Eerie (11 page)

“I saw that acronym recently,” she said, studying his reaction.

“Where at?” he asked through a mouthful of sourdough.

“It was on one of the police files . . .one of Holly's files.”

“That's weird,” he said after he swallowed, looking away with a curt chuckle.

“Do you know what it stands for?”

“No. You really saw that on Holly's file?” he asked, pulling his chin back, and then he shook his head. “I'll ask my dad. He's been working for them forever. I think that's why I got the scholarship. Where are you going to school?” he asked.

For a moment, she wondered if he was changing the subject to throw her off, but he seemed genuinely interested.

“Alaska,” she said. “It's a small school, called Bear Towne.”

“Ah,” he said. “I heard you might be going there.”

“How?”

Hailey hadn't told anybody aside from her uncles, and she doubted any of them were spreading the word around the high school.

Tage shifted in his seat.

Hailey watched him suspiciously.

“Honestly, Hailey, I don't remember where I heard that.”

“But you've heard of Bear Towne?”

“Yeah, it was one of the schools I could've gone to with my scholarship. It's a great school, but they don't have a football team, so . . .” He shrugged and dug into his mashed potatoes, and they finished eating in silence.

Following dinner, the mood changed dramatically. Tage walked the perimeter of the deck with her, staring over the railing and chatting about all things from football to Irish dance to school and the structural integrity of the bridges over the Monongahela until the boat docked and surprised them both.

By the time Hailey got into Tage's mother's car, she'd forgotten the uncomfortable start to the night and had almost slightly enjoyed herself on her first date.

She stole a glance at him. He really was handsome. And smart. And kinda fun. If dating him didn't come with the added joy of incessant attention from the gossipmongers, she might like to go to prom with him.

But Tage was no Fin. He was driving slower than Uncle Pix.

At least the conversation was quick.

“By the way,” Tage told her, “I think your hair looks great like that. You look like one of those California girls.”

“Which one?”

“The one every guy dreams of,” he said, throwing her a wink and a cocky smile.

She scoffed loudly. “Sure, the dream girl that no guy ever looks at or asks out or kisses?”
Oops.

“Never been kissed?” Tage said with surprise in his voice, and Hailey sank into her seat, going three shades of crimson.

“I don't know why I said that,” she mumbled. “You should watch the road.”

“Maybe you want me to kiss you.”

This was unbearable. Hailey couldn't stop herself from babbling and gesticulating wildly as she spoke.

“No, that's not it at all, Tage, I just . . .I don't . . .well, I certainly don't want to hear all about it in history class tomorrow, and even if the galloping gossipers didn't find out about it directly, they'd sense that something juicy was afoot with their hag antennas—not that you were going to kiss me in the first place, or that I was daydreaming about it on the boat, because I only thought about it for a second when you told me how much you enjoyed seeing Holly and me dancing . . .” Hailey slapped both hands over her face to make it stop, and Tage stifled a laugh.

Watching him through her fingers, she wished he'd drive faster. They were only half-way home.

“I really did like watching you guys dance,” he said, checking his side view mirror. “It's amazing. The sound is incredible.”

“Thanks,” said Hailey, smiling slightly as they pulled up to the curb.

He stared at her for more than a few seconds, and Hailey scooted toward her door.

“Well,” she said, grasping the handle, “I sure hope you can run faster than you drive, quarterback,” she told him, laughing as she opened her door.

Tage sprinted from the driver's side in time to catch it before it opened all the way. He offered his hand and helped her out.

“How's that for fast?” he asked, keeping her hand as he walked her to the door.

“You may just survive college football,” she said when they reached the landing.

“I was driving intentionally slow, you know.” He leaned into her, pulling her hand so it touched his waist.

Her heart pounding, Hailey held her breath as he brought his lips close to hers, but right before he kissed her, he stopped. Frozen in an unnatural lean, Tage stared dreamily into Hailey's eyes, his lips partially puckered, as if he were stuck in some sort of trance.

Hailey shrunk away from him.

“Tage!” she barked.

He blinked several times, dropped her hand, and straightened up into a great stretch.

“Well,” he said yawning as he turned away from her, “I'll see ya tomorrow, Hailey.”

With that, he shuffled down the walkway and left.

Once again Hailey stood slack-jawed as she watched his departure, trying to figure out what just happened.

And to think—she left her rose on his dashboard almost completely unintentionally.

Chapter Fourteen

Stolen

“Soul meets soul on lovers' lips.”

- Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound

Shoulders hunched, Hailey unlocked what she thought was an empty house. All was quiet, and according to the note Uncle Pix left in the kitchen, he and his brothers would be at the pub all night, and she shouldn't wait up.

She folded the note away and trudged into her bedroom, heavy-hearted and wishing her big sister were there to talk to her. Slumping onto Holly's bed, Hailey stuck her face in the pillow and breathed, wondering how long Holly's smell would stick around, before it, too, disappeared.

As she breathed it in again, a shrill crash rang out—breaking glass—and Hailey shot upright, catching her breath, staring rigidly at her closed bedroom door.

An image of Mrs. Lash holding a hatchet zipped through her head. Her eyes bounced around the room in search of a suitable weapon. Holly's hairbrush on the dresser, pillow, shoe, stuffed dog—
how come everything in her room was fluffy?
Hailey grabbed the only sharp object she could find (a pencil) and crawled out her window, closing it behind her and crouching low in the shadows as she listened. Heaviness and hush flowed across the lawn and into the darkness where Hailey hid.

The neighbor's dog, which should have sounded the alarm at the crash of breaking glass, looked down at Hailey in silent curiosity from the second-floor window next door.

It cocked its head at her.

If he's not barking, it's probably safe
, she thought as she crept toward the front of the house and peeked around the corner.

Wielding the pencil with two hands, like a sword, she searched the darkness. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Hailey took off toward the pub and didn't look back until she reached the door.

Frog snapped to attention as soon as she burst inside.

Panting, Hailey leaned against the jamb.

He eyeballed her briefly. Then he moved her out of the way, puffed his chest out, opened the door, and surveyed the streets.

“Somebody bothering you, Hailey?” he asked in his breathy voice.

“I don't know.” She swallowed as she caught her breath. “I thought I heard glass breaking, so I dove out my bedroom window and ran here.”

Frog continued looking outside as he stood in the doorway.

“Your uncles are out,” he said.

“What? Where?”

“They didn't say,” he told her, coming back inside the pub. “I can't see anybody out there right now, but you should probably stay here till Pix gets back.”

Hailey nodded and waited at a booth next to Frog for over two hours before her uncle Pix limped through the door.

“What happened to you?” she demanded as he hobbled across the floor, and he spun around.

“What are ya doing up so late?”

“I got scared,” she sighed. “I thought I heard some glass breaking, and I bailed out of the house through my window and came here, but now I'm not sure what I heard, and I'm afraid to go home.”

“We'll walk you home.” He threw a nod to his brothers, who had followed him into the pub and turned right back around to escort Hailey to the townhouse.

Intact with no sign of broken glass or anything else out of the ordinary, the house sat, looking rather innocuous and tired on the corner, exactly as a house should. The gang filed inside, and Hailey's uncles performed a sweep of each room, finding nothing more nefarious than a missing bathroom mirror.

“Get some sleep, dear,” said Pix. He kissed her cheek then shuffled off to bed.

As she fell asleep that night, she felt strangely at ease and could've sworn, just before she drifted off, she saw a tiny spark in the darkness . . .

“Asher?”

A dark figure emerged from the corner.

Hailey sat up in bed and blinked several times, trying to discern whether she actually saw something there.

“I don't want to frighten you,” said a soft voice from the shadows, but still Hailey couldn't see much.

“Too late,” she breathed. “Step into the light,” she told him, and she swallowed hard.

A shadow floated toward the window, where illumination from the half-moon oozed in and revealed a familiar silhouette.

“Am I dreaming?”

“Not quite,” he said in his soothing voice. “You were just dozing.”

“I can hardly see you.” She swung her legs to the floor, and he extended his hand to her.

“You're only half awake, Hailey, your eyes are barely open.”

“What are you doing here?” She took his hand, solidly in her own and smiled up at him. This was the first time she'd actually touched his skin. It felt so soft.

“I wanted to see you, and . . .” He hesitated as Hailey ran her fingers across the top of his hand. Lifting his free hand to her cheek, he stroked it gently as he leaned closer. Ever so lightly, he brushed his lips against hers.

A cascade of darkness and warmth enveloped her mouth and tumbled through her body.

“Hailey,” he said against her lips, “will you be mine?”

She smiled as he gently kissed her again.

“I always have been, haven't I?” she answered against his lips, her eyes fighting to stay open. But she was exhausted, and a full sleep snatched her away from Asher's solid arms, which caught her body as her soul fell into the dreamland of the Aether.

When Hailey woke, snuggled and warm in her bed, her heart swelled. She brushed her fingers across her lips.

