Inevitable (29 page)

Dana called me back when I was two minutes from the hospital.

“What have you got for me?” I asked, stopping at a red light. “Did you find out what Dekla is?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Only it’s not a what, it’s a who. She, actually. Dekla is one of the Latvian goddesses of fate.”

“A goddess of fate?” I visualized the tall blond woman. Was she Dekla?

The car behind me honked and I jumped, only then noticing my light was green. “Thanks, Danes.” I made my left turn and pulled into the hospital parking lot.

“What’s going on, Jayne?”

“I’ll tell you at the game. See ya.” Hanging up, I hurried toward the doors.



I bought a card and two balloons in the hospital gift shop, then took the elevator up to see Adelle. To my infinite gratitude, she sat upright flipping through TV channels when I walked in.

“Hi, Adelle,” I said meekly, holding my card and balloon out like some kind of offering.

She turned her attention from the TV, focusing tired gray eyes on me.

I opened my mouth to offer an explanation of my visit, when she whispered, “Dekla. You’ve come.”

That name again. My heart pounded and I turned around, expecting to see the familiar woman in the halls behind me. Nobody. Could only Adelle see her? I swiveled back. “Do you see her? Is she here?”

Adelle held out her hands and gestured me forward. “You’ve misunderstood. You’re Dekla.”

The world swirled around me, and I reached out a hand to steady myself. “What? Me? No, I’m Jayne. I’m not a goddess.”

Adelle shook her head, a small satisfied smile on her face. “No. You are Dekla. You see the fate of those around you. You walk in their shoes at the moment of their death. You have the ability to change their destiny.”

I opened my mouth, about to question how she knew all that, when her final words caught up with my brain. I coughed and sputtered. “Change their destiny? I’ve tried. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” Adelle gestured again, pulling me toward her. “You just haven’t learned how.”

I came to her this time and settled on the edge of the bed. I set down the cards and balloons, noting how my hands shook. “I’m just a girl.”

Her gray eyes widened, piercing me. “Then how do you explain your powers?”

“I don’t have any powers. Just a curse.” My voice came out bitter.

“That’s not true, child. You simply must ask Laima to teach you.”

“Laima?”

She nodded. “I know you’ve seen her. She follows you. The scent of death calls to her, and she waits to see your verdict about their fate.”

Her words crashed over my brain like a cold tsunami, taking my wits with them. “What? Scent of death? You mean the lemon smell? Oh! She’s the woman I see!” Laima. She had a name.

“You smell lemons?” Adelle smiled again, the wrinkles around her eyes tripling. “Better than me. I smell wet dog. You must ask Laima to teach you.”

Too much information at one time, and I didn’t know which question to ask first. “Teach me what? What do you mean, my verdict?”

Adelle squeezed my hand. “You are the second goddess. Laima weaves the destiny and lets you see the outcome. You can cast a vote to change it or sustain it.”

“Wait a minute. You mean, I can change how people die? How?” I gasped out, unable to believe that I’d had this power the entire time.

“Ask Laima.”

I plowed on, the questions flying out of me. “And it’s not everyone. Why do I only see the horrible deaths?”

“Those are the only ones you can change.”

“But
how
?” I pressed. “I’ve never been able to change anything.”

“Ask Laima.”

Frustration grew in me, and I exhaled. “I have. She doesn’t tell me anything.”

“Doesn’t she?” Adelle arched a penciled eyebrow. “Hasn’t she answered everything you’ve asked?”

“Um, no, not that I can recall. Like she never told me what Dekla is. How do you know all this, anyway?”

“I used to be Dekla,” she whispered.

“Huh?” I pushed my hand through my hair, yanking when I got stuck in a curl. “You mean, you used to be me?”

She shook her head, the wig sliding slightly to the left. “No. I used to be Dekla. But I was also Adelle. And now I am dying. The power passed to another.”

Her note flashed through my mind. Passing Dekla. “But why me?”

“I chose you.”

“You chose me? But how? Why?”

Her light eyes pierced mine, and she held my gaze for several heartbeats of silence. Then she said, “Ask me again in a few days.”

“Why not now?”

She shook her head. “I can’t tell you now.”

Fine. I took a deep breath and sat again, question after question tumbling through my head. “Is Laima like us, too? How long will I be Dekla? Is Dekla inside of me?”

Adelle raised a hand. “Slow down. No, Laima isn’t one of us. She’s immortal. We die. But Dekla is one of her sisters, and she chose to distribute her immortal soul among the human race. I had a piece. Now you do.”

“I don’t understand this power,” I whispered. “I can’t even help people. Why would she do that?”

“Your mortality makes you greater. You are compassionate. You care in a way that Dekla never could.”

This was too much. But still, the million-dollar question. “How do I change their deaths?”

“Ask Laima.”

I bit back a snarl. “Great, I’ll just send her a text message when I get out to the car.”

Adelle reached over the side of the bed and picked up an old cell phone. “Do you have her number?”

I stared at her, unbelieving. Then I pulled out my phone. “No. No, actually, I don’t.”

“I’ll give it to you.” Adelle’s voice softened. “And then, my dear Dekla, I’ll have to bid adieu. I’m getting quite tired.”

I left Adelle’s room shaken and confused. I should be contacting Laima.

I snorted. Would a goddess really answer my text?

I’d find out soon enough, because I was definitely going to text her.

I bumped into something in the hallway and turned around, an apol
ogy on my lips. “Oh!” I exclaimed. “I’m so sorry. Excuse me.”

Brown leather shoes under red and yellow striped pants appeared under my eyes. “Jayne?” a familiar accented voice said. “What are you doing here?”

“Aaron?” My brow knit together in confusion. I couldn’t take my eyes from his shoes. I tried to reconcile his voice with the strangely dressed person in front of me. “I’m visiting a friend. What are you doing here?”

