CHAPTER NINE #2
Before I could answer, Anne Shirley gave a staticky stretch. Green eyes popped open, and she rose, arching her back. Orange-soda fur stood on end as she let out a low growl.
“Hey, now you turn on me?” I told her. For now, the cat was frozen stiff, but this situation was downgrading fast.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the nice bed,” Penn singsonged.
I filled him in on her mean-girl history—briefly—as I didn’t know what she had planned for her next move. I rose, placing myself on the other side of Penn.
But then it hit me. My arm hairs tingled. “Do something for me. Look straight at her and tell her to calm down using her name.”
“Wait, you think—”
“Just try it.”
Penn nodded, then did as I asked. He crouched lower, even-planed with her whiskered face. “Anne Shirley, you can stop now. Nothing is going to hurt you here. Be a nice cat to Sylvie, okay?”
My mouth gaped as Anne Shirley gave a low-toned meow, thick and smooth like farmers-market honey. She folded her legs and sank until she was belly down, paws forward like an Egyptian sphinx. Her eyes drilled into the space Penn filled directly in front of her.
“Holy shit,” I said under my breath. “Do you think she sees you?”
“Not sure. Maybe she just senses my presence. But whatever she sees or feels, it’s something.”
I added this new detail to the brown notebook.
When I finished, Penn was drifting one finger along the cat’s striped back, gentle enough to not pass through her body.
Anne Shirley didn’t move but gave off a thinned-out, loopy expression for a few beats.
She rolled to her side and began cleaning her front paw.
“Okay, now I’m really freaked out.”
“More than when you first saw me?” he asked. Cheeky.
I had to laugh. “Honestly, more than you or this weirdo cat, I’m probably most terrified of Del.”
“Your new friend from town?”
“Something like that,” I said.
“I think it’d be good for you to make a friend. For when I’m not around,” Penn replied. Is that what we were? Friends?
“Yeah, but it’s complicated.”
“More complicated than this?” He gestured to himself.
“Okay, fair,” I said around a laugh. “I’m just a little hesitant to get close to Del.”
“You’re scared because you might like her too much, and you’re only here for the summer?” Penn asked.
“More like scared of what might happen if she sees you.”
Intrigued, his eyes widened, and he moved so I had more room to sit near the footboard. I did another recap, this time about what the soap artisan had said, and what I’d learned about Del’s vision at the library.
“Damn,” Penn said when I ran out of words. “And Del hasn’t said anything to you about this?”
I shook my head. “When I asked one tiny question, she changed the subject right away. I didn’t want to push because, you know, I’d just met her, but there’s definitely something going on there.
” I paused for a quick cat check. Anne Shirley went on with her paw maintenance.
“Add it to the growing list of things about Sacred that are beyond me.”
I pulled my phone from my dresser.
“This is one of them. So, right after Del brought in all the supplies for Anne Shirley, she asked for my number. Thing is, the Wi-Fi is nonexistent most times around the cabin, and cell service isn’t any better.
” I jiggled the phone. “This has been pretty much useless around here. It’s why I had to research you at the library.
” I faced him solidly. “Let’s just say if we discover that your one undone task on Earth is making sure the Sacred Public Library gets a much-needed renovation, I’d believe it. ”
He cringed. “The books deserve better.”
“So much.” A scatter of chills zipped through me.
“But, Penn, Del’s texts went through. Plus two more from last night checking up on the cat, then sending info about this upcoming county fair, and that I shouldn’t miss it.
” I showed him my screen, which was free of the annoying red exclamation points from undelivered texts I’d tried sending Ana and my parents.
“I dunno, maybe everyone around here uses a different provider. But I can’t shake the strangeness, around that and Del in general. ”
“So you’re worried she’ll see into this watch, or maybe something about me,” he said more than asked. “Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? Get information?”
I flashed the beautiful gold timepiece. “It’s not that. I want all the information I can get.” But learning of Del’s lifesaving vision had made me cautious. What if she got another vision when she was hanging out with me, and instead of a blue bow and a Jeep, she saw a curious ghost boy?
In movies, revelations like these led to media frenzies.
Intervention from secret government agencies.
It may seem far-fetched, but was it any less believable than an enchanted watch?
This town already had one mysterious legend; I didn’t want Penn to be another one.
Plus, this watch was my golden ticket to a new future, one I couldn’t risk being taken away.
I didn’t want to keep secrets from Penn.
But telling him I planned to sell it felt like parents telling a kid they were counting the days for them to move out so they could turn their bedroom into a craft room.
It edged too closely to the idea of me shoving him aside.
I’d practically grown up on the other end of that feeling, and I never wanted to make anyone feel the same.
I ran my finger across the glossy watch face. The second hand drifted around and around. “It’s still new. This—you. And we don’t know enough about what any of it means yet,” I told him. “My tía doesn’t even know.”
He tipped his chin, appeased. “So just you and me. And maybe a mean-girl cat.” On cue Anne Shirley rose, circled three times, then sank into a ginger puff in the center of the bed, her tail passing through the solid illusion of Penn’s thigh without a flinch.