The Returning by Ann Tatlock

Author:Ann Tatlock [Ann Tatlock]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781441260635
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-05T14:03:15+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Rebekah lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. She wiped at the corner of each eye with an open palm, not wanting her friend to see her cry. But it was too late.

“Listen, Beka,” Lena said, “tears are for babies and weaklings, which we are not, okay? Besides, lying there crying isn’t going to do you any good.”

“But I’m going to lose him, aren’t I?”

“Not if you listen to me and do as I say. Now get down here and give me a hand.”

Rebekah sat up and looked over the side of the bed. Lena sat cross-legged on the floor by the open closet. She wore shorts and a tank top, and her feet were bare. Her skin, browned by the sun, glowed in the flickering light of the candles lined up on the crate Rebekah used as an altar. The room was otherwise dim, as Lena had pulled down the shade and closed the curtains against the afternoon sun. Lena had also bolted the bedroom door, even though the girls were alone in the cottage. Rebekah’s father and brother were at work, and her mom had taken Phoebe to a dentist appointment in the next town over.

“What exactly are you doing?” Rebekah asked.

“Getting ready.”

“But, I mean, what’s going to happen?”

“Nothing bad. We’re just going to throw down a little wall between David and Jessica, just to make sure she stays away from him.”

“Can you make her ugly?”

Lena laughed, stopped suddenly, and narrowed her eyes. “I was going to say there’s a limit to what we can do, but I’m not so sure there is. Now get down here and help me.”

Rebekah slid off the bed and sank to the floor beside Lena. Her friend was sifting through the box of herbs and spices Rebekah had collected over the past months, bottles and bags of them.

“You got any nutmeg in here?” Lena asked.

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Good for fidelity. Ah, here it is.”

Rebekah watched as Lena added the bottle to a small pile on the floor. She looked at the pile skeptically and almost wished she hadn’t asked Lena to come over. She’d just wanted to talk, to spill her feelings to someone. She’d been crying since yesterday when she saw David with Jessica again. Jessica had been leaning casually against the wall of the pavilion. David was standing over her, one hand against the wall above her head. “We’re just friends,” David had sworn to Rebekah later. But friends don’t stand that close, don’t look at each other like that.

“Snap out of it, Beka,” Lena said. “You’re staring into space again.”

Rebekah shook her head. “Forget it, Lena. It’s no use.”

Lena stopped her busywork and frowned at Rebekah. “You still don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“The power you have. The power we all have.”

“I haven’t seen it work.”

“Well, I have.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Listen, haven’t I told you about Carl, the last guy my mom was dating?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I didn’t like him. He wasn’t any good for her.”

“You just don’t like your mom dating anyone.

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