Luminosity (Gravity Series #3) (The Gravity Series) Read online

  Claire hit the brakes, screaming, but there was no traction. She spun the wheel uselessly and the car twirled on the icy road, tires squealing, heading right for the trees with no sign of slowing down. The car crashed head on into the hard black trunks, the glass in the windshield spiderwebbing. The last thing I remembered was bouncing my head off of the dashboard before everything went black.

  CHAPTER 27

  THE SNOW DIDN’T stop just because we’d been in an accident. In fact, it started to fall more heavily. I felt like I was awake the whole time, but later I would realize I’d lost moments, like scenes cut out of an old reel of film. My legs were freezing in my tights, and I just stood on the side of the road, feeling shell-shocked.

  “Did we hit it? Did we hit it?” Claire kept yelling. Her phone was up to her ear and she was plugging her other one. Her entire body shook like a leaf about to fall from a tree. She kept pacing in the road, watching for cars. Watching for cops. She was acting totally sober now.

  I stalked onto the street. “I don’t see a body,” I said in a shaky voice. I almost slipped and stood still, my eyes following the tire tracks to the tree.

  My nose felt numb and stung at the same time. I rubbed it, thinking maybe I’d broken it. Again. I looked at it in the remains of one of the rearview mirrors that had broken off and skidded to the ground. There was no bruise, so I figured it was just the biting cold.

  The entire front end of Claire’s car was smashed. I was surprised we’d walked away unharmed—that we’d walked away at all. The place where my legs had been was pushed precipitously forward.

  “Are the police coming?” I asked Claire, who was still pacing like she was having a nervous breakdown.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, no.” Her eyes were flitting all over the stark road.

  Suddenly, it seemed as though another scene was cut out of my memory, and Hugh’s Mazda was parked in front of me. Hugh ejected out of the car in a fury. He ran right up to Claire.

  “How could you drive drunk with our daughter in the car?” Hugh growled through gritted teeth. “Aren’t you capable of thinking about anyone but yourself now?”

  “It wasn’t my fault!” Claire yelled back. “I didn’t have that much to drink.”

  “Don’t give me that. Your reflexes would have been fine. You know you can’t combine the alcohol with your—”

  Claire cut him off. “I’m fine.”

  I sat on the hood of Hugh’s Mazda. I couldn’t get warm. I kept wishing for Henry to come and wrap me in his arms. Then I’d think about the mess we’d made.

  “I would have had the same accident even without a drop of alcohol. A deer ran out in the road.”

  “It wasn’t a deer, it was a dog,” I corrected instantly. “A dark one, hard to see.”

  “No, Ariel, it was a deer,” Claire protested. “Brown, with white spots on the back. I saw it clearly.”

  “I don’t care if it was a goddamn bear! The point is you shouldn’t have tried to drive home while you were plastered,” Hugh said. He came over to me, pulling a flannel blanket out of his backseat and wrapping it around my shivering shoulders. “Ariel is coming home with me. You are obviously too wrapped up in your personal life to give her the structure she needs.”

  “Oh, and you can?” Claire challenged, getting in his face.

  I touched Hugh on the arm. “She didn’t get into Thornhill.”

  But Claire didn’t back down.

  “Fine, take her! She’s just a disappointment anyway,” Claire yelled. “I’m sure she’s half the reason they didn’t want me. She just mopes around and has her head in the clouds. So much potential and no action.” She started walking down the road to where a taxi had pulled up.

  Her words stung into me deeply, cutting me down to the bone. She’d never been quite so frank about her hateful feelings. I’d always known that while she loved me, I didn’t match up to her expectations. But I didn’t know how deep it went.

  Hugh helped me to the back seat, opening the door. “Are you sure you’re okay, hon? We can get to the ER really quickly.”

  “I’m fine,” I said through chattering teeth. “It’s just been a very long night. I need to lie down.”

  I sprawled across the back seat, smelling the leather, the seatbelt buckle cutting into my back. I couldn’t drop off into sleep, though. My nerves were completely frazzled. I kept seeing the trees coming towards the windshield. The deep boom of the crash echoed in my ears.

