Pawn (Nightmares Trilogy #1) (37 page)

Mom stepped aside, allowing Kannon to
exit without further comment. Neither of us spoke until the sound
of the Jeep’s engine broke the silence.

“I’m sorry, but I swear we weren’t
doing anything,” I blurted out, at the same time Mom said, “I have
something for you.”

Clutched in one hand, my mother held a
shopping bag from Bloomingdales, and in the other a dress
bag.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked,
jumping to my feet.

“I hope you like it,” Mom told me. “I
stopped at the mall on the way home.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she warned.
“Wait until you see it first.”

Mom handed me the dress bag and I
carefully removed the plastic wrapping. Inside was a strapless,
forest green gown. The bodice was silk, and the sweetheart neckline
was rimmed with tiny crystals that twinkled. It had an empire waist
with a small green-and-gold bow. The skirt was long enough to skim
the tops of my feet in the front, and a foot of train would trail
behind me. And the back was better than the front, with a diamond
cutout in the middle and two ribbons of green satin that tied into
a bow between my shoulder blades.

“It’s gorgeous,” I breathed. It was.
The color, perfect. The cut, one I’d never worn but would
definitely complement my shape.

“That’s not all,” Mom said, smiling.
She produced a shoebox from the Bloomingdales bag. Inside was a
pair of shiny gold heels, taller than any she’d ever bought me. “I
thought your dream catcher would go nicely with the dress, and you
are welcome to wear a pair of my earrings.”

I rushed over and hugged my mother.
“Thank you,” I whispered into her hair.

Mom was startled at first, but quickly
recovered and hugged me back. “You’re welcome. And I’ll let it
slide this time, but please don’t invite him into your bedroom
again.”

The blood that rushed to my face was
so hot that I broke out in a light sweat. Mom and I had never had
the birds and the bees talk, and I really hoped that we weren’t
about to now.

“It won’t happen again,” I promised
her, turning to hang the dress in my closet before she saw my
bright red cheeks.

“Have you eaten? I brought sandwiches
from Hal’s.” Hal’s was a sandwich and salad shop next to the
courthouse.

“Sounds good. I’ll be down in a
minute.”

I waited until I heard Mom’s heels on
the stairs again. Then I put on the dress, the silk soft and cool
against my skin. The emerald fabric highlighted the green flecks in
my eyes and made my auburn hair appear more red than brown. I
twirled in front of the full-length mirror behind my door, unable
to stop grinning like an idiot.

When I came to a standstill, the image
in the mirror made my heart leap to my throat and every inch of my
skin prickle. The gorgeous gown that I’d pulled from the dress bag
had been replaced by a tattered, soot-streaked green rag. Jagged
holes dotted the skirt, each one ringed with black. The bodice was
ripped, most of the crystals hanging by threads. My eyes were
red-rimmed and a crown of gray ash sat on top of my
hair.

I gasped and tentatively reached out
to touch the girl in the mirror. The palm that met mine was bright
red with angry white blisters. I squeezed my eyes shut and took
several deep breaths.

Smoke, fire, death,
Devon,
flashed through my mind.

Tears leaked from beneath my closed
lids, making almost inaudible thudding noises as they fell to the
carpet. I counted to ten before working up enough nerve to open my
eyes again. To my relief, the image staring reflected was me as I
looked right now. But I couldn’t get the previous one out of my
mind. Even worse, I realized it was not the first time I’d seen
myself in the damaged version of the gown. Or the first time I’d
seen myself in the undamaged version. I’d dreamt about
both.

I nearly tore the zipper in my haste
to shed the dress. Once it was nothing more than a pool of green
silk puddled beneath my feet, I kicked it towards the open closet.
I was scared to touch it, like the fabric might bite me. Wearing
nothing more than my underwear and dream catcher, I climbed under
the covers and hugged myself until I fell asleep.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Saturday morning. Prom. I woke with a
churning stomach and a pounding head. Over the past forty-eight
hours I’d drafted no less than ten separate texts to Kannon
explaining that I’d changed my mind about attending prom. But I
always chickened out before hitting send. I’d shared my concerns
with Devon, who attributed my nerves to what may or may not happen
at the after-party. Basically, she thought I was worried that
Kannon expected me to sleep with him since that was what people did
after prom. That prospect hadn’t crossed my mind until she
suggested it.

