Monday, April 22, 2013

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 50

FinallyI was standing on the top of the white water tower, facing the moon. I had no shadow, and if there were any stars, I couldn’t see them. Summervillewas stretched out before me, a scattering of tiny lights, all the way to the blackness of the lake.This had been our happy place, mine and Lena’s. One of them, at least. But I was alone now. I wasn’t...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 47

The Last GameIt was the last day. There was nothing left to decide. Tomorrow was the solstice, and my mind was made up. I lay in my bed and stared up at myblue plaster ceiling, painted the color of the sky to keep the carpenter bees from nesting. One more morning. One more painted blue sky.I got home from Lena’s and went back to sleep. I left my window...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 48

RemaindersLena wasn’t in her bedroom at Ravenwood. I sat down on her bed to wait, staring up at the ceiling. I thought of something and picked up her pillow,rubbing it against my face. I remembered smelling my mom’s pillowcases after she was gone. It was magic to me, a piece of her that still existed inmy world. I wanted Lena to at least have that.I...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 49

Broken BottlesAmma was sitting at the kitchen table when I got home. The cards and the crosswords and the Red Hots and the Sisters were nowhere in sight.Only an old, cracked Coke bottle sat on the table. It was from our bottle tree, the one that never caught the spirit Amma was looking for. Mine.I’d been rehearsing this conversation in my mind from...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 46

Plain EnglishI knocked on the door and stood waiting in a pale yellow circle of porch light. I stared at the door, shifting my weight uncomfortably, my handsjammed in my pockets. Wishing I wasn’t there. Wishing my heart would stop pounding.She was going to think I was crazy.Why wouldn’t she? I was beginning to think so myself.I saw the bathrobe first,...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 44

HybridI was standing on the top of the white water tower, with my back to the sun. My headless shadow fell across the warm, painted metal, disappearingoff the edge and into the sky.I’M WAITING.There he was. My other half. The dream staggered on like a movie I’d seen so many times that I started to cut and recut it myself, as it eruptedinto flashes—Hard...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 45

The Wrong OneWhen I opened my eyes, I was back in my bedroom. I stared up at my blue ceiling, trying to figure out how I got here. We had ripped, but it couldn’thave been because of John. I knew that much, because he was lying on my bedroom floor, unconscious.It must have been someone else. Someone who was more powerful than an Incubus. Someone who...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 42

Passing StrangeSixteen bodies were lying in the county mortuary. According to the Shadowing Song from my mom, there should have been eighteen. I didn’t knowwhy the earthquakes had stopped and Abraham’s army of Vexes had disappeared. Maybe destroying the town had lost its appeal once we weregone and the town was, well, destroyed. But if I knew anything...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 43

Cream of GriefThe cream-colored paper was thick and folded eight times, with a purple satin ribbon tied around it. I found it in the bottom drawer of the dresser,just like Aunt Prue said I would. I read it to the Sisters, who argued about it with Thelma until Amma stepped in.“If Prudence Jane wanted the good china, we’re usin’ the good china. No sense...

Beautiful Chaos - Chapter 41

Demon DoorAbraham lifted The Book of Moons, and the pages began to turn again, flipping so fast I was sure they would tear. When they stopped, he ran hisfingers over the pages reverently. This was his bible. Framed by the black smoke behind him, Abraham began to read.“ON DA RK E S T DA Y S , W HE N B LOOD IS S P ILLE D,A LE GION OF DE MONS T O A V...