It’s a trick all right, but I don’t think it’s the kind you’re imagining. It probably has more to do with a Siren and a lollipop.
Ridley. I should’ve known.
Lena looked at Aunt Del and Uncle Macon. They were horrified, as if all the Latin in the world hadn’t prepared them for this one. Gramma smiled, unfamiliar with this particular brand of angel. “What’s the rush? Would you children like to stay and have a cup of tea?”
“Hiya, Gramma!” Ridley called from the doorway, where she was hanging back on the veranda, sucking on her red lollipop with an intensity that made me think if she stopped this whole thing might fall like a house of cards. She didn’t have me to get her through the door this time. She was an inch away from Larkin, who looked amused but stood directly in front of her. Ridley was spilling out of a tightly laced vest that looked like a cross between lingerie and something a girl on the cover of Hot Rod magazine would wear, and a low-slung jean skirt.
Ridley leaned against the doorframe. “Surprise, surprise!”
Gramma put her teacup down. She picked up her knitting. “Ridley. What a pleasure to see you, dear!
Your new look is very becoming, darling. I’m sure you’ll have lots of gentlemen callers.” Gramma flashed Ridley an innocent smile, though her eyes weren’t smiling.
Ridley pouted, but continued sucking on her lollipop. I walked over to where she was standing. “How many licks does it take, Rid?”
“For what, Short Straw?”
“To get Savannah Snow and Emily Asher to throw a party for Lena?”
“More than you know, Boyfriend.” She stuck out her tongue at me, and I could see it was streaked with red and purple. The sight was dizzying.
Larkin sighed and looked past me. “There’re maybe a hundred kids out there, in the field. There’s a stage and speakers, cars all along the road.”
“Really?” Lena looked out the window. “There’s a stage in the middle of the magnolia trees.”
“My magnolia trees?” Macon was on his feet.
I knew the whole thing was a farce, that Ridley was bringing this party to life with every suggestive lick, and Lena knew it, too. But I could still see it in Lena’s eyes. There was a part of her that wanted to go out there.
A surprise party, where everyone in school shows up. That must have been on Lena’s regular-highschool-girl list too. She could deal with being a Caster. She was just tired of being an outcast.
Larkin looked at Macon. “You’re never gonna get them to leave. Let’s get this over with. I’ll stay with her the whole time, me or Ethan.”
Link pushed his way to the front of the crowd. “Dude, let’s go. My band, the Holy Rollers, it’s our Jackson High debut. It’s gonna be awesome.” Link was happier than I’d ever seen him before. I looked over at Ridley suspiciously. She shrugged, chewing on her lolly.
“We’re not going anywhere. Not tonight.” I couldn’t believe Link was here. His mother would have a heart attack if she ever found out.
Larkin looked at Macon, who was irritated, and Aunt Del, who was panicked. This was the last night either one of them wanted to let Lena out of their sight. “No.” Macon didn’t even consider it.
Larkin tried again. “Five minutes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“When’s the next time a bunch a people from her school are goin’ to throw her a party?”
Macon didn’t miss a beat. “Hopefully, never.”
Lena’s face fell. I was right. She wanted to be part of all this, even if it wasn’t real. It was like the dance, or the basketball game. It was the reason she bothered to go to school in the first place, no matter how horribly they treated her. It was why she showed up, day after day, even if she ate on the bleachers and sat on the Good-Eye Side. She was sixteen, Caster or not. For one night, that was all she wanted to be.
There was only one other person as stubborn as Macon Ravenwood. If I knew Lena, her uncle didn’t stand a chance, not tonight.
She walked over to Macon and looped her arm through his. “I know this sounds crazy, Uncle M, but can I go to the party, just for a little while? Just to hear Link’s band?” I watched for her hair to curl, the telltale Caster breeze. It didn’t move. This wasn’t Caster magic she was working. It was another kind altogether. She couldn’t charm her way out from under Macon’s watch. She would have to resort to older magic, stronger magic, the kind that had worked best on Macon from the time she first moved to Ravenwood. Plain old love.
“Why would you want to go anywhere with these people after everything they’ve put you through?” I could hear him softening as he spoke.
“Nothing’s changed. I don’t want anything to do with those girls, but I still want to go.”
“You’re not making sense.” Macon was frustrated.
“I know. And I know it’s stupid, but I just want to know what it feels like to be normal. I want to go to a dance without practically destroying it. I want to go to a party I’m actually invited to. I mean, I know it’s all Ridley, but is it wrong if I don’t care?” She looked up at him, biting on her lip.