✓ | The Crown of the Dead

Darth Vader Tries to Kidnap Me

I was infamously terrible at remembering certain things. It wasn't that I didn't want to, I just forgot. That's why the first thing I did when I got home from Charlie's tutoring lesson was grab a sticky note and write down everything that weird lady had said.

To be perfectly honest, the call was more likely to have been a prank than anything important, but I wasn't up for taking any chances.

"Woah woah woah, calm down fighter," I rammed right into Aunt Piper on my way to put my pencil back. "Why are you acting all crazy?"

"No reason," I said. I stuffed the sticky note into my pocket, and my finger brushed against the key. A jolt went up my spine.

I'd walked home from school-- well, more like ran-- after twenty minutes of Charlie attempting to teach me how to solve the area of a triangle. She was a bit shaken up after the weird phone call too, and thought it would be better to let me go early. I've never left that stupid library faster in my life.

"Oh, I uhh... I wanted to ask you a question?" I said.

Aunt Piper made her way over to the oven where she was baking a cake. (I had almost completely forgotten about my birthday.) "Fire away."

"There's a new girl at my school," I said. I hoisted myself up onto one of the kitchen stools.

"New girl? It's June."

"Her parents got divorced. She must've moved with one of them."

"Oh. That's upsetting."

"Yeah but... the thing is... she's kind of... odd, if you know what I mean."

Aunt Piper pursed her lips. "Not really."

I grabbed a bag of chips from the bin under the counter. I pulled it open. "Well like... she gives me this really weird feeling. Like I should know her, or that she's important."

Aunt Piper's brow furrowed. She bent over to peek into the oven, hiding her expression from me. "I see... and what's her name?"

"Essie Valdez."

Aunt Piper shot up. "What?!"

"Huh?" I said, my mouth full of potato chips. "Wait, so you know her?"

"Her, no... I mean..." Aunt Piper stopped, trying to phrase her words correctly. She took a deep breath and looked over at me. "It just so happens that I think I know her parents."

"Really?" Out of all the answers I could've gotten, I didn't expect that one.

"Mhmm. I could be wrong though, but I'm not sure how many Essie Valdez's there are in the world. Did she say where she moved from?"

I shook my head. "I just met her Aunt Piper."

"Right," she bit her lip. "Ask her if she's from Texas."

I laughed sheepishly. "Why would I do that?"

Aunt Piper's expression darkened slightly. "When you go to school tomorrow, make sure to ask her if she's from Texas. I need to know. It's important."

"Oh kayy..." I threw out the empty bag of chips. "I'm going upstairs."

Whenever I was upset I either listened to the entire Addams Family Musical soundtrack or watched She-ra. It's hot girl therapy.

Once I tried watching the seventies run of Rocky Horror on Hulu and Aunt Piper caught me. (Promptly leading her to ground me.) The music is good, so sometimes I'll listen to the soundtrack too.