Underworld (16 page)

“Oh, my God, chickie,” Kayla said, grabbing my arms. “Where have you been? Do you have any idea how freaked out I was when you didn’t show up at two in the parking lot the other day like you said you would? You told me to call the police if you didn’t show, so I did. And then the next thing I knew, your grandma was running around, saying some boy
kidnapped
you.”

Her dark eyes sparkling — the fake gemstones actually paled in comparison — she looked over at John, who’d paused in front of the frozen-fruit stand to wait for me. It must have been as obvious from the surreptitious looks he was throwing in my direction as it was from the way my cheeks heated up in response to those looks that we knew each other.

“Wait, that’s
him
?” Kayla cried, delighted. “
That’s
the guy? Oh, my God, he could kidnap me any day of the week. You … are … so … lucky.”

She emphasized each word with a punch to my shoulder, then stood there grinning at John, twirling a strand of her dark curly hair around one finger, each nail of which she’d painted white with black zebra stripes.

“Kayla,” I said, reaching up to massage my shoulder. She punched pretty hard. “He didn’t kidnap me. He —”

“Duh. Who’s his friend?” she wanted to know, referring to Frank, who was pretending not to notice that she was looking at him by negotiating a purchase of frozen fruit on a stick for Henry. “I saw him from way off and was like, ‘What’s with the smokin’ hottie with the scar?’ Seriously, I would not mind having a hunk like him kidnap me, either.”

“Kayla,” I said. I didn’t want to rain on her good time — from the look of the sky, that was going to happen any minute regardless — but I needed her to hold off on the boy talk for two minutes so I could clear up some family business. “As you have clearly figured out by now, I’m experiencing some … personal problems at the moment. And I really need your help.”

“Yeah?” Kayla hadn’t taken her gaze off Frank. “Well, introduce me to your pirate friend over there, and I’ll help you out.”

“I thought you liked Alex,” I said, a little disappointed.

She dropped her finger from her hair and gave up playing sexy eyes with Frank, turning towards me instead. “Seriously, you think
you
have personal problems? Your cousin is turning into a freak and a half. He asked me to meet him here at this thing, which I did, but will he dance with me, or even buy me a drink? No. He didn’t even dress up, which is traditional at this soirée. It’s like all he wanted was someone to sit with so he wouldn’t look like such a loser being all by himself. It’s lunch at school every day all over again, basically. He’s just sitting there —”

My eyes widened. “Wait.
You know where Alex is right now?
”

“Of course I know where he is,” Kayla said. “I just ditched him. Not that he’s even noticed I’m gone, I’ll bet. If this was supposed to be a date, your cousin Alex is sadly delusional —”

I reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Kayla,” I said. “If you take us to Alex, I’ll introduce you to Frank. Please, it’s very important. I think Alex is in a lot of trouble. More trouble than me, even.”

Kayla looked me up and down. “Now that’s a lot of trouble,” she said. “Because according to the paper, you’re in one million dollars’ worth of trouble. Do you know what I could do with one million dollars? Not that I would ever turn you in, but I could open my own hair and nail salon … no, with that kind of money,
ten
salons —”

“Please,”
I said, giving her wrist a desperate squeeze.

“All right,” Kayla said, with a shrug. “Jeez, calm down, I’ll do it. Why not? I don’t let the girls out very often” — she was referring to her breasts, which she was planning to have surgically reduced when she turned eighteen because, she said, her knees hit her nipples when she rode her bike — “so when I do, someone ought to appreciate them. Lord knows your cousin doesn’t.” She looked back over at Frank. For money to purchase the frozen fruit slices on a stick for Henry, I saw that Frank was using a silver Spanish dollar dug from the pocket of his leather trousers.

“Of course it’s real, you bloody git,” Frank said to the young man behind the fruit cart, who had apparently questioned the legitimacy of this form of currency. “That’s a genuine piece of eight. I could buy your whole cart with it.”

Great, I thought, sarcastically. John and his crew were doing an excellent job of blending in.

Kayla appeared to be thinking along similar lines, since she asked, “Where are those guys from, anyway?”

“Here,” I assured her.

