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THE KEY

by Rachel Hawkins

High school is hard enough without having a psychic for a mom.

And no, I don’t mean she has that uniquely Mom-like sixth sense. I mean she’s literally a psychic. Reading your palms, telling you your future, all for the bargain price of fifty bucks a session (a hundred if you want a full hour, but no one ever does).

Momma runs her business out of our trailer. I know there are people who say that trailers can be nice, fancy even.

Those people had never been to our trailer.

It isn’t even a double-wide, which would have at least given us enough space for more than one ratty couch. I think the couch had belonged to my nana at some point. I knew whoever had had it before us had smoked on it, though. It carried the scent of thousands of cigarettes, millions even, deep inside every cabbage rose on its stained and burned cushions.

Momma’s “studio,” as she liked to call it, was in the second bedroom. When she wasn’t reading people’s fortunes, I slept on an air mattress on the floor in there. It was either that or share with Momma, which no, thank you. And like I said, the couch stunk—and was haunted besides—so I made do with the air mattress, no matter how big a pain in the ass it was to pump it up every single night, only to roll it back flat every morning.

The studio was the one nice room in the whole trailer. In there, the linoleum didn’t have duct tape over the cracks. In fact, you couldn’t see the linoleum at all. Momma had bought a real nice rug from Walmart years ago. It was a little too big for the room, curling up against the walls, but Momma kept it so dark in there that no one ever really noticed.

There had been a beaded curtain separating the studio from the rest of the trailer, but I’d talked Momma into getting rid of it. It looked cheap and trashy. I realized that was kind of an ironic statement, considering the rest of our place, but I had some limits. She’d hung a paisley shawl in the doorway instead, and while that wasn’t great, at least it didn’t rattle every time you walked past it.

Momma was standing in front of that shawl on Saturday morning, yawning as she cradled a cup of coffee in her hands. I stood at the sink, washing last night’s dinner dishes and looking out the window. On the porch of the next trailer over, a little girl with hair nearly the same white-blond as mine was playing with a water hose, giggling as she sprayed the vinyl siding. I was smiling at her and nearly missed what Momma was saying. Only when she said, “So you’ll need to stay close by today,” did I turn around, frowning at her.

“I can’t,” I told her, the dish in my hand dripping water onto the stained and faded linoleum. “I have track practice at noon.”

Momma scowled. Years ago, she had been pretty, but there was something hard in her face now that had nothing to do with aging or wrinkles. “You had track practice last weekend.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Yeah, I have it every weekend. And three times a week after school. Come on, Momma. Use your powers and envision me jogging around the track.” I wiggled my sudsy fingers at her. “Because trust me, that’s my future today.”

Momma sighed, crossing over to me and dropping her nearly empty mug in my newly cleaned sink. I bit my lip as coffee splashed over the enamel. Then she held her hands out to me and I groaned. “Oh, come on, Momma, I was joking.”

Moving closer, Momma insisted, “Give ’em here.”

Still grumbling, I laid my palms flat on hers, and taking a deep breath, Momma closed her eyes. Almost immediately, she frowned. “Girl, you weren’t kidding.”

“About what?”

“The running. You are gonna run and run today. Fast.”

I took my hands back even as I smiled a little bit. “I am trying to beat my best time today—4:07. School record is 4:01, so I’m almost there.”

“Well, if what I saw was any indication, you’re gonna sail right through it, sweetheart. You were runnin’ like your life depended on it, from what I could see.”

Turning away from her, I started to rinse her coffee out of the sink. “In that case, I guess I’ll be going to track practice today, after all.”

Momma patted my shoulder blade. “The appointment is at ten, so we’ll definitely be done by noon.”

They’d be done by 10:30—10:15, probably. Usually once people got a look at our place, they didn’t like to stay long. I glanced at Momma, still in a mismatched set of pajamas, before looking at the clock on the microwave. “It’s nearly ten now—you might wanna go get into character.”

I’d expected another comment about making fun, but Momma just swatted me with a dishcloth and snorted. “I will. Thanks for cleaning up for me, baby. You’re a good girl.”

She said that to me a lot.

