She"d left it behind, hidden it with me. What did this mean? When Virgo left her stone behind, she"d been able to return without being called. Would Ophiuchus return? And the power! Could I heal Nina?
Why do I still have this stone?
I picked it up and felt a familiar spark. Not a too-brilliant spark, sharp and fiery, but a slow, solidifying warmth. The heat that completes the pot.
This stone had healed me twice.
My dad had won. He had held this very stone in his hands, and Ophiuchus had given him the same instructions. "If you use it, one life is subst.i.tuted for another."
He"d used the stone to heal me when I was nine and so sick I was supposed to die. The doctors had told him they"d tried everything, that they"d exhausted every resource. So he did the only thing he could think to do: He turned to Nina and Madame Beausoleil. He had left intentionally, and he had lost his life.
He"d given up his life for me. Left and lost. No absolutes.
"Nina?" I whispered into the darkness. A wedge of light from the hallway sliced into her bedroom. She stirred under the sheets, and it took my breath away. The last time I had seen her, Nina had still been a woman of curves and cushion. She was now a woman of angles and edges.
"Jalen?" she whispered through cracked lips. "You did it. You found Ophiuchus."
"You knew?"
She nodded, her thin hair fanning across her pillow. "I"ve changed that way once before." She tried to smile. It looked like it took every bit of her effort.
Ophiuchus"s stone burned against my leg. I could use it right now. I could save her. I should save her. Shouldn"t I? The world could use more Ninas.
She patted the bed, and I curled up next to her. The stone in my pocket felt like it was pulsing. Nina put her arm over me. It felt dry and thin, like a twig.
"It"s my time, Jalen," she whispered into my hair. I realized my cheeks were wet. "Let"s do this with dignity."
I nodded. I couldn"t save Nina. As much as I wanted to save her, replacing Nina"s life with another was not an option. Another death, even one somewhere far off in the world, would ripple through the order of the universe, like wedging a thirteenth sign into the zodiac calendar. I couldn"t give some other girl in some other family a white shock of hair just to keep my Nina here with me.
Losing Nina felt like watching a brilliant, shooting star streak across the sky: The beauty wasn"t here long enough. But I ignored the stone that practically throbbed in my pocket and instead unfastened the snake-and-staff pin over my heart.
I pinned it onto Nina"s nightgown with shaking hands. "With dignity."
The next evening, the bells on the door of Madame Beausoleil"s shop dinged. My mom poked her head in the door, between the rows of alligator teeth. It was odd seeing her here. She was too solid for a place like this, like a human walking among ghosts. She never used to come here with Daddy, once upon a time.
"Jalen, honey, we need to go," she said. "It"s been exactly one hour. I don"t want to stay away from Nina for long." She was right. I didn"t want to leave Nina alone for too long, either. I wanted to spend every minute I could with her, while I still could. But I had to make sure we"d be safe.
Ellie pleaded, palms pressed together, in overly dramatic fashion. "One more minute, please, Mrs. Jones?"
My mother"s forehead wrinkled. She looked at her watch but nodded. "Ellie Broussard, you are a bad influence on my daughter." It was as close to a joke as my mom was capable of telling, and if you didn"t know better, it came out sounding like an insult. Two days ago, I would"ve thought it was one.
But Ellie knew, had always known, about my mom. She laughed as the door closed. "Hurry, Jalen. That"s as much time as I could buy you. Oooo that stupid Brennan, bailing on us."
Yes, it likely would"ve been easier to stay if Brennan had driven us. But he"d canceled on us because he was auditioning to drum in a new band. He"d muttered that it "far outweighed toting around a couple of middle school kids." I hoped he got the gig, though I wasn"t sure he"d invite us to any of his shows. It was silly to even think it, but changing Brennan back felt like watching a favorite earring roll around the sink and slip down the drain. One was still left, but what can be done with it?
Madame Beausoleil perched on her stool behind the counter. "So you"ll keep the lock safe?" I asked her.
She nodded slowly. "Guess you were ready."
I shrugged. "They have the book." I shuddered at the thought of it. All that power, all those words that could shape the future. But as long as we kept the lock and the key away from them, we were safe. I hoped.
