Dead Is So Last Year (7 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Nightshade
City Council meetings were usually held at Mort's Mortuary, the funeral home Mr. Bone owned, but this time the meeting was up at the Wilder Mansion, that historic home of Elise Wilder and her grandmother. There was an elegant restaurant on the premises, and a large ballroom where the city council would be meeting. It was also where we had had our prom—the last place Poppy had seen Gage.

Five minutes before midnight, my sisters and I stood on the doorstep of the mansion and knocked on the huge, ornately carved wooden door. It creaked open, and we were greeted by a petite woman with long black hair, piercing eyes, and a slinky black dress.

"Bianca!" I said, surprised. "It's great to see you. How are you?" She was a shifter who had once saved my life, when she was in feline form. Who says black cats are unlucky? I hadn't realized she was still in town. Then again, I didn't get up to the restaurant in the mansion, where she worked, all that often. Cheeseburgers were more my speed than Cornish game hen. Although I would like to learn how to prepare that dish one day.

"I'm fine, Daisy," Bianca said, leading us down the hall toward the ballroom. "We're glad you could make it to the meeting."

"We're thrilled to be invited," I said.

"The council doesn't seem to be so secret anymore," Poppy commented. The Nightshade City Council meetings were usually confined to the original thirteen families, though I had managed to sneak into one once.

A troubled look crossed Bianca's face in the candlelight flickering from golden sconces on the walls. "These are extraordinary circumstances and the council thought it best to inform all paranormally connected residents about what's going on," she explained.

"What
is
going on?" Poppy asked anxiously.

"Patience, Poppy," Rose said sharply. She obviously didn't want to break any council protocol.

The Wilders were one of Nightshade's original thirteen families. Portraits of their stern-looking ancestors lined the walls of the hall. I was looking at one of a wide-eyed woman in a high-necked blouse. When I glanced back again, she had transformed into an owl. When I looked again, she was merely a woman with a hooked nose, round eyes, and snowy hair.

Bianca heard my gasp of surprise and smiled knowingly. "There's a long legacy of shifters in Nightshade," she said.

That reminded me that Bianca was good friends with a certain shifter family who I had some questions about. "How are the Paxtons these days?" I asked.

Bianca sighed. "Not so good," she said. "Their youngest son is not adjusting well to his change. Apparently they couldn't even get him to calm down enough to come to the meeting tonight. All new werewolves go through some difficult times, of course, but Wolfgang seems to be having an especially rough go of it."

"Do you think he's acting up just because he's a new shifter, or is there something more to it?" I asked.

"I don't know, Daisy," Bianca admitted. "All I know is that his parents are at the end of their rope."

We had reached the ballroom. I could hear the rumbling of voices on the other side of the doors.

"Is it going to be hard for you to go in there?" Rose asked, putting a comforting hand on Poppy's shoulder.

"Of course not," Poppy said. "It's where Gage first told me he loved me. Besides, I can't wait to hear what the council has to say." With that, she bravely opened the door and led us into the room.

When I saw the size of the crowd in the ballroom, I realized why this meeting wasn't being held at Mort's. There was no way the Tranquility Room would hold this many people.

I recognized quite a few of my classmates and former classmates. Elise Wilder and Bane Paxton were there, although not in Were form. They were holding hands and ignoring everyone around them.

I don't know how I ever suspected Elise of being interested in Ryan. From the way she was looking at Bane, she was clearly into him.

I spotted Ryan sitting a couple of rows from the front. He motioned for us to join him. I saw there were open chairs next to his.

"There's Ryan," I said to Poppy. "Let's go sit by him."

She followed me through the crowd. Rose had already made a beeline for Nicholas, who was lurking in a corner.

"Welcome back!" I said happily.

"Hi there," Ryan said as I slid into the seat next to him and Poppy grabbed the seat next to me. "Dad drove nonstop to get back in time for the meeting."

"I stopped at Slim's for coffee," he said, handing a cup to each of us.

Mine was a vanilla latte, just the way I liked it.

"You're the best," I said. I gave him a quick kiss.

