Chapter FOUR
Chase had parked way down the road from the party. He didn’t like everyone to see the old station wagon if he could help it.
Plus, the stinging cold air helped sober him up. He’d appreciated Em’s offer of a ride, but he couldn’t handle being around other people right now. What he hadn’t told her was that he planned to just sit in his car and sober up for a while before he actually went home.
Cars passed—thumping music, hooting cries—then became twin red taillights, winking out. As he walked, he could hear engines in the distance. The same ghostly snow that had been falling all night was still coming down. He felt it on his face, wet and soft.
As Chase stood there, not even feeling the cold wind biting his arms through his coat, he had a sudden jolt of memory.
Being eight years old, and Officer Worelly coming by, so many winters ago, knocking hard on their door. His mom answering in her slippers. His mom crying in the snow. Chase not understanding, as his mother shoved him—too hard—back inside the
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trailer. That was the day of his father’s accident. His first taste of loss.
But with that loss came a kind of relief. He had never liked his father. Chase always believed his father deserved what he got—a fatal blow to the head from a faulty piece of factory equipment. Even at the age of eight, he’d seen his dad hit his mom too many times to feel anything but numb when he found out his father was never coming back.
That numbness surrounded him again now as he walked into the darkness.
Ian’s cul-de-sac was way behind him by now, and he’d passed only two or three houses, all of them dark. No wonder no one ever called the cops on Minster. No one could even hear the party. Not like in his neighborhood—if you could call it that. There, you could barely flush the toilet without everyone knowing.
His fingers were numb from the cold by the time he got to his car. He was fumbling with the keys—he dropped them once and had to scoop them up, cursing, from the street—when he heard silvery voices nearby. He peered into the darkness.
“Hello?”
Out of the snowy fog emerged one girl, then two more.
Chase couldn’t help but let his jaw drop a bit; these chicks were amazing. The one in front, a redhead with fair skin, was smiling. The other two—one white-blond and a little curvy, the other petite with wavy, honey-colored hair and a scarlet ribbon tied around her neck like a choker—stood behind her with serious expressions on their gorgeous faces. All three of them 42
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seemed to be enveloped in some sort of white light; probably the moon playing tricks with the snow.
Or maybe he was still drunker than he thought.
“Hey, sorry to startle you,” the redhead said, stepping toward him. As she did, he noticed a single snow-white streak that stood out from her hair on the left side of her face. “I’m Ty.
These are my cousins, Ali and Meg.”
Chase stuttered, “Um, hi. Hey. I’m Chase.”
“Hi, Chase,” all three girls said, practically in unison.
“Our car ran out of gas.” Ty motioned up the road a bit, where Chase thought he could just see the outline of a vehicle.
“Any chance you could help us?” For a girl stranded in the middle of a snowstorm, she seemed fairly relaxed. All at once, Chase’s head cleared.
“Do you want me to, um, drive you to the gas station? Or something?”
“That would be great, thanks,” Ty said. “Why don’t I go with you, and Ali and Meg can wait in the car?”
Chase wasn’t one for newage crap—his mom had been to see a psychic a few times and always came back muttering voo-doo bullshit, all about “affirmations” and chakra. Nevertheless, for a split second, he felt like this was fate—like a sign from the universe. Sure, the party might have been a bust—the Sasha news was pretty much the definition of a buzzkill, and he’d been in no shape to get numbers or hook up—but now he would get alone time with the hottest girl he had ever seen in his life. It was fate, clearly.
Everything was going to be okay.
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“So, was there a party tonight?” Ty asked once they were in the car. He could barely resist the urge to brush the snowflakes from her hair, to lean over and breathe in her musky, floral scent. As he put the car in drive, he felt like he was launching a spaceship into the night, into the snow. He and Ty would explore the dark, winding roads and stark, branch-lined fields.
“Yeah, a Christmas party–type thing,” he said, mentally kicking himself for sounding so uncool. She was probably picturing people dancing around in elf costumes. He quickly added, “You know, just a bunch of kids I know.”
“Sounds like fun. I love parties,” Ty said, smiling at him in the dark. “Don’t you wish we could go back to having parties like they did centuries ago? With dance cards and formal invitations and choreographed dances? Or masquerade balls? I’d love to go to a masked party. Wouldn’t you?”
“Totally,” he said, thankful she hadn’t been there to see him try to set up the beer-pong game. “You, um, study history or something?” He was sure this girl must be in college.
“Or something,” Ty said, laughing. Her laugh sounded like clinking coins. Chase couldn’t think of anything else to say.
He fumbled with the radio dial, trying to tune in to something sophisticated and moody.
“God, the snow is amazing,” Ty said, looking out the window. “It reminds me of that old poem. Something about the snow in the air, something something, the secret of despair.”
Chase was so entranced that he could barely focus on anything outside the car; the trees blended together outside his window like a movie in fast-forward. This girl was driving 44
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him crazy. It was like she was wearing one of those pheromone perfumes.
Then she turned to him, her eyes piercing. “Did you hear all those sirens before? Any idea what that was about?”
His mouth went dry. The sirens were the last thing he wanted to talk about. “Nope. Must be some kind of accident. . . . Lots of people just don’t know how to drive in this weather.”
“Nothing’s ever really an accident,” Ty said, once again smiling at him. Her eyes glittered, catlike. “Don’t you think?”
Chase didn’t really know what she meant, but he nodded anyway. One thing he was sure of: Meeting Ty was no accident.
At the gas station, Ty jumped confidently from the car.
“Want me to go in there with you?” Chase said, nodding his head toward the twenty-four-hour convenience store.
Thankfully, not the one his mom worked at.
“No thank you, I’ve got it,” she replied, flashing a smile.
He watched her go inside and pay for her gas, then saw her brush away—charmingly, still—the smitten cashier’s offer to help. Seemingly unfazed by the freezing night air, she stood by the gas pump and filled up the can. Chase got out and jogged over to her, rubbing his hands together.
“Sure you don’t need any help?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “See? Almost done.” Her pale, thin arms glowed in the light of the station as she replaced the nozzle on the gas pump. Chase thought she must be totally freezing, but she wasn’t shivering; she was smiling. He’d never seen anyone who seemed so comfortable, so effortless.
On the way back, Chase could hardly concentrate on 45
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keeping the car on the road. He’d hooked up with plenty of girls before, but Ty seemed older, more sophisticated than any of the girls at school. Ty was just what he needed—a girl like that could more than distract him from all the messed-up stuff in his life right now.
She’d be the perfect date for the Football Feast.
Back at the girls’ car, an old-fashioned, boxy, maroon Lincoln Town Car, Ali and Meg filled up the gas tank while Ty took Chase’s hand and led him several feet away.
“Thank god we found you,” she said, eyes glittering.
“I guess I’m just your knight in shining armor,” Chase said, gulping back a nervous laugh. He took a clumsy step forward.
“You can repay me, you know.” He leaned forward, closing the distance between them, hoping she’d ignore his total lack of game and kiss him.
But Ty dodged him with another musical laugh, shaking her long red hair out of her face.
“Here,” she said, “take this.” She handed him a bloodred flower with intricate petals. He wondered where it came from, whether she’d had it in her pocket. As she put it in his hand, their fingers touched and Chase felt a spark of electricity.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this,” he said, turning it in his hand, which felt far too clumsy to be holding something so nice and fragile.
“Well, there are more where that came from,” she said, laughing again, as Ali and Meg called to her from the car. She backed away from Chase, maintaining eye contact the whole time.
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“Can I get your number?” Chase said at the last moment.
“You’ll see me again soon,” Ty responded. “I’m sure of it.”
She smiled. Her teeth were perfect.
She was perfect.
Chase got back into his station wagon, feeling like he was hypnotized. He fumbled with the keys as he watched the Lincoln drive away; by the time his car had sputtered to life, Ty’s taillights had faded.
But he hadn’t gone more than a hundred feet when he looked in the rearview mirror and slammed on the brakes. He could have sworn he’d seen the girls again, back there. And he could have sworn they were pouring gas onto the car. Like they were going to burn it.
Chase shook his head and quickly squeezed his eyes closed.
When he looked again, the road behind him was empty and dark. I’m overtired, he thought. I need to get my shit together.
Chase gripped the wheel and pressed on the gas as snowflakes swirled in front of his windshield, faster and faster, until what lay ahead was all a white blur.
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ACT TWO
Irreparable, or The After-Party