The Form of Things Unknown (4 page)

Starla leans over and tugs on his shirt. “Hey, Lucas! Go help the girls catch the Pokémons!”

“Actually, the plural of Pokémon is Pokémon,” Peter says.

“Gotta catch them all,” Colton murmurs.

“What if it's a ghost?” I ask, trying to distract everyone from the Pokémon theme. I think Lucas's sister is embarrassing him.

Starla and Raine turn around to stare at me. “Why? What have you seen?”

David glances over his shoulder at me, frowning. I know all about embarrassing older brothers. But I ignore him. “Well, I thought I saw someone standing behind the curtains the other day.”

Raine's eyes grow big, and Starla looks up at the balcony and then back to me thoughtfully. All discussion of Pokémon ceases. But now I feel like the center of attention. And I don't like it. Why did I open my mouth?

“Male or female? Old or young?” Starla asks.

“I couldn't tell,” I admit.

Colton leans over David. “I've heard my aunt say there are rumors about this place. We should hold a séance.”

“Seriously?” David asks, his eyes growing huge.

Colton winks at him. “Don't be scared, I'll protect you.”

The girls wait for the end of practice before pouncing on Mrs. Green. “Do you know any ghost stories about the theater?” Raine asks.

The dragon lady sighs. “Oh kids, we'd be here all night if I told you all the stories about this place. But theater people have always been superstitious. They say if a theater goes dark, ghosts will take up residence. So we always leave one light on in the building, called the ghost light.”

“I'm sure this theater has gone dark several times over the past two hundred years,” Starla says.

Mrs. Green shrugs as she shuts down all the lights save one. “All old buildings have their stories. And a theater is a building specifically created to tell stories and manufacture illusion. But you never know. This was once a beautiful theater, and if I were a ghost, I can't think of a prettier place to haunt.”

Most of the cast and crew leave, including Lucas and his sister. We walk with Mrs. Green through the dark foyer and she lets us out before locking up. “We start costume fittings next week. Good practice, kids.”

Raine and Starla drag behind the rest of us, whispering about something on Raine's phone.

David hovers between me and Colton, asks me if I want to grab some food before we go home. Loud enough so that Colton can hear, but it doesn't sound like he's asking him out in front of his aunt.

I know my role. “Sure. Colton? Care to join us?”

He throws one patchouli-scented arm around me and the other one around David. “
Chica,
I'd love to. What are we craving, my dears?”

I try to get a look at David, but it's hard with Colton between us. “I don't know . . .”

“Mexican!” Starla says, as she and Raine catch up with us. “Come on, let's go to the new place by the mall.”

“Ooh, yes,” Colton says. And suddenly we are all going out to eat together. I would give anything to be going home to a frozen pizza and a bubble bath right now. But David looks thrilled so I smile and nod.

“Everybody needs to ride with me,” Colton says. “We can drop you guys back off here to get your truck afterward,” he tells David.

And now I'm stuck in the backseat of his Corolla with Starla and Raine. Who are asking me more questions about the ghost.

“Did you feel any weird sensations before you saw it?” Raine asks.

“What made you look behind the curtains?” Starla asks, before I can answer Raine.

I shrug. “I have no idea. I don't think I felt anything. Maybe I was cold?”

Starla leans over Raine to whisper to me. “We're going to investigate this, and it's going to be fun. Raine's great-grandmother was a voodoo priestess and Raine inherited her old witch board. Tomorrow night we're going to sneak back into the theater after practice and find your ghost.”

I'm having trouble processing everything Starla just said. Voodoo? Witch boards? Why am I stuck in the backseat of a stranger's car with these crazy people?

Her whispers don't escape Colton in the front seat. “You're going to need me if you think you're getting into the theater after Aunt Carol has locked it up.”

“I don't want to get Colton into trouble,” I say, even though I know it's not going to change anything.

“Oh honey,” he says from the front. “This isn't trouble. Think of it as our civic duty to seek out ghosts. To make the theater safe for all of the rug rats.”

Raine nods. Seriously? A voodoo great-grandmother? Maybe Starla is lying, but I can't be sure.

Colton laughs. “It's probably just some guy in a sheet trying to scare everyone off so he can find the buried treasure.”

