Link edged his way to the front of the crowd of kids still standing in the hall. “So is there gonna be a party or not?”
Larkin grabbed his coat. “It’s already a party. Let’s get out there. We’ll celebrate for Lena.”
Emily pushed her way next to Larkin, and everyone else trailed after them. Ridley was still standing in the doorway. She looked at me and shrugged. “I tried.”
Link was waiting for me by the door. “Ethan, come on, man. Let’s go.”
I looked up the staircase.
Lena?
“I’m gonna stay here.”
Gramma put down her knitting. “I don’t know that she’ll be coming down anytime soon, Ethan. Why don’t you go with your friends and check in on her in a few minutes?” But I didn’t want to leave. This might be the last night we spent together. Even if we were spending it in Lena’s room, I still wanted to be with her.
“At least come out and hear my new song, man. Then you can come back and wait for her to come down.” Link had his drumsticks in his hand.
“I think that would be best.” Macon poured himself another scotch. “You can come back in a little while, but we have some things we need to discuss in the meantime.” It was decided. He was kicking me out.
“One song. Then I’m going to wait out front.” I looked at Macon. “For a little while.”
The field behind Ravenwood was crammed with people. There was a makeshift stage at one end, with portable lights, the same kind they used for the night portion of the Battle of Honey Hill. There was music blasting from the speakers, but it was hard to hear over the cannon fire in the distance.
I followed Link to the stage, where the Holy Rollers were setting up. There were three of them and they looked about thirty. The guy adjusting his guitar amp had tattoos covering both arms and what looked like a bike chain around his neck. The bass player had spiky black hair that matched the black makeup around his eyes. The third guy had so many piercings it hurt just looking at him. Ridley hopped up, sat on the edge of the stage, and waved at Link.
“Wait till you hear us. We rock. I just wish Lena was here.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint.” Lena walked up behind us and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her eyes were red and teary, but in the dark, she looked just like everyone else.
“What happened? Did your uncle change his mind?”
“Not exactly. But what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, and I don’t care if it does. He’s being so awful tonight.” I didn’t say anything. I would never understand the relationship between Lena and Macon, any more than she could understand the relationship between Amma and me. But I knew she was going to feel terrible when this was all over. She couldn’t stand to hear anyone say anything bad about her uncle, not even me; for her to be the one saying it made it that much worse.
“Did you sneak out?”
“Yeah. Larkin helped me.” Larkin walked toward us, carrying a plastic cup. “You only turn sixteen once, right?”
This isn’t a good idea, L.
I just want one dance. Then we’ll go back.
Link headed for the stage. “I wrote you a song for your birthday, Lena. You’re gonna love it.”
“What’s it called?” I asked suspiciously.
“Sixteen Moons. Remember? That weird song you could never find on your iPod? It just popped into my head last week, all in one piece. Well, Rid helped a little.” He grinned. “I guess you could say, I had a muse.”
I was speechless. But Lena grabbed my hand, and Link grabbed the microphone, and there was no stopping him. He adjusted the microphone stand so that the mic was in front of his mouth. Well, to be honest, it was more like inside his mouth, and it was sort of gross. Link had watched a lot of MTV over at Earl’s. You had to hand it to him, since he was about to get rolled off the stage, holy or not. He was pretty brave, all things considered.
He closed his eyes, sitting behind the drums, sticks poised in the air. “One, two, three.”
The lead guitarist, the surly-looking guy wearing the bike chain, hit one note on his guitar. It sounded awful, and the amps began to whine on either side of the stage. I winced. This was not going to be pretty. And then he hit another note, and another.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, if there are any a either around.” Link raised an eyebrow and a ripple of laughter moved through the crowd. “I’d like to say Happy Birthday, Lena. And now, put your hands together for the world premiere of my new band, the Holy Rollers.”
Link winked at Ridley. The guy thought he was Mick Jagger. I felt bad for him, and grabbed Lena’s hand. It felt like I had plunged my hand into the lake, in the winter, when the top of the water was warm from the sun and an inch below that was pure ice. I shivered, but I wouldn’t let go. “I hope you’re ready for this. He’s going to go down in flames. We’ll be back in your room in five minutes. Promise.”
She stared up at him thoughtfully. “I’m not so sure about that.”
Ridley sat at the edge of the stage, smiling and waving like a groupie. Her hair was twisting in the breeze, pink and blond strands beginning to loop around her shoulders.
Then I heard the familiar melody, and Sixteen Moons was blasting out of the amps. Only this time, it wasn’t like one of the songs from Link’s demo tapes. They were good, really good. And the crowd went wild, like Jackson High was finally getting to have a dance after all. Only we were in a meadow, in the middle of Ravenwood, the most infamous and feared plantation in Gatlin County. The energy was amazing, surging like a rave. Everyone was dancing and half the people were singing, which was crazy, since nobody had ever even heard the song before. Even Lena had to crack a smile, and we began to sway with the crowd, because you really just couldn’t help it.
“They’re playing our song.” She found my hand.
“I was just thinking that.”
“I know.” She laced her fingers through mine, sending shivers through my body. “And they’re pretty good,” she said, shouting over the crowd.
“Good? They’re great! As in, the greatest day of Link’s life.” I mean, it was crazy, the whole thing. The Holy Rollers, Link, the party. Ridley bobbing on the edge of the stage, sucking on her Ridleypop. Not the craziest thing I’d seen today, but still.
So later, when Lena and I were dancing and five minutes came and went, and then twenty-five, and then fifty-five, neither one of us even noticed or cared. We were stopping time—at least that’s how it felt. We had one dance, but we had to make it last as long as we could, in case it was all we had.
Larkin was in no hurry. He was all tangled up with Emily, making out by the side of one of the bonfires someone had made out of old garbage cans. Emily was wearing Larkin’s jacket and every now and then he’d pull down the shoulder and lick her neck or something gross. He really was a snake.
“Larkin! She’s, like, sixteen,” Lena called over toward the fire from where we were dancing. Larkin stuck out his tongue, which rolled further down toward the ground than any Mortal’s could have.
Emily didn’t seem to notice. She untangled herself from Larkin, motioning to Savannah, who was dancing in a group with Charlotte and Eden behind her. “Come on, girls. Let’s give Lena her present.”
Savannah reached into her little silver bag and pulled out the little silver package that was sticking out of it, wrapped with silver ribbon. “It’s just a little somethin’.” Savannah held it out.
“Every girl should have one,” Emily was slurring.
“Metallic goes with everything.” Eden could barely stop herself from ripping off the paper herself.
“Just big enough for, like, your phone and your lip gloss.” Charlotte pushed it toward Lena. “Go on. Open it.”
Lena took the package in her hands, and smiled at them. “Savannah, Emily, Eden, Charlotte. You have absolutely no idea what this means to me.” The sarcasm was lost on them. I knew exactly what it was, and exactly what it meant to her.
Stupid to the power of stupid.
Lena couldn’t look me in the eye, or we both would have burst out laughing. As we made our way back into the crowd of dancers, Lena tossed the little silver package into the bonfire. The orange and yellow flames ate their way through the wrapping, until the tiny metallic purse was nothing but smoke and ash.
The Holy Rollers took a break, and Link came over to bask in the glory of his musical debut. “I told ya we were good. Just one step away from a contract.” Link elbowed me in the ribs like old times.
“You were right, man. You guys were great.” I had to give him that, even if he did have the lollipop on his side.
Savannah Snow sauntered up, most likely to burst Link’s bubble. “Hey, Link.” She batted her eyes suggestively.
“Hey, Savannah.”
“Do you think you could save me a dance?” It was unbelievable. She was standing there, staring at him like he was a real rock star.
“I just don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t get one.” She gave him another Snow Queen smile. I felt like I was trapped in one of Link’s dreams, or Ridley’s.
Speak of the devil. “Hands off, Prom Queen. This is my Hot Rod.” Ridley draped her arm, and a few other key parts, around Link to make her point.
“Sorry, Savannah. Maybe next time.” Link stuck his drumsticks in his back pocket and headed back onto the dance floor with Ridley and her R-rated dance moves. It must have been the greatest moment of his life. You would’ve thought it was his birthday.
After the song ended, he hopped back onto the stage. “We got one last song, written by a good friend a mine, for some very special people at Jackson High. You’ll know who you are.” The stage went dark. Link unzipped his hoodie, and the lights went up with the twang of the guitar. He was wearing a Jackson Angels T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, looking as ridiculous on Link as he intended it to. If only his mother could see him now.
He leaned into the microphone and began to do a little Casting of his own.
“Fallin’ angels all around me
Misery spreads misery
Your broken arrows are killin’ me.
Why can’t you see?
The thing you hate becomes your fate
Your destiny, Fallen Angel.”
Lena’s song, the one she wrote for Link.
As the music swelled, every card-carrying Angel swayed to the anthem targeted at them. Maybe it was all Ridley, and maybe it wasn’t. The thing is, by the time the song was over, and Link had tossed his winged T-shirt into the bonfire, it felt like a few more things were going up in flames along with it. Everything that had seemed so hard, so insurmountable for so long, just sort of went up in smoke.
Long after the Holy Rollers had stopped playing, even when Ridley and Link were nowhere to be found, Savannah and Emily were still being nice to Lena, and the whole basketball team was suddenly speaking to me again, I looked for some small sign, a lollipop, anywhere. The lone, telltale thread that could come loose to unravel the whole sweater.
But there was nothing. Just the moon, the stars, the music, the lights, and the crowd. Lena and I weren’t even dancing anymore, but were still clinging to each other. We swayed back and forth, the current of heat and cold and electricity and fear pulsing through my veins. As long as there was any music at all, we were in our own little bubble. We weren’t alone in our cave under her covers anymore, but it was still perfect.