Asher had kissed her! And she remembered it! A giant, silly grin spread across her face, and she let it go from ear to ear.

Until she saw the clock.

Crap!
She scrambled out of bed and threw on her clothes. Zinging out the door, she rounded the corner just as the bus pulled up to her stop.

Tage hopped on board without looking back, and Hailey was out of breath when she fell into the first seat. Hailey rested her head against the window, ticking off another calendar day of school in her head. She only had twenty-three more to endure, and ever since Tage decided that she existed, those days were becoming more and more unbearable.

This day was no exception.

Positively bursting at the seams, Mina could hardly wait for Hailey to come within earshot so she could spew the latest news to her fellow cheerleaders. When Hailey sat down at her desk in History, Mina gave the signal, and no fewer than four girls galloped over to her to receive their daily gossip.

“You guys,” she said, her fingers spread out in front of her, “Tage would
not
stop texting me last night. He was on a horrible date with you-know-who . . .” Mina shot a sharp glance at Hailey. “ . . .which his dad totally made him do, and so he spent the entire evening on his phone with me,” she said, very pleased with herself, and her friends giggled.

In a few years, these hags would fit right in with Fin's skanky fans, Hailey thought, though she didn't know if she or the pub or even the city of Pittsburgh would ever see Fin again.

Where the heck is he?

As she wondered, she frowned.

Mina seized upon it immediately, no doubt convinced her gossip forced Hailey's sad face. “Hailey,” she jeered. “How was your date with Tage last night?”

Hailey sighed, wishing she could go back to being the invisible girl. “Not bad.”

“Did you guys talk about your dead sister?” Mina hissed behind her.

Hailey thought about throwing a punch, but decided Mina already felt threatened enough and simply shook her head instead. At the end of class, when Hailey stood to leave, Mina, who was a good four inches taller than her, stood in her way with her hands on her hips.

“He doesn't even like you,” Mina spat. “Why don't you just tell him you're not going to prom and get it over with?”

Hailey looked up at her, waiting patiently for Mina's nostrils to stop flaring before she spoke.

“I already did, Mina.” She said it loud enough for her hag friends, who waited in the hallway, to hear, leaving them to fabricate a new reason why Tage hadn't yet asked Mina to prom.

Mina's jaw fell open, and Hailey brushed past her, out the door, and onto the bus. Five minutes later, Tage stepped on board and walked past Hailey as if he didn't see her, which felt strangely comforting, like the way things used to be—normal.

But as soon as he stepped off the bus behind Hailey, he found her suddenly and inexplicably visible again and threw his arm around her shoulder.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked.

Hailey stopped walking.

“Why do you only talk to me when your friends aren't around?”

Tage's eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Hailey said walking again and at a brisk pace, “you've ignored me for three and a half years—which is how I like it—but then you asked me out, and you must have told somebody, because I'm sure not spreading rumors, and now the whole school is flabbergasted, because you haven't asked Mina to prom yet, and she's having a conniption and blames me, of course, and then I have to sit through History and pretend I can't hear her telling all her friends—which is everybody, though I don't understand why—that you spent the whole night texting her because you can't stand me.”

She drew a deep breath and heaved a great sigh.
Wow that felt good.

“I wasn't . . .that . . .I can't stand Mina. And I was texting my recruiter, Hailey, I don't know what Mina's trying to pull, but . . . She's a manipulative bitch,” he said, mostly under his breath, and Hailey laughed.

“I don't know why that's funny,” she told him.

“Because it's true?” he said as they reached the intersection. “When can I come see you dance again?”

Hailey shook her head. “I've never danced without Holly,” she said, her lip quivering. “It hurts to even think about it.”

“Oh, man, I upset you again.” He rubbed Hailey's arms. “I'm so sorry,” he whispered. “I really do like you.”

“It's okay,” Hailey said sniffing loudly. “You didn't know.”

He gave her a quick hug, and then he waved as he strolled away.

That was the last day Tage took the bus. Hailey heard his dad had given him a car that night. Since he no longer saw Hailey during the privacy of their walk home, he made a complete recovery from his social amnesia. He remembered Hailey didn't exist and never spoke to her again.

It was strange behavior, for sure. But considering the events of the past few months . . .Holly's murder, Fin's disappearance and—oh, yeah—the revelation that Envoys were indeed real, Tage's sudden personality shift seemed in order.

Whatever his malfunction, he finally asked the girl he couldn't stand to prom, which greatly improved Hailey's standing among the hags. She no longer had to endure their passive-aggressive, behind-her-back hissing and sputtering during History, and the rest of her senior year flew by.