  “She didn’t mean it, Ariel,” Hugh insisted. “She’s just mad at me and bitter that Thornhill didn’t take her in. It has nothing, nothing at all to do with you. To be honest, I knew they wouldn’t. I told you they were using her.”

  But of course I knew she meant it. I could tell by the look on her face, and she’d shown me those same feelings through her actions the past months that I’d lived with her.

  At Hugh’s apartment, I threw myself down on the tiny bed. I wanted to cry desperately, but I was just too tired. Every joint and muscle ached.

  Jenna appeared in the room, looking around. “This is so small. Barely enough space for me, you and your depressing thoughts.”

  “Shut up,” I groaned, putting my arm over my eyes. The trees behind my lids had been replaced by the dog, running out into the road. It hadn’t been a deer, I was sure of it.

  All I wanted to do was text Henry, but I was too scared. What if his father was spying on his phone? What if Henry told me we were through? I felt like I’d lost more this night than I could comprehend.

  “You’re not going to crash on me, are you?” Jenna asked. She sounded like she was far off in another room instead of beside me.

  “I’ll try not to crash,” I murmured. But I had no choice. The fatigue swept up and took me.

  ###

  There was no going back. Hugh formally moved me into the apartment the next day.

  “I know I never consulted you for your opinion,” he said as we were driving towards the house to get my things. “I want to make sure this is okay with you. I just feel like this is the best option.”

  “I don’t want to go back to living at the house,” I said firmly. “I’m just a disappointment to her. She said it herself before the accident. She also put a lock on my basement door a few months back. She doesn’t trust me.”

  “Ariel, honestly, she was just upset. She was extremely irresponsible to drive in that condition, but I’m sure she never meant to harm you.”

  “It’s not just what she said last night. It’s the way she’s treated me since she started courting Thornhill, like a problem that needs to be fixed. I swear, those meetings have changed her. I remember a mom who loved me.” My throat began to close up, my eyes stinging. “When I told her about…”

  I stopped myself short. I had already admitted my secret to Claire, who had apparently not told Hugh. I wasn’t going to admit it to him and risk him freaking out.

  “About what?”

  “About my grades,” I lied. “She thinks a B isn’t enough in math.”

  Claire wasn’t home, and even though she knew we were coming over, she didn’t leave a note or any sign that she cared. Not that I really expected to see one, but a small, childish part of me hoped my mother wouldn’t abandon me so easily. I packed quickly; I didn’t bring that much with me, not wanting to have to unpack a whole bunch of stuff. If it was a permanent move, we could take care of it later, when I wasn’t so emotional. My heart wanted to ache but I wouldn’t let it.

  After that, I didn’t go back to the house. I was too suspicious of Claire now. She had been hiding a great deal from me and it had put me in danger.

  Part of me even wondered if she had crashed the car on purpose.

  “I know you hate sugarcoating. So, I’m going to tell you this straight. Your mother is part of Thornhill now,” I told Jenna the next chance that I got to speak to her alone.

  Jenna sat before me. I’d never seen someone look so hollow. “She told me she was trying,” she said in
a croaky whisper. “My dad hated the idea. But doesn’t she know they’re connected to what happened to me?”

  “I have no idea,” I told her honestly. “But she seems really cold. Henry told me that she’s been going to all the meetings from the start of the trial period, just like my mom. He just had no idea who she was. And she was in the photo of the prayer group that Claire showed me. Rachel Jenkins.”

  “We need to figure this out. I can’t take any more surprises.”

  ###

  Normally, Theo and I would have commiserated at school about our shared miseries. But both she and Henry were keeping their distances. At least Henry showed up at the door after school.

  “Anything?” I asked him as I let him in. Hugh knew about Henry and I being together; I didn’t see any need to keep it from him. The cat was half-way out of the bag already. He didn’t act surprised when I told him, but he didn’t seem too happy about it, either.

  “No,” Henry said. “Phillip is either playing an excellent mind game or Briggs isn’t telling him for some reason. But I don’t think it’s because he’s a good guy. How are you doing?”

