“Okay, where are we really going?" Ellie asked before she even got to the driveway. “Are you driving us to the city to go shopping? Because I could really use some new gloves.” She held up her left hand and showed Jacey where her fingers were poking out from the holes in the tips of the ones she was wearing.
“I told you,” Jacey said. “You’re going to church.”
“Why?” Ellie asked. “I mean, I don’t mean to insult you or anything, but I thought you were just saying that so I could get out of the house.”
Jacey looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Do you have to lie to get out of the house?”
“No,” Ellie said honestly. “Let’s just say that you came over at a really good time. We were having a family discussion that I didn’t want to be a part of. ”
“They seemed nice to me,” Jacey shrugged. She looked at the heavy cloud cover in the sky. “I don’t like to drive when the weather gets crazy like this, so I left my car at home. The walk will do you good.”
“Me good?” Ellie wondered what she meant by that? It wasn’t like she was overweight or anything. Maybe a pound or two by Jacey standards, but not from the viewpoint of the rest of society. “What do you mean by that?” she questioned.
“Well…” Jacey hesitated.
The snow was really starting to come down, making the thought of going for a walk even less attractive to Ellie. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all, Jacey. Do you want to go back inside and watch a video or something? Nan had Ryan put a DVD player in my room. I don’t know how good her collection is, but there has to be something we could watch.”
Jacey pulled some balm out of her pocket and applied it to her lips. “Right. Listen El, we have a little problem. This is how it is. I’m the one who had to lie. I’m stuck next door, looking after Stan, but I really need you to go to church for me.” She reached back into the pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Ellie. “Here’s a list of things I want you to bring back to me.”
“What?” Ellie asked, looking at the list. “Are you serious?”
Jacey’s expression said she was. “Is there a problem?”
“Uh, yeah there’s a problem. Do you really want me to go to church alone and get these—things? I distinctly remember you saying ‘come-with-me’. I don’t even know where the church is. That would be the first problem.”
Ellie watched Jacey scowl. The fact that those flawless features could even form a scowl indicated to Ellie that for whatever reason, Jacey was bound and determined to make this happen. Ellie decided to humor her and look at the list again.
“Incense,” she noted, her eyes scanning down the paper. “I’m pretty sure Helena’s got some in her office. It’s probably like a stethoscope to a naturopath. But the second thing, the consecrated ground, that might be a toughie. And is there anything in particular I need to put the third item, the holy water, into? Or can I just put it in an empty water bottle? I don’t know if that will wreck it. Like, what do I do if a plastic number five container breaks it down into cancerous Satan particles?”
“Brilliant. You’re mocking me,” Jacey sighed.
“Well, it’s not like you want to borrow a pair of earrings,” Ellie tried to reason. “What do you need these things for anyway? Are you and Stan planning on playing voodoo warrior or something?”
“Very funny,” Jacey said, her head shaking with disapproval. She grabbed Ellie by her coat collar and pulled her within inches of her face. Suddenly, Jacey’s perfect hair, perfect smile and perfect voice distorted, as if she were possessed. “Listen to me, Ellie LaRose. Evil lurks. It lurks here in Troy. We need to take precautions to protect ourselves,” Jacey insisted, taking her hands off Ellie and placing her fingers on the silver cross around her own neck instead.
“Jacey?” Ellie questioned, taking a step back from her.
“Sorry about that,” Jacey replied, tilting her head in a look-at-me-I’m a cheerleader fashion that told Ellie that Jacey was her annoying perky self once again. “Hormones.”
“Jacey, what’s going on?” Ellie asked. “You just did a total banshee on me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that with all these murders, I’m a little on edge.”
That’s right, Ellie remembered. Nan had said murders, plural. Only they never got around to telling her about the other one or ones. But Jacey seemed to know all about them. Interesting, she thought. “But... the incense, consecrated ground and holy water? What’s up with that? Is your necklace not doing it for you anymore?”
“It’s like I told your mom, I just feel better with a few religious things around me. They keep me grounded,” Jacey replied, fingering her silver cross necklace lovingly. “My mother gave this to me before she went away. It’s the last thing she ever gave me, and pretty much all I have left from my life back in England with her and my father. That’s why I always wear it.”
