“What do you mean, Deeg?” Zach tightened his arms around Deegie’s waist and frowned. “How could that have been your fault? You’re not full of envy … are you?”
Deegie couldn’t meet his eyes. Her throat tightened, and she swallowed hard against the discomfort. “I met Belinda today,” she said. “She’s gorgeous. I felt ... pretty envious.”
“Aw, Deeg!” Zach raised his eyes to the ceiling and let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Can we just stop with the whole Belinda thing? Please?”
“What Belinda thing?” Gilbert wanted to know. “What’s going on with her?”
“That’s just it: nothing is going on with Belinda!” Zach gave Deegie a reproachful look. “But Deegie seems to think there is.”
“I couldn’t help it,” Deegie said lamely. “I just … I just wanted to know what she looks like, that’s all.” She looked from Zach to Gilbert and back again. “It’s a woman thing. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Damn, that must have been one gigantic feeling of envy!” Gilbert chuckled as he said this and pretended to cringe.
“It was!” Deegie snapped, leveling him with an ice-blue glare.
“I wonder if the envy-creature got so strong because Deegie’s a witch,” Zach mused. “Maybe her energy’s stronger or something? Hell, I don’t know.” He pulled Deegie closer to his chest and buried his fingers in her springy hair. “See what can happen when you get bullshit ideas in your head?” Zach scolded her lightly, his eyes twinkling. “Ya gotta stop that way of thinking, okay?”
Deegie nodded. “I’ll try,” she said. She remembered something Flower had said in the shop the other day and added, “We still have wrath, lust, and pride to go. And if these things are getting stronger, then I’d hate to see wrath.”
Zach snickered and whispered in her ear, “But I bet lust would be fun. Want me to stay the night and we’ll see if it shows up?”
“Stop,” she said, trying to halt the grin that was threatening to make an appearance. “I’m trying to be serious, here.”
Upon his own insistence, Zach did end up spending the night with Deegie. When their own particular lust showed up, it was gentle, and sweet, and left them both exhausted and rumpled. Sleep, however, was a no-show for Deegie. She lay with her head in the crook of Zach’s arm and stared into the darkness of her bedroom with wide-awake eyes.
It’s my fault, she reminded herself. My fault that Envy grew too powerful to catch it in a jar like a firefly. Because I’m insecure. Because I’m stupid too, I suppose. Every man I’ve ever loved gets taken away from me. I’ve earned the right to be a little weird about relationships … haven’t I? Oh, and what about Gilbert? What am I going to do about Zach’s lovesick baby brother making woo-woo eyes at me every time I turn around?
On and on she argued with herself while Zach snored beside her, oblivious to her discomfort. Finally, when it became apparent that sleep was lost to her, Deegie crept out of bed and went downstairs to wait for morning with Lisbet and the cats.
Risking her mother’s wrath, Tamara showed up at The Silent Cat that afternoon after school let out. She claimed her visit was simply to check up on the kittens, but Deegie had a feeling that what the girl really wanted was a friend.
Tamara was horrified when Deegie told her what had taken place in her home last night. She apologized profusely when she saw the puffy red scratches on Deegie’s leg, and came close to tears when she heard of Deegie’s tumble down the stairs. “Oh my gawd I’m like, so, so, sorry! This is all my fault, too! Now I’m an even bigger sinner because you got hurt!”
“Not this time, kiddo,” Deegie said. “This last one was totally my fault.”
“What? How? You didn’t do anything!”
“I’m afraid I did. See, we figured out that these ghost things are more like …” Deegie searched for a word that Tamara would understand, “… like baby poltergeists, I guess you could say. They get stronger when they’re around a person who’s committing the sin they correspond with. These things aren’t just amusing little ghosts after all. They can be dangerous. We still have three more of them to track down, but I have some friends helping me now. We’ll get them.”
Tamara hugged her purse to her chest and nodded. “Okay. I’ll be careful. Did it … feed on your energy? You were the envious one?”
“Yeah. It was me. Guilty as charged.” Deegie looked down at the pen she was twirling in her fingers. Screw it. I’ll tell her the rest, she thought.
“I thought my boyfriend was messing around on me with the chick who has the junk shop across the street,” Deegie admitted. “It turns out he’s not, but when I got a good look at her and saw she was pretty, I just … you know … got really envious. That thing latched right on to me.”
“Oh my gawd, are you serious?” Tamara’s mouth dropped open so wide, Deegie could see the wad of pink bubblegum resting on her molars.