“Really?” She looked skeptical. The fruit vendor had apparently decided the piece of eight was authentic, and was surrendering more fruit on a stick than Henry could carry. “Because I’d have remembered seeing him around here. And I don’t want to get into some whole long-distance thing. Those never work out.”

I smiled, meeting John’s gaze.

“Oh,” I said, “you never know.”

K
ayla, her hand resting on the crook of Frank’s elbow, led us down the crowded street.

“I’m not sure if this is the best idea,” John said, watching as Frank lifted Kayla’s hand and pressed it to his lips.

“You are enchanting, fair damsel,” Frank said.

“I bet you pirates say that to all us fair damsels,” I heard Kayla say with a giggle in response.

“It’s okay,” I reassured John. “I think Kayla can handle herself around guys. Even guys like Frank.”

“But what about Furies?” John asked, his gaze serious. “Will she be able to handle herself around them?”

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. “Knowing her, she probably can, actually.”

“Well, keep an eye on your necklace,” he said. “I don’t like that we’ve been out in the open for so long and there hasn’t been a single sign of them. They must know by now that we’re here. So where are they?”

I glanced around. Everywhere I looked were happy revelers, enjoying themselves, while overhead, lightning continued to illuminate the clouds, and thunder grumbled.

“Maybe that’s it,” I ventured. “We’re out in the open. The Furies don’t want to risk attracting too much attention.”

“Maybe,” John conceded. “Or maybe it’s the quiet before the storm.”

I looked up at the night sky, then down at my necklace. The diamond around my throat was the same purplish dark gray as the heavy clouds. He may have been right.

“Pierce?”

An attractive young couple was standing in front of us, their arms around each other. He had smeared ghoulish gray pancake makeup all over his face, and was dressed in an Isla Huesos High School Wreckers football uniform, complete with shoulder pads. She was wearing an IHHS Wreckers cheerleading uniform, carrying red and white pom-poms, and had a vampire bite painted on her neck, oozing fake blood.

“Oh, my God, Pierce!” the girl cried. “It’s me, Farah, Farah Endicott, and Seth Rector.” She pointed to her boyfriend, laughing. “I can’t believe our costumes are that good! Can you believe it, babe?” She grinned up at Seth. “Pierce didn’t even recognize us. And
she’s
the one who’s supposed to have gone missing!”

Farah and Seth had a good laugh over that one. They were both grasping red cups in their hands, and while I didn’t know for sure what was in them, I had a feeling from the near-hysterical tone of their laughter that the drinks were stronger than soda. John and I stood there while ahead of us, Kayla and Frank paused in the street, glancing back at us curiously. Mr. Liu, also observing the encounter, steered Henry off to the side of the street. The two of them pretended to be examining a stand hawking personally engraved shells. But really, they were watching Farah and Seth.

“Yeah,” I said, acting as if I found the situation as hilarious as Farah did. “That whole missing thing turns out to have been a big misunderstanding. Obviously. Since I’m standing right here in front of you.”

“Oh,” Farah cried, laughing even harder. “That’s so funny! Of course you’re not missing anymore. So, who’s your friend?”

“This is John,” I said, purposefully leaving off his last name. For all I knew, Farah and Seth were going to run off after this to call my dad and try to collect the million-dollar reward he was offering for my safe return. The less information I gave them, the better. “John, these are some friends of mine, Farah Endicott and Seth Rector.”

John’s face, as it always did, shut down when he heard the name
Rector
. He stood and glared at the two of them unsmilingly. “How do you do?” he asked stiffly, not extending his right hand. It was full of extra frozen fruit on a stick he’d offered to hold for Henry, which I’d thought was sweet. His other arm was wrapped around my waist.

“Well, I do very well, thank you,” Seth said, in a snooty British accent that I guess was supposed to be some kind of imitation of John and that I didn’t find particularly funny. John didn’t even have an accent to me, either because I was used to the way he talked or because he’d spent so much time around dead Americans it had faded to be barely noticeable.

But Seth managed to crack Farah up, and the two of them snickered for about thirty seconds before Seth regained control of himself, then said to John, “No, seriously, dude, it’s cool. Nice to meet you. You don’t look like a serial killer or whatever it is they’re trying to make you out to be on the news.”

Farah smacked him playfully on the chest and said, “Babe! Kidnapper. He’s a kidnapper!”

