Chapter Eight
EIGHT
“Whoa.”
I jump at Izzy’s voice in my ear, only just registering that she’s standing behind me. My watch buzzes on my wrist, flashing me a message that says Time to breathe.
“Jesus, Izzy.” I laugh, and it comes out higher pitched than usual. “You scared me.”
“I’m not surprised.” She walks round me to get a closer look at The Four. “These are…powerful.”
“If that’s what you want to call it,” I mutter, annoyed at how much I’ve let the paintings unsettle me.
I start to tell Izzy my research plan when I hear footsteps and realize the gallery has started to fill up. An elderly woman in an expensive-looking twinset ambles around the partition, her glass of champagne already half empty.
“We should probably go and see if Alessandra needs us yet.”
“Hey, Izzy! Fliss!” A cloud of blond hair and patchouli envelops me as Scarlett rounds the corner and descends on us, wrapping me in an unexpected tight squeeze.
Great, another unsolicited hug from a stranger.
She’s dressed for the occasion in a pair of slim-fit purple velvet trousers and a sheer black top.
She looks lovely, even though that creepy doll’s-head bracelet still adorns her wrist. “This is so cool! Here, smile for my socials!”
She steps back and pulls her phone from a large bag that’s made from scraps of different material, snapping a candid selfie of us next to The Four.
Izzy stifles a laugh, and I know what she’s thinking—I assumed Scarlett was the type of person to shun technology, not to have the latest smartphone and be obsessed with documenting her whole life.
“Pretty sweet opening, guys.” Noah trails behind with Ford, and they join us, both holding glasses of champagne. “I mean, I assume it is. I’ve never been to one before, but anywhere with free drinks is good to me.” I look around in panic. I don’t want us to get Dad in trouble on his big night.
Ford catches my eye and winks. “Don’t worry. No one batted an eye.”
“Thank god,” I sigh as Scarlett drifts closer to The Four. “Have you seen the self-portrait yet? It’s near the door on the way in, but it was covered with some bougie velvet curtains.”
“Well, it’s not now, and it’s hideous.” Ford shakes his head. “I’m almost jealous I didn’t paint it. It’s disturbed genius personified.”
“You’re telling me.” I shudder. “I had to sleep under the same roof as it last night after Dad got it appraised.”
“So you’re totally cursed now? Sucks to be you!
” Noah laughs and Izzy glares at him. “Sorry,” he says, tucking his hands into the pockets of his black jeans.
“I bet your dad’s gutted he’s not here? I was telling Mom I saw you guys today and she told me she saw him last week, at a faculty thing.
He’s on his honeymoon?” I nod, and he hesitates.
“I didn’t know your parents broke up. Sorry, Fliss, that sucks. ”
“Yeah,” I say shortly, not willing to discuss one of the more painful parts of my life with a boy who used to trick me into losing at tag, even if he did grow up to be better looking than most people I know. “Come on, Iz, we need to be in the other room.”
“It is supposed to be cursed, though.” He tries again, following us. Gallery four is busy, and there’s now a throng gathered around the self-portrait. “You must have heard the stories.”
“Oh, please.” I roll my eyes at him as Scarlett rejoins us.
“Fliss said her dad mentioned it, but she won’t entertain hocus-pocus,” Izzy says.
“You can tell me, though,” she adds, and I shake my head.
She hasn’t changed from the kid who would stay up late reading ghost stories only to wake up crying about them.
I bet I’ll have to leave the light on for her tonight after all this curse talk.
I look around for Alessandra and quietly panic as Noah launches into a tall tale. Did she say she would let us know when to get the canapés? What if I didn’t understand properly? What if I should be handing out tiny sausage rolls right now instead of listening to Noah Devlin talk rubbish?
“Oh, come on, you don’t really believe all that, do you?
” I interrupt as I spot Alessandra heading in our direction.
“Everyone knows curses are something white people make up to belittle cultures they don’t understand.
” Izzy bursts out laughing at the look on Noah’s face, and I become a little braver. “Anyway, we have to go.”