“Yep. I’m afraid I am,” said Deegie. “That thing went from ghost to ghoul in five seconds flat thanks to me.”
“No, no, I mean—you think Zach is cheating on you? Dude, that sucks!”
Deegie laughed, a long, loud laugh that echoed through The Silent Cat and woke up Bast. No one had ever called her “dude” before, and the intense, dramatic way Tamara had spoken the word was hilarious. Apparently she found Deegie’s personal life far more fascinating than hearing about a rampaging poltergeist. “No,” she said. “Zach’s not cheating on me.”
“His last girlfriend thought he was cheating too.”
“Really?” The smile died on Deegie’s lips. “How do you know that?”
“She was my mom’s sister’s friend.” Tamara counted each person off on her fingers, as if she making sure of the line-up of characters. “She was like, so, so gross! I think she drank a lot too, so she was probably wrong about Zach. Drunks get confused a lot.”
“I suppose they do, yeah.”
“Zach came to fix our heater once. He was super nice, but my mom doesn’t like him because he has red hair. She actually thinks that red-headed people have no souls! Can you believe that? That’s like, the biggest b.s. old wives’ tale urban legend ever!”
A half-smile returned to Deegie’s face. She’d never been much for idle gossip, but Tamara was amusing. “I guess some people still believe that nonsense,” she said. “Zach has a soul, trust me.”
“He totally does!” Tamara gave an energetic nod to her head. “Plus, he’s a total hottie.”
Deegie chuckled. “That part’s true too,” she said.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Bast wandered up to Tamara, and she bent over to pet him. “Zach doesn’t seem like the cheating type.”
Deegie digested this nugget of teenage wisdom without comment.
“Wanna know something else?” Tamara moved closer to the counter and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
Bemused, Deegie leaned across the counter and widened her eyes to appear more excited. Gossiping aside, this was kind of fun. “Yeah!” she said. “Tell me something else!”
“That Belinda chick? Fake boobs. I spotted that right away.” Tamara cupped her hands in front of her chest and made wiggling motions. “One’s higher than the other, and they’re waaay too round.”
“Really?” Deegie laughed anew. Bast paused in mid-paw lick and glared at her.
“Oh yeah. Fake nails and hair, too. That long, wavy hair she’s got? Extensions. Up close it looks like doll hair, and you can totally see the clips.”
Deegie sputtered laughter into her cupped hands. “You’re cracking me up,” she said.
Tamara looked delighted. “I should go before my mom starts calling. Hey, you wanna come to my softball game at the school tonight? I’m on the team. I kinda hate it, but it gets me out of the house a couple nights a week. My mom never goes, so that’s a bonus, too.”
Deegie hesitated. She hated sports, but she was starting to warm to this strange young woman. Besides, Zach might enjoy watching a softball game. “Sure,” she said. “I’ll be there.”
***
The bleachers had splintery wooden seats, and the steps were sticky from decades of spilled soda. Deegie sat on the top tier next to Zach, pressed close to his side and fully engrossed in Tamara’s baseball game. The evening air was laced with chill, effectively fended off by an ancient wool blanket the two of them shared. Zach seemed to be enjoying their evening at the softball game as well, but whenever she looked over at him he appeared more interested in her than what was happening on the playing field.
“I’m pretty proud of you, babe,” Zach said between innings. He brushed Deegie’s unruly curls off her forehead and chucked her under the chin.
“For what?”
“For giving this girl a second chance and showing her a little friendship. Very noble of you. Shows you have a good heart.”
“Oh. Yeah, I have a heart in here somewhere.” Deegie tapped her chest with a forefinger. “It was thumping around this morning, anyway.” Compliments and recognition always embarrassed Deegie. “Let’s go down to the concession stand,” she said, changing the subject and standing. “I can smell hot dogs and mustard, and it’s driving me crazy.”
Deegie spotted Belinda in the crowd as they stood in line at the concession stand. Shit, she thought. Don’t look over here, please don’t look over here, please don’t—
“Hellooo, you twooo!”
Belinda caught sight of them before Deegie could even consider casting a sly Don’t Look at Me Spell. She sauntered over to them, wearing jeans that looked vacuum-sealed to her body and a sweater that looked two sizes too small. She smiled extravagantly with her overly glossed lips and tossed her hair. “Look at you two lovebirds! Enjoying the game?”
