Forbidden (16 page)

“Did the voice say anything else?” Brian asked.

“Yeah. It said, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’”

They all laughed nervously. “Too late for that,” observed Erica.

“It also said two other things. ‘Come to Twin Palms.’ And ‘Helena.’”

“Twin Palms?” Brian asked. “You mean like the mall in the Valley?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Do you think her name is Helena?”

“Could be.” Erica whipped out her phone and browsed the mall’s website. “Maybe Helena is a psychic, and she’s waiting to talk to you at the Twin Palms Mall.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Brian suggested.

“I’m all for being proactive,” Claire intoned dubiously, “but how would we find one particular person named Helena at a mall?”

“Maybe she’ll find you,” offered Brian.

Erica, focused on her phone, added, “We can come up with a plan in the car. I say we head up to the Valley right now and check this out.”

“Who’s checking out what now in the Valley?” Neil had popped into the room and was looking at them all questioningly.

The three of them froze.

“Um … ,” Claire stammered, embarrassed that in all the excitement, she’d completely forgotten her study date with Neil. “We’re checking out …”

“… whether or not they still have this awesome pair of boots on sale at Twin Palms!” Erica finished for her, flashing an advertisement on her phone.

Neil’s face fell. He glanced at Claire. “Wait. You guys are going to a mall? In the
Valley
? I thought we were gonna study Spanish.”

Claire was flattered by the look of disappointment on Neil’s face. She hesitated. She didn’t want to cancel on him so last minute, but she couldn’t tell him the truth, either. “You did so well on your quiz, Neil. I think we should postpone this till tomorrow, take a day off, and celebrate. Come with us.”

“I didn’t do
that
well, Claire,” Neil responded.

“It’s a matter of perspective, amigo,” Brian said with an overenthusiastic smile and a thumbs-up. “You could have failed that quiz, but you didn’t!”

“Yeah!” Erica said brightly, flashing a covert, reluctant look at Claire. “Join us. It’ll be a field trip. We can speak Spanish in the car.”

“Don’t you take French?” Neil asked, as they herded him out the door.

“Whatever,” Erica replied.
“¡Vamanos!”

Claire and Erica pretended to browse in the Boot Shack for ten minutes, then left the guys at a video game store and strolled out into the crowded shopping center.

“What were you thinking?” Erica said in a low, exasperated voice. “Why did you invite Neil? It makes this all so complicated!”

“It would have been rude to just ditch him. We can do this, even with him here. Let’s just make a plan.”

“It was your vision.
You
make the plan.”

“
You’re
the one who said we should come to the mall and look for someone named Helena!” Claire hissed.

“It sounded easier in theory, I admit. God. There are hundreds of people here, and three stories of shops. Where are we supposed to start?”

“Maybe Brian was right. Maybe we don’t need to do anything. Maybe whoever sent the signal can sense that I’m here and will come to me.”

Erica popped a piece of gum into her mouth. “I’m always a fan of doing nothing.”

They stood there, eagerly watching for any glimmer of interest from the stream of female shoppers passing by, but no one in particular glanced their way. After a few minutes of that, Erica said, “This is weird. I feel like a hooker. A lesbian hooker.”

Claire’s eyes were suddenly drawn to a large fixture on the mall floor six feet ahead of them.
Oh my God
, she thought.
How could we have missed it?

“What?” Erica said, noticing Claire’s stunned expression.

Claire strode forward and pointed to the mall directory and map. Under Specialty Stores, it listed a shop on the second floor called Helena’s.

“Holy crap,” Erica said. “We’ve been so short-bus about this.”

“So where are we going next, amigos?” Neil asked, carrying a bag from the video game store as he and Brian caught up to them.

Claire gestured toward a spot on the map. “Helena’s.”

“Helena’s?” Brian repeated. “Why do we need to go there?”

Claire and Erica shot him a silent glare of death.

“Oh!
Oh!
” Brian cried, his eyes widening with comprehension. “I’ve … heard about that place. I’ve always wanted to go there!”

“Why? What do they sell?” Neil asked.

Brian stared at him blankly, like a deer in headlights. “Uh …”

“We don’t want to spoil the surprise,” Claire said, boldly taking Neil by the arm. “You’ll see when we get there.”

Five minutes later they stood outside the shop, its name emblazoned in metallic purple script:
HELENA’S
. The shop windows were stuffed with New Age and occult trinkets, from crystal balls and pentagrams to Ouija boards and funky-looking candles in every shade of the rainbow.

“This is the shop you were all so excited about?” Neil asked Brian curiously.

“No …” Brian feigned surprise. “I thought it was the
other
Helena’s, the one that sells … cookies.”

“Well, we’re going in,” Claire said emphatically. “How about if you guys go do something else for a few minutes?”

“Great idea,” Brian and Neil responded in unison. They took off like a shot.

Claire and Erica pushed open the glass door, triggering a motion sensor that chirped melodiously. Soft, atmospheric music drifted from speakers above. Sun-, moon-, and star-shaped ornaments of all sizes hung from the ceiling, and several shelves of books stood at the back.

“Okay. This is… ,” Erica began.

“Lame?” Claire finished under her breath.

“I was going to say
cool
.”

“You’re into this kind of stuff?”

