Pyxis: The Discovery (Pyxis Series) (16 page)

I stepped out of my jeans, pulled off my sweater, and zipped myself into the blue dress. I opened the door. “Hey, what do you think of this?”

Ang cracked her door and peeked out, and then she opened it wider. “That looks amazing. Is that the first one you’ve tried on? I hate you!”

I turned in front of the three-way mirror to examine my reflection. The dress fit snugly over my torso, the skirt flared just slightly over my hips, and it hit a couple of inches above my kneecaps. The color made my eyes practically glow. I loved it.

“It can’t really be this easy, can it?” I shrugged a little guiltily at Ang.

I changed out of the dress and waited for her to emerge.

“Ugh, the rest of them were horrible,” she said. “Are you seriously buying the only dress you’ve tried on?”

“I’ll have them hold it while we look some more.” Even as I said it, I knew I would come back and buy it.

We went to a department store with a much bigger selection, and Ang found a pretty sheath dress with layers of pinky-purple chiffon. The slim cut was perfect for her small frame, and she found a cream-colored wrap with beading on the fringe to go with it. She also bought a hair clip with pink flowers glued to it and a cream clutch overlaid with lace. I hoped Toby would make her feel like all of this was worth it.

I bought the blue dress, and then we went to another department store to look at shoes. She found some strappy, cream-colored heels, and I bought some silver sling-backs that matched the detailing on my dress. We piled our bags around a table in the food court and shared a doughy pretzel.

“God, this place is like a small city inside a stinky, artificial bubble,” I said, looking around at the hordes of people lining up at the various vendors. I pursed my lips.

“I know,” Ang said with an expression that mirrored mine. “It’s like you could get lost in here and forget things like the sky and trees even exist.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m actually kind of anxious to get back to Tapestry.”

We tossed our cups and the pretzel wrapper in the trash and hauled our bags out to the car. I showed Ang the directions to the retirement home and explained that only family could visit patients in the dementia wing.

“You can come with if you want, but if it were me, I’d stay in the car. It’s depressing, and it smells gross in there,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

Ang parked near the main entrance, and I grabbed my bag.

“I promise I won’t be long,” I said, getting out of the car.

“No, take your time.” She gave me another sympathetic smile. “There’s no rush. I’ll be sitting here with all my fingers crossed. Text me if I can do anything.”

I trotted into the lobby. An orderly escorted me to the same Rec Room where I’d visited Aunt Dorothy before. Several of the residents, including my great-aunt, had little bowls of what looked like butterscotch pudding in front of them. My aunt was alone at a table near the TV.

I slid into the chair next to her and touched her arm.

“Hi, Aunt Dorothy,” I said softly. “It’s me, Corinne. I told you I’d come back, remember? I’m sorry about the cookies last time.”

She looked up, but seemed to look through me. She reached for her spoon and shakily lifted some pudding to her mouth. I noticed her bowl was labeled “sugar free.” I glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and then slid my hand into my purse. My fingers closed around the bottle, and I concealed it in my lap under the table. I unscrewed the lid.

Before Aunt Dorothy could go in for another spoonful, I squeezed the bottle over the bowl, and several drops splatted onto the pudding. I held my breath as she lowered the spoon back to the bowl, scooped up a little, and raised it to her mouth. She swallowed a few times, and I watched her expectantly, my heart tapping against my ribcage.

Nothing happened.

After a moment, she ate another spoonful. I waited. Still nothing.

Why wasn’t it working? My mind skipped around wildly. I looked down at the bottle to make sure it really did have some of the cloudy liquid in it. Was it the pudding? I glanced around the room and spotted a cart with a water tank and plastic cups. Maybe she needed to drink it.

I got up, fetched a cup of water, and squirted a few drops into it as I carried it back to Aunt Dorothy’s table. I offered it to her, and she took it in both hands and drank about a third of it. I set the cup on the table and watched.

|| 25 ||

AUNT DOROTHY STARED AT a spot on the floor, her pudding apparently forgotten.

I felt my face crumple and willed myself not to cry. It had to work!