“Okay, Shaggy,” Starla says. “Just keep eating those Scooby snacks and believe that if it makes you feel better.”

I glance over at David, in the front passenger seat. He's too busy flipping through Colton's iPod to join in the conversation. I get no help from him.

This just has HORROR MOVIE—BAD ENDING— EVERYONE DIES written all over it. Teens sneaking into a falling-apart building late at night to converse with the dead? What could possibly go wrong?

But if there really is a ghost, there's a chance I'm not as crazy as I sometimes worry. Maybe it wasn't a hallucination. I might not end up like Grandma after all.

In the dark, no one can see my fingers crossing. I look at Starla and Raine and take a deep breath. It scares me, but I attempt to smile anyway. “Sounds like fun!”

CHAPTER 5

I'm recruited to spend the night at Starla's tonight with Raine, so we can eat ice cream and plot our after-hours séance at the theater tomorrow. When I ask Mom for permission, her face lights up. She is thrilled that her daughter is no longer an antisocial hermit. She sends me to Starla's with a plate of the dark chocolate cupcakes she made today. They have coconut frosting on them and they taste like Mounds candy bars.

My new friend lives in a cute blue house out by Bonaventure Cemetery. Starla's parents are divorced and she lives with her mom and eleven-year-old brother, Chance. He looks appropriately disgusted by the invasion of older girls in his home, especially when Raine arrives with her pet draped over her shoulders. Sunshine is a seven-and-a-half-foot albino Burmese python.

Chance shudders and locks himself in his room.

I wish I could hide in there with him, but I pretend the snake doesn't bother me. “How cute!” I say, hoping the snake isn't a prop in any voodoo ritual she's contemplating tonight.

Raine loves the cupcakes, but Starla moans that they have way too many calories. “You're killing me, Nat. Trying to make me fat on purpose?”

I apologize, thinking what a bitch I am to be sabotaging her movie star diet. I push the sugar bomb of icing off my own cupcake with my finger, ashamed for being such a glutton. I should probably be more sensible in my diet, too.

Starla is a huge fan of horror movies, and while Raine drapes Sunshine around my arms, her best friend gleefully rummages through a row of DVD cases under the television.

“Here, you need to move your purse,” Raine says, tossing it onto the chair across the room before I can object. “Otherwise she might try to crawl inside.”

I can hear my pill bottle rattle inside the purse as it hits the cushions, and I feel a fleeting moment of panic. My secret is about to roll out onto Starla's living room floor. Zyprexa. Ten milligrams by mouth every night. For the treatment of hallucinations.

But the bottle stays in my purse and no one else seems to notice. I do not want to have to tell my new friends what a freak I am. Not yet.

Sunshine twists around my arm and I pet her head carefully. She's actually kind of pretty, in a reptilian way. I wonder if she can sense my faster heartbeat. If she thinks I'm prey.

Oh no, she's wrapping herself around my waist and my breathing gets faster, too. I'm scared and I know that she knows it. Will she keep squeezing harder and harder until I can't breathe at all?

“She likes to hug,” Starla says over her shoulder. “How about
Jeepers Creepers
?”

I can see my headstone now. It's going to read: HUGGED TO DEATH BY A PYTHON.

Raine shakes her head. “I just saw that on cable last night.”

“You guys pick, then.” Starla plops down on the couch and pulls Sunshine off of me. “Come see Auntie Starla, baby. How is my precious Snookums?”

I want to eat some of the popcorn in the bowl on the coffee table, but I really need to wash my hands first. Can't you get salmonella from touching snakes? Maybe that's what my headstone will say.

“Sunshine looks hungry,” Starla says.

“No. She's already eaten this week,” Raine warns. “
Annabelle?
”

“I hate dolls,” Starla says. “I'm in the mood for something classic. Let's look on Netflix.”

I love old movies. “Like
Gone With the Wind
?”

Raine and Starla look at each other for half a second before they both burst out laughing. Raine holds her stomach she laughs so hard.

“Oh my God, I love her,” Starla says to Raine. I feel like an idiot. “Nat, I was actually thinking more like classic
Nightmare on Elm Street
.”

