“Charles?”
He didn’t turn.
I rolled my eyes and pulled out one of his earbuds.
“What?” he snapped, glaring at me through protective goggles.
I beamed. “Hi. What’re you doing?”
He set the saw aside to measure the piece of mirrored glass. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“It looks like you’re venting on inanimate objects.” I picked up a flat wooden bird painted red on one side and green on the other. “Who was stupid enough to upset you today?”
“I’m making you a toy, Jazz,” he muttered, “and I’ll finish it faster if you stop bothering me.”
“Aww, thanks. You know I love toys.” I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “But you still haven’t answered my question.”
“It’s an optical illusion,” he said, gesturing to the partially-finished box. “The bird goes inside a box with one-sided mirrors as two of its walls. You look in through one little window and you can see a complete red bird, but when you look in through the other window, you see a complete green bird. In reality, it’s just one bird being reflected from different angles.”
“And that’s all very interesting, Charles, but you’re ignoring the big question. Why are you creating this toy for me?”
Charlie sighed and tugged out the other earbud, his gaze averted. “It’s the new chick again.”
I smirked. “What? Is she still not cowering in fear?”
“No.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Her dad was military. I think he died overseas because she talked about him in the past tense. She’s been physically abused by her stepdad and her ex-boyfriend. She was a member of a gang back in Boston; I’m pretty sure she moved here recently. While listening to her talk about her scars, I actually felt sorry for her.”
I blinked in surprise but said nothing.
“You know,” he said, starting to sound more thoughtful than angry. “I always knew life sucked, but I thought it was because of our curse. I didn’t realize life sucked for everyone else too.”
I chuckled. “That’s what happens when you listen to others. You start to realize you’re not the only one with problems.”
He scowled at me, his ears turning slightly pink.
“What’s her name anyway?” I asked, leaving him to plop down on the edge of his bed.
Charlie huffed and went back to his crafting. “Esmeralda Barnes. She goes by Esmer.”
I repeated the name to myself several times, enjoying the feel of the syllables as they rolled off my tongue. “I like it,” I finally decided. “It’s new and different, but also sort of vintage.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her,” my brother said with a smirk.
I crossed my legs and pretended to pick invisible lint from my skirt. “You’re planning on talking to the same human being for a third time?”
My brother started the drill up again without replying.
I let out a triumphant, “Ha!”
He raised his voice to be heard over the drill. “Leave it alone, Jazz.”
“You like her,” I said, wagging a finger at him.
“What?”
“You like her!”
The drill went silent. Charlie lowered it onto his desk and slowly turned to face me. “I do not like Esmer Barnes. Period. Exclamation point. Frowning emoji. End of discussion.”
I laughed. “How do you know what an emoji is? You don’t text.”
“Neither do you.”
“Yes, but I actually take an interest in the outside world and do research on all the trends kids our age are into,” I said matter-of-factly. “One of which is crushing on people they’ve just met.”
“I’m not crushing on Esmer,” my brother growled. “I can barely understand her half of the time. She has a thick Bostonian accent. It’s annoying.” Turning back to his crafting, he muttered, “And she talks more than you do.”
The elevator door slid open on the other side of our apartment and Anthony stepped quietly down the stairs, phone pressed to his ear, textbooks tucked under his free arm. His voice flitted across the empty space between us. “Yes, I know. I’ve already talked to him about it. No, I won’t forget. Tell the boys I can’t wait for our weekend together. Take care, Georgina. All right. Goodbye.” He slid the phone into the pocket of his suit jacket and smiled at me as he approached. “Ready to do your Calculus homework?”
I groaned. Calculus was the worst! “Uncle Vic will be here with dinner any minute. It doesn’t make sense for us to start if we’re just going to have to stop to eat.”
That’s when it hit me. I was thrown off the bed as invisible shards of glass savagely attacked my face. Before I could lift a hand to defend myself, the world faded into blackness. For one blissful moment, I couldn’t see, feel, hear, or smell anything. I was aware of my consciousness only because of a thought that coursed lazily through my brain.
Finally.
My senses returned slowly, as if I were waking up. There was the vague outline of the familiar brick gate standing before me and a sunset-orange sky above. A transparent hand with a faint glow reached up to touch my face. A breath filled my lungs. There was suddenly hair covering my ears. A warm breeze kissed my skin. Soft grass rose up between my luminescent toes. A smile stretched across my face.
Death sighed, drawing my attention to the gate again. Then a hook latched into my back and I was reeled into the land of the living.
I woke with a gasp. Coming back to life was nothing like dying. My body assaulted me with information. My face stung in a million different places, my teeth ached, my head spun, my stomach frothed as if I had heartburn, and it was much too
