Magic or Madness (24 page)

“Amazing, isn’t it?” a guy asked, sitting down beside me, yelling into my ear.

I nodded, turned to look at him. He was gorgeous. The best-looking guy I’d ever seen. Huge brown eyes. Tight curly hair cut close to his scalp. Skin a slightly darker shade than Jay-Tee’s and gleaming with sweat. He’d been out there dancing too. I wondered for a moment if he was magic. Was this a love spell? After one look I wanted him and I’d never
wanted
anyone before. It had to be some kind of magic.

He smiled, wide and beautiful. It reached his eyes and revealed his even white teeth. All except an upper front one, which was crooked. Instantly I decided it was my favourite. I hoped that he would lean close to me again.

“You like dancing?” he asked, his mouth close to my ear. The intimacy made my skin grow hotter than it already was.

I nodded again. My cheek muscles were hurting. I tried to tone down my smile, but when I looked at him, it sprang back into action. I could think of nothing to say.

“But you got to rest too, right?”

I nodded. He would be wondering if I was mute fairly soon.

“No use blowing a gasket out there.”

This time I shook my head. Such variety.

“Do you come here a lot?” he asked, then grimaced. “That was a dumb-ass thing to say. I’m not trying to pick you up. I saw you dancing out there with Julieta.”

“Julieta?” I asked.

“Jay-Tee. My sister. I’m Danny.”

I stared at him, and suddenly I could see it. He was much taller, his face more angular, his eyes bigger, with longer eyelashes (I just bet
that
killed Jay-Tee), but he really was her brother. Same mouth, same shape of the eyes, some of the same expressions. I should’ve seen it straightaway. Just like Jay-Tee.

I froze. He really could be magic, then, like her.

He held out his hand, but I hesitated. What if he wanted my magic? His smile was open, nothing like Jason Blake’s. I risked it, saying
no
over and over in my head as we shook hands.

“She didn’t tell me she had a brother.” He didn’t hear me. I leaned closer and said, “She didn’t mention having a brother.” She’d told me she didn’t have any brothers or sisters. Another lie.

“I’m not surprised. She ran away.”

“Do you know why she ran away?” There, another whole sentence from me.

He nodded. “I think so. It had to do with Dad. What did she tell you?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it.

“That’s okay,” he said. “I’m not asking you to betray her or anything. Just tell her I want to see her, talk to her.” He looked down at where Jay-Tee was still lost in her dancing. “She’s always loved it. Dancing. This is exactly her kind of place. BPMs in the stratosphere and way too many people.”

I wondered what BPMs were.

“Ever since she was little,” Danny continued, “she’s loved crowds. I figured eventually I’d find her in a place like this.” He turned back to me. I thought I’d dissolve under his gaze. “If I give you my number, will you give it to her?”

“Sure,” I said without thinking. Then I remembered about magic and numbers. Would passing it to Jay-Tee do something to her? Hurt her? Or lead Danny to her?

“Do you have a pen?”

I shook my head.

“Will you wait here? I can get one from the bar. Friend of mine works there.”

“That’s okay,” I told him. His eyes were back on the dance floor, following Jay-Tee. “Just tell me. I’ll remember.”

His eyes narrowed a little, but still gorgeous. Was I losing my judgment because he was so pretty?
Had
he magicked me? My stomach felt like there were butterflies inside. “You sure you can remember it?”

“I’m good at numbers.”

“Ten digits good?”

I nodded, and he told me.

“Got that?”

“Huh! If you leave off the 917, that’s Fib (33).” But was that a good or a bad thing? Fibonacci maths had always seemed magical to me; now I was sure it really was.

Was Danny trying to work a spell over his sister? At least I could talk to Jay-Tee, find out what she thought, before I told her what the number was. Would a spoken number be more or less powerful than a number on a piece of paper? Would it affect me just by memorising it? I didn’t feel any different, any
more
different.

“Huh?” Danny said. “Fib (33)?”

“It’s the thirty-third number in the Fibonacci series.” I repeated the number in his ear to make sure I’d heard it right.

He nodded. “You’ve got a great memory, girl. What’s your name?”

“Reason.”

“Lisa?”

I put my mouth closer to his ear, tingling all over. “Reason,” I said slowly.

