Chasing Power

“I’ll forgive you eventually. But what do we do with him?”

  “We don’t do anything. He leaves us alone,” Moonbeam said. There was steel in her voice, the same as when she’d grounded Kayla. “Won’t you, Jack?”

  “But Amanda needs me!”

  “She needs anyone but you right now. You won’t come near us ever again, Jack. Do you understand me? Don’t seek us out. Don’t find us. I intend to fix what you broke.”

  “Let me help,” Jack said.

  Firmly, Moonbeam said, “No. It’s my turn now. Your idea of fixing things involves guns and knives. That doesn’t work for me.”

  “I’ll find you,” Jack said. “I’ll always find you. I still love you. After everything. We’re meant to be together, Lorelei. We can work through this.”

  Kayla came closer to them. “See, you think that sounds romantic, but it’s just crazy stalker talk. Moonbeam said no. So did I. We don’t want you in our lives. And if we catch you near us … Scratch that, if I catch you …” She guided the shards of glass toward him, grazing his skin—not close enough to cut but close enough for him to feel the tickle of the sharp edges. “Amanda may have brute strength, but I have precision. And I’m much smarter than she is. You’ve pissed me off too many times already. Don’t do it again.”

  “Are you threatening your own father?” her dad asked.

  “Yes, absolutely. Weren’t you listening? Honestly, I thought I was being pretty clear.” Kayla looked at her mother. “You’re threatening him too, right?”

  “Yes, indeed.” Moonbeam reached toward him. He flinched, instinctively turning his head away. She plucked several strands of his hair. “I will be making a doll with this. And not for your protection. I will use it if I have to.” She tucked the hairs into the pocket of her dress.

  “You wouldn’t—”

  “You went too far. You always do. But I’m done being afraid of you, Jack,” Moonbeam said. “And I’m done with you.” She called to Queen Marguerite. “You can take him away.”

  Queen Marguerite came outside, the door banging behind her. It half hung off the doorframe. The entire house was tilted, shifted off its foundation. It looked as if a stiff wind would blow it over. “Gladly! Where would you like me to take him?”

  “Tikal,” Kayla suggested. “Tell the archaeologists that he’s the one who’s responsible for the cave-in, and he’s offered to pay for the damages to their national treasure.”

  “Delightful,” Queen Marguerite said. “I like how your mind works, child.”

  “Wait, that’s it?” Jack said. “You’re sending me away just like that? No further discussion? But … I can change! I have already changed!”

  “Oh, Jack, you haven’t changed,” Moonbeam said sadly. “You’re still that little boy who’s afraid his daddy will hurt him again. Only now, the monster you’re afraid of is one you created, your own daughter.”

  His jaw clenched, and his face reddened. He opened his mouth to reply, but Moonbeam cut him off.

  “You made your choices, and I made mine. We can’t erase what’s happened between us, or what we’ve done. We have to live with it. And I choose not to live in fear anymore. Come for us again, and I won’t flee. I will fight you.”

  “But my daughter—”

  “Needs help,” Moonbeam said. “You know I won’t hurt her, Jack. I want to help her.”

  “You’ll turn her against me! Like you turned Katie.”

  “You did that all by yourself,” Kayla said. “You told Amanda to cause that cave-in, didn’t you? And you left me in that tomb in Peru, not knowing whether Daniel would live or die, not knowing whether I’d survive. Then to top it off, you kidnapped my mother and Daniel’s mother and were perfectly content to sacrifice either one of them because you thought you were right—you thought the stones would fix Amanda and grant you your dream all in one shot, never mind the price, which, by the way, would have affected me too. Did you ever even ask me if I wanted to lose my magic? It’s part of me, who I am! Even if Moonbeam forgave you, I think I have plenty of my own reasons to decide you’re evil.”

  Dad’s face paled more with each word she said. “But I didn’t think you—”

  “Exactly. You didn’t think of me. You thought of yourself. Your fear, your pain, your mistakes, your solutions. And this is the cost.” Kayla looked at Queen Marguerite. “I’m done with this conversation. Please take him away.”

  Queen Marguerite sauntered over to him.

  “Katie!” Dad cried.

  “And for the last time, don’t call me Katie. My name is Kayla.”

  Queen Marguerite laid her hand on his shoulder, and they vanished. “Good-bye, Jack,” Moonbeam murmured. She slipped her hand into Kayla’s.

  Silence fell over the garden.

  Lying on the grass at their feet, Amanda slept on.

  Eventually, they had to deal with the house. Even if Moonbeam hadn’t promised to move to New Orleans, it couldn’t be home anymore. It was too broken. Several houses on the street were damaged in the “freak earthquake,” as the news was calling it, but theirs was damaged the worst. Building inspectors came through and pronounced it uninhabitable. The police wrapped DO NOT CROSS tape over the door and windows. But after they all left and the reporters left and the street was quiet again, Kayla and Moonbeam went back in.

  It was cracked in so many places that it creaked every time they walked through it. Taking turns, they darted in and retrieved items, spreading them out on the lawn. Side by side, they packed. They talked a little, off and on, about memories of the different items: a dreamcatcher that always hung in the kitchen window, a pair of flip-flops that Kayla loved but were broken, a scarf that Kayla had given Moonbeam for Mother’s Day, a book of poetry that they’d traded back and forth—all the little things they’d accumulated in their life here. Half of the things they left lying on the ground. The other half they squeezed into boxes and suitcases.

  When Moonbeam wasn’t looking, Kayla tucked the broken garden gnome inside her emergency backpack. She then helped her mother wrap a few of the handmade mugs in scarves so they wouldn’t break on the journey.

  “Are you ready for a new adventure?” Moonbeam asked. “You’ll like New Orleans.”

  “Until the last few days, I thought you’d never want to leave here.”

  “It was Moonbeam’s home. It was never Lorelei’s.”

  “Can you really go back to being her? You’ve been Moonbeam for a long time.”

  Moonbeam smiled. “I’d like to try.”

  “I’m still calling you Moonbeam.”

  “Not everything is going to change, Kayla.”

  Yes, it is, Kayla thought. And she couldn’t decide if that made her happy or sad.

  When Queen Marguerite returned, she made multiple trips: first Amanda, next Moonbeam, and then their belongings. Kayla helped load her up with various suitcases and boxes to bring to Moonbeam in New Orleans. As the sun sank, the pile of luggage dwindled, and soon there were only the things they’d decided to leave behind. Kayla sat down on the bench that her mother had painted and looked at the wrecked garden and broken house. The bench was broken as well, but it still held her fine.

  When Queen Marguerite appeared again to take Kayla, Kayla didn’t move. She tried to look calm, as if she were merely resting on the bench, but every muscle felt tense.

  “I assume you aren’t coming,” the voodoo queen said as she picked up the final suitcase, full of various amulets and the remainder of Moonbeam’s herbs.

  “Not right away.”

  “Thought as much.”

  Kayla felt her muscles unclench. Queen Marguerite wasn’t going to argue. Maybe she even understood. “Please tell Daniel that I’ll be at the place we first met. And tell Moonbeam that I love her and not to worry.”

  “She’ll worry anyway,” Queen Marguerite said. “Do you have a plan for where you and the boy are going and what you’re going to do?”

  Kayla smiled. “I plan to improvise.”

  “Don
’t take too long, fixer girl. You’re still needed.”

  Standing, Kayla shouldered her backpack, and she walked for the last time out the garden gate. No chimes rang—they were either broken or packed. The gate itself didn’t close anymore. She didn’t look back.

  Seagulls cried overhead, and she heard the music from a half-dozen radios, playing over one another. She kept walking toward the ocean. After a while, she saw the blue between the palm trees. Closer, the sound of shouts, laughter, and the crash of waves all washed over her. Sticking to the sidewalk, Kayla strolled with the tourists past the beach volleyball courts, past the sunbathers, past the artists with their easels, past the vendors selling tourist junk, past the ice cream truck and the surreys. She reached the dolphin fountain and then headed up State Street.

