Wildefire (27 page)

“Quentin,” Eve corrected her, but grinned smugly.

She had traded her usual black and gloomy apparel for a shin-length tartan skirt and a conservative blue top, buttoned all the way up to her neck. Ash had never seen her sister’s hair up before, but she had fashioned it into a large bun on the top of her head, with what looked like chopsticks holding it in place.

The headmistress came up behind Eve and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Elektra doesn’t want to impose on your day in any way, so just go about today like any other Tuesday. You can escort her to the front gates after lunch so she can catch her limousine.”

Eve released a small giggle. “I perked right up when Headmistress Riley said you had physics today. Although I have to say, I was a little disappointed to hear you don’t offer a class in meteorology.”

“Well, off you go.” The headmistress ushered them both toward the door. “If you hustle, you might be able to make the last part of what I’m sure is a riveting French class with Monsieur Chevalier.”

264

“Golly,” Eve replied.

Ash lingered in the doorway. “Um, Headmistress?”

The headmistress had crossed the room to her giant world globe. “Yes, Ashline?” Her thumb lingered somewhere in the sprawling blue of the Pacific Ocean.

The fingers of Eve’s right hand blossomed open, revealing an orb of electricity shining like a pearl in her palm. The threat was clear.
One word, and . . .

“I . . . I just wanted to say thank you for this opportunity.” Ash took Eve firmly by the arm and dragged her out of the room and through the reception area.

They weren’t three steps into the hall before Ash grabbed two fistfuls of Eve’s blue shirt and shoved her up against the wall, hard. “Are you out of your mind?

Masquerading as a prospective student in
my
new school?”

Eve peeled herself off the wall and fixed her shirt.

“You know my education has always been high priority to me, and I think that with Blackwood’s reputation for stimulating the intellect—”

“Eve!”

“I hate to break it to you, cupcake, but this was your idea.” Ashline’s face wrinkled with a combination of bewilderment and nausea. Eve continued anyway. “You said you wanted to spend time with me but you needed to finish your school year first. So I thought I’d give you the best of both worlds: the Wilde sisters, reunited, while you pretend to be a mortal for another month.”

“This is
not
what I had in mind,” Ashline growled.

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“How can you expect me to play make-believe like everything is honky-dory between us after you sabotaged the smoke detector
and
lit my goddamn bed on fire?”

“No.” Eve shook her head. “I only sabotaged the smoke detector.”

“Oh, really? Then, who lit the fire? Jackie?”

“Ash, you’re my sister and I love you. But some days you can be about as bright as a black hole.” Eve walked over to one of the hallway mirrors and admired her reflection. “Besides, if the fire alarm had been triggered, you would have ended up in trouble, so really I saved your ass.” She unbuttoned her shirt down to the top of her cleavage and turned from side to side, pursing her lips with satisfaction.

“That’s
completely
flawed logic.” Ash balled her hands into fists. “You were going to watch me burn alive!”

Eve rolled her eyes. “Always the drama queen.” She relinquished her gaze on her reflection and locked arms with Ash. “Come on. My bike is hidden just off school grounds, and I thought we could take off to Crescent City for the day. Maybe do a little shopping. You’ve got a dance on Friday, if I heard correctly, and you were never one to turn down the promise of a new dress. My treat.”

Eve succeeded in pulling her sister along for a few steps before Ash could firmly set her feet. “I’m not cutting class. I’m walking the line with the headmistress as it is. If she finds out that I’ve taken her ‘prospective student’ out cavorting in the city for the day . . .”

“Don’t be a pussy.” Eve tugged disgustedly at the 266

sleeve of Ashline’s sweatshirt. “Given your frumpier-than-usual appearance, I’m sure the headmistress would agree that your time would be better spent with spa treatments and retail therapy than sitting in class collecting chalk dust on this dumpy smock of yours. And the best part? I can guarantee the local weather will be spotless. .

. . As long as I stay in a good mood.”

Ash huffed and reached over to button Eve’s shirt back up. “Take the money you would have spent on our spa treatments and buy yourself a plane ticket to JFK. I know two people in Scarsdale who could use a visit from you more than I could use a makeover.”