“Your name is Reason? As in ‘reasonable’?”

I nodded. “That’s the one.”

“Strange name for such a pretty girl.” But he wasn’t looking at me; his eyes were on the dance floor, on his sister.

“Everyone says that.”

“That you’re pretty?” He glanced at me and grinned. “I bet they do. Don’t let it go to your head.”

I blushed as completely as if I were Tom. “I meant that they say my name is strange.” Then I felt like even more of a spaz. He knew that; he was just teasing.

“Is she all right?” he asked. “Julieta? She got somewhere okay to live? She’s eating enough?”

I nodded, wanting to tell him about Jason Blake but not wanting to dob Jay-Tee in. She’d lied to me—a lot—but she still felt like a friend. I didn’t have many of those. Just her and Tom.

“Will you tell her I’m looking for her? That I’m worried. That things aren’t like how they were before? That she’ll be safe at home now?”

I nodded again. He reached out and squeezed my hand just like Jay-Tee had, but too briefly. He looked out over the crowd at her. She was dancing her way slowly out through the swirls and whorls. No elbows in the face or trampled toes for her.

Danny stood up, leaned into my ear. “I’m going to talk to her, but if she runs away again, you’ll tell her what I said? Give her my number?”

“I promise I’ll tell her.” My hand was in my pocket and I felt the ammonite, strong and warm. Every time I’d ever lost it, I’d found it again. No, not found,
known
where it was. Ammonites curled outwards in a golden spiral, more Fibonaccis. My stone was magic, I was suddenly sure.

“Wait,” I said. “Take this.” I handed it to Danny and he looked at it and then at me as if I were mad. “It’ll give you luck,” I said. It sounded lame, but I couldn’t think of anything else. He was still looking at me strangely but put it in his pocket. I could feel it there, warm and strong. I would know where he was now. If he did try to kidnap Jay-Tee or hurt her, I’d find him.

I didn’t really believe he would. Danny seemed concerned. He’d only spoken to me to get a message to Jay-Tee. Of course that could be a bad thing, too. But it hadn’t felt like that. Not like Jason Blake.

I watched him climb down to the dance floor, head towards Jay-Tee, the ammonite glowing in his pocket. Jay-Tee was heading for the bathroom, Danny not far behind her. How’d he managed to follow her so easily through the crowd? He was tall, but she was tiny and disappeared easily in the dancing throng.

Magic, most likely.
Bugger.
I stood up. But even if he was magic, that didn’t necessarily mean he was bad, did it? I was magic and so was Jay-Tee. I worked my way along the railing, pushing past people as politely as I could, keeping my eyes on the two of them below still moving through the crowd. Then they went under the balcony and I lost them, but not my ammonite. I could feel it, in Danny’s pocket, there outside the women’s dunny.

I reached the ladder, stood there, not knowing whether I should go down or watch out for them from up here. Then I saw Jay-Tee waving to me from the entrance. How did she get there? Crowd magic, I guessed.

Danny was still waiting outside the dunny. I clambered down, made my way to her by skirting the edges of the dance floor as fast as I could, being trodden on and whacked with elbows. I did not have Jay-Tee’s kind of magic.

She grabbed my arm, her fingernails digging in, hissed that we had to go, and dragged me through the door. We retrieved our gear from the coat-check girl, piling into it as fast as we could. My fingers stumbled on the buttons. Jay-Tee pushed my hands aside and did them for me. Danny and my stone were still inside, waiting for Jay-Tee to reappear.

Then we were out onto the street, blinking in daylight. My eyes stung with the shock of it. Morning. How long had we been dancing? It was still freezing cold, but the sky was clear and blue and the sun had finally come out. I tried to remember the last time I’d seen the sun. Sydney. Three days ago? Four? I’d lost count, or rather, I’d lost my sense of night and day.

Everywhere men were unpacking huge trucks, having no difficulty at all rushing back and forth across the icy surface of the uneven road. Me, I was just about to go arse over tit with every step. The workday had started and here I was just wanting to fall into bed and sleep forever. I wondered if I’d ever be sorted about what time of day it was again.

Jay-Tee led me into one of the taxis waiting outside Inferno, gave the driver an address, sank back into the seat, and closed her eyes.

“What—” I began.