  It looked exactly as it always did. Tourists clustered at the cafés and restaurants, eating at outdoor tables. The black-clad teens panhandled and taunted people from the brick benches. She picked an unoccupied bench not too close to anyone and sat down.

  Pulling out her phone, she called Selena.

  Selena answered on the third ring. “Hey, girl, guess what? Sam’s here. He’s having dinner with my family tonight. In exchange for me not skipping any more classes, they’ve agreed not to be rude to him or to poison him or anything, which isn’t exactly giving their blessing, but it’s a start. Where are you? What happened with the voodoo queen? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I think I really am.” Kayla filled her in on everything that had happened.

  “Come see me tomorrow. We’ll go to the beach. You need a break.”

  “Not tomorrow.”

  “Soon?”

  “Soon,” Kayla promised.

  “I will not accept living in New Orleans as an excuse not to hang out. Daniel knows how to find my house. You have him jump you here soon. We can double-date!”

  “Sounds fun.”

  “Ooh, gotta go. Appetizer time. Can’t miss crab cakes. Even for you.”

  Kayla said good-bye, then hung up. She was smiling as she tucked her phone back into her pocket and leaned back on the bench.

  After a while, one of the teens—a girl—approached her. “Hey, aren’t you the girl who was here before? The one who disappeared with that boy from the store window? How did you do that?”

  “Magic.” Kayla wiggled her fingers in the sign that Selena had invented.

  “Really? Sweet.”

  “You should see what my mother can do.” Kayla looked at her and smiled. “She’s the next voodoo queen of New Orleans.”

  “Oh, so it was a trick?”

  “Exactly. It was a publicity stunt for a store called Voodoo Spells and Charms.”

  The girl looked crestfallen. Slinking away, she rejoined her friends. Kayla felt them talking about her and, out of the corner of her eye, saw them pointing at her and watching. After a while, though, they lost interest. Eventually, they moved on. She was left alone.

  The sun began to set. At the end of State Street, in front of the pier, the dolphin fountain was framed by a glow of liquid gold. Overhead, the sky was tinted rose. Still, Kayla sat, thinking and not thinking, her backpack on her lap.

  As stars began to appear overhead, a boy sat next to her.

  She smiled.

  “Nice night,” Daniel said.

  “It’s Santa Barbara. We specialize in nice nights.”

  “Live here long enough and you get used to it?”

  “I think I’ve lived here long enough,” Kayla said. “I’m ready to move on.” She slipped her hand into his. His fingers closed around hers. She tilted her head to look at him. His eyes still looked like a storm over the ocean, but he was smiling at her. She smiled back. “I hear Paris is lovely this time of year.”

  Epilogue

  On top of the Eiffel Tower, Kayla perched on a beam one level above the usual tourist platform. Daniel sat on one side of her; the garden gnome sat on the other. So far, no one had yelled at them to climb down. She didn’t doubt there were people below wondering if they were safe up here.

  She felt safer than she ever had.

  “Are you okay with this height?” Kayla asked.

  “Strangely, yes,” Daniel said. He’d been clutching the beam with both hands, but he released it and exhaled. “At least something good came out of all this.”

  “Also, I’m getting to see Paris. And so is Jerome.”

  “Jerome?”

  “Jerome the Gnome. I named him.”

  “Ahh. Can I ask why?”

  “No,” Kayla said.

  Daniel didn’t argue. He put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. His arm felt as comfortable as the warmest coat. From up here, Paris looked like a garden. Clusters of buildings were clumps of flowers, painted yellow and mauve by the rising sun. Cars and buses scooted between them like bees, and people scurried around them like ants. The Seine twisted through, sparkling in the dawn. In the distance, the sun rose up the face of a set of beautiful white domes and a tower. They glowed on top of a hill overlooking the city. She saw why hundreds of romantic movies were filmed here. She looked at Daniel.

  He stared out over the city, but she didn’t think he was looking at it. His eyes were fixed on the horizon beyond, and she thought his mind was thousands of miles away.

  “Are you thinking about your mother?” Kayla asked.

  A muscle in his jaw twitched, and his arm tightened around her. “Yes.” Stormy eyes, she thought. He’d left Evelyn in Chicago, but Kayla could tell he hadn’t really left her behind, any more than she had left Moonbeam, Amanda, or her father.

  “Do you think she’s going to cause more problems?” Kayla asked.

  “Probably. But not right away. She doesn’t want to disappoint me, she says. But I think she’s only saying that because the stones are gone.”

  Kayla nodded. On the Seine, tour boats drifted through the smooth-as-glass water. She wondered how many people in this city were here only briefly, like them, and how many were thinking of people elsewhere. “Do you think my mother is safe with Amanda?”

  “Certainly while Amanda’s asleep. And she has Queen Marguerite with her for when she wakes. The two of them can handle her.”

  Kayla snorted. “She already destroyed the voodoo shop once.”

  “Hey, at least your mom is trying to have a relationship with her.”

  “You think I should be trying?”

  “You? No. Your sister’s a psychopath. I was talking about my mother and me, in an oblique way. She used me. She’s always used me. Her work has always been more important. Your mother put you first. And now she’s trying with Amanda. She may even succeed. Your mother is a determined woman. I think she genuinely regrets lying to you and wants to make everything right.”

  Kayla nodded. “I am going to forgive her. After we travel for a while.” And she’d also go back to see Selena, frequently. Even if she had to live in New Orleans now, she wasn’t giving up on an eight-year friendship. Given that she knew two teleporters, she shouldn’t even have to take a plane. As Selena had said, there was no excuse not to hang out.

  “I always did like plan B.” Daniel lay back on the metal platform. Kayla lay with him and looked up through the metal bars toward the tip of the Eiffel Tower. The steel bars framed the lightening sky like a modern art installation with the sky as the canvas.

  From below, she heard a shout in French, aimed at them. In a few minutes, one of the guards would be climbing up to fetch them. Maybe it was a sign they were done with Paris, for now.

  Daniel shifted slightly, turning his head to look at Kayla. “Where to next? Rome? Cairo? Tokyo? Sydney?”

  “Any interest in exploring an Egyptian tomb? Maybe we’ll find another immensely dangerous magical artifact that long-lost family members will want to kill us for.”

  “Cairo it is.”

  And Paris vanished.

  White. Blue. Then tan.

  Lying on a rooftop, Kayla breathed in the dry dese
rt air and a hundred spices she didn’t recognize. Voices in a language she didn’t know assailed her ears. She was looking up at a midday sun that bleached the sky.

  Pushing herself up to sitting, she saw they were on a roof with a view of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Several high-rises, framed by palm trees, were in the foreground, and then beyond them the pyramids rose out of a sea of sand. A haze surrounded them, and the glare of the sun made Kayla’s eyes tear. She shielded her eyes with her hand. “Amazing,” she breathed.

  “You know, I’ve seen this view at least a dozen times. This is the only time I’ve ever thought it was amazing.” He touched her cheek and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  “You’re just saying that because you want to kiss me.”

  “And because it’s true. But also because I want to kiss you.” He leaned closer.

  “You should have kissed me in Paris. That was the romantic view.”

  “You don’t like this view?”

  “Of course I do. But it does make me think of mummies.” And that made her think of the tomb in Peru, which made her think of her father again. She wondered if he’d left Guatemala and where he planned to go. “You know, for two people who didn’t pack much, we brought a lot of baggage with us.” Kayla inhaled, breathing in the spices and the car fumes and the chalky dust. “I have a proposal. For the next however-long-we-want, we don’t talk or think about our families.”

  “So what do you propose we talk and think about?”

  “Us, obviously.”

  “Are we an ‘us’?” Daniel asked.

  “Hope so, since we’re traveling the world together. It’s a bit too late to tell me you have another girlfriend in Paris and one in Peru. You don’t, right?”

  He kissed her, thoroughly and sweetly. She closed her eyes and breathed in the taste of him, mixed with the taste of the Cairo air. When they broke apart, they didn’t move more than an inch from each other. Daniel touched his forehead to hers. “Only you. You stole my heart.”

  She groaned. “Tell me you didn’t seriously go there with the cheesy thief reference.”

  “Afraid I did. Do you still love me?”