Heaven Sent (18 page)

My unspoken words hovered between us like a cloud filled with gloom.

“Well,” I said, doing my best to clear the tension from the air. “I think we should have that tea now.”

“Yes, yes,” said Aunt Jaz, rising quickly.

“Maudrina and I can get it.” I shot her a pleading look and she sat back down.

“That’s a splendid idea,” she replied, pretending as though she agreed with me.

My gaze moved to Maudrina who was still struggling to hold it together. She nodded.

I rose and Guy jumped to his feet beside me. “I’ll help.”

“Thank you. But I think it should be just the two of us.” I gave his hand a gentle squeeze while peering into his eyes. He got the message, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it, either.

“Okay. I’ll hang here and talk strategy with the
shaman
,” he said, his words laced with sarcasm.

I hoped he and Monsieur Perez wouldn’t get into anything while we were out of the room. But I couldn’t worry about them. Maudrina was falling apart before my eyes. My heart ached for her with every tear that fell. She was my best friend, always there for me. I needed to try and make things better.

As we entered the kitchen, Maudrina surprised me by wheeling on me and pulling me into a big hug. She began weeping onto my shoulder.

“I’ve been so selfish,” she said.

“What? You? No!” I pushed back a little so I could look into her eyes. Her tears were falling freely. “I’m the one who’s been selfish. I knew you needed me and couldn’t reach out. I could have tried harder to get in touch with you, but I didn’t because I was being selfish about my time with Guy,” I said as my own emotions began to unravel.

“That might be true. But I was so embarrassed I couldn’t face you.” She stopped sobbing. “You couldn’t have found me because I didn’t want to be found.”

“Why? What happened?”

She backed up a few steps and sighed before speaking. “I went to Curtis’s house that Saturday night just as I had planned. It’s a big beautiful house, the kind a girl pictures herself living in after she gets married. There’s a vase filled with roses that stands on a pedestal in the entryway. It was like walking into a dream.”

“That sounds nice.” I was trying to urge her on. Now that she was talking about herself, the tears had stopped. I was desperate to know what Curtis had done to her.

“We were alone in the house. His parents were out of town, just as he had said they’d be. We sat in the family room. Not the living room, but the
family
room.” She said it as if a
family
room was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen.

“And?”

“We started making out. He was gentle. And so sweet.”

Sure he was.

“And?” I said a little louder and with a little more urgency.

“And I started realizing I couldn’t do it. Somewhere after the first few kisses, I realized I couldn’t go through with it. You were right. I wasn’t ready.”

“What did he do to you?” I asked, trying to keep my emotions in check.

“Nothing,” she responded quickly. “When I told him I couldn’t go through with it, he said he understood. We sat up all night watching old movies. It was so romantic.” I looked into her eyes and could see her reliving the night. “He dropped me off the next morning. We parted with the sweetest kiss. I said ‘See you later,’ and he said ‘Yep.’ And that was the last time I saw him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he hasn’t called or texted or returned any of mine.” She started to cry again. This time for herself. She really was an emotional mess.

“C’mere.” I pulled her close to me, allowing her to once again rest her head on my shoulder. “You can do better than him.”

“I knew you were going to say that. But I love him. I don’t want to do better.”

I knew how she felt. Hadn’t I felt the same way about Guy? Men.

“We’d better make that tea before Aunt Jaz sends out a search party.”

She smiled through her tears. “Yeah. If we’re in her precious kitchen alone for too long she’ll probably come out to see if we broke something.” She laughed at her own joke and I joined in.

I put the tea kettle on the old stove while she placed cups and boxes of tea on a serving tray.

“I’m your best friend, right?” She was at the counter, folding dainty cloth napkins with her back to me. I had to tread lightly with my response. I knew where this was headed.

“The best best friend ever,” I replied sincerely.

She turned. I thought she’d be smiling, but she wasn’t. “I feel the same way about you. Erin did this to herself, Megan.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“It is so true!” she said sounding like a nine-year-old.

“We both know her anger came about because I was trying to get between her and Matt. I can’t look past my part in this.”

