Love Struck (13 page)

“Anything for you,” Lou said, grinning at her. “If it's Kristin you want, it's Kristin you'll get.”

A moment later there was a cloud of smoke. As it evaporated, I could see a woman standing in its place.

A woman who slouched a little. And wore clothes one size too big. One I could only imagine was someone my mother had loved to torture back in the day. Someone who hadn't done anything to deserve getting messed with but became a target, anyway. Someone just like me.

“Who is that?” My mom practically stamped her foot in a hissy fit. “It's certainly not Kristin.”

“That's not possible,” Lou said. “I don't mess up.”

“Well it's not her!” Mom jutted out her bottom lip in a pout.

“How did I get here?” the woman asked, stumbling. She didn't know which way to turn. When her eyes settled on my mother, her face scrunched up. “Maggie?” The woman shook her head. “Can't be,” she mumbled to herself. “Are you Margaret's daughter?”

“Okay?
Daughter?
What is with everyone today? And how do you know me?” Mom asked.

Oh no! The woman recognized Mom. It
was
Kristin. But not the Kristin my mom was talking about. This Kristin was the adult version of her. This Kristin was Mom's real age. This woman was old.

Kristin grabbed her wrist and squeezed. “I must be hallucinating. This is insane. I was just at my daughter's soccer game. Maybe it's heatstroke. Snap out of it, Kristin. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”

The woman was losing it.

“Go that way!” I told her and pointed down the hall. “Go to the food court, get out of here. Now.”

She stood there frozen.

“I mean it, go!” I said, sounding like Harmony Gold when she was trying to get Lance away from me. I gave her a push. She didn't budge. “You're dreaming,” I lied. “And you won't wake up until you finish what you need to do. And what you need to do is go to the food court.”

“Why?”

Because it was far away from my parents. But I couldn't tell her that. “There's a man who works at Subway and he has a majorly important message for you from the future. That's all I know. Now go!”

“But I don't believe in fortune-telling and magic,” she said.

“This is a dream, remember?” I told her. “Now go, and don't come back here.”

Kristin took one more glance at me and my mother and headed down the hallway.

But as I got rid of one person I didn't want near the devil and his new partner in crime, I gained two new ones in their place . . .

“Angel!”

It was Cole, and Gabi was with him.

“We've been looking everywhere for you,” he said as they both ran up to me.

Hmmm. If looking very hard meant listening to mushy love songs. They weren't searching. But I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they had just stopped for a break. I mean, I had stopped for a soda and ice cream.

“When I saw the sign, I figured you'd be close by,” Gabi continued. “I know how much you like wishes.” She definitely added that last part in for Cole's benefit. She didn't want to clue him in that I had anything to do with this disaster. But she gave me a look. A best-friend look. A “let me help you fix the mess you created even though I'm still angry at you” look. But I didn't want to take her up on it.

“You guys can't be here.” I couldn't have Gabi and Cole near my parents. Under normal circumstances my parental units were more than a little scary. But today? They made Freddy Krueger and the Bride of Chucky seem like role models. I wasn't risking the souls of my favorite people. Regardless of how they'd acted the past few hours.

“I know you must be mad about before,” Cole said. “I'm so sorry for what I said. I didn't me—”

“That's not it,” I cut him off. “There's just a lot going on right now. You guys should go home.”

“Not until we talk,” Cole said. “I don't know why I keep doing these stupid things. It was like this anger just filled me.”

“Cole, it's fine. I'm not mad. See?” I gave him a huge smile. “Now please, go home.” On a normal day, I would have traded all my allowance just for the chance to hang out with Cole and hear him say how much he actually cared about me without being under the influence of powers. But not today. Today, I was worried about his soul. “You too, Gabi. Leave.”

This time it was me sending her a look. One that said “I mean it, get lost, it's for your own good.” I knew she understood the message, but she ignored it.

“We're not leaving you here,” she said.

“Well, you should,” I said, “after everything I did to you, you should want me to suffer.”

Gabi put her hands on her hips. “You know me better than that. I'm always here for you—even when I'm mad. You need me now. I saw Reid walking around handing out gifts from his ‘magic' bag. I know what's going on. We can deal with the Marc and Lance issues later.”

She was a true-blue friend. I didn't deserve her. I couldn't put her in danger; I needed her to leave. Cole too. “It's not safe. You see the whacked-out stuff happening. Go home,” I told them.

“Not without you,” Cole said.

“I need to stay.”

“Then so do we,” Cole answered. Gabi nodded in agreement. Why did they have to be such good friends? I considered putting the hate spell back on them. But then they'd probably stick around just to spite me. “If it's really not safe, I'm not leaving you here.”

I could feel my eyes tear up. Partially because it was nice to have someone . . . two someones . . . who cared so much about me. And partially because it scared me to have them so close to my father when he was on his evil power trip.

“And who do we have here?” Lou asked, sneaking up on us. “Did you bring me two new souls?”

“No,” I said. “They don't want your wishes.” I stood in front of my friends, blocking them from my father. But Cole kept moving, trying to get me to stand behind him.

“Sure they do,” Lou said. “And I can use the pick-me-up after that Kristin mess.” He looked right at Gabi. “What's your wish?”

“I don't want to make one,” Gabi said. Her voice was wobbly. She recognized Lou. Even though he was a lot younger, he still had the same features.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Popularity, boyfriend, fame, all of the above.”

Gabi tugged at her braid. “Nothing.”

Lou winked at her. “Think about it. I'll get back to you. What about you?” he said to Cole. Cole had met my father before. But he never would have suspected that Lou was the teenager standing in front of him.

“Cole, don't. It's a trick,” I said.

Lou waved his hand, and I flew a few feet back. I stumbled and landed right on my butt. Fortunately that worked to my advantage because Cole ran to my side.