“I work here,” he replied, a bit defensively.

My eyes traveled up his pants to the red suspenders over a green shirt. A plastic flower hung out of a breast pocket. “As what? A clown?” I lifted my eyes to take in his whole ensemble. Was he wearing a curly red wig? A rubber nose?

Rubber nose, no. Red wig, yes.

“I’m a private entertainer. I do birthday parties, cheer kids up after surgeries, things like that.”

My mouth dropped open and I laughed. “You really are a clown!”

“It’s not funny,” he growled. “The sick kids have as much right for laughter as any other child.”

The tragedy behind his career struck me, and I sobered. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m glad you’re doing something so nice. I just.... wouldn’t have been able to picture it if I hadn’t seen it.” I flashed him a smile, fighting giggles. The total absurdity of this situation struck me, and I wanted to laugh out loud. I was in the hospital, trying to learn about my curse from a dying woman, and now I’d run into my ex, dressed like a clown.

He leaned toward me, close enough that I could smell the mint gum he was chewing. “That’s because you never notice me, Jayne.”

I inhaled his scent. My lips part as if they were crying out in desperation, “Kiss me! Kiss me now!” Traitorous mouth. I pressed them together. “What are you talking about? I always notice you.”

“You have a good way of pretending you don’t, then.”

His warm breath washed over my mouth, and I struggled to concentrate. Did his lips brush mine when he spoke? He was
right there
. “No, I don’t,” I said lamely.

“Jayne.” The whisper sent tingles down my spine. “You’re making me crazy.” He put his hands on my shoulders.

He’s going to kiss me.
The thought flew through my head.
I should pull away.
But I didn’t. I wanted that kiss most desperately. My pulse pounded in anticipation.

“Mr. Chambers!” A shrill voice rang down the hall, and Aaron let me go. “I don’t think you’re being paid to stand out in the hall when you have a birthday party to attend.”

“Sorry, ma’am. You’re right.”

I jerked away, the spell broken. “We shouldn’t be talking, anyway. It might make your girlfriend jealous. After all, it wasn’t working out between us.”

I threw his words back at him spitefully. I shouldered my purse and marched down the hall, keeping my head high in case he watched me leave.



I called Dana from my car as soon as I parked at the game. “I’m here. Second row of cars.”

She groaned. “Seriously? You’re going to stay in there?”

“I have to!” I exclaimed. “How can I be a good spy if I’m not watching people come in?”

“Fine,” she huffed. “It’s your social funeral.”

As long as it wasn’t my real one.

A moment later Dana’s yellow galoshes appeared trekking across the grass toward my car. I popped the locks and she climbed in next to me.

“Raining?” I asked, examining her matching yellow raincoat. I hadn’t noticed any water hitting my windshield.

“Might,” she replied, unwrapping a Dum-Dum. She stuck her purse between us and I dug through it, in the mood for a cotton candy sucker. “So. Tell me why I looked up Dekla.”

Oh boy. My stomach tightened into knots at the memory of my conversation with Adelle. “Well... apparently, I’m her.”

Dana squinted at me. “How’s that possible? She’s a thousand-year-old goddess.” Her eyes narrowed even more, into tiny slits. “Wait a minute. How much have you been holding out on me? Is this, like, your seventh time through high school?”

My face burned. “No! I haven’t been holding back! It’s more like, I have her powers.”

“So you’re the goddess of fate?” Dana blinked several times. “Why can’t you change things, then?”

“That’s the confusing part.” I shredded the candy wrapper. “There’s another goddess. The woman I see.”

“Laima,” Dana supplied.

“Oh, you know about her?”

She shrugged. “Her name popped up on every website that Dekla’s did.”

I nodded. “Yeah, Laima. Anyway, she’s like the actual goddess. I’m just the sidekick. And I don’t know how to do anything with my powers.”

Dana leaned toward me. “But you can?”

“Well, not right now. I don’t know how.”

“But if you learn? Then you can?” she pressed.

My head bobbed again. “Yeah. Apparently.”

“Wow,” Dana breathed, settling back in her chair. “That’s fabulous, Jayne.”

“Yeah.” But I didn’t feel excited. I focused on the spectators of the game. I hoped I’d figure my powers out before I ran into another lemon-scented person.



I didn’t sleep much all weekend. The thoughts churned in my heart, emotions like frustration and hope chasing each other around. I could hardly keep my eyes open in school on Monday. We had a Spanish test, and Mr. Livingston stopped me when I turned mine in.

“You look tired, Jayne. Are you alright?”

I managed a wan smile. “I could use a break. Maybe our
Cinco de Mayo
party will be just the thing for me.”

“Have the police been bugging you?”

I shook my head. “No, but I wish they would. I keep calling them. The thing is—”

He interrupted me. “Maybe the case is dying. There haven’t been any more murders.”

“I don’t think so.” I could feel myself getting fired up, wanting to lay empirical evidence at his feet. “Things have been—”

“Maybe they want you to drop it.”

I stopped. I had the feeling that was true. The police didn’t seem too interested in what I had to say anymore. “I have a meeting with them tonight. Then, hopefully, this will all be over.”

“Why are you meeting with them?”

“Now, that’s classified information.” I patted the pile of exams. “Maybe I’ll put an article in the school paper.”

“Good luck, Jayne,” he said, rubbing his eyes. He looked tired too.

My next two classes went too smoothly, and then I was headed to English. How I wished the office had let me switch  classes!

Again I waited until the last minute to slip into class, and then I completely ignored Aaron and sat in the back by Drew Collins, a quiet boy with long brown hair and glasses. He sat chewing on a pencil and reading his physics book, not even sparing me a glance.