Love Charms and Other Catastrophes (19 page)

“Clea,” Mandy said, leaning closer, “I've been meaning to tell you something.”

“I'm listening,” Clea said easily.

A crease formed between Mandy's eyebrows. “It's just … I miss your face. Your real face.”

“This
is
my real face,” Clea said, laughing uncomfortably. “Just enhanced by our products.”

“But you shimmer all the time, and your cheeks are always smooth and warm and I know it's because you're so good at applying our products. What happened to the girl I fell for years ago? Why haven't I seen her in such a long time?”

Clea dug her nails into the nest. “Where is this coming from? I thought you liked my face like this.”

“I like
all
your faces,” Mandy said simply. “But I think it's getting extreme now that you even wear your makeup to bed. Can't be good for your skin, anyway, no matter how well-charmed the products are.”

“So what are you asking me to do?”

“Watch your temper,” Mandy said with some annoyance. “I'm just speaking my mind.”

Hijiri winced while listening, but she expected as much.
No one ever said that speaking the truth would be painless. Words drenched in feelings could tangle, cut, and sting. But my charm is supposed to soothe those feelings somewhat, allowing room for couples to solve their problems.

Supposed
to. Hijiri could tell that Clea was fighting the charm. She shouldn't have been able to, but maybe … maybe the charm had a weak point that didn't account for Clea's personality. She had, after all, made her charm with Nico and Martin in mind.
Their problem has to do with the need for a little honesty. But Clea and Mandy's problem is much more complicated.

Hijiri's heart sank.
I should have chosen something larger than a nest. And maybe a mirror, to reflect all of Clea's faces back at her.

“We'll talk about this later,” Clea insisted.

“Now,” Mandy said.

Clea gritted her teeth and let go of the nest. Mandy still hung on, but the charm lost its hold on the couple. “Very clever,” Clea said gamely. “But not a pleasant charm, is it?”

“Wasn't supposed to be,” Hijiri said, standing taller. She took her love charm from Mandy and adjusted one of the forks.

Mandy rubbed her temples, squeezing her eyes shut.

Hijiri looked over her shoulder at the crowd, determined to gauge their reactions. She wished for more than the crowd's confusion and disappointment, but the love charm didn't exactly show how well it worked with Clea's stubbornness bleeding through.

Sanders's sweet rum omelet had Gage and Ryker scrambling for writing tools—chalk, pens, markers. Both uncle and nephew drew hearts wherever they could—anatomically correct hearts, since both men were scientific-minded, but nonetheless. Their hands moved of their own accord, drawing hearts in the air when they ran out of paper. After getting a few laughs, Sanders made Ryker and Gage drink lemon water to stop the love charm.

“Rein it in, rein it in,” Bram said, patting Ryker and Gage on their backs. “We've got two more love charms to see!”

“Just wait until I get my hands on you,” Clea said, lifting Hijiri's chin. “We're going to make you beautiful.”

Hijiri tugged her chin away. Her knees trembled.

*   *   *

Hijiri sat on her hands to keep from squirming in her chair while Mandy and Clea buzzed around her with their powders and brushes. She lost count of the layers of product they put on her face. The first layers were probably meant to feel cool and cleansing, making her skin tingle, but Hijiri only sensed the love charms at work.
I don't feel different
, she thought, constantly assessing herself as the minutes ticked by. No sudden burgeoning of confidence. Nothing tearing at her sense of dignity.

The audience sighed and murmured like forlorn lovers.

Not good.

Clea rubbed the apples of her cheeks with liquid blush. Used three different colors to highlight the dips and shadows of Hijiri's eyelids. Not that she
could
see—her eyes were closed for most of it, and Clea had asked Bram to keep the mirror faced away. Mandy held her still to line her eyes and plump her eyelashes with mascara. Clea put three different charmed products on Hijiri's lips as the finishing touch.

“Faces are unfinished paintings,” Clea said, addressing the crowd. “Metamorphosis's love charms are masterstrokes, bringing out the best in everyone who uses them. Answering their desires. Bringing the beauty of the inside to the outside and allowing love to flourish. Hijiri Kitamura is no different.”