As Momma drifted off to her bedroom to drape herself in scarves and eyeliner—People expect a certain look, Lana—I busied myself straightening up the living room. There was only so much I could do, but I could at least make sure things were clean. I always hated the looks on Momma’s clients’ faces when they first walked in. Like, hello, maybe you shouldn’t be so disgusted when you’re the one driving out to the boondocks to get your palm read, you know? That seemed way more offensive than an ugly couch and some fake paneling.

Still, I swept up and fluffed the throw pillows on the couch and sprayed some air freshener. The scent of incense was already wafting out of Momma’s studio, and I knew I’d have a headache before the day was over.

At exactly 9:57, I heard the rumble of a truck outside. “Momma, they’re here!” I hollered as I shoved last night’s pizza box into the trash can. The truck’s ignition cut off and I glanced out the front window, wondering which kind of client this one would be. Momma’s main business came from bored ladies in Auburn, the nearest town over. They were almost never under the age of fifty, and they looked so similar that I couldn’t swear Momma hadn’t just been seeing the same client over and over again for the past few years.

But when I saw the shiny blue truck, I knew there was no old lady behind the wheel. My heart hammered in my chest, stomach jumping. What was he doing here now?

The passenger side door opened, and a girl came tumbling out, her long legs pale in the late-morning light. As soon as I saw her, I ducked back from the window, the butterflies in my stomach suddenly turning to lead.

“Momma!” I hissed, crossing over to her studio and yanking back the paisley curtain. She was already sitting at her table, shuffling the tarot cards.

“What?” she asked, raising her eyebrows so that they nearly disappeared under her headscarf.

“Those are kids from my school,” I told her, trying to keep my voice low. Trailers aren’t exactly soundproof, and I could already hear the heavy tread on the stairs outside. “You promised never to read for kids.”

Momma blinked at me before returning to her cards. “Well, Lana, it’s not like people tell me how old they are when they call and schedule a reading. Besides, they booked a whole hour, and if you wanna keep having nice things like, oh, I don’t know, electricity, water...”

There was a knock at the door and I winced, afraid the kids on the porch may have overheard.

“Go answer it,” Momma said, flinging a hand out, her mismatched bangles rattling.

“Please,” I said, but I wasn’t sure what I was asking for. For her to go answer it herself, for her not to make me do this with people I knew. For her not to be a psychic in a trailer, maybe.

But Momma just fixed me with her big hazel eyes, eyes that looked just like mine, and said, “You’re not ashamed of your momma, are you, Lana Banana?”

There is no way to answer that question. It’s a trick that parents throw at you, like Do you want a spanking? or What did you just say?

Besides, I was ashamed, and the guilt of that stung even more than the potential humiliation awaiting me at the front door.

They stood there on the porch, the girl leaning against the railing. Big aviator sunglasses covered nearly half her face, but I would’ve recognized that bright red hair anywhere. Milly Ross and I might not travel in the same circles at our school, but we’d had a few classes together.

I kept my eyes on her rather than the boy standing just beside her. I could feel the weight of his gaze on me.

“Um...Lana, right?” Milly asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “You’re in algebra with me? Third period?”

I wondered if everything she ever said sounded like a question even as I said, “Yeah. And fourth-period history.”

“Right,” Milly said, and then she jerked her head at the boy. “Do you know Skye?”

I didn’t want my cheeks to flame, but I could feel heat rising up my neck as I said, “Yeah, Skye Bartlett, right? I think we have English together?”

The corner of his lips lifted for just a second, a crooked smile I’d seen a hundred times. It never failed to make my pulse leap.

“French,” Skye said, and I nodded.

“Right, that’s it. Anyway, y’all, uh, wanna come in?” Moving out of the doorway, I gestured for them to come inside. Milly went first, and as Skye followed her into the trailer, he briefly let his hand brush my waist. It was a tiny touch, but even through my T-shirt, I could feel the heat of his fingers.

Milly stood in the middle of the room, shoving her sunglasses on top of her head. “So...you live here?”

No, I just hang out in this lady’s trailer. “Yeah, I do. You guys can have a seat if you want.”

