October Girls: Crystal & Bone (14 page)

“Nothing,” Crystal, Pettigrew, and Bone called in unison.

“Well, keep it quiet. I’m trying to get some work done.”

Pettigrew lowered his voice. “You been moody ever since Bonnie died. It’s been two years—”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Well, she wouldn’t want you to stop living, too.”

“
Yes, I would
,” Bone offered.

“How do you know what Bone wants?” Crystal squeezed the television remote, fighting an urge to hurl it into Pettigrew’s ruggedly handsome, concerned, tall face.

Pettigrew stopped his pacing. “Wants?”

“Wanted.
Would
have wanted. The past tense thingy.”

“Well, I know she was your best friend, but if you hang on too tight to the past, you’re going to miss the future.”

“
This is almost romantic
,” Bone said, hovering near Crystal’s ear.

Pettigrew peered toward the couch. “I see you.”

“Uh-oh,” Bone and Crystal whispered at the same time.

“I see the hurt, Crystal.”

Whew. As long as you don’t see the ghost, you can see all the hurt you want.

“I see the scared little girl inside. I see those community-college dreams—”

Ka-WHUUUMP!!

The trailer shook as the explosion rolled down the hallway, knocking a pot off the stove and scattering Momma’s ceramic rooster collection across the top of the refrigerator. Crystal leapt from the couch and hurried to the bathroom.

Pettigrew was right behind her. “What was that?”

“Stay here.” Explosions weren’t unusual in the Aldridge home, but Momma generally didn’t mess with the heavy-duty potions while company was present.

And if somebody’s been messing with the potions, no telling what Momma’s cooked up.

Momma was cussing up a storm, which meant she wasn’t seriously hurt, and acrid smoke boiled from beneath the bathroom door. When Crystal grabbed the door handle, the metal burned her flesh. She pounded on the flimsy wood. “Momma!”

“Coming, coming.” Momma hacked and coughed, then slammed against the door. “Can’t get it open.”

Crystal glanced at Pettigrew, who was tapping his cell phone. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Calling the station.” Pettigrew was a member of the Parson’s Ford Volunteer Fire Department and dealt with every crisis by the book.

“No. Her insurance rates will go through the roof.”

“Like that fire’s going through the roof?”

“She’s got it under control.”

Momma slammed into the door again, and the smoke had some bite to it, part rubber, part vinegar, and just a tinge of wet wolf hair. Momma streamed a slew of expletives that sounded like Old Latin.

“If by ‘under control,’ you mean dying of asfixit… ass… ashfix…god-danged
choking
to death,” Pettigrew said. “Move away. I’m busting the door down.”

“
I’ll handle this
,” Bone said, and a moment later the door handle turned. Momma fell out into the hall, tongue lolling and eyes bugged. Her eyebrows were singed and the front of her smock was stained, but other than that she appeared intact.

Except for the newt protruding from her forehead.

“Uh, Momma?” Crystal waved smoke toward Pettigrew, hoping he didn’t get a good look, but it was too late.

“What’s that on your head?” he said.

“
Tell him it’s a beauty product
,” Bone suggested.

“Facial scrub,” Crystal said to Pettigrew. “As you can see, there’s no fire, so just go wait in the living room until we get cleaned up.”

She stepped past Momma and grabbed a towel. The bathroom counter was a mess, and it looked like the wake of rush hour at a Walmart pharmacy, with overturned bottles and tubes of ointments oozing noxious goo. Crystal tossed the towel over Momma’s head and pretended to wipe her face.

Pettigrew still hovered. Bone did, too, except her feet weren’t touching the floor.

“A little privacy?” Crystal scowled at Pettigrew.

She waited until Pettigrew skulked down the hall then examined her mother, who was still speaking in tongues.

“You sure you’re okay?” Crystal asked.

“Somebody’s been in the batwing wax,” Momma replied. “Made the potion zig when it shoulda zagged.”

“What are you working on this late?”

“You ever heard of the witching hour? It’s midnight.”

Crystal touched the newt, which squirmed and stuck out a slithery tongue. “Does this hurt?”

“No,” the newt said in a squeaky voice.

“Who said that?” Momma said.

“
My work here is done
,” Bone said, heading for Crystal’s bedroom and the Orifice that would allow her to escape.

“Wait just a second,” Crystal said.

