The servers followed Auntie Marmalade back into the restaurant, and I was left alone in the alley feeling very much like I had entered the Twilight Zone.
On the ground by the wall, a lump of material was lying in the dirt. It was Ty’s leather jacket. “Okay,” I said, picking it up. “So I’m not completely crazy. He was here.” I wiped the dirt off the jacket and, feeling slightly ridiculous, folded it over my arm and continued toward the library.
The sidewalk was more tightly packed with people now. I weaved in and out of the foot traffic, trying to make sense of all the mayhem that whirled around inside my head. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts, I didn’t notice when the man in front of me came to a complete stop.
Like an idiot, I slammed into his back and fell backward onto the pavement. The man whirled around and gave me a dirty look.
“Sorry!” I squeaked, trying to appear demure.
He harrumphed at me and kept walking. The palms of my hands were slightly skinned from where I had landed on them, and my elbow was throbbing. “Ow,” I groaned, rubbing the spot gently. I stood up, assessing myself for more damage, and wiped the dirt off my jeans.
When I straightened, Ty was standing in front of me, an amused expression in his eyes. The bruise on his cheek, the one I had noticed at the comic book shop, had faded to a greenish-yellow color, but a new one was forming around his left eye.
I started a little. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to see you wipe out on your ass.”
“I didn’t wipe out,” I said, matter-of-factly. “I was testing the sidewalk for durability. You’ll be happy to know that this particular patch of concrete is in fact safe for pedestrians.” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You’re welcome.”
He let out a deep chuckle, and my cheeks warmed at the sound of it. I wasn’t sure if he recognized me from the comic book store or not, and despite my initial emboldened response I had absolutely no idea what to say next. Should I ask him about the fight?
“Well, now that I know the sidewalks are passable, I better get going. See you around.”
He waved, then turned and starting walking toward the street.
I stared at his retreating back.
“Wait!” I called out. “Wait! So that’s it?”
He turned around to face me, walking backward. His face was lit with a grin. “Were you expecting something else?”
“Well, you could at least give me a high five or something. I saved your life, after all.” And I wouldn’t mind knowing how you managed to go all Harry Potter with an invisibility cloak back there.
Ty stopped, his features suddenly highlighted by a patch of fading sunlight. “You saved my life?”
“That guy had a weapon,” I replied matter-of-factly, pushing back my shoulders. “He could’ve killed you.” At this point, I wasn’t sure the other boys actually had a real chance of killing this mysterious boy in front of me, but the fact remained that without my brilliant—okay, slightly stupid—interference, the fight could’ve ended differently.
Ty walked toward me, each step slow and methodical, his face bright with amusement. “Trust me, he couldn’t have killed me.”
I rolled my eyes, though I had to admit I was the tiniest bit impressed by how certain he seemed of his abilities in the fight. “You’re kinda cocky, aren’t you?”
“Not at all,” he said, without a single ounce of arrogance in his voice, as if he were stating a fact. “And why don’t we just call it even. Had any more troubles with Thor lately?”
“So you do recognize me!”
“Of course . . . babe.”
I had no control over the stupid smile that crossed my face. “We’re even.”
“All the same, thank you, Lainey. It’s not every day such a pretty girl saves my life.” He winked at me.
He remembers my name! My stupid smile got even bigger.
“Oh!” I turned around and walked back the few paces to where I’d fallen and scooped up his leather jacket from where I had dropped it. When I turned back to face Ty, though, he was already rounding the next corner out of sight.
“Wait!” I called after him. “I have your jacket!” But he was already gone.
“Geez, Styles! Where have you been? I’ve been blowing up your phone for the last fifteen minutes. I was getting ready to send a search party.”
I held my hand up and tried to catch my breath. After Ty had disappeared, I ran the rest of the way to the library.
“I’m so sorry, Mags. I got . . . distracted.”
Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Distracted?”
“Yeah, on the way over here there was this fight and that guy from—”
“A guy, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. How very like Maggie to completely skip over all the other details and go straight to the “guy.”
“It wasn’t like that, okay. It was . . . interesting.”
“Oh-kay.” Maggie stared at me, but decided to move on. “Any news on the ghost front?”
My face fell. The fight had been a welcome distraction.
“Actually, yeah.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the photograph of my mom. “See the necklace in the picture?”
Maggie nodded.
“The woman I’ve been seeing is wearing the exact same one. I saw it when she appeared the first time and then again today.”
“You saw her again?”
I hesitated. The voice in my head urged me to deny it, but instead I nodded my head. “On the sidewalk. I was heading here. And I saw . . . something else too. Flashes. Tidbits of . . . memory or something. I could smell smoke.”
“Weird,” Maggie said, staring at me with wide eyes. She took the picture from my hand and stared at it. “Any idea what this means?”
I bit down hard on my lower lip. I had an idea, but I didn’t want to say it out loud, and the words were like peanut butter sitting on my tongue. “I think she and my mom are connected somehow.”
“Holy crapkittens, Styles. That’s . . . that’s just crazy.”
“Tell me about it.”
I must have look panicked or wounded in some way because Maggie leaned over and gave me a quick hug. “Look, no matter what, I’ve got your back. We’ll figure all this out together, okay? I promise.”
“No offense, Mags, but I don’t think that’s a promise you can keep.”
“Well, I’m gonna try.”
I’d always admired Maggie’s determination—even if it was fueled by mule-headed stubbornness. In this case, I was grateful for it. I took a deep breath. “So what now?”
Maggie looped her arm through mine and steered me toward the double doors of the library. “We’ll just have to April O’Neal this thing until we find the answers.”
“Just like that, huh?”
She grinned. “Yup. Just like that.”
“You’re something else, Mags.”
“Is that a nice way of saying I’m totally crazy?”
“Well . . .” I smiled.
Maggie shook her head at me. “Oh, Styles. If I ask you to hop on a Nozgul and fly into the fiery depths of Mordor with me, then you can call me crazy. But for now, let’s just go with cheerfully optimistic.”
I let out a loud laugh. “Fair enough.”
CHAPTER FIVE