and over. I don't know if it had anything to do with the key, but it was about you.'
'Tell me,' Ivy said, leaning close to her while keeping one eye on Will's progress in the cafeteria line.
'There were these big wheels,' Beth recalled, J 'two, three, I don't know how many. Big wheels with rough edges, notches in them, like tractor wheels or snow tires or something. They were all turning one way. Then you came. There was nothing else in the dream but you and the wheels. You put out your hand and stopped them. Then you pushed, and the wheels all started spinning the opposite way.'
She fell silent. Her eyes had a faraway look, as if she were seeing the dream again.
'And?'
'That's it,' Beth said. 'That's all I dreamed, over and over.'
Ivy sat back in her chair, puzzled. 'Do you have any idea what it means?' she asked.
'I was going to ask you the same thing,' Beth replied. 'Ivy, here comes Will. Why don't we tell him and-' 'No,' she said quickly.
Beth bit her lip. Ivy looked down at the soggy layers of her sandwich.
'Hi!' said Will, scraping back a chair and setting down his tray. 'What's up?'
'Nothing much,' Ivy said, avoiding his eyes.
'Beth?'
'Nothing much,' she echoed lamely.
Will was silent for a moment. 'How come you were late this morning?' he asked Ivy.
She glanced up sharply. 'How do you know I was late?'
'Because I was, too.' Will tilted his head a little, as if he was trying to read her.
Ivy looked away.
'I came in just after you,' he said, then reached for her hand, touching her lightly, trying to get her to look at him again. She would not.
'What's wrong?'
She hated the innocent and concerned tone of his voice.
'Beth? Tell me what it is.'
Ivy peeked up at her friend. Beth shrugged, and Will glanced back and forth between them. His face was calm and thoughtful, like that of a teacher patiently searching for an answer, but his hands gave him away, gripping the edge of his tray.
Now he's worried, Ivy thought, really worried, but not about me. He thinks we both know the truth about him.
Will sucked in his breath, then said quietly, 'Surprise. Here comes Gregory.'
Ivy looked up, hoping to see Suzanne with him. If Suzanne put in her usual effort at snubbing her, Ivy would have an excuse to walk out. But Gregory came alone, striding confidently toward them, smiling, as if they were all good buddies.
'Will greeted him.
'I didn't know you were off this period,' Ivy said.
'My history class is in the library,' he told her. 'I'm doing research, can't you tell?'
Ivy laughed lightly, determined to seem as much at ease as he. 'What's your topic?'
'Famous murders of the nineteenth century,' Gregory replied, pulling out a chair.
'Learning anything?'
He thought for a moment, then smiled and sat down next to her. 'Nothing useful. Will, I'm sorry I missed you last night.'
Ivy turned to look at Will.
'How about getting together later this afternoon?' Gregory proposed.
Will hesitated, then nodded in agreement. 'Celentano's,' he said.
'Can I come?' Ivy asked. She caught both of them off guard.
'Oh, I forgot,' she said with a casual wave of her hand. 'I'm working today.'
'Too bad,' Gregory said, but his and Will's surprised expressions had told her what she wanted to know.
This meeting was business. Gregory was going to pay off Will. At least Will was smart enough to make the exchange in the safety of a public place.
Throughout the conversation, Beth didn't say a word. She watched with wide blue eyes, and Ivy wondered if she could read any of the thoughts behind their faces. She had left her brownie half eaten in its tinfoil.
'If you're not going to finish that, I will,' Ivy said, struggling to find normal things to say, working to keep up the pretense that nothing was wrong and she wasn't afraid.
Beth pushed the brownie over to her. While Gregory and Will set a time to meet, Ivy broke off a piece, then placed what was left of the dessert in front of Gregory.
'What time did you get home last night?' she asked him.
Gregory looked at her silently for a moment and rocked back on his chair.
'Let's see… nine o'clock, I think.'
'Did you hear anything strange outside?'
'Anything like what?' he replied.
'Whining or howling, a cat in pain.'
'Did something happen to Ella?' Beth asked.
'Something went after her,' Ivy told them.
Will frowned. His old concerned look was getting to Ivy.
'Scraped the fur off in a strip and drew some blood on her right side,' Ivy continued. 'But there weren't any bite marks. What kind of animal would have done something like that?' she asked, looking directly at Gregory.
'I have no idea,' he said coolly.
'Do you know, Will?'
'No… no. Is Ella all right?' She heard the slight tremor in his voice, and it almost drew her back to him.
'Oh, sure, she's fine,' Ivy said, standing up, tossing her half-finished lunch into a nearby trash barrel.
'Ella's a tough little street kitten.'
'Just like her mistress,' Gregory said, smiling. 'Just like her.'
Ivy couldn't stop thinking about wheels. All day she drew circles with notches in them… in her math notebook, on a Spanish quiz, and on a handout in history. They became tractors, snowflakes, strange knobs on a door. Later, at 'Tis the Season, she noticed every item in the store that was round-Christmas wreaths, swimming tubes, and a pincushion made to look like a chocolate-frosted doughnut.
Ivy tried not to think about what was going on at Celentano's and was just as glad when Tristan didn't answer her call. She didn't have to tell him about the blackmail note, she reasoned. It wasn't Tristan who had foolishly trusted Will.
When Ivy got home from work that evening, Maggie and Andrew were out, and Philip was in the family room with Gregory watching a video.
'Did you finish your homework?' Ivy asked her brother.
'Yup. Gregory checked it.'
Gregory, playing the role of good and helpful older brother, smiled up at her. Ivy returned the smile, though she tingled with fear at Philip's growing attachment to him. What would Gregory do, she wondered, when he found out that they'd be legally sharing a father? For Gregory, money was status. It was how he controlled the people around him. How would he react if he found out he and Philip might be sharing the Baines fortune?
'Stay awhile,' Gregory said to her, gesturing casually to the seat next to him.
'Thanks, but I've got stuff to do upstairs.'
She started toward the hall, but Gregory got up quickly and stood in the path Ivy meant to take. 'Your mother left a pile of laundry outside your bedroom,' he told her. 'Maggie said she hoped you had a key.
The bathroom door was locked too.'
'I have a key.'
