Beautiful Creatures (49 page)

“Are you referring to your little collection of marionettes, dressed like, what is it—unicorns? You’ll have to forgive my
poor eyesight.” Macon gestured toward the Angels.

“They are angels, Mr. Ravenwood, not unicorns. Not that I expect
you
to recognize Our Lord’s messengers, since I don’t ever recall seein’ you in church.”

“‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,’ Mrs. Lincoln.” Macon paused for a second, as if he thought Mrs. Lincoln
might need a moment or two to get her mind around that.

“As for your original point, you’re absolutely right, Mrs. Lincoln. I spend a great deal of time in my house, which I don’t
mind. It’s an enchanting place, really. But perhaps I should spend more time in town, spend some more time with all of you.
Shake things up a bit, for lack of a better expression.”

Mrs. Lincoln looked horrified, and the DAR members were turning around in their seats, looking at one another nervously at
the thought of it.

“In fact, if Lena will not be returning to Jackson, she will have to be home schooled. Perhaps I should invite a few of her
cousins to stay with me, as well. I wouldn’t want her to miss out on the social aspect of her education. Some of her cousins
are quite captivating. In fact, I believe you met one of them at your little Midwinter’s Eve Masquerade Ball.”

“It wasn’t a masquerade ball—”

“My apologies. I only assumed those dresses were costumes, based on the garish nature of the plumage.”

Mrs. Lincoln reddened. She was no longer just a woman trying to ban books. This was not a woman to be messed with. I was worried
for Macon. I was worried for all of us.

“Let’s be honest, Mr. Ravenwood. You have no place in this town. You are not part of it and clearly, neither is your niece.
I don’t think you are in any position to make demands.”

Macon’s expression changed slightly. He turned his ring around on his finger. “Mrs. Lincoln, I appreciate your candor, and
I will try to be as frank with you as you have been with me. It would be a grave error for you, for anyone in this town, really,
to pursue this matter. You see, I have a great deal of means. I’m a bit of a spendthrift, if you will. If you try to prevent
my niece from returning to Stonewall Jackson High School, I will be forced to spend some of that money. Who knows, perhaps
I’ll bring in a Wal-Mart.” There was another gasp from the bleachers.

“Is that a threat?”

“Not at all. Quite coincidentally, I also own the land upon which the Southern Comfort Hotel resides. Its closure would be
most inconvenient for you, Mrs. Snow, as your husband would have to drive a great deal farther to meet his lady friends, which
I’m sure would make him late for supper on a regular basis. Now we couldn’t have that, could we?”

Mr. Snow turned beet red and scrunched down behind a couple of guys on the football team, but Macon was just getting started.
“And Mr. Hollingsworth, you look very familiar, sir. As does that striking Confederate flower to your left.” Macon gestured
to the lady from the School Board sitting next to him. “Haven’t I seen you two somewhere before? I could swear—”

Mr. Hollingsworth swayed a little. “Absolutely not, Mr. Ravenwood. I am a married man!”

Macon turned his attention to the balding man sitting on the other side of Mr. Hollingsworth. “And Mr. Ebitt, if I decide
to stop leasing the land to the Wayward Dog, where will you spend the evenings drinking, when your wife thinks you’re studying
at the Good Book Bible Group?”

“Wilson, how could you! To use Our Lord Almighty as an alibi. You will burn in the fires of Hell, sure as I’m standin’ here!”
Mrs. Ebitt collected her purse and started to push her way toward the aisle.

“It’s not true, Rosalie!”

“Isn’t it, though?” Macon smiled. “I can’t even imagine what Boo here would tell me if he could talk. You know, he’s been
in and out of every yard and parking lot in your fair town, and I’ll bet he’s seen a thing or two.” I stifled a laugh.

Boo’s ears perked up at the sound of his name, and more than a few people started to squirm in their seats, as if Boo might
open his mouth and start talking. After Halloween night, it wouldn’t have surprised me, and considering Macon Ravenwood’s
reputation, nobody in Gatlin would have been too shocked, either.

“As you can see, there are more than a few people in this town who are less than honest. So you can imagine my concern when
I learned that four teenage girls are the only witnesses to these scathing accusations made against my own family. Wouldn’t
it be in all of our interests to drop this matter? Wouldn’t it be the
gentlemanly
thing to do, sir?”

Mr. Hollingsworth looked like he was going to be sick, and the woman next to him looked like she was hoping she’d get sucked
down into the ground. Mr. Ebitt, whose name I realized was never mentioned before Macon said it, had already left, chasing
after his wife. The remaining members of the tribunal looked scared to death, as if any minute now, Macon Ravenwood, or his
dog, might start telling the whole town their dirty little secrets.

“I think you may be right, Mr. Ravenwood. Perhaps we need to
investigate
these accusations further before pursuin’ this matter. There may, in fact, be
inconsistencies
.”

“A wise choice, Mr. Hollingsworth. A very wise choice.” Macon walked toward the tiny table where Lena was sitting and offered
his arm. “Come now, Lena. It’s late. You have school tomorrow.” Lena stood up, standing even straighter than usual. The rain
faded to a gentle patter. Marian tied a scarf around her hair and the three of them walked back up the aisle, Boo trailing
behind them. They didn’t look at anyone else in the room.

Mrs. Lincoln was on her feet. “Her mother is a murderer!” she screamed, pointing at Lena.