Eve’s face caved. The previously sunny hallway instantly darkened. A not-too-distant grumble echoed out on the quad. “They are
not
your parents,” Eve hissed, sending a heavy torrent of wind rushing down the hallway, which knocked open the double doors to the school with a sharp
crack
. “And they are certainly not mine.”

“Fine.” Ash started to walk backward down the hall toward Monsieur Chevalier’s classroom. “Do whatever you want. Go electrocute some rabbits out in the woods—I don’t give a shit. I’m going to class.” She turned her back on Eve.

But Eve wasn’t done with her yet. “I want to meet the others.”

Ash stopped. “Others?”

“I followed you Sunday. I saw what your friends did to the poachers, and I was very impressed.”

The class change bell chimed in its electronic monotone.

267

As though they had been waiting with anticipation to spill through the door, students flooded out of the classrooms around them, filling the space between Ashline and Eve.

Still, the sisters locked eyes through the fray.

“Well, I’m not going to be the one to make introductions,” Ash called through the thickening sea of students that separated them. She backed down the hallway toward her next class, maneuvering through the human chaos. “Have fun on your joyride. I hope it rains.”

“Oh, it will.” Eve’s last words were nearly lost in the din. “And as they say, when it rains . . .”

Then Ash lost sight of her in the ocean of denim and backpacks. Farther down the hall she saw the double doors slam closed.

By lunchtime nausea had burrowed into Ashline’s stomach like a parasite. Even the chicken marsala at the cafeteria—her favorite—tasted like oatmeal, and with the knowledge that her sister was out there roaming the forest, waiting, watching, it was all she could do to even keep her two percent milk down.

When Jackie went up for seconds, Ash raised her glass to toast the empty seat in front of her. “To Eve.”

Her sister may have made her world feel like it was on the brink of the apocalypse every time she came near, but if Eve continued to put the kibosh on Ashline’s appetite, she might just slim down to a size four in time for the masquerade ball.

268

Just then she spotted Raja across the dining hall heading fast for the exit. Ash jogged over and intercepted her.

Raja gave her a once-over. “Ash, you look—”

“Like dog shit. I’m aware,” Ash said quickly. “Listen, is there any way you can gather the other three and meet me in the chapel after the last bell?”

“That depends. Is this a social gathering? Or a we’re-in-imminent-danger conversation?”

Ash bit her lip. “Let’s just say you can leave Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders in your room.”

Raja’s posture deflated. “Damn it. And a quiet night of board games was just starting to sound like a nice diversion.” She trudged out of the dining hall with a half-hearted wave. “See you after two.”

With the responsibility of wrangling the others turned over to Raja, Ash suffered through last-period physics before she made one last go at aerating her room. The smoky smell had miraculously faded to only a trace. On her nightstand she found a small mountain of air fresheners on top of a note from Jackie:

Figured after last night these

were a safer bet than scented

candles.

—J

Ash smiled and draped the air fresheners over one of the box fans, which she aimed at her bed, and she prayed 269

to the God of all things fresh and clean that it would accelerate the deodorizing process.

Then she made the trek back over to the chapel and sat down in the front pew. While she waited, she closed her eyes and imagined Serena singing from the lec-tern, let the phantom voice take her to a place of higher tranquility.

She was just starting to doze off when the back doors parted and the four others entered—Ade, then Lily, followed by Rolfe and Raja, whose hips were nearly touching. They remained silent until they reached the pew behind Ashline, when Rolfe said to Raja, “You promised there was going to be an all-you-can-eat buffet.” Raja raised her hand like she was preparing to cuff him, and he mumbled a soft, “Liar.”

“Thanks for coming, guys.” Ash rose from her seat.

“I’ll cut to the chase. I just wanted to warn—”

The back doors thundered open. Eve had traded her schoolgirl outfit for a flowing black floor-length dress that billowed behind her like exhaust. For all of her abrasive-ness, Ash had to admit that Eve sure knew how to make an entrance.

“Sorry I’m late!” Eve clapped her hands together excitedly. “Oh, splendid. You’ve gathered everyone together for me.”

Ash stayed quiet. Ade, recognizing the panic-stricken look on her face, stood up and spread his hands in anticipation of trouble.

