Envy (Fury) (10 page)

Gabby answered the door giggling, clad in black yoga pants
and an oversized eighties sweatshirt that hung off one shoulder. She seemed both surprised and happy to see Em.

“Embear!” She threw her arms up for a hug. “Perfect night for a drop-by! I’m so glad you’re here.” And as Em leaned over to unlace her boots, Gabby whispered, “I’m sorry about before. I know I was a little harsh.”

Gabby dragged Em by the hand into the living room, where a short, blond, eager-looking girl—the one who’d gotten doused in spaghetti sauce the other day—was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She was wearing running pants and a long-sleeved shirt that read
ALABAMA BEAUTIES
in small print above the breast.

“Meet my new cochair!” Gabby crowed. “Em, this is Skylar. She’s new to Ascension—just started school on Monday. Sky, this is Em. The
best
of the best!”

Em wasn’t really in the mood to hang out with someone she didn’t know, but she was supposed to be making up with Gabby, and really, she should be thankful that this girl was taking over the dance committee. One less thing for Em to worry about. So she plopped down on the floor, where Skylar sat with an array of nail polishes in front of her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said with as much warmth as she could muster. Skylar’s hair, she noticed, was in rollers, just like the ones Gabby used. Uh-oh—someone had a girl crush. Not surprising, really. Gabby had always had followers.

“Babe,” Gabby said, reaching over as she scooched across
the couch. “Aren’t you cold? Where is your coat? It’s March!” She rubbed Em’s arm, which was bare. As though she’d gotten dressed in a dream, Em looked down and saw for the first time that she was wearing just a T-shirt. No sweater, no jacket. Is this what she’d been wearing at home? Had her mom seen her leave the house that way?

“Oh . . . I must have left it in the car,” Em said with a note of confusion in her voice. “I’ve been kind of absentminded recently,” she added, as much to herself as to Gabby and Skylar.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Gabby said. But her tone wasn’t mean this time. There was a combination of amusement and concern in it. “Want something to drink? An Irish coffee with some egg rolls? That’ll warm you up.” With that, she was bounding into the kitchen with the bag of Chinese food, leaving Em with this new girl, who had barely said a word.

“So . . .” Em leaned back onto her hands, stretching her toes out in front of her. “Pedicures?”

“Yeah,” Skylar chirped. Her voice sounded strained. “I’m going to do this one,” Skylar said, holding up a fuchsia color.

A classic Gabby color, Em noted. “Nice,” she said, trying to seem enthusiastic. She picked up a bottle of dark red that appealed to her. It was so dark it was almost black. Em hadn’t spent more than ten minutes on her personal appearance in the last month—and it showed. It couldn’t hurt to at least pretend that she was a sixteen-year-old girl (who would be seventeen in just a few months).

Gabby came back into the room with a tray of Irish coffees.

“Here we go,” she said, distributing them to Em and Skylar. “Chinese food is waiting in the kitchen for when we’re done. I hope these pedis last until my pajama party.”

The first sip of coffee burnt her throat, but Em didn’t care. She gulped it down. It was weird, she really didn’t feel that cold on the outside—she never would have noticed how underdressed she was if Gabby hadn’t said anything. But there was this undeniable pit of coldness
inside
her. She didn’t know if it was anxiety or sickness or those little seeds the Furies had told her to swallow, but she couldn’t shake the strange feeling.

“So, soak, then scrub, then lotion?” she asked as the girls assembled their home-pedicure station.

“Precisely,” Gabby said. Em began to relax. Gabby’s favorite pop music Pandora station played in the background, the room smelled like flowery lotion, and warm whiskey was spreading in her belly. She felt almost normal.

“So, Skylar . . . I’m always curious how our guys hold up against non-Mainers,” Gabby said with a giggle. “Who’s hotter? Alabama boys or Maine guys? Who do you think is the hottest guy at Ascension so far?”

Em watched Skylar’s face blanch and flush before transforming into an embarrassed smile. “Oh, I don’t know,” Skylar said, focusing intently on her big toe all of a sudden.

“There must be someone,” Gabby pushed. “You can totally
tell us. I’m very good at keeping secrets, and Em is in outer space and will probably forget what you say in a few minutes anyway.” She shot Em a grin.

Skylar looked back and forth between Em and Gabby, as though sizing up their trustworthiness. Then she spilled, all in one breath: “IguessIthinkPierceiskindofcute.”

