Dust and Roses: Book Two of the Dust Trilogy (9 page)

He let go of the frown and his face
softened. “I can understand that I guess, but most of us haven’t. But it’s
different for you. You’re a Banshee and that’s what you do. Carry death.”

That’s what I was
supposed
to do.
It wasn’t something I wanted to commit to.

“Anyway,” he said, eyeing a little boy
rolling on the carpet. “You have it easy compared to Rose. The only way to kill
a Death Fairy is to grind her bones into dust.”

I already knew that. I didn’t need him
saying it out loud.

A woman stooped to collect the rolling
child from the floor and Hollis focused on me again. “You have any idea how
hard it would be for an Angel to do that?”

How could he be so calm about all this?
“This doesn’t seem like complete insanity to you?” I leaned in closer to
whisper even though the volume in the bookstore had suddenly risen. “Sitting
around waiting to kill a girl who hasn’t done anything to anyone?”

Hollis stared at me blankly and I had my
answer. This was completely normal to him. Why had I expected anything
different? His life and world had been nothing like mine.

“Hollis, while we’re here, I’m a little
concerned about Violet, you know, Cuddle Bug. She can do more than just move
clouds.”

He smirked. “Like what? She can make them
turn into cotton candy?”

“No, stupid. She can control the weather.”

Hollis waved my concern away. “We have plenty
of things to worry about but Cuddle Bug isn’t one of them.”

“I think you guys have underestimated her.
You shouldn’t do that to people.”

Hollis’ chair scraped against the floor as
he stood up. “Like clockwork. Show time.”

I followed his gaze to the window. Rose in
all her jarring beauty crossed the street looking like sunshine. That was the
closest I’d been to her. I hadn’t realized how much she looked like Mom. Rose
looked perky and healthy, not like a girl who should be sick and wasting away.

Hollis was out of the door so fast, I had
to hustle to keep up with him. Everything was happening so quickly I didn’t
even have time to gather my thoughts.

Rose walked briskly with a blue hobo bag slung
over her shoulder, wearing a flower-print sundress and brown leather gladiator
sandals. She wore headphones as she hummed to herself. A violin case dangled
from one hand. Her phone in the other.

My insides twisted. Surely she would
notice us following her, especially Hollis, who stuck out like a sore thumb,
but she seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

Hollis slowed down, putting his arm in
front of me. “We’ll talk to her after her violin lessons when she won’t be in
so much of a hurry.”

“Talk to her? What do you mean talk to
her?” No part of my imagining this plan included talking to Rose. That was just
going to make everything harder.

The distance between us and Rose grew
wider but Hollis didn’t take his eyes off her. “You’re going to have to strike
up a conversation with her. Catch her off guard. We have to get her somewhere
secluded. I was thinking that wooded area in the park.”

Everything was getting worse by the
moment. Now I had to talk to her? How was I supposed to do that and then turn
around and kill the girl after luring her into some trees?

We stopped on a corner as Rose disappeared
into a small Victorian house. We had an hour to kill, but I had a feeling that
hour would fly by.

Hollis sat on the curb hugging his trench
coat close to him. He looked like a crazy person. “You know what? She walks
through the park to get to the smoothie shop. We should wait and catch her
there.”

Catch her
.
Like she was a rodent or something. I couldn’t do it. I was bailing out. Hollis
was just going to have to be angry. “Let’s go back to the train station. I
can’t do this. I won’t do it. I’m sorry.”

Hollis stood and brushed himself off. “You
want to go home and wait around for her to kill you first? You want to wait
around for the Wendigo to take over you? As long as she’s alive, you’ll never
be strong enough to ward it off. You need her strength.”

“I . . . uh. This just doesn’t feel right.
There has to be another way.”

Hollis put his hands on my shoulders and
stared me in the eye. “There is no other way. Arden, think real hard about
this. This girl might look innocent. She might be an Angel, but that doesn’t
mean anything. If she had the opportunity to kill you, she would do it in a
heartbeat. As a matter of fact, she might try when you get close enough to her.
If you can sense her, she can sense you.”

I wasn’t worried about that. I remembered
how I’d handled Bailey. I doubted this girl had ever killed anyone before. I
had one up on her.

“Let’s go,” Hollis ordered.

I swallowed hard and followed him
reluctantly for the two blocks it took to get to the park. I tried to ignore
the picnicking families and the children scurrying across the playground. The
park was supposed to be a happy place—lush green grass, a variety of swing
sets, colorful merry-go-rounds. It wasn’t a place for premeditated murder.

Hollis and I stood in the cluster of trees
he had mentioned before. Hidden in the shade of the tiny jungle, I felt like a
crocodile waiting for some innocent clueless animal to walk by so that I could
snatch it up in my jaws. We stood silently for a long time. The sounds of
animals moving along the ground kept me on edge. I silently hoped that Rose
would change her mind about the smoothie place and go home instead, but she
came by much quicker than I expected. She followed the trail, moving closer to
the trees, just like Hollis said she would.