“Sorry,” Ellie offered. “I thought...”
“What?” Jacey laughed. “Did you think I was a devout little Catholic schoolgirl or summat? All knee socks and hail Mary’s?”
“Kind of,” Ellie admitted, taking a closer look at Jacey’s necklace. It was a heavy piece that looked a little out of place on Jacey’s delicate neck. The ornate edges of the cross hinted that it might have been an antique passed down through the generations. It looked like it was pure sterling silver, as it had begun to tarnish a bit on the bottom. “It’s very pretty, really.”
“I know Ryan thinks I’m a religious freak for wearing it, but when Tom starts to pressure me about sex, I just dangle it in front of him and he backs off pretty quick. Subject closed.” She looked Ellie straight in the eye. “That’s our little secret, okay?”
“Okay,” Ellie said. “Do you love Tom?”
The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she had been pondering in her head the past few minutes had been verbalized. If Jacey hadn’t picked up that she had feelings for Tom before, she probably would now.
The question didn’t seem to faze Jacey. Or if it did, she wasn’t letting it show.
“I don’t know. I’m kind of messed up about him,” Jacey replied. “Sometimes I think I do and sometimes I want to strangle him. He can be a right PBP.”
“PBP?” Ellie asked.
“Pretty-boy prat,” Jacey explained. “Why? Does our Tommy make you want to girlie wank?” It was her turn to be blunt.
“Girlie wank?”
“Girlie jerk-off, as Ryan would say.”
“Oh,” Ellie said, now getting the reference. “He’s pretty cute. But I don’t know either. You’re probably not supposed to love someone you’ve known for less than a week.” She smiled at Jacey. “Wank, maybe though.”
“Too true.” Jacey laughed.
“Unless Tom is your boyfriend...because then, you know, I wouldn’t do that to you,” Ellie attested.
“You wouldn’t admit it.”
“No, really,” Ellie insisted. “I wouldn’t do it.” That would be the ultimate betrayal, Ellie thought. She had watched enough movies to know that no good ever came out of stealing your girlfriend’s boyfriend. Friends were supposed to be loyal. That’s why you called them friends.
“Ellie,” Jacey began to explain, “there’s summat you should know. Tom is every girl’s boyfriend. At least he thinks he is. And tries to be. So, the official answer from me, is no. He is not my boyfriend. So feel free to do whatever you want with him.”
Ellie smiled her own perfect smile and giggled in her own look-at-me-I’m a cheerleader fashion that she would never admit she had. “Thanks for that. I’m kind of messed up myself. I want a boyfriend, but I don’t. Do you know what I mean?”
“Totally,” Jacey agreed. “You should be able to rent them for a while. Maybe they could come with a video and popcorn.”
“And no late fees,” Ellie added.
“And you return them after a week.”
“But you’d never buy a used one,” Ellie laughed.
> “Ew!” Jacey giggled.
The bonding effort was not lost on Ellie. It made her feel a little bit better about moving to Troy. If Jacey could make an effort to be friendly, she thought, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try to do the same. Maybe she could cut this fashion doll standing before her some slack. Maybe Jacey would be able to help her maneuver through the dating minefield. She seemed to have some experience at it.
“What’s up with the groping?” Ellie asked. “Why do they always want to grope you? I’m almost sorry I have boobs. I wouldn’t mind so much if there was a little conversation first.”
“Did Tom try to grope you? He did, didn’t he? That is so his move.” Jacey laughed harder. “Did you like groping him?”
“I didn’t,” Ellie protested. “I mean, I didn’t grope him.” Seriously, Ellie wondered, what wasn’t Jacey getting about the betrayal business? How many times was she going to have to tell her?
“Why not?” Jacey asked. She saw Ellie’s face begin to redden. “I’ve hit a nerve there, haven’t I, El?”
“What do you think about Ryan?” Ellie asked, changing the subject. She wasn’t ready to share all her intimate secrets about boys with Jacey. In Ellie’s mind, you shared those kinds of things with people you had known for a long time and trusted. Right now, Jacey was neither of those things.
“I don’t really think about Ryan,” Jacey admitted honestly. “He’s not my type. He's too much of an action man for my liking. Besides, he always calls me names. Like Jace-o-matic.”
“I’ve never heard him call you that,” Ellie offered.
“Have you heard him call me Spacey-Jacey?”
Ellie suddenly felt a little guilty.
“Do you think about Ryan?” Jacey asked. “You know, in that kind of way?”
“He was nice to me, when we walked home from the game the other night. Nicer than Tom. But he’s not really my type either,” Ellie replied. “I mean, I like him but... I think he might be in love with my grandmother.”
Jacey laughed. “That sounds like Ryan. Do you think he did it?”
“Did what?” Ellie asked.
Jacey’s smile vanished from her face. It was evident that Ellie was the only person in Troy who hadn’t heard the news. “They didn’t tell you, did they? He’s in jail. He was caught last night with Brooke Quinlan’s body in his arms. He was down at Stillman’s Creek, by Tara’s place. His mother Betty’s in the psyche ward. That’s why I’m watching Stan.”
Ellie threw her hands up over her mouth. “Oh my God, no. I guess they forgot to tell me that part.”
Tears began to well up in Ellie’s eyes. If Ryan had been found with the body of the little girl down by the creek, it could only mean one thing. He had believed her about her dream and he had gone there to check out her story. Part of her felt vindicated and part of her was horrified. Whatever had happened to him was partially her fault. “Why didn’t they tell me?” she wondered aloud.
Jacey reached out for Ellie’s gloved hand. “I don’t know, Ellie. Maybe they were trying to protect you.”
“My Mom and Nan, they were mad at me for not telling them about the vampire that was in my stupid dream, and then they go and not tell me about Ryan. I hate them right now. I hate the Helens.” She turned and pulled Jacey by her pea-coat collar to within inches of her own face. “Ryan did not do this. I know it.”
“Ellie, let go!”
She released Jacey. “Sorry. Hormones.”
“Did they tell you about Kevin Clark?” Jacey asked, taking her own step back from Ellie.
“Who?”
“He hangs around with Stan Lachey. The one who’s had a few too many bacon butties.” She translated by using her hand to indicate a large belly.
Ellie remembered the pudgy kid who was with them on Halloween night. His name was Kevin. “I think I know who you mean. What about him?”
“He was found at Tara’s place,” Jacey told her. “I gave her a ride home last night, but I left her at the end of the driveway, thank God. When she went around to the back of her house she found her dad under an old fridge and there was Kevin, stuffed inside it.”
“What?” Ellie asked, unable to fully comprehend what Jacey had just told her.
“I know, it’s horrid,” Jacey shuddered. Her eyes were like saucers as she told Ellie the rest of the story she had heard from Tara. “I don’t know whether Ryan is innocent, or if he killed one of them or both of them or what. He might be a mass murderer,” she concluded.
“I can’t believe Kevin is dead too,” Ellie replied, shaking her head in disbelief. “Ryan didn’t do it. He couldn’t have.”
“How can you be so sure?” Jacey asked her. “He gets pretty rough out there on the football field. Maybe he finally snapped.”
“I just know it in my heart,” Ellie tried to explain without going into great detail.
“But isn’t that like the love thing?” Jacey asked. “Can you really know it in your heart if you’ve only known him less than a week?”
Ellie remained silent. If Jacey had known Ryan a lot longer than a week, and she had doubts, could she really be Ryan’s judge and jury based on what she saw in her own crazy nightmare?
“Did you say you dreamt about a vampire?” Jacey asked.
“Just forget it,” Ellie said. “Can we just forget the whole thing...Ryan and Tom and the dream and the church, and go inside? I’ll help you watch Stan. I’m freezing out here.”
“Look, if you don’t want to talk about it right now, that’s okay, but I won’t forget it,” Jacey said. “I’ll help you with your little problem if you want me to.”
“How can you help me, Jacey?” Ellie said with exasperation. “I don’t even know what the hell I’m dealing with.”
Jacey put her arm around Ellie’s shoulder and looked directly into her eyes. “I can help you because I had a weird dream myself last night. I dreamt I had to go to church today and get three things...”