Clea and Mandy took her by the arms and lifted her out of the chair. Delighted gasps erupted all around her, but she wouldn't dare open her eyes. Her heart rattled in her chest and tried to find an escape route. She wasn't ready for this.

She heard the wheels of the mirror grow louder. Then it stopped.

“Open your eyes,” Mandy and Clea said at once.

Hijiri forced herself to get it over with. When she saw her reflection, she felt sick.

The girl in the mirror was beautiful. Her skin was unnaturally even and shimmered when the light caressed it. Mandy must have glued fake eyelashes on because the thick, dark lashes made her eyes look more intense and dramatic. Her lips were the worst; Clea hadn't forgotten what she had promised to do to Hijiri's lips when they had first met.

My lips are three times bigger
, she thought with growing horror.
Like a swarm of bees all stung me at the same time and left my lips looking purple and bruised. They looked like they've kissed and been kissed. These are kissable lips to the extreme.

Her face was a lie. A giant, beautiful lie. Hijiri Kitamura was somewhere underneath it, but her face had been tampered with to attract people and make them love her for what they saw with their eyes.

She hated charms like this. Hijiri wanted to cover her face and run for the nearest sink.

The townspeople sighed with longing when they saw her face. Men and women alike reacted to the charmed makeup. The crowd pressed against the stage. Binoculars were whipped out of bags. When some men tried climbing the stage, intent on stealing a kiss or two, Detective Archambault ordered the police to step in and restrain the crowd.

Hijiri shot a pleading glance at Bram. “Just announce the winner, please,” she whispered.
So that I can get this gunk off my face. So that the entire town won't hunt me down for kisses.

“Ryker! Gage! Your love charm was no competition for Metamorphosis,” he said, jogging to the other side of the stage where Heartwrench's love charm for Sanders had gone largely unnoticed. The broken vacuum had been repaired and charmed into acting like a doting mother, pinching and prodding Sanders into “first date” material. The vacuum had pulled off his stained baking apron, steamed his wrinkled shirt collar, and taken a comb to his scraggly hair.

But when it came to makeovers, Hijiri's combination of charmed makeup had the town in a frenzy.

Bram shielded Hijiri with his body when some of the men broke through the police's grip. “I think you'd better leave the stage,” he said.

Hijiri nodded and ran for the back of the stage. The platform was tall enough to hide her when she slid to the ground, covering her face and breathing through her nose.

The audience slowly began to settle down again on the other side. She heard footsteps and her name being softly called by Ken. “Found you,” he said, breathless.

She gingerly took her hands away from her face. “Don't look,” she said.

Ken's eyes darkened with desire; he struggled to tear his gaze away from her lips. “I can't pretend I'm immune to Metamorphosis's charms,” he said thickly. “I want to kiss you so bad right now, but I know that's the last thing you want.” He dug through his pockets. “What you want,” he said, “are these.” Damp makeup remover pads.

“Where did you get those?”

“Fallon.”

Hijiri shook her head. “Always prepared.”

“Hold still,” he said, leaning in close. Ken cupped her face with his left hand, then rubbed the first makeup remover pad against her lips.

Hijiri held her breath while he worked, trying not to think about the firm pressure of the remover pad and how it made her feel too warm for a chilly October morning.

“How many layers did she put on?” Ken muttered, rubbing harder. When the purple gloss stained every inch of the remover pad, he returned to her lips with a fresh one. Gradually, the smoldering behind his eyes faded. “
There's
Hijiri,” he said with a sweet smile. “Hi.”

Her heart wanted to say hi back, bumping against her rib cage to meet him, but she held it back. Hijiri took the remaining remover pads and wiped off the rest of the makeup until she was sure her whole face was red and shiny clean.

Just in time to hear the audience decide that Metamorphosis earned its win for the second challenge.

“Well-deserved,” Bram said thinly, “if not a terrifying experience for all of us. I thought I was going to get trampled.”

Hijiri curled her hands into fists and sighed.