“Don’t punk out now, Moss. It’s creature
eat creature.” He urged me forward and I emerged.

Pulling my phone from the pocket of my
dress, I stepped onto the sidewalk, blocking Rose’s path. “Hey. I’m sorry to
bother you, but my GPS isn’t working. Can you point me in the direction of the
bookstore?” My hands shook and I couldn’t make them stop. I waited for her to
recognize me since she’d told Fletcher she’d seen me before.

Rose started talking, giving me
directions. Her voice was surprisingly high-pitched and squeaky, kind of like a
cartoon character I couldn’t place. I heard her, but I wasn’t listening. She
showed no signs of recognizing me at all.

 Aside from us, the area was empty.
Everyone else was at the playground or the picnic area.

Rose still chattered on. Before I could
chicken out, I grabbed her by the collar of her sundress and dragged her into
the cluster of trees. She screamed, piercing my ear drums. Hollis stepped
forward, grabbing her arms and holding them behind her back so I could let go
of her.

Even terrified, she was beautiful, even
more so up close. She had the same button nose my sisters had.

Rose screamed once more. Hollis laid his
huge hand on her throat. “You do that again and I’ll snap your neck.”

She shook her head, blond waves falling
into her face. “I-I have like twelve dollars. Take it out of my bag.”

I scowled at her. Why was she acting like
she didn’t know why I was there? “I don’t want your money.”

“Then what do you want?” She looked around
for help, but no one was there but the three of us.

 “Don’t play dumb. You know you’re my
Gemini.” That alone should have told her why I was there.

Her face switched from fear to confusion.
“No, I’m not. I don’t feel anything. I mean, I feel fear right now, but that’s
because you freaks are attacking me.” She was feisty, like Mom and Paige. I
came to the realization of what I had known all along. I couldn’t do it. Gemini
Curse or not, there was no way I was going to be able to kill this girl. I was
going to be banished to the sixth tunnel.

I backed away from her as Hollis loosened
his grip on Rose’s arm and throat. “Arden, is she your Gemini? You have to be
sure. What do you feel?”

I shook my head. “I don’t feel anything. Anything
at all.” But that wasn’t entirely true. I felt a slight twinge of jealousy
because Rose really belonged to my family and I didn’t. I looked Rose in the
eyes. Was she playing with me? Was she trying to get me to lower my guard so
she could attack me? That would have been a smart move. “Why’d you tell
Fletcher that I was your Gemini then?”

At the mention of Fletcher’s name, Hollis
let her go and she rubbed her arms. I felt bad about the red marks that had
formed. “Fletcher? I never told Fletcher that. Why would I? I’ve never seen you
before in my life.” She wasn’t afraid anymore.

I didn’t understand. Why would Fletcher
lie to me about something so important? I’d almost killed an innocent girl for
no reason. I was going to kill him instead.

“How do you know Fletcher?” she asked,
giving me the side-eye.

“How do
you
know Fletcher?” I asked
back.

She sighed, looking from me to Hollis. “We
were kind of dating for a while, or at least I thought we were then he dropped
off the face of the planet. He stopped visiting and he won’t return my calls or
texts or anything.”

When I’d first discovered his association
with Rose, Fletcher had reassured me that it was just for pretend. That he was
only talking to her because she was my Gemini and he was keeping an eye on her
to protect me, so he’d know if and when she was planning to strike. From what
Rose was saying, that was true except for the fact that she wasn’t my Gemini.
Why was Fletcher pretending to like her then?

Rose folded her arms across her chest.
“How do you know him?”

“He—he’s my best friend.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Is that why
you’re here? Because of Fletcher?”

I nodded. “He told me you were my Gemini
but you’re obviously not.” Maybe she was but I just wasn’t feeling it for some
reason.

Rose narrowed her sea-blue eyes at me.
“You look familiar. You look like . . . her.”

I swallowed hard. “Her who?”

Rose backed away from us. “It doesn’t
matter. It’s silly. We should act like this whole thing never happened. I have
to get going now.”

“Wait,” I said. There were so many things
I needed to ask and say to her. I wanted to tell her who I really was. I needed
to ask her about my parents—my real parents. What happened to them? What were
they like? I was dying to know. Did she even know they weren’t her birth
parents?

She turned to me, waiting expectantly but
I couldn’t say all the things that had been running through my mind. “Um, sorry
about all this,” I muttered.

“It’s okay. This isn’t an easy life we
lead. Tell Fletcher I said hi,” she added bitterly. She disappeared through the
trees.

Hollis breathed deeply behind me. “Well,
that was a gigantic waste of time.”

“It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have been
able to do it anyway.”

