Then I heard a familiar voice at the door, and I knew I would rather face anyone’s gramma than what was waiting outside the door right now. Because it was Ridley and Link, Savannah and Emily and Eden and Charlotte, with the rest of their fan club, and the Jackson basketball team. None of them were wearing their daily uniform, Jackson Angels T-shirts. Then I remembered why. Emily had a smudge of dirt on her cheek. The Reenactment. I realized Lena and I had missed most of it already, and now we were going to fail history. By now, it was all over, except the evening campaign and the fireworks. Funny how an F would seem like a big deal on any other day.
“SURPRISE!”
Surprise didn’t even begin to describe it. Once again, I had allowed chaos and danger to find its way to Ravenwood. Everyone crowded into the front hall. Gramma waved from the couch. Macon sipped his scotch, composed, as always. It was only if you knew him that you knew he was about to lose it.
Actually, come to think of it, why had Larkin even let them in?
This can’t be happening.
The surprise party, I forgot all about it.
Emily pushed to the front of the group. “Where’s the birthday girl?” She held her arms out expectantly, like she was planning to give Lena a big hug. Lena recoiled, but Emily wasn’t that easily deterred.
Emily looped her arm through Lena’s like they were long-lost friends. “We’ve been plannin’ this party all week. We’ve got live music and Charlotte rented these outdoor lights so everyone can see, I mean the grounds of Ravenwood are so dark.” Emily dropped her voice as if she were discussing selling contraband on the black market. “And we have some peach schnapps.”
“You have to see it,” Charlotte drawled, practically gasping for breath between words because her jeans were so tight. “There’s a laser machine. It’s a rave at Ravenwood, how cool is that? It’s just like one a those college parties over in Summerville.”
A rave? Ridley must have really pulled out all the stops for this one. Emily and Savannah throwing Lena a party and fawning over her like she was their Snow Queen? This must have been harder than getting them all to jump off a cliff.
“Now, let’s go up to your room and get you ready, birthday girl!” Charlotte sounded even more like a cheerleader than she normally did, always overcompensating.
Lena looked green. Her room? Half the writing on her walls was probably about them.
“What are you talkin’ about, Charlotte? She looks just gorgeous. Don’t you think so, Savannah?” Emily gave Lena a little squeeze and looked at Charlotte disapprovingly, like maybe she should lay off the pie and put some effort into looking that gorgeous.
“Are you kiddin’? I would just die for this hair,” Savannah said, winding a strand of Lena’s hair around her finger. “It’s so amazingly… black.”
“My hair was black last year, at least underneath,” Eden protested. Last year, Eden had dyed the underside of her hair black, leaving the top blond, in one of her misguided attempts to distinguish herself. Savannah and Emily had teased her mercilessly, until she dyed it back a whole day later.
“You looked like a skunk.” Savannah smiled at Lena approvingly. “She looks like an Italian.”
“Let’s go. Everyone’s waitin’ on you,” Emily said, grabbing Lena’s arm. Lena shrugged them off.
This has to be some kind of trick.
It’s a trick all right, but I don’t think it’s the kind you’re imagining. It probably has more to do with a Siren and a lollipop.
Ridley. I should’ve known.
Lena looked at Aunt Del and Uncle Macon. They were horrified, as if all the Latin in the world hadn’t prepared them for this one. Gramma smiled, unfamiliar with this particular brand of angel. “What’s the rush? Would you children like to stay and have a cup of tea?”
“Hiya, Gramma!” Ridley called from the doorway, where she was hanging back on the veranda, sucking on her red lollipop with an intensity that made me think if she stopped this whole thing might fall like a house of cards. She didn’t have me to get her through the door this time. She was an inch away from Larkin, who looked amused but stood directly in front of her. Ridley was spilling out of a tightly laced vest that looked like a cross between lingerie and something a girl on the cover of Hot Rod magazine would wear, and a low-slung jean skirt.
Ridley leaned against the doorframe. “Surprise, surprise!”
Gramma put her teacup down. She picked up her knitting. “Ridley. What a pleasure to see you, dear! Your new look is very becoming, darling. I’m sure you’ll have lots of gentlemen callers.” Gramma flashed Ridley an innocent smile, though her eyes weren’t smiling.
Ridley pouted, but continued sucking on her lollipop. I walked over to where she was standing. “How many licks does it take, Rid?”
“For what, Short Straw?”
“To get Savannah Snow and Emily Asher to throw a party for Lena?”
“More than you know, Boyfriend.” She stuck out her tongue at me, and I could see it was streaked with red and purple. The sight was dizzying.
Larkin sighed and looked past me. “There’re maybe a hundred kids out there, in the field. There’s a stage and speakers, cars all along the road.”
“Really?” Lena looked out the window. “There’s a stage in the middle of the magnolia trees.”
“My magnolia trees?” Macon was on his feet.