“The kitchen is ready for you both,” Alessandra says, motioning for us to follow her.
Both Ford and Noah melt at the sight of her, Noah’s eyes widening like he’s a cartoon character in love.
I’m annoyed—and horrified—by the sinking feeling I get as I watch him.
It seems my crush on Noah was just lying dormant because I wasn’t around him and now that I’m back in his radius it’s like I’m little Fliss again.
I hate myself for it. I’m the sensible one.
It’s Izzy who has a weakness for insta-love, not me.
Unless we’re talking about Noah, apparently.
“Sorry.” I run after Alessandra in the direction of the café as Izzy follows. “We invited them to the opening. They’re in our course, and Noah is an old friend. Well, acquaintance, I guess. I haven’t seen him in forever.”
“You do not need to apologize.” Alessandra slows down so I can catch up with her.
“Women apologize too much. Besides, everyone is distracted by the self-portrait. Your father has made some of our investors very happy. This painting is going to generate some great press for the gallery, which can only mean more visitors through our doors.” She grins, revealing slightly crooked bottom teeth that I decide I like.
They make her a little less perfect and a little more human.
We weave through the tables and chairs in the café, and she pushes open one of two swinging kitchen doors.
“Here we are. The caterers have delivered the canapés on trays, so all you have to do is carry them with one hand like this.” She picks up a round silver tray lined with a black napkin and dotted with tiny meat pies.
“And take some serviettes in the other hand. Got it?”
“Got it,” I say, accepting the tray as Izzy collects another. She’s waitressed before and makes it look easy, so I copy her. The tray is lighter than I thought it would be, which is a relief.
“Good. Helen will be on hand if you need help, won’t you, Helen?” Alessandra says as the agency girl from the locker room enters with a tray of empty champagne glasses. She puts them down and adjusts her shirt.
“Of course. Is there any more champagne?” Helen asks. “These guys are thirsty.” Alessandra bustles over to the fridge and removes a green glass bottle. She peels back the golden foil and eases the cork out with a loud pop.
“Good,” Alessandra says, smiling as she passes the bottle over and Helen wraps it neatly with a clean white serving cloth. “Drunk donors will promise more money.”
“Noted,” she says, holding the bottle with a practiced hand.
Alessandra starts to load the glasses into a small dishwasher and Izzy disappears through the door into the café while I hesitate.
I must look like a deer in headlights, because Helen smiles at me.
“Follow me. It’s not a bad gig, really. Just walk around smiling until all the food is gone.
Simple, and it pays well, especially while you’re at school. ”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say as I follow her out through the café.
“You don’t go here?” she asks.
“No. Not yet. Hopefully soon, though. Do you?”
“Yeah. I kind of wish I’d gone home for the summer, but it’s my final year in September and I only scraped through last term, so I figured a couple of weeks alone to get ahead on my reading was a good idea.
It’s so much quieter outside term time, though.
” Helen smiles sadly and I recognize the look in her eyes.
She’s lonely. Maybe I should ask her to go for coffee with Izzy and me this week, as a thank-you for being so nice, but before I can say anything she’s walking away.
“Good luck!” she adds, and heads to the area where The Four are, disappearing around the corner.
Izzy is wandering through the crowd here, so I head toward a small cluster of people in the corner where the self-portrait is.
I circle the guests, emptying one tray much faster than I thought I would.
I go back to the kitchen and am returning with a second tray when I’m accosted right outside the café.
“Food!” Noah says triumphantly, snagging two pies the moment he appears. I wrinkle my nose. “What? I’m a starving student!” he says with his mouth full.
I ignore him, mainly because he’s cute even when he’s being obnoxious, and scan the crowd. Ford and Scarlett are nowhere to be seen, but the number of guests has doubled in the last twenty minutes. Izzy walks past with an empty tray, and I nod in Noah’s direction.
“Can you sort him out?” I ask her.
“He’s not with me,” she says, gliding past.
“Well, he’s definitely not with me,” I grumble, watching her go.
