Ghost Perfume | ✔

Chapter 10: Trust Me (Part 1)

Alexander: I'm waiting outside.

Alarmed, I left eighth period English and hurried out of the building with Jane at my side.

Among the minivans and Hondas and SUVs and school buses, there his Jaguar idled. I could see him eyeing the school building through his open window. His lip curled.

"How much longer do you have here?'' he asked me as I climbed down into the passenger's seat.

Jane floated into the backseat.

"Another year.'' I smiled at him. "Did you have a bad time in high school? Was it hard for you to fit in?''

He smirked at me and drove off.

I dared to continue. "Is this how you dressed back then?'' I gestured to his all-black outfit. "Then I might have a guess as to why -''

"Quiet,'' he ordered, reaching to turn on the radio.

"I had a goth phase, but it didn't last,'' Jane said comfortably from the back. She'd pretended to settle back with her legs sticking out of the window, though what she was really doing was floating in pace with the car. I admired her finesse. "I can't get behind fads.''

It was one of those days deep into winter when you sensed that the life outside had stopped feeling depressed. The winds and grey clouds were gone, like a bad memory. The trees we passed stood resolute under their thin piles of snow. Birds and squirrels had chattered all morning like they were planning a government takeover, and the snow gleamed brightly by much of the road. Sunlight shone warm and strong. Tomorrow or the next the snow might start to melt.

There was a sense of hope for the future, building in the air.

As we proceeded through the gates to approach the Alistair home, I saw a bright-haired, long-legged figure waiting for us. He stepped down the outside steps of the porch to open my door.

"Hi, Lucky,'' I smiled at him.

"Rosie, darling,'' Lukas gave me his hand. "The others are still on their way, those dumb fucks. Better wait on auntie. Wanna race me?''

We walked up onto the porch. Jane disappeared into the house and I figured she wanted to explore.

"He means Mario Kart,'' Alexander said behind me.

"Yes!'' I looked between them eagerly. "I haven't played in years.''

"Uh-huh, makes sense,'' Alexander said as we came into the house. "But Lucky doesn't know what year it is.''

"Ignore him,'' Lukas said. He pulled off my coat to hang by the door. I put my backpack down under it. "When he's bad at something, he pretends he doesn't like it. That's why he doesn't have -''

Alexander knocked his head with the back of his hand. "Are the dogs leashed?''

"And sleeping.''

"Do you have pets?'' I asked. I hadn't seen any the first time I'd come here.

My boots looked tiny and old and scuffed amidst the ten or so pairs of their shoes that littered the foyer under the coats.

"No, we're temporarily watching these for a friend,'' Lukas said.

We went down the hallway to the living room area I'd glimpsed before. Thick rugs covered the floor in sprawling, overlapping circles and a fire burned in the massive fireplace. Low, black leather couches enclosed the sunken part of the space that was the living room proper. On a huge screen on the wall adjacent to the fireplace, a paused Mario Kart game shone brightly, with controllers tossed before it on the rug. Here Lukas collapsed to his elbow onto the rug and I knelt next to him. Alexander sat behind us on one of the couches. Jane returned and disappeared again. I supposed it was a very large house to explore. The afternoon passed in a blur, nostalgic with the game I hadn't known I missed; but bubbles fizzed incessantly in my stomach as I half-turned over the things I might tell them, how they might react, what they already suspected, and the astonishing lack of any evidence so far that they thought I was crazy. I'd see how the conversation went, but I already determined to myself to downplay whatever aspect of the truth might seem too fantastic for them to believe on first hearing it. And I couldn't help thinking further, imagining a day long with talk and revelations, imagining them, especially, telling me about their secret job and the lives they led when they weren't with me.