“Miss Klingalsmith,” she announced.
Mr. Applegate nodded and gestured for the maid to leave, leaving him and Rachel alone in the oversized library with a tall ceiling and intricate tapestries. This room, as well as his entire home, was out of place in this small town. The darkness made it a little easier for her to stand her ground.
“Being in here with you brings back fond memories, Rachel,” Mr. Applegate hissed with his charming voice.
“Fond isn’t the word I’d quite use,” she stated without emotion.
He looked about twenty pounds heavier than he used to be, his face smooth as if he’d just gotten a cosmetic lift. He laughed, mocking her. “So tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure this time?” he asked her, eyes now on his papers as if she wasn’t the least bit important.
“I’ve come because I want YOUR son to be free,” she told him sternly.
“It’s amazing how you interchange the words MY and YOUR when it’s convenient.” He stood up and walked over to her. Even being a few feet away from him made her feel uncomfortable, and she did her best to hide it from him. “Wasn’t the reason you and the boy needed to be put in hiding due to YOUR poor judgment in men?” he taunted her coldly.
“My judgment in men has been foolish beginning with my first,” she hissed.
He laughed with his heartless eyes, taking another step toward her.
“Touché, Miss Klingalsmith,” he walked past her toward the bookshelf as if she wasn’t there. “The thing is,” he called back, loving the sound of his own voice, “I’ve more than paid my bill. Besides the finances that you let slip from your fingers, I’ve gone out of my way to erase all your records, making this a safe home for you. The way I see it, we’re more than even and the next favor is going to cost you.”
“Whatever the cost, I’ll pay it,” she told him, turning to face him again with all the strength she could muster.
“Big words for someone with no money.” He was enjoying this. “What is it exactly that you want me to do?”
“I want the whole threat taken care of.”
“You want me to ‘take care of’ a branch of America’s remaining mafia?” He walked toward her. “How do you suppose I do such a thing?”
“I know exactly what you’re capable of, Richard,” she barked. How could she ever have believed the lies of such a monster? He could have taken care of this months ago, but he’d chosen to do the least possible.
“Do you now? Well.” He smiled, taking a step closer, making himself only inches away from her. “If you’re willing to pay the price.” He stroked her cheek with his left hand; she tuned her face away from him. “Then we have a deal. You will never have to worry your pretty little face again,” he went on, getting even closer.
She faced him, looking into his eyes, understanding what she was going to have to do …
* * *
Donna
Donna felt the warmth inside her from the sip of alcohol she consumed as she danced, knowing she’d have to run extra tomorrow morning for even pretending to drink more of it. Every song they played was a mix, probably made by a teen her age, but the beats worked. Cody had seemed to get closer and closer, and she tried her best to keep from looking into his green eyes.
She danced as she felt her body get hot, and her hands started to feel like they were falling asleep. All of a sudden, she remembered, as she felt the bouncing molecules spread down her body, what she was, or at least what she wasn’t, and that was normal. As she moved away from the crowd toward the bathroom, all her worries and fears came rushing back to her. She nearly panicked at the line for the bathroom, which lead to just one stall. She’d never get in there before she turned. She walked up to the bar and pushed her way to the front, calling out to the one bartender that she’d like a glass of water. He barely even looked at her, still getting drinks for the others.
She panicked, feeling her body about to change, trying to will it not to, but she couldn’t control it. She asked him again, and still there was no sign of him getting it for her. She looked toward the door, about to make a run for it when …
“Hey, Joe, the lady needs a bottled water!” Cody yelled behind her.
The three hundred pound man rolled his eyes and grabbed a bottled water out of the ice chest and threw it over. Cody caught it perfectly and handed it to Donna. Just touching the cold water made some of her heat dissolve. Cody yelled to the man to put it on his tab as Donna opened it and drank the whole thing in two gulps, letting the water return her skin to feeling normal.
“If you don’t order something that costs money, big Joe won’t move a muscle,” he whispered to her.