Noah ignores our exchange and manages to swipe a napkin from me, but I walk away before he can snag any more food. I dole out canapés for a few minutes, but most people wave me away, preferring the champagne. Izzy approaches me holding another full tray, but I shake my head at her.
“No more takers. We should hang out near the cafe for a few minutes and try again after.”
We retreat and Noah reappears. He takes a prawn from Izzy’s tray and frowns at it before pointing it in the direction of the self-portrait.
“So, I had a proper look at that painting.” He mock-shudders. “You’re telling me that thing was in your house and you still don’t believe in curses? If anything in the world was the root of some evil curse, it would be that.”
“Hard agree,” Izzy says.
“Whatever,” I say, mildly irritated that he’s repeating my earlier thoughts back at me. I follow Izzy’s gaze over to the painting, and as if guided by some force, the crowd parts for a second.
The self-portrait hangs alone, a gallery wall to itself for the evening.
There are two lights, one above each top corner, and they have been angled inward.
The beams meet in the middle, directly over the figure’s face.
This extra play of light and shadow makes it look even more haunting, if that’s possible.
“Fine,” I admit begrudgingly as I pretend not to see Noah sneaking another canapé from my tray.
“If I did believe objects could be cursed, then this would be a good contender. But I don’t, so that’s the end of that.
” It does have a menacing vibe, but I don’t tell them that, not while it’s staring right at me.
I bet Kim would say it has a bad aura. “Come on, we have work to do. Noah, see you later…” I look up at him.
He’s at least three inches taller than me, and I’m pretty tall myself.
I swallow as something flutters in my stomach.
“Bye,” I manage, leaving before my cheeks go red.
“Nice to see you again, Fliss,” I hear Noah say behind me.
“Back at you.” I toss the words over my shoulder, making Izzy smirk; then I circulate through the crowd once more.
“So, how did it go?” I join Alessandra at the front door as she finally closes it, having hung back so she could say goodbye to the final guests. I left Izzy gawping at the hair installation in gallery one again. I don’t get modern art.
“I think it was a success?” She looks at me with glassy eyes. “No, never mind that, I am certain it was. The last two hours have been a blur, though. I did not even get any champagne!”
“You should have some now,” I say. “Everyone seemed really excited. My dad is going to be so happy when he finds out. In fact, I’ll text him so he knows as soon as he turns his phone back on.”
Alessandra smiles. “Good idea. I saved some canapés for us. We can eat them in the café.” The gallery doors open and Izzy emerges, but Alessandra ushers her back. “Back inside, Izzy. I have food.”
“Sold,” she says, and I laugh. “Fliss?”
“I’m going to grab my stuff first,” I say, pointing toward the locker room. “Do you want me to get your bag?”
“No, it’s fine, I’ll come with you.”
Thank god. It’s creepy in here, the corridor nothing but a dark echo chamber now that everyone has gone home.
“Do not be long, I am hungry,” Alessandra says.
“Did you see Ford leave?” Izzy asks as we start toward the locker room. “Or Scarlett?”
“No, why?”
“Do you think they left together?”
“No.” I slow down and glance at her. “Why do you think that?”
“I dunno. I just didn’t see them much tonight.”
“They probably had other things to do, Iz. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have your shot with Ford if you want it.”
“You’re right.” She brightens and then nudges me in the ribs. “What about Noah? I can’t believe you didn’t recognize him right away today!”
“I can’t believe you did! It’s been years. Have you guys stayed in touch?”
“No, but I follow him on Insta.” She shrugs, and I wonder why she never mentioned it. “He only posts artsy black-and-white stuff, so I thought he’d be a bit full of himself.”
Whatever innocent crush I once had on Noah is rapidly blossoming into something that involves way more grown-up thoughts. I try to keep my face neutral so Izzy doesn’t read my mind as I tap the useless code into the door and push it open. “Ugh, I wish I’d brought a cardigan, it’s cold in here now…”
The words die in my throat as my survival instincts take over and I back out of the locker room, pushing Izzy with me. Details sear themselves into my eyes as the door closes, and I finally squeeze them shut, but it’s too late.
We’ve already seen the body.