Milly swung her head in the direction of the couch, the silver hoops in her ears flashing. Earlier, I’d thought that with the pillows fluffed, the sofa had actually looked a little bit better, but seeing it now through her eyes, I knew it was as shabby and ugly as ever.

“We can just stand here and wait,” Milly said, her nose crinkling as she took in the faded flooring, the mismatched furniture.

I knew Mom was waiting for me to do my thing, but I really didn’t want to. It was one thing when I was helping her with overweight, middle-aged ladies who just wanted to know if their husbands were cheating on them or if they were going to win the lottery. But these were kids I knew. This was Skye.

Skye was still standing by the door, and even though I wasn’t looking at him, I was aware of the way his arms were folded across his chest, the thin material of his T-shirt stretching over his biceps.

“I didn’t know this was your mom,” Milly said at last, fiddling with the end of the oversize shirt she wore over a white tank top. It was a boy’s shirt, hanging past her hips, and for a moment, I thought it looked kind of familiar. Had I seen that shirt on Skye before? I couldn’t remember.

Then I realized the silence had stretched a little too long, and blinked. “Oh. Right, yeah, I don’t exactly wear shirts that say Hey, My Mom’s a Psychic.”

Milly laughed at that, but it was too loud and too high to be genuine. From behind the paisley curtain, I heard Mom clear her throat.

She wasn’t going to come out until I’d done the prep work, so with a sigh I asked them if I could get them anything to drink.

Milly cast a concerned look at the kitchen, but before she could answer, I’d crossed to the fridge and pulled out a couple of diet sodas. They were the off-brand kind from Winn-Dixie, but Milly and Skye both took one. As they did, I let my fingers brush against the thumb ring Milly wore.

It was always the same. Like coming across a closed door and opening it just a crack, peeking inside. As soon as I peeked inside Milly’s mind, I saw a familiar face. Kimberly McEntire had been in my grade and had been Milly’s best friend.

And Skye’s girlfriend.

I saw her and Milly riding in Kimberly’s car, singing loudly with the radio. Now they were sitting on Kimberly’s bed, and she was crying, Milly wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Milly sitting on the floor of her bedroom, listening to Kimberly’s mom asking where Kimberly was, if Milly had seen her. And over all of that was this feeling—worry, anxiety, anger, all balled up together.

I was just drawing my hand back when there was a flash of another emotion, another face and name. It startled me so much I nearly dropped the soda I’d been handing to Milly, and she caught it with a little scowl.

“Whoa. You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, even as I shook my head. “Yeah, totally. Sorry, the can was slippery. Uh, if y’all will wait right here for a sec, I’ll go get Mom—er, Madame Lin.”

I’d begged Momma to drop the stupid name, but unlike the Beaded Curtain Argument, I’d lost. According to Momma, people felt better hearing their psychic readings from a woman named Madame Lin than from one named Lynette.

Ducking behind the paisley curtain, I found Momma sitting expectantly at her table. “Well?”

Keeping my voice at a whisper, I told her what I’d picked up from the jewelry. “She’s mostly here to ask about Kimberly McEntire.” I didn’t mention the other thing. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to without Momma knowing something was wrong with me.

Momma scowled. “Did she bring something belonging to the girl?”

I shook my head. “Don’t think so.”

Throwing up her hands, Momma blew out a long breath. “Well, how am I supposed to answer any questions about someone who’s not even here? That’s not how this works,” she hissed.

There was no sense in reminding Momma that I knew how this worked. The powers Momma had—the powers I had—were really specific. I could touch people and, if I wanted to, get impressions of what they were thinking, little bits of their present and past. The future was a total no-go for me. But Momma, she could see only little snatches of a person’s future. But that person had to be sitting there with her or she had to touch something of theirs. In other words, if Milly wanted to find out where Kimberly had disappeared to all those months ago, she was crap outta luck.

“Just lie to her,” I said with a little shrug. “Everybody says Kimberly ran away from home after a fight with her parents. Make up some kind of glamorous story about Kim living out in, like, L.A. or something.”

Momma mulled that over, twirling the end of her headscarf. “That’s good,” she said at last. “After all, what do I always say? If you can’t tell someone the truth—”

“At least make them happy,” I finished. It was basically Momma’s motto as a psychic.

Momma smiled at me, her teeth white against the dark wine of her lipstick. “You’ll be good at this.”

It was pointless to remind Momma that there was no way in hell I was going to end up reading palms in a trailer. Just because she and Grammy had both done it didn’t mean that I was going to. I had my eye on a track scholarship to the University of Alabama, and after that, I was getting as far away from the Woodland Hills Trailer Park as I possibly could.

Maybe Kimberly McEntire had felt like that, too. Sure, she lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods in town and seemed to have everything going for her. Good grades, pretty face and Skye Bartlett. But clearly something had been pulling her beyond the city limits. She’d taken off over six months ago, and other than a note left on her pillow, no one had heard from her since. I found myself hoping the future I’d told Momma to make up for her was close to the truth.

Momma got up from the table, and I trailed after her back into the living room. Milly was still standing hesitantly by the couch while Skye stood near the front window. Momma looked back and forth between them. “Will both of you be sitting for the reading, or—”

“Just her,” Skye said, inclining his head toward Milly. “No offense, but this kind of thing freaks me out.” He grinned at Momma and she practically giggled. Behind her back, I rolled my eyes, and Skye’s grin widened.

“Very well, then.” Momma held her hand out to Milly, who glanced over at Skye, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

“So you’ll just...wait out here, right?”

He gave an easy roll of his shoulders. “Sure. Laura here can keep me company.”

“Lana,” I corrected, my lips twitching in a smile.

He snapped his fingers, nodding. “Right, right. Lana.”

It was a little too much, and just for a moment, Milly’s brow wrinkled with something like confusion. Or maybe suspicion. But then Momma was taking her hand and guiding her toward her studio.

The moment the curtain twitched closed behind Milly, Skye’s hands grabbed my waist, tugging me close to him. He ducked his head to kiss my neck, but I spun away from him, swatting at his hands. “What are you doing?” I hissed.

His bright blue eyes sparkled as he leaned closer and he whispered, “I was trying to kiss you.”

For a second, I nearly wavered. It was hard to be mad at him when he was looking at me like that.

Shooting a glance at the curtain, I grabbed Skye’s hand and tugged him out onto the porch, closing the door softly behind me. Once we were down in the yard by his truck, I shaded my eyes with my hand and looked up at him. “I wasn’t talking about the kissing. I mean why did you bring Milly here?”

Skye sighed. “She’s been wanting to come out here for months. Pretty much ever since Kimberly bailed. When she said she’d made the appointment, I offered to drive her.”

In the sunlight, his black hair glinted nearly as blue as his truck. Skye was beautiful in that way that is almost girlie. Only the dark stubble lining his jaw, the veins in his forearms, the blunt width of his hands saved him from looking too pretty. He smiled at me, leaning back against his truck. The move did nice things for his arms. It also showed off the tattoo inked on the inside of his forearm. It was a key, one of those big ornate kinds you sometimes see in old movies. I’d asked him once why a key, but he’d only kissed the tip of my nose and said, “Why not?”

“I wanted to see you today,” he said now, looking at me over the tops of his sunglasses. “And I figured this would kill two birds with one stone. Keep Milly and your mom occupied for an hour. So.” He reached out, his hand closing around my wrist, and pulled me to him. “Can we please get to occupying that time?”

My palm pressed flat against his chest. “Not here,” I told him, looking around.

Our trailer was at the very back of the park, and just beyond was the thick pine forest that gave Woodland Hills its name. Skye followed my gaze, squeezing my hand. “She paid for the whole hour,” he murmured low in my ear, and I shivered.

With one more quick glance at the trailer, I wrapped my fingers tighter around Skye’s and pulled. “Come on.”

The woods were thick and smelled like pine, dirt and that mossy, green scent of things growing. They were also cooler, the thick branches nearly blotting out the sun. We walked hand in hand until I couldn’t see the trailer anymore, and then, finally, I turned and let Skye wrap me up in his arms.

We hadn’t had a chance to be alone in over a week, and as Skye kissed me, I felt like I was melting into him, like there was nothing else in the world except me, him and the forest around us, the sound of birds in the trees, the distant burble of the creek. His lips moved over mine, and my fingers twisted in his shirt.

“I missed you,” he breathed when we pulled apart, and I smiled against his collarbone.

“I missed you, too.”

I always missed him. Even though I saw him every day at school, it wasn’t the same as this, being alone with him, kissing him, feeling his arms around me.

Looking down at me, Skye pushed my hair away from my face. “Admit this was a good idea.”

When he was holding me, everything seemed like a good idea, but I still wasn’t exactly thrilled that he’d come out here. Or, really, that he’d brought Milly out here.

With that in mind, I stepped away from him, walking a little farther into the woods. He followed, and while I let him link his fingers with mine, I didn’t say anything until we were even deeper into the trees, the ground underneath growing harder to navigate. Vines and low bushes pushed against the trees here, and even though I could hear the distant hum of I-85, it was like being in the middle of nowhere.

Once we’d reached the edge of the creek, I turned back to Skye and asked, “Why are we still sneaking around?”

He raised his dark eyebrows, blowing out a long breath. “Wow. Okay. What brought that on?”

There was a clump of dandelions at my feet, and I bent down to pick one. Twirling it between my fingers, I watched the fluff take to the air. “It’s just... Skye, are you ashamed of me? Of all this?” I flung the headless dandelion out in the direction of the trailer, and Skye immediately stepped forward, holding my arms with both hands.

“No,” he said, looking into my eyes. “God, no, Lana. Never.” Skye’s fingers dug into the flesh of my biceps, almost a little too hard.

“Then why?” I asked, hating the whiny note in my voice but unable to stop it.

He pulled away, rubbing one hand up and down the back of his neck. He always did that. He’d done it the first day I’d noticed him in French class, back at the beginning of the school year. Skye had been new, and in a county where everyone knew everyone, that had been enough to make him exotic. And then of course there was the unusual name, the blue-black hair, that beautiful, golden key covering the pale skin of his forearm. I was hardly the only girl who’d fallen in love with Skye Bartlett back in August. But he’d fallen for Kimberly McEntire, and that had been that.

Or so I’d thought.

After Kimberly had skipped town, things had changed. Skye had started sitting next to me in class, and even though he spent every lunch period with Milly and the rest of Kimberly’s friends, he had always smiled at me. Then one day after French, he’d asked if I’d help him study at the library. He’d kissed me that night up against a shelf of reference books.

Now I looked at Skye in the late-morning light and asked, “Is it Milly? Is there...? You spend a lot of time with her.” In front of people. In public.

Skye dropped his hand. “We’re friends, Lan. I only drove her out here today because I wanted to see you.” He stepped closer and I backed up until my elbows dug into the bark of the pine tree behind me. It wasn’t that he scared me. It was that I was afraid if he stood too close, I’d once again forget to be angry, forget how crappy this whole situation made me feel.

Forget what I’d seen in Milly’s head.

“It’s just not good timing right now, Lana.” Skye reached out and brushed a sweaty piece of hair from my forehead, his touch featherlight. “Kimberly’s only been gone a few months, and it might look bad if I suddenly had a new girlfriend, you know?”

Overhead, something rustled in the trees, and on the distant interstate, I heard the blast of a car horn.

“Is that what I am?” I asked, folding my arms tightly across his chest. “Your girlfriend?”

Skye lifted an eyebrow, a smirk twisting his lips. “Do you want a ring or something? My letterman’s jacket? I mean, I don’t play a sport, and I’m not even sure they make those things anymore, but maybe Goodwill would—”

I shoved at his chest. “Don’t make fun of me.”

Something flashed in his eyes, something dark and angry. But it was gone as soon as it had appeared, and when Skye took my wrist in his hand, his grip was light. “I’m not, I promise. But this is tough for me. I don’t want to look like the dick who doesn’t even miss Kim, you know?”

This whole conversation was going nowhere, and suddenly I wished I’d never brought it up. We only had an hour, and we’d spent half that already, walking and arguing. Skye was right. There was enough weirdness about Kimberly’s disappearance, and we didn’t want to add to that.

But then I remembered Milly, the images I’d gotten when I’d touched her ring. “Milly—” I started, and Skye’s fingers tightened around my wrist.

