Eighteen Kisses (18 page)

I decided I was going to try and leave the bathroom, but I could hardly stand up. The graffiti on the cubicle walls danced before my eyes, the letters all moving in different directions, words joining up to make no sense. I dropped the lid of the toilet seat and sat down with my head in my hands. Then I started to drift off.

My head snapped back with a jolt. I’d fainted, but I didn’t know how long I’d been out for. There was a knock on the door. I ignored it.

‘Pee faster!’ shrieked a girl on the other side.

I didn’t know what to do. I thought I should probably just give in and ask for help, but there was nobody here who would understand. Hot tears started to well up in my eyes. I felt so powerless. And then it occurred to me – there was somebody who might be able to help: Lauren. She was a fortune-teller – maybe she’d heard about psychic attacks. She might know how to stop this, or at the very least she wouldn’t think I was crazy. I sent her a text asking her to come to Rage if she was nearby, that it was an emergency. Then I took a deep breath and headed back out to the bar. She replied immediately. I’m on my way, she said.

I waited by the door instead of going over to our table. I didn’t want the others to see me like this.

About fifteen minutes later Lauren rushed in. She looked like she’d been on a night out – she was wearing a black dress with a lace collar and red peep-toe shoes. As soon as she spotted me, her face turned completely pale. I couldn’t blame her – I looked terrible.

‘Thanks for coming,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know who else to call.’

‘I thought you’d gone home,’ she said. ‘Hazel told me you went back to Leitrim …’

‘No, I just took a few days off,’ I said, leaning against the wall to steady myself.

‘You don’t look good.’

She scanned my body, seeming to understand that something was very wrong. I felt so much better now that she was here.

‘I’m in trouble,’ I said. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m being psychically attacked. Do you know anything about this kind of stuff?’

‘A bit,’ she said, looking scared. I felt bad for dragging her into this, but I had nowhere else to turn.

‘I don’t understand it,’ I said. ‘I’ve been protecting myself. But look at me … I look awful.’

‘Do you know who’s doing this?’ she asked.

‘No,’ I said, ‘I haven’t a clue.’

She grabbed my arm and started to push through the crowd.

‘Lauren, where are we going?’

‘It could be a Difodi Curse,’ she said. ‘We can’t waste any time.’ She led me into the dressing room and my heart started
to pound so fast it was unbearable. I recognized that name – Ger had warned me about this.

I almost tripped over the leads on the floor, but managed to make my way through the mess. I sat down on an amp and tried to take deep breaths. Lauren locked the dressing-room door and then hurried over to me.

‘They’ve cursed something,’ she said. ‘Take off all your jewellery.’

I fumbled with my guitar-string bracelet from Nick. My fingers trembled as I tried to open the clasp.

‘Quickly!’ she said. She sounded so frightened, it made me panic.

‘I’m going to be OK, right?’ I was hoping she knew a way round it, like a loophole or something.

‘We need to find the object now,’ she said, ‘to get the curse removed.’

‘But only the person who performed the curse can lift it, isn’t that true?’

Lauren didn’t answer. My mind was racing with questions. Were we going to figure it out in time? Would we be able to reason with the person who was trying to kill me?

‘How much time do I have left?’ I asked.

‘I’m not sure, but you haven’t reached the worst part yet,’ she said. I handed her the bracelet. She clutched it and closed her eyes. ‘No, that’s not it,’ she said. ‘Give me your bag.’

I handed it to her and she emptied its entire contents out on to the table. My wallet and make-up and phone and iPod were all scattered everywhere. She picked them up one by one – first my pocket mirror. ‘No,’ she said, and dropped it to the floor. Then my keys. ‘No.’ She did the same with the
rest of my stuff as I took off every piece of jewellery I was wearing.

‘No … no … no … no.’

I handed her the bundle of bracelets and rings.

‘No … no … no … no,’ she said, as they each fell with a clink on the floor. ‘Are you sure there’s nothing else?’

‘I don’t think so.’ I started to cough, covered my mouth with my hand and felt a stab of fear as I took it away. I’d coughed up blood.

‘Jacki, think! We don’t have much time. We need to find the object!’

‘But only the person who performed the curse can break it!’ I said. ‘Is that true?’

She didn’t answer.

‘Is that true, Lauren?’

