My Soul to Keep

CHAPTER 23



“Thanks for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. I love spaghetti.”

“You’re welcome, dear. You two better get dressed. Caelyn, why don’t you help Jessie?”

“Okay, Mom. Come on, Jessica. Do you have your costume?”

“She left it by the front door. It’s in the purple gym bag,” I said trying to be helpful. Caelyn shot me a very Caelyn-like look and I stuck my tongue out at her. Nice to know some things would never change.

“Thanks, Caelyn,” Jessie said and stood up, knocking her half empty glass of water over. “Oh, my God, I am so sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it, Jess. I’ll clean it up. Go get ready. Claire will be here shortly.” I happened to look over at Caelyn and I swear I saw her snarl when I mentioned Clarisse’s name. I really couldn’t blame her, sometimes I did, too.

I started mopping up the spilled water. Mom stopped me before I even had half of it up. “Go get dressed, honey. I’ll clean this up.”

Instead of doing what she said, I turned and gave her a hug. She was proud of me. Proud I'd met somebody. Proud I was going to the dance. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll be down in a few.” I left her there mopping up the spilled water and ran upstairs to my room. I passed by Caelyn’s room and stopped cold.

“What do you see in him?”

“What do you mean, Caelyn? He’s your brother!”

“He’s a slug. Beneath you. You are a lady. He has the attention span of a gnat and the brains that God gave a goat. Make that a goat’s ass. You could have anybody in the school, why did you pick him?”

“You don’t pick who you have feelings for. It just happens. Just so you know, I consider myself lucky for having them for him. Your brother is honorable, caring, and attentive. Trust me; I could have done far worse.”

“You love him?”

“I don't know. I've never been in love before. I will say I've never felt this way about anybody before.”

“I’m sorry. For meddling. It isn’t my place.”

I smiled at Jessie’s answer and scrunched my eyebrows at Caelyn’s. Not her place? Her place is under a rock, but I don’t think that’s what she’s talking about. I giggled and headed to my room. To “change”.

I closed my door and let my power loose. I turned and looked at the mirror behind my door and…oh, shit.

I'd gone full Fallen. I looked up and my face was only inches away from the popcorn ceiling. I turned and my wings scraped the walls of my tiny room.

“Connor, are you okay?” I spun and looked at the door. Mom must have come upstairs to check on the girls. I couldn’t let her see me like this. There’s no way she’d believe this was a costume.

“Yeah, I just tripped, Mom. I’m fine. Be out in a minute.”

“Okay, sweetie. Hurry up. I’m sure the girls are almost ready.”

I knew I hadn’t been in my room for over three hours. That’s how long it usually took a girl to get ready. Or at least that was my experience. “Thanks, Mom.”

I stared at the mirror. I let my power loose but as soon as it slipped outward, I called it back in. Or at least most of it. I pictured myself with red (not glowing) eyes, smaller bat-like wings, and just a smidgeon of horn. I closed my eyes and felt it come. I opened them and there I stood. Just like I'd imagined.

“That’s friggin’ cool.”

I opened the door to a flash. I blinked my eyes twice and Mom standing there with a camera came into focus. “Oh, honey! Where did you get that costume? It is fantastic!” She reached out to touch one of my wings and I pulled it away.

“Careful, Mom. They aren’t too sturdy.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said and lightly ran her finger along the strong bone running from my back up to the first joint. I had to fight very, very hard not to laugh. It tickled. Bad. “They feel so real!”

“Yeah, amazing what they can do with latex nowadays.”

“How did you afford them?”

Well, I’d tell you, but I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Jeremy is working part time at a costume shop. He got me a free rental. I just have to be sure not to break them.”

“He’s such a good boy.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, he sure is, Mom. Are they ready yet?”

“Jessica is. Your sister hasn’t even started getting ready yet.”

“Shocker.”

Mom lightly slapped my arm but giggled anyway. I looked over Mom’s shoulder just as Jess walked out. My heart stopped. She stood there in very light robes that looked incredibly soft. She had fake angel wings strapped to her back. They were amazingly life like. Someone must have glued each real feather to the frame one by one. She looked like she could fly. She had a light dusting of glittery makeup on her face and exposed arms. She looked perfect. And beautiful. I gulped as I thought, “Mine.”

“My God, you look beautiful Jess.”

She blushed and almost hid behind her hand. The simple gesture made me smile. “Thank you! How does he look, Mrs. Sullivan?”

“You wouldn’t believe it, Jessica. As beautiful as you look, he looks simply evil. He’s the perfect demon to your angel. You two look stunning!”

This time we both blushed. “Are you ready, Jess?”

“Yup, I just hope we fit in Claire’s car!”

I groaned. I hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe we should just walk. It’s not that far. She might give us a ride home. We can take our wings off after the dance.”

“Good Idea. Maybe you should call her.”

Ding, dong.

“Or I can just run downstairs and tell her. That’s probably her.”

“Go ahead and answer the door, honey. I’ll help Jessie down the stairs.”

I planted a quick kiss on Jessie’s cheek and took the stairs two at a time. I forgot about Dad. He was just opening the door when I landed.

“Hi, um…”

“Claire, Dad.”

“That’s right. Hi, Claire. Come on in.” He opened the door and she walked into the room. Things got a little weird. I happened to be looking at my father, whose jaw dropped open as Clarisse walked into the room. I couldn’t see Clarisse yet, so I stepped around him. My jaw hit the floor.

She looked hot.

Her hair had gone from blonde to black. It cascaded down over her shoulders from underneath a cone shaped witch’s hat. She held a broom in one hand and a black cat in the other. The cat looked happy to be there, and I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t have minded being there either.

Her dress made her costume perfect. Black, but so loosely knit you could almost see through. It was tight in certain places and loose in others. I wanted to reach out and touch it to see if it felt as soft as it looked. That probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. My Dad looked like he was thinking the same thing. Dirty old man.

“Nice costume, Connor,” she said and gave me a funny look.

“I was just going to say the same thing to you. Always knew you were a real witch,” I said trying to make a joke.

She cackled. I shivered.

“You two ready to go?”

“Um, there’s sort of a problem. We forgot we would be wearing wings tonight. We’re not going to fit in your bug. Maybe we should just walk…”

“Don’t be silly. I figured it would be kind of cramped in there. I talked Daddy into doing us a favor.”

Daddy? Favor? I cringed at where this was going. She looked over her shoulder and I peered beyond her to see what she motioned at. There at the curb sat a limousine. Not just any limo. A stretch, ivory white, seats about fifty, Hummer limousine stood shining under the streetlight in front of our house. Some guy wearing a grey suit and funny looking hat stood by the open rear door, too.

“Nice,” I couldn’t help but say. “Yeah, I think the three of us will fit.”

“I should hope so!” My dad forgot all about Claire and stared at the limo.

“Go check it out, Mr. Sullivan. You should see the inside.”

He didn’t have to be asked twice. I looked down expecting little smoke trails to be floating from where he stood to the door of the limo.

I glanced at Clarisse, and she was staring at the stairs. I turned to see Jessie coming down holding my mom’s arm. Clarisse’s outfit became completely forgotten. I had it bad.

“Wow, Jessica! You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, Claire. Did I hear someone say limo?”

“Yes, you did. Claire’s dad rented one for us.”

“Sweet!”

“I figured you deserved it. Come on, let’s go dance.”

I looked at Clarisse to see what she meant. She gave me a sad smile and stepped outside the front door. I shrugged and met Mom and Jess at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as she touched my arm my stomach started doing strange things I don’t think had to do anything with her outfit.