Paranormalcy (19 page)

V
ivian
didn't show up again until the week of the prom. I was sitting in one of Lend's classes, but I didn't know anyone. The teacher spoke in another language, I had forgotten how to read, and I was wearing my prom dress with combat boots. Just the promise of school in the fall and I was already having nightmares.

As I frantically tried to decipher the words of a test on a subject I'd never heard of, I looked up. The rest of the students had disappeared. Vivian sat at a desk, giving me a strange look; the souls hovered, shining behind her.

“You're weird,” she said.

I looked down at the paper, still nervous that I needed to finish it. “Yeah, I know.”

“So, did you tell him yet?” Her small smile was tinged with a hint of smug.

“I did, actually.”

“Why haven't you called me then?”

“He didn't care.”

Her smile dropped off, replaced by furrowed brows. “He didn't care?”

“Nope. He likes me no matter who or what I am.”

She shook her head. “No, you don't understand. You must have lied to him. You keep getting brighter. You figured out how to do it, didn't you? Did you kill him?”

“No, I didn't kill him! I would never. I didn't ‘figure it out' either, and I don't want to. I'm happy where I am.”

“Oh, I see.” Her face went hard and cold. “Lucky Evie. Are they going to take care of you, then? Aren't you just the special one. Friends everywhere.”

I shrugged, uncomfortable. “I don't want anything to do with the faeries or with taking souls or any of that. I can be normal here. I want to be normal.”

Her face contorted in fury. For a moment I thought she'd attack me. But then her expression changed, and she looked down at the desk, tracing her finger along it. Black marks seared the wood, small trails of smoke rising. “Normal, huh? Wouldn't that be nice, little Evie, normal Evie.” She looked up, thoughtful. “I always wanted a nickname.
Faeries aren't real big on affection, you know? A friend or someone who liked me well enough to say, hey, Vivi, or maybe just Viv. I always wondered how that would feel.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “You know how long I've waited for you? I was alone for so long, and then they started talking about how the other court made a new one. At first I was jealous, ready to kill you like they said. But then I saw you in Ireland, and I realized, here's someone like me! So I started looking for you. They couldn't find you, but I knew I could, knew I'd be able to get to you. And when I finally found you, you left before we could talk. I'm still alone, and I can't find you again.” Her thin shoulders shook. She looked so broken, so sad it made my heart hurt. “It won't last. You can't be normal. Be with me. I'm so tired of being alone. Please, let me find you.”

I went to her, trying not to look at the souls, telling myself I didn't want them. I stroked her hand. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

She looked up at me and I saw the fire burning behind her eyes. “Then come with me.”

“I—” I started to tell her no but she grabbed my wrist, her hands like a vise.

“I'll find you,” she whispered, smiling.

My eyes flew open and I sat up in bed. Not good. So not good.

It was still dark, but I went silently over to Lend's room. He was dreaming, flickering through different people. I
climbed onto the bed, lying down next to him but on top of the covers. “Lend,” I whispered. He didn't move, so I said it again, a little louder. “Lend.”

His eyes popped open, his face shifting from a random older man to his usual form. “Evie?”

“I had another visit.”

“Oh.” He stared at me for a while, frowning. “Oh,” he said again, shaking his head. “Sorry, what time is it?”

“Late. Early. Sorry.”

“No, it's okay. You had another dream with Vivian?”

“Yeah.”

“What did she say?”

“She said I was getting brighter.” I looked at him, worried and nervous.

“Well, my soul's still completely in place. She's manipulating you.”

I nodded, even though my quick, nervous checks every day in the shower made me pretty sure she was right. Even Lend had commented the other night that my hands weren't as cold as usual.

“Anything else?”

“She was mad that I haven't told her where I am. She's really sad. She's so lonely.” I felt horrible remembering the look in her eyes. “She said she'll find me even though I told her I didn't want her to.”

“She hasn't found you yet.”

