Part 14 (1/2)

You know what? Christopher had turned around in the front seat and was looking back at us through the plastic barrier. It was clear he could hear us, after all, despite the tinny music urging us to Soniya dil se mila de and Just chill. Dont worry about it. If shes alive, Felixll find your mom. Just sit back and relax, all of you. Its taken care of.

Which was exactly what a supervillain would say. Especially as he was taking you to your execution.

But wouldnt a truly threatening supervillain have been waving a weapon of some kind at us?

Yeah, no, not so much. Considering we were all heading into this of our own volition. Well, more or less. I guess I didnt have a choice, really. It was help Steven find his mother or let him go public with what he knew, which Id started strongly to suspect last night was the direction Nikkis brother was heading. I could just see it nowSteven on the national news, making appeals for help finding his mom, and then casually mentioning, And by the waythe girl currently occupying Nikki Howards body isnt really my sister. I dont know who she is, but somebody please do an exorcism to get her the h.e.l.l out, okay? Thanks.

Thatd go over real well with Stark, I bet.

Lulu was on her cell phone next to me. No, she was saying to someone on the other end. You have to make sure the caterer knows to deliver everything through the service elevator in the back. Last time they made a few deliveries from the front and they scratched the bra.s.s in the elevator, and the building management got really mad. Understand? Good. She hung up.

Is this party all you ever think about? Steven asked. He sounded really irritated.

Lulu looked past me and over at him. Her expression was stunned.

No, she replied. Of course not!

Its just a party, Steven said. I throw parties all the time. You get a keg and you pour out a couple bags of pretzels. You put on some music and you invite your friends. Its not that big a deal.

Lulu threw me an incredulous look. Since I wasnt exactly the worlds greatest expert on parties, I was unable to contribute to the conversation. Ive been to some parties with Lulu, its true, and they seemed a bit more complex than getting a keg and pouring out a couple bags of pretzels. The last one we went to involved a fire-eater. But I figured Id let her handle the situation.

This isnt just an ordinary party, she explained carefully. Sus.h.i.+ chefs from n.o.bu are going to be making hand rolls on the spot. Theres going to be every type of call liquor you can imagine, with bartenders who are also expert astrologists. Im having a chocolate fountain installed on that little outside deck. And DJ Drama is going to be spinning.

Steven just shook his head. Why? Why are you doing all that? Who are you trying to impress?

Impress? Lulu said the word as if it were foreign. Im not trying to impress anyone” Which wasnt exactly true. Lulud been spending a lot of time lately trying to impress Steven. Still, not in a bad way, the way Whitney Robertson and the rest of the Walking Dead try to impresswell, me. Everything Lulu does, she does from a motivation of a hundred percent goodness. No one who knew her well could ever say otherwise. Steven, Im sure, was just upset with the way things were going, and nervous about his mom.

I hurried to intervene. Lulu likes to entertain, I said. Shes compensating for a less than satisfactory childhood. Shed really like it if you could be there.

Steven hesitatedthen saw my expression, which was beseeching”I was sending him a telepathic message that read, Come on, dude. She has a huge crush on you. Dont diss her. Just say youll come to her party. I dont care if shes not your type. Just say youll come. Come on, throw the girl a bone.

He shrugged and sank more deeply back into the seat, as Cosabellas panting made a steamy spot on the window beside him. Sure. Of course. I appreciate the invitation. It sounds great.

Lulu wriggled all over with excitement. Its going to be great! she enthused. Were having some of the trapeze artists from Cirque du Soleil, you know? Theyre installing trapezes, because our ceilings are so high. Its going to be freaky! People should be able to see them through our windows from all over Manhattan!

Lulu went on about the party almost the entire way to Felixs house, which we finally pulled up in front of about twenty minutes later. It was a nondescript attached home in a pleasant-looking middle-cla.s.s neighborhood. Christopher paid the cabdriver and we stepped out into the cold, miserable rain, which disturbed Cosabella so much”she looked up at me with a perplexed expression, like, Why, Mom? Why would you do this to me?”that I had to lift her and stick her back in the tote, where she happily snuggled down again.

Then, ducking his head against the steady mist of rain, Christopher led the way down the walk and up the stoop to the front door, where he lifted the American eagle-shaped door knocker and let it drop.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this? Steven asked me as we waited for the door to be answered.

Itll be fine, I said. Though I didnt actually believe this. Especially, I suspected, when Steven saw who wed come to visit.

