CHAPTER THREE

 

That Saturday, First Street was blocked off for the annual street party. It was the first chance Gabriel found to try cornering Tahlita and call her on her Valtan voodoo stuff. Gabriel spotted Brent and Piper. Even though Brent lived on Second Street, and Piper lived on Roosevelt Avenue, they hung in the same crowd so they always went to each other’s street parties.

Several long tables stretched down the road filled with hotdogs, burgers, chips, and freshly baked apple pie. Gabriel’s mouth watered. Brent sat chomping down on a burger, ketchup splattered across his face. Multi-colored balloons tethered to thick oak trees rustled in the breeze keeping time with the bouncing rhythm of the rock music. Banners at both ends of the street read, Road Closed.

Piper mingled with a few other kids dancing. Puffs of steam drifted around them from nearby barbeque pits manned by several of the dads, including Gabriel’s. His mind drifted to some of his Valtan friends. He definitely missed them already and thought about how cool it would be if they could come to this barbeque.

Gabriel’s mom waved him over and handed him a hotdog. “Here you go, bud.” She tilted her head and furrowed her brow when he didn’t snatch it right away. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “You okay, honey?”

Gabriel nodded and took the hotdog that his mom had plastered with ketchup just the way he liked. He gulped down a bite and mumbled, “Yep. I’m fine.”

Actually, he’d been trying to find Tahlita in the crowd—but he didn’t want to tell his mom that. It’s not that she wouldn’t understand if she found out who Tahlita really was—his mom had been in Valta herself. But she’d been through enough already. She had been turned into a freaking gruock for Pete’s sake. The last thing he needed to do was make her worry. No. Gabriel and his friends would figure this mess out themselves.

He ran a hand over his chest feeling for the necklace tucked under his shirt—the one that Empress Malina had given him when they left Valta. The emblem allowed for a one-time contact with the empress. He’d been holding out on using it because he and his friends thought they should reunite Tahlita and Dane first. Who knew if the portal could only be opened a few hours once they contacted her? They couldn’t risk it. They needed time to get Dane and Tahlita together. Then they could contact the empress about opening a portal to send them back home.

Gabriel realized there was a chance the other portal Tahlita had come through could still be open, but they didn’t know where that one was. And if Tahlita was faking her amnesia, she wasn’t coughing that info up. But now he had proof. Proof she was something other than human. She couldn’t deny that what she’d done in the cafeteria wasn’t normal for humans.

Just then, Gabriel spotted her. She was sitting in the shade under a big willow tree, reading a book. Gabriel’s eyes widened. His dog, Zigzag was spread out at Tahlita’s side while she stroked the boxer’s back. Who knew Tahlita liked dogs? He tried catching Brent and Piper’s attention for backup, but Brent was busy eating and talking with a bunch of boys, and Piper twirled around, dancing. Gabriel sighed. He’d have to try for a breakthrough on his own this time.

“Hey, Tahlita,” he said, trudging up beside her. He plunked down on the grass beside Zigzag while Tahlita ignored him. “You’re a traitor, Ziggy,” he whispered to his dog, nudging her with a smirk. Zigzag sighed and rolled over looking for a belly scratch. Gabriel laughed and complied. “Whatcha reading, Tahlita?” he asked.

Tahlita grumbled and closed the book. “I was reading a story about an annoying boy who won’t leave a girl alone.” She smirked. “It was getting to a really good part where the girl was about to whack him on the head, and then you interrupted.”

“And the boy’s name was Gabriel. Got it. You’re funny.” Gabriel tugged aimlessly at some grass between his legs. “Look … ” He kept his eyes locked on the ground. “I, um, wanted to say thanks for helping me and Brent out yesterday. That was cool of you and um—magical.” He swallowed and peeked at Tahlita from the corner of his eye.

“You’re welcome. Now will you leave me alone?”

He sat straight up and widened his eyes. “So you admit you’re the fruit bandit?”

Tahlita lifted an indifferent shoulder. “I guess so.”

Gabriel twisted around on the grass and faced her. “You guess so? Did you just say that? Because, you know people from Earth can’t, like, just make fruit dangle in the air and fling it around without touching it, right?”

Tahlita’s eyes grew stormy. “What is it with you? Look, I don’t know how I did that. I admit it was kind of strange. That hasn’t happened to me before, but I don’t want to talk about it. Don’t you get it?” Tahlita’s cheeks flushed red. “I don’t remember anything from my past. I don’t want to remember anything either. I told you, if my parents hate me so much that they dumped me in Harmony and left me for dead, then I don’t want to remember them!”

Gabriel thought he saw tears spring to Tahlita’s eyes. She genuinely looked sad. The last thing he wanted was to make the girl feel like that. Nobody wants to feel abandoned. Gabriel knew what that felt like because he had once thought the same thing about his own mother.

“Listen. I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “But your dad does want you. I promise he’s been looking for you.”

Tahlita stood and folded her arms across her chest. “My dad, huh? That guy Dane you mentioned from this other part of the universe you talk about? Valta?” She raised a disbelieving eyebrow and snickered. “Right. I guess that would make me an alien.” She stuck her face an inch in front of Gabriel’s. “Boo!”

Gabriel reached for his necklace, ready to pull it out and show her. His heart pounded. He wanted her to believe him so bad—needed her to. But before he could tug the Valtan emblem out, Tahlita snatched up her book and stormed off to the other side of the street to the safety of her home.

Gabriel sunk his hands in his jeans pockets as he watched her escape.

The city of Harmony …

If they couldn’t get any information out of Cedric or Tahlita, he and his friends would have to head into the city and start searching for Dane there. If that’s where Tahlita ended up, then maybe that’s where Dane was too.

Except, one of the biggest cities in the country was nothing like its name, ‘Harmony,’ implied. Harmony was anything but harmonious.

It was … dangerous.