“No, and she seemed really frustrated. That big killing
spree she went on, I think it was about me. Finding me. I bet her faeries knew I was working for IPCA. They must have figured sooner or later it'd draw me out. And then when she saw me after she killed the hag—” I paused, thinking about it. “I don't think she'd made up her mind yet. She might have still been trying to kill me when she broke into the Center. But now she wants us to, I don't know, hang out. Kill paranormals together. Family bonding time.”

“Shouldn't faeries be able to find you really easily?” He looked worried.

I shrugged against the pillow. “I don't know. Maybe it's because I've been carrying around bread like your dad said? Or something your mom's doing? I have no idea why they haven't been able to find me. But I'm really worried—what if she comes here? What if she hurts you? Or Arianna, or Nona, or any of the other paranormals? I'm putting everyone in danger. It would be my fault, and I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself.”

Lend shook his head. “You aren't responsible for anything that she does. And I really think that if she hasn't found you yet, she isn't going to.”

We kept saying that, and the more times I heard it, the better it sounded, but that didn't settle the nagging worry bubbling in my stomach. Could I really just hang out, hiding in a small Virginian town forever?

I wouldn't mind.

But I still couldn't forget how sad she was. “I never thought I'd be grateful for my childhood, but poor Vivian. I know she's crazy and a killer, but she's never had anyone. Ever. I wish there was some way I could help her, you know?”

“I know. But you've got to remember she was raised by faeries. Everything she tells you is probably a lie.”

I smiled wanly, but I knew he was wrong. You couldn't fake that kind of pain and loneliness. He didn't understand—he'd always had someone. I wondered what I would be like if I had been raised by faeries. It made me shudder.

“So, umm, were you planning on spending the rest of the night in here?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I narrowed my eyes, trying not to smile. “In your dreams.”

He laughed. “Well then, let me go to sleep so I can get back to them.”

Shaking my head, I leaned in and kissed him quickly on the lips, then, already missing him, went back to my room. I wouldn't have minded spending the night in there, but I wanted to take it slow and figured sleeping in the same bed wasn't a really smart idea. After all, I'd seen it time and time again on
Easton Heights
—when the couples hooked up too soon it never ended well. Plus, I didn't think his dad would like it very much and I wasn't about to push my luck.

It took a long time for me to fall asleep again.

 

The next morning Lend went to school. I stayed home, like I did most days, to work on my schoolwork and study for the SATs. It was so bizarre I wanted to laugh. While Vivian and her faeries plotted my destruction, I sat at the counter memorizing vocabulary words. Normal was stranger than paranormal sometimes.

“How's it going?” David asked, fixing himself a sandwich for lunch.

“I have a question if you've got a minute.”

“It's been a long time since I studied for that thing, but I'll try to help.”

“Oh, no, not about the test. I was just wondering, kind of worrying actually. About faeries. How do they find you? I mean, like if some of the IPCA faeries were looking for me, would they know where I was?”

“I don't think so. I know if faeries have some sort of connection, something of yours, usually an important possession or part of your body”—he saw my eyes widen and smiled—“like hair, or a finger or toe, they can always find you. And if you call them, of course. But if you mean just know where you are, no. They do have ways of finding people. If, for example, they know your full name, then it would be simple.”

I frowned. I didn't know my real full name. I was pretty sure IPCA didn't, either, and Vivian's faeries wouldn't. Then I remembered what Reth had said about telling me my name
someday. A cold chill settled between my shoulder blades. That must have been why he always seemed to know exactly where I was in the Center. “Any other ways?”

“If faeries really wanted to find you, they probably could. Which means they already would have.” He smiled. “I've already worried about all this for you and I don't think it's an issue. You're safe from IPCA here.”

I nodded, wishing it was IPCA I was afraid of. No, I was worried about much worse things. I grabbed another slice of bread and shoved it in my pocket. I wanted to stay here, wanted this happy life to go on forever.

Something told me slices of bread weren't going to be enough.

A
rianna
was studying my hair, deep in thought. Her face lit up. “I've got it! Remember Cheyenne in the masquerade episode?”

“Oh, my gosh! That's perfect! You're a genius!”

She smirked. “I know. Best episode ever, right?”

“Seriously.” I watched in the mirror as Arianna put in hot rollers. I had never seen a vamp in a mirror before. Turns out they do have reflections, but, just like in sunlight, their glamours don't quite transfer all the way. You can't see the corpse underneath, but you can tell that something is wrong. No wonder they don't like mirrors; I'd hate to see
myself that way. Arianna avoided looking at the mirror, constantly shifting so that she wouldn't be facing it.

I'll admit the idea of her hands on my hair—her glamoured corpse hands—still bothered me a little bit. But I was trying to get over it. After all, things were a lot more complicated than they used to be. It was no longer see vamp, stun vamp, tag vamp. Now it was ponder the philosophical implications of people who had immortality forced upon them, doomed to hang onto the coattails of humanity while having almost none left themselves. Man, no wonder they drank blood.

When the rollers were removed, my hair fell down my back in loose, tumbling curls. Taking a crystal-covered barrette, she pulled a piece back from my face on one side in a slight braid, clipping it in place. “Perfect.” She smiled. I had to agree. The style was simple but showed off my hair, which was definitely one of my best features.

“You are an artist.”

“Oh, I know. Now for your makeup.”

The girl-bonding time with Arianna really made me miss Lish. Not that she would have been able to participate, what with the whole mermaid-underwater thing, but she would have liked to see it. As Arianna applied dark, dramatic eyeliner and fussed over which shade of eye shadow to use, I wondered about what Cresseda had said when we'd first talked. She asked me to return Lish to them. But how could I? She was dead; she was gone.

“Oh, my gosh.” Things clicked into place—how could I not have seen it before?

“I know, huh? You never knew you could be this hot,” Arianna answered smugly.

“Oh, yeah, you're amazing,” I said, covering. As good as I looked (and, really, I looked
good
), it wasn't anything compared to what I had just realized. I needed to talk to Lend right now.

I stood, but Arianna pushed me back down in the chair. “Not done yet, your lips are still naked.” It was all I could do to sit still as she applied a rosy lipstick hue with a hint of shimmer. “Okay. You are perfection. I'm a genius.”

“Thanks!” I smiled at her before I sprinted upstairs. Arianna laughed at what she assumed was my impatience to get into my dress.

“Lend!” I burst through his door. He looked up, surprised. Still in basketball shorts and a plain T-shirt, he was lying on his stomach on the bed, sketching. I stopped and frowned. “Aren't you going to get ready?”

He laughed. “Remove clothes, put on tux. Should take all of two minutes. You look hot though.”

“Listen, I figured it out!” I sat down on the end of his bed.

“Figured what out?” He pushed himself up to sit across from me.

“The poem thing! I know what it means!” Why hadn't I thought about it more? I'd been so stupid!

His eyebrows went up. “Really?”

“Yeah! Okay, so ‘eyes like streams of melting snow,' duh. Then the ‘cold with the things she does not know,' well, if she's like me she's cold all the time, right? Things we don't know, I'm not sure about.” There were a lot of things Vivian didn't know that left her feeling cold and alone. “Anyway, ‘Heaven above and Hell beneath,' that's Earth, where we're all stuck. I mean, like the faeries are. But then ‘liquid flames to hide her grief,' that's what the souls or energy look like—liquid, golden flames. And she takes them because they make her feel warm, like she's not alone anymore. But then the last part—‘death, death, death with no release'? It's not about how she's killing paranormals! Remember what your mom said, about giving Lish back to them? Vivian's not just killing them, she's taking their souls and
keeping
them. They're stuck inside her, swirling around. So she's killed them, but their souls are trapped!” I was tripping over my words, talking so fast to get it all out before I forgot anything. “Lish and Jacques and everyone else, their souls haven't been released—they've just been stolen!”

His eyes widened. “It makes sense.”

“So do you think—What if we could get the souls out? Do you think that would mean—Could Lish come back? To life?”

He frowned. “I don't know. Those bodies, they were dead. Even immortal bodies can die if it happens the right way.”

“Oh.” My shoulders slumped. I really thought that I had figured it out, thought I could get Lish back. In those last few minutes, it felt like I already had her. And now I'd lost her again.

Lend put his arms around me. “I'm sorry, Evie.”

I nodded. It had been stupid. Even if there was some way that Lish's body and soul could be put back together, which wasn't likely (and would probably be gross, given how much time had passed), I had no idea how I could get the souls from Vivian, or if it was even possible.

“Still, I think you're right about the meaning of the poem. They're dead but not released, because their souls are stuck. That's something, at least.”

“For all the good it does us, right?” I sighed. He leaned in to give me a comfort kiss, but I pulled back. “Oh, don't even think about it. Arianna will kill you if you mess up my makeup.”

He smiled, raising one eyebrow. “I'm fully planning on messing it up before the night's over.”

“Good luck with that.” I left his room for mine, more than a little disappointed that my aha moment hadn't actually solved anything. I couldn't help but feel I was failing Lish in a major way, but I didn't know what else I could do. I'd figure out this Vivian thing. Eventually.

At least I had the prom for consolation. Shallow, maybe, but I knew Lish would have wanted this for me. I could see her now, eyes beaming at me in approval. And I could see
the tight line that Raquel's lips would form as she looked at the lack of sleevage and hint of cleavage. I could almost hear which sigh she'd use.

If I thought about them anymore I was going to cry, and I was wearing far too much mascara for that. I stared at my dress, touching the material lovingly, blinking back tears. I had dreamed of a prom for so long, I couldn't believe I was going. With a boy I was in love with, no less. I would be as happy as Lish would have wanted me to be.

I wished there were a mirror in the room, but I didn't need one to know how awesome this dress was. I had only stared at myself in it for like half an hour the first time I tried it on. And with the added touch of my high-heeled, peep-toe slingbacks in light gold, I was pretty sure there had never been a better prom ensemble in the history of the dance. Rather than jewelry, I rubbed shimmery lotion on my shoulders. I sparkled enough on my own tonight.

Lend knocked. I opened the door, grinning. His reaction was perfect. His jaw dropped, then he just smiled like he couldn't believe his luck. I couldn't, either. Believe my luck, that is, because as hot as Water Boy was all the time, Water Boy in a tux was like ultimate hotness.

“You look amazing.” He held out his arm. I hooked my hand through his elbow and smiled.

“Likewise,” I said, trying not to laugh I was so happy. “Maybe you should have bought the tux.” He laughed and
we went down the stairs to where his dad and Arianna were waiting with cameras. After about a million pictures (and I didn't complain, I wanted proof, lots and lots of proof, of tonight), we went to the waiting limo.

The driver held the door open for us. I stopped, squeezing Lend's arm. “You do know the driver is a troll, right?” I whispered, nervous.

He laughed. “Yeah, we know. Good family friend.”

We climbed into the back, the first ones to be picked up. After a few more stops to pick up John and Carlee (who smiled at me and complimented my dress), we drove to a small restaurant for dinner. The lights were dim and intimate, the decor elegant. We sat against a windowed wall, and I was glad—the plush bench seat meant I could snuggle in right next to Lend.

Then we drove to the high school. John complained loudly about how ghetto it was to have the prom at the school, but I didn't care. Prom was prom. And there I was, at a prom, at a normal, wonderful prom, with my mostly normal, totally wonderful boyfriend. I felt like I was glowing I was so happy.

We went into the gym, which was decorated with twinkling lights and gazebos, and I realized I really was glowing. In the dim lights my arm was like a flashlight. I glanced down at my chest and immediately regretted the neckline I had chosen. If my arm was like a flashlight, my heart was like a miniature sun. I put my hand over it and
looked around, panicked, until I realized that no one else could see it.

“Wanna dance?” Lend asked, leading me out into the middle of the floor. Trying to ignore my glowing wrist as he put my arms behind his neck and pulled me in close, I smiled. It was some cheesy ballad, but I didn't care as long as it was a slow song. “So, prom.” He grinned at me as we slowly moved back and forth. “You like it?”

I beamed. “Better than
Easton Heights
.”