The Hidden

a perfumer who lived in England but wanted to market his scents in the United States. So he booked passage on the ship and took sixty-five test tubes of concentrated perfume scents with him. He survived the sinking, but left the perfumes behind. When they made that big discovery over the crash site a couple of years ago, they found his perfume samples and brought them up. Almost all of them had been perfectly preserved and they were able to re- create them.”

Using one of the transfer pipettes, I stirred the mixture awkwardly, not used to having to work around a sling, and then put the lid on. “Can you even imagine that? Being able to re-create a perfume that sat for all that time buried under the depths of the ocean? God, what a find.” I opened the bottle a couple of seconds later and inhaled deeply.

He watched in rapt fascination as I kept writing and mixing, adding more drops of this and that, then recapping and smelling.

“Needs more woodsy tone,” I muttered to myself after the fifth try. “Something …” I searched my supply case, eyeing what I had left. Spotting the Balsam oil, I grabbed for it. “Like that.”

Caspian read the label. “Isn’t that a Christmas tree?”

I nodded. “But you’re thinking of Balsam fir. That’s the pine-needle-smelling kind. This is Balsam from the Balsam bush. It smells spicy. A little bit like cinnamon. Unless it gets old. Then it smells like vanilla.” I added a couple of drops and made a note. “Some people believed that Balsam was harvested by a group of people called the Essenes who lived in Egypt and were known for their healing practices using essential oils. They lived where there were Balsam bushes and became cultivators of it, collecting it to sell and using it to support their way of life.”

He put his hand next to mine on the desk, and I paused, looking up.

“You are amazing,” he said softly. “Smart and beautiful and talented. Where did you learn all of this?”

Embarrassment filled me, and I looked away. “Research, mostly. I’m just some dork who needs to get another hobby.”

“No, you’re not. You’re-” He suddenly paused and glanced back at the door. Like he had heard something I hadn’t.

And then I heard it too.

Someone was right outside my room.

A halfhearted knock came, and the door opened. I leaned back, getting ready to say something to Mom, and then I saw Beth, from school.

Here.

At my house.

In short shorts and a bikini.

“Hey, Abbey,” she said brightly, all smiles. Her skin glowed like she’d just been airbrushed to perfection, and the toned gap of skin between her bathing suit top and shorts made me all too conscious of the fact that I hadn’t exactly spent my summer running track like she obviously had. “I totally called first, you know.”

Caspian moved to the closet. I watched him go, trying not to notice if he was noticing the short shorts.

“Hey, Beth,” I said slowly, getting to my feet. “This is … unexpected.”

She wandered over to the bed and sat down by the pile of drawings. Flipping past the top one, she stared at the garden of flowers. “Yeah, I’m on my way to the family beach house and thought you might want to come.” Her gaze flitted over to my sling and then swung away. “I, uh, heard about the whole hospital thing. How bad was it?”

“It’s fine. This is just overkill, really. The doctor insisted.”

“I hate when doctors do all this bullshit stuff just to tell you you’re fine. My mom works for an insurance company, and I swear, the things she says hospitals can get away with …”

Her fingers idly traced paths down the page in front of her. I could tell she wanted to ask me more about the attack, and I groaned inwardly at the thought. Beth was really nice, and I liked her, I did, but I totally wasn’t in the mood to go through it again.

“Thanks for the invitation,” I said, steering the conversation off that track. “I wish I could go, but …” I held up the sling as explanation.

Beth looked down again. She’d found the drawing of the forest. “Hey.” She sat straight up. “Hey, Abbey, these are really good. I didn’t know you were an artist.”

“I’m not. I didn’t. I mean, they’re not mine. They’re someone else’s.”

Beth smiled. I groaned inwardly again because I knew that smile. And it was not one I wanted to see. “Ohhhh,” she said. “Someone drew them for you? Who are you dating, girl?”

“No one,” I said weakly, trying to laugh it off. Technically, not true. But easier than the real answer … “Hey, what ever happened to Lewis? Are you guys still together?”

“Ugh, no.” She blew her bangs out of her face with a disgusted breath. “He got too serious for me. He kept wanting to make plans for our future, and discuss what we’d do at college. And then! Then he brought up moving in together at some, like, halfway point if we went to different schools, so we could see each other on weekends. Seriously? I mean, dude, you’re a great lay and all, but I need some variety.”

“Um, yeah. I totally get it.” No, I don’t. I’m going to be with my boyfriend for all eternity. Talk about a commitment.

I tried very hard not to glance at Caspian, but I couldn’t help a quick peek. His face was blank, unreadable. I couldn’t tell if he was purposely keeping it that way or if he truly didn’t have any interest in what Beth was saying.

Or wearing.

“So, how’d he take it?”

“He was heartbroken, of course,” Beth said, drawing my attention back to her. She walked over to my desk and picked up the bottle of oakmoss oil. Her face wrinkled as she sniffed it. “Ew. Gross. That smells like dead plants or something.”

I laughed and took it from her. “Here.” I handed her vanilla. “Try this one.”

Her face lit up with a blissful smile as she inhaled. “Mmmmm. Could you make me a perfume like this?”

And just like that, my thoughts were spinning. Already working. I could add Madagascar vanilla with just a hint of butter creme, and some brown sugar to spice it up. “Yeah. Sure. No problem.”

Suddenly she hugged me. “Come to the beach with me,” she urged before pulling away. “We’ll find some lifeguard hotties and get drunk under the moon at midnight. I don’t care what Lewis says. I’m young. I need to live life. Look at you, right? You don’t have some high school boyfriend hanging around your neck like a chain, and you’re fine.”

I didn’t even know what to say. “I … Beth … I …” I shook my head.

“Puh-lease? Come on, Abbey. It’s just for one day. Just come hang out with me for one day. That’s all I ask.”

The problem was that, in a normal world, it was something I might have agreed to do. But now Vincent was here, and so were the Revenants, and I didn’t know what to tell Caspian … and Mom. Plus, how could I act like I was single? It wouldn’t feel right flirting with some hunky boy. I had my own hunky boy right here.

The only trouble was, no one could see him but me.

“I can’t, Beth,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “I’d just feel awkward with my sling, and I’m not really up to finding some guys right now, after everything that happened. Maybe next time?”

She gave me a pouty look, but I could tell she saw that I was serious. “Okay, fine. Whatever. Just don’t go all moldy being cooped up in here, okay? Get some air.”

“I will.”

“And you better make me some of that vanilla perfume too.”

I laughed. “I will. I will. I’ll bring it to you on the first day of school.”

Beth blew me a kiss as she went out the door. “’Kay. Later, chica. I’m on my way to go find some beach hotties on my own.”

I waited until the coast was clear, and then I shook my head as I closed the door behind her. But I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face.