The Immortals by Mary Hallberg (chrysanthemum read aloud txt) 📗

every problem I’d ever had with her, didn’t seem that important.

twenty-three

I should have waited until the next day to go back. It was almost a half hour drive back into the Necropolis, and I’d already spent so much time and money driving up earlier that day. But I needed to tell the people involved everything as soon as I could.

Traffic wasn’t too bad — I guess everyone was back at work after lunch — so I made it to Matt and Gage’s house quickly. One I got there, I realized I should have called first. Matt wasn’t a senior like the rest of us, so he probably wasn’t even out of school yet. Besides, just because I was fooled by Corrina’s little project didn’t mean they were.

But I was there; no use turning around now. Taking a deep breath, I slid out of the car and knocked on the door.

They’d done some landscaping since the last time I’d visited. When I first met Gage — and when I left the Necropolis — the front lawn was largely undecorated. Now it had been adorned with a bird bath, lawn gnomes and a circular concrete drive.

Matt answered the door and smiled. “Kenzie!” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“Funny, I could ask you the same question. School let out already?”

“Yeah, it’s almost three. What’s going on?”

I held up the notebook, the page where his section started bookmarked. “I have to show you something.”

“I don’t get it,” Matt said as he flipped through the notebook. “Did Corrina write this all down to expose us or something? I didn’t even think I told her anything interesting.”

“I don’t know what exactly she was doing,” I said. “But she’s definitely recording private conversations. When did you tell her all this?”

“I didn’t. I was talking about it with someone at a party awhile back, and I guess she overheard.”

“How can she do that?” I exclaimed. “That can’t be legal.”

“Probably not. But if nobody saw her with any sort of device or couldn’t prove it, theres not much we can do.” He flips the notebook shut. “What’s she doing with all this, anyway? Writing a book?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? She might want to publish it anonymously. Then she won’t be publicly responsible for any of the blowback.”

Matt gripped the notebook in his palms. “She’s not going to get away with it,” he mumbled.

Gage was in his room studying when we found him. He had a similar reaction as Matt, and I didn’t feel like hanging around with two more people to show. So I headed for Jacey’s.

Jacey didn’t have much to say about the notes. We spent more time than I expected chatting and catching up. It was nearly dinnertime when I headed for Elizabeth’s.

This was the conversation I’d been dreading. After knocking on the door, I was soon greeted by a woman in her twenties, carrying a toddler on her hip.

“Are you Mackenzie?” she asked. I was stunned; in all my time in the Necropolis, I’d never gotten used to being recognized.

“Um, yeah. Is Elizabeth home? I need to show her something.” I hoped Elizabeth hadn’t shared the details of our last conversation with this woman.

“Yeah, she’s upstairs.” She motioned inside with her free hand, which I took as a sign to come in. I sat on a plush leather couch for a few minutes, the same one I”d seen so many months ago at the Halloween party, until Elizabeth walked in.

She must have been studying, or at least doing something more casual than usual. Her hair was pulled back and she wore a sweatshirt and tights. It was the most casual I’d seen her dress in awhile.

As she walked in, her eyes widened. “Mackenzie!” she said. “I didn’t think you’d be here. I thought you were back in Rochester.”

“I was. But I had lunch with Corrina Girard today and found something…well, I think you should see it.”

I had my finger open to the page where Corrina’s notes started, and I sat the notebook on Elizabeth’s lap as she took a seat beside me. She glanced over Matt’s section, but read carefully through Jacey’s, then her own. I looked around the room s I waited, pretending to be fascinated by the movie posters and vases. Finally, she looked up, closed the notebook and stared straight ahead.

“I can’t believe I told her all of this,” she said quietly. “She said it was off the record. She bought me drinks. I said too much.”

“Elizabeth, I am so sorry about all the things I said to you. I had no idea. Even if you hadn’t gone through all that, I shouldn’t have said it.”

She wiped something away from her cheek, probably a tear. “You know, when you and Gage first met, I was so jealous. I was over him, and I had no desire to be with him anymore. But then when he was interested in someone else, it was weird, you know? I tried to be nice to you because I didn’t want to be the bitchy ex. But when you two broke up and I still wanted Gage…well, I went for it.” She sighed. “Look, that’s all over. What’s done is done. There’s no reason why we can’t be friends."

I nodded. “I’d like that.”

twenty-four

I stayed in the church for awhile after Corrina left. Matt and Paige made their way in, apparently cutting through the sanctuary to get back to the car. I hadn’t realized either of them were there, much less together. I talked to them for a few minutes and they left hand in hand.

After they left, I started flipping through the hymnal. Everyone else had cleared out, but I liked the quiet, and mom probably wasn't done talking yet since she hadn’t come to get me. So I sat at the piano and pounded out the melody of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

When I finished, I heard clapping and saw Gage walking down the aisle. If he had come two hours earlier he would have been kicked out.

“Hey there,” I said.

“Hey yourself.” He walked to the pulpit and looked up at the stained glass window. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you before the service.