As a special treat, Mom made
last-minute appointments for Devon, Elizabeth, Mandy, and me at a
salon on Main Street. When Elizabeth picked me up, Devon and Mandy
were already in the car. They were all talking excitedly, passing
around pictures they’d torn from magazines to give to the
hairdressers. I hated that I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm. No
matter how hard I tried, the nagging sensation of impending doom
wouldn’t go away.

The Waverunner was as upscale as it
got in Westwood, and they served us sparkling cider while we had
our hair teased, sprayed, twisted, and curled into submission.
Mandy smiled through the entire ordeal, so much so I wondered if
her cheeks hurt. Elizabeth gushed about Cooper and how he’d taken a
picture of her dress to the flower shop to make sure the corsage he
ordered matched her dress perfectly. I sat back in the chair and
listened to my friends as they made bets on who would win prom king
and queen. Devon pretended like her chances of being queen were
low, even though all four of us knew she had it in the
bag.

“I’m going to run down to the tailor
and pick up my dress,” Devon said.

Having considerably shorter hair than
Elizabeth and me, the hairdresser had managed to weave baby’s
breath through Devon’s spiral curls in the time it took my
hairdresser just to pile mine into a ponytail – the curling process
had yet to begin.

“If you wait like ten more minutes,
I’ll come,” Mandy volunteered. The upside-down French braid that
Mandy had chosen was complete; all that was left for her
hairdresser to do was curl and spray the ends.

Devon waved her hand dismissively.
“That’s okay. If I go now, I can be back by the time all three of
you are finished. We need to get back to Eel’s ASAP so we can get
started on our makeup.”

“We have time,” I spoke up. “Wait for
one of us to go with you.” I didn’t like the idea of Devon being
alone. Maybe I was being paranoid, but something told me that I
needed to stay close to her today.

“I’m a big girl, Eel,” Devon laughed.
“I don’t need a chaperone.” With that she was gone before I could
voice a second protest.

“Is she okay? She seems a little
down,” Mandy said once Devon was gone.

“Totally. Devon’s happy going stag,” I
replied.

“I feel badly for her. She’s going to
be queen, and it looks sort of bad that she doesn’t have a date,”
Elizabeth interjected.

“Don’t let her hear you say that,” I
warned. Devon would hate the idea of anyone pitying her. “Besides,
if she wanted a date, she would have one.”

Forty-five minutes later, my hair was
piled into a loose bun with a handful of strategically placed curls
framing my face. Claire, the same woman who cut and styled my
mother’s hair, had used copious bobby pins with tiny white roses on
the ends to hold my hair in place. She’d also used the entire can
of Aquanet, ensuring that I’d have to shampoo my hair at least
three times the following day before it had any hope of moving
again. There was probably a hole in the ozone larger than that
giant ball of yarn in Minnesota hovering over the salon.

“What’s taking Dev so long?” Elizabeth
asked, checking the time on her cell phone. We’d just finished
paying our respective bills. She made a face when she realized how
much time had passed since Devon left for the tailor. “Maybe her
dress isn’t ready?”

“I’ll call her.” Just when I finally
fished my cell from my purse, the bells over the front door jingled
and Devon walked in. The smile on her lips rivaled the Cheshire
cat’s and her big blue eyes twinkled.

“There you are,” I said, relieved. We
were running short on time now – the boys were supposed to be at my
house no later than four so we could take pictures before the limo
arrived at five. “Dress turn out okay?”

“Better than okay. It turned out
amazing.” Devon’s tone had this dreamlike quality to it, which was
completely out of character for my best friend. Elizabeth and I
exchanged glances.

