Beautiful Darkness(43)

Amma spoke to Lena as if they were the only people in the tent. “Enough, child. You can't get what you want from these folks. Sorry from a sorry town is nothin’ but a whole lot more a the same. A pie tin fulla nothin’.”

Aunt Prue's voice pierced the din. “Good Lord, help! Grace is havin’ a heart attack!” Aunt Grace was lying on the ground, unconscious. Grayson Petty was kneeling over her, taking her pulse while Aunt Prue and Aunt Mercy batted palmetto bugs away from their sister.

“I said enough!” Amma roared from the stage, and as I ran for Aunt Grace, I could've sworn the tent was going to come down on top of us.

As I bent down to help, I saw Amma pull something out of her pocketbook and hold it high above her head. The One-Eyed Menace, our old wooden spoon, in its full glory. Amma brought it down on the table in front of her with a crack.

“Oww!” Across the room, Ridley winced and the lollipop dropped right out of her hand, rolling across the dirt as if Amma had smashed it with the Menace itself.

In that second, everything stopped.

I looked over to Lena, but she was gone. The spell, or whatever it was, was broken. The palmetto bugs scampered out of the tent, leaving only the grubs and worms behind.

And me, leaning over Aunt Grace to make sure she was breathing.

Lena, what have you done?





Link followed me out of the tent, confused as usual. “I don't get it. Why would Lena help Ridley and Caster Boy pull a stunt like that? Someone coulda really gotten hurt.”

I scanned the rides closest to us to see if there was any sign of Lena or Ridley. But I didn't see them, just the 4-H volunteers fanning old women and handing out plastic cups of water to the victims of the pie-baking contest from hell.

“You mean, like my Aunt Grace?”

Link yanked on his shorts to make sure they were grub-free. “I thought she was a goner. Lucky she just fainted. Probably the heat.”

“Yeah. Lucky.” But I didn't feel lucky. I was too angry. I had to find Lena, even if she didn't want to be found. She was going to have to tell me why she would terrorize everyone in that tent to get even with — who? A few aging beauty queens? Link's mom, who was just aging? It was something Ridley would do, not Lena.

It was getting dark, and Link scanned the crowd through the flashing lights and hysterical church ladies. “Where'd Liv go? Wasn't she with you?”

“I don't know. I told her to go out the back when the bugfest started.”

Link cringed at the word bug. “Should we look for her?”

There was a group of people in line at the Fun House, so I headed that way. “I get the impression Liv knows how to take care of herself. I think this is something we have to do on our own.”

“Right on.”

We turned the corner a few yards from the entrance to the Tunnel of Love. Ridley, Lena, and John were standing in front of the dingy plastic cars painted to look like gondolas. Lena was standing in the middle, a leather jacket slung over her shoulders. Only she didn't have a leather jacket. John did.

I called her name, without even thinking. “Lena!”

Leave me alone, Ethan.

No. What were you thinking?

I wasn't thinking. I was finally doing something.

Yeah. Something stupid.

Don't tell me you're on their side now.

I was walking fast. Link struggled to keep up with me. “You're gonna start a fight, aren't you? Man, I hope Caster Boy doesn't set us on fire or turn us into statues or somethin’.” Link was usually up for a fight. Even though he was skinny, he was almost as tall as me, and twice as crazy. But the prospect of fighting a Supernatural didn't have the same appeal. We'd been burned on that one before.

I wanted to let him off the hook. “I've got this. Go find Liv.”

“No way, dude. I've got your back.”

When we got to the gondolas, John stepped forward protectively, in front of the girls, as if we were the ones they needed to be protected from.

Ethan, get out of here.

I could hear the fear in her voice, but this time I was the one who didn't answer.

“Hey, Boyfriend, how's it goin’?” Ridley smiled and unwrapped a blue lollipop.

“Screw you, Ridley.”

She noticed Link behind me, and her smile changed. “Hiya, Hot Rod. You wanna take a ride through the Tunnel of Love?” Ridley tried to sound playful, but she sounded nervous instead.

Link grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him, almost like he really was her boyfriend. “What did you think you were doin’ back there? You coulda gotten someone killed. Ethan's four-hundred-year-old aunt almost had a heart attack.”

Ridley snatched her arm back. “It was only a few bugs. Don't be so melodramatic. I think I liked you better when you were a little more compliant.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

Lena stepped out from behind John. “What happened? Is your aunt okay?” She seemed like my Lena again, kind and concerned, but I didn't trust her anymore. A few minutes ago, she was taking down the women she hated and everyone else in the tent with them, and now she was the girl I kissed behind the ticket booth. It didn't add up.

“What were you doing back there? How could you help them?” I didn't realize how mad I was until I heard myself yelling. But John did.