Dark Angel; The Chosen; Soulmate (11 page)

There was laughter. Even Cory laughed and winced.

“Right on,” Daryl the Rich Girl said, raising a can of diet Barq's root beer to Gillian in salute. And David waved Cory away and reached for a Coke.

Nobody tried to pressure them and the guy on the table even looked a little embarrassed. Gillian had learned that you could pull anything off if you were cool enough, composed
enough, and if you didn't back down. The feeling of success was much more intoxicating than liquor could have been.

(How about that? Pretty good, huh? Huh? Huh?)

(Oh… oh, yeah, fine.) Angel seemed to deliberate. (Of course, it does say, “Wine maketh the heart of man glad….”)

(Oh, Angel, you're so silly. You sound like Cory!) Gillian almost laughed out loud.

Everything was exciting. The music, the huge house with its opulent Christmas decorations. The people. All the girls threw their arms around Gillian and kissed her as if they hadn't seen her in weeks. Some of the boys tried, but David warned them off with a look.

That was exciting, too. Having everyone know she was together with David Blackburn, that he was
hers
. It put her status through the ceiling.

“Want to look around?” David was saying. “I can show you the upstairs; Macon doesn't care.”

Gillian looked at him. “Bored?”

He grinned. “No. But I wouldn't mind seeing you alone for a few minutes.”

They went up a long carpeted staircase lined with oil paintings. The rooms upstairs were just as beautiful as downstairs: palatial and almost awe inspiring.

It put Gillian in a quiet mood. The music wasn't as loud up here, and the cool marble gave her the feeling of being in a museum.

She looked out a window to see velvet darkness punctuated by little twinkling lights.

“You know, I'm glad you didn't want to drink back there.” David's voice behind her was quiet.

She turned, trying to read his face. “But… you were surprised?”

“Well—it's just sometimes now you seem
so
adult. Sort of worldly.”

“Me? I mean—I mean
you're
the one who seems like that.” And that's what you like in girls, she thought.

He looked away and laughed. “Oh, yeah. The tough guy. The wild guy. Tanya and I used to party pretty hard.” He shrugged. “I'm not tough. I'm just a small-town guy trying to get through life. I don't look for trouble. I try to run from it if I can.”

Gillian had to laugh herself at that. But there was something serious in David's dark eyes.

“I admit, it sort of had a way of finding me in the past,” he said slowly. “And I've done some things that I'm not proud of. But, you know… I'd like to change that—if it's possible.”

“Sort of like a whole new side of you that wants to come out.”

He looked startled. Then he glanced up and down her and grinned. “Yeah. Sort of like that.”

Gillian felt suddenly inspired, hopeful. “I think,” she said slowly, trying to put her ideas together, “that sometimes people
need to—to express both sides of themselves. And then they can be… well, whole.”

“Yeah. If that's possible.” He hesitated. Gillian didn't say anything, because she had the feeling that he was trying to. That there was some reason he'd brought her up to talk to her alone.

“Well. You know something weird?” he said after a moment. “I
don't
feel exactly whole. And the truth is—” He looked around the darkened room. Gillian could only see his profile. He shook his head, then took a deep breath. “Okay, this is going to sound even dumber than I thought, but I've got to say it. I can't help it.”

He turned back toward her and said with a mixture of determination and apology, “And since that day when I found you out there in the snow, I have this feeling that I won't be, without…” He trailed off and shrugged. “Well—you,” he said finally, helplessly.

The universe was one enormous heartbeat. Gillian could feel her body echoing it. She said slowly, “I…”

“I know. I
know
how it sounds. I'm sorry.”

“No,” Gillian whispered. “That wasn't what I was going to say.”

He'd turned sharply away to glare at the window. Now he turned halfway back and she saw the glimmer of hope in his face.

“I was going to say, I understand.”

He looked as if he were afraid to believe. “Yeah, but do you
really
?”

“I think I do—really.”