“Sure, Belinda.” Zach slid his arm around Deegie and massaged her shoulder. “We were just about to get something to eat. Deegie and I worked up quite an appetite last night.”
“Zach!” Deegie swatted him hard on the arm. “That’s classified information!” She felt a hot flush spread over her cheeks. It was so unlike Zach to say something like that. “Sorry, Belinda. He’s a little frisky right now. Must be all this fresh air.”
Belinda chuckled throatily, as if she knew exactly what Deegie was talking about. “Better keep him in line, then,” she said. “Talk to you soon. Come by the shop sometime. We’ll have coffee.” She waggled her red-nailed fingers at them. “Ta-ta for now.”
Deegie gave a surreptitious glance to the front of Belinda’s low-cut sweater before she turned away, and she almost choked trying to hold back giggles. Tamara had been correct; those were definitely some fake boobs. Belinda walked off, swaying her hips and gazing around at her surroundings like a queen amongst the commoners.
She’s still beautiful, though, Deegie thought as she watched her walk away.
“Hey you.” Zach took Deegie’s chin in his hand and turned her face back to him. “Cut it out. No more envy, okay? I don’t think I’m ready to clean up another pile of guts and severed limbs just yet.”
“I wasn’t!” Deegie insisted. “I was just—”
“Yes you were.” Zack kissed both her cheeks and the end of her nose. “Look, it’s our turn now. How many hot dogs do you want?”
Deegie scanned the wooden menu hanging over the counter and tried to remember if she’d eaten lunch. “Ummm … two? And look! They have caramel corn! A box of that, too. And a cherry coke.”
Zach pulled a wry face. “Sounds like an all-night heartburn fest, but I’ll have the same.”
They returned to their lofty perch on the bleachers’ top tier and feasted. Deegie tore open the box of caramel corn and plucked out the fluffy, brown-glazed kernels one by one. “I love this stuff,” she told Zach. “Too bad the prizes inside are so lame now. They used to have cool ones back in the day.”
Zach stared at her box of caramel corn with the oddest expression on his face before he reached in and helped himself to a handful. “There are still some cool prizes,” he said with a mysterious wink. “You just have to get the right box.”
“So it’s a one in a million kind of thing? Is that what you’re saying, Altman?” She yanked the box away from him with a mischievous grin.
“Yeah,” Zach said, gazing at her with the soft, melting expression of someone completely overwhelmed with love. “It’s a one in a million kind of thing.”
“Barf,” said Deegie. “Don’t get cheesy on me.”
It was a tight game. The massive amount of teenage energy that wafted like a bubblegum-scented breeze through Fiddlehead Creek High’s softball field made it even more suspenseful. Tamara’s team won by two runs, and Tamara waved wildly to Zach and Deegie when she spotted them coming down from the bleachers. She sped towards them, her cleats kicking up spring dust, and threw her arms around Deegie. “We won!” she screeched. “We frikkin’ won! You brought us luck, I just know you did!”
Deegie hugged back, delighted by Tamara’s joy. “Nah, it wasn’t me,” she said. “That was just good old-fashioned talent and hard work.”
“I think you helped,” Tamara said, out of earshot of Zach. “Thanks so much for coming.” Then she whirled away and raced back to her teammates, shouting out the high school chant: “You just can’t hide that Fiddlehead pride! You just can’t hide that Fiddlehead Pride!”
Zach chuckled softly as he watched her run off. “I graduated from this high school fifteen years ago,” he said, “and they still use that lame-ass chant.”
A sudden chill touched the back of Deegie’s neck, as if a fleshless finger was prodding her there. Her senses went on high alert, but after scrutinizing her surroundings, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. I’m getting paranoid, she told herself. Damn ghosts.
***
The last car left the Fiddlehead High parking lot, trailing the excited whoops of the victorious behind it like a joyous exhaust. Night dug its heels in. The temperature dropped another few degrees. Soon the puddles of melted snow would re-freeze, only to thaw again in the morning. A breeze meandered through the campus, pushing a polystyrene coffee cup ahead of it. A paper sign taped to a bulletin board—Academic Pride Week!—tore loose and floated to the ground.
Had anyone still been at the softball field, they would have noticed the wisps of fog seeping from one of the dugouts. It coalesced into a milky sphere that circled around the playing field, as though it were running the bases. A voice, as light as the breeze and just as chilly, whispered across the deserted ball field: Pride? Pride? You can’t hide … that pride …