“My bad,” Seth said.

“Oh, my
God
,” Farah said, her blue eyes going wide. “Dude, I
love
your necklace. Where did you get that?” She was about to lift the diamond that hung from my neck when I felt the muscles in the arm John had around my waist tense. He pulled me back a step before she could touch it.

Which was a good thing, since the stone really was cursed, exactly as Henry had said. The last living person who’d touched it was Mr. Curry, a jeweler who’d accused me of stealing it and tried to have me arrested.

This hadn’t worked out too well for him, thanks to John, who’d objected to his rough treatment of me and caused his heart to stop.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said quickly. “I got it at the mall, I guess. It’s fake.”

“Well, duh,” Farah said, laughing. “If it were real it would be worth, like, as much money as your dad was offering as a reward for finding you —”

According to Mr. Curry, the Persephone Diamond was worth about seventy-five times that, actually. I didn’t say so out loud, however.

“It’s so funny, because a bunch of us were just joking that if we saw you, we would, like, totally turn you in for all that cash,” Farah went on, with a giggle. “But then we found out your dad canceled the reward.”

“That
is
funny,” I said, but not because I actually found it amusing. “When did you hear that?”

“Oh, my God,” Farah said, “it’s been, like, all over the Internet.”

I guess my mom had gotten my note, and told my dad. He’d moved fast. But then, he always did.

“Right,” John said. “Well, we’re actually looking for someone, so we have to be going….”

“Wait —” Seth stepped in front of us. John removed his arm from around me and dropped Henry’s frozen fruit, keeping his fists loose and ready at his sides.

But Seth didn’t appear to want to keep us from finding Alex.

“Farah was kidding about the reward,” he said. “We’d never do that. And I hope there’s no hard feelings about our coming over and moving the coffin stuff out of your house,” he added, slurring his words a little. “But, like, we didn’t know when you were coming back, and your mom … it seemed like she was kind of flipping out. And you know, even though it looks like they’re probably going to cancel the game on account of this storm that’s coming, we still have to make the coffin. It’s a tradition, or whatever.”

I stared at him in astonishment. “Wait,” I said. “
You
moved the wood and stuff out of my mom’s garage?” All this time, I’d been sure it was Alex and that as soon as these guys found out he’d done it, his punishment for it was getting locked in the coffin afterwards.

But Seth’s next words proved me wrong. “Yeah,” Seth said. “Well, me and my dad. We came over and did it this morning. Your mom totally understood.”

Of course. Uncle Chris had mentioned Seth and his dad had been over earlier in the day….

“Oh, my God.” Farah wiggled up to Seth and put her arms around him again. “Tell Pierce about your dad and her mom. Wait, Pierce, you have to hear this. Tell her, babe.”

“Babe, not now,” Seth said, glancing at Farah in annoyance. He seemed to be growing uncomfortable under John’s stare. Seth was a big guy, especially in his shoulder pads.

But he wasn’t as big as John.

“Fine,” Farah said, making a little moue of disappointment. “I’ll tell her. Your mom and Seth’s dad used to go out, back when they were in high school. They were senior prom king and queen, and everything. Everyone thought they were going to get married. Did you know that?”

I looked quickly from her to Seth and then back again. The sounds of the festival seemed to fade. I barely felt John’s hand close over mine, strong and supportive.

Instead all I could think about was a conversation I’d overheard between my mother and father — not the most recent one, outside my mom’s bedroom, but one they’d had after my last court-mandated visit with my dad before I’d moved to Florida. Dad had been giving Mom a hard time about her decision to relocate to her old hometown, teasing her that it was because “he” was available again.

“I would think you’d have better things to do right now than look up the marital status of my ex-boyfriends on the Internet,” Mom had said to him, scathingly.

“I like to keep track of their mating habits,” Dad had smirked.

I hadn’t understood who they were talking about at the time.

Suddenly, it was all too clear: Seth’s dad.

Farah, noting my stunned expression, smacked her boyfriend in the chest again.

“See, babe?” she said. “I
told
you she didn’t know. Isn’t that
insane
? It turns out all of our parents used to hang out. Your mom and Seth’s dad and my dad and your uncle Chris, too. My mom — she went to IHHS, too, but she was a few grades younger — says they were like the four musketeers, or something. Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever heard? Well, I guess it was cute up until …” She paused, then held up a hand, trying to show how tactful she was. “Well,
you
know. What happened with your uncle.”

I didn’t want to admit that I had only the vaguest idea what had happened with my uncle, aside from the fact that the charges had been drug related, and that he’d been in jail for Alex’s entire life, practically.

Farah shrugged. “I guess that’s when your mom stopped coming back to Isla Huesos from college, and she and Seth’s dad broke up. But, hey, it’s cool, because she met your dad and had you, right? Although I was kind of hoping your mom and Seth’s dad would get back together now that they’re both divorced.”

Apparently, this was what my dad had assumed my mom was hoping, too.

A group of people, similarly attired in the Isla Huesos High School colors of red and white, walked by, noticed Seth and Farah, and shouted, “Wreckers rule!” Several of them pumped their fists in Seth’s direction. He pumped his fist back at them and yelled,
“Yeah!”
Then they all began bumping their chests together and talking enthusiastically about some party that was going to be off the hook.

Suddenly I understood the reason why Uncle Chris had expressed relief that my dad was coming to town. He’d never shown any particular fondness for my dad before, but he’d liked the fact that Mr. Rector had started hanging around my mom’s house even less.

Now my mom’s weird reaction when I’d been making fun of how ostentatious the Rector mausoleum was that day we rode past it on our bikes made sense. My mom had almost
been
a Rector — well, married to one, anyway. I’d been standing there making jokes about how some people had money to burn.

Sure. Like her
ex-boyfriend from high school
.

Why hadn’t she said anything? It wouldn’t have been weird for her to tell me, “Pierce, back when I was in high school and had terribly poor judgment, I used to go out with an extreme douche.”

Was she hiding something? Or was it that she wanted to put as much distance as she could between her high-school self and her new self?

“Are you all right?” John asked, his voice penetrating the swirling cloud of confusion in my mind.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s just … some things are starting to make sense that never did before.”

“What kind of things?” he asked curiously.

“Nothing that really matters, I guess,” I said, shaking my head. “Just some stuff about my mom.” I reached out and wrapped both my arms around one of John’s. “Promise me we’ll never be like them, okay?” I asked, with a shudder, nodding at Seth and Farah. “Calling each other
babe
in that annoying way?”

“We could never be like those two,” John said, leading me away after giving Seth one last stony-eyed glare.

“Why do you hate him so much?” I asked, amused.

“Hate him?” John looked surprised. “I only just met him. And you don’t seem particularly fond of him yourself.”

“I’m not, but every time anyone says the word
Rector
around you, you get this look on your face.” I illustrated, lowering my eyebrows into a deep scowl and frowning.

He laughed. “Do I? I had no idea.”

“Alex does the same thing whenever he sees Seth,” I said, thinking back.

“Well, then I think I’ll like your cousin,” John said, “if we ever find him.”

“I think you will, too,” I said. “But why —?”

Light footsteps sounded behind us, interrupting me. We turned to see Farah racing breathlessly up, her cheeks flushed.

“I’m such a ditz,” she said. “I almost forgot. We’re having a Coffin Night party tomorrow night. And you guys are totally invited.”

“Wow,” I said. “Thanks, Farah. That is so nice. But we probably won’t be able —”

“Oh, come on,” Farah said, looking disappointed. “Try to come. Everyone in the senior class is invited … but don’t tell any juniors. We’re going to try to have the coffin done so it can be there. We want everyone to sign it. You know, as like a memento to remember the year by.”

“The coffin’s going to be there?” Suddenly the invitation sounded a lot more tempting. “Where’s the party going to be?”

“At the new development our dads are building, out on Reef Key. You remember, Pierce, we took you to see it.”

I did remember. Mr. Rector and Mr. Endicott had basically taken a beautiful island paradise and bulldozed it into an ugly subdivision, complete with tennis courts and a tiki bar.

“You can’t miss it,” Farah said. “It’ll be in the only spec house that’s done. I really hope this hurricane doesn’t come like they keep saying it’s going to, or of course we’ll have to cancel the whole thing. This afternoon they downgraded it to a Category Two but I just heard it’s back up to a Three. So even if it only brushes us, for sure no one is going to —”