I watched Aunt Dorothy for another ten minutes, and then felt a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over at six.” The nurse who had been sitting near the door when I arrived looked apologetic as she said it. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was five after.

“Oh, okay.” I tried to think of some way to stall. “I guess I lost track of time. Sorry about that.”

I slowly gathered up my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and pushed in my chair. I walked around to Aunt Dorothy’s side to give her a hug. “I don’t know what else to do, Aunt Dorothy,” I whispered in her ear. “I need you to snap out of it. I need your help!”

I tried to look in her eyes, but she was still staring at the floor. I couldn’t believe I’d failed again. I asked the receptionist for directions to the restroom, where I locked the door and leaned against the sink. I wanted to text Mason, but I was afraid I might start crying, and I really wanted to pull myself together before I got back in the car with Ang.

I trudged outside and pulled open the passenger door. Ang looked at me, wide-eyed and expectant.

“I gave it to her.” I sighed and stared out the window at the stand of aspens near the front door of the facility. “Nothing happened.”

“Nothing at all?”

A lump seemed to crowd my vocal chords, and I cleared my throat. “No, no change.”

We sat there for a moment in silence.

“Maybe it takes time to work,” she said.

I nodded halfheartedly.

“Do you feel like eating?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, forcing my voice to sound level. Ang drove us to the Italian restaurant we’d picked.

I tried to enjoy the meal, but I just wanted to go home, hide in my room, and curl up in a ball. Who could help us if Aunt Dorothy didn’t come around? I was out of ideas.

After Ang dropped me off, I went into my room and shut the door. Lying back on my bed, I called Mason and told him what had happened. He tried to reassure me, but there really wasn’t anything he could say to cheer me up. I asked him if we should tell Mr. Sykes that it hadn’t worked, and he thought that was the best thing to do under the circumstances. He volunteered to go to Mr. Sykes’s house first thing in the morning to see if there was anything more the old man could do to help us. I got the impression Mason kind of liked talking to Mr. S.

My phone buzzed with a text from a number I didn’t know. There was a blurry picture, obviously taken with a camera phone, and as I stared at it, surprise and horror welled in a sickening bubble just below my lungs.

It was Sophie and Bradley. Their heads were tilted together as if they were lying side-by-side. Sophie smirked into the camera, and Bradley’s eyes were on Sophie. My insides went cold. My phone buzzed again with another message.

True Luv!

I wanted to vomit.

Instead, I dialed Ang’s number.

“Oh my God, Sophie and my brother!” I shrieked into the phone.

“What’s going on?”

“Sophie! She’s with Bradley!” I tried to lower my voice to a reasonable level. “You have to help me, Ang! This
cannot
happen. What am I going to do?”

“How do you know?” Ang asked, her voice annoyingly calm and reasonable.

“Hold on.” I forwarded the two messages to her. “Did you get them?”

There was some muffled jostling on Ang’s end as she checked the texts, then she got back on the phone.

“Wow. She was with Andy just, like, a few days ago.”

“So not the point!” My voice was rising again.

“Calm down, Corinne. At the rate she moves, she’ll probably be on to some new guy by next week. I mean, this is Sophie we’re talking about here.”

“Okay, okay, you’re right.” I swiped my hand over my eyes and sank back on my bed. “Still … it’s my brother. What if it’s not just one of her flings? She was with that Carson dude for, like, six months.”

“Yeah, but everyone knew that was because his family was rich and had that mansion on the lake.”

I snorted a laugh. “Well, at least we know she isn’t with Bradley for his money. I’m sure she’s just doing it to piss me off.”

“Probably. Just try not to think about it. And
don’t
say anything to either of them. That’ll just let her know she’s gotten to you.”

I knew Ang was right, but it was going to be really hard to pretend I didn’t care about this. The thought of Bradley and Sophie making out … ew. Just, no.

We checked our geometry homework answers against each other, then hung up.

After I finished my homework, I turned out the lights and jammed my earbuds in, settled back against the pile of pillows at the head of my bed, and turned the music up loud. I wanted to drown out all possible images of Sophie and my brother.

* * *

I stood facing the water, and the dirty fog rolled toward me over the lake. Beside me, Mason seemed bathed in a warm glow of light, but I couldn’t locate the source. I knew without turning to look that Ang stood about twenty feet behind us. She wasn’t alone, but I was focused on what was before me.

Instead of trying to run as I had before, I stood my ground. My heart pounded in terror, but I faced the lake, building a wall in my mind between the fog and the cove. I imagined an invisible, solid sheet of air that the fog couldn’t permeate or breach. The fog began to pile up on itself about a hundred feet from the shore.

It was working; I was doing it! I shot Mason a triumphant glance, but he was focused on the water, and his face paled. I followed his gaze just as the fog cracked through my invisible wall and raced toward us like a foul tidal wave.

I froze. There was no way we could outrun it. I sucked in a breath to scream, and the greasy smell of spoiled meat filled my nose and throat.

I sat straight up in my bed. I was still flinging my arms in front of me in an ineffective effort to push the fog away. My hands shook so badly it took three tries to turn on my bedside lamp. A barely-detectable haze seemed to fill my room, and I could still smell the oily rot of the fog. I shook my head. I was still dreaming. I must be still dreaming! I squeezed my eyes shut for a count of three, then opened them.

The haze didn’t disappear, and I started to panic. When my phone buzzed and then rang, it scared me so badly I had to clap a hand over my mouth to muffle a scream. I had to get out of there, away from the nauseating smoky air, before it soaked into my body. I scooped up my phone and stumbled out of my bedroom into the dark basement. I looked down and saw Mason’s name on the caller ID.

“Mason?” I said, panic thick in my voice.

“It’s okay. I’m outside, just come and let me in.”

I flew to the basement door, unlocked it, and fell into Mason’s arms. The cold night air curled around us, and I felt goose bumps spread up my bare arms. He nudged the door shut with his foot and reached back to lock it before half-carrying me back to my room.

“The fog, it was in here,” I said, my mouth dry and gritty. I shivered violently, and he pulled up my comforter and wrapped it around me.

“It’s gone now. Look.” I squinted across my room and realized he was right. I took a few shaky breaths and couldn’t detect the foul stench. He scooted back so he was supported by my pillows and pulled me against him. I shivered less and less as Mason’s body heat warmed me. I focused on taking slow, even breaths.

“What’s happening?” I said when I was finally able to speak calmly.

Mason sighed. “I think it’s leaking.”

“What’s leaking?”

“Our dreams. They’re leaking into our waking world.”

Ribbons of ice threaded slowly through me. “What are we going to do?” I whispered.

“I don’t know. I think we better talk to Mr. Sykes again.” I couldn’t believe how calm Mason sounded. I was barely holding it together, still half out of my mind with terror.

“Thank you for coming, for being here.” I turned so I could look him in the eye. “Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he said, tension stretching his voice thin. His jaw muscles worked as he looked down at me, but his eyes were soft. My heart turned a somersault in my chest.

Neither of us slept much the rest of the night. When the gray morning light illuminated the square of window behind the curtain, Mason crawled to the edge of the bed and knelt on the floor next to me.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said softly. He looked tired, but his eyes flashed with a determination that made my heart jump.

I sat up and beckoned him to follow me to my dad’s office. I pushed open the door, flipped on the light, and rummaged around in one of the desk drawers until I found what I wanted.

I turned to Mason and held out a key. “You always seem to know when I need you. Now you can come and go … whenever.”

I felt self-conscious all of a sudden, as if I’d revealed something intimate.

His fingers brushed mine as he took the key, and his skin felt hot. A warm tingle worked its way up my arm.

After Mason left, I just stood in the middle of my room for a moment. I was no longer so afraid now that it was daytime, but the space felt oddly empty without him there. I started straightening my disheveled bed. When my phone buzzed, it startled me. It was a text from Ang.

It’s the big day!!

Of course. It was Friday. Tonight was Spring Queen. I smiled tiredly at her enthusiasm. I felt as though I’d aged about ten years since yesterday. I pulled some clothes out of my closet and dragged myself to the bathroom to get ready for school.