Chapter Twenty Three

The Capulet Girls

Veda

Hattie picked me up off the floor. I hadn't managed to call her or June even though Fair Isle told me to.

“This house is stupid,” Hattie muttered. “There's no proper furniture. Tomorrow, I'm ordering a couch and tossing that stupid bench out the back door.”

“A looter will carry it away on a bike,” I croaked through my dry vocal cords. “Besides, I'd kill you if you got rid of it. My father carved it.”

“Where is your father?” she suddenly asked, putting her face so close to mine, I could smell her shampoo. It jolted me to a higher level of awareness, and I answered her.

“He's dead.”

“That's not the story I heard,” she grumbled. “I heard that your mother left you here for months on end so she could follow him on a never-ending tour of the world.”

I coughed. The scraping of my windpipe hurt. “They're still telling that story? That's sweet of them.”

“It's not true?”

“How could it be true if he's dead? He's been dead since before I was born. My mother was so beautiful. Did you know?” I gasped. “She was like a princess, or a model, or a black and white movie star. All the men wanted her. They fought and fought. Not only did they fight each other, but they also fought her. She had scars on her body from where they took out their rage.” I paused, distracted by the concern on Hattie’s face.

She was trying to muscle me down the hall to my bedroom, but she was failing.

“Stop it,” I begged. “I love lying on the floor. Just drop me.”

She didn't drop me. She lowered me carefully. Then she fetched me a pillow and insisted she put it under my cheek.

“My beautiful father… she loved him so much… and he disappeared. She wanted us to be together… to be a family… but in the end, she didn’t have the strength to take both of us to be with him. She left me here, with all this.” I waved my hand around the room. “These people who sort of love me, until I piss them off by being like my beautiful parents. This house… that sort of shelters me… until it doesn’t. And there’s only one place to go that’s safe.”

“Where?”

I didn’t answer her. “Why didn’t Antony love Pearl?”

“She's not you,” Hattie reminded me.

“No, she isn't. But if I'm a black rose and she's a pink one, then which one is more beautiful? Neither. They are just different. She grew so much and I thought she had that moment.”

“What moment?”

I was finished evading her. “The moment when she becomes precious. People are always precious, but not everyone can see it. Usually, only their parents feel their preciousness. I could see it because I have always believed that she was a girl worth fighting for. That was why I did everything.” I was starting to break down. I was going to end up crying. “Fair Isle is over at her house explaining to her what Antony tried to do to me and she's going to spin it like what he tried to do was worse than rape. And I can't stop her!”

Hattie put her hands on either side of my face and tried to look in my eyes though I kept looking anywhere but at her.

I continued venting. “She was supposed to be precious to Antony. I was supposed to get out of the way so he could see only her. I tried to show him I wasn't that great, but I didn't know how. I am so conceited. It's sick.”

“Stop talking,” Hattie instructed. “Can you hear that?”

I tried to listen, but I couldn't hear anything above the ringing in my ears.

“Your cousins are here.”

Then I heard their footsteps on the porch and the knock on the front door.

Hattie got up.

I wanted to tell her not to answer it. I wanted to tell her to hide on the floor with me and pretend we were not home. The war I waged for my cousins had been so long already and I had lost. I didn't want to see them. I didn't want them to explain all the ways I had failed.

I buried my face in the pillow and waited for what Hattie would do.

I didn't feel anything. I didn't hear any sounds of doors opening, or of people coming in, or of Hattie explaining that I couldn't have visitors just then. Nothing.

After a decent interval, I lifted my head a fraction above my pillow and breathed, “Are they gone?”

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No answer.

I turned my head and saw green velvet Doc Martins. Intarsia was standing beside me. I breathed one easy breath. I wasn't afraid of Intarsia. I turned over and plopped back on the pillow. Clementine and Fair Isle were also there, but no Pearl.

“I have some interesting news for you, girl,” Fair Isle said, squatting in her pleather pants. “Pearl already knew about Antony's treachery, so she's not home hating on you, but she's in no state to go outside. Nothing to fret about though, her mother is home and I sent my mom and Clementine's mom over to help. Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't send Willow and Savannah over to protect Pearl. I don't think Antony is going to make a shady appearance. They need to heal her.”

I nodded. I wanted to stand in the circle for that, but I knew Pearl wouldn't want me. Besides, those three aunts were all sisters. Nothing could be more powerful.

“And we are here to heal you,” Fair Isle said as she got up.

“No,” I whimpered. “I don't deserve it.”

“You may not be able to cure yourself,” Intarsia said softly. Her lips were forest green and though it defied common sense, it looked almost normal.

“I can!” I cried, feeling less worthy than before. “I'm not using the magic I was using to trick Fair Isle about her piercings. I have so much free magic it's like I have a whole other arm. I can do it.”

“Then why aren't you doing it?” Intarsia pointed out.

“What's the hurry?” I muttered caustically, as I moved onto my side. Blood dripped from my ear onto the white pillowcase. “Clementine is the only cousin who isn't mad at me, and for all I know, she might be mad too.”

