“I don’t know. Lena never invited me.”
“Well, let’s just say there’s no keeping Aunt Del from checking out the first guy Lena’s ever brought home. So you’ve been summoned, and since Lena’s busy with dinner and Macon’s still, you know, ‘sleeping,’ I drew the short straw.”
“She didn’t bring me home. I just went by one night to drop off her homework.”
Ridley opened the car door from the inside. “Get in, Short Straw.”
“Lena would’ve called me if she wanted me to come.” Somehow I knew I was going to get in even as I was saying it. I hesitated.
“Are you always like this? Or are you flirting with me? Because if you’re playing hard to get, just tell me now and we’ll go park at the swamp and get it on already.”
I got in the car. “Fine. Let’s go.”
She reached over and pushed the hair out of my eyes with her cold hand. “You’ve got nice eyes, Boyfriend. You shouldn’t keep them all covered up.”
By the time we got to Ravenwood, I didn’t know what had happened. She kept playing music I’d never heard, and I started to talk, and I just kept talking, until I had told her things I had never told anyone, except Lena. I can’t really explain it. It was like I had lost control of my mouth.
I told her about my mom, about how she died, even though I almost never talked about it with anyone. I told her about Amma, about how she read cards, and about how she was like my mom now that I didn’t have one, except for the charms and dolls and her generally disagreeable nature. I told her about Link, and his mom, and how she had changed lately and spent all her time trying to convince everyone that Lena was just as crazy as Macon Ravenwood, and a danger to every student at Jackson.
I told her about my dad, about how he was holed up in his study, with his books and some secret painting I was never allowed to see, and how I felt like I needed to protect him, even though it was from something that had already happened.
I told her about Lena, about how we’d met in the rain, how we had seemed to know each other before we’d even met, and about the messed-up scene with the window.
It almost felt like she was sucking it all out of me, like she sucked on that sticky red lollipop, the one she kept licking as she drove. It took all the strength I had to not tell her about the locket, and the dreams. Maybe the fact that she was Lena’s cousin just made everything a little easier between us. Maybe it was something else.
Just as I was starting to wonder, we pulled up at Ravenwood Manor, and she flipped off the radio. The sun had set, the lollipop was gone, and I had finally shut up. When had that happened?
Ridley leaned in toward me, close. I could see my face reflected in her sunglasses. I breathed her in. She smelled sweet and sort of damp, nothing like Lena, but still familiar somehow. “You don’t need to be worried, Short Straw.”
“Yeah, why not?”
“You’re the real deal.” She smiled at me, and her eyes flashed. Behind the glasses, I could see a gold glint, like gold-fish swimming in a dark pond. They were hypnotic, even through her shades. Maybe that’s why she wore them. Then the glasses went dark, and she messed up my hair. “Too bad she’ll probably never see you again once you meet the rest of us. Our family is just a little wack.” She got out of the car, and I followed her.
“More wack than you?”
“Infinitely.”
Great.
She put her cold hand on my arm, once again, when we got to the bottom step of the house. “And, Boyfriend. When Lena blows you off, which she will in about five months, give me a call. You’ll know how to find me.” She looped her arm through mine, suddenly strangely formal. “May I?”
I gestured with my free hand. “Sure. After you.” As we walked up the stairs, they groaned under our combined weight. I pulled Ridley up to the front door, still not quite sure if the stairs were going to support us or not.
I knocked, but there was no response. I reached up and felt for the moon. The door swung open, slowly—
Ridley seemed tentative. And as we crossed the threshold, I could almost feel the house settle, as if the climate inside had changed, almost imperceptibly.
“Hello, Mother.”
A round woman, bustling to lay gourds and golden leaves along the mantel, startled and dropped a small white pumpkin. It exploded onto the ground. She grabbed onto the mantel to steady herself. She looked odd, like she was wearing a dress from a hundred years ago. “Julia! I mean Ridley. What are you doing here? I must be confused. I thought, I thought…”
I knew something was wrong. This didn’t seem like your average mother-daughter hello.
