The Equinox (19 page)

Sound equipment, speakers, and a DJ booth
are being set up in the corner of the tent. It looks like they’re setting up a
dance floor below it too.

The entire scenes looks more like a
wedding reception than a sixteen-year-old birthday party, but I understand.
This party is a pretty big deal; something I didn’t understand at my own sixteenth
birthday party. I just couldn’t grasp why Rose wanted to fuss about it and
invite strangers—well, they were strangers to me.

The dozens of hard working event
planners, decorators and technical crew are bustling around frantically as
sweat drips down their pink faces.

The bay breeze doesn’t bring in too much
relief from the heat but there are large units scattered around the venue to
bring in some cool air. It’s a good thing that the party is tonight when the sun
isn’t beating down on everyone.

Johnny and I seem to have learned how to
work together in peace; in silence and avoiding eye contact. I watch him set up
the first table. There’s a delicacy in his movements that causes me to stifle a
giggle. His mouth contorts and eyes narrow in concentration. The frequent
shifts of his body as he tries to angle the signs just right tell me that simple
acts like this frustrate him.

“Let me do that,” I insist as I step
toward him.

He pulls back, without hesitation, but as
my hand brushes his in an attempt to grab the food tag, our skin meets briefly.
He pulls back as if I’ve shocked him and maybe I did.

“Sorry,” I mumble in embarrassment. I’m
not even sure why I’m apologizing. He has a knack for making me feel like I’ve
done something wrong.

“You can set up the trays while I place
the signs.”

He stands there just for a second before
agreeing with a shrug of his shoulders. “Sure.”

“Hey Johnny,” calls an approaching voice.
I turn to see who it is out of curiosity. It’s a young guy with red curly hair.
His shirt reads
Evening Star Events
.
“Mind giving us a hand with these balloons?” He asks. “We’re out of helium and
I saw your tank.” He gestures toward the helium tank in the back of our van.

“Sure, no problem man. We’re pretty much
done with our stuff anyway.”

I place the final sign on the table and
meet Johnny at the back of the van where he fumbles with the balloons. Without
asking if he wants or needs my help, I begin cutting strings and bunching the
balloons together to avoid them from tangling.

“That was nice of you to offer to help.”

Johnny shrugs. “We all help each other.”

Usually I wouldn’t consider this type of
gesture a big deal but it does help me see that Johnny isn’t
all
bad.

“Well,” I continue. “Are we done after
this? I have to get home and change.”

He nods without looking up. “Yeah, we can
go after this.”

Johnny doesn’t know that I’m using my
magic. I’m hidden behind dozens of silver and coral balloons, so he can’t see my
powers at work as they snip, tie, and bunch.

There’s no better feeling than when I’m
using my powers in some way. It’s a release, and actually quite addictive—so
addictive that I’ve been scared to do anything as grand as Fourth of July. Not
that anything has called for me to use my powers in that way.

At the time I had no idea that I was
capable of such magic. Rose and Charlotte didn’t know what I was capable of either,
and I never admitted this to anyone, not even myself because of all the
confusion, but it felt good to release that energy. I felt so—powerful.

And now here I am, setting up Trisha’s
party. She’ll soon be an Enchanter, just like me.

It seems like months have passed since my
own sixteenth birthday. I never wanted it to begin and I couldn’t wait until it
ended. I didn’t want to acknowledge what Rose was telling me. It didn’t feel
real yet I knew that I was changing. Once I finally came to grips with my
powers, the truth was still tough to consume—because I thought that if I
accepted it, my past would just disappear.

As the last bunch of balloons float to
the ceiling of the van I realize that I’m grinning from ear-to-ear. Johnny is
staring at me with a peculiar look in his eye, but I don’t care. I giggle at
the sight around me. Balloons fill the vans, on all sides and every inch of us.

I catch a smile beginning to form on
Johnny’s face too and a glimmer of hope sparks inside of me.

“There you are!” A voice from outside the
van tears my eyes from Johnny. I look out to see Trisha and her parents nearing
us.

I hop out of the van to greet them but
Johnny stays back to group the balloons together and deliver them to the event
team.

“Don’t tell me you have to work tonight
too!” Trisha looks visibly upset. Not a look I’m used to on her.

“No way,” I reassure her. “Roy just called
me and asked me to help Johnny setup since I can’t work tonight.”

Trisha makes a face. “That’s weird.
Johnny usually sets this stuff up on his own, but it looks great.” She smiles
brightly and looks around with wide eyes. “He should have you help him more
often.”

Her words catch me off guard but I try
not to react since Johnny is just inside the van.

“We wanted to stop by and see how the set
up was going.” Trisha’s mom beams at me. “Everyone is doing a wonderful job.”