I wasnt wrong. A minute later, the door opened, and a plump middle-aged woman wearing jeans and a Stark brand sweater with a sparkly American flag on it cried, Christopher! What are you doing here on a school day?

Christopher smiled and said, Oh, they already let us out on winter break in the city, Aunt Jackie.

Aunt Jackie beamed and said, And you came to see Felix? And brought your friends? How sweet of you. Arent you a nice boy?

If only she knew.

Well, dont stand out there in the cold, Aunt Jackie cried. Come in! Come in.

Felixs mother shepherded us inside, where it was warm. And decorated in everything you could buy at a Stark Megastore. Im not kidding. I recognized a Stark brand shelving unit, a Stark sofa and love seat arrangement, a Stark entertainment set, even a Stark brand television. Felixs family had the complete Stark living room, down to the matching green Naugahyde Stark brand love seats Christophers aunt and uncle evidently sat in to watch the Stark Shopping Network at night.

I could even smell Nikki perfume emanating from Aunt Jackie, a fairly noxious combination when added to the fact she had something baking in the oven back in the kitchen. Nikkis perfume didnt go well with food. Or anything, really.

Youre just in time, Felixs mom was saying, confirming my suspicions, as she bustled around. Im about to take a batch of my world-famous brownies out of the oven”

Gee, thats great, Aunt Jackie, Christopher said. Maybe later. Right now we have to talk to Felix. Is he downstairs?

Of course, Aunt Jackie said with a laugh. Where else would he be? She kept looking nervously at Lulu and me. At first I couldnt figure out why, then I remembered: We were Nikki Howard and Lulu Collins. Shed probably seen us before on Entertainment Tonightnot to mention my face on the tag of just about everything shed ever bought. Maybe she couldnt place how she knew us, but she knew we looked familiar.

On top of which, it couldnt be every day girls came over to visit her little Felix. Or, more like, ever.

Well just go say hi to Felix, Christopher said, nodding his head for us to follow him as he made his way across the orange s.h.a.g carpeting toward a nearby door. Well only be a minute. We wont stay long.

Ill tell you what, Aunt Jackie said. Ill bring the brownies down to all of you. Would you like some milk with them? Or, I know! Hot cocoa! Its so cold out.

Felixs mom apparently hadnt noticed one of us was in his twenties.

Thats okay, Aunt Jackie, Christopher said. Well be fine. He yanked open the door and I saw it led to a long, narrow staircase into the bas.e.m.e.nt. Christopher started down the stairs, and, glancing over my shoulder at Steven and Lulu apprehensively, I followed him.

This, I knew, was it.

It wasnt as scary as heading into the Bat Cave, exactly. Unless posters from Scarface, the movie, were scary. Which were what greeted us as we descended into Felixs parents bas.e.m.e.nt. They were everywhere. They covered almost every bit of wall surface, giant blown-up posters of Al Pacino, who starred in the movie, in all sorts of different costumes and poses.

Someone, I was beginning to suspect, had a bit of a gangster complex.

It wasnt really very hard to figure out who. I mean, I was guessing it wasnt Christophers aunt Jackie.

The bas.e.m.e.nt apparently served as a laundry room as well as an exercise room. There was a set of weights”which looked as if they hadnt been touched in ages”as well as a treadmill, from which bits of laundry were hanging to dry. At least down here, though, you couldnt smell the sickening scent of Nikki. The air smelled crisply of Tide.

A corner of the bas.e.m.e.nt had been converted to a media center. Well, of sorts. Computer monitors that appeared as if theyd been scrounged from other peoples garbage cans hung suspended from the ceiling by what looked like bungee cords. Some of them also sat on milk cartons or perilously leaned on entertainment consoles (Stark brand, of course).

Sitting in the middle of this construction was a thin, hunched figure. The figure wore baggy jeans, a green velour s.h.i.+rt, and multiple gold chains. He was playing an online game involving a stick s.h.i.+ft.

Die, he was saying to one of the many computer monitors in front of him. Die, die, die, die, die!

Behind me, I sensed rather than saw Steven freeze. Lulu crashed into him.

Oh, she said. Excuse me! Steven didnt react. He was too stunned.

I didnt blame him.

The figure in front of the computer monitors turned its head. I recognized Felix from the other day. He smiled. I half expected to see that some of his teeth were capped in gold. But they werent. Just braces.