  I’d told him about my accident; he’d seen the scratches and the bruise on my face. “I’m fine. But I really think my mother had it out for me.

  “I also saw her digging through boxes in the basement, about a week ago. She said she was looking for Christmas decorations, but she always keeps those organized and had already brought most of them up.”

  “But if she knew what your necklace was, why would she have given it to you in the first place just to snatch it back for Thornhill?” Henry reasoned.

  “That’s just it—I don’t think she knew what it was. That was the gist when I overheard her talking to Deana. I think Claire just thought it was something nice of my grandmother’s. She doesn’t have any psychic ability, and the necklace doesn’t affect regular people.”

  I pulled the necklace out of my backpack, feeling the pendant heat up at the bottom of the silver chain in my grip. I tossed it at Henry and he caught it with both hands.

  “This is really tacky,” he muttered, turning it over.

  “See, though? Unless you’re seeing shadow people and demon birds, it has no effect on you.”

  “That’s an awfully big coincidence, dear,” Henry said, setting the necklace back into my backpack. “Where you keeping that under your phone or something? It was a little warm.”

  I parted my lips to speak, frowning. We heard talking voices coming in through the door. I tensed up beside him. The door opened and it was just Hugh and Callie.

  “Hi guys,” Callie said nonchalantly. “How have you been?”

  “Fine,” I said, eyes darting to Henry. She didn’t even seem to register who he was, pulling off her hats and mittens while Hugh got her a pop from the fridge.

  “We were thinking of going to the Night Lights festival tomorrow,” Callie said. “Would you two like to tag along?”

  “I can’t, sorry,” Henry said and stood to retrieve his coat. “In fact, I have to be going. See you later, Ariel.”

  I used to always go to the Night Lights festival with my parents. It was an annual parade where everyone went gung-ho over their second favorite holiday. The holiday season was the last thing on my mind. Still….

  “I’ll go, Callie. Maybe it will help me take my mind off of my troubles.”

  CHAPTER 28

  SNOW FLUTTERED DOWN with delicate grace like small white moths. Dusky rose spread through the sky, the clouds spilling into each other.

  “This is beautiful. It must have cost them a fortune,” Callie said, gazing across the road in awe. All of the businesses had strung different colored lights up around their windows and exteriors. It glowed like Las Vegas. Every space was decorated, hiding the empty businesses that Thornhill had sent under.

  “Must be nice to have your own money tree,” Hugh grumbled, blowing into his cupped hands.

  Callie bumped him gently with her shoulder in her houndstooth coat. “Stop being such a grouch, Scrooge. Spirit of the season, and all that.”

  I had to agree that it was beautiful. It was also extremely crowded. It looked like every resident of Hell was crammed on the sidewalks. The sparkling flakes of snow continued to lazily cascade down.

  “This town never changes,” Jenna said.

  What are you complaining about? I thought to Jenna.

  “Not complaining,” she clarified. “Just stating a fact. These slack-jawed morons are as stuck as I am.”

  A banner sign that read 20th Annual Festival of Lights, Come Glow with Us, Sponsored by Thornhill Society was strung across the high street lamps.

  Callie had thick mittens, a fuzzy hat and one of her scarves, but she was still bouncing around, rubbing her arms. “I hope they get this parade started soon.”

  A clueless woman and her squealing children were scooting up close to our trio. Jenna kept backing up towards me. I was wearing the necklace again, too paranoid to take it off for very long. It was beneath my coat, above my turtleneck, just out of sight but not touching my skin directly. It just felt safer to keep it with me, right by my heart.

  I kept inching away from Jenna so that we wouldn’t accidentally touch. I didn’t need to magically disappear right next to my father and Callie. An electrical current kept passing back and forth from Jenna to me, making my hair stand on end like I’d rubbed a balloon. My scalp prickled and I pulled my hat out of my pocket, putting it on my head to disguise the evidence.

  “People really don’t understand the need for personal space when you’re dead,” Jenna grumbled.

