Of Breakable Things (14 page)

“Who made those rules, Liv? The ghosts?” Jonas snickered. “You just worry about your Weight Watchers rules. I’m going.”

Kaleb pulled the keys from the ignition. He couldn’t be outdone by his little brother. “Me, too.”

Alex hated to admit it, but she was curious.

“You aren’t supposed to turn off the car either,” Liv wailed.

“What?”

“You turned off the car! And the headlights!”

Kaleb shrugged. “Habit.”

Liv shook in panic.

“You’ll be fine.”

“Leave the keys,” she demanded, holding out a hand.

Kaleb fought a smile. “Are you planning to drive away without us?”

“No,” she said, but she didn’t sound completely sure.

“She's not going anywhere,” Jonas remarked. “There isn’t a McDonald’s around here.”

All participants in the dare needed to separate, and Alex found herself alone. Within seconds the air around her silenced. No movement, no whispers, no animals. It was dauntingly still, like the world after a snowfall. Alex tried to spot one of the others, but she couldn’t see a thing. She began whispering into the darkness, calling each of their names. No one answered. They couldn’t be far, so she called their names a little louder. The darkness swallowed her voice.

She decided to make her way back to the Jeep, but she couldn’t remember which way was which. She set off tentatively, crunching through the leaves. And then she froze.

She turned her head, listening for it again. The logical half of her brain insisted that she was making it up, but she couldn’t ignore the tinkling sound of tiny bells, like those on a clown hat. A
jester’s
hat. She picked up her pace.

They rang again, echoing in her head, except this time they’d moved to the right. Her fingers and toes grew numb with cold, and she could only warm herself with an overcoat of vulnerability. She heard a whimper escape her throat.

Chase
, she thought.

Don’t worry
. His voice came instantly, and Alex wondered if he had been there all along.
That Jester guy is just messing with us.

Where are you now? In the dream.

Looking for you. He split us up.

Why?

He’s bored. We’re entertaining him.

He doesn’t want to hurt us, right?

No. I feel some sort of energy though, so there might be someone else out here with us, dead or alive. He might be trying to keep us away from whoever that is, too. What made you think of this anyway? Your mind must have held the memory for your dreams to carry you here.

I guess maybe because I saw the Jester mentioned in some book that Gabe was reading.

Gabe’s obsessed. But it is kind of cool that some of this world has to do with where we grew up.

The scene played out exactly how she remembered it. Each of them found their way back to the Jeep because they followed the sound of screaming. When they reached Liv, she was hyperventilating because a pair of blinding white lights was slowly traveling towards the car. The high beams grew larger and larger, and to avoid getting slammed by a car of such size, Kaleb quickly started the Jeep and veered sharply left to get out of the way.

It occurred to them on the way home that the road did not go straight ahead. The lights had been shining at them through the
trees
. And they were accompanied by the ringing of bells.

As the others screamed, Alex could hear giggling. It wasn’t external; it was like the laughter was inside her head.

And it sounded completely insane.

Brigitta’s classrooms all seemed the same: vast stadium seating, mahogany railings with desks attached, and raised stages for the instructors. The exception was Professor Duvall’s alchemy, botany, and chemistry workshops, nicknamed ABC. Alex considered the room to be a mix between a marine biologist’s dream and a mad scientist’s lab. A sheet of glass comprised the entire right side of the wall, revealing a tank filled with a variety of sea creatures from pea-sized fish to human-sized squids. To the left, jars wallpapered the room, floor to ceiling, displaying grotesquely unidentifiable contents. The one closest to Alex looked like it was filled with human fingers. Other jars were solid. She could only imagine what was hiding in those.

The only available seat waited for her in the back corner. Calla Bond slouched over the wobbly table, rocking with the precariously uneven legs. Her mousy hair fell over her freckled face, shielding her from the world. She was accompanied by two others: a boy who shared her features right down to the placement of freckles, and a portly boy scratching his scruffy blonde hair. Their feeble island isolated them from the rest of the class as though they were infectious.

Alex slid into the empty chair, and the pudgy boy jumped, gawked at her, and began to scoot his seat away.

A woman sidled into view, exiting from a misshapen door in the front corner of the classroom. She commanded them to turn to page six hundred sixty-six, and snickering filled the room.

Alex rummaged in her bag, but her stomach flip-flopped when she realized she had forgotten her book. What a fantastic first impression she’d make on this teacher. The freckled boy noticed her plight, and he scooted his chair closer to position his book directly in front of Alex.

“Thanks,” she said. “Can you see the page?”

He waved his hand, shooing the thought. “I already read the whole book.”

He had to be kidding. The textbook was the size of a small suitcase, and it was full of formulas and foreign languages. Not the sort of book one could memorize even with an accelerated brain. The pudgy boy met her gaze and winced like he was in pain.

“Ah, right,” said the teacher, “I sense new blood in the room. Where is she?” Like an anorexic runway model with her wiry hair and hollowed eyes, she high-stepped down the aisle and moved like a breeze to the snapping of the loose jewelry around her bone-thin neck and wrists. The thick, colorful beads reminded Alex of stage accessories in a dress-up trunk. Objects fell to the floor in her wake: a piece of paper in one row, an empty cup in another. She didn’t seem to notice. When she came close to Alex, she stiffened, aghast.

Alex greeted her with reserve.

Professor Duvall didn’t respond at first; she just hovered with her mouth frozen in an
O
. Alex should have been used to this since most of the teachers had behaved the same way. But, unlike the others, this woman’s mouth curved into a Cheshire Cat’s smile and her emerald eyes lit up. “I’ll be damned,” she murmured under her breath. “How did you do it?”

“I’m sorry?” Alex asked, confused.

Duvall waved off the question. “You are the one who took care of that dreadful gargoyle of a bench?”

Alex nodded. News really traveled fast around here.

“Good riddance. I have despised that bench for a century. I’m Professor Lucia Duvall. It’s lovely to meet you.” She regarded the other occupants of Alex’s table with derision, sucking in her already skeletal cheeks. “It would be favorable for you to occupy a seat closer to the front, would it not?”

Alex double checked the seats in the room but saw no vacancies.

“You have much to catch up on.”

“Oh.” She placed a hand on the book sitting between her and the boy. “He’s loaning me his textbook today.”

“I see.” Professor Duvall sneered at Alex’s remote table of rejects before gliding to the front of the room.

Alex let out a breath and curled her arms around her chest. She wondered why she had chills up her spine. Then she realized the freckled boy next to her was grinding his oversized teeth. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, glaring at the teacher. “Just the witch.”

Alex didn’t think she’d heard him correctly. “The what?”

He pointed to the front of the room.

“Jade stones!” Professor Duvall’s voice rang through the vaulted rafters. “Mr. Seyferr, if you could be helpful enough to tell us how this substance affects the bodied.”

The round-faced boy on Alex’s other side began to flip through the pages of his book furiously.

“Hello!” Duvall barked. “Reuben Seyferr!”

“I …” Reuben Seyferr squeaked in a voice much smaller than he was. He itched at one of his arms. “I don’t remember.”

“You didn’t read the chapter?”

“I did. I just … ”

“See me after class.” Duvall’s voice was angrily high-pitched, but she seemed pleased that she’d embarrassed him. “Jackery Bond?”

The freckled boy lifted his chin. “Yes?”

“Jade stones?”

Jackery Bond sighed. “For humans, excuse me, the
bodied
, jade is often a symbol for perfection and immortality. Mesoamerican Indian masks often had the stone embedded within the representations of their gods,” he recited. “The Chinese also greatly value the stone.”

Alex was impressed. Perhaps he
had
memorized the entire book.

“Humph.” Duvall gave a sniff nod. “And Skye.” She refocused her attention, and her tone softened considerably. “For what do we use the stone?”

“Our doctors use it,” Skye responded in a sing-song voice. “It helps to sustain spiritual injuries in the core area.” She pointed to her hips.

Alex wasn’t sure what to think about Skye Gossamer. That morning, she had walked up to Alex in the vestibule and stared into Alex’s eyes, scrutinizing her own reflection. “You have long eyelashes,” she’d said. “That means you don’t always allow yourself to the see the things right in front of you.” And then she’d turned her heel, and her long auburn hair billowed behind her like a curtain.

“Very good.” Duvall gave a small nod of approval. She openly favored Skye over Jackery or Reuben. She waved her arm above her head in a fist and the image of a primrose yellow stone appeared, hovering in midair.

“Jackery,” Alex whispered, “is that a projection?”

“I guess you could say that. And call me Jack.”

“Where’s the screen?”

“Not necessary. There’s no technology. She’s projecting it herself. When you do see the technology here, you’ll know it.” He grinned. “Give your mind some time.”

“And the Voix,” Duvall continued, tapping her chin and eying the class. “What did you read about this mineral?”

Madison Constance raised her hand. “The Voix is found in parts of France mostly in, hold on,” she said, frowning down at her notes. “Lorraine, France, where they believe the stone helps to enlighten the user.”

“Very good,” Duvall said. “The bodied assume the stone will reveal to them some knowledge they were meant to hear, when in reality, what the Voix really does is endow the user the ability to hear spirits. What was not included in your reading is that the bodied who claim to be clairvoyant will simply keep these stones in their possession.” She gave the class a haughty look. “This was actually why the term ‘medium’ was coined by spirits, because medium means something in the middle or average. Many who call themselves mediums are nothing but average humans with no special gifts at all. Just a large stash of Voix. Legitimately gifted mediums also use the stones but only to help boost the senses of their clients.”

Professor Duvall waved her hand and the image changed to a small red-brown bracelet. “There is much magic to be found in minerals. Some more powerful than others.” She whipped her hand open, spreading her bony fingers wide. Alex watched the tiny bracelet grow to the size of a garden hose.

“This representation is a piece of copper jewelry sold by a vendor here in the states. Unbeknownst to the seller, this bracelet contains magic. It arrived here with us nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, and its powers have never diminished.”

Jack and Reuben shared a knowing look when Duvall mentioned magic. Calla raised her hand, but she was ignored.

“Do the powers of the stone diminish the more it is used?” Madison Constance asked.

“It depends on the type of stone,” Joey Rellingsworth interrupted. “Right, Professor?”

She nodded. “Most minerals are quite temperamental. Some fade with age, some fade with use.” Duvall scanned the room, still disregarding Calla. “Yes, Madison?”

“Is it true that you can divide a stone without killing the properties?”

Duvall rearranged her tangled jewelry. “Again, it depends on the stone. Often, if a stone is divided, the power will divide with it.”

The soft scratching of scribbling pencils filled the room, and Alex realized that she should probably be taking notes. She didn’t want to be on Duvall’s bad side.

“Case in point.” The projection of the bracelet grew even larger. “This piece has been tampered with, because typically with copper, you can split the stone, but it will weaken the power. Not true with this one. Other questions? No? Good.”

Calla sighed and lowered her hand.

Another image flashed in front of the class. The setting was some sort of hospital. People in blue scrubs flanked an operating table with a bench of medical tools to the side. The doctors swarmed around the patient’s head, but nothing appeared to be wrong with him.

“Is that a photo?”

Jack shook his head. “You can’t take a picture of a ghost. She’s projecting it from her memory.”