“Thank you,” she told him, taking the last drop from the bottle.
“You sure are thirsty, huh?” Cody commented.
“Yeah, um, I get dehydrated easily. Probably shouldn’t have had some of that margarita,” she said, nervous from his presence.
He laughed. “You mean the three sips you took? You don’t drink much do you?” he teased her.
She smiled. “Not really.”
“A good girl, ha!” he continued.
“I guess.” She felt herself blushing and hoped it wouldn’t be obvious.
“That’s kind of sexy,” he told with a flirting smile.
Donna now was blushing outrageously, not knowing how to respond. She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Cody Lighter.
“I bet whatever jock your dating at you’re high school would be very jealous of you being here right now.”
“Me? Not really,” she said shyly.
“What, you’ve got to be one of the most beautiful girls from East Applegate I’ve ever seen.”
“Um,” her heart racing now. “Thanks.”
“Is that an ‘I’ll dance with you to the next song’ thanks? Or an ‘I’m not interested but thanks anyway’ thanks?” he asked, still flirting in a low voice.
She smiled nervously, trying to think of a cool thing to say next. Cody was gorgeous, not like Ryan, or Peter whom she had dated in the city. He was taller than her, with tan skin from the outdoors. He had blond hair and green eyes. He looked like a surfer, but spoke with a country-like accent, which showed he was clearly born and raised here.
“Dancing sounds great right now,” she said, trying to sound cool. He smiled and took her hand gently to lead her back to the middle of the dance floor.
Chapter Six
It was Thanksgiving Day, and school was off. Donna still got up early and went for her run, barely making eye contact with Ryan. Even with how weird, and small, and practically nonexistent their friendship was, dancing all night last week with his football, baseball, and track rival felt like some sort of a betrayal. Worst of all, Cody and all the rest of that group were meeting her and Brook tomorrow night. Brook had put Donna on the spot, forcing her to say yes to Cody when he smoothly invited them. It would be Brook’s last week before she went back to the city.
She and Ryan stopped for water, and he barely even spoke to her this time. Could he know? Donna wondered. Did the whole school know? Then she remembered today was Thanksgiving, and after going to both her grandparents houses, she and her dad were going over to the Applegate’s. They did every year during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mr. Applegate’s birthday. He and her dad were best friends growing up.
Ryan was probably getting ready for a night with his brother, ignoring her as usual. In fact, he and his brother usually only stayed half the time, or, even worse, he would bring Lynn over like he had last year. That was when he and Lynn had first started getting serious. Before then, like his brother, he had just dated around. Even as a freshman, Ryan had dated a few senior girls. There never seemed to be a limit to the girls Ryan could date if he wanted to.
Donna half smiled, trying to make their exchange as less awkward as possible and took a long drink, as Ryan started on his separate way. Since no one was going to be at school, she figured she’d run over to the gym and practice gymnastics by her
self.
When Donna got to the gym, she turned on the lights, and pulled the large beam out to the middle of the room. She was going to try some new things. She was just about dehydrated enough to feel herself start to turn a little and wanted to see if she could control it somehow.
She started off with her first set of poses and a twist, going faster than normal, pretending she was listening to the music she had listened to at Jetties. She felt that tingly falling asleep feeling and touched her hands to the cold water bottle she had just filled from the school fountain, which she had placed on the end of the beam.
It relieved her a bit, but didn’t stop her from turning completely. She jumped, doing a back handspring back tuck twice in a row without a problem. She was feeling her body get lighter and faster as if part of her was turned into electricity on the inside, but not enough to show on the outside. She felt lighter and more alive, as if connected to the energy she could sense through the walls and lights.
She kept going, feeling lighter and lighter and more complete as she did the routine. She kept touching the bottle every time before she felt her body’s electric change try to come on completely.
“Holy crap! When you said you were a gymnast, you should have said an Olympic champion,” she heard a voice call to her.
Panic took Donna over, and she grabbed her water, recognizing the voice, as she took a long drink before she turned around. “Hey,” Donna started, turning around and facing Brook.
“I figured this is where I’d find you!”
Donna smiled, trying not to look too startled.
“Yeah, it’s a site isn’t it?” Donna said, referring to the old gym.
“It’s something,” Brook said looking around the room. The walls were gray and dirty and the mats were barely cushioned.
Where they practiced gymnastics was actually the old gym used by her parents. Mr. Applegate had donated money to build a brand new gym years ago, but that one was used by the more popular sports teams, like basketball, and for cheerleading practice.
“You though, you were incredible.”
Donna smiled shyly, getting off the beam.
“Really, you were great. I had no idea my skinny gymnast was so spry. Anyway,” Brook jumped up on the beam to sit on it, “I was wondering what’s going down for Thanksgiving? My least favorite holiday,” she added.
“Well,” Donna sipped more water. “First I go to my grandparents’ house on my mom’s side; they have a morning thing. Then I go to my grandmother’s on my dad’s side for about a half an hour before she leaves to eat at her friend’s house, and lastly we go to the Applegate’s for a big, awkward dinner.”
“The Applegate’s, as in Randy Applegate’s house? He didn’t act like he knew you very well.”
That’s not a surprise … Donna thought. “Yeah, well, he and my dad are like best friends,” Donna told her.
“Wow, um. I guess opposites do attract.”
“Yeah, Mr. Applegate is my godfather and vice versa.”
“Weird,” Brook pondered. “So what’s the deal with you, Ryan, and Randy?” she asked.
“Well … ” Donna decided to sum it up. “Ryan and I were friends as kids. Randy was older and picked on us. Ryan grew up and got cool, I grew up and got fat, and we stopped being friends. He’ll talk to me now, but only if no ones around.”
“Sounds like he’s a jerk.”
“No, I mean, he is really rich, and me and my dad kept leaving for the city. And all our money problems … I guess it’s only natural—”
“Oh, stop covering for him,” Brook interrupted her.
Donna bit her lip. Yeah, maybe she was covering for him. She did that sometimes; when Spencer used to start his Ryan and Randy rants, she’d tell him to stop. As if she and Ryan were still really great friends. Not that he ever did that for her with Lynn …
“You are much better off with that Cody; he’s a nice blond haired, blue eyed piece of meat.”
Donna blushed just thinking about Cody. Could he really have said those things to her and danced with her the entire night? “He had green eyes, actually,” Donna said shyly, blushing more.
“Oh, my gosh! My skinny gymnast has a crush!” Brook started.
Oh gosh … Donna thought. I’m never going to hear the end of this. Donna and Brook giggled, and Donna once again felt completely normal and loved as a true friend. She savored the moment, knowing soon she would be living without Brook here. She didn’t want to think about it.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer sat in his room thinking about Donna and Rebecca. They’d been his two best friends in East Applegate, and now he had no one. Every minute since the accident he dreamed about different scenarios. He’d dreamt that Donna had been hit by the car and died. He’d dreamt she was hit and put in the hospital. That she’d gone into a coma, and when he went to visit her she turned into that thing in front of him. He’d dreamt Donna was an alien, which was his number one theory. In this dream, she came and abducted him and Rebecca. He dreamt that he, Rebecca, and Donna all turned into those things. He dreamt last night that he had never moved away from his old middle school in Florida. That he was visiting his mom’s old town. That he was with his friends and a boat of hot girls, and they saw Donna and Rebecca and started hitting on them both. That had been the weirdest dream yet.
He been talking to Collin, the only friend he thought it was still safe to call, every day this month. He used to talk to him once a month but now he had no one else but his coworkers to talk to, and they were all his mom’s age. He wished someone who looked like Donna’s new friend would take a job at the diner, but then this was East Applegate. Good things only happened to people who were cool enough to hang with Ryan and Randy Applegate.
He missed his friends, even Donna. What could she be? Paul and Rebecca were talking about others like her; was this some kind of alien invasion or what? A part of him felt horrible; that look in her eyes when he told her they couldn’t be friends any more. He’d done it so he and his mom could stay safe, but that look was haunting him.
“Spencer, you have to be there at 4:00 and it’s 3:45. Come on!” his mom ordered.
This was their tradition. His mom worked every holiday and then the next day they’d celebrate it together. Which meant he wouldn’t eat turkey and stuffing until tomorrow, and he had to work with his mom tonight. Why have I taken this job again? Oh ya … to distract you from having to live with yourself.
* * *
Donna
Donna’s dad and her grandmother sat in her dusty living room and talked. Their conversations were always the same. He’d tell her of the new evidence concerning her brother and she’d give him hope that he was close to finding him. She was the only one left who did. Donna knew the odds were that her brother was dead. He’d been missing for eleven years now. Everyone told her dad that after three years the odds were pretty much very, very slim to none. Yet her dad never would give up. She suspected he’d still be hiring new PI’s when she was in her thirties. Donna barely remembered her brother now, and hated to look at pictures because it made her dad very emotional.
She excused herself to the bathroom, knowing she’d only have five minutes to go into her grandmother’s messy guestroom where she kept old boxes of her deceased husband’s things in the closet and under the bed.
Donna locked the door behind her but didn’t turn the light on in fear her father would get upset knowing she was looking through his father’s old stuff. She knelt down on her knees and pulled the first box from under the bed. It was labeled “Wedding Photos.” She pushed it to the side and found another box labeled “Pictures.”
She peeled the tape off the side quietly and opened it. Thrown in the box were all kinds of pictures piled in a disorderly fashion. She looked through them. There were pictures of her dad as a toddler, and pictures of him and Mr. Applegate as teenagers graduating. Looking at the images she realized just how odd her father and Mr. Applegate were as friends. Her
dad had been tall and handsome. The eighties version of a jock, she supposed. Richard Applegate had Ryan’s face, only he had been thinner and less strong looking. He was shorter, which made her wonder where Ryan got his height from. Must have been from his mother’s side, she guessed. Mr. Applegate had worn very large glasses.
She found another graduation photo with her father, Mr. Applegate, and her mom. She was so beautiful and looked so happy. She took that picture and stuffed it in her jean’s pocket, then closed the box. Pictures weren’t going to answer her questions.
She pushed it aside, and opened a box that wasn’t labeled. Inside was another dusty newspaper clipping, the same as she’d read before. She looked past it at the other stuff in the box. There were invitations to a magic show her grandfather must have made when he was young. There was also an old black and white picture of her grandfather as a boy, wearing a cape and holding a rabbit over a hat. She took these pictures and put them in her pocket as well, and then saw the old, dusty hat he had worn, meant for a child. She picked it up, shaking the dust off and examined it. It seemed to be a real hat, no holes in the bottom or anything for him to hide the rabbit in. So what was the trick? Was she really willing to believe that her grandfather was a real magician and she was some lightning girl circus act? Must have been a different hat in the picture … Must have.
Hearing her dad coming, she quickly folded the small hat before putting it in her other pocket; her jean’s pockets now looked overfull and bulky. She pushed the boxes back under the bed and darted toward the bathroom.
She’d just found more questions instead of answers, but it would have to be enough for now.
* * *
Three long hours later, Donna and her dad walked into the Applegate mansion. Daisy, the housekeeper, opened the door and gave Donna a hug. She was so nice to Donna, telling her how much she looked like her mother and how she was growing into a lady. She’d ask Donna’s dad every time she saw him to stay out of trouble, even though he was grown up now. He and Mr. Applegate must have been mischievous boys growing up. Looking at her dad, she couldn’t imagine him harming a fly, but then she couldn’t imagine he had been the most popular jock in school either.