“Why would I be mad?” Clementine scoffed. “You have been a terrific sport. You've known my secret for years and never blabbed it except in the one moment I needed you to.”

“What do you mean?” Fair Isle asked. “You reading in the library is not a secret.”

“Not that. Veda knows I'm not nineteen.”

Fair Isle gawked. “You're not?”

“No. I'm twenty-nine and Veda only ever told one person.”

“Who?”

“Salinger. He needed to hear it more than anyone. Now he knows that his father isn't a cradle robber and I can start acting my age. It's sort of exciting. I'm going to be someone's wife and go on adventures and have babies... and finally, grow up.” She shook her hair excitedly, then she glanced at me. “She's still bleeding. We need to get moving. The point is, I am not pissed at you. I love you. I always have.”

Intarsia started speaking then. “I'm not angry either. I wasn't even mad at you when Salinger liked you better than me. It was always a risk that he wouldn't fall in love with me. He likes me, and every time he talks to me I can see that I'm not 'the one' in all its glory. Yes, I was hurt, but I never felt like his rejection of me had anything to do with you. He doesn’t match up with me and he has given me an amazing gift.”

“Remy?” Clementine snorted.

“Stop it. I'm not interested in him like that. Have you met the lead singer of his band? His name is Carlos, which I never thought was a sexy name until I met him. You know, the old ladies say there aren't that many other witches in the world? They're wrong. You'd all think so too if you heard this man sing. It's magic.” Intarsia looked at me. “You love us all too much to hurt us on purpose. You never would.”

The moment stretched. Intarsia and Clementine were waiting for Fair Isle to speak. Her lips were parted and her eyes moved from each of the cousins shiftily like she didn't know what to say or how to begin. “This isn't my scene,” she said with her thumbs in her belt loops.

“Oh, isn't it?” Clementine mocked. “You, who always want to get a witch circle going for stupid stuff. Remember Archer? That boy from school who didn't like you and you couldn't figure out why and so you had us make a circle to persuade him, only to discover later that nothing would have helped. He had trypophobia, a fear of holes, and you had ten in your head.”

“That was...” she began.

“A trifle. Nothing. Veda is bleeding. We can't take her to the hospital. No skin has been torn. This is magical and it has to be cured magically.”

“She said she can do it herself,” Fair Isle defended.

“I don’t think she can. He's sapped her strength,” Intarsia retorted.

“Talk to her,” Clementine urged.

Fair Isle still hesitated.

I looked around for Hattie. I couldn't see her anywhere. Why had she left me alone with them? She needed to take Fair Isle's place in the circle. The pain in my head was taking over. I knew now I had lied. I couldn't fix myself.

“Where's Hattie?” I asked.

The cousins looked around.

“Is she here?” Clementine asked.

I nodded. “She was.”

“The door opened to let us in on its own. I thought you did that,” Intarsia said.

“Fair Isle,” Clementine interrupted. “If you are going to make up with Veda so we can heal her, you had better do it now.”

“But,” Fair Isle fairly squeaked, “I hate her. I have always hated her. She did everything I wanted to do, but five seconds before I did it. I always looked like a copycat. I wanted black to be my color, I just wasn't ready to make the commitment as quickly as she was. I only got piercings because I knew Veda would never get them. I did it to make myself special. And sometimes I didn't even know what I wanted to do until I saw her do it, like when she broke tradition and wore a white dress to grad. I didn't even think of doing that and if I had thought of it, I would have done the crap out of it. We always have our milestones together, but I always trip over mine while she dances over hers. It's not fair. Why should she always have the best choice? Because Zellica is gone? I'm sick of that excuse.”

“Shut up, Fair Isle,” Clementine barked. “Those are terrible reasons for hating someone. Isn't it just that you're envious and you don't hate her at all?”

Fair Isle bit her lip and closed her eyes in pain. “She tricked me. I thought I was a badass all this time with all my hooks and loops and studs... and it turns out, I've just been a poser.”

“Do you really want to have all those piercings? I wouldn't blame you if you did want them. My tattoos are real, but I honestly did not get them before I was an adult. I was actually twenty-five and so Veda did not interfere. She knew I was old enough to make that decision. You weren't. But now you're eighteen. Do you want to get those damn piercings done again? Then go! You can go right now.”

Fair Isle's shoulders sagged, but she didn't move.

“See? You never even wanted them. What you wanted was to be different from Veda! And you are!” Clementine sounded victorious as she declared it. She touched both Fair Isle's shoulders and looked into her eyes, “And you are!”

Intarsia stepped forward. “You saved her this afternoon. You are angry at her, and that doesn't mean you hate her. She's bleeding. Do you want her to suffer?”

“No,” Fair Isle said. She stepped forward taking her white and green cousins by the hands.

They started chanting and what they said, I couldn't hear. Their voices were so quiet, their words were like wind. Whatever they said, I only knew it didn't hurt my ears. The pain was gone, but unfortunately, so was everything else.