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A high school student finds a grimoire that shows how to make magical disguises. |
Previously: "A Jock's Gratitude"  You won't be able to bring your own friends along if you're not going to the party on account of being grounded, but you don't want to tell Joe that. If you're going to have to cancel, it feels like it would be less awkward to text him the day of, and plead a last-minute grounding, instead of making a confession now. But in the back of your mind you have it that maybe you'll be able to sneak out Wednesday anyway. Or get your grounding lifted. Or otherwise find a way out to this party. * * * * * You never had heard from Trixie, but your brief excursion to the Durras brothers' house has given you a kind of electrified courage to text her. At the very least, you can tell her about this party they have planned. So: Hey had a great time last night, you text her. Joe and his brother r throwing a party Wed. U interested in coming out? She must have been away from her phone, for when she replies an hour later, she doesn't sound like she was trying to dodge you: Lol what hind of party? Regular I guess. Joe wants party while dad out of town. Omg for real? Then: Wild. That sounds disappointing. U not into it? you ask with fading spirits. Don't know yet. Btw your car ok after joe use it? Yes but he lost his wallet in it. Just got back from taking it to him. Thats how come he want party. Lol of course. Hey can I call and talk? You tell her sure, and a few minutes later your phone buzzes with her call. "So, my God!" she exclaims, laughing. "He lost his wallet in your car?" "That's what he said. And it was there when I went looking for it." "Was there a funny smell in your car too? Because, you know, he must'a got pretty wild if he lost his wallet while doing it!" You don't really want to think about what Joe was doing in your truck last night, so you try brushing it off by telling her that he probably lost it in the cab on the ride out to the Warehouse. "Okay," she laughs. "But I like my version better! Did he tell you who the girl was?" "No, and I didn't ask! But, anyway, he wants to have a party—" "Of course he does! Did you say his dad is out of town? He must always be out of town, because they've already had, like a dozen big parties out at their place." "Really?" "I dunno, maybe I'm— Hey, where are you now?" "At home." "Well, I'm over at Justine's place, and I think we're gonna do something later. If you come out here, we can all go out together." You were afraid she might say something like that. Through gritted teeth you have to confess that you're grounded on account of being out too late last night. "No!" she cries. "Was that my fault? No! How long are you grounded for?" "A week. Through next Saturday." "So we can't see you next weekend?" "I guess not." "Well that's— Hey wait. Didn't you say Joe's party was this Wednesday? Or is it a week from Wednesday?" "This Wednesday, I—" "How were you going to get out to his party but you can't come party with us next Saturday?" That is a tough question. You do your best to squeeze past it by pleading that you might be able to cheat a way out of your grounding on a weekday, but your dad would never let you out on a weekend. "Well, I guess," she says. "What are you gonna do to get out of the house on Wednesday?" "I haven't—" "Can you have friends over to your place?" "I can't have Joe's party here!" you gasp. "I didn't mean that! I just meant— Hey, let me call you back later." She hangs up. You can't help wondering what she's up to. * * * * * The premonition of an answer comes just before supper, when Trixie texts to ask for your address. The actual answer comes when the doorbell rings as you're cleaning off the table. Your brother answers it and bawls out for your mom. You can't make out the voices from the other room clearly, but you think you recognize one of them as Trixie's. "Who is it?" you ask your mom when she comes back into the kitchen. "Kids from the high school, looking for a donation to a food drive," she says as she opens up the pantry. "Get me out a plastic sack from the garage, please?" she adds. You bring her a sack, which she loads up with a dozen cans and packages of food. You trail her into the living room where—sure enough!—Trixie and Justine and a guy in a hoodie and jeans are loitering in the atrium. Trixie bursts out when she sees you. "Will! Oh my God, this is your house? This is your mom?" She beams at Robert. "And your brother?" "Uh, yeah," you stammer. "Oh my God!" she exclaims again, and hops over to give you a quick, light hug. "I didn't know you lived around here!" Yes you did, you almost blurt out, but catch yourself in time. Instead, you introduce her and Justine to your mom as people you know from Eastman, and you ask them their business. "Doing a food drive," she says, and Justine and the guy nod. "We only just started, yours is, like, only the fifth house we've stopped at. Wanna come along? We're going around this block and maybe the next. Or maybe all of them, if you live here!" There's a meaningful gleam in her eye. You look at your mom, who looks at your dad, who has emerged from his study with a frown. "What's going on?" he asks. "Kids from the school doing a food drive," she says, "they want Will to come along with them. It's just in the neighborhood, Harris," she adds when his expression lowers. There's a tone in her voice, and he reads it, for he nods curtly before turning back for his study. "Don't leave the neighborhood," your mom tells you in a low voice, and it's got the same intonation as she used on your dad, so you know she means it. You run upstairs to get your windbreaker and hat, then are out on the porch with the others in a flash. No one says anything until you reach the sidewalk at the edge of the road, and then the other three break into peals of laughter. "Oh my God," Justine gasps, "wasn't that brilliant?" "That was great, Will!" Trixie gasps, and she gives you another quick hug. "You played it perfect, like you didn't know what was happening!" "I didn't!" you protest. "It was still perfect! You have to tell Alan it was perfect!" She shoves you lightly toward the guy in the hoodie, who you suppose is "Alan." "Thanks," he says when you tell him it was perfect. "Alan's in charge of all our jailbreaks," Trixie says. "What are we gonna do for Wednesday, when we have to get him out again?" "Why, what's Wednesday?" "We're all going out to Joe and Frank's for a party. Will's coming too." "I'll have to think about it," Alan says. "But come on." "Where are we going?" "Around the neighborhood. We're on a food drive, right?" "For reals?" Justine gasps. "We have to make it look good," Alan says. * * * * * So you make a slow, hour-long circuit of the neighborhood, cadging canned and boxed goods from the neighbors. You don't protest this, but Trixie does at one point, asking if what you're doing is stealing. Not if we give it to the food bank, Alan retorts. That'll make it a real food drive. He wants to know about this party, too, and that leads into gossip about Frank and Joe. They are new to town, having appeared in school only a few weeks ago, after the start of classes, but they have made quite a splash at Eastman. Especially Joe, who seems to be everywhere making friends and impressions. Naturally, Trixie has to tell Alan about Joe losing his wallet in your truck, and what he was doing in your truck, which only reinforces the impression the others have been giving that he has a talent for getting other people to do things they normally wouldn't. They drop you back at your house again after it has gotten dark, with the idea that on Wednesday they'll pick you up again for a "book drive," which will take you into the city. You warn that you'll have to get prior permission from your parents for that. Of course, you ask your mom, not your dad. "I'll have to talk to your father about that," she says. "Don't get your hopes up." But an hour later she is knocking on your bedroom door. "Here," she says as, to your surprise, she shoves a small cardboard box at you. "Some old paperbacks we had, for your book drive. You can go, but you can only be out for two hours." She gives you a look. "You owe me." You thank her fervently, but she accepts your gratitude with a grim and distracted look. And that reminds you of the book you got in Arnholm's. You had forgotten about it again, though you had described it to Alan while out with him and girls, when you remembered it while talking about a "book drive" as a way to stage a "jailbreak" for Wednesday. He had sounded interested, and even asked you to bring it along with you on Wednesday. But now you've got a worse problem, for in reminding you of that book, you've been reminded that you don't have something for the time capsule assignment, which is due tomorrow. Except, maybe for that book, which you originally bought with the idea of taking it in to school. That's all for now. |
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