  The parade floats began rumbling lazily down the street, covered with nets of lights. It didn’t surprise me to see Lainey leading the pack, on a hideous float dressed up like a bloated Christmas tree with skull decorations. She had practiced her beauty queen wave, her hair up in what looked like a beehive. I wondered what she was hiding up there in place of a brain.

  Each float was sponsored by a separate business, dressed up with a different theme. Of course it was Hell, so there were the Tim Burton touches, too. There was a float covered entirely in glowing green Christmas wreaths with spiders tacked on, and one for the Blind Devil with a demon and an angel on top. We were pretty close to the road so we had a good view. The crowd shouted and cheered.

  Jenna was acting bored. Then, randomly, I saw her sniff the air and frown. She turned and looked out across the crowd. Her expression flickered and changed into one of curiosity.

  What’s wrong? What do you see?

  “Ambrose,” Jenna said in a dreamy, lost voice. “It looks like he’s waiting for me.”

  I could see him, too, and I shivered. His dark eyes stared hypnotically at Jenna. The mauve scarf around his neck no longer disguised his gaping wound, and blood stained his ruffled tuxedo shirt again. I thought I saw shadows swirling around his face in the dim light. He turned around and began walking away. Jenna started towards him.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Hugh and Callie, who were happily caught in watching the parade floats glide by.

  Their shoulders only a few inches apart, their faces smiling, I knew that they were growing closer. Even if they’d never had an affair, they obviously had feelings for each other. To my brief surprise, I found that I didn’t feel as terrible about it as I had before. My allegiance wasn’t with Claire anymore.

  “Hurry back, you don’t want to miss the Santa float,” Callie said.

  Acting like she was in a trance, Jenna drifted right through the people like they weren’t even there. Of course, it was more difficult for me. I met resistance and people complaining because the crowd was packed so tight. I pushed my way through and to the back.

  “Hell has frozen over!” read a sign in front of Rollerama, advertising the ice rink they flooded every winter.

  Illogical fear began to fill me. I couldn’t see her distinct curly-haired head anymore. She had headed to an alley between some of the buildings. I ducked into the alley, away from t
he noise and the push of people. A web of alleyways connected through the different businesses, for deliveries and trash.

  I caught sight of Jenna for one tantalizing moment. She wandered to the end of the main alley. Then a couple of teens from my school stumbled in front of me, drunk. I went around them, but Jenna was gone, a brick wall in her place.

  She never did this kind of thing, and the thought of Ambrose luring her away frightened me. I kept calling out to her with my thoughts, but she didn’t respond.

  There was a fire crackling away in an oil drum. Huddling around the flames, a group of scruffy older men were jostling each other and talking boisterously. One of them told a dirty joke, something about a woman with no limbs, and the rest burst out in loud, raucous laughter.

  I was suddenly very aware of the cold on my sweaty face and neck, my hair sticking to my skin.

  “Where did you come from, honey?” one of the men called. He had a full beard and a bottle of alcohol in a paper bag he was passing around.

  I ignored him, rushing quickly past. The men whistled and jeered at me, and I felt my cheeks flush hot. The men burst out in sleazy laughter behind me, still cat-calling. I walked to the end of the alley, past a western wear business with a green-and-red cowboy hat in the window. Not wanting to go back to where the skeevy men were talking, I turned to the left.

  I gasped with a sense of wonder at the sight before me. Ropes of white lights had been strung from side to side above me like sparkling vines. White globe lanterns dangled among them, swaying lightly.

  Forgetting all about the group of men who had irritated me, I stepped farther in.

  The long alley was narrow, so the snow didn’t fall much within the walls, just a faint dusting on the brick. I could make out the far-off noise from the onlookers still watching the parade. But I couldn’t see the parade or the crowd; all I could see was darkness and shifting shadows beyond the firefly lights.

  Mesmerized by the fairy-like beauty, I slowly wandered down the alley. It was so pretty and peaceful, a winter wonderland.

  The next few seconds happened faster than a heartbeat. Suddenly, I felt something cover my face, and I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe.