Page 79

He thought for a few moments. “I never heard anything until you moved in, never saw any sparkles or puffy hearts,” he finally answered. “Then I met you and music started coming out of the pipes, which is ironic since my job is all about water. I moved away and it faded, then you came here and we kissed, so it started up again. There’s no logical conclusion, but this could make sense. Not ‘sense,’ but—”

“I get it,” I agreed. I wanted to ask if he was sorry that we were being manipulated that way, pushed into something that maybe he didn’t even want. I kept that question to myself, though, because I was afraid to hear the answer.

“We should go ask her and find out the truth.”

I looked up at him, not understanding. “What? Ask who, exactly? Vera?”

“No, we should go ask Mrs. McGlothen. Of course, if she isn’t involved in this, she might call the police,” he mused.

“And if she is a witch?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that be a little dangerous?”

“You can’t really believe that,” he scoffed.

“You’re the one who just said it!” I reminded him. “And you’re also the one seeing hearts bubbling out of your toilet! At this point, I’m not doubting anything. I don’t want to go back to the building, either, except all my furniture is getting delivered today.” I checked my phone. “Holy Moses, really soon. I have to go.”

“I have a call starting,” Oliver said, getting up. “I’ll meet you over there later.” But then he smiled and reached to pull me to my feet. “Let’s see if we can get the volume even louder.”

I wasn’t sure if he had realized this, but our kissing was my first experience with this kind of thing—both with romantic stuff and with sex, which didn’t have to be romantic at all. I had watched (and heard) my mom get involved with plenty of people over the years and there hadn’t been any hint of a relationship between them, no one besides Daisuke and Maël-Michael.

“Your body is only a vessel of your spirit,” she’d explained to me. “I don’t hesitate to mesh physically with others and to imbibe earthly pleasures. You should have fun with your vessel, Hekate.”

I hadn’t, not with anybody besides myself. First, there was the whole thing about people feeling like I was a fungus that they wanted to be rid of. But looking back, I could see that I was rebelling against my mother, too. I didn’t want to have fun with my vessel where other people could hear and then everyone would talk about it. I wanted to imbibe earthly pleasures but I also wanted someone to love me. I wanted to love him back, not in the desperate, sad way that my mom had felt for Daisuke but something like Gramps and his wife had. Every time he talked about her, he smiled. She had made him happy and I bet that he had done that for her, too.

I wanted to make someone smile like that. I wanted something for always.

When the car dropped me back at the Milaflores Building, I ran through the lobby like a shot. I had no desire to see Vera, Mrs. McGlothen, or anyone else in this building. Oliver had been right and I should have moved out! Now I’d have all this furniture to drag with me and where would I go? Despite the crap that had happened here, I really did love my apartment and I had made friends. Maybe I could get used to having a witch as a building manager, if I was careful not to cross…

My phone was vibrating with a call from an unknown number as I ran up the stairs and went into my apartment, but I always answered those. There was someone who did call like this, someone who wasn’t actually unknown to me.

“Hekate! I mean, Kat,” my mom said when I picked up.

“Hello.”

“Oh, I’m getting terrible vibrations,” she said. I could hear some of her bracelets clink as she moved her arms around her head.

I knew what she meant, but didn’t take that bait. “It could be that your new phone is bad,” I suggested.

“No, I can feel that you’re still angry at me.”

“Yes, I am,” I said, and I also heard that emotion in my voice. “You left me in La Grieta!”

“But it was so long ago and I came back,” she said. “I realized that I was doing the wrong thing, so I turned around and went to get you.”

“In the meantime, I could have died in an earthquake!”

There was silence and I heard her bracelets clinking quietly. “I know,” she said, her voice also quiet. “I’m sorry, Kat. I’ve always been sorry and I was never going to tell you. I didn’t ever want you to know what a mistake I had made. I love you very much.”

I knew that she did. “I’m finding out now so it feels like it just happened. You’ve had time to get used to it but I haven’t. I love you, too, but I need more space.”

“Ok.” I heard her sigh. “I wanted to let you know where I am.”

“I thought you were going to the Hamptons. Aren’t you on Long Island?”

“No,” she said. She suddenly sounded happier. “I’m on my way to California! Daisuke is up for parole next week and he thinks he’ll get it this time.”

“Oh. Oh, Mom…”

“He’s my soulmate, Hekate,” she said seriously. “We’re going to give it another try.”