“What took so long then?” Elizabeth
asked.

Devon’s expression turned coy. She
shrugged nonchalantly. “I didn’t realize I’d been gone that long.
Guess time really does fly when you’re having a good
time.”

I looked from Elizabeth to Mandy,
seeking confirmation that they too thought Devon was acting
strangely. Both girls appeared just as confused as I
felt.

“Right, because the tailor is the
happening place to be today,” I said sardonically.

The sarcasm was wasted on
Devon.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Endora Lee.”
Devon gave me an exaggerated eye roll. “Bryson was the good time,
not the tailor.”

“Who’s Bryson?” I asked
slowly. There was something seriously off about Devon. Her behavior
was so out of character that I wondered if she’d hit her head. And
had she really just called me by my full first name? She
never
used my full first
name.

“Bryson Daniels. He’s friends with
Abby Reynolds and Kilbi Arnold. You’ve met him.” Abby and Kilbi
were juniors and both girls were on the lacrosse team, but I wasn’t
familiar with any of their friends outside of the other girls on
the team. “Anyway, I ran into him on the way back from the tailor
and we got to talking. One thing led to another and I invited him
to be my date tonight.”

Devon squealed when she said the last
part. Actually squealed. I hadn’t seen her so excited since the
salesgirl at Victoria’s Secret told her she’d graduated from an
A-cup to a B-cup.

“Oh my god! That is so awesome!” Now
Elizabeth was squealing excitedly too. “This is so great. Is he
coming to dinner with us?”

Devon’s face fell. “No. He has to
watch his little brother until his parents get home from the
Orioles game. He’s meeting up with us at the country
club.”

“Well, we can’t wait to check him
out,” Mandy said.

Speak for yourself, I thought.
Something about this situation put my teeth on edge. Between
Devon’s giddiness, and the half-dazed, half-lovestruck expression
she wore, my guard was up. Apparently I was the only one, though.
Neither Elizabeth nor Mandy seemed concerned. In fact, both girls
were grilling Devon about Bryson Daniels. What did he look like?
How old was he? Did she think he’d have time to buy her a
corsage?

Relax; be happy for her, I ordered
myself. Clearly Devon was happy, and as her best friend, I should
be supportive.

“I’m very excited for you,” I told
Devon, linking my arm through hers and mustering a smile for her
benefit. “But if we don’t get back to my house soon, we are all
going to be going to prom sans makeup. And considering we just paid
a small fortune to have our hair done, we’d look pretty silly with
extravagant ’dos and bare faces.”

Devon threw her head back and
laughed.

“You’re right. We don’t want to
disappoint our dates!” She said it without a hint of sarcasm and
now actually looked like she was worried that Bryson might be
disappointed if she were less than perfect. My smile faltered and
my insides squirmed. Whoever this Bryson Daniels was, I disliked
him already.

****

“Okay, now just the girls,” Mrs.
Holloway said.

My living room was standing-room only.
In addition to Elizabeth, Mandy, Devon, me, and our dates – minus
the Bryson Daniels character – Cooper’s friend, Jared Cato, and
Anna Beth Walters, the JV lacrosse captain, were arranged in front
of the fire place posing for one picture after another. Since Anna
Beth was only a sophomore and didn’t know many seniors besides
Jared, I’d suggested they share our limo.

The other four girls and I lined up
with Elizabeth in the middle since she was the tallest, the rest of
us filling in around her. Next, Mrs. Holloway arranged the four
boys according to height. We took serious pictures, silly pictures,
pictures of each individual couple, pictures of Devon and me,
Elizabeth and me, Mandy and me, Anna Beth and me, Devon and
Elizabeth, Devon and Mandy, and so on and so forth until my jaw
muscles ached from all of the smiling.

I’d been worried about my mother being
rude to Kannon after catching him in my room the other night.
Thankfully, she was on her best behavior and only asked him a
handful of perfunctory questions instead of interrogating him as
I’d feared she would.