Why was I even asking? I knew very well that it was. I was going to die.

‘We need to find it
now
.’

She was trying to ease the pain – that was nice of her – but whether I died slowly or in agony didn’t really make much of a difference. I was still going to die.

‘Listen to me,’ she said, grabbing my shoulders. ‘Are you wearing any more jewellery? You must be.’

That’s when I felt it in my pocket, against my hip. My hand was shaking so much, but I managed to grab hold of Kayla’s star-shaped necklace and pull it out.

‘Yes, yes, that’s it!’

She snatched it from me. She was going to destroy it. This was going to ease the pain, but I was so scared. There was so much I had left to do. I couldn’t die without seeing
Nick – or Dillon – again. I couldn’t die without apologizing to Colin. And I still had to see my little brother or sister. I had to solve this case and make a record and go to New York and do all the things I still wanted to do.

Lauren knelt down and started to mumble something in a different language. It sounded a bit like Irish. I wondered what she was doing.

I touched her shoulder, but she pushed me away. She continued to mumble, swaying back and forth in a trance-like state. I tried to figure out what was going on. And then it hit me. I couldn’t believe it. I was so relieved and yet so furious at the same time. She started to talk more loudly, her words booming through the dressing room.

I was so angry. I wanted to hurt her like she’d hurt me. But I didn’t dare touch her, at least not until she’d finished. She was shouting now, but I doubted anybody else could hear her. The music from outside was drowning her out.

After a few minutes she stopped swaying and sat perfectly still. I could smell burning. She opened her hands. The outline of a star had been scalded into each palm.

‘Only the person who performed the curse can break it,’ I said. ‘Only –’

‘Not always,’ said Lauren, her voice trembling.

‘I’m not stupid!’ I said. ‘It was you!’

She stood up. I was so mad that I pushed her against the wall.

‘You almost killed me!’ I yelled. ‘I could have died! You knew what
object
we were looking for. Why didn’t you just tell me to give you the necklace?’

‘I didn’t want you to know it was me. I’m sorry, Jacki, I’m so, so sorry.’

I should have suspected her sooner – I was aware of her supernatural ability.

‘You killed Kayla …’ I said. ‘How did you do it? Did you curse her?’

‘No,’ said Lauren. ‘No, I swear I didn’t hurt Kayla. I don’t know what happened to her. Somebody paid me to do this, to get rid of you. They didn’t want you interfering.’

I grabbed the collar of her dress and pushed her further up the wall.

‘Who?’

‘I can’t tell you.’

‘Give me a name.’

‘You know I can’t. You know –’

‘– that if you reveal the details of the curse you’ll incur
torturous pain
? Yes, I know, I’ve read all about the Difodi Curse. But what do you think
I’ve
just been through?’

‘Jacki, please.’

‘Give me some information,’ I said, ‘or I swear to god I’ll –’

‘It’s a couple,’ she said. ‘Or at least they were a couple, I’m not sure if they still are. They were both at the party. They approached me last week, paid me to do this.’ She started to sob. I could smell burning and realized it was coming from her hands. The star-shaped scars were opening up.

‘Keep going!’ I shouted. ‘What else do you know?’

‘I owe them one. They gave me money when I needed it, years ago, and now they’re guilting me into helping them.
If somebody with paranormal powers gets involved with Kayla’s case, they ask me to deal with it. When that psychic came forward last year and offered to help they made me get rid of him. Not that he knew anything anyway. They told me you were young and it shouldn’t take much to get rid of you. I psychically attacked that other guy too, just sent him some negative vibes, and he was gone in less than three days. When I heard you were only sixteen, I thought you’d be gone within a few days too, that it would all be fine. I never expected you to last this long. When I saw you the other day I was going to lift the curse there and then. I told them it had gone too far, that it was too dangerous. When I heard you’d gone home, I was so relieved. I thought it was over. I never meant to kill you – you have to believe me. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.’

‘Tell me who they are.’

‘Please, Jacki,’ she said, showing me her hands. ‘Please don’t make me tell you.’

She started to cry. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t cause her that much pain, even though she’d almost killed me. I loosened my grip.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me. You’re only getting away with this because I don’t have the guts to hurt you.’

‘I’m sorry, Jacki, I’m so, so sorry.’

‘I don’t want your apology,’ I said as I stormed out and slammed the door behind me.