“Oh I agree. It’s going to be a very
beautiful party, Mrs. Waters.” She’s a hip lady; just like her daughter. She
dresses like she still thinks she’s a teenager herself, but with her petite frame,
and young face, she pulls it off.

“Thank you, Katrina. I’m thrilled to see
that your grandmother and Charlotte will be joining us tonight as well. It’s
going to be such a fun celebration for my Trisha’s birthday.”

I tilt my head, a thought coming to mind.
“Is your actual birthday today?”

Trisha shakes her head. “No, it’s
tomorrow. My parents say I’m locked up tomorrow though.” She rolls her eyes but
the smile on her face tells me she’s not annoyed.

Trisha and her mom seem to have a close
bond. I watch in envy as Mrs. Waters wraps her arm around Trisha’s waist and
smiles. “We want to do a family day, that’s all sweetie. You’ll have the rest
of the summer to be with your friends.”

Trisha smirks at me. “See?”

Johnny and Mr. Waters approach us now. I
didn’t even realize that they were handling business near the van as we all
chatted.

Johnny speaks up first. “Mr. and Mrs.
Waters, I’ll be back with the food tonight, promptly at seven.”

“That is great. Thank you so much,
Johnny.”

Johnny flashes a smile that knocks the
wind out of me. I stare at his bright white teeth, perfect lips, and piercing
blue eyes. He is gorgeous when he smiles.

I peel my eyes from Johnny to watch Mr. and
Mrs. Waters walk around the tent to check on decorations and fiddle with things,
ever so slightly. Chairs move, fabric is re-draped, all behind Trisha’s back. I
try not to laugh. I’m sure Trisha’s parents have perfected using magic around their
daughter.

“My parents are acting so weird,” Trisha
whispers to me. I know Mrs. Waters can hear us if she chooses to so I am
careful with my words.

“How so?”

Trisha shrugs. “They’ve been babying me a
lot lately. A lot. They’re so freaked about that death on Summer Island. It’s
like they think I’m next or something.”

“Don’t say that,” I gasp. It was bad
enough losing a fellow Enchanter but losing a friend would be unbearable.

She shakes her head. “Well, that’s how
it’s been. They said they need to talk to me about something important in the
morning. I’m nervous. What in the world could be so secretive?”

Of course Trisha’s parents are acting
overprotective of her right now. It was the same caution that Rose had with me.
Because we are unaware of our powers before our Enchantment, we can’t control
what’s happening to us. The Equinox going around murdering people doesn’t help
either.

“So,” Trisha’s voice changes and I look
at her. Her face is apologetic and I think I know what she’s about to tell me.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Alec and Ava to come tonight. They came
into the Grille during my shift yesterday and I felt bad that I hadn’t invited
them yet.”

The sound of Alec and Ava’s names together
in the same sentence is like someone sharpening a pencil in my stomach. I
haven’t had much time to think about Alec’s betrayal, but it still hurts. I
really thought Alec and I were going to be something—special. We
were
something special, even if it was
just for a short period of time.

“It’s okay Trisha. They’re friends of
yours, of course you should invite them.” And I mean this. Just because I
wasn’t the chosen one doesn’t mean Trisha should let that affect her friendship
with them.

She smiles at me and pulls me in for a
hug. “You are such a good person, Kat. I’m so happy you moved here. It’s nice
having someone to talk to.”

I smile back, feeling the same warm
fuzzies about Trisha that I had when I first met her. After tomorrow Trisha and
I will have much more in common and we’ll be able to talk about the one thing
that I can’t really talk to anyone about.

“So how has Johnny been with you today?
Death glares? Biting remarks?”

I smile and shrug. “He hasn’t asked me
what my favorite color is yet but he’s been okay today. At least we can work
together. We just don’t speak.” I find this amusing and can’t help but giggle.

Trisha gasps and my face goes red.
Immediately, I know what she’s thinking. “Do you like him?” Her question buries
me in a wave of my own heat.

Where did that come from?

“I mean, he’s hot,” she smiles and widens
her eyes at me, as if expecting me to have the same reaction. When she realizes
I’m not giving in, she continues. “But it doesn’t seem like he’s interested in
dating anyone. Then again, I don’t know…” she taps her chin and pouts her lips.
“Complicated Johnny and mysterious Kat. That might just work out.”

I slap her in the arm lightly and laugh.
“I’m not mysterious.”

She shrugs. “Well yeah you are. You just moved
here, so no one knows you very well. You’re practically next in line for the
throne, and you’ve won the attention of the most popular boy in school—well,
never mind that last part, but we don’t even know where you came from.”