Oh. I feel even more like an idiot now. What made me think I could make new friends here in Savannah?

Raine throws a sofa pillow at Starla's head. “No, really. We don't have to watch horror movies. We should watch
Gone With the Wind
. I love old-fashioned romances.”

“No, that's fine,” I say, curling my legs up underneath me. Drawing back into my Natalie Cave. “I like horror movies, too.” Sometimes. Kind of.

Raine has the remote control now and she's scrolling through Netflix. “We don't need Freddy Kreuger. This . . .” she says, grinning triumphantly as she finds what she's looking for.

“This will be educational.”

Starla squeals. “Perfect!” She does a little shimmy-dance on the sofa with Sunshine.

Ouija
.

Of course. “Oooh, I've been wanting to see this,” I say, weakly. Probably not very convincingly at all. Worst actress ever.

“Awesome!” Raine bounces down on the couch between me and Starla and settles the bowl of popcorn on her lap.

I know there's some hand sanitizer in my purse, but it would probably seem weird if I used it on my hands before eating. But I could get sick if I don't.

“Oh, there are drinks in the fridge, Nat. Feel free to help yourself.”

The kitchen. I can wash my hands in there. “Okay. Do y'all want anything?”

“Beer,” Raine says.

Starla hits Raine on the shoulder. “She's joking. Chance will tattle on us like last time. Just bring us each a Diet Coke please.”

I take my time washing my hands and try to convince myself I'm having a good time. Horror flicks—yay! Giant snakes—yay! Why can't I be normal and laugh at creepy things like Raine and Starla? I feel like I'm five years old again, afraid of monsters under my bed.

I ignore the six-pack of beer and a pretty-looking wine bottle in the fridge and find the Diet Coke. Armed with drinks for everyone, I go back out into the living room.

The doorbell rings and Chance comes flying out of his bedroom.

Starla frowns at him. “Who is that?”

“No one,” her brother says. “Mind your own business.”

I can barely set the Diet Cokes down on the coffee table before Starla dumps Sunshine in my lap and tries to beat her brother to the front door. They shove each other, but Chance gets there first.

“You ordered pizza?” Starla shouts over her brother's shoulder. “Hey, Lucas!”

Raine comes to my rescue, picking up Sunshine. “Come to Mama, sweetheart. Hi, Lucas!”

“Come on in for a minute. Want to see the new Mario game I have?” Chance has the front door wide open now and I can see Lucas standing on the front porch with two boxes of pizza. He looks tired, I think.

“Hi, girls.” He sounds tired, too. He gives a little wave, but frowns when he sees me.

“Chance, you know he's not supposed to go inside people's houses when he's on the clock.”

How do Raine and Starla know so much about Lucas? And why do I even care? I glare back at him, but now he's doing his best to ignore me.

Lucas shakes his head, but remains out on the front porch. “It's fine. I'm done for the day. I brought him one of the pizzas I'd made for myself. One's pepperoni and the other one is Italian sausage.”

“You shouldn't have done that, Luke,” Starla says. “Now what is Caitlyn going to eat?”

“She likes the sausage better. Here, Chance, you take the pepperoni.”

“Thanks!” Chance scurries back to his room with his treasure.

Starla rolls her eyes. “We were going to make sandwiches.”

“How about some baked manicotti?” Lucas takes another bag that was hidden just out of view and holds it up for Starla.

She squeals. “Oh my God, Lucas! You are the best!”

Raine
hmphs
on the sofa next to me.

“What is the
hmph
for?” I ask. “Does she have a crush on him? Does he have a crush on her?”

Raine almost chokes on her Diet Coke. “No, he's just being nice. His family has lived next door to Starla's for years.”

I stare at him as Starla attacks him with a hug. He smiles, but Raine is right. He doesn't look like a boy being embraced by someone he has feelings for. He glances up into the living room and sees me and Raine. His smile fades.

“Do you know each other?” Raine asks, staring at me curiously.

“Just from play tryouts,” I say. I feel my cheeks flush and wonder if she noticed that he's frowning at me. That he probably hates me. Just because I know his secret.

Starla is dragging him inside. “We're about to watch a movie, Lucas. Why don't you join us?”