“We’re going to get breakfast,” Jay-Tee said, cutting me off, her eyes squeezed shut. She sounded furious, like she’d hit me if I asked any questions. “I’m hungry. We’re going to eat.”

As the taxi drove away, the ammonite got fainter and fainter until I couldn’t feel it all.

They were halfway through breakfast
before Jay-Tee found herself able to breathe evenly. Reason was stuffing herself with pierogies, kielbasa, and kasha, not saying a word, but Jay-Tee could almost hear the questions she wanted to ask. Jay-Tee was sick of answering Reason’s questions.

She wished she could get away from her. Forget about Reason and him and all the rest of it and go somewhere far away. But she’d never been outside New York City. Hell, she hadn’t even been to all five boroughs. Staten Island was as big a mystery to Jay-Tee as Sydney was. Reason had said they could escape through the door, hide in the country in Australia. Yeah, right, like he’d let them, like they could get past the witch.

Jay-Tee raised a piece of bacon to her mouth, but halfway there she felt the angry acid in her stomach and put the bacon down. She’d messed up her breakfast, broken the yolks of the eggs so they’d spread out over everything. Now they were turning into a cold yellow sludge that coated it all. She’d been starving and now she wasn’t sure she could ever eat again. She wished her dad to hell for about the hundredth time.

Reason had almost finished her food and was looking at her, eyes wide and curious. Jay-Tee couldn’t see her keeping her mouth shut much longer. She sighed, trying to let go of her anger. She was
not
going to lose her temper. Ever.

“At the club . . .” Jay-Tee began, because there was no getting away; she had to tell Reason something. “There was this guy. My dad sent him.”

“Your brother, Danny,” Reason said, continuing to eat as if she’d said nothing unusual.

Jay-Tee stared at her. How on earth did she know about Danny? What else did she know?

“He talked to me,” Reason said, grinning, clearly enjoying being one up, “before he went looking for you. What are BPMs?”

“Beats per minute,” Jay-Tee said reflexively. “He what?” she spat the words out. She had to get a grip. That asshole! How
dare
he? He was trying to turn Reason against her. “I don’t believe it. What did you tell him? You didn’t tell him where we lived, did you?” The thought terrified Jay-Tee.

“No. What do you reckon? That I’d dob you in to the first person who asked? I didn’t tell him a thing.”

“Sorry,” Jay-Tee said, wondering what
dob
meant. She wished Reason would learn to talk normal.

“No worries. Is he magic?”

“What?” What a stupid question. Of course he wasn’t magic. Didn’t Reason know anything? Couldn’t she just tell? But then Jay-Tee realized that no, she couldn’t. “No, no, of course not,” she said. “Why would you think that?”

“Huh,” Reason said, sounding relieved. “I just thought . . .” She trailed off, smiling. “Never mind.”

“What did he say to you?” Jay-Tee asked. Her stomach had knotted again. “I can’t
believe
he talked to you. Tell me what he said. What did he say about me?”

“He said that things had changed at home, that it was safe for you now. That he loves you and misses you. He wanted to know if you were okay, getting enough to eat, living somewhere not too foul. He was concerned. And he gave me his phone number.”

“Damn.” Jay-Tee dropped her fork onto her plate and put her hands in her hair.

“He’s really not magic?” Reason asked.

“What? No. Why do you keep going on about that? He’s not magic. Okay? He got the basketball-playing genes. I got the magic ones.”

“Oh,” she said. “Not the left-handed gene?”

Jay-Tee couldn’t help laughing. “Actually, he’s left-handed, too.”

Reason smiled. She reached across and squeezed Jay-Tee’s hand, who had an immediate memory of doing the same for Reason when she was boiling with anger.
We’re friends,
she thought, surprising herself. She and Reason had somehow become friends.

“Danny seemed okay to me.”

“He is,” Jay-Tee said, feeling somehow calmer. Her stomach was starting to unknot. “But he doesn’t know about Dad—”

“He told me he thought you ran away
because
of your dad. So he must know something.”

“He said that?” She stared at Reason.

Reason nodded, looking down at her completely empty plate. Her stomach rumbled, the sound ridiculously loud considering the amount of food she’d just stuffed in her face. But Reason’d been drained and then danced all night. She had to be ravenous.