“I’ve got all night.” Momma reached up to explore the lump on her head. “
Gak.
It’s slimy.”

“Hey, at least
my
skin’s not crocodile hide, Granny,” the newt said.

“I’m not a granny,” Momma said, casting a glance at Crystal. “This one isn’t up to breeding yet.”

“And I thought
I
had problems,” the newt said.

“What can you do? When you love somebody, you just put up with them.”

“Yeah.” The newt emitted a squeaky sigh. “There was this cute iguana once and—”

“Hey, this isn’t ‘Dr. Phil,’” Crystal said, perusing the compounds on the sink. “Now, do we have anything to make creepy crawlies go away?”

“Don’t make me report you to PETA,” the newt said.

“Two drams of datura, a pinch of feverfew, and a tincture of bloodroot,” Momma said. “And four ounces of ethyl alcohol.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to mix datura and alcohol,” Crystal said.

“The alcohol’s for me,” Momma said. “I’m going to need it.”

“Just my luck,” the newt said. “I finally get vocal cords and I’m going to be pickled.”

“Shut up,” Crystal and Momma said in unison.

Bone, who had obeyed Crystal and was waiting outside the bathroom door, started materializing. Crystal had dodged the bullet with Pettigrew but if Momma knew she’d been committing necromancy, she’d be grounded for life or the end of the world, whichever came first.

Crystal waved Bone away, and the dead girl drifted through the door, half solid.

“Okay, let’s root out a newt,” Momma said, arranging the mess on the counter. The smoke had cleared enough that the mirror was visible, and scrawled in rose lipstick were the words “Coming soon.”

“Uh, Momma, I think somebody’s trying to tell you something.”

“I got the hint the first time, when the warding potion blew up in my face,” Momma said. “Something doesn’t want me guarding the Orifice.”

“Better keep me around, then,” the newt said. “Two heads are better than one.”

“Shouldn’t it be ‘Four eyes are better than two’?” Crystal said.

Momma glared at her with bloodshot eyes. “You’re arguing with a newt, honey.”

After a couple of minutes mopping up spills and capping tubes, Momma compounded the datura, bloodroot, and feverfew. As she daubed it on the protruding newt, he spat and hacked and gave one last, “I’ve grown accustomed to your face” before he began shrinking. Soon nothing remained but an ulcer that vaguely resembled a tiny red Orifice. Momma slapped a band-aid over it.

“Who do you think is trying to sabotage us?” Crystal asked.

“Could be anybody. We got enemies as old as the hills. On
both
sides. Why do you think we got cursed with poverty?”

“As soon as I get my administrative assistant’s degree, we’ll be in clover.”

“First we have to get through October. Powerful forces are afoot this month, when the nights grow long and the veil between the dead and the living grows thin.”

“Oooh. Sounds ominous.”

“Don’t get uppity. You’ve come of age and it’s your turn to step up.”

“You’re as bad as Pettigrew. What if I have other plans?”

Momma shoved the last of the potions under the sink. “You were born an Aldridge. You’re obliged.”

“So what if creatures from beyond want to take over Parson’s Ford? They can have it, for all I care.”

Momma nodded down the hall. “You got a good man there. Don’t keep him waiting.”

“He’s trained.”

“You know what happens to honey that stays in the pot too long?”

“No.”

“It gets gummed up.”

“I think that newt’s tail stirred your brains a little.”

Momma opened the window and waved the smoke away. “Look around. Ain’t you ever wondered why weird things happen to you all the time?”

“I blame my upbringing. Or lack thereof.”

“Well, maybe, just maybe, Miss Crystal Dawn Aldridge, there are forces at work beyond your control. And one of them might be you.”

“Beyond control? I’m not the one blowing up my own bathroom.”

“These Orifices. Have you noticed they only open when you’re around?”

Crystal’s breath caught from more than just the smoky haze. She hadn’t told Momma the Orifices had become more active. She’d secretly hoped she was going crazy like any normal teen. Apparently, no such luck.

This was real.

Momma smiled with that ancient understanding all mothers possessed. And a touch of telepathy probably didn’t hurt. “We’ll talk.”

Great. As if I wasn’t confused enough already.

Crystal went to the bathroom door. To the left lay her bedroom and her dead best friend and the Orifice. To the right was her possessive, grumpy boyfriend.

She only wished an Orifice would open beneath her and take the choice away from her.