“I told you, there’s nothing going on. She doesn’t even like me like that.”

“Yes, she does,” I said before I could stop myself. “I saw it.”

I hadn’t quite shouted the words, but they’d still come out a lot louder than I’d intended. In a nearby bush, a bird suddenly took wing, and Skye startled.

“What do you mean you ‘saw it’?” There was a deep crease between his brows, and his grip on my wrist was tight enough to hurt now. I shook him off, irritated.

“I...I can see things. When I touch people. Same as my mom.”

Skye blinked, once, then twice, his whole body going still. “So...this psychic crap is for real? Because you said your mom just—”

“I know what I said.” Shoving my hands into the back pockets of my jeans, I tilted my head back, looking up at the snatches of blue sky through the branches. “I didn’t want you to think I was a freak, but yeah, Momma can really tell a person’s future, and I can get...I don’t know, impressions. When I touch somebody. It’s not a big deal.”

Skye had backed away from me now, his face pale. “Have you done that to me?” he asked, and I immediately shook my head.

“No,” I promised. “Never. I only do it to help Momma out before her readings. Anything else feels—” I shuddered “—gross. Like a violation or something.”

Skye seemed to sigh with his whole body, the breath ruffling his hair where it fell over his forehead. “So when you touched Milly—”

“She’s into you, trust me.” I left it at that. The longing coming off Milly for Skye had practically wavered there in the air earlier. True, I hadn’t picked up anything else. If anything had ever happened between them, I hadn’t seen it. But that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened.

“I can’t help it if she likes me, Lana,” Skye said. His own hands were in his pockets now, almost mimicking my pose. “But I don’t feel that way about her. I swear.”

When I didn’t say anything, Skye took a step closer. “When we kissed earlier... If you’d wanted to, you could’ve looked into my head, right?”

“I told you I wouldn’t do that,” I snapped.

Skye was watching me closely now, ducking his head so that he could see into my face. “Do you promise, Lan? Do you promise you would never do that?”

If he hadn’t said that, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so tempted. But there was something so intense in his gaze, something that made the hairs on my arms stand up. And it was like any temptation, like Skye himself—once I’d been told I couldn’t, I had to.

“Yeah,” I heard myself say. “I promise.”

His expression softened. “And I promise Milly and I are just friends. She’s only hanging around me because we both miss Kim. That’s it.”

He smiled at me, a dimple flashing in one cheek. In the shady woods, his eyes seemed a darker blue, and when he tugged me to him, I let him.

When he leaned in to kiss me, I closed my hands around his forearms. The key tattoo was just there underneath my palm, and there was one brief moment when I tried to tell myself not to do it. That he had said there was nothing going on with Milly, and I needed to trust him.

But another darker part whispered, Then why is he still keeping you a secret?

He had asked me never to read him, and I had promised, but standing there in the woods behind my home, his skin pressed against mine, the temptation was too strong. Just a little bit, I told myself. So I can be sure.

As always, it felt like opening a door, and I tried to keep the door opened only a crack. Just enough to see if he was lying to me about Milly.

But the moment the door from my mind to his opened, it was like a hurricane blew through it. Skye kissed me as image after image assaulted my mind. Kimberly crying. Kimberly shoving at Skye’s shoulders. They’re in a field somewhere, and it’s dark, and she needs to shut up, just shut up, shut up. Skye’s hands around Kimberly’s throat, and she’s kicking him, but he’s stronger and her kicks are getting weaker and weaker, and sweat is dripping down his face as he wonders why she won’t die, would she just die already—

My heart was in my mouth, my stomach rolling, and it took every bit of strength in me not to scream, not to push him away. But we were alone out here, far from anyone, and I’d told him I wouldn’t look. If he knew that I knew...

We parted, and he pressed his lips to my forehead while I shook. Please let him think it’s from the kiss.

I wasn’t sure how I managed to smile when he looked down at me. His eyes were so blue. Kimberly had looked into those eyes as he’d choked the life out of her. Kimberly, who had never left town, who had no glamorous future in L.A. Kimberly, who was probably at the bottom of a lake, or in a hole somewhere in that field I’d seen. Kimberly, who’d loved and trusted Skye like I had.