A voice crackled through the emergency intercom system: "All pa.s.sengers report to the middle deck. Repeat, all pa.s.sengers to the second level, immediately." The voice sounded suspiciously like Gemini"s. The drivers of the cars filed upstairs. We would soon be alone with Aries.
The thundering sound of hooves on metal pounded above us. I hoped all those pa.s.sengers up there were safe. But I knew Aries would follow us. He wasn"t interested in them. It was me he was after.
Ellie led us to a metal lifeboat strapped with ropes to some kind of crane-and-pulley system. She began fumbling with the knots to untie them.
"We need a knife," I said. I scanned the parking deck of this ferry. Half a dozen cars, but no knife.
Aries had learned from his mistakes. He had morphed back into the captain for this set of stairs. She emerged from the staircase disheveled and panting, jaw jutting forward.
"What do you know?" the captain huffed. "You fight like your father, too." In a flash, human morphed into ram. My teeth clenched.
Aries, the ram, bounded onto the nearest car, crushing it. He leaped from that car to the next one, the one parked nearest us, in an obvious display of might. Gla.s.s flew everywhere, glittering, twinkling, dangerous.
"Ja-len," Ellie warned. She"d only freed two of the knots with her shaking hands. "I need more time!"
A large shard of mirror flew end over end and skidded under a car parked two s.p.a.ces up. I shielded my head. "Be right back."
"Jalen!" Brennan yelled. But I"d already scurried up one car, crouching next to the pa.s.senger side. Aries caught sight of me and sprang, crunching the car I was huddled against. The tires exploded. Gasoline soaked me, its smell choking, its fumes blinding. Gas poured into my cuts, stinging like fire.
I could see the gleaming shard of mirror under the car ahead. I had to get to it. I tried to stand but slipped in the gasoline spill. Aries was taking aim, preparing to pounce down on me. I finally managed to get a toehold and push myself forward through the slick gas. I slid under the car ahead of me. I grabbed the shard of gla.s.s, cutting my hand I gripped it so tight.
I had surprised Aries, but not for long. He adjusted his leap, and I saw his underbelly fly overhead as I skidded out from under the car, just seconds before it crumpled.
I tossed the shard to Brennan. "Cut the rope!"
He caught the shard of mirror, thankfully. If he hadn"t caught it, it would have shattered and been useless.
By the time I scrambled back to Ellie and Brennan, they"d cut the ropes and were maneuvering the lifeboat into the river. It landed, one story down, in the water. We had to jump now, before the lifeboat floated too far away in the rapid current.
Ellie grabbed an orange life jacket from a metal locker, scrambled over the guardrails, and jumped first.
Brennan climbed to the top of the guardrail but froze, clutching his life vest. He was visibly shaking and it occurred to me that this Brennan was terrified of water.
I was suddenly struck with flashes of a memory. Brennan was ten; I was eight. A group of kids at Lake Pontchartrain, at a rope swing. Let go of the rope, land in the lake. I was too chicken to try. Brennan insisted that the other kids stop clucking at me. He winked and whispered, "You don"t have to try it, but you should." I remember him slipping into the lake with barely a splash. And I remember that after that, I tried it.
"Sorry, Brennan, but you"ll thank me later," I said. I pushed him over the edge.
At the top of the guardrail, I looked back at Aries. He had freed himself from the gnarled metal of the car and was taking aim.
I didn"t have the same luxury, the one of taking aim. I grabbed a life jacket off the wall and jumped, shoving my fear of how high up I was aside.
I screamed the whole way down. It was a bad idea, because when I smacked against the water, I immediately realized I wanted that air back. I kept sinking, deeper and deeper into the cold dirty water. There was no bottom to hit and push off of; it was miles below. I opened my eyes for an excruciating moment. Brown water flooded my vision.
Then the forces of nature shifted with a jerk thanks to the life jacket I clutched. My neck snapped back with the change. I stopped sinking, paused, then rocketed up. I kicked toward the direction I hoped would let me find air. My lungs were on fire with strain.