“S
he’s just laying a guilt trip on you,” Bone said.

“Maybe I’m guilty,” Crystal said.

Crystal clicked on the iPod she’d bought with her first paycheck and Beyonce’s rich, soulful voice filled the air. The last thing she needed was for Momma to hear her talking to herself.

She could always pretend to be talking into a cell phone. Plenty of people wandered around having loud, one-sided conversations. But music was more soothing.

“How did Pettigrew take it?”

Crystal ran out her lower lip in imitation. “He could dig you a grave with his pout.”

“Guys. What can you do?”

“Yeah. They are only good for two things.”

Bone, as usual, was sitting on Crystal’s bed, as if she had to sleep in cold, damp leaves over in Darkmeet and welcomed any reprieve. Roscoe, as usual, was asleep on the pillow, tail curled across his snout.

Bone gave a playful swipe across the top quilt. “And if Pettigrew’s twice as good as he looks—”

“This is serious. Can you keep your frustrated hormones out of my bedroom for a while?”

Bone gave a pathetic ghostly moan. “
Oooooh
. Breather Girl is getting all serious on me. You’re my vicarious thrill, remember?”

Crystal sat at her desk. “I need to figure out this Orifice thing. According to Momma, the main gate is right on this spot, and it’s been here since the Book of Genesis. That’s why she put the trailer here.”

“But you said the Aldridges were persecuted witches. They haven’t been here forever.”

“Great-back-to-ever-so-many-greats-grandpa Hezekiah Aldridge traded a rifle, a blanket, and a hound dog for a thousand acres back in the late 1700s. Got stuck with the Orifice as part of the bargain, and Aldridge women have been keeping it closed ever since.”

“Cool inheritance. All I got was a box of war medals and a vacuum cleaner.”

“Speaking of inheritance, you didn’t leave me anything in your will.”

“Why would a 16-year-old have a will?”

“Tim McFarland did, and he was only twelve.”

“Well, he knew he was going to die, and I didn’t.”

“So you’ve seen him in Darkmeet?”

“Yeah. He’s crushing on me. It’s so lame.”

“Give him a break. He probably doesn’t have much entertainment over there.”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t date him if he was the last dead guy on Earth.”

“I guess you can afford to be choosy now. What with Royce keeping you busy.”

Bone rolled her eyes and they nearly popped out of her skull. She adjusted them before speaking. “We’re not getting
that
busy yet. I think he’s stringing me along.”

“It’s a little too convenient, don’t you think?”

“Hey, I’m cute and on the edge of hot. What’s so funny about it?”

“Royce shows up in our living room, and then he’s chewing up the scenery in Dempsey’s movie. And now you two are an item.”

“At the same time your mother’s worried about the Orifice?”

“Momma’s been around. She doesn’t panic easy.” Crystal cued up the iPod so it went to Roy Orbison, a homely nerd with a warbling, sincere delivery. Orbison wouldn’t last two minutes on the stage of
American Idol
, but he’d endured as a rock legend. The best rockers were out doing their thing instead of trying to impress a panel of clowns, and Crystal figured that was good advice for her own career.

Whatever that turned out to be.

And which she hoped didn’t include witchery.

“So why the history lesson?” Bone’s pout was fat enough to give Pettigrew’s a run for its money. “You’re disappointed in me.”

Crystal went over to the bed and sat down beside her friend. Then she took Bone’s hand. The flesh was cold, as usual. She could never get used to that.

“I’m sad, that’s all,” Crystal said. “Remember all those plans we had? Summer trip to Dollywood? Camping at Caney Fork? Saving for a Bahaman cruise?”

The dreams seemed silly now. Life came along and mashed you with a big hammer. Or, in this case, a big UPS truck.

“Don’t go getting melancholy on me.” Bone took her hand away and fluffed Crystal’s hair. “You’re my vicarious thrill, remember? Smile, smile, smile.”

Crystal bounced from the bed and belted a few lines in duet with Orbison, about closing eyes and softly praying and going to sleep in dreams. Momma yelled something from the living room, but the words were muffled.

“Better?” Crystal said.

Bone nodded.

“Okay, the portal’s getting active. And it’s following me around. Somebody’s messing with Momma’s warding potions. And you and Royce are popping back and forth between two worlds like extras in ‘Star Trek.’”

“You think it’s all related?”