Auracle. Part 23

I can talk you out.

"I knew it! I knew you had to have an agenda. Save it, Anna. I have nowhere else to go."

It's hard to stay positive in the face of so much negativity. It's hard to feel love for this girl who has so much hate within her. It's hard to see her as a victim when she seems so intent on hurting others. It's hard to forgive her, but that's exactly what I have to do. If I can't replace her negativity with something positive, I'll never be able to summon the light.

You do have somewhere to go, I type, and then I think back to the cradle of the willow, to the feeling of harmony and peace. I apologize to the light for bothering it yet again for another false alarm, because I know she's not ready to cross over yet, but I want her to know it's there. We're taking baby steps here, Light, I tell it. Please work with me.

"Anna, what are you doing? You look ... weird."

And then I hear her gasp and I know even before I open my eyes that it's worked, that she sees the light and when I open my eyes, there it is, illuminating the room in all its glory.

You do have somewhere to go, Taylor, and this is how you get there.

CHAPTER 34.

Think this looks okay to wear to court? I stand in front of Rei, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles on the puddle bunny T-shirt I've worn since Taylor pirated my body. The big plus in this dimension is you never get dirty and you never sweat, so there's no need to shower. What would Rei do with all that free time?

Rei has on his trusty beige chinos and white polo shirt. I swear, if I ever get my body back, I am taking that boy shopping.

"Who's going to see you besides me?"

You never know.

Rei looks at me. "What are you up to?" he asks suspiciously.

Nothing.

"Really!"

I smile innocently at him. I'll see you in court.

"Hey, Anna?"

I look up at him.

"Stay close to Taylor today." His voice is a little too casual. Something is up.

What are YOU up to?

He doesn't smile back at me. "Maybe nothing. Maybe something. I haven't decided yet. Just try to stay close to her, okay?"

I nod. After she saw the light last night, she sort of freaked out on me and told me to get out of her room and take that light with me. I'm not sure what her mood will be like today, so I was planning to shadow her all day, anyway.

"Anna?"

The seriousness of his expression scares me. "It's your body. Don't forget that. Okay?"

I nod.

"Promise me," he insists.

I nod again. I feel like a bobblehead.

There are so many people here for the trial, the police have actually blocked off the street. Yumi and Robert closed the store for the day so they could be in court with Rei, and they end up parking in a garage two blocks away. There are television reporters snooping around the crowd and inside the courtroom people have to squeeze together on the long wooden benches in the gallery to make room. Yumi may be tiny, but she has sharp elbows and she's not afraid to use them. I float around the judge's chair and watch everyone a.s.semble and wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Yawn. There are official court procedures that must be followed. I notice Taylor sitting between my mom and her parents. She looks very ... grown up. She's wearing a modest navy skirt and jacket, with a scoop neck white shirt underneath it. Even her shoes are conservative, navy pumps with a two-inch heel. Her hair is down and hides the hardware in her ears, although even if they saw it, it would in no way make her any less credible as a witness. I wish I could wiggle the jacket off her so they could see that tattoo, though, because only a psycho would permanently ink their arm with the portrait of a dead girl she barely knew.

Keys rattle and a door cranks open. At first I think, Yay! It's the judge, but then I see, Boo! It's Seth with his ankles and wrists shackled. He's accompanied by two police officers with really big guns in their holsters. What's left of Seth's aura is the color of cement, and it clings to him in a thin layer. I make the mistake of checking to see if Rei saw Seth come in, and of course he did. Seth makes eye contact briefly with Rei, and their shared misery takes on the same gray hue. The two armed police officers direct Seth to a table where his lawyer is already seated, and once he's settled, the officers stay nearby.

"All rise!" The bailiff sounds the same as the one on Law & Order. They must all sound the same, like sports announcers and the ladies on the phone who tell you to press one for English.

The crowd stands mechanically. The judge comes in dressed in his solemn black robe. I scoot away from his seat before he sits on me and swoop to the back of the room. I wonder if he can see way back here with those gla.s.ses sliding down his nose.

He is making a speech about the grave nature of this trial when I decide to put this question to the test. When I materialize, it would appear I'm actually standing on the back of one of the bench seats while leaning against the back wall, all suitably attired in my gym shorts and T-shirt.

