Alight The Peril (4 page)

I watched Sophie perform a flawless split jump. My stomach constricted and for a second I thought I might be sick.

The music stopped after another minute or so, and the dance team huddled around their captains.

“Is it still there?” Ang looked at me gravely, a tiny, hopeful flicker in her green eyes.

“Yep.”

We both slumped.

“Well, maybe it won’t be that bad,” Ang said. “Once she knows about what’s going on, she’ll have to be civil at least.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I appreciated Ang’s effort, but considering my history with Sophie, I couldn’t agree. Would
anything
—in this universe or any other—cause Sophie to treat me differently? Dread curled through my stomach as I tried to imagine how we’d make her understand all that was at stake. But all I could think about was how she’d hidden my towel while I showered after P.E. class last year.

We watched as the dance team ran through their number twice more. When the team members began to disperse, we gathered our bags and met Kaitlin down on the gym floor. I let Ang do the talking.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Sophie, willing her silver aura to fade and disappear. Jen, Sophie, and two junior dance team members stood nearly shoulder to shoulder, forming an exclusive little square. Jen was leaning in as she talked, giving the other three girls a conspiratorial smile. The two juniors seemed to soak up the attention, but Sophie stared at the floor, and she joined in a beat late when the others erupted with laughter. Her gaze wandered to the bleachers. When her eyes found mine, something vulnerable and un-Sophie-like passed over her face. On anyone else, I would have called it worry. Her expression quickly shifted to a scowl.

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, and Ang, Kaitlin, and I parted ways. I zoned through my afternoon classes, way too anxious about the revelation of Sophie as the second Guardian to focus on anything my teachers had to say.

I started dredging up old memories, from when Sophie and I used to be friends. Searching, maybe, for some reassurance that she wouldn’t use her position in the union to make my life a complete nightmare. I recalled suddenly how her mom used to pack two pieces of candy in Sophie’s lunch every day. Some days it was two Starbursts or Jolly Ranchers. On really good days, it was two mini Snickers or Halloween-sized Skittles packets. Through third and fourth grades, Sophie nearly always gave me one of her lunch candies. She didn’t make a big deal about it, often slipping it into my hand under the table so the other kids wouldn’t see. But every time, I felt like I’d won a prize.

In fifth grade, after Sophie’s parents split up and she moved in with her aunt, she stopped speaking to me. Well, she still spoke to me occasionally, but only to say something cutting or sarcastic. I tried to remember if her aunt packed candy in her lunches. I’d been banished from Sophie’s lunch table, so I probably wouldn’t have seen it anyway.

While I pondered my grade school days, Mason and I chatted through our link, trying to decide what to do next. But what options did we really have? We had to tell my great aunt.

Ang stayed after school to work on posters for student council nominations. I told her I’d text her soon, and bolted out of the building and booked it home as fast as I could walk. Mason said he’d meet me. How in the world could we deal with Sophie as the fourth member of our pyramidal union?

* * *

Mason pulled me close in a tight hug, and then released me and flopped onto my purple velvet chair. He propped his elbow on the armrest and his cheek against his palm. A few loose curls of sandy blond hair fell across his forehead. He sighed at the floor.

“Sophie. I can’t believe it,” he said, his voice glum. It made me feel a little better, in a way, that he was taking this almost as hard as I did.

“I know.” I stretched out on my stomach across my bed, my arms folded under my chin. “But she completes our pyramidal union.”

Aunt Dorothy had been waiting to find out the identity of our second Guardian before she continued teaching us about the convergence we had to protect, and exactly what fulfilling our responsibilities entailed. As much as I hated the prospect of Sophie’s involvement, in the past weeks, my anxiety grew each time I thought about everything we still needed to learn. I’d left a voicemail for my great-aunt earlier, telling her I had important news but not giving any specifics. I expected a call back any minute.

“So what do you make of the whole convergence thing?” I asked, ready to talk about something slightly less depressing. Even a doorway to an evil force that could obliterate Tapestry was a better topic. And I knew he’d been ruminating over everything Aunt Dorothy had told us.

He straightened and pressed his lips together for a few seconds, showing his dimples.

“Well, Aunt D said the convergence was a weak spot between our world and the world our minds go to when we dream. She made it sound like bad stuff could pass back and forth between the two worlds. And in the dream world, the consciousness of every living person is . . . just hanging out all vulnerable, I guess. I’d have to ask her, but I’m thinking that evil or danger or whatever could gain power as it cycles between the two worlds. And if that’s allowed to happen, that’s when the fit hits the shan.”

I grinned at his goofy turn of phrase and raised my eyebrows. “Wow, you really
have
thought about this.”

He chuckled and his eyes dropped modestly to the floor. I wasn’t sure I totally followed what he said, but I trusted he was on the right path. Mason almost always saw into the heart of things.

He met my gaze, his eyes serious. “If I’m right, I figure it’s our job to prevent the bad stuff from cycling between the two worlds.”

I swallowed hard as my stomach started to churn. “How, though?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mason said, his face taking the determined expression that had become so familiar lately. “But we’ll learn everything we need to know to do it.”

He seemed so sure. I bit my lip and picked at my ragged fingernails.

“It all seems so ominous. Do you think anyone in a pyramidal union has ever, like,
died
doing whatever it is we’re supposed to do?”

He leaned forward and planted his elbows on his knees, and gave me a warm and unwavering gaze. “I don’t know. But I’ll be there. You won’t face anything alone.”

My insides turned to goo, and I smiled back. I didn’t know why his words comforted me as much as they did, but something inside my chest released a little. While I tried to think of some non-lame way to respond—“thank you” didn’t seem good enough—my phone buzzed and chimed next to me, and I scooped it up.

I checked the caller ID. “Aunt Dorothy,” I said, and answered.

Before I could say any more than “hello,” she asked if Mason and I could come to her house immediately. From the purposeful tone of her voice, I suspected she somehow knew about the revelation of the second Guardian, even though I hadn’t said anything.

Neither Mom nor Dad was home yet, so
sans
automobile, Mason and I set out on foot to Aunt Dorothy’s house. I didn’t mind walking. I hoped the fresh air and movement would help clear some of the anxiety that seemed to be storing up inside me.

Spring was finally in full swing in Tapestry. Most of the houses we passed displayed planters packed with colorful annuals, and some of the lawns sported that tender, pale green color of spring. I tried to appreciate it as we race-walked down the sidewalk.

By the time we reached Aunt Dorothy’s neighborhood, we were both panting, but the knot in my stomach had released a little.

Aunt Dorothy waved us inside and poured us each a glass of lemonade.

“So, my dears,” she said, a look of anticipation brightening her face. “Is it true we know who the second Guardian is?”

I set my glass on the kitchen counter and planted my hands on my hips. “Okay, Aunt Dorothy. How could you possibly know that? You couldn’t have seen her yourself.”

She chuckled. “You’re right, I didn’t see her. But I took a cat nap this afternoon, and Doris came to me in a dream.”

I nodded, and for a moment tried to remember when visitations from my dead grandmother had become normal. I also wondered why Grandma Doris stopped appearing in my dreams. I was tempted to ask my great-aunt if my grandmother was okay, or whether she watched over us or could help in any way. But that would sound ridiculous. My grandmother was
dead
.

I carried my lemonade to the breakfast nook and sat down at the table. Deflated all over again about Sophie, I ran my index finger through the condensation on the glass, creating wet rivulets that dripped to the tablecloth.

I sighed and my shoulders sagged. “Is there any chance it’s a mistake? Or that we could pick someone else?”

“No chance at all.” My great-aunt’s voice was brisk. “And if this second Guardian isn’t someone you would have chosen, well, that’s simply too bad. You must make it work.”

I’d expected as much.

“Now,” she continued, her voice warming a bit. “Tell me about this Sophie.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, for one thing, she’s Brad’s girlfriend. She’s also a complete pain in the a—um, ankle. She and I were friends back in grade school, but in the last five years or so she’s pretty much taken every opportunity to make me miserable. To be honest, if I could choose a Guardian, she’d be absolutely last on my list.”

Frustration welled up in my chest. Why did it have to be Sophie? Angry tears pricked in my nose, and I pressed my palms into the table, concentrating on keeping my emotions in check.

“I see,” Aunt Dorothy said quietly. She sat down across from me. Mason slid into the chair beside me.

I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be her,
he said.

I stared down at my glass of lemonade.
I know. Thanks.

“This may make things a bit more complicated,” Aunt Dorothy said. She hesitated and drummed her fingers on the tabletop a couple of times. “I suppose I may as well tell you what will happen next. Angeline and Sophie will go through the same rite as you and Mason, and link in
syndesmo
.”

I looked at her in horror. “
What?
My best friend is going to have this mind-meld ESP thing with
Sophie?
”

“It’s really not ESP. It’s more like telepathy,” Mason said.

“Well, whatever it is.” I hated the snappish edge in my voice. My pulse pounded through my head. Curling my fingers into my palms, I stood up and paced around the kitchen, then stopped by the sink and turned to face my great-aunt. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

She shook her head. “No, I most definitely am not kidding. And I’m not finished. You will have a lesser link with both Angeline and Sophie.”

“Oh, that’s just
great
. I have to deal with her crap at school, not to mention the fact that she’s dating my only sibling, and now she’ll be inside my
mind
, too.” I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers against my eyelids to calm the turmoil that threatened to take over my brain. I drew a couple of slow breaths, lowered my hands, and sat back down at the table. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what about Mason?”

“Mason’s only link is with you,” she said, nodding in reassurance.

I shot him a wry look. “Lucky.”

He shrugged and gave me a guilty half smile.

I turned back to Aunt Dorothy. “So, it’s all well and good for you to explain this to us, but exactly how are we going to get Sophie over here and make her stay long enough to understand what’s going on?”

“We aren’t going to do it,” she said. “You are.”

|| 5 ||

I ROLLED MY EYES and shook my head slowly. “Of course I am. This just keeps getting better.” I let out the most annoyed sigh I could muster. Then I composed myself and looked Aunt Dorothy right in the eyes. “Okay, so tell me how I’m going to lure Sophie over here.”

Aunt Dorothy nodded, and I realized she’d allowed me the last several minutes to get my mini tantrum out of my system. “This would be an appropriate time to use the influences.”

I perked up at the thought of using the
pyxis
influences on Sophie. At least I had that over her. I sipped my lemonade.

This wasn’t exactly how I had seen it going, but I knew with a certainty so deep it scared me that we needed to complete my pyramidal union. Since I’d linked with Mason, I’d been living with a sensation of absence and waiting, a constant nagging, itchy feeling at the back of my mind. I suspected it would dissipate as soon as I linked with my two Guardians. . . . Weird. I couldn’t remember at what point I’d started thinking of the Guardians as
mine
. But there it was. A distinct sense of possession. I wondered how Sophie would feel if she knew.

Sophie aside, I understood we needed to get moving.

“So, I can use any of the influences to get Sophie here?”

“Yes, at appropriate strengths, of course,” she said.

“Okay. How about if I try to get Ang and Sophie to come over on Saturday?” I looked at Mason to see if he agreed with the arrangement, and he nodded.

“Excellent,” she said. “Then the Guardians can perform their rite.”

My heart sank a few inches in my chest.

* * *

When I got home, I called Angeline and told her we’d both be brain-buddies with Sophie.

“Wait, I so did
not
sign up for this, Corinne!” Ang said it as though I had some say in the situation.

I groaned and lay back on my bed, my legs dangling over the side. “I know. Believe me, I couldn’t be less thrilled about this development.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. Run away to the mountains? Learn to live off the land?”

Ang sighed. “We could, but there aren’t any Skittles or egg salad sandwiches in the wilderness. And you know how I feel about going more than twenty-four hours without showering. That’s just gross.”

I groaned again. “We have to suck it up. This is the way things are.”

“How do you think she’s going to react?”

“Not well, I’m sure. But I get to use the influences on her.”