Macon spun around and their eyes met. There was something about his expression—it was the same expression he’d had when I
showed him Genevieve’s locket. Boo growled menacingly.

“Be careful, Martha. You never know when we’ll run into each other again.”

“Oh, but I do, Macon.” She smiled, but it was nothing like a smile. I don’t know what passed between them, but it didn’t look
like Macon was just battling Mrs. Lincoln anymore.

Marian opened her umbrella again, even though they weren’t outside yet. She smiled diplomatically at the crowd. “Now, I hope
to see all of you at the library. Don’t forget, we’re open till six o’clock on the weekdays.”

She nodded to the room. “‘Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.’ Just ask Ray Bradbury. Or go to
Charlotte, and read it for yourself on the wall of the public library.” Macon took Marian’s arm, but she wasn’t finished.
“And he didn’t go to Harvard, either, Mrs. Lincoln. He didn’t even go to college.”

With that, they were gone.

12.19

A
fter the Disciplinary Committee meeting, I don’t think anyone believed Lena would show up at school the next day. But she
did, just like I knew she would. No one else knew she had given up the right to go to school once. She wasn’t going to let
anyone take it away from her again. To everyone else, school was prison. To Lena, it was freedom. Only it didn’t matter, because
that was the day Lena became a ghost at Jackson—nobody looked at her, spoke to her, sat near her at any table, bleacher, or
desk. By Thursday, half the kids at school were wearing the Jackson Angels T-shirt, with those white wings on their backs.
The way they looked at her, it seemed half the teachers wished they could wear them, too. On Friday, I turned in my basketball
jersey. It just didn’t feel like we were all on the same team anymore.

Coach was furious. After all the hollering died down, he just shook his head. “You’re crazy, Wate. Look at the season you’re
havin’, and you’re throwin’ it away on some girl.” I could hear it in his voice.
Some girl
. Old Man Ravenwood’s niece.

Still, nobody said an unkind word to either one of us, at least not to our faces. If Mrs. Lincoln had put the fear of God
into them, Macon Ravenwood had given people in Gatlin a reason to fear something even worse. The truth.

As I watched the numbers on Lena’s wall and hand get smaller and smaller, the possibility became more real. What if we couldn’t
stop it? What if Lena had been right all along, and after her birthday the girl I knew disappeared? Like she had never been
here at all.

All we had was
The Book of Moons
. And more and more, there was one thought I was trying to keep out of Lena’s head and mine.

I wasn’t sure the Book was enough.

“
AMONGST PERSONNES OF POWERE, THERE BEING TWINNE FORCES FROM WHYCHE SPRING ALL MAGICK, THE DARKNESSE & THE LIGHT.”

“I think we’ve got the whole Darkness and Light thing worked out. You think we could get to the good part? The part called,
Loopholes for Your Claiming Day? How to Vanquish a Rogue Cataclyst? How to Reverse the Passage of Time?” I was frustrated,
and Lena wasn’t talking.

From where we sat on the cold bleachers, the school looked deserted. We were supposed to be at the science fair, watching
Alice Milkhouse soak an egg in vinegar, listening to Jackson Freeman argue there was no such thing as global warming, and
Annie Honeycutt counter with how to make Jackson a green school. Maybe the Angels were going to have to start recycling their
flyers.

I stared at the Algebra II book hanging out of my backpack. It didn’t seem like there was anything worth learning at this
place anymore. I’d learned enough in the last few months. Lena was a million miles away, still buried in the Book. I had started
carrying it around in my backpack, out of fear Amma would find it if I left it in my room.

“Here’s more about Cataclysts.

“
THE GREATEST OF THE DARKNESSE BEING THE POWERE CLOSEST TO THE WOLD & THE UNDYRWOLD, THE CATA-CLYSTE. THE GREATEST OF THE LIGHT
BEING THE POWERE CLOSEST TO THE WOLD & THE UNDYRWOLD, THE NAT-URAL. WHERE THERE IS NOT ONNE THERE CANNOT BE THE OTHERE, AS
WITHOUTE DARKNESSE THERE CAN BE NO LIGHT.”

“See? You’re not going Dark. You’re Light because you’re the Natural.”

Lena shook her head and pointed at the next paragraph. “Not necessarily. That’s what my uncle thinks. But listen to this—

“
AT THE TYME OF CLAIMING, THE TRUTHE WILL BE MADE MANIFESTE. WHAT APPEARS DARKNESSE MAYE BE THE GREATEST LIGHT, WHAT APPEARS
LIGHT MAYE BE THE GREATEST DARKNESSE.”

She was right, there was no way to be sure.

“Then it gets really complicated. I’m not even sure I understand the words.

“
FOR THE DARKE MATTERE MAYDE THE DARKE FYRE, & THE DARKE FYRE MAYDE THE POWERES OF ALL LILUM IN THE DAEMON WOLD & CASTERS OF
DARKNESSE & LIGHT. WITHOUT ALL POWERE THERE CAN BE NO POWERE. THE DARKE FYRE MAYDE THE GREAT DARKNESSE & THE GREAT LIGHT.
ALL POWERE IS DARKE POWERE, AS DARKE POWERE IS EVEN THE LIGHT.”

“Dark Matter? Dark Fire? What is this, the Big Bang for Casters?”

“What about Lilum? I’ve never heard of any of this, but then again, nobody tells me anything. I didn’t even know my own mother
was alive.” She tried to sound sarcastic, but I could hear the pain in her voice.