He sees me. He's panning the audience as he makes his speech, and when his eyes reach mine, he slides his gla.s.ses up his nose which, intentionally or not, gives me the finger, and his mouth sinks into an intimidating frown. "Would the young lady in the..." I vanish. He stares at the s.p.a.ce where I was, where I still am floating, invisibly, and his jaw goes slack. "Er, never mind." He notices Taylor sitting between the mothers, and his frown reaches epic proportions. He takes one more quick look at the back of the room before he removes his gla.s.ses and polishes them on the baggy sleeve of his robe.

"All right, then, Defense, you may call your first witness."

That would be Rei.

They make Rei swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him G.o.d, and he does just that, despite the district attorney's best efforts to trip him up by asking the same question phrased just a little differently every time. Rei is a rock, and he refuses to get tangled in the district attorney's web of obscure questions.

Taylor's friends are less successful with Seth's attorney.

"She didn't really steal it," Vienna testifies. "She just borrowed it as a joke. She was planning to give it back to him."

"Just answer the question, yes or no. Did Taylor Gleason take Seth Murphy's cell phone without his permission?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"That's all."

"But..."

"I said, that's all." Seth's attorney picks up the wrinkled note and shows it to the jury, then reads it out loud before he holds it in front of Vienna. "And did she ask you or one of your friends to tape this note to Seth Murphy's locker?"

Vienna bursts into tears. "She's dead! G.o.d! Can't you just be nice to her?"

They take a break mid-morning. Everyone stretches, shuffles to the end of the benches, and goes off in search of bladder relief, caffeine, a quick smoke, whatever.

Rei appears to have something else in mind.

Taylor stands with her friends, who are busy vilifying Seth's attorney for making Vienna cry. As Rei approaches them, the conversation stalls, and all eyes are on Rei. He does look very handsome with his hair neatly combed away from his face, and n.o.body seems to notice this is the third time he's worn the same outfit this week. As he pa.s.ses them, he smiles directly at Taylor and says hi, and this simple word somehow floats off his lips surrounded by tiny hearts and flowers. There is a collective sigh as he pushes through a metal door that leads to the first floor.

Rei makes his way down the stairs and into a hallway where there are restrooms and an alcove with soda and snack machines. Several coins later, he is now the owner of his first package of peanut b.u.t.ter cups.

What the h.e.l.l is that boy doing? He already ate a bowl of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast, and it's not like Rei to eat candy. I can only surmise he plans to give them to Taylor, but I desperately hope he's not planning to hand those to her in this crowded courthouse with all these television cameras. That would be like, Go To Jail. Go Directly To Jail.

He peels off the wrapper, stacks the peanut b.u.t.ter cups and shoves them both into his mouth at once.

Holy c.r.a.p! Where's my camera when I need it? I surge into view to show him my astonished expression as he drops the wrapper into the trash.

He holds up one finger to tell me hold on a second while he chews them slowly, and I start to laugh at his chipmunk cheeks, but he isn't laughing with me, so I stop. I can't remember Rei ever eating peanut b.u.t.ter; it's just one of those things Yumi never had in the house to keep things safer for me.

"Stay close and stay invisible, okay?"

I nod and fade out of view as footsteps come click-clacking down the stairs.

"Rei?" I didn't realize my voice could sound so s.e.xy.

He swallows hard. "Hey, Taylor."

"I'm up next, to testify."

"I know."

She wilts against the wall. "I don't know what to do, Rei. I just ... I would get up on the witness stand and tell them this was all a big mistake if I thought maybe you and I could..." She touches his arms, and her fingers crawl toward his shoulders like spiders.

I know that expression on Rei's face, the one he has when he doesn't want to do something he knows he has to do. He takes a deep breath ...

... and he kisses her.

Again!

Somewhere upstairs I hear the bailiff's loud voice telling people court is ready to resume, but neither Taylor nor Rei show any sign that they heard him. Rei slides his arms around Taylor and pulls her closer to him.

This time, it's Rei who's all into the kiss, his mouth forcing her lips apart, his tongue sliding deep into her mouth. Really deep! Okay, a little too much tongue there, buddy! She certainly seems to like it, though. She lets out a little moan and her back arches as her arms come up around his neck. Ack! Aren't there laws against inappropriate public displays of affection in a federal building?

She moans again, but this time it sounds different, not pleasure, but ... something else. Her bright pink aura sallows. She tries to twist her head away from Rei's, but his hand cups the back of her head and he holds her mouth tight to his until she pushes hard against his chest.

"Rei, stop. Something's wrong, I..." She can't seem to catch her breath. Now she looks scared and she holds on to Rei because she has to, not because she wants to. "I can't ... breathe! What's wrong with ... me?"

Rei sits on the floor and pulls her down onto his lap. "Where's the epi?" he asks while tugging her purse strap off her shoulder.

"The ... what?"

"The epi! Remember I told you to keep that with you all the time? Where is it?"

"I think it's in ... my backpack."

Oh, I wonder if she means the backpack that's at home sitting on my bedroom floor.

"What?" He yanks open the zipper of her purse and searches unsuccessfully for the familiar cylinder case. "Taylor, you were supposed to keep that with you all the time!" He wrestles his cell phone out of his pocket and dials 911, adjusting his arm to catch her head as it lolls back and she starts to gag. "Come on! Come on!" he urges the dispatcher to pick up. He talks fast, and as soon as he flips his phone shut and pockets it, he lifts her up in his arms and takes the stairs three at a time.

The police officer in the hallway takes one look at Rei and pulls out his radio.

"I've already called 911," Rei tells him. "See if you can find Lydie Rogan in the courtroom. Tell her that her daughter is having an allergic reaction and she doesn't have her epi with her."

The cop doesn't argue; he just hustles away.

Taylor's face is inflating into a big, blotchy mess, and her lips look like sausages. Rei looks around him wildly for I don't know what-my mother, the paramedics, me? All of the above?

I surge into view right in front of him.

"Is this disabled enough?" he asks me.

Taylor writhes in his arms as she tries to breathe.

"I'm sorry!" Rei looks down at Taylor, then back up to me with an anguished look on his face. "I couldn't think of any other way."

I nod, but I don't have time to listen to his apologies right now. If I don't make this happen now, it will all be for nothing. Sirens scream in the distance, but anything can happen in the time it takes for that ambulance to get here, especially since my insurance policy is sitting at home in my backpack.

I don't need a deep breath, but I go through the motions of taking one anyway. I feel like I'm standing at the top of Red Rocks preparing to leap eighty feet down and plunge into the icy waters of Lake Champlain. Taylor is clearly suffering from the histamine that's flooding her body right now. Her breath rattles in her chest since it's hampered by her swollen esophagus. For over a week, I've wanted nothing more than to get Taylor Gleason out of my body and reclaim what's rightfully mine. Now that moment has come, and I'm wishing I was anywhere but here, poised to pull Taylor out of that mess that is my body and dive in myself.

The first thing I do is make sure I have enough energy to finish what I start. I close my eyes and pull, from beyond me, out into the farthest depths of the universe, until I'm sure I can do this, I can just reach in and ...

... pull.

She is so weak and disoriented from the allergic reaction that she pops right out of my body. She responds with a panicky howl.

"No! NO!"

Rei sucks in his breath when my body goes limp in his arms and the slits that are my eyes turn white. This is probably happening because n.o.body's in there right now, but someone better find that epi and find it fast!

"Anna! Anna!" My mother is running on her st.u.r.dy legs, followed by the policeman, who shouts into his radio. Some idiot with a television camera has followed them into the hallway, and a few other people have come out to gawk, as well. Great ... an audience. I close my eyes and psyche myself up to dive in anyway.

Right ... now!

Something grabs my wrist.

"No, Anna, please! You have to let me back in! Please!"

The word please only works in certain situations and this isn't one of them. She's weak, I can feel it. We scuffle to get back in, but she's now molded to fit into my body, and I no longer am, so she claims my body once again.

"Anna! Honey, can you hear me?" My mother kneels beside me, crying, and tries to pull me out of Rei's arms, but he won't let go.