A couple. It must have been Amy and Andrew – unless there was something I had missed. Perhaps everyone had been right to be angry at them for Kayla’s disappearance.

I stood outside Rage, considering my next move. Temple Bar was packed with people out for the night. There were lots of students celebrating the last days of term. Girls in high heels tottered around, unsteady on the cobblestones, and groups of guys strutted past, shouting and joking. I decided to ring Ellie. I figured she was the safest person to contact.

‘Hi, Jacki,’ she said. ‘Is everything OK?’

‘I’m sorry for calling so late,’ I said. ‘I hope I didn’t wake you?’

‘Nope, me and Sasha are just having a movie night. What’s up?’

‘I need your help with something.’

‘Where are you?’ she said. ‘It’s really loud, I can hardly hear you.’

‘I’m outside Rage. Hold on, I’ll move away from the door.’ I wove though the crowds, away from the blaring music.

‘Do you wanna come over?’ she said. ‘We’re just on Dame Street, above the milkshake shop.’

‘Are you sure that’s OK?’

‘Is it cool if Jacki comes over here, Sash?’

‘Of course, no problem,’ I could hear Sasha answer in the background.

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I’ll be there in a few minutes.’

I rushed through Temple Bar, past the Central Bank, and waited for the traffic lights to change. I still felt sick. The after-effects of the curse pulsed through my veins. I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep, but that wasn’t an option. I needed to figure out who’d tried to kill me, and who’d succeeded in killing Kayla.

I made my way towards the milkshake shop and pressed the buzzer for number 4.

‘Come on up!’ said Sasha’s voice on the other end. I pushed the door open. I wasn’t expecting any revelations from them, but I did think they could help me on my way to solving this.

Sasha appeared at the top of the stairs.

‘Hi,’ I said.

‘Hey!’ she said. ‘We’re watching movies! You missed
Juno
, but
Blue Valentine
’s just about to start.’ She sounded a bit tipsy. I climbed the stairs and followed her into the apartment. It was open-plan with wooden floors and slick furniture. Ellie was sitting cross-legged on a huge cream sofa, a bowl of popcorn in her lap and an empty bottle of wine on the table in front of her.

‘Hi, Jacki,’ she said.

‘Oh my god, Ryan Gosling is hot,’ said Sasha. She ran
over to the couch and jumped on to it, then patted the seat beside her. ‘Sit,’ she said. ‘It’s starting.’

‘Actually, I was hoping we could watch something else,’ I said, rooting in my bag. I hated to ruin their film night, but I had a feeling they’d be able to help me. ‘This might sound a bit weird,’ I said, ‘but I have a video from Kayla’s party, of the guests, and I was wondering if you could tell me who was going out with who?’

‘You have a video from Kayla’s party?’ said Sasha, her eyes widening.

Ellie looked surprised too.

‘It’s a video of her eighteen kisses,’ I said. ‘I’ve watched it myself lots of times, but I need to get more of a feel for the dynamic of the group. I understand there were a few couples in the video?’

‘Yeah,’ said Ellie. ‘I guess there were a few … but why would you need to know something like that?’

‘I want to find out as much about the party as possible,’ I said. ‘To help me figure out what might have happened.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Sasha. ‘Put it on.’

I opened the DVD player, took out the disc that was already there, and put mine in. I pressed Play. Sasha and Ellie were silent at first, their eyes glued to Kayla, and I could tell it was upsetting for them to watch. ‘I Kissed a Girl’ blasted from the speakers. Kayla walked over to the stool; she fixed the strap of her dress. I knew this video so well.

‘Have you seen this before?’ I asked them.

‘No …’ said Ellie. ‘Nobody put any photos or videos up online after the party – it didn’t seem right. Except for the picture of Kayla in her dress. That ended up everywhere.’

‘So,’ I said, taking out my notebook and pen from my bag. ‘Were any of the people in the video going out with each other?’

‘Well, let’s see,’ said Sasha, flicking her hair back and pointing at the people on the screen. ‘Libby and Rob, obviously; Amy and Andrew; Kayla and Luke were supposedly doing it behind everyone’s back; oh, and Ellie and Sean,’ she said, winking at Ellie. ‘I think that’s it.’

‘Biggest mistake of my life,’ muttered Ellie.