“Jules? Is that you?” A younger version of Ridley, maybe ten, came walking into the front hall with Boo Radley, who was now wearing a sparkly blue cape over his back. Dressing up the family wolf, as if nothing unusual was going on. Everything about the girl was like light; she had blond hair and radiant blue eyes, as if they had little flecks of the sky on a sunny afternoon in them. The girl smiled, and then frowned. “They said you’d gone away.”
Boo started to growl.
Ridley opened her arms, waiting for the little girl to rush into them, but the girl didn’t move. So Ridley held her hands out and uncurled each one. A red lollipop appeared in the first and, not to be outdone, a little gray mouse wearing a sparkly blue cape that matched Boo’s sniffed the air in her other hand—like a cheap carnival trick.
The little girl stepped forward, tentatively, as if her sister had the power to pull her across the room, without so much as a touch, like the moon and the tides. I had felt it myself.
When Ridley spoke, her voice was thick and husky like honey. “Come now, Ryan. Mamma was just pulling your tail to see if it squeaked. I haven’t gone anywhere. Not really. Would your favorite big sister ever leave you?”
Ryan grinned and ran toward Ridley, jumping up, as if she was about to leap into her open arms. Boo barked. For a moment, Ryan hung suspended in mid-air, like one of those cartoon characters that accidentally jumps of a cliff and just hangs there for a few seconds, before they fall. Then, she fell, hitting the floor abruptly, as if she had smacked into an invisible wall. The lights inside the house grew brighter, all at once, as if the house was a stage, and the lighting was changing to signal the end of an act. In the light, Ridley’s features cast harsh shadows.
The light changed things. Ridley held a hand up to her eyes, calling out to the house. “Oh please, Uncle Macon. Is that really necessary?”
Boo leaped forward, positioning himself between Ryan and Ridley. Growling, the dog pressed closer and closer, the hair on his back standing on end, making him look even more like a wolf. Apparently Ridley’s charms were lost on Boo.
Ridley looped her arm back through mine tightly, and laugh-growled, or something like that. It wasn’t a friendly sound. I tried to keep it together, but my throat felt like it was stuffed with wet socks.
Keeping one hand on my arm, she raised her other hand over her head and threw it up toward the ceiling. “Well, if you’re going to be rude.” Every light in the house went dark. The whole house seemed to short out.
Macon’s voice calmly floated down from the top of the dim shadows. “Ridley, my dear, what a surprise. We weren’t expecting you.”
Not expecting her? What was he talking about?
“I wouldn’t miss the Gathering for anything in the world, and look, I brought a guest. Or, I guess you could say, I’m his guest.”
Macon walked down the staircase, without taking his eyes off Ridley. I was watching two lions circle each other, and I was standing in the middle. Ridley had played me, and I had gone along with it, like a sucker, like the red sucker she was sucking on right now.
“I don’t think that’s the best idea. I’m sure you’re expected elsewhere.”
She pulled the lollipop out of her mouth with a pop. “Like I said, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Besides, you wouldn’t want me to drive Ethan all the way home. What ever would we talk about?”
I wanted to suggest we leave, but I couldn’t get the words out. Everyone just stood there in the main hall, staring at each other. Ridley leaned against one of the pillars.
Macon broke the silence. “Why don’t you show Ethan to the dining room? I’m sure you remember where it is.”
“But Macon—” The woman I guessed was Aunt Del looked panicked, and again, confused, like she didn’t quite know what was going on.
“It’s all right, Delphine.” I could see in Macon’s face he was working things out, jumping from step to step, ahead of the step we were all on. Without knowing what I had stumbled into, it was actually comforting to know he was there.
The last place I wanted to go was the dining room. I wanted to bolt out of there, but I couldn’t make it happen. Ridley wouldn’t let go of my arm, and as long as she was touching me, I felt like I was on autopilot. She led me into the formal dining room where I had offended Macon the first time. I looked at Ridley, clinging to my arm. This offense was far worse.
The room was lit by hundreds of tiny black votive candles, and strands of black glass beads hung from the chandelier. There was an enormous wreath, made entirely of black feathers, on the door leading into the kitchen. The table was set with silver and pearl-white plates, which were actually made of pearl, for all I knew.
The kitchen door swung open. Lena backed through the door, carrying a huge silver tray, piled high with exotic-looking fruits that definitely were not from South Carolina. She wore a fitted black floor-length jacket, cinched at her waist. It looked strangely timeless, like nothing I had ever seen in this county, or even this century, but when I looked down, I noticed she was wearing her Converse. She looked even more beautiful than when I had come over for dinner… when? A few weeks ago?
My mind felt cloudy, like I was half asleep. I took a deep breath, but all I could smell was Ridley, a musky smell mixed with something way too sweet, like syrup bubbling on the stove. It was strong and suffocating.
“We’re almost ready. Just a few more—” Lena froze, the door still in mid-swing. She looked like she had seen a ghost, or something much worse. I wasn’t sure if it was just the sight of Ridley, or the two of us standing there arm and arm.
“Well, hello, Cuz. Long time no see.” Ridley advanced a few steps, dragging me along next to her. “Aren’t you going to give me a kiss?”
The tray Lena was carrying crashed to the floor. “What are you doing here?” Lena’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Why, I came to see my favorite cousin of course, and I brought a date.”
“I’m not your date,” I said lamely, barely choking the words out, still glued to her arm. She pulled a cigarette from the pack tucked in her boot and lit it, all with her free hand.
“Ridley, please do not smoke in the house,” Macon said, and the cigarette instantly went out. Ridley laughed and flicked it into a bowl of something that looked like mashed potatoes, but probably wasn’t.
“Uncle Macon. You always were such a stickler for the house rules.”
“The rules were set long ago, Ridley. There’s nothing you or I can do to change them now.”
They stared at each other. Macon gestured, and a chair pulled itself away from the table. “Why don’t we all have a seat? Lena, can you let Kitchen know we will be two more for dinner?”
Lena just stood there, seething. “She can’t stay.”
“It’s all right. Nothing can harm you here,” Macon assured her. But Lena didn’t look scared. She looked furious.
Ridley smiled. “You sure about that?”
“Dinner is ready, and you know how Kitchen feels about serving cold food.” Macon walked into the dining room. Everyone filed in after him, even though he had barely spoken loud enough for the four of us in the room to hear him.
Boo led the way, lumbering in with Ryan. Aunt Del followed, on the arm of a gray-haired man about my dad’s age. He was dressed like he was right out of one of the books in my mom’s study, with knee-high boots, a frilly shirt, and a weird opera cape. The two of them looked like an exhibit from a Smithsonian museum.
An older girl entered the room. She looked a lot like Ridley, except she had on more clothing and she didn’t look so dangerous. She had long, straight blond hair with a neater version of Ridley’s choppy bangs. She looked like the kind of girl you’d see carrying a stack of books on a fancy old college campus up North like Yale or Harvard. The girl locked eyes with Ridley, like she could see Ridley’s eyes through the dark shades she was still wearing.
“Ethan, I’d like to introduce you to my older sister, Annabel. Oh, I’m sorry, I mean Reece.” Who doesn’t know their own sister’s name?
Reece smiled and spoke slowly as if she was choosing her words carefully. “What are you doin’ here, Ridley? I thought you had another engagement tonight.”
“Plans change.”
“So do families.” Reece reached out her hand and waved it in front of Ridley’s face, just a simple flourish, like a magician waving his hand over a top hat. I flinched; I don’t know what I was thinking, but for a second I thought Ridley might disappear. Or more preferably, I might.
But she didn’t disappear, and this time, it was Ridley who flinched and looked away, like it was physically painful to look Reece in the eye.
Reece peered into Ridley’s face, as if it were a mirror. “Interestin’. Why is it, Rid, when I look in your eyes all I can see are hers? You two are as thick as thieves, aren’t you?”
“You’re babbling again, Sis.”
Reece closed her eyes, concentrating. Ridley squirmed like a pinned butterfly. Reece fluttered her hand again, and for a moment, Ridley’s face dissolved into the murky image of another woman. The woman’s face was somehow familiar, only I couldn’t remember why.
