Adrienne grinned, as though it was her who just got asked.
Jayden forced himself to smile back.
What the hell did I get myself into?
A peek at Adrienne’s unguarded, adoring look, and he knew why he’d asked the least popular girl at school to Homecoming.
His phone rang. He glanced down.
“It’s my mom,” he told them, standing. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The girls were too happy to understand how relieved he was to escape. He ducked out of the cafeteria into the hallway.
“Hi, Mama,” he said into the phone. “What’s up? Everything okay?”
“Grandmama wants you to come by tonight and fix her AC.”
“I don’t know anything about repairing an air conditioner,” he objected, startled by the bizarre request. “You know I can barely change a light bulb.”
“I told her you wouldn’t do it, even though it’s the only thing she’s ever asked you to do.”
Jayden rubbed his forehead. “I’m suppose to tutor someone tonight. Grandmama lives forty-five minutes away on a day with no traffic.”
“If you go, we can talk about Izzy,” his mother said.
He was quiet, debating. His mom didn’t always follow up on her promises, but did he risk losing the chance she’d talk to him about it?
“Fine, Jayden. Don’t go. I will.”
“Mama you can’t fix an AC any better than I can. Let me send out a repairman. I’ve been saving my allowance. I can afford it.” He wasn’t about to mention the credit card his father gave him and Tara when they turned sixteen. He’d caught his mother taking money out of his wallet once, claiming it was okay, since it was actually his father’s, and his daddy had more.
“We don’t need your charity, Jayden! Don’t you be like your daddy. You can’t just throw money at someone and they go away. Your grandmama gave you those tags. You should be grateful.”
“All right. All right.” He sighed, irritated. “I’ll ask Tara to watch Izzy after school and head out as soon as I can. Then we’ll talk.”
“Thank you,” his mother said. “Take that kid Mickey with you. He can throw the ball with Uncle Tommy.”
“Right. Listen, I’ve gotta get to class,” he lied. “I’ll call you when I’m on my way.”
“Thank you, Jayden.”
“You’re welcome, Mama.” He hung up. For a moment, he stood alone in the quiet hallway, wondering what he was going to tell Adrienne.
Dared he take her out to his grandmama’s? Part of him was curious to see what his grandmama said about Adrienne when they met. Would she realize her white zombie talk was nonsense when she saw how sweet Adrienne was?
He couldn’t get the odd warnings out of his thoughts, even if he couldn’t bring himself to believe them, either.
The longer he thought, the more he realized he was looking for an excuse to spend time with Adrienne. It was almost two hours round trip. They’d have time to talk. Maybe he could take her and have her stay in the car while he made an appearance at his grandmama’s and promptly offered to pay for a real repairman to help her.
It was the plan that let him see Adrienne without letting down his family, either.
The warning bell rang, indicating lunch ended in ten minutes. Jayden tucked his phone away and rejoined the girls, who were both smiling. He said nothing of the after school trip to Adrienne, trying to figure out how to ask her to go out of her way when he’d already promised to tutor her.
“Come on, Addy. We have to get to class,” Emma said after a moment and rose. “Thank you for lunch, Jayden.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
Emma limped away.
“You didn’t eat,” he said, looking at Adrienne’s plate.
“I don’t really like salad,” she admitted.
Jayden laughed and pushed his away. “Me neither. “
“Thank you for humoring Emma. She’s a real sweet girl and everyone treats her badly.”
“Anything for you.”
Adrienne flushed. She murmured something he couldn’t hear then fled.
Jayden waited until they were both gone before crossing to the grill. He ordered two fried chicken sandwiches and wolfed them down on his way to his first afternoon class, where he spent half an hour phrasing his email to Adrienne.
Chapter Ten
An hour after school ended, Adrienne sat in the car with Jayden. They’d been talking about classes she was struggling in for over half an hour as he drove them north of New Orleans, towards the house of his grandmother. Still unable to believe he’d asked, she was nervous enough about being alone with him that she could hardly sit still.
Quiet fell after she explained what classes she’d taken in math before coming to the academy.
She leaned down and reached into her book bag, discreetly pulling a card to see how the visit was going to go.
The cards had their own agenda. Adrienne stared at them, mesmerized by a vision. It was unlike any communication she’d ever experienced before with the spirits. Instead of a familiar symbol for her to interpret, a scene played out on the cards.
Two little girls were playing with a skeleton key. They looked like they were in a closet somewhere, if the clothes hanging on one side of them were any indication.
The key looked a lot like the one in the mark on her shoulder.
As she watched, the girl with a birthmark between her eyes and a scar down the side of her face took the key and held it in both hands. The metal morphed and grew, snaking around her wrists to form manacles. As if it were alive, it then began to spread, winding its way up the girl’s arms, across her body and shoulders, until her entire body was trapped.
The vision flashed away. Adrienne found herself shaking the card to see if it returned.
According to her sticky notes, she was supposed to find a key. Maybe it was real. If so, who were the little girls? Where were they? Why did they have the key she needed?
“My mama’s family is a little poor and um, backwards,” Jayden said, interrupting her thoughts.
Adrienne sat back quickly and glanced at him, sensing his tension.
“My daddy has the money. I try to be diplomatic and keep Mama happy. Sometimes it’s hard.”
“My parents are both poor, but my mama is a little crazy,” Adrienne said. “I’m used to backwards.”
Does he think I’m backwards? She glanced down at her nails. Maybe she could afford to spend a little of what she saved to get stylish nail polish and a pair of jeans that weren’t hand-me-downs.
Jayden left the highway and turned down a residential road.
She took in the housing as they wound through a large neighborhood. The structures were getting worse and worse looking, with some boarded up and covered in graffiti while others were abandoned and still others appeared to be occupied although close to unlivable.
“This looks like home,” she said. “Except most of the damage was done by hurricanes and never repaired.”
“Were you there for the worst of them?”
“No. Mama …” is a voodoo priestess who was told by our ancestors’ spirits the hurricanes were coming. Adrienne sought a better explanation, aware of Jayden’s view on voodoo. “Well, we were out of town at the time. Luckily.”
She sipped the water Kimmie had given her. She’d never noticed the difference in how water tasted, but this was smooth, soft. She almost understood why it was popular among vocalists. If she could afford the ten-dollar a bottle price tag, it would be all she drank.