He grinned at me." Coffee is the only way I'll make it through tonight. I can't get used to these midnight meetings," he explained. "I've skipped most of them lately, but Nicholas called me today and said it was important that I attend. Does either of you know what's up?"

I started to answer but was interrupted by Natalie. "Daisy, do you mind if we sit by you? Grandma's not feeling very well and most of the chairs are already taken."

"Of course, go ahead and take these," I said, moving back so they could get through the aisle.

Natalie helped her grandma sit down. Mrs. Mason didn't look very well at all. She was wearing a hot-pink tracksuit and bright white running shoes, but her face was gray.

"So, how's your grandmother?" I asked Ryan.

"Her hip has mended completely," he said. "She's as good as new."

"Already?"

"It's the Were blood," he explained.

"Your grandma is a werewolf, too?" I hadn't really thought about who else in Ryan's family had the trait.

"Yes," he confirmed, then laughed at my expression. "But relax. The scariest thing she does is make T-shirts covered in metallic buttons."

"What does she think of you dating a non-Were?"

He shrugged. "It never came up. But it's not a big deal. My mom is a norm, too."

Ryan never talked about his mom. She'd left Ryan and his dad years ago and now lived in San Francisco with her new boyfriend.

I shot him a curious look. "Does she know about...?"

"About me being a werewolf? Yes."

I wanted to ask him if he'd told Sean yet, but our conversation was cut off when a gavel sounded from the front of the room. Mr. Bone stood at the podium, in a long black robe, calling, "Order!" over the rumbling of the crowd. Most people there wouldn't recognize that the leader of the Nightshade City Council was one and the same as the round, perpetually sunburned golf-loving funeral homeowner we called Mort. The creature there at the podium had a skull for a face.

Nicholas was adopted, which explained why he hadn't inherited the same paranormal trait as his father. I'd met many paranormals in the last few months, but I'd never met another Skull.

When the room finally quieted down, Skull, AKA Mr. Bone, said,"Thank you all for coming. A grave matter has come to my attention. After several reports of strange behavior by various Nightshade residents, the council has determined that our town is plagued by doppelgangers."

The room burst into loud conversation. Everyone talked at once as Mr. Bone banged on his gavel. No one paid attention. I could tell what he was saying had some sort of significance for many of the older city council members, but I had no idea what was going on.

An elderly Were stood up and yelled over the din, "But there hasn't been any word of doppelgangers in almost fifty years. You're telling us that they've returned and have descended upon Nightshade?"

"What's a doppelganger?" I whispered to Ryan and Poppy.

A droopy-looking harpy in the row behind us overheard me. "A doppelganger is an exact double. A very dangerous double."

"You mean like an evil twin or something?"

"Exactly," she replied. "And if the real person should ever meet his double..." She shuddered.

"What? What will happen?" Poppy said. I knew she was wondering if the man I'd seen outside Slim's was really our father or just some sort of DoppelDad.

"If you come face-to-face with your doppelganger, legend has it that you will die."

Skull gave up banging on his gavel and began shouting, "Quiet, please. Please, there's no need to panic. We must have order."

"Why is everyone so upset?" I asked Ryan, but Mr. Bone's next words answered my question.

"Doppelgangers love to create chaos and we cannot allow that to happen!"

"Where did they come from?" asked one of the vampires. She looked familiar and I realized I had seen her at the very first city council meeting I had attended, although that one had been without an invitation.

"We don't know," Skull admitted. "There is a suspicion that someone, maybe even someone in Nightshade, is creating new doppelgangers, using simple material, like a piece of the person's hair, and magic. We plan to ... address this, but our number one priority now is to get rid of them before they take over the lives of our residents."

I shivered. That sounded sinister.

Mrs. Mason gave a little moan, and when I looked at her, her hands were trembling as if she was nervous.

"If they're exact doubles, how are we supposed to know who's a doppelganger and who's just a regular person?" I wondered aloud.

"I have a feeling we're about to find out," said Ryan.

Chief Mendez stood and said, "We believe they're in town to discredit our citizens. Doppelgangers will deliberately destroy someone's life. They behave horribly, make mischief, and then watch as the person they resemble has their life ruined."