Macon clapped his hand down heavily on Ridley’s shoulder. It was the only time I’d seen anyone touch her, except me. Ridley winced, and I could feel a twinge of pain shooting from her hand, down my arm. Macon Ravenwood was clearly not a man to be taken lightly. “Now. Like it or not, the Gathering has commenced. I won’t have anyone ruining the High Holidays, not under my roof. Ridley has been, as she so helpfully clarified, invited to join us. Nothing more needs to be said. Please, everyone have a seat.”
Lena sat down, her eyes locked on the two of us.
Aunt Del looked even more worried than when we had first arrived. The man in the opera cape patted her hand reassuringly. A tall guy about my age in black jeans, a faded black T-shirt, and scuffed motorcycle boots wandered in looking bored.
Ridley handled the introductions. “You’ve already met my mother. And this is my father, Barclay Kent, and my brother, Larkin.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ethan.” Barclay stepped forward as if to shake my hand, but when he noticed Ridley’s hand on my arm, he stepped back. Larkin drew his arm around my shoulder, only when I looked over his arm had become a snake, flickering its tongue in and out of its mouth.
“Larkin!” Barclay hissed. The snake became Larkin’s arm again in an instant.
“Jeez. Just tryin’ to lift the mood around here. You’re all such a bunch a whiners.” Larkin’s eyes flickered yellow, slitted. Snake eyes.
“Larkin, I said that was enough.” His father gave him the kind of look only a father can give a son who’s always disappointing him. Larkin’s eyes changed back to green.
Macon took a seat at the head of the table. “Why don’t we all sit down? Kitchen has prepared one of her finest holiday meals. Lena and I have been subjected to the clatter for days.” Everyone took their seats at the enormous rectangular claw-foot table. It was dark wood, almost black, and there were intricate designs, like vines, carved into the legs. Huge black candles flickered in the center of the table.
“Sit over here by me, Short Straw.” Ridley led me to an empty chair, across from the silver bird holding Lena’s place card, as if I had a choice.
I tried to make eye contact with Lena, but her eyes were fixed on Ridley. And the
y were fierce. I just hoped Ridley was the only one her anger was directed at.
The table was overflowing with food, even more than the last time I was here; every time I looked at the table there was more. A crown roast, filet tied with rosemary, and more exotic dishes I’d never seen before. A large bird stuffed with dressing and pears, resting on peacock feathers arranged to resemble a live bird’s open tail. I was hoping it wasn’t an actual peacock, but considering the tail feathers, I was pretty sure it was. And sparkling candies, I think, shaped exactly like real seahorses.
But no one was eating, no one except Ridley. She seemed to be enjoying herself. “I just love sugar horses.” She popped two of the tiny golden seahorses into her mouth.
Aunt Del coughed a few times, pouring a glass of black liquid, the consistency of wine, into her glass from the decanter on the table.
Ridley looked at Lena across the table. “So, Cuz, any big plans for your birthday?” Ridley dipped her fingers into a dark brown sauce in the gravy boat next to the bird I hoped wasn’t a peacock, and licked it off her fingers suggestively.
“We’re not discussing Lena’s birthday tonight,” Macon warned.
Ridley was enjoying the tension. She popped another seahorse into her mouth. “Why not?”
Lena’s eyes were wild. “You don’t need to worry about my birthday. You won’t be invited.”
“You certainly should. Worry, I mean. It’s such an important birthday, after all.” Ridley laughed. Lena’s hair started to curl and uncurl itself as if there was a wind in the room. There wasn’t.
“Ridley, I said that’s enough.” Macon was losing his patience. I recognized his tone as the same one he’d had after I took the locket out of my pocket, during my first visit.
“Why are you taking her side, Uncle M? I spent just as much time with you as Lena did, growing up. How did she suddenly become your favorite?” For a moment, she almost sounded hurt.
“You know it has nothing to do with favorites. You have been Claimed. It’s out of my hands.”
Claimed? By what? What was he talking about? The suffocating haze around me was getting thicker. I couldn’t be sure I was hearing everything correctly.