When I finally broke through the surface, I gulped in buckets of air. Ellie and Brennan were a few feet away from me, inside the boat. Both dry-they"d both made good jumps. They hauled me over the side.
I"d been underwater long enough to give Aries an advantage. He had stripped away the guardrails with his ma.s.sive curled horns, and now he stood above us, just a few feet away. One leap into this tiny metal boat and we"d all drown.
Aries"s mouth curled into a snarl. He had us trapped and he knew it. He shook his heavy sh.e.l.l-shaped horns with pride, reared onto his hind legs, and pushed.
There was nothing else to do. I was not going to let my friends get hurt.
I"d come this far. I supposed I should be proud of that. I only wished I didn"t have to let down my mom, my Nina.
From my crouch, I shouted, "I surrender! You win!"
I heard Ellie"s sharp intake of breath beside me.
What would become of me now? Where would the Keepers take me? What happens after the After? Would it be peaceful, heavenly where I was headed? Or would it be a deep, dark, sinister place, black as night? Black as Keeper eyes?
But instead of the crushing weight of Aries, instead of a watery grave sucking us to the bottom of the river, instead of being buried alive under the thousands of pounds of silt gushing through the Mississippi River, a loud thunk sounded. I opened one eye, then another.
A diamond. Aries"s birthstone.
The ram trotted into the heavens, shaking those mighty horns with pride. His winning streak was intact.
I had let Aries win. That"s all she/he wanted. To win. Over and over again. In letting Aries win, I had won.
With shaky hands, I lifted the clear, gleaming diamond into the early morning sky, still hazy pink around the edges of day. "Sic itur ad astra."
Brennan chuckled. "Smart move, Jalen."
Half my mouth grinned, but it was forced. I hadn"t meant to win. I had truly wanted to surrender. Did Aries know that? Would it have worked otherwise? My stomach flopped. I had quit.
This new doubt doused some of my fire, leaving behind an unwelcome pile of ash. Would I have the strength to fight the eight remaining Keepers?
"But the book-" Brennan started. Ellie grinned and reached into her messenger bag. She pulled out her copy of The Keypers of the Zodiack.
"Two copies, ever since the other Ellie came around," I managed to explain. "I was hoping that was a detail Dillon would overlook. I mean Leo." We were silent at the mention of Dillon"s name.
"The copy I threw overboard was from Fake Ellie," I said to change the subject. "Disposable. We"ll still have two copies once she reappears, I imagine."
The other Ellie. She"d been in on Dillon"s secret the whole time, I realized. She"d led us back to him, hurt at the bulldozer. And Dillon! He"d recovered so easily after he"d been hurt. He"d stopped the busses from running, he"d led us to believe he was real. He"d tricked us, used us to get to Aries. We had been his playthings.
Brennan sighed. "Let"s go." He revved the boat"s tiny outboard motor. "The boat"s leaking."
In my daze, I looked down at the silver bottom of the boat. Sure enough, the muddy river was pushing into a tear in the seam. One of the rivets must have come loose with the impact of the birthstone. Over my shoulder, I saw the flashing lights of the Coast Guard as their boat sped toward the Algiers Ferry.
We puttered toward land. We headed back to the West Bank, where we"d started. It was much closer, and it would have been near impossible to fight this river"s mighty current to reach the opposite sh.o.r.e in this tiny boat. We dragged ourselves on sh.o.r.e and lay on the riverbank. I was shivering so bad my muscles spasmed, though I wasn"t sure if it was from the cold river or my surrender or my confusion over who was what.
"I want to call my mom," I said. If I could find some small inkling of drill sergeant left in her, I"d be renewed. We"d come ash.o.r.e near the ferry station and inside were cl.u.s.ters of pay phones. Ellie, luckily, had a quarter in her messenger bag.
This time, my mom answered on the first half ring.
"Jeremy? Is that you? I"ve been trying to reach you. I just don"t think-I can"t keep going without you."
