“An invitation to Savannah Snow’s party, after the basketball game against Summerville on Saturday night. It’s the hottest ticket in town.” That was hard to say with a straight face.
“How did you and Lena get invited to a party at Savannah’s house?”
“You underestimate the combined powers of a former Siren and a Linkubus.”
She put the paper in her pocket. “So, you want to add an expelled Keeper-in-Training into the mix?”
“I’m not sure we’ll actually go, but Link and Ridley definitely will. You should come, too, and hang out, like old times.”
She hesitated. “I’ll think about it.”
“Think about it?”
“Won’t it be a little awkward if you and Lena are there?”
Of course it would.
“Why would it be awkward?” I tried to sound convincing.
“Why do people say things like that? I don’t know how comfortable Lena will feel around me.” She searched the sky, as if the answer was hidden in the unbroken blue universe. “Which is why we need those T-shirts, I suppose.”
I jammed my hands into my pockets, trying to come up with an answer to that. “You brought Macon back. You stood up for Marian. Lena respects you and what you did to help both of us. You practically live at Ravenwood—under it, at least. You’re like family.”
She narrowed her eyes, studying my face as if she didn’t quite believe me. Which made sense, since part of it wasn’t true. “Maybe. Possibly. That’s the best I can do, under the circumstances.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I have to get back. Macon’s waiting for me. But I’ll consider going to the party.” She took a key out of her pocket and held it up. It was a crescent key, like the one Marian had. Now Liv could open the Outer Doors that connected the Mortal and Caster worlds. There was something right about that. She waved and disappeared around the corner while I turned back to the dark house. Shades still drawn.
I left the mail in a pile on the rocker by Marian’s door and hoped it would be gone in the morning. I hoped my memories of the Temporis Porta would be gone even sooner.
“You did what? Please tell me you’re joking.”
We were at the Cineplex, standing in line for popcorn. Lena wasn’t as happy about the whole making peace with Liv thing as I had hoped. Actually, she was exactly as unhappy about it as I’d predicted. But if Liv decided to come to the party, Lena was going to find out that I was the one who had invited her. It was better to take the hit now. An angry girlfriend was one thing. An angry Caster girl meant you could lose a limb or step off a cliff.
I had planned to tell Lena about finding the Temporis Porta with Liv last night. But considering her reaction to the party invite, it seemed better to wait on that one.
So I had to come clean about the rest.
I sighed and repeated my argument, even though it was going to get me nowhere. “If you had anything to worry about, would I invite Liv somewhere I might be going with you? Don’t you think I’d make some kind of secret plans?”
“What kind of secret plans?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Because I don’t have any.”
“But let’s say that you did.”
“But I don’t.” This was going downhill fast.
“Ethan, this is hypothetical.”
“This is a trap.” I knew better than to engage in hypothetical questions with a girl.
We reached the counter, and I pulled out my wallet. “Well?”
Lena looked at me like I was crazy. “The usual.”
The usual? What was the usual? My mind was totally blank.
“The usual,” I repeated dumbly.
She gave me a look and then turned to the cashier. “Popcorn and Milk Duds, please.”
Are you okay?
Yeah, I just blanked. I don’t know.
The cashier slid Lena’s popcorn over the counter and looked at me. I scanned the list on the wall. “And how about… popcorn and Hot Tamales?”
Hot Tamales?
They don’t have Red Hots, L.
You thinking about someone I know?
I shrugged. Of course I was. Amma wasn’t making egg rolls with her cleaver, or pie filling with the One-Eyed Menace. Her sharp #2 pencils were in the drawer, and I hadn’t seen a crossword puzzle on the kitchen table in weeks.
Ethan, don’t worry about Amma. She’ll come out of it.
Amma’s never gone dark for this long before. We have a bottle tree in our front yard.
Since Abraham showed up at your house?
More like since school started.
Lena dumped her Milk Duds into the popcorn tub.
If you’re this worried about it, why don’t you ask her?
You ever try to ask Amma something?
Yeah. No. Maybe we need to go see this bokor for ourselves.
No offense, L, but he’s not the kind of guy you want to take your girlfriend to see. And I’m not sure an actual Caster would be safe there.
The whole cheer squad passed by us. Ridley was walking with some guy I didn’t know, who had his hand in the back pocket of her stretchy skirt. He wasn’t from Jackson; Summerville was my guess. Savannah was hanging on Link, who was staring at Ridley while she pretended not to notice him. Emily walked behind them with Charlotte and Eden, and you could see the rage on Savannah’s face. She wasn’t the one holding up the pyramid anymore.