Keeper(7)

“You okay, kid?” Gareth was looking at me over the top of his book.

“I think I’m just a little stressed about the SATs.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“You’re going to do great,” he said, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “You’ve been studying for months.”

“I know. I guess I’m just. . .” I bit down on my bottom lip. “I’m just worried.” About more things than one.

“Everything will work out exactly as it’s supposed to. You can’t control what happens to you, only how you react to it.” He smiled at me. “Besides, you have nothing to worry about. You asked for a dictionary and a set of encyclopedias for your eighth birthday. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna kill it.”

The memory made me laugh. Though the encyclopedias had passed on, I still had that same worn-out Webster’s sitting on my desk in my room. “Thanks. You’re right. I just need to relax a little.”

“Exactly.” Gareth turned back to his book. “Now, why don’t you head in for some of those cookies? Serena should be finished up by now.”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“I’m right behind you.”

I stood up and walked toward the door. Part of me was dying to turn around, jump into his lap like I used to do as a kid, and tell him how scared and confused I was. But the other half screamed at me to walk inside and not say anything that might land me in a padded room.

With a huff, I walked inside. The house smelled strongly of burnt sage. Serena, or Madam Serena Morales as her customers call her, was in the living room. A dozen or more candles lined the room, casting shadows against the walls. The light wrapped around her, giving her russet brown skin a soft glow. Her large brown eyes were wide and focused, and she was swaying back and forth, her shiny dark hair swishing around her shoulders in a perfect line. She was clutching a bundle of burning sage and mumbling some kind of incantation under her breath.

If I hadn’t seen it a thousand times before, I would’ve laughed, but Serena and Gareth had been together for as long as I could remember, and these cleansing rituals had become commonplace in our house.

“Hi, Serena,” I called out as I passed through to the kitchen.

She blinked and turned to smile at me. “Lainey! Just in time! I’ve just finished the cleansing ritual. Your house is officially spirit free!” She swept across the floor with that ridiculous flamboyant walk she somehow made look natural and began to blow out the candles. “Don’t you just love the energy of a clean house? It’s absolutely exhilarating. Can you feel it?”

“Yeah, definitely.” I snorted down a laugh. Not that Serena noticed. She continued flouncing around the room, sweeping her long skirt around her legs like a matador does his muleta.

“You know what I think we should do?” Serena skipped back over to me. “I think we should form a serenity circle. We haven’t done one in months!”

“Um . . . that sounds really great, but I’ve got a lot of studying to do. I think I’m gonna grab a few cookies and then head up to bed.”

Serena put a palm against my cheek, her forehead creased as she peered into my face. “You know your aura is looking a little cloudy. Perhaps a good night’s rest is what you need.”

“Or maybe she just needs to stop stressing and stuff her face full of cookies instead,” Gareth’s voice rang out from the entryway. He walked into the living room with his book in his hand and a grin on his face.

Serena scoffed at Gareth and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yes, cookies and rest. Just what the doctor ordered.” She turned away from me then and shot Gareth a look I didn’t understand before turning her attention back to the candles.

Gareth looked back at her, his own face unreadable. I wondered if this was one of those weird couple moments when they were having a conversation without saying actual words. I watched them for a few seconds before deciding to retreat to the kitchen. A plate of snickerdoodle cookies sat on the counter. I grabbed a handful and headed upstairs for my room.

As soon as I shut the door and sat on the edge of my bed, all the fear and confusion I’d felt outside the comic book shop returned, coiling low in my gut. My heart was thumping, so I shoved a warm cookie into my mouth as a distraction. My eyes roamed around the room as I chewed.

My bedroom wasn’t large, but I loved the sense of home it gave me—something I’d rarely felt at all the other houses we’d lived in. Maybe it was because I knew I’d get to stay in this one longer than a few months. Gareth had always claimed the job market was unstable, but after fourteen moves in the last five years alone, I’d made him swear to stay put long enough for me to finish high school in one place. He’d agreed and had kept his promise for more than two years now, but I wasn’t taking any chances—thus the goal of early graduation.

The bulletin board above my desk was covered in brochures from colleges around the country. The thought of being alone and on my own both terrified and thrilled me, but I was eager to leave Lothbrook behind. There was so much of the world I hadn’t seen yet, and the scientist in me was eager to explore and experiment—and maybe make an important discovery or two! I’d been nothing more than a bookworm and a nomad my entire life; I was ready for a big change.

There has to be something else out there for me, I thought, staring at the brochures. It’s time I found out what.