After his pronouncement, he left the room and then returned, wheeling a large cage with golden bars. Inside was none other than Miss McBennett from the post office. The crowd gasped.

"This is not really Miss McBennett," Skull assured the crowd.

Nevertheless, it was an unsettling sight. The frail-looking woman inside the cage shook the bars angrily. When Chief Mendez wheeled her past the refreshment table in the corner of the ballroom, she reached out in a desperate attempt to swipe a cookie. She snarled when the cookie remained out of reach.

I leaned into Ryan. "That's some sweet tooth," I said softly.

The harpy heard me. "Sugar," she said in a gloomy voice. "There are doppelgangers in Nightshade, definitely. They can't get enough sugar. You see someone with a vacant look in his eye and stuffing his face full of sugar, you'd better believe it's a doppelganger."

A moment later Skull confirmed what the harpy said. "Be on the lookout for anyone who consumes an unusually large amount of sugar."

The woman in the cage let out a feeble moan. "Why have you brought me here, Chief Mendez? Why, I've known you since you were a boy."

For a minute, she had everyone convinced she was the real Miss McBennett. A vampire even jumped to his feet and said, "Let the poor old woman go." The crowd broke into noisy debate.

Chief Mendez held up a hand for quiet and then when the noise finally died down, said, "The real Miss McBennett is here. Miss McBennett, please come forward."

A woman stepped out of the shadows and walked up to the cage.

"You can't tell the difference, can you?" the chief continued.

"Doppelgangers have knowledge of the memories and experiences of their double," Skull explained. "This makes them very convincing."

The crowd shifted in their seats uncomfortably. What was going to happen? Clearly, the legend about dying if you came face-to-face with your double must only be a myth because both Miss McBennetts in the front of the room were alive and well.

"I don't even want to know why the Wilders have that cage in their house," I muttered to Poppy.

She giggled and unwrapped a piece of gum. She always chewed gum when she was nervous.

Suddenly the woman in the cage went wild. "I smell sugar!" she cried, looking straight at Poppy.

Poppy gave a little yelp and quickly popped the gum into her mouth.

The doppelganger threw herself against the cage, screaming hoarsely and rattling the bars. In the next few minutes, she begged, pleaded, and threatened, all for a little bit of sugar.

After he thought that the point had been sufficiently made, Mr. Bone tossed a couple of cookies into the cage and the doppelganger gobbled them down frantically.

Clearly, the demonstration proved that the doppelganger was the one who was caged.

Even though my brain told me that it wasn't really Miss McBennett, it gave me the shivers.

The real Miss McBennett was led away to a seat far from her mirror image. Finally, her double's hunger seemed to subside. "May I have a little more, please?" she said in a sweet voice.

"First tell us who made you," Mr. Bone said.

A sly look crossed her face. "What will you give me?"

Mr. Bone waved a whole pie in front of her. A greedy look came over her face, and she seemed to consider it. After a moment, though, she shook her head, then cackled. "By the time you figure it out, it'll be too late."

Mr. Bone gave her the pie, anyway. Most of the audience turned away. It wasn't a pretty sight to see an eighty-year-old woman gulping down fistfuls of pie with her bare hands.

"We just wave sugar in front of them?" Bane said doubtfully.

"Yes," Skull responded. "It's that simple. But we've got to capture them first—and keep them from sugar for a few hours. They'll go wild trying to get to it."

"If you see a doppelganger, report it immediately to me at the Nightshade police department," Chief Mendez said. "Or tell any other council member and we'll take care of it right away."

I squirmed in my seat and glanced at Ryan. I hadn't told him yet about seeing my dad. Or maybe it was just a doppelganger. I wanted to wait until I knew for sure before reporting him to the city council.

After the meeting was over, Rose left with Nicholas. As Ryan walked Poppy and me to the car, Poppy tactfully strode ahead of us.

Ryan took my hand. "Promise me you'll be careful?" he said. "Don't go meeting your double in a dark alley."

"I promise." I hesitated.

I don't know why I was reluctant to mention it to Ryan, especially after everything we'd already been through. If I couldn't trust him by now, when would I?