“The view doesn’t get better,” a wry voice warned.
I looked at Black Hoodie, who had turned around to talk to me. “Excuse me?”
“You’re still living in the creepiest small town in Central Florida.” The kid pushed back the hood to reveal her face. I recognized her as Karise Carson, Tanglewood High School’s only real Goth girl. Her shorn blonde hair had grown out a little, and she’d switched her black lipstick for a softer, prettier pink gloss, but silver still glittered from her nose and eyebrow piercings. “Why are you resorting to public transport, Youngblood? Your brothers too cheap to drive you into town?”
“I’ve got a job for winter break at … ” I stopped talking to gape at her. “You know my name.”
“Sure, you’re Catlyn Youngblood.” She smothered a yawn. “Got some pics of you, too. You’re very photogenic. Real supermodel material.”
“I haven’t seen you since before Halloween, have I?” I knew I hadn’t, but I didn’t want to jump ahead of myself.
“Nope.” Her eyes gleamed. “I was too tied up to make the school dance. I also missed that nasty flu that went around the day after. You know, the real tricky one.”
I understood what Kari meant: my brother hadn’t erased her memories. “How did you manage not to catch that?”
“Easy.” She turned her head and bared her teeth at Mauve Cardigan, who was watching us, and whose mouth puckered with disapproval before she went back to her bootie knitting. “I pretended I already had it. Seek, my boyfriend”—she rolled her eyes over the last two words—“did the same as me, so he’s cool, too.”
“You haven’t told anyone that you didn’t get … sick?” As she shook her head, I relaxed a little. “I am so sorry about this, Kari.”
“Why? You didn’t do it.” She finally got up and came to sit beside me. “Seek and I wanted to let you know, but when you came back to school it was pretty obvious you’d gotten a really good dose. We were afraid if we told you, you’d go to your brother, and he’d come after us. Or the sheriff would, now that they’re such good buddies. And me and Seek, we’re … ” she hesitated, and then sighed. “Okay, I’ll admit it. We’re stupid crazy in love with each other; we have been since Halloween night. We couldn’t risk losing that.”
What Trick had done had frightened and angered me, but I’d never considered how it affected anyone but me and Jesse. Now Kari made me realize that he hadn’t simply erased the town’s memories, he’d stolen bits and pieces of their lives.
“Cat.” Kari waited until I looked at her. “I’ve got to get off at the next stop. Where are you working in town?” After I told her, she nodded. “Sometimes I hang out at Tony’s Garage, one block over. It’s where Seek works. Maybe we’ll run into each other again one night.”
“I hope so.”
“Until we do, stay healthy, Youngblood.” She reached up to pull the stop cord, and then gathered up her things and got off the bus. I watched her through the window as she walked down a dirt road toward an apartment building.
I felt a small surge of hope. If Kari and her boyfriend had avoided being brainwashed, maybe other people had, too. My brother might have a freakish, scary ability, but he wasn’t all-powerful. He couldn’t control everyone.
Mauve Cardigan, I noticed, was watching me again. I couldn’t manage a Kari-glare so I gave her a little smile.
She smiled back.
I got off the bus at the closest stop to the bookstore, at the little park in front of City Hall, about two blocks away. My watch said I had twenty minutes before I was supposed to start work, so I wasn’t going to be late. Finding out Kari remembered me had been a shock, one that still made me feel a little shaky, so I sat on one of the benches encircling the fountain to drink some water and calm down.
“Ms. Youngblood?”
I looked up at two small reflections of my face in Sheriff Yamah’s mirrored sunglasses. “Yes, sir?”
He studied me for a second. “You all right, young lady?”
“I’m fine.” No, I was horribly uncomfortable as I remembered how I’d made Gray think I had a crush on the sheriff. Say something before he arrests you for indecent teasing. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”
He nodded, and then looked around slowly before showing me my twin face reflections again. “Planning to do some holiday shopping?”
“Ah, no, sir. I’m starting my new job today.” And he would want to know where, of course. “I’ll be working at Mrs. Frost’s shop.”
His thick mustache twitched. “Martha Frost rents out her shop to some college test prep service so she can spend the holidays with her grandkids.”
