3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Pearl
“ H urry up and chew, you’re running out of time.”
The remaining girls from the team and I sit in the locker room with the lights turned off, only a half-hidden flashlight on a bench to see by.
We can’t let anyone know we’re here. We speak in whispers and move as little as possible.
Many of the girls have already disappeared.
I couldn’t tell you who, though—their names are already gone.
“Remember, once the sugar is gone, put the gum back in the wrapper. We need wrapper, gum, card, and letter all in the box,” Valentina says only just loud enough for us all to hear.
“He’ll be here in two hours. I need to get these boxes buried before then. If he catches me—” Ricky says softly to Valentina. Her husband, a human contractor at the stadium. He’s laying new brickwork in the halls today.
“He won’t.” She lays a hand on his chest and a kiss on his cheek before turning back to us. “Are you broads finished, or what?”
The sugar is almost gone from my bubblegum, but not quite. I don’t understand how her magic works; gosh, I haven’t even known magic existed for long, but I’m trusting it with my life. It’s either that or give up and let Brigley take it.
“I’m done,” Cheryl says as she frantically wraps her gum in its wrapper. She puts it in the metal candy box Valentina gave each of us next to her baseball card and hands it to the Candy Witch.
“Team captain, of course you’d be first.” Valentina smiles. “You’re a good woman, Cheryl. I’ll make sure your babies are taken care of.”
Cheryl lets out a deep sob as she drops to her knees. She has two little boys with no father to take care of them. They’ll have no one at all in a few moments.
Valentina wipes away a tear and puts one of the identical letters she’s written into the box. Next, she puts on the metal lid and squeezes it closed as tightly as she can.
Cheryl disappears.
I was told it would happen but it’s still a shock. I nearly choke on my gum in surprise but manage to cough it back up. Except I swallow it right back down out of reflex. Damn.
I’m about to ask for another piece, or what else I can do, when I hear muffled cries of terror coming from the girls around me.
Another one of us, her name already lost, has disappeared.
Not because of Valentina, but because Brigley’s curse took her.
My stomach lurches so hard I nearly throw the gum back up. Fuck this.
I shove the gum wrapper under my baseball card and hope Valentina won’t notice it’s empty. Maybe this will work. I mean, the gum is still technically here, right?
“Okay, I’m done. Me next,” I say as I rush toward her.
“Alright, Pearl.” She puts the letter in the box, and I sigh, relieved she didn’t notice the lack of gum. “If anyone can make it back, it’s you. If you end up in the future, take a ride in a flying car for me.”
“Oh boy, I’m sure I won’t be in there long. You’ll see me before your hair turns gray.” I give her a wave and my signature Pearl Monroe wink as she picks up the lid.
Here we go. To the future.
I wake up, breathing heavily. It came back—my memory. Everything that happened. All the horrible details. I toss aside the covers and stumble out of bed. I’m so dizzy I only make it a few steps before falling over. A sob breaks free as I curl up, wailing loudly, crying for all I’ve lost.
“Pearl! Pearl, are you okay?” Delia asks as she runs into the room, falls to her knees in front of me. She strokes my cheeks and looks me over for signs of injury. “Baby, are you hurt? What happened?”
“Brigley didn’t just kill them, Delia. He erased them.
Like they never existed. They don’t even have names.
I can’t tell you anything about them. There are blank spots, and I only know that there was someone there because I watched them as they disappeared.
I watched so many girls disappear. Just gone .
” I sob so hard I choke, then I sob some more .
Delia strokes my back. She doesn’t tell me it’ll be okay, or any of that nonsense. I appreciate it, because for those girls, it’ll never be okay, and I just want a moment to grieve.
After a long while, I quiet down enough to speak again.
“I think some of the girls might still be alive. Buried under the bricks like I was. Not many, but a handful. We have to save them.”
Delia takes me by the arms and lifts me to a sitting position. She places her hands on my shoulders gently, so she doesn’t crumple me, and looks me dead in the eyes.
“If this is somehow my Brigley, and he’s as dangerous as you say, then digging up his stadium and reviving people he wanted to ultra-kill is going to get my ass cooked.”
My shoulders slump. I know I shouldn’t ask her to put her life in danger for people she doesn’t know—and who might not even be there.
“But I will absolutely do this. Not just for you, by the way. Though, I am very much hoping I’ll get a nice reward when it’s done.” She offers me a mischievous smile that instantly puts me in a better mood.
“There will be a fantastic reward, I promise,” I purr into her ear.
Delia does this throaty half laugh that just about kills me.
“Perfect.” She pulls away enough so that I can see her face has turned more serious again. “But I also want to help those other women. I’d never leave another team member behind like that, even if rescue has taken a little longer than ideal.”
“Just a little longer,” I scoff.
She rolls her eyes when Mavis meows loudly outside the door. As she stands up, she pulls me with her. “Let’s just get up for the day. I’m not gonna go back to sleep and apparently Mavis wants to eat early.”
I eye the door warily. We’ve kept the cant away from me since the shoe incident. Delia pats me on the back.
“It’ll be fine, Pearl. Get dressed. We’ll go shopping.”