I wasn’t so sure it had been a complete
waste. For some reason I had needed to see Rose up close and for real. “I’m
sorry, it’s just that Fletcher—”

“I’ve told you something was wrong with
that kid. He’s a Giver. He was trying to throw you off. He wanted you to think
that girl was your Gemini so you wouldn’t look for your real one. So they would
find you first. He set you up. Only an idiot would trust a Giver.”

Hollis stalked through the trees shoving
branches out of his way. I followed him, stung by his words. Was he right? Was
I an idiot? Had Fletcher been playing me all along? If Rose wasn’t my Gemini,
who was?

Sunday had been wonderful. I stood on my
parent’s scale and learned that I’d gained five pounds since I’d weighed myself
seven days before. Imani and I spent the day movie-hopping. Most of the movies
I hadn’t wanted to see, but it was still worth it to spend time with Imani. If
she was hanging out with me, she wouldn’t be hanging out with Lacey and her
bees. As an additional bonus, I’d actually gotten full from the salty popcorn.

Monday afternoon I looked all over school
for Imani so that we could walk home together. Fletcher was out sick again and
lucky for him, he hadn’t taken my phone calls all weekend. No one answered the
door when I’d gone to his house. I was going to ream him a new one over the
Rose situation. I had almost killed a girl on account of him.

At dismissal when Imani wasn’t by the
trophy case where we normally met, I was worried that Lacey had offered her a
ride home. I sent her a text:

Me: Whr r u?

Imani:  had 2 turn in some paper wrk
4 my shots. Will b a few. Don’t wait up.

Me. I will. Don’t mind

Imani: K. Thx!

I took a seat in the office’s waiting area
so I wouldn’t miss her. As usual, the office reeked of old coffee and the
tangerine-scented air freshener the janitors used all over the school. The
place was eerily quiet and I didn’t understand why. Usually the office staff
stayed an hour after dismissal. One of the clerks walked briskly toward the
door with her purse slung over her shoulder.

“Excuse me, where’s everyone?” I asked.

She paused to pull her keys out.
“Principal Sharpe let us go early.”

“Why?”

The woman shrugged. “Just because. He said
we’ve been working hard. We weren’t about to question it.” The clerk rushed
through the doors like she wanted to get out before Principal Sharpe changed
his mind.

If everyone had gone, who was Imani
turning in her paperwork to?

I texted her again:

Me: Whr r u

Imani: outside sharpes office shhhh

She had included the magnifying glass
emoji. Why was she snooping outside of Sharpe’s office?

Sighing, I grabbed my backpack and tiptoed
to the back of the building where the principal and vice principal’s offices
were located. Outside of Principal Sharp’s office, Imani leaned against the
wall by the door way. She put her finger to her lips when she saw me.

I crept toward her and stopped at the
other side of the door, listening.

“She’s still unaccounted for,” Principal
Sharpe was saying.

“I don’t see how that’s my problem or why
you’re concerned about it.” That deep, brusque voice belonged to Mr. Mason.
What was he doing in the school talking to Principal Sharpe?

“You know very well it’s all of our
concern. This Gemini Curse is back in effect because they feel threatened. Now
one of their own is missing—an important one at that. Of course they’re going
to blame us and more retaliation will follow.”

I looked at Imani. She mouthed the word
Melcher. Why were they talking about Mrs. Melcher? What did Principal Sharpe mean
by one of their own? Imani shouldn’t have been hearing any of it. How was I
going to explain it to her? I couldn’t.

Principal Sharpe was a Taker, like me. A
Satyr to be exact. If he knew something about Ms. Melcher that I didn’t . . . I
was with Imani—I had to know.

Sharpe cleared his throat. “If you have
her, you best say so and then we can rectify this.”

Why would Mr. Mason have Ms. Melcher? What
would he be doing with her?

“I haven’t a clue where she is or why you insist
I do. There was something else I wanted to discuss with you, but you don’t seem
in the mood to listen.”

My heart leapt. Their conversation was
about to be over. Mr. Mason was going to storm out of the office and catch the
two of us eavesdropping. I caught Imani’s eye and pointed down the hallway. She
nodded and pointed in the opposite direction. She couldn’t possibly cross the
doorway but there was another exit she could use. The two of us parted ways and
met up again on the front steps of the school.

On the walk home Imani’s mouth ran a mile
a minute. I did my best to nod, shake my head, and pretend that I had no idea
what was going on.

“Can you believe it?” she asked. “They
know something about Ms. Melcher’s disappearance that they’re trying to keep
secret. Who was that man Principal Sharpe was talking to? He’s kind of creepy.
Whatever they’re hiding, I bet they haven’t even told the police. I have to
know what it is.”

I wanted to know too, but whatever it was,
Imani couldn’t find out and she definitely couldn’t mention it to her father. I
quickly changed the topic to the upcoming school carnival which was a huge deal
at Everson High.

“What are you wearing to the carnival?” I
asked.

She started describing the new jeans she
had bought at the mall, and Ms. Melcher was forgotten for the time being. Thank
God for short attention spans.