Page 11

CHAPTER 11

I t was so cold outside; I could see the frost on the window in my bedroom, which was annoying because I’d spent a couple of hours the day before carefully painting white tempera snowdrifts on each of the little panes of glass downstairs and then it had really snowed so that was all for nothing.

God, I was so tired.

It was the nightmares, still, the ones where Serena Stafford comes back. They’d wake me up and then I couldn’t go back to sleep. And without sleep, I can’t think right. I can’t plan. I can’t . . . cope.

I gave up and got out of bed, which annoyed William, my cat, but then he went back to sleep, so I wasn’t going to feel guilty. I went over to the window to check, and yep, my pal Marley was parked down below in the back alley, sleeping in his truck, probably freezing to death. The truck was completely covered in snow, so he wasn’t awake yet. I’d noticed night before last that he was sleeping down there, but then last night he was there, too. I don’t know how long the dummy had been doing that even though we’d given him Ozzie’s apartment across the hall. I didn’t know what his deal was, and he wasn’t explaining anything, and I had enough problems of my own, but . . . what the hell, Marley? I thought about going downstairs and climbing in the truck and punching him awake, but I was too damn tired to do it.

So instead, I got dressed and went downstairs to ask my mom what to do about him and she wasn’t there. Probably still sleeping. She was having a hard time right now, too. For the past month, half the town had been showing up with the problems they used to take to Ozzie, and we’d lived with Ozzie for nineteen years, so we knew what he’d say on most things, but some things are just . . . well, as my mom says, not in our skill set.

I was having some problems with people, too. Luke’s son, Darius, my ex-boyfriend, had looked really sad since our breakup, and people were blaming me, at least kids at school were, and it wasn’t all my fault, but I did end it with him, and I wasn’t interested in talking about the kidnapping that had made me realize we were done, so people jumped to conclusions. I was mostly done with school anyway, but now I was getting shunned and people were saying lousy things, so I really had no need to spend any more time there. But today, I had to go back to finish this semester’s classes, which was a pain.

When I got downstairs, one of the masks I’d found in Ozzie’s boxes was on the counter, the big white rabbit mask that Ozzie had put a post-it on that said “Coral.” Mom had done some fun stuff to it like putting a black lace hat on it, although Coral’s real-life hat was much bigger. She’d given the rabbit coffee cup earrings and lined the ears with bread and knives, but it wasn’t quite there yet. I went to look closer at the mask and the front door opened and my mom came in, looking even more frazzled if possible, although she tried to hide it by smiling. Cheery Boost.

“What do you think?” She picked up the mask and showed it to me.

“There should be a fish on there,” I said, my brain finally kicking into gear.

“A fish?”

“Pike.”

She laughed and it sounded so good. She hadn’t laughed much since Max had left. Since Ozzie had died, really. She hadn’t danced around the kitchen for months before that, probably because she’d stopped playing music. I hated all of that. I wanted her singing and dancing and laughing and making stuff?—

“I’ll find a fish and glue it on,” she said. “I want to take it over to her later when I check on her.”

“Check on her?” I froze. “Is she sick?” No more bad news, no more bad news, we couldn’t lose anybody else, especially Coral.

My mother hit me with more Cheery Boost. “Everything’s fine ! Somebody attacked her with a knife this morning, but she’s fine now, just resting, and hey, guess what? Sid Quill left his pharmacy to a doctor and she heard Coral’s scream and showed right up and took good care of her. We need to get her to stay in town, so I’m working on that.”

“How bad is Coral?” I asked, my heart sinking.

“She has a cut on her arm and one on her cheek. She lost some blood, but Dr. Quill stitched her up just fine and listened to her heart and all of that and said she just needed rest. So I’m going to make lasagna to take over to her later. You know how she loves my lasagna.” She watched me for a minute. “Think about the lasagna, Poppy, not the knife.”

I could feel the tears start—I never cried and then I got kidnapped and now all I do is cry, and it’s so boring for everybody—so I just nodded, a little wobbly. “Good. Lasagna is good. Make lasagna for us, too, please.” I swallowed hard. “I bet there’s a fish in that giant box of junk jewelry Ozzie got you for collage. Want me to look? I’ve got time before school.”

Mom looked at me closer. “Why are you up so early?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Change of subject before she got all motherly on me. “Oh, uh, Marley stopped by on his way to his internship yesterday and dropped off some more stuff upstairs.”