No matter what Raine says, Starla must have a crush on him.

“Sorry. I've got to get home. Caitlyn is waiting for me.” He rolls his eyes. “And Dad.”

I wasn't the most observant person during my stay at Winter Oaks, and I was definitely not interested in getting to know any of my fellow patients. I realize I really don't know anything about Lucas. Except that he has incredibly sad hazel eyes.

And he was a psych patient. And he really doesn't like me.

Fair enough. I probably scare him just as much as he scares me.

Raine sighs. “He's still getting over a bad breakup, but I think they're better off apart.”

I want to ask her more, but Starla shuts the door and brings a steaming container of heavenly scented pasta into the living room. She sets it down on the coffee table. “Let me grab some plates and forks.”

“This was really nice of him,” I say.

“Told you,” Raine says.

Starla comes back and dishes everything out. She hands each of us a plate of cheesy goodness. “Someday that boy is going to find a girl who deserves him.”

“Not you?” I blurt out, before my brain-mouth filter can kick in.

Starla shakes her head. “Lucas is like a little brother to me.” She and Raine share a look. Raine shrugs.

“Be right back with more drinks,” Starla says.

I check my bottle of Diet Coke and I'm about to say I'm fine, but Raine stops me. “Her brother won't come back out here again. You're going to like this.” She's grinning.

I have a bad feeling about this, but I smile back and try the manicotti. It's delicious. I try my best not to embarrass myself by getting cheese all over the place, but Raine is making a mess, too.

She grabs one of the napkins Starla left on the coffee table. “So, are you seeing anyone?” She drags the “Soooooo” out longer than necessary.

“God, no. No more boys until I'm a grown-up. A real grown-up, not like Caitlyn thinks.”

“Oh, sounds like there's a story behind that,” Starla says, coming back out to the living room with three newly opened bottles of Diet Coke. She sets one in front of each of us. “Details, please.”

Raine says nothing, but she's looking at me with one raised eyebrow, apparently waiting for me to spill.

I sigh. More dramatically than I should. Really, there's not much to my story. Not much that I want to share. “I haven't had much luck in dating.” In other words, I make poor choices. “My last boyfriend went to jail for selling drugs.” And I ended up in a psych ward after he gave me drugs. But they really don't need to know that.

“Oh wow. A drug lord princess!” Starla says. “Cool.”

For some reason, the ridiculousness of Caleb being a drug lord strikes me as hilarious. I burst out laughing. “You make it sound romantic!” Almost.

Raine shakes her head. “Girl, okay, that's just one guy. There are plenty out there who aren't drug dealers.”

“At least a few,” Starla says. “Peter—” She fake-coughs—“Gill—” She coughs again.

Raine blushes and throws a pillow across the room at Starla. “How about—
cough
—Ferris—
cough cough
—Black?”

Starla dodges the pillow. “Ferris and I are just friends. You know he's dating Maizy.” One of the girls from the play. I saw Maizy and one of the other girls, Bethany, scowling at Starla while she was up on stage earlier tonight. Starla smiles and holds up her bottle of Diet Coke. “To boys who aren't drug dealers!”

Raine and I both pick up our bottles, too. “Hear, hear,” I say, and take a drink, forgetting all about Raine's suspicious warnings earlier.

It does not taste like Diet Coke. Rather, it tastes like half Diet Coke and half turpentine. It takes everything I have not to spit it back out. My eyes must be bugging out because they both laugh at me.

“What did you put in that?” I ask. I used to know my alcohol pretty well, but this is one I don't recognize. Not sweet like rum. Not smoky like bourbon.

“Just a little something special to get the pajama party started.” Starla knocks back half of her drink.

I know I shouldn't mix alcohol with my meds, so maybe I should just skip my pill tonight? I take another sip. It's not so bad after all. Not really. “Crown?”

Starla grins. “Good job!”

Raine is smiling, too. I feel the warmth all the way down my throat and it makes me smile, as well. I know I'll be fine without my pill for one night. It's not like I really need them anyway.

Just for tonight, I'll skip. Just for tonight, I can pretend I'm a normal teenager and get drunk with my friends. I'll go back on my medicine tomorrow and no one will ever notice the difference.