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But Eve ignored him as she swept down the central aisle. Her eyes played around the chapel, drinking it all in—the confessional, the altar, the high ceilings.

“You must have a real sense of humor to hold a meeting of the gods in a Catholic church. I mean, I knew you weren’t crazy about Hebrew school, but this is
distastefully
sacrilegious.”

Ash blocked her path when she reached the head of the aisle. “I think you should leave.”

Eve tapped her sister’s face playfully. “Relax, peach.

I’m not here for you.” She finally acknowledged the four bewildered students sitting—or in Ade’s case, standing—

in the pew next to her. “I’m just here for some . . . social networking.”

“They don’t want what you’re peddling, Eve,” Ash said.

“Just because you don’t give a damn about your future doesn’t mean your friends don’t either. They have every right to hear what I have to say, and if they’re not interested, they have every right to return to the doll-house with you.”

Ash gritted her teeth. As talented as Eve was at inducing anxiety, she unfortunately also had a point. It wasn’t up to Ash to dictate whether or not the others should put their lives in jeopardy for the dream of some sort of half-baked immortal existence.

“Fine,” Ash said. “But you better tell them everything, or I’ll fill in the gaps.”

271

Lily gestured between Ashline and Eve. “Given the close resemblance, the fact that I don’t know many Polynesians, and the clear demonstration of love between you two, I’m going to take a flying leap and guess that you’re Ash’s sister?”

“Bingo.” Eve placed her palm on Ashline’s shoulder.

The tiny hairs on Ash’s arm stood on end under the low hum of the electric current. “And let me start by getting off my chest everything Ashline could possibly say to deter you from hearing what I have to say. Yes, I have not always been the best sister to Ashline. Yes, I have made my fair share of mistakes.” She paused. “Yes, I did kill a girl last year.”

Rolfe, who had until now found the exchange mildly amusing, shut his mouth. Raja fidgeted in her seat.

“But who among you didn’t cause some collateral damage when you were first discovering these special gifts you’ve been given? Who among you didn’t at one point hurt somebody?” she challenged them, her eyes tracking from one to the next, until she paused knowingly on Ade, who glowered at the floor. Like a defeated Atlas, he sat down at last, as if the burden on his back had grown too heavy for him to remain standing.

She let her hand fall from Ashline’s shoulder and took a distancing step away from her. “My sister doesn’t yet know what it’s like when the transformation first happens. But she will. It’s not like being a god comes with an instruction manual. We’re all new at this.”

272

While the others listened, and Ash eventually wandered over to a separate pew, alone, Eve repeated everything she’d told Ash on the rooftop on Sunday night—

about their amnesiac rebirth every generation, about the other gods holed up in a penthouse in Vancouver living the high life, about Blink’s plan to destroy the Cloak.

“It’s not just our immortality that’s at stake,” she concluded. “Blink is reasonably certain that with the Cloak gone, he will be able to find a way to restore our memory from our previous lives, and we’ll be able to retain new memories from here on out.”

“Maybe there’s a reason why we don’t keep memories from one life to another,” Raja said slowly, and folded her arms in front of her chest. “Maybe that’s our way of having second chances.”

“Or maybe,” Eve argued, “if we could remember, we wouldn’t be doomed to repeat the same mistakes time and again, lifetime after lifetime.”

Ade shook his head. “For all our supernatural abilities, as far as I can see, there’s nothing supernatural about our ability to handle remorse. If we retained thousands of years of memories, it could completely corrupt any chance we have at being good and just human beings.”

“
We’re not human beings
!” Eve slammed her fist down on the pew in front of her, then regarded the others incredulously. “Are the rest of you sane? Or does everyone else agree with Gloom and Boom over here?”

“Ignorance is bliss,” Rolfe replied.

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Eve snorted. “Ignorance is cowardice.”

“Oh, I’m definitely a coward. I’m terrified of snakes, bugs, rejection,” he said, counting each one off on his fingers, “public humiliation, and big black creatures with fiery blue eyes that want to eat me. But even a coward knows a fool’s errand when he hears one.” He slipped past Lily and exited the pew. Before he reached the door in the back, he added over his shoulder, “Oh, and I’ve heard the surfing in Vancouver sucks.”