Chapter 13
Jasmine had been looking forward to Twins Day ever since Eddy agreed to dress like her. She had made a t-shirt for him with the words “Hands off! She’s mine.” On the bottom of the shirt was a handprint. She made herself an identical one that said, “Hands off! He’s mine.” Strutting down the hall to her locker, she was excited to show Eddy what she had made. As she got near, though, an awful, putrid smell met her.
Her eyes watered. She reached for her locker, gagging. Trying to hold her breath. The stench was unbearable. Lifting the handle, she swung open the locker door. Thousands and thousands of worms spilled from her locker. They were not the formaldehyde kind of worms she had dissected yesterday. These were worms that ate dead things and pooped dirt. They were covered in slime, knotting themselves together. Clumps fell to the ground, covering Jasmine’s feet. The earthworms twisted and rolled around in a tangle of slime.
Giving a friendly wave from down the long hall, Hannah shouted, “Hey, Jasmine!”
Jasmine was too horrified to comprehend who was talking to her.
***
“Jasmine, Jasmine. It’s Hannah and Mia.”
Jasmine opened her eyes a little. She could see Mia and Hannah standing over her, holding her hand.
“You blacked out,” said Mia. “Someone played a terrible practical joke on you.”
Jasmine remembered. She winced at the thought of all those worms and that smell.
“Did you happen to grab the other t-shirt? It looks like this one except—”
Mia and Hannah shook their heads.
“Sorry,” Mia said. “Didn’t see it. We just had the school nurse come get you right away when you blacked out. You had to be carried away on a stretcher. You’re in the nurse’s office now.”
“We actually want to talk to you about something right away,” Hannah said. “I know this is super bad timing . . . but it’s really important.”
Jasmine was playing with the earring Eddy gave her as she lay in the nurse’s office. The nurse was out for the moment making a phone call.
Mia was uneasy. “Now, I want you to have an open mind.” She shifted in her chair. She wanted so badly to make Jasmine see what she saw in Eddy: a liar, a thief, and a jerk. “Hannah and I have been doing a lot of thinking about all of the strange things happening to you lately. We found one thing all of these events have in common.”
“Really?”
“Eddy.” Hannah started to talk faster because she could tell Jasmine didn’t want to hear it. “He was around for every single event. He may not have been right there, but he was near. What if he is the one causing all of the hauntings?”
Jasmine cut her off. “That’s ridiculous! There were so many times when he was there to help and comfort me. He’s been nothing but amazing to me. He cares too much about me to do any of these things to me.” Jasmine was now sitting up.
“Even the earring looks like the one missing from the body we found in the bog,” Mia tried to explain.
“Oh that’s just great! What did he do? Go and find the dead body and steal it from her? No way! You’re crazy! Crazy jealous! You can’t handle me being happy without you—”
Eddy rushed into the nurse’s office just then. “Jasmine! Are you okay?” He gave her a big kiss. Then he turned to Mia and Hannah. “I can’t believe you have the guts to come in here and stand next to Jasmine after what you did! Putting all those worms in her locker! You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“No wonder you were blaming Eddy for all of the stuff that has been happening to me,” said Jasmine. “It was you two all along!” Jasmine’s anger turned to hurt. “Why would you do that? I thought we were friends. You know I’m terrified of that kind of stuff.”
“We didn’t do anything!” Hannah pleaded. “He is lying, Jasmine! We’d never do something like that.”
“Yeah right! I saw you putting something in her locker.” Eddy pointed while he shouted. “You’re still mad about the Spirit Week mix-up, aren’t you? Well, Jasmine had nothing to do with it.” Eddy just kept on ranting so that Mia and Hannah couldn’t talk over him. “You need to leave! Now! Get out of here!”
Mia and Hannah saw the principal coming toward the nurse’s office. They left before things got even more out of hand.
They went back to the worm-filled locker. The custodians had taken care of most of the mess. It no longer smelled like something rotting. Now it just smelled like the pink barf powder they must have used to clean up all the slime. Hannah and Mia sat down at the end of the hallway.
“What was that all about?” asked Mia.
“I don’t know, but Eddy is evil. He’s lying to us. He’s lying to Jasmine. All of these things that keep happening to Jasmine, they all have to do with Eddy. I know he has something to do with them!”
“I think so too, but what?” asked Mia.
“I have no idea. I think we should keep a close eye on him,” replied Hannah.
“You’re going to have to do better than that, ladies,” Eddy was standing just around the corner from them. He crouched down and whispered, “Jasmine is mine. Soon you will never be able to change that. So keep your little eyes on me now, but soon we will be together forever.” He turned and spoke directly to Hannah, “By the way, I think you have a little something of mine.” He reached into the front pocket of her backpack and pulled out the pocket watch she found at the bog. Then he stood up and walked away.
Mia finished her sentence: “The jeweler’s son.”
“But how could that be? He’d be over two hundred years old.”
“I don’t know, but I think I know where to look for our answer.” Mia had been carrying The Atlas of Cursed Places ever since that evening at the bog. She scanned the section about the Big Bog. “Read this,” she said.
At dawn and twilight the Gateway shall open. The dead can pass through from the underworld to the living. But the dead can never again belong to the land of the living. They may only visit from sunup to sundown. If a soul outstays his welcome, and the sun sets completely, he shall die a soul’s death and no more of him will remain.
“So Eddy’s . . .” Mia said.
This time Hannah finished her sentence: “Eddy’s dead-y.”
They both shuddered at the thought.