“Well…” She smiled suddenly. “I know I’m not going to change your mind. You’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.” We laughed lightly at that one. “I know you’re going to try to help her. I’m just worried that this time things won’t come out so good, and I’ll lose the best friend I ever had.” The smile was gone, replaced a subdued, loving expression. Her eyes were once again filling with tears. “And I know it’s selfish of me, but I can’t stand the idea of losing my boyfriend
and
my best friend back-to-back. That would make this the worst summer ever.”

*

Loud talking greeted us as we moved back down the hallway.

Maudrina entered ahead of me carrying the tray with the cups and boxes of tea. I entered with the kettle and a plate of Lorna Dunes.

Both Guy and Monsieur Perez were squared off in the middle of the floor a few feet apart. Aunt Jaz was between them.

“She
wants
to do it!” The vein in Monsieur Perez’s neck was bulging as he spoke.

“I don’t care! Do not take advantage of her weakness to save her friend, sir. You have no idea what I’d do to
anyone
who puts her in harm’s way.” The threat that Guy hurled at Monsieur Perez surprised me. He looked up as he realized we were back. I knew from the change in him this was something he didn’t want me to see. “I’m… sorry,” he muttered.

“What is it that you’re so sure I want to do, Monsieur Perez?” I wasn’t totally ignoring Guy’s apology. I knew he wanted to protect me. But I had to speak for myself.

“Save your friend, of course. The wedding is in two weeks. Saturday evening June 22nd. If you were there, perhaps you could lure the soul sucker out before the ceremony.”

“You see why I don’t like this plan? I’ve never heard of a soul sucker, and I am a deity.” Guy stood with his arms folded across his chest striking a pose that dared Monsieur Perez to prove him wrong.

“Let’s assume you’re right, Guy,” said Aunt Jaz. She was still standing between them, although neither was acting like he wanted to fight. “But for argument’s sake, it can’t hurt if Megan attended the wedding and got a chance to chat with Erin. She could at least warn her of what her
boyfriend
has planned.”

“She’d be in danger,” stormed Guy. “Did she tell you that the last time she tried to contact Erin, her betrothed and a bunch of his friends tried to molest her?”

Aunt Jaz turned to me with widening eyes. “Is this true?”

“I want to do it,” I replied, bypassing her question. I looked into Guy’s eyes. They were seething with anger. “The Satanists want to marry my friend off to Satan. To Satan, Guy! Soul sucker or not, I have to warn her.”

“Of course you do,” he replied sarcastically, but I could see the fight tumbling out of him. “No concern for your own well-being.”

“Of course I’m concerned.” I moved to him, picking up his hand, and placing it on my cheek. “Erin is my best friend since childhood. I know she’s been mean to me, but I can’t give up on her. I’ve been working on controlling my abilities. Now I get to test them. Saving Erin is all they’re good for.”

Guy pulled away from me and plopped down on the sofa, pouting.

“So it’s… settled?” Monsieur Perez ventured.

“Yes. I’ll do it.” As the words crossed my lips, I felt a hatch of butterflies begin to swarm in my stomach. I was worried for my own well-being, but I needed to put up a brave front in front of Maudrina and Guy. “I’ll be fine,” I said, and smiled.

Guy turned hard eyes on Monsieur Perez. “Tell her of the blood sacrifice,” he demanded.

“We don’t know—”

“If Satan doesn’t accept her alive, they will kill her,” Guy blurted. He hammered his fist onto the coffee table. “If you try to help her, they will kill you!”

“I agree blood sacrifice is often part of Satanic ritual. But that doesn’t mean it’s part of this one.” Monsieur Perez spoke calmly, but I could tell he was agitated.

“I want to do it,” I repeated. All eyes were on me. The air was thick with tension and no one dared speak.

Monsieur Perez broke the silence. “Good. We were able to get our hands on an invitation.” He handed me the invite that had been filled out in scribbly handwriting—definitely not Erin’s.

The wedding was the Saturday evening of my birthday at Tavares Castle. As I read the invite, I was overtaken by a sudden chill, like a dousing of ice water. Tavares Castle was an actual castle in an isolated part of town. It had been on the market for many years. Do Not Trespass signs had been posted on gates that had been locked and chained so long, the chains were rusted. I’d always wondered about the old castle, and now, on my birthday, I’d get to see what I’d been wondering about.

Happy birthday to me,
I thought.
Happy birthday to me.

We didn’t speak all the way home.

Of course, we were on a motorcycle, and it’s impossible to hold a conversation when all you can hear is the wind whistling in your ears. But Guy was still pouting. He didn’t want to talk.

This was a side of him I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t like it. When he dropped me off at the corner, he pecked me dutifully on the lips and sped into the night. I was disappointed to see him go because I wanted to explain myself. I knew he was acting snippy because he was worried about me. I was worried about me as well, and I wanted a chance to try and make him understand why I had to go through with it.

Evening had come, accompanied by a very welcome cool breeze. As I took the short, half-block walk to my front door, I stopped thinking about Guy and considered what I had promised to do to save my friend. The leaders in the occult community wanted me to crash Erin’s Satanic wedding. They knew I’d do it because of our history together. I found my mind wandering to the good times Erin and I had shared.

In the fifth grade Erin decided it was time to give ourselves a glamover. We pooled our money and bought some Maybelline eyeliner and electric blue eye shadow.

I smiled as I remembered our sneaking the makeup into school, excited over the prospect of being transformed from nerd girls to supermodels. Just before lunch, we wangled a hall pass out of Mrs. Ramirez and went to the bathroom to perform the transformation. Neither of us had any idea what we were doing, but we kept hollering “smart girls rule!” as we heaped makeup onto our eyes.

When we were done glamorizing, we swore we were cover girl gorgeous. We left the bathroom and swaggered through the empty halls singing “smart girls rule, smart girls rule,” as if it were a top forties hit.

Things changed quickly once we returned to the classroom. Mrs. Ramirez asked, “Did you two have an accident in the bathroom?” One of the boys jumped up and said we looked like raccoons. The laughter from our classmates signaled the end of our modeling careers.

We both got in big trouble for the stunt, each of us claiming blame to let the other off the hook. It didn’t work. We were both grounded, but we didn’t care. We were best friends forever.

That
was the Erin I was trying hard to remember, the Erin I wanted to save.
Smart girls rule.

As the cicadas began their nightly serenade, my thoughts turned to the soul sucker. I wasn’t sure what to think of it. Guy was an angel who knew about these things, and he’d never heard of one. But Aunt Jaz had never steered me wrong, and she believed one was eating away at Erin’s soul.

Monsieur Perez only wanted me to attend the wedding so I could show off my abilities to the Satanist community. That would prove to them he had a powerful weapon at his disposal, and increase his influence. But Monsieur Perez’s stature in the occult community meant nothing to me. I knew my best chance of saving Erin was not to attend the wedding, but to get to Erin
before
the wedding.

*

As I came up the walk, I spotted the Erin’s parents garage door open. The Chambers didn’t park in their garage. They couldn’t. Their garage had become a depository for discarded furniture, clothes, and general junk, just like ours. As I moved closer I spotted a single light bulb burning within.

I walked up to the open garage. Mrs. Chambers was rummaging around inside.

“Hello,” I called.

“Oh, hi,” she called, looking up. The dark circles under her eyes were deeper than the last time I’d seen her; the eyes seemed weary. “I was looking for something,” she said absently and went back to searching.

I could see there was something troubling her and stepped closer. “Maybe I could help.”

She stopped, as if considering what I’d said. “I had a dream last night. I don’t dream much, but last night I dreamt about Erin’s tenth birthday party. You probably don’t remember it,” she said with a wistful smile, the memory spilling into her eyes.

I stepped into the garage. “Actually, I do remember it.” My skin started tingling as if my spidey sense was going off.

“I was looking for that old Barbie Dream House we gave her.” She went back to searching, picking up boxes of old toys and moving them aside.

“Why?” I asked as I inched closer. The word scraped up my throat. Both of us dreaming of Erin’s tenth birthday party could not be a coincidence. We were dreaming of that party for a reason.

“I honestly don’t know.” She stopped and half-sat on the edge of an old wooden desk. It creaked as she rested her narrow hips against it. “You two didn’t play with it much. By then you were into those Power Puff Girls.”