“Poor Caleb. Having to carry on a tradition that destroyed his family. . . .” I shake my head. “He should hate me.”
“I think that’s the last emotion he feels for you.” She pauses and changes the subject. “I’ll make you a plate and bring it up. I don’t want you going to bed hungry.”
But for the rest of the night, I can’t stop thinking about Caleb’s father. My mom’s death was at the hands of a random murderer, but his dad’s death would forever be tied to my mom—and to an obligation he never asked for.
I’m attempting to catch up on some homework Sunday afternoon when the doorbell rings. Aunt Bea pokes her head into my room a moment later to tell me that Peregrine and Chloe are here.
“I have nothing to say to them,” I tell her without looking up.
She hesitates. “I think Peregrine’s here to apologize. With things as dangerous as they are right now, maybe it can’t hurt to hear her out.”
“Fine,” I grumble.
I follow her downstairs and find Peregrine and Chloe waiting in the front hall.
“I’ll leave you girls alone,” Aunt Bea says. She narrows her eyes at Peregrine before slipping away.
“What do you want?” I say once Aunt Bea is gone.
Chloe looks at Peregrine, who’s still staring at the floor. After a pause, she nudges her.
Peregrine looks up and blinks at me a few times. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?” she says. It seems difficult for her to get the words out; I assume she’s not used to contrition.
Chloe nudges her again. “Go ahead, tell her the rest.”
Peregrine glares at Chloe for a moment, but then she looks up again and says, “Fine, I might have been a little jealous. Caleb’s the only guy I’ve ever really liked, and he rejected me. Then you get to town, and he’s all over you. And not only that, but our sosyete’s supposed to bend over backward to do what’s right now that you’re here. It doesn’t seem fair.”
“You think this is what I want?” I demand. “Besides, it’s not like anything’s ever going to happen with me and Caleb anyhow.” I wave my hand distractedly and try my hardest to pretend I don’t care. “What matters is that we’re in danger.”
“Exactly my point. That’s why we have no choice but to do the ceremony. Think you can get your panties out of a twist long enough for that?”
“The Mardi Gras ceremony?” I ask.
Peregrine’s expression turns reverent. “The Mardi Gras Possession. The single most important ceremony we hold each year. If you do it with us, Eveny, it can protect us entirely and restore Carrefour power, which has been chipping away for the last fourteen years. It’ll even bank us enough power to start to fix the Périphérie.”
I hesitate. “If it’s the only way, I’m in.” I don’t like it, but I know I don’t have a choice.
“Wonderful. We do it right after the Mardi Gras Ball next Tuesday,” Chloe explains. “After the ball ends, our sosyete caravans to New Orleans.”
“Mardi Gras is the craziest day of the year in New Orleans, so everyone will be out in the streets partying,” Peregrine says. “We’ll do a mass possession ceremony soon after we arrive, then join the party.”
“It’s like the ceremony that freaked you out at Peregrine’s,” Chloe cuts in, “but everyone gets possessed. It’s the best way to draw power to us. Eloi Oke and the other spirits that possess us have free rein to party, drink, and be among real people for the first time in a year. It’s the greatest gift we can give them, and in return they give us tremendous power.”
“But leaving Carrefour means leaving the protection of the town,” I point out.
“It’s a chance we have to take,” Peregrine says. “If we don’t do this ceremony, we won’t be able to fix anything that’s gone wrong. And that could destroy us.”
“The ceremony has to take place in New Orleans?” I ask.
“It’s the only place the spirits are entirely free to revel in public without anyone blinking an eye,” she says. “Our defenses might have been down before, but they’re not anymore.”
“Eveny,” Chloe says, “I don’t like this either. But I think we’re out of options.”
Caleb is gone from school Monday and Tuesday, which makes me feel sadder than it should. I know he’s off training with Patrick and Oscar as the Mardi Gras Possession approaches, but I miss his presence. There are times I glance out the classroom windows and see flashes of someone in the woods that I’m sure is him, but I know I’m imagining things.