Hearing my mom say my dad"s name, hearing her admit such desperation, made my heart fall. I swallowed and replaced the phone back on the hook. I found a sunny spot in the gra.s.s and lay down. My surrender played over and over through my brain.
A crowd of people was setting up for a party in the park. A wedding-a sunrise wedding overlooking the river.
A head appeared above me. I couldn"t see the face; the bright morning sun behind the person masked his face in shadows. I bolted upright, fists clenched, jaw tight to keep from chattering.
It was-who? How did I know this person? Oh, I used to be so good at recalling names and knowing faces before.
"The man from the bus stop," one of the Ellies whispered. Two Ellies again. I"d let another opportunity to note Real Ellie slip by. Another shiver raced through me.
The man shoved his face close to mine and pulled back his chapped lips, showing his gray teeth. Was he smiling or sneering?
"Is Henry there bothering you, kid?" another man called from across the lawn. I looked from the grungy, stinking man hovering over me to a group of what appeared to be his coworkers. The crowd of people, all wearing the same uniform this guy was wearing, paused to stare at us. I unclenched my fists, my teeth. They could see him. The whole crowd. He was real.
I shook my head and stood, dusting myself off. "No," I said, peering around this dirty man, this man who stood too close. "We"re all right." The crew nodded and continued unloading white folding chairs.
The man from the bus stop thrust four huge tablecloths at me and motioned for us to wrap ourselves in them. His uniform was a golf shirt with a catering-company logo on it-NOLA NOM NOMS.
"He is and she is and he is and she is," he spit at me. He jerked his greasy hair at Gemini, who was now standing nearby. "He is and she is and-"
"You can see," I whispered. My pulse raced. How could he see the Keeper?
He nodded. "He is." I felt my eyes grow wide as he said it again. "He is."
I realized who he meant. "Dillon," I said. "You were right when you told us before, at the bus stop. He is. A Keeper." I sighed and pointed with my thumb at Gemini. "And so is she."
He turned to the pair of Ellies and started trembling. "No, no, no. Two there. Not one. Two there. Not one."
I sighed. "I know. Two Ellies. Can you-?"
He shook his head violently, as if he knew I was going to ask him which Ellie was real and which was pretend. He didn"t want to make a guess, either.
I finally stopped shivering, huddled under that warm tablecloth. The man motioned for us to follow him, and we did. He scuttled around the catering truck. He grabbed a bunch of bananas, four beignets, and four steaming cups of coffee.
"Dude, thanks," Brennan said. We ate like we"d never seen food before. The beignets were still warm. The dough and powdered sugar melted on my tongue.
"Sir?" I asked after we"d eaten. He whipped around at the sound of my voice like I"d slapped him upside the head. I jerked back my arm like I might punch him. Instinct. But slowly, he raised his hands, palms open.
"Do you have any more of those shirts and pants?" I pointed to his NOLA NOM NOMS shirt. My clothes were wet, and Brennan and the Ellies still reeked of crab guts.
He held up a finger-one moment-and left, hugging himself and muttering. "Two there. Not one. Two." He returned a few minutes later with long-sleeved shirts and khaki cargo pants for us. Mine were way too long and had to be cuffed four times. Brennan"s were way too short, and he and I chuckled that he looked like Michael Jackson. I unfastened Nina"s pin from the T-shirt I was wearing and clasped it over my heart, just above the NOLA NOM NOMS logo.
We were fed and dry, and we needed to move on. I decided to extend my hand in handshake. "Thank you, sir."
He ignored my hand but nodded at us, then at Gemini. "Two there. Not one." Two." He turned and twitched away. The other caterers chuckled at him.
When had he become so broken? Had he been like that prior to the personality shift?
Or had I done that to him?
"So...now what?" Brennan asked. I was glad someone asked it. I wasn"t sure what we should do next.
"Wait for the next ferry?" I knew as I was saying it that the idea would get nixed.
"No," an Ellie said. "No ferry." The other Ellie shook her head in agreement.
We stood near the back of the park, behind the rows of guests at the wedding. I thought we were being quiet until the bride turned toward us.
"Shhhhh!" she hissed. Her eyebrows furrowed in a deep V. "Can"t you see I"m getting married here?" The bride turned back to her groom, her face transforming from a sneer to a smile. She looked up at her husband-to-be with a huge, moony grin.
My face grew hot. "Sorry!" I whispered. The bride whipped toward me again.
"Jalen!" she whispered through gritted teeth. "I"ll be with you in a moment!" The bride motioned with her head at the preacher, the groom. The preacher, oblivious to the bride"s interruptions, welcomed everyone to this momentous occasion with a booming "Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today..." The groom never looked away from his bride, adoring her so fully, it was almost like watching someone bleed. Come to think of it, none of the guests turned to see who the bride addressed, either.
The bride was a Keeper.
One of the Ellies was a step ahead of me, already flipping through The Keypers of the Zodiack. "Virgo. My new sign," she said, skimming the page. "Here it is." She read.
""Virgo, the maiden. Virgo, thou art modest, conscientious, industrious-everything a pet of thine elders is expected to be. This can make thy peers see thee as distant and unworthy of their trust, questioning thy motives. But not to worry-thou shalt win o"er most with thy charm and ceaseless wit. Love, to thee, is something to withhold to only the truly deserving; deep and true relationships art rare for thee. Thou prizest honesty, and thy keen eye can see order in the midst of chaos. Take note that thine obsessions and ambitions can plant the seed of distrust deep in thy heart. Should that cynicism take root, thou canst be fully and wholly uncooperative.""
Ellie snapped the book shut. "Uncooperative?" Her bottom lip stuck out. I, coincidentally, bit mine.
"Keep it down back there!" Virgo slammed her bouquet against her thigh. Daisy petals rained onto the platform.
The preacher, oblivious to that outburst, continued, "If anyone here knows why these two should not be married today, speak now or forever hold your peace."
Gemini whipped out her nail file and began sawing it across her fingertips. "I do. That sneak cannot get married. She"s Virgo, for heaven"s sake. It"s against the laws of nature."
At that, Virgo stomped off the platform and stormed down the aisle, striding toward us. All the guests remained facing forward, listening to the preacher prattle on. The groom turned to watch his beloved walk away, but he was so far gone, he just grinned goofily at her antics.
"Poor sucker," Brennan said under his breath, lifting his chin at him.
Virgo came back and pushed Gemini in the chest with her bouquet. "You just couldn"t let me have my first kiss, could you? Could you?! Jalen wouldn"t have known!"
Gemini"s face tightened. "Do not push me. And do you really think tricking your Challenger is the best way to win, Virgo? You"re smarter than that, are you not? I know Jalen is."
Virgo slammed her bouquet to the ground in a pile of petals. Her black glare shifted from Gemini to me, back to Gemini. "Are you telling me-you"re helping her? This...this...kid?"
Gemini paused, and it was a near deadly hesitation. Virgo slid her breezy wedding dress up to reveal a frilly blue garter. There, tucked in the garter, was a knife with a pearlized handle. In one swift move, she whisked it from her makeshift holster, wrapped around Gemini, and raised the sleek blade to Gemini"s throat.
But Gemini was swift as well. She flicked her metal nail file up toward her neck, blocking the knife blade from slicing into her skin. It was a weak shield against Virgo"s sharp weapon.
"What"s to stop me from eliminating you from the zodiac right now?" Virgo said. She jerked her headlock even tighter around Gemini. Cords in both their necks strained. "Huh? Tell me? Why not just get rid of you once and for all?"
The silvery sheen of the knife"s blade flashed. Such power-hungry beings these Keepers were! I stepped forward.
"You can"t do this," I said, my voice low but growling. "It"s not fair."
Virgo smirked at me. "Fair? What a child you are! Fair!" Every heaving laugh of Virgo"s made Gemini strain as she tried to hold back that knife"s edge.
"Fair," I repeated with a nod. Oh, what had her horoscope said? "It"s not honest."