I knew the whole thing was a farce, that Ridley was bringing this party to life with every suggestive lick, and Lena knew it, too. But I could still see it in Lena’s eyes. There was a part of her that wanted to go out there.
A surprise party, where everyone in school shows up. That must have been on Lena’s regular-high-school-girl list too. She could deal with being a Caster. She was just tired of being an outcast.
Larkin looked at Macon. “You’re never gonna get them to leave. Let’s get this over with. I’ll stay with her the whole time, me or Ethan.”
Link pushed his way to the front of the crowd. “Dude, let’s go. My band, the Holy Rollers, it’s our Jackson High debut. It’s gonna be awesome.” Link was happier than I’d ever seen him before. I looked over at Ridley suspiciously. She shrugged, chewing on her lolly.
“We’re not going anywhere. Not tonight.” I couldn’t believe Link was here. His mother would have a heart attack if she ever found out.
Larkin looked at Macon, who was irritated, and Aunt Del, who was panicked. This was the last night either one of them wanted to let Lena out of their sight. “No.” Macon didn’t even consider it.
Larkin tried again. “Five minutes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“When’s the next time a bunch a people from her school are goin’ to throw her a party?”
Macon didn’t miss a beat. “Hopefully, never.”
Lena’s face fell. I was right. She wanted to be part of all this, even if it wasn’t real. It was like the dance, or the basketball game. It was the reason she bothered to go to school in the first place, no matter how horribly they treated her. It was why she showed up, day after day, even if she ate on the bleachers and sat on the Good-Eye Side. She was sixteen, Caster or not. For one night, that was all she wanted to be.
There was only one other person as stubborn as Macon Ravenwood. If I knew Lena, her uncle didn’t stand a chance, not tonight.
She walked over to Macon and looped her arm through his. “I know this sounds crazy, Uncle M, but can I go to the party, just for a little while? Just to hear Link’s band?” I watched for her hair to curl, the telltale Caster breeze. It didn’t move. This wasn’t Caster magic she was working. It was another kind altogether. She couldn’t charm her way out from under Macon’s watch. She would have to resort to older magic, stronger magic, the kind that had worked best on Macon from the time she first moved to Ravenwood. Plain old love.
“Why would you want to go anywhere with these people after everything they’ve put you through?” I could hear him softening as he spoke.
“Nothing’s changed. I don’t want anything to do with those girls, but I still want to go.”
“You’re not making sense.” Macon was frustrated.
“I know. And I know it’s stupid, but I just want to know what it feels like to be normal. I want to go to a dance without practically destroying it. I want to go to a party I’m actually invited to. I mean, I know it’s all Ridley, but is it wrong if I don’t care?” She looked up at him, biting on her lip.
“I can’t allow it, even if I wanted to. It’s too dangerous.”
They locked eyes. “Ethan and I never even got to dance, Uncle M. You said it yourself.”
For a second, it seemed like Macon might relent, but only for a second. “Here’s what I didn’t say. Get used to it. I never got to spend a day in any school, or even walk through town on a Sunday afternoon. We all have disappointments.”
Lena played her last card. “But it’s my birthday. Anything could happen. This might be my last chance…” The rest of the sentence lingered in the air.
To dance with my boyfriend. To be myself. To be happy.
She didn’t have to say it. We all knew.
“Lena, I understand how you feel, but it’s my responsibility to keep you safe. Especially tonight, you have to remain here with me. The Mortals will only put you in harm’s way, or bring you pain. You can’t be normal. You weren’t meant to be normal.” Macon had never spoken to Lena like this. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the party, or me.
Lena’s eyes shone, but she didn’t cry. “Why not? What’s so wrong with wanting what they have? Did you ever stop to think they might have gotten something right?”
“What if they have? What does it matter? You’re a Natural. One day, you will go somewhere Ethan can never follow. And every minute you spend together now will only be a burden you will have to carry for the rest of your life.”
“He’s not a burden.”
“Oh, yes he is. He makes you weak, which makes him dangerous.”
“He makes me strong, which is only dangerous to you.”
I stepped between them. “Mr. Ravenwood, come on. Don’t do this tonight.”
But Macon had already done it. Lena was furious. “And what would you know about that? You’ve never been burdened with a relationship in your life, not even a friend. You don’t understand anything. How could you? You sleep in your room all day and mope around in your library all night. You hate everyone, and you think you’re better than everyone. If you’ve never really loved anyone, how could you possibly know how it feels to be me?”
She turned her back on Macon, on all of us, and ran up the staircase, with Boo trailing after her. Her bedroom door slammed, the sound echoing back down into the hall. Boo lay down in front of Lena’s door.
Macon stared after her, even though she was gone. Slowly, he turned to me. “I couldn’t allow it. I’m sure you understand.” I knew this was possibly the most dangerous night of Lena’s life, but I also knew it might be her last chance to be the girl we all loved. So I did understand. I just didn’t want to be in the same room with him right now.