“Not really. But I’m trying to get into the spirit of things. This could be promising! It’s much more likely that you’ll find a psychic here than in a clothing store or a cookie shop.”

They moved to the long glass counter, where silver jewelry was on display, and a middle-aged woman with frizzy red hair and flowy clothing was affixing price stickers to a stack of glittery picture frames. Claire smiled at her. “Nice store.”

“Thank you.”

Claire deflated a little as she realized the woman didn’t have a British accent.

“We just opened a couple of weeks ago,” the woman continued with a smile. “I’m still trying to get things in order. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“No. We’re just browsing,” Erica said.

“I’m curious, though,” Claire added, “about the name of the store. Are you Helena?”

“Oh, no. Helena is my kitty.” She gestured behind the counter to a basket at her feet, where a large calico cat was resting.

Claire and Erica exchanged a look. Was this what had brought them here? Claire wondered. A psychic cat?

“Can I pet her?” Claire asked.

“Sure. My Helena loves people.”

Claire scooted behind the counter and crouched down by the cat’s basket, then hesitated. What would it be like to get a vision off an animal?

The cat stared back at her. As Erica knelt down beside her, Claire tentatively extended her hand and began stroking the animal’s soft fur. It purred contentedly.

“Anything?” Erica whispered.

“Nothing,” Claire whispered back. “I think it’s just a cat.”

“Maybe we were wrong. Maybe it’s not a person—or animal—named Helena after all. Maybe it’s the
store itself
, at this mall, that you were supposed to visit. There might be something here that’s important.”

“You think?”

“Why don’t you try touching some other stuff and see what happens?”

Claire stood up, remarked how beautiful the cat was, and began wandering around the shop. She picked up merchandise randomly but didn’t get a reading off anything.

The entry chime sounded as Neil and Brian entered. “So, have you two found anything cool?” Brian asked, eyeing them meaningfully.

Claire shook her head. “Just a nice cat. Named
Helena
.”

“Ah,” Brian responded with a nod.

The entry chime chirped again. Claire turned and couldn’t help but stare at the new arrivals: two guys and a girl who looked to be in their early twenties, all of whom had a bunch of piercings and tattoos. It was as if the whole atmosphere in the place changed with their presence. They reminded Claire of rock stars. They exuded confidence, and for some reason she felt drawn to them.

The trio glided into the store and instantly separated, like fighter planes breaking formation. As the two guys browsed, looking a bit bored, the girl strolled in Claire’s direction, nodding at her with a friendly but commanding smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Claire responded. The girl was tall and breathtakingly beautiful, with long, inky black hair that flowed down her back. She wore a tight, red plaid dress over black leggings, dark lipstick, heavy eyeliner, black nail polish, and lots of dangly silver jewelry. The girl casually studied the merchandise, pausing when she reached Claire’s side. Feeling self-conscious that she’d been staring, Claire glanced away.

The girl plucked a small, silver dream-catcher pendant from a display. It was decorated with turquoise beads and tiny silver feathers. “Have you ever used one of these?” Her voice was soft, rich, and elegant, like molten chocolate. And it was decidedly British.

Claire’s pulse leapt. She darted a look at her friends, who seemed equally mystified that this goddess was chatting with her. “No,” she answered.

“They’re like spiderwebs,” the girl replied, twirling the pendant in her fingers. “They trap your nightmares, so only the good dreams filter through. When the morning sun hits the net, all your bad dreams are instantly burned to ash.”

“Like a vampire net?” Brian said.

“Kind of,” the girl replied with a raised eyebrow, as if she considered that a strange question.

“That’s cool.” Claire nodded.

The girl fixed her eyes on Claire for a long beat, almost studying her. “I think you should buy this. I think it will help you.”

“Why do you say that?” Claire asked, taken aback.

“You look like a very intuitive person. Like someone who dreams a lot—even when you’re awake. This would protect you.”

Claire almost gasped. Protect her?
Oh my God
, she thought. This must be the person she’d been searching for! She had a British accent and everything! It wasn’t as raspy as the voice in her vision, but that warning had been very garbled. Did she have a message for her? Claire exchanged a look with Erica, who was clearly on the same page and silently acknowledged her excitement. Before Claire could respond, however, Neil piped up brightly, “You are definitely the most persuasive salesperson I’ve ever met. Do you work here?”

The girl laughed politely. “I don’t believe in work.”

The two boys joined them, flanking the group on either side.

“How’re you guys doing?” one of them asked with an inviting smile. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with colorful tattoos covering his neck and forearms, his shoulder-length black hair pulled into a ponytail. A heavy silver chain dangled from the studded belt that held up his strategically ripped jeans.

“Celeste, who’re your new friends?” added the other. He was shorter and stockier, with a shaved head and bushy goatee, and piercing dark eyes in a bulldog face. Both guys wore black T-shirts stretched across their muscled chests.

Celeste?
Claire thought. Then she realized it didn’t matter what the girl’s name was, if Helena’s was just the place where they were supposed to meet.

“We haven’t been properly introduced yet,” Celeste said with a slow smile, as she replaced the dream catcher on the jewelry rack with a smooth, manicured hand. “I’m Celeste. The tall one’s Javed. The other one’s Rico.”