? All Uncle Macon wants to do is practice his Mindhunting skills.”
“Awesome. So we have all night.” I pulled her closer to me, and she leaned her back up against her car.
“Umm. Maybe longer. There’s probably no way I’ll get back inside tonight. The place is Bound a thousand times over.”
“You can stay with me if you want to.” I kissed her neck, working my way up to her ear. My mouth was already burning, but I didn’t care. “Why are we going to this stupid party again when we have a perfectly good car right here?”
She pushed up onto her toes, kissing me until my head was pounding as hard as my heart. Then she pulled back, ducking away. “Aunt Mercy and Aunt Grace would really love that, wouldn’t they? It would almost be worth it to see the looks on their faces when I came down to breakfast in the morning. Maybe I could wear one of your towels.” She started to laugh, and I pictured it all right, only the shrieking in my head was so loud, I gave up.
“Let’s just say, the language could get a whole lot stronger than ‘fanny.’ ”
“I bet they’d call the ‘durned po-lice.’ ” She was right.
“Yeah, but I’m the one they’d have arrested for compromising your virtue.”
“Then I guess we better pick up Link, before you have the chance.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d set foot in Savannah’s house, but I started to feel uncomfortable the minute we walked up to the stairs. There were pictures of her everywhere—wearing sparkly tiaras and all kinds of MISS AREN’T-I-BETTER-THAN-YOU? sashes, posing with her cheer uniform and pom-poms—and a whole row of what I guess were supposed to be modeling head shots, featuring Savannah in bathing suits, with fake eyelashes and too much lipstick. From the looks of it, she’d been wearing lipstick since she got out of diapers.
Turns out, the Snows didn’t really need party decorations. Past the table covered with a hundred basketball cupcakes, past the punch bowl with little plastic basketballs frozen into the ice ring, past the chicken salad sandwiches made into basketballs with little round cookie cutters, Savannah was the biggest decoration of all. She was still wearing her cheer uniform, but she had written Link’s name on one cheek and drawn a giant pink heart on the other. She stood in the middle of the backyard—waiting, smiling, generally lighting up the place as if she was the Christmas tree at a Christmas party. And the minute Savannah saw Link, it was like someone had flipped the switch that turned on all her lights.
“Wesley Lincoln!”
“Hey there, Savannah.”
Savannah was hoping for some serious sparks between them, but she didn’t have a chance. When it came to Link, there was only one girl who could cause that kind of spark, and it was only a matter of minutes until she arrived and really lit up the place.
More like an hour.
That’s when Ridley got there and ratcheted things up a notch or two—or two hundred. “Evening, boys.”
Link’s head whipped around when he saw her, and he broke into a smile about a mile wide, confirming what I knew all along. Ridley was still under his skin, and pretty much everywhere else. I knew what that kind of radar felt like. It was the way I felt about Lena.
Uh-oh. This isn’t good, L.
I know.
“Come on. I think it’s going to get ugly.” I took Lena’s hand and turned to leave, and there was Liv. Lena shot me a look.
Crap.
With everything else going on, I’d forgotten all about giving Liv the invitation.
“Lena.” Liv smiled.
“Liv.” Lena sort of smiled. “I didn’t know if you were coming.”
“Really? I left Ethan a note.” Liv smiled at me pointedly.
“Really.” Lena shot me a look that said I’d be hearing about this later.
Liv shrugged. “Well, you know Ethan.” Don’t you? That’s what Lena heard.
“Yeah, I do.” Lena wasn’t smiling anymore.
I started to panic and noticed the punch table, a good fifteen feet away. That seemed like a safe distance. “I’m going to get something to eat. Anybody want anything?”
“Nope.” Liv smiled at me like everything was fine.
“Not a thing.” Lena smiled at me like she was about to kill me.
I escaped as quickly as I could.
Mrs. Snow was standing by the punch bowl talking to two men I’d never seen before. They were both wearing university caps and collared shirts. “It’s a surprise,” Mrs. Snow told them. “That’s why my daughter wanted to throw this little get-together. She wanted you to be able to talk to Wesley in a casual environment.”
“That sure was kind of your daughter, ma’am.”
“Savannah’s a very thoughtful girl. Always puttin’ others first. And her boyfriend, Wesley, is a real talented basketball player. That’s why my husband asked y’all to come up. And Wesley comes from a good, churchgoing family. His mother’s got a hand in everythin’ that goes on in this town.”
I froze at the table, a chocolate basketball jammed halfway into my mouth. They were college scouts. And they were here to meet Link.
I looked across the yard to where Link and Savannah were dancing and Ridley was circling like a shark. Rid would make her move any minute now, striking so fast that there would be nothing left but blood in the water.
I took off, nearly knocking over the punch bowl in the process.
“Sorry, Savannah. I need to talk to Link for a minute.” I grabbed Link and hauled him out Savannah’s back gate.
“What the hell?” Link looked at me like I was crazy.
“There are scouts in there, from the university. Mrs. Snow set this whole thing up for you. And if you let Ridley get near Savannah tonight, you’re going to blow everything.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” He looked confused.
“Basketball. College recruiters. It’s your ticket out of here.”
He shook his head. “Nah, dude. You’ve got it all wrong. I don’t want a ticket out of this town. I just wanna a ticket outta this party.”
“You what?”
He was already shaking his head and walking back to the party. “It’s not Savannah. It never was. It’s Ridley, good or bad.” He looked at me like he was telling me he had a fatal disease or something. “I can’t shake it.”
“Shake what, Shrinky Dink?” Ridley was standing with her back against the gate. Unlike the rest of the girls on the squad, she wasn’t wearing her cheer uniform. Her green dress was so tight in some places and slit so high in others, you weren’t exactly sure where to look.