“Oh.” I could see my mom trying not to ask about Marley, but that was hopeless. “Did you guys have a fight?”

“Nope.” I put the Coral-Rabbit mask down. “So what do we need to do for Coral?”

“It’s mostly done,” Mom said. “Luke took care of the person who tried to hurt Coral, and Dr. Quill took care of Coral. Anita is opening for her while she sits quietly because she wouldn’t go up to bed. Everything’s fine, Poppy.”

I didn’t know what “took care of” meant, but if Luke was doing it, that person was no longer our problem. “Anita’s doing it all by herself?”

“Coral is supervising.”

I nodded. “I’ll go in after school. She’s going to need help.”

“Good,” my mom said and hesitated. “You still look upset. What’s wrong?”

I could have given her a list, but I just said, “That doctor showing up was very convenient. Zebra convenient.” I know, that’s more paranoia, but high school students in Rocky Start often have remarkable instincts for danger. It’s not the Hellmouth here, but we’re aware.

Mom shook her head. “The doctor’s name is Jacqueline Quill. She’s in town because she inherited Sid’s pharmacy. She heard Coral scream, the same way I did. Anybody who’d heard that scream would have come running.”

“Coral was scared?” I said, my heart dropping. Coral was never scared.

Mom thought about it. “I don’t think so. I think it was rage. This woman had asked for food and then betrayed her. The doctor was very good with Coral and I would like her to stay because Rocky Start needs a doctor. Work on that.”

I was about to say that getting doctors was a little beyond my reach when the door to the shop opened and a teenage girl strolled in, tall and Black, all braids and piercing eyes.

“Are you related to Jaqueline Quill?” my mother said, which was uncharacteristically rude of her.

“So?” the girl said, drawling the word.

“Please excuse my mother,” I said. “I’m Poppy Malone and you’re welcome to my shop.”

The girl looked me up and down. “Your shop? Aren’t there child labor laws here?”

“I’m eighteen, smartass,” I said. “Nineteen in January. Do you want to fight or do you want to find something here?”

“I just want to look around,” the girl said. “I’m bored. And if I go back to my mom, she’ll make me clean up after that icky old man, and that place is weird.” The girl looked around. “Have you got anything good?” She came forward to look at the rabbit mask, trying to be cool but smiling at it anyway.

“Somewhere, yes,” I said. “I sympathize with the cleaning part. I’m also cleaning out an old guy’s place.” I stopped. “A great old guy.”

Mom and I looked at each other for a second. Ozzie’s death still hurt. A lot.

The girl looked around. “If I help you, will you pay me?”

I looked at her, exasperated. “Let’s try this again. Hi. I’m Poppy Malone. And you are?”

The girl looked back under lowered brows, clearly considering if I deserved her name or if it was time to beat it. “Hester Quill,” she said, “and no I don’t like my first name. My mother got it from a book. A great book, but still . . .” She shook her head at the iniquity of her mother.

“ The Scarlet Letter ?” I said, in sympathy now.

“ Indigo ,” the girl said. “Call me Quill.”

Mom turned to me. “You want to hire Hester here to help you go through the boxes? After school . Oh! You should take Hes—” The girl glared at her. “—Quill to school with you. If she and her mom stay, that’s where she’ll be going.”

“That’s okay,” Quill said quickly. “We’re not staying.”

I knew what my mother was doing, part of her master plan to keep a doctor in Rocky Start, and I couldn’t see how she thought Bearton High would be a selling point, but what the hell, I could help. “You want to go back and work with your mother?” I asked.

Quill weighed her options. “Yeah, I’ll go check out the school. Can you bring me back by lunch though?”

“Sure.” I wanted to be back to help Anita by then anyway. I had enough credits to graduate already, not much they could do to me if I left early . “Let me get my keys.”

My mom looked grateful, so before Quill and I left, I hunted out some fish earrings from the boxes of jewelry Ozzie had bought for the store and left those beside the rabbit mask for her. Then I took Quill out back to the Pathfinder that Ozzie had left us. Marley was already gone, probably on his way to his garage mechanic internship in Bearton. Didn’t matter, tonight we were having a come-to-Jesus talk about what the hell he was doing.

Marley sleeping in his truck, Coral getting attacked, that dumbass Max whooping it up on the Appalachian Trail instead of staying here and keeping us safe and my mom warm? Yeah, all of that needed to change, even if I had to text Max that Mom was dead to get him to come back.

Time for me to get my act together and get back to work.