And then he was moving toward her and Gillian was holding up her arms. Literally as if drawn to do it—but not just by physical attraction. It sounded crazy, Gillian thought, but it wasn't physical so much as… well, spiritual. They seemed to
belong
together.

David was holding her. It felt incredibly strange and at the same time perfectly natural. He was warm and solid and Gillian felt her eyes shutting, her head drifting to his shoulder. Such a simple embrace, but it seemed to mean everything.

The feelings inside Gillian were like a wonderful discovery. And she had the sense that she was on the verge of some other discovery, that if she just opened her eyes and looked into David's at this moment, somehow it would mean a change in the world….

(Kid?) The voice in Gillian's ear was quiet. (I
really
hate to say it, but I have to break this up. You have to sidle down to the master bedroom.)

Gillian scarcely heard and couldn't pay attention.

(Gillian! I mean it, kid. There's something going on that you have to know about.)

(Angel?)

(Tell him you'll be back in a few minutes. This is important!)

There was no way to ignore that tone of urgency. Gillian
stirred. “David, I have to go for a sec. Be right back.”

David just nodded. “Sure.” It was Gillian who had trouble letting go of his hand, and when she did she still seemed to feel his grip.

(This had better be good, Angel.) She blinked in the light of the hallway.

(Go down to the end of the hall. That's the master bedroom. Go on in. Don't turn on the light.)

The master bedroom was cavernous and dark and filled with large dim shapes like sleeping elephants. Gillian walked in and immediately banged into a piece of heavy furniture.

(Be careful! See that light over there?)

Light was showing around the edges of double doors on the other side of the room. The doors were closed.

(And locked. That's the bathroom. Now, here's what I want you to do. Walk carefully over to the right of the bathroom and you'll find another door. It's the closet. I want you to quietly open that door and get in it.)

(What?)

Angel's voice was elaborately patient. (Get in the closet and put your ear against the wall.)

Gillian shut her eyes. Then, feeling exactly like a burglar, she slowly turned the handle of the closet door and slipped inside.

It was a walk-in closet, very long but stuffy because of the clothes bristling from both sides. Gillian had a profound feeling of intrusion, of being an invader of privacy. She
seemed to walk a long way in before Angel stopped her.

(Okay. Here. Now put your ear against the left wall.)

Eyes still shut—it seemed to make the absolute darkness more bearable—Gillian burrowed between something long sheathed in plastic and something heavy and velvety. With the clothes embracing her on either side, she leaned her head until her bare ear touched wood.

(Angel, I can't believe I'm doing this. I feel really stupid, and I'm scared, and if anybody finds me—)

(Just
listen
, will you?)

At first Gillian's heart seemed to drown out all other sounds. But then, faint but clear, she heard two voices she recognized.

“But only if you absolutely
swear
to me you didn't do it.”

“Oh, how many times? I've been telling you all week I didn't. I never said a
word
to her. I swear.”

The first voice, which sounded taut and a little unbalanced, was Tanya's. The second was Kim the Gymnast's. Despite her brave words, Kim sounded scared.

(Angel? What's going on?)

(Trouble.)

“Okay,” Tanya's voice was saying. “Then this is your chance to prove it by helping me.”

“Tan, look. Look. I'm sorry about you and David breaking up. But maybe it's not Gillian's fault—”

“It's
completely
her fault. The stuff with Bruce was over. You know that. There was no reason for David to ever find out—until
she
opened her mouth. And as for how she found out—”

“Not again!” Kim the Gymnast sounded ready to scream.
“I didn't do it.”

“All right. I believe you.” Tanya's voice was calmer. “So in that case there's no reason for us to fight. We've got to stick together. Hand me that brush, will you?” There was silence for a moment, and Gillian could imagine Tanya brushing her dark hair to a higher gloss, looking in a mirror approvingly.

“So what are you going to do?” Kim's voice asked.

“Get both of them. In a way, I hate him more. I promised he'd be sorry if he dumped me, and I always keep my promises.”