"I figured dat."
"And Nina"s wearing the pin. I think it"s giving her some fight back." I knew as I said it that it wasn"t true, but Nina would want Madame Beausoleil to think that. That she was exiting with her chin held high. With dignity.
"Good. De old gal need it."
The dusty store fell silent for a moment. "What you gonna do with de stone, girl?" Madame asked.
I blinked. I hadn"t said a word about Ophiuchus"s stone. I patted it now protectively. Ellie had given me her messenger bag, and I kept the stone with me at all times. I didn"t trust it to be anywhere away from me. But honestly, I didn"t trust it with me, either. My fingers flew to my lock of hair, dyed purple now, and started twisting.
My voice dropped to a whisper. "Do you want to see it?"
Madame Beausoleil almost slipped off her stool, she shook her head so violently. "No. Nuh-uh. I dint wan see it when her daddy brung it in here, and I don wan see it now."
I looked at the dirty floor of her shop and smiled. "Nina brought him here for the book, didn"t she? When I was sick. Before."
Madame Beausoleil nodded. "I wouldn"t give dat book to jest anyone. Your daddy, he begged. He returned it, too, jest before he-" Her words dropped off. She was unsure of what to say around me.
"Died," I finished. I swallowed, but nodded. "But how come no one told me about this? How come Nina never told me?"
Madame Beausoleil"s cloudy eyes softened. "You tink your Nina wan you to live wit da guilt of knowing your daddy give his life for yours? Dat"s not something you tell a child."
It wasn"t something you tell a child. But I knew it now.
"I don"t know what I"m going to do with the stone," I admitted at last. I had so many questions: Why did I have this thing? Did Ophiuchus think I needed it? Was Ophiuchus planning to return? Did she want me to heal Nina? "I"m kind of scared I might do something stupid with it."
Madame Beausoleil chuckled, and it sounded like she had gravel in her lungs. "Nah, girl, you a Sagittarius. Dey think before making dey choices. Dat"s always good, right?" She spun on her stool, waddled off of it, and shuffled behind the curtains into the back.
I grinned. Because, well-not always. Sometimes thinking too much could make you miss something really great. Come to think of it, I don"t know that there is such a thing as a good trait or a bad trait. Every aspect of our personalities can be good or bad; it just depends on the situation. Sometimes a help, sometimes a hindrance. No absolutes.
Take my dad, for instance. He was stubborn. And naive. And obsessive. But he had to be those things to defeat all twelve Keepers. He was also curious and patient and loyal and faithful. Faithful, I think, most of all. Daddy needed all those traits to win. No absolutes.
I smiled. It felt good, remembering him without the stabbing pain. Remembering the joy and happiness and love instead. It would be how I would remember Nina, too. With dignity.
The sounds of New Orleans drifted in through the front door: a delivery truck splashing through a puddle, a tourist asking for directions, the sizzle-pop-psst of a street vendor frying up something spicy on a street corner. And underneath and over it all, a line of jazz, with its deep-blue blurts and snappy-red blasts and twists and turns and twirls. Life moving forward. No absolutes.
I caught myself twining my fingers in the purple streak in my hair. The salt-and-pepper snake in the gla.s.s box on the counter looked at me, then. It c.o.c.ked its tiny diamond head and winked.
And I winked back.
Traditional 12-Sign Zodiac.
Aries: March 21April 19.
Taurus: April 20May 20 Gemini: May 21June 20.
Cancer: June 21July 22 Leo: July 23August 22 Virgo: August 23September 22..
Libra: September 23October 22.
Scorpio: October 23November 21 Sagittarius: November 22December 21.
Capricorn: December 22January 19 Aquarius: January 20February 18 Pisces: February 19March 20.
The 13-Sign Zodiac Aries: April 19May 13 Taurus: May 14June 19.
Gemini: June 20July 20 Cancer: July 21August 9 Leo: August 10September 15 Virgo: September 16October 30 Libra: October 31November 22.
Scorpio: November 23November 29 Ophiuchus: November 30December 17 Sagittarius: December 18January 18 Capricorn: January 19February 15 Aquarius: February 16March 11.
Pisces: March 12April 18.
A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK.