Lightbringer

“Huh,” Eddie said, glancing at his watch. Part of him wanted to listen to her, hug her, tell her it’d be all right. The other part knew better. He wasn’t going to fall for it this time—he’d promised. “You could, uh, try some Nyquil or something.”

“I don’t have problems getting to sleep, it’s staying asleep.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe pick up a book on dream zen or something? Learn to be one of those dream master guys?”

“Working on it,” she muttered under her breath before taking a deep gulp of her drink. “So, um, Eddie? Have you noticed that my life’s been sort of weird lately?”

Eddie grabbed the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip. “Yeah. But you’re preachin’ to the choir there.” Desperately he added, “I told you about landing a date with Gina Biggs, right? Oh, man, that girl is so smoking hot!” He forced his fingers to release the wheel and straightened in his seat. “Forest fire hot.” Eddie chuckled, too loudly.

“Yeah,” Wendy murmured, “you told me before.” She ran her thumb around her lips, wiping away excess chocolate. “But, Gina’s hotness aside…”

“You can’t ignore how hot she is. It’s impossible.”

“Eddie!” Wendy ground her teeth. “Enough about your…whatever she is, okay? Yes, she’s sexy. Go you. I’m trying to talk to you here.”

“What? I’m listening.”

“No you’re not, you’re mooning over Gina Has-a-hot-ass.”

He sighed. “Wendy, just because you’re jealous—”

“I’m not jealous! Why would you think I’m jealous?”

“I still love you, sweetie, you know that.” He patted her hand. “It’s just, you know, you said that you and me weren’t going to work out and a guy can’t just sit at home and twiddle his thumbs waiting for you. I mean, I would, but…”

“We weren’t going to work out. Aren’t. Whatever.” Wendy groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Eddie, this isn’t about Gina, okay! Just shut up already and listen to me!”

He settled back in his seat. “Fine, fine, I’m hearing you. No Gina talk. You’ve got my full attention. Go.”

She sighed. “With me, stuff’s been weirder than normal. I mean really, really weird. With the ghost stuff, I mean.”

“Right-right, sure-sure,” Eddie said, waving his hand. “I get ya.”

Wendy took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for a negative reaction. “You know how I’ve been going out every night lately, right? Well, I—”

The alarm on his phone trilled a warning. Anxious that he might miss his phone date with Gina, Eddie lifted his arm and tapped his watch. “Hell, look at the time. If I don’t get home soon my mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Oh, okay.” Rubbing a hand over her eyes, Wendy gulped the rest of her drink down. When she finished, she wiped her mouth and belched. “Blame it on me.”

“I have been.” Eddie grimaced, now all nerves. He’d been meaning to bring this up for a few weeks now, but Wendy had been incommunicado, not up to their usual late-night texting chats, and certainly too sleepy and busy to talk with at school.

Twisting the key, Eddie started his car and fervently checked his mirrors, avoiding looking at Wendy while he said what he had to say. “Um, just to get this out there, if you keep up all this long-distance reaping, Mom says she’s not going to let me hang out with you anymore. She’s starting to talk about how you’re a bad influence. Keeping me out to all hours on weeknights and stuff.”

At Wendy’s dumbfounded look, Eddie waved his hands in protest. “I tell her she’s wrong, of course! But you know what a pain in the butt moms…are.” He winced, and cursed himself for ten times a fool for bringing up his mother in particular, and mothers in general. “Sorry, Wendy. I didn’t mean to go there.”

“It’s cool.” Wendy shrugged, trying for nonchalance but clearly upset. “Moms are moms. It’s not your fault, right?”

“It’s not your fault either,” he reminded her, getting up the guts to look her in the face. “What happened to your mother wasn’t.”

“Whatever.” Wendy checked the time on the dash and buckled up. “Come on, Eds, let’s make tracks. I’ve got a date with geography and you’ve gotta get your pretty little butt home before Mommy Dearest goes all Mommy Dearest on you.”

“Wendy—”

“Move it, Jeeves, if you please.” Wendy rifled through her purse and pulled out a five, slapped open the glove compartment, and dropped the money inside. “Here. For the gas.”

Concerned, Eddie tried to catch her eye. “Hey, hey, you don’t owe me anything, Wendy. I’ve never asked you for gas money.”

Wendy kept her face turned away. “Exactly, you’ve never asked. So after all these years I totally ought to throw at least a little scratch your way. Now vroom-vroom already. The hour groweth late and crap like that.” She sounded casual, but the cup in her grip told a different story; it had gone from a venti Styrofoam cup to a sticky ball in her fist.

At least she finished the hot chocolate, Eddie thought to himself, and shifted the car into reverse. He’d scrub out any stains on Saturday before his Homecoming date with Gina, no problem.

A little worried but willing to let her mood slide, Eddie eyed the empty mall parking lot and started rolling toward home. He had plenty of time to worry about Wendy tomorrow, right? Truth be told, Eddie was glad to be taking her home early; the night was young and he still had a long evening ahead of him to spend flirting with the luscious little artist he intended to woo and win. Even though it killed him to be going out with Gina instead of Wendy, he had to move on. Wendy wasn’t the only girl in the world. Still, the guilt niggled at the back of his mind.

With an annoyed grunt, Eddie headed home, the girl beside him weighing heavily on his mind.

When Wendy stomped into her room, she found Piotr waiting. He had a small cardboard shoebox in his hands. A swath of fabric dotted with the familiar acid-eaten holes peeked out at the top.

“You’re here early.” Her phone beeped. Wendy glanced down:

IKssBoiz&Grls: Was I being an ass? U still wanna talk? I’ll tell Gina not 2nite.

Wendy hesitated then pressed ignore. Eddie would understand. Now wasn’t the time.

“I had to see you right away.” Piotr held up the box. “I did not know you would be out, so I decided to wait.” He hesitated. “You were with Eddie, yes? Working?”

“Duh.” Wendy eyed the box. “So this thing sounds big. What’s up?”

“Another kidnapping.”

“Who’s missing?” she asked, dropping her bag to the floor. Jabber hissed—she’d inadvertently dumped her bag right on top of him. Head held high and tail stiff with disdain, the cat flounced through the bag and under the bed, pausing to swipe at her ankle as he departed.

“One of James’ Lost,” Piotr said, setting the box on her desk. “Tommy. This was his jacket.”

Wincing at the thin sting Jabber’s claws left, Wendy knelt down to rub her ankle, whistling at the bad news. These past weeks spent listening to Piotr’s stories had advantages; she’d peripherally learned all about the other ghosts Piotr surrounded himself with, Lost and Rider alike, to the point where she felt like she could effortlessly list them off. The news struck her harder than she could ever have anticipated. She wondered again about Dunn, if the White Lady had meant her threats. “Tommy? Wasn’t he once one of yours?”

Piotr nodded, lips tight. “A few decades ago. He got on better with James than he did with me. They were alive at the same time and James understood Tommy in a way I couldn’t. They were friends.”

“Didn’t James tell his Lost to stay close?”

Piotr’s fist pounded his hip. “Tommy was close! He was dutiful, he wasn’t like the others, he didn’t wander off. Do you see? Elle turned her back for one minute and he was gone. Poof! Just gone.”

“And she couldn’t track him?” Wendy lifted the ethereal fabric out of the box and examined it. Jacket, she noted, was too strong a word. It had probably been, in life, little more than a thin and moth-eaten cloak made of