Secrets (7 page)

“One more minute, Alicia,” Jackie warned, switching earrings again.

“No. If I look at it for one more minute, I’ll buy it, and my parents will have a hissy if I put anything else on my Visa
this month,” Alicia answered.

“Tell you what,” Jackie said. “I’ll get it for you, and you can buy me something next month.” She pulled her wallet
out, then tossed an AmEx on the counter.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Alicia cried, giving Jackie a smacking kiss on the cheek.

What planet have I landed on?
Anthony wondered as he watched Jackie sign the credit slip. His mom had worked
who knew how many hours for the money she’d given him tonight, and Jackie had just spent almost the same
amount on a freakin’ bracelet. And it wasn’t even for her.

“Now it’s all about Anthony,” Alicia said when she had the little jewelry store bag looped over her wrist. She latched
back onto him. Jackie grabbed the other side.

A few minutes later he was standing in Him-a store he’d never even heard of-with an armful of clothes. “Uh-uh.

Stop right there,” he told Alicia. “I am not even trying on those pants. They’re silver.”

She took a step closer. “They’re hot.”

“They’re silver,” Anthony repeated. “Forget it.” These girls had clearly decided he was their own personal Ken doll,
but they were wrong.

“How about these?” Jackie asked, holding up a pair of dark brown leather pants. Anthony actually thought they
were somewhat cool, but he’d seen the price tag on another pair of leather pants, and he definitely couldn’t go
there.

“They make me itch,” he told Jackie. “Look, I have too much to try on already. I’m hitting the dressing room.” He
bolted without waiting for Jackie or Alicia to answer. It’s not like he needed their permission.

The first thing he did when he had one of the dressing-room doors closed safely behind him was a price tag
check. That eliminated half of Jackie and Alicia’s picks. He stared at the rust-colored suede-suede? Something like
that-pants. They were in his price range, barely, but were they actually anything any guy would want to be seen in?

They were actually more orange than rust. Who wore orange pants?

Anthony stripped off his jeans and started yankingon the
orange
pants. He had them only half on when the
dressing-room door started to open. “Someone’s in here,” he called. The door kept swinging open, and Jackie
stuck her head in.

“I thought you might need help,” she said.

“I know how to dress myself,” Anthony told her, and firmly shut the door. He looked in the mirror, wanting to see
what Jackie’d seen. Way too much, that was for sure. He got the pants up and zipped-and decided he looked like a
dork.

He left the pants on, in case Jackie was still lurking, and grabbed the closest shirt. He didn’t know what it was
made of, but he liked the way it felt when he pulled it on. And the colors were good-different shades of brown. He
checked the price tag. He could afford it-if he didn’t get anything else.
If jeans aren’t good enough for McHugh’s

party, screw it,
he thought. He got back into his own clothes as fast as he could, got the shirt back on the hanger,
and headed out. “I’m getting this,” he told Jackie and Alicia, who were hovering near the entrance to the dressing
rooms.

“You have to model for us,” Jackie insisted.

“No.” Anthony went straight to the counter and paid with well-worn twenties. The guy behind the register looked at
them as if he’d never seen actual paper money before. As soon as he got his changeand his bag, he strode out of
the store. Jackie and Alicia trailed after him.

“My boyfriend always gets cranky when he shops for clothes, too,” Alicia said.

“I’m not cranky,” Anthony protested. “I just-I need to get home.”

“Me too,” Alicia added. She turned to Jackie. “Thanks again for my bracelet.”

“I got something for Anthony, too,” Jackie announced, a little smile curling up one corner of her mouth.

“Whatever it is, take it back,” Anthony said. “I don’t need anyone buying things for me.” Had she decided to take
him on as a charity case or what?

Jackie gave him a playful poke on the chest with one finger. “Calm down. I didn’t buy it.” She slid a man’s watch
out from under the sleeve of her shirt and slipped it off her wrist.

“Jackie, God,” Alicia exclaimed. “What if you’d gotten caught? Your parents-”

“I never get caught,” Jackie interrupted. “Neither of you saw me get these, and you were standing practically right
on top of me.” She pushed her hair behind her ears to show off a pair of long earrings.

What was with the girl? That AmEx was only one of about a dozen credit cards in her wallet. It’s notlike she didn’t
have the funds for anything her little heart desired. Mommy and Daddy had made sure of that.

“I’m heading out. See you in school,” Anthony said, pretending not to see Jackie’s pout.

“What about the watch?” Jackie called after him as he headed for the closest exit.

“Already got a watch,” he answered without looking back. He didn’t know what Jackie’s deal was, but he wasn’t
about to get involved.

Rae stuck out her tongue and peered into the bathroom mirror. The fungus-looking spot was still there, but she
thought it was a little smaller.
It’s nothing to worry about, anyway,
she told herself.
The doctor told you that.
She
stared at her tongue another few seconds, then pulled it back in.

Maybe I should take a shower,
she thought. She’d bought some new gel, aromatherapy stuff that was supposed to
soothe and comfort. She could use both right now. Why had her dad forgotten the papers he had to grade at his
office tonight? A night she definitely didn’t want to be alone.

Rae picked up the tube of gel off the counter, then set it back down. There was no way she was going to relax in
the shower right now, even if the gel was laced with Xanax or Prozac. How could she feelcomfortable in the shower-naked-when Mr. Not-the-meter-man could be lurking around somewhere?

With a sigh Rae wandered out of the bathroom and headed to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out a
muffin that Alice, their keeper, as she called herself, had made for her and her dad. Rae brought the muffin to her
lips, then realized she wasn’t hungry. She put the muffin back. The last thing she needed on top of everything else
was to develop some kind of eating disorder.

She squinted into the darkness outside the kitchen window. Didn’t see anything. Then headed into the living room.

After Marcus had left, she’d started a sketch-another one of her mother, the only thing she seemed to be able to
draw lately. She added a couple of lines, then tossed the pad down. Even though she was only about a quarter of
the way done, she could tell her mother was going to turn out looking sick, sick and half crazed. Rae didn’t need to
see that.

If Anthony wasn ’t such a self-absorbed weenie, he’d be here with me right now,
Rae thought. She crossed over to
the living-room window and checked the front yard. Everything normal. At least everything seemed normal. It wasn’t
always easy to tell.

Marcus would definitely have stayed.
And he’d come back if I called him,
Rae thought. But he didn’tknow anything
about what was really going on in her life, and she had no desire to tell him. Too many people knew already. Too
many people were in danger because of her.

But Yana knows almost everything,
Rae reminded herself. She didn’t know Rae’s mother had killed Rae’s mom’s
best friend. And she didn’t know about the fingerprint… thing. Rae still didn’t know what to call it exactly. What, a
power?
A special ability? It’s not like she was the new Wonder Woman or anything. It felt so weird to think of it that
way. Which was exactly why she
wasn’t
telling Yana. She didn’t want her one good girlfriend to think of her as some
sort of screwed-up comic book hero girl or whatever.

But Yana knows pretty much everything else.
She’d understand why Rae was freaked, at least.

Rae hesitated, then hurried to her bedroom and hit speed dial three. Yana answered a few seconds later. “I’m going
crazy,” Rae blurted out as soon as Yana said hello. She even forgot her promise to Yana to avoid any of that
crazy/insane lingo left over from her days at the hospital.

“Why? What’s going on?” Yana demanded, ignoring the crazy reference-probably because she could tell Rae
wasn’t in good shape.

“Right this second? Nothing,” Rae admitted, letting out a slow breath. “But yesterday I caught a guyin the
backyard,” she continued. “He said he worked for the power company, but I checked him out, and he was bogus. I
keep trying to figure out who he is. If he’s the same guy who was behind the pipe bomb and those nasty little
presents I’ve been getting. Or if there’s some new psycho who is interested in me for some completely different
reason.”

“Did you tell your dad?” Yana asked. “Not the whole thing, but just that there was someone in your yard who
shouldn’t have been.”

Rae flopped down on her bed and covered her face with a pillow. “Huh-uh,” she admitted. “He’s not here right
now. And even if he was, I don’t want him to go into all-out worrying over me again.”

“Add nine-one-one to your speed dial,” Yana ordered, her tone brisk and businesslike. “If you see anything,
anything,
you get the cops over there.” She paused. “I could come over, too, if you want,” she added, her voice
softening.

“No, it’s okay,” Rae answered. “There’s really nothing going on over here. And my dad should be back soon. He
just made a run to his office at the college.”

“So is there something else going on?” Yana asked. “I mean, along with just the fake power company guy. ’Cause
you said that was yesterday, but you sound like there’s something, I don’t know, still getting to you.”

Rae shoved the pillow off her face. “I can’t keep anything a secret from you, can I?”

“Don’t know why you even try,” Yana answered.

“Okay, here’s the deal. I’ve been getting these weird numb spots,” Rae admitted, leaving out the part that she got
them after she touched fingertips with someone to pull out their thoughts. “Anyway, I got a look at my mom’s
medical records, and I think she might have had the same kind of symptoms. Remember how I told you she died in
the hospital-”

“From some weird wasting disease,” Yana finished for her.

“Yeah. I went to my doctor, but she has no clue what the numb spots could be,” Rae explained. “And I’m starting to
think it could be connected to-to whatever killed my mom.” Rae stopped, leaving the implication of that idea
hanging in the silence between them. “My mom was in this New Agey group,” she continued when Yana didn’t say
anything. “And now I’m finding out that some other people in that group have died. So what if it’s related somehow?

”

“There’s one way to know,” Yana said. “We need to talk to anyone from that group that’s still alive.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t found anyone,” Rae said, the frustration building inside her. “I mean, I did find the daughter of
one of the women in the group. Her momdied last year. She might have some info. Might. Or I could just be being
delusional; you know, turning into one of those conspiracy theory freaks.” Rae sighed. “I just hate to make this girl-Amanda Reese-go through being interrogated about her mother-”

“But you’ve got to,” Yana cut in. “If she’s your only source, you’ve got to.”

Rae closed her eyes. “I don’t even know how to start, what to say.”

“You said you found her… so you know where she lives then, right?” Yana asked.

“Mmm-hmmm,” Rae replied.

“Well, tomorrow we’ll go there,” Yana said. “We’ll figure out what to say together. It’ll be okay. We’ll make it as easy
on Amanda as we can, I promise.”

Rae felt a small smile tug at her lips. At least she wasn’t alone. She was so grateful to have Yana, someone she
could count on. Especially since the list of people who fit that description was getting shorter all the time, now that
Anthony was too busy impressing Jackie Kane and the rest of Sanderson Prep to care what was happening to her.