“Pierce Travers?” Gabby squealed. “Really? Okay, well, first of all, duh. He’s definitely hot for a sophomore. And secondly, we could
totally
make that happen. Don’t you think, Em?”

Em stalled, wiping her ankle with a washcloth. It was obvious to her that Pierce had a crush on
Gabby
.

“It’s definitely a possibility,” Em said slowly. “I don’t really know him, but he seems like a sweet guy. You know him pretty well, right, Gabs?”

Gabby ignored Em’s question. “Oh my god, cuteness! Well, okay, we’ll get to work.” She sounded like she was planning a tactical maneuver. Which, Em guessed, she was. “He’s totally invited to my pj party, by the way. But none of the boys are allowed to sleep over.”

“I can’t believe he’s a sophomore and he’s set to be starting quarterback,” Skylar said, suddenly seeming to loosen up a bit. She smeared lotion on her feet and ankles. “I heard a terrible story about the guy he replaced.”

No, don’t go there,
Em thought, but before she could say it, Skylar was plowing on.

“That he killed himself? Is that true?”

Silence.

Gabby cleared her throat. Em ground a sandy scrub into the arch of her foot.

“Did you guys . . . were you guys, like—oh. I’m sorry,” Skylar said, her brows coming together. “I should have known.” She sounded genuinely apologetic.

“Well, he’s replacing a guy named Zach, who left Ascension,” Gabby said softly. “But you’re talking about Chase, who’s . . . really gone. And yes, we knew him. It’s been difficult.”

Difficult.
Em chewed on the word. It was difficult to replay the night of Chase’s death, wondering if she could have saved him from Ty’s manipulations. It was difficult to hate him for how he’d tortured Sasha while his face continued to appear to Em in her nightmares. It was difficult that she wondered if Chase’s actions had provoked the Furies’ appearance in Ascension. If not his, whose?

“There were actually two deaths, very close together,” Gabby continued gently, as Skylar stared at her openmouthed. “Another suicide that happened just a couple of weeks before . . . before Chase died. A girl named Sasha.”

“Oh my god,” Skylar whispered. “That sounds terrible.”

“It was,” Gabby said. “It is. Ascension is . . . Ascension is still healing.” To Em that sounded simultaneously melodramatic and true.

“Sasha . . . her last name wasn’t Bowlder, was it?” Skylar asked tentatively.

Em curled her knees into her chest.

“Yeah, that was her,” Gabby responded.

“I saw one of her drawings in last year’s yearbook,” Skylar said. “I was looking at it . . . to get ideas for the dance. Anyway, the drawing was, well, interesting.”

“I had forgotten about those drawings,” Em said, nodding in recollection. “Wow. Remember them, Gabs?”

Gabby sighed. “Yes. They were a little bizarre. And they certainly didn’t help her case.”

Skylar looked at them quizzically.

“Sasha didn’t exactly have the best reputation,” Gabby explained. “She was a bit—what’s the word?—eccentric. Right, Em? People made fun of her. Like, they said she was into witch stuff, spells . . .”

Em interjected with a derisive snort. “Among other things. Anyway, those were just rumors.”

“I
know
, Emmy, I’m just catching Skylar up,” Gabby said. “I once heard that she stole a frog from the bio lab just to sacrifice it in the woods!”

Skylar made a face. “Maybe she thought it would turn into a prince,” she said.

“And there was another one about some special bag of herbs that she carried everywhere—”

“Can we go back to talking about parties?” Em interrupted again, and this time she made her meaning clear.

There were a few moments of silence, and then Gabby coughed again. When she spoke, it was quick and overly bright. “Parties, yes. Please,” she said, shooting Em an apologetic look. “So, in addition to the pajama party—which is so soon, btw!—and the Spring Fling, I think we should have a special party for you, Skylar. Or rather,
you
should throw your own party.”

Skylar looked doubtful, and Em raised her eyebrows. Gabby was really going all out on her little project.

“It could be like your coming-out party!” Gabby said, gaining steam as she always did when she was envisioning a social event. “Like a debutante ball, but Maine-style. I’ll be pretty busy with dance committee stuff, but you could plan it, and I could help!”

Em watched Skylar’s face break out into the most genuine smile she’d seen all night. It was clear that she worshipped Gabby, that her gratitude was miles deep. And whose wouldn’t be? Ascension was a tough pool to dive into, full of social sharks swimming in established hierarchies. Gabby was giving Skylar an in.

Ping. Ping. Ping.

The freezing rain that Gabby’s mom had predicted earlier this week began tapping against the window like tiny fingers rapping on the glass. The sound of the sleet lulled Em into a
kind of trance until she heard Skylar’s voice, as though from far away, saying, “What if we had it outside? Do people do that here? I mean, I know it’s still cold, but we could have a bonfire . . . ?”

Now Gabby was the skeptical one. “A party outside? In March? March in Maine is still winter.”

“You’re right, it was a stupid idea.” Em watched Skylar’s face fall, and she couldn’t stand it. She had to rescue her.

“Think about it, Gabs,” Em said. “It could work. A big bonfire and a few of those heat lamps that your dad bought for his ice-bar party a few years ago? People would remember it, that’s for sure.”

Skylar smiled at her gratefully, and Gabby nodded slowly.

“It could work,” she said. “We could tell people to bring thermoses, and flasks, and those little heat-pocket things that you put in your gloves.” She was getting more and more excited. “It’ll be like maple-sugaring parties! Except no adults! And no horse-drawn carriages!” She looked off into the distance, still scheming. And then a smile grew wide across her face. “We could have it at the Haunted Woods,” she said. “Do you know about them? Out by the new mall?”

Every nerve on Em’s body went on alert when she heard Gabby mention the mall. She hated even thinking about that place. For the thousandth time she found herself thinking about those red seeds, how gritty they’d tasted, how Ty had watched her swallow them. She began to tune out again, refocusing her attention on the sleet and the wind.

“There have been some pretty great parties out there,” Gabby continued. “They call it the Haunted Woods, but it’s really only haunted by awesomeness. Wouldn’t you say, Em? Remember that one time—”

Skylar cut in. “My aunt said they really are haunted. By three women . . . three witches who burned in the woods, like, a thousand years ago. They’re the ones doing the haunting. That’s what my aunt says.”

Em’s attention suddenly became very focused. “What? What three women?” Her voice was thick, and she had to clear her throat.

“Earth to Em,” Gabby said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. “You zone out, it’s not our job to catch you up.”

“I was just saying,” Skylar explained after swallowing a mouthful of whipped cream, “that my aunt Nora—that’s who I’m staying with—told me a crazy story about the Haunted Woods. I’m not sure I want to throw a party there.”

“Don’t be silly,” Gabby interjected. “It’ll be legendary! We’ll invite literally everyone.”

“What’s the story?” Em asked again, laser-focused on Skylar.

“Oh, I don’t really know much about it,” Skylar answered nervously. “My aunt is just all into the supernatural, and she told me that there were three witches in those woods who were burned there a really long time ago. And supposedly they’re the ones haunting the place.” She rolled her eyes. “Crazy, huh?”

Em felt her heart rising into her throat. “I’ve, ah, I’ve never heard that one,” she said. “Do you remember any more of it?”

“No, that’s really all I can remember.” Skylar laughed. “But hopefully they don’t show up to my party!”

Three women in the woods—three wronged women haunting the woods? It hit too close to home, and Em started feeling itchy. She checked her watch and glanced again at the hail hitting the window. “I have to be home by ten, and I’m a little worried about the roads,” she said, clicking the cap back onto the moisturizer she’d been using. “Thanks for letting me crash girls’ night,” she added as she got up to put on her socks and stretch her legs. “Gabs, save the Chinese for a study date tomorrow?”

“It was so nice to meet you,” Skylar said with a little wave.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Gabby said, running ahead of Em into the hall and pulling a Burberry coat from the front closet. “You are not leaving the house without a coat, young lady. I don’t care how absentminded-professor you are these days.” She thrust the tan coat at Em. “
And
I am going walk you to the car under the trusty protection of my dad’s enormous golf umbrella,” she said, brandishing the umbrella as she spoke. “I do not want you getting sick. Plus your hair looks fantastic right now, and you might be able to maintain it overnight if you don’t get it wet. So. Let’s go.”

God. Gabby was like drill sergeant of kindness. It was worthless to even bother protesting. Em threw a hand to her forehead and mock-saluted. “If you say so, captain.”

As they shoved their feet into their boots, Gabby twisted around to ask Skylar, “Want to come? There’s room for all of us under that thing. It’s like a tent.”