Squashed between the heavy, swaying clothes on her right and left, Gillian had a wild and almost fatal impulse to giggle.

She knew what was going on. It was just such a… a
sitcom
situation that she had a hard time making herself believe in it. Here she was, listening to two people who were actually
plotting against her
. She was overhearing their plans to get her. It was… absurd. Bad mystery novel stuff.

And it was happening anyway.

She made a feeble attempt to get back to reality, straightening up slightly.

(Angel—people don't really do these revenge things. Right? They're just talking. And—I mean, I can't even believe I'm hearing all this. It's so… so
ridiculous
…)

(You're overhearing it because I brought you here. You have an invisible friend who can lead you to the right place at the right time. And you'd better believe that people carry
out these “revenge things.” Tanya's never made a plan that she hasn't carried through.)

(The future executive.) Gillian thought it faintly.

(Future CEO. She's deadly serious, kid. And she's smart. She can make things happen.)

Gillian no longer felt like giggling.

When she pressed her ear against the wall again, it was clear she'd missed some of the conversation.

“… David first?” Kim the Gymnast was saying.

“Because I know what to do with him. He wants to get into Ohio University, you know? He sent the application in October. It was already going to be a little hard because his grades aren't great, but he scored really high on the SATs. It was hard, but I'm going to make it…” There was a pause and Tanya's voice seemed to mellow and sweeten. “Absolutely impossible.”

“How?” Kim sounded shaken.

“By writing to the university. And to our principal and to Ms. Renquist, the English lit teacher, and to David's grandpa, who's supposed to be giving him money to go to college.”

“But why? I mean, if you say something nasty, they'll just think it's sour grapes—”

“I'm going to tell them he passed English lit last year by cheating. We had to turn in a term paper. But he didn't write the paper he turned in. It was
bought
. From a college guy in Philadelphia.”

Kim's breath whooshed out so loudly that Gillian could hear it. “How do you know?”

“Because I arranged it, of course. I wanted him to bring his grades up, to get into a university. To
make
something of himself. But of course he can never prove all that. He's the one that paid for it.”

A silence. Then Kim said, with what sounded like forced lightness, “But, Tan, you could ruin his whole life….”

“I know.” Tanya's voice was serene. Satisfied.

“But… well, what do you want
me
to do?”

“Be ready to spread the word. That's what you do best, isn't it? I'll get the letters written by Monday. And then on Monday you can start telling people—because I want
everyone
to know. Prime that grapevine!” Tanya was laughing.

“Okay. Sure. Consider it done.” Kim sounded more scared than ever. “Uh, look, I'd better get back downstairs now—can I use the brush a second?”

“Here.” A clatter. “And, Kim? Be ready to help me with Gillian, too. I'll let you know what I've got in mind for her.”

Kim said, “Sure,”—faintly. Then there were a few more clatters and the sound of a door rattling open and shut. Then silence.

Gillian stood in the stuffy closet.

She felt physically sick. As if she'd found something loathsome and slimy and unclean writhing under her bed. Tanya was
crazy
—and evil. Gillian had just seen into a mind utterly twisted with hatred.

And smart. Angel had said it.

(Angel, what do I
do
? She really means it, doesn't she? She's going to
destroy
him. And there isn't anything I can do about it.)

(There may be something.)

(She's not going to listen to reason. I
know
she's not. Nobody's going to be able to talk her out of it. And threats aren't any good—)

(I said, there may be something you can do.)

Gillian came back to herself. (What?)

(It's a little complicated. And… well, the truth is, you may not
want
to do it, kid.)

(I would do anything for David.) Gillian's response was instant and absolute. Strange, how there were some things you were so sure of.

(Okay. Well, hold that thought. I'll explain everything when we get home—which we should do
fast
. But first I want you to get something from that bathroom.)

Gillian felt calm and alert, like a young soldier on her first mission in enemy territory. Angel had an idea. As long as she did exactly what Angel said, things were going to turn out all right.