*   *   *

Fallon and Sebastian chose Café Gisteren as the location of the next charm theory club meeting on Wednesday. The café was well-known in town for preserving a sense of artificial poshness with crystal-dripping chandeliers, mahogany furnishings, and portraits of turn-of-the-century Grimbaudians in hunting gear and hearts stitched over the breasts of their coats. The menu was ironically a homage to greasy, messy food.

After securing a large round table in the corner of the second floor, Sebastian bragged about how he had gotten Fallon to eat there last April by using the lure of the café's appearance. “She even shared a basket of onion rings with me,” he said.

“It wasn't so hard to do when I peeked in the kitchen,” Fallon said, nudging him. “The chef was gracious enough to let me look. Everything is fresh and homegrown, even if most everything on the menu is fried by the time it reaches your plate. We're all safe from food poisoning here.”

Hijiri couldn't focus on her menu. The weight of her second loss in the competition sat heavily on her heart. She knew her love charm worked. Had Nico and Martin been the ones using it, the charm would have shown well.
But it wasn't them
, she thought miserably,
and my charm just wasn't strong enough for Clea and Mandy's problem. It failed to capture the town's attention.
If the competition continued to be a popularity contest, she wasn't sure if she had what it took to truly win Grimbaud over. Ken couldn't bring her another Sofie and Lars. This time, she had to deal with her failure on her own. Somehow.

“The tuna melt looks good,” Ken said, pointing at the line on her menu. “I'm sure it's dripping with cheese.”

Hijiri frowned.

“Cheese is good,” he insisted.

After ordering food (Hijiri did end up choosing the tuna melt), Mirthe wanted to rehash the second challenge.

“Why is Sanders even in the competition?” Martin asked, crushing his silk napkin. “My sisters are still buying his candy. They ate chunks of dark chocolate that had them blurting out ‘I love you' to strangers on the street. To anyone who made eye contact with them, really.”

“Did they say it to you?” Nico asked.

Martin shrugged. “It was sweet until I figured out why.”

“I've tried bringing it up to Detective Archambault,” Fallon said, weary, “but apparently I have to work my way up to get her attention. Believe me, I've tried. She's barely in her office. I guess she prefers working her cases on the streets.”

“Sanders should be one of her cases. The most important one,” Martin said.

“I agree,” Fallon said. “I'll keep trying.”

“At least he didn't win this time,” Mirthe said. “His love charm was childish.”

“Hijiri's charm worked too well,” Femke said with admiration. “I couldn't believe how easily they started talking about their problems. Well, Mandy did. I wasn't expecting that.”

“The quiet ones sometimes have the most to say,” Hijiri said.

“Says the quiet one,” Mirthe teased.

Martin's knuckles turned white. “He needs to be stopped. Soon. I don't want … if I'm not here for my sisters…”

Nico's gaze sharpened. “‘Not here'? Are you talking about graduation?”

“It's nothing,” Martin said, pushing Nico away. “Forget it.”

“You can't ask me to do that,” Nico said.

Martin took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with his napkin. He wouldn't look at Nico.

After getting no response, Nico pressed his fist against his lips, his eyes watery.

Hijiri wanted to grab her losing love charm and shove it at Nico and Martin. Anything to make things right again.

Femke tapped her knife against her glass. “I bet there's going to be another challenge in early November just to keep the charm-makers on their toes before the thirtieth.”

“We haven't won a challenge yet, but that's okay,” Mirthe said. “None of the challenges matter in the end.”

“How can you say that?” Femke argued. “The townspeople are judging us with each challenge. The final love charm we present in November won't matter if the townspeople have already decided who they will vote for.”

“They can change their minds at any time,” Mirthe said.

“Hijiri's love charm
will
be the best,” Ken said softly. “Let's give her some time to work on it.”

The twins hadn't heard him. They glared at each other from across the table. Once again, neither sister dressed alike. Mirthe had worn a puffy orange coat while Femke managed the cold in a sweater with a begonia pattern on the collar.

The waiter delivered the entrees, much to everyone's relief. Hijiri tucked into her tuna melt, the cheese and salty tuna drowning out the sour taste in her mouth.