“Are you okay?” he asked, helping me out.

“No,” I screamed. Not because my rear end hurt, but because Lou was bugging Gabi again to make a wish and sign her name on the waiver.

“What are you?” I screamed at Lou. “A genie? That's how you use your powers? To grant wishes? Seems totally beneath you. I thought you controlled people. But now it seems like they're controlling you!”

Lou turned to face me.

Playing to his ego was actually working. “You're the devil. You don't need to waste your time here. At the stupid mall. You think that's what's going to impress Maggie? Relax. Take a vacation. I'm sure she'd like that better.”

“You're right,” he said.

Phew! He was buying what I said. While he took a break from
Sold Out
and relaxed in the sun, I could come up with a way to turn him back into his regular self.

“I
am
better than this,” Lou continued. “I've been thinking way too small today. I don't know why I've been limiting myself to the
mall
.” He sneered at the word. “It's time I took over the world!”

How come whenever I tried to make things better it had the opposite effect?

“Lou,” I said, in the most soothing tone I could muster. “You don't want to take over the world. Talk about stress. Doesn't relaxing on a beach sound better? A tropical breeze. Sun shining. A hammock. Right, Maggie?” I called out to her. She wasn't paying attention. She was leaning up against the wall fixing her lip gloss. “Tell him. It beats working. Or school.”

She glanced up from her compact mirror. “Huh?”

“Forget it,” I said. She was no help.

“Powers equal stress,” I told Lou. I could certainly vouch for that.

“You're wrong,” he answered. “It's a gift. Who wants peace and tranquility when you can have destruction and chaos?!” Lou twirled his hand and pointed toward the side door of the mall. “Brace yourselves!” He laughed.

Suddenly it got dark outside. I could hear the wind rustling through the trees. And then it got worse. Shopping bags, mailboxes, and branches all got swept up. They were flying through the air.

Lou had created a twister, and I had a feeling none of us inside the mall would be heading to Oz. We'd be goners. And everyone who signed over their souls would go straight to the underworld.

That couldn't happen. I felt like the police commissioner on one of those cop dramas. The one who wouldn't let anyone get killed in their city. And this mall, this devil, was my beat.

I headed for the door.

Cole joined me. “Where are you going?”

“Just stay back.”

“No,” he said. “You can't go out there. Not now. Look at it.”

“Trust me, Cole. I know what I'm doing.”

He grabbed me, holding me tight.

“Let go,” I cried.

“No, I'm not letting you out there.”

I turned so I was facing him. Our eyes connected. He looked so concerned. Over me. I kissed him lightly on the lips. Just in case I didn't survive the twister, I wanted us to have one awesome last moment. And then with a flick of my wrist, I sent him sailing backward, right into Gabi. “Sorry,” I whispered. But I was only doing what I had to do.

“Gabi!” I yelled. “Do
not
let him follow me.”

I exited the mall. I tried to stay as close to the building as possible, hoping the wind wouldn't pick me up and send me flying. But the tornado was heading straight for me. I was definitely not in Kansas. I was in Hades. Hades on Earth.

It was getting closer. I could feel wind whipping my face and branches and debris slapping at my body. A rock or something hit me in the cheek. I closed my eyes and put out my hands to protect myself from any other flying objects. “No,” I shouted, thrusting my arms straight in front of me.

And as I did, the wind simmered down.

I opened my eyes.

No way! My hands were keeping the tornado at bay. I guess it made sense. The twister was just like any other object I could control! I had been able to stop people and even a tidal wave in their tracks, so why not a twister?

I pushed it back a few feet farther from the mall. Then I focused on keeping it still.

I was doing it. But the bigger question was how long would I be able to hold out? My arms were already getting tired. And it had only been a few minutes. How was I supposed to do this forever? Eventually I'd need sleep. After a day or two I was bound to doze off. And getting woken by a tornado pulverizing me was not exactly a dream come true.

It was getting harder and harder to keep the twister at bay. I took a look around. Behind me was the mall. Across the street was a grocery store. On either side were rows of houses. Anywhere I sent the tornado, I'd hurt someone.

My muscles were giving out. I needed to rest. To put my arms down. Down! Of course! I could bury the tornado in the ground.

With every ounce of energy I could muster, I forced the twister lower. It fought back, but I refused to give up. “Come on, upper-body strength,” I whispered. So what if I had flunked the physical fitness test because I couldn't do a pull-up? I could still beat this force of nature. From pure will.

Mind over matter, I told myself. And it worked. Inch by inch the twister burrowed its way down. I could feel it pushing back against me, but I didn't let up. Not for a second. Not until the tornado was finally, completely gone.

I was completely spent. The energy was sucked out of me, but I still felt a slight rush fly through my body. I had done it! I stopped the twister from destroying the mall.

I totally deserved an A in gym class.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I went back in the mall. But I shouldn't have. Because my problems were far from over.

“You dare mess with me?” Lou's voice was low and hollow. It gave off an air of pure evil. I wasn't the only one who felt that way. A few in the crowd waiting for their wishes backed off. Not that they understood what had just happened. Just that they knew whatever it was wasn't good.

“Angel, get away from him,” Cole called out.

“I'm fine, Cole. He won't hurt me. We're actually related,” I admitted. “Just stay back.” The words seemed to reassure Cole a little, but they didn't reassure me at all. I didn't know what Lou would do.

“I was just trying to stop anyone from getting hurt,” I told Lou. “That's all.”

His nostrils were flared. “You're no match for my powers. You didn't like the tornado? How do you feel about this?” Lou snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, along with everyone else on that floor, I was hovering in the air, four feet off the ground. Then with a wave of his hand, Lou began spinning us like tops.