“Yes, sir, she has. I’ll be taking inventory for her in the evenings.” I hoped I looked as innocently employed as I sounded. “I love books, so it should be a lot of fun.”
“Is that right.” He shook his head, and for a split second I thought he was going to slap the cuffs on me and call Trick. “Not much of a reader myself. I expect it’s because I’ve got to deal with too much conflict in real life.”
“My brothers are the same. About reading books, I mean,” I tacked on quickly. “Although I got my oldest brother to read Nathaniel Philbrick. He writes history books, mostly about famous ships, but he’s not boring at all.”
“I’ll mention him to the wife, next time she goes to the library.” He touched the brim of his hat. “Good luck with the new job, Ms. Youngblood.”
“Thank you, Sheriff.” I didn’t let out the breath I was holding until he walked down the block. “After this it should be a piece of cake.”
My nerves weren’t going away anytime soon, so I got up and went to the corner to cross the street. Most of the antique stores that shared the same block with Mrs. Frost’s shop were open, and seemed to be doing good business, thanks to all the browsing tourists. Some were shopping with kids I recognized from school, and must have been grandparents or relatives who came to Lost Lake to visit for the holidays.
I saw a CLOSED sign hanging in the front door of Nibbles and Books, and the door was locked, but Mrs. Frost was sitting at one of the café tables and came to let me in.
“You’re right on time, Catlyn,” she said, smiling as she closed the door behind me. “I was just putting together the inventory sheets for you.” She took my arm in hers and started walking toward the back of the shop. “First, let me show you where you’ll be—”
“Sunny? ”
The shriek made us both turn around to see a wild-eyed woman standing in the doorway.
Mrs. Frost hurried over to her. “Nancy, I didn’t know you were working at your shop today.”
“I thought that … I thought … ” Nancy’s face crumpled, and her eyes filled with tears. “I was so sure when I saw … ”
“That’s completely understandable, my dear,” Mrs. Frost said gently. “Let me introduce you to Catlyn, my new employee. She’ll be looking after the inventory while I’m visiting my children.” She glanced at me. “Catlyn, this is Nancy Johnson. She and her husband own the shop across the street.”
She must be the mother of the missing girl, I thought. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Johnson.”
“Why don’t you sit down, Nancy?” Mrs. Frost suggested. “I’ll make a cup of tea for you.”
“No, Martha, I’m not … I’m sorry I barged in.” She gave me another long look before she left the shop as quickly as she’d come in.
Mrs. Frost went to close the door and stood there watching Mrs. Johnson until she disappeared into the shop across the street. “Poor thing. She’s beside herself with worry, not that anyone could blame her.”
“Has there been any news about her daughter, or what might have happened to her?” I asked.
“None, I’m afraid. Her daughter has run away from home before, but never for so long.” Mrs. Frost eyed me. “Do you know Sunny?”
“No, ma’am. We’ve never met.”
“She’s a sweet girl. A little headstrong and thoughtless at times, but she has a good heart.” Mrs. Frost made a face. “Nancy is having a very difficult time coping, obviously, especially with her husband out searching for the child all hours of the day and night.”
I nodded. “I hope she comes home soon.”
“As do I, my dear. While I’m gone if you happen to see Nancy”—she seemed almost afraid to finish the statement—“behaving oddly in some way, you should call the sheriff and let him know. His number is on the list by the wall phone in the corner there.” She gestured toward it. “Jim will look after her.”
“Of course, I will.” Hoping I wouldn’t have to, I glanced through the window at the Johnsons’ shop. None of the lights were on, and their CLOSED sign was still gently swaying in the door.
Mrs. Frost led me to her office in the back, where some of the clutter had been tidied up, and most of the papers removed from the top of her desk. “I’ve tidied up in here so you’ll have some workspace. I’d like you to work Monday through Friday, but if you have some family functions you can certainly work a shift over the weekend. I don’t expect you to work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.”
She went on to explain the simple process I was to use for taking inventory, which involved noting the shelf counts on tally sheets and then inputting the numbers into an accounting program. Mrs. Frost had me practice on one shelf, and nodded as she checked my tally. “Excellent. Once you’ve finished inventorying the store stock, you can begin cataloging the new stock in the back store room.”
That was where we went next, and found stacks of large plastic bins filled with books.