“She was so close to me. She was trying to lean over to see my sketches, and she felt so… so wrong. Too close. Too cold.”
I frowned, not really understanding, but also not wanting to disrupt her story.
“Then after she left, I started not to feel well. Mama kept asking me what was wrong, and I didn’t really know how to explain it. I just knew that I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. Mama kept checking my forehead to see if I had a fever, but I guess I felt normal. She got worried about me, though, so she left early and took me home. She asked if I wanted her to wake me up to go with them to the festival, but I said no. All I wanted to do was sleep. I don’t really like the festival anyway. So loud. So crowded.”
I didn’t wonder about Bea’s mom letting her sleep at home by herself. You could see the pageant from Bea’s bedroom window. It was right in the heart of downtown. It would have been easy for her mom to walk a couple of houses down, watch the pageant, and come back before Bea had so much as started snoring.
“I was laying in bed, and my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. I rolled over onto my side, and that’s when I felt it. There was something in my pocket. I couldn’t remember putting anything in there, so I reached in and pulled it out. It was a charm bag. I got scared. I ran to the window, opened it, and threw the bag out into the yard. I guess it’s probably still down there.”
“And how did you feel when you’d gotten rid of it?” I asked.
“As soon as it was away from me, I felt normal again. Well, not right away, but it faded after a few minutes. I stood at the window, taking some deep breaths, and that’s when I started paying attention to the festival outside my window,” Bea said. She shuddered. “I felt scared all over again. If that lady put a spell on me, who else did she put a spell on? I wanted my mom. I wanted Xiomara. I wanted to make sure they were okay. So, I went down to the festival to find them.”
“And when you got there…” I said.
Bea swallowed hard, her throat bobbing convulsively. “Something was wrong. Everyone was under some kind of spell. Mama andabuelacouldn’t even hear me. They couldn’t stop watching the pageant. Then I ran to the stage and tried to get Eva’s attention, but she couldn’t see or hear me either. Everyone,everyonewas under a spell.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she brushed them away with the back of her hand.
“That must have been so scary,” I whispered, as Eva threw her arm around her little sister, and pulled her in so that she was tucked in the crook of Eva’s arm. Bea accepted the contact, snuggling into it and availing herself of the comfort her sister provided.
“It felt like I stood there for a long time. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to sit down on the ground and cry, but I knew that wouldn’t fix anything. Then I…” Bea hesitated.
“Then you what?” Eva prompted.
Bea hesitated, throwing a quick, surreptitious glance my way before answering. “I decided to interrupt the pageant,” she said.
The words were decisive, and yet I was positive that it was not all that she had meant to say when she first opened her mouth. And what was more, I felt as though shemeantfor me to know it. That scrap of a look that had passed between us felt heavy with meaning. But when I started to ask what it meant, she widened her eyes and shook her head the merest fraction of an inch in either direction. I swallowed my question.
Bea’s shoulders relaxed a little, and she went on, “I was freaking out, but after a few minutes, I realized no one was coming to help me, but I guess it needed to sink in. I stopped crying. I kinda got… calmer. I paid more attention. I looked all around the stage. I listened to the performers. After a few more minutes, I heard it.”
“What did you hear?” It was Zale who asked now, looking absolutely riveted. Here, at last, was someone else who had seen at least part of the pageant he couldn’t remember performing.
“No matter what the big tall kings were saying, the fairies and the nymphs kept repeating the same words over and over again.”
“Yes, I remember noticing that as well,” I said, feeling the gentle tug back into the memory of the pageant.
“It was almost like a song,” Bea said, “Sometimes it sounded like one. But after a minute, I felt myself start to get, well, kinda sleepy again, and I covered my ears. I thought the words might be the spell… like an incantation.”
“That’s exactly what it was,” I said, forcing myself to say the words. “Veronica as good as told us that.” I didn’t look at Zale or Eva. I couldn’t bear to see the accusations in their eyes, knowing that I was the one who passed along the book in the first place. So, instead, I kept my attention on Bea and said, “What happened next? You interrupted the pageant somehow, didn’t you?”
Bea nodded, and raised her chin just a little. “I used the speakers. There were these microphones on the front of the stage, and they were attached to two really big speakers. I watched them this morning when they were setting up for the pageant.” She pointed at Zale. “During the sound check, one of the speakers started squealing, and Zale said they needed to move the microphone because it was too close to the speaker and was causing feedback. I thought maybe if people couldn’t hear the incantation, it might not work anymore. So, I just grabbed the microphones and caused some feedback.” She shrugged as though anyone would have thought of doing the same.
“How long did it take?” Zale asked. “Until we snapped out of it, I mean?”
“Oh, not long at all. The crowd started shouting and complaining. The actors stopped dancing around one by one.Nearly everyone was blocking their ears, so the words lost all their power. At least, that’s what it seemed like.”
“Okay, Bea, I know you didn’t like us calling you a hero,” Zale said, shaking his head in disbelief, “but how would you feel if we called you a genius instead?”
Bea squinted for a moment, thoughtful. Then her face settled into a placid expression. “I’ll allow it,” she said, and Zale burst out laughing.
“Eva! Zale! Can you come down here, please?” Xiomara’s voice called from the bottom of the stairs. Eva and Zale traded one anxious look, and then both slid off the bed and walked out the door.
I counted three quiet breaths, waiting for the sound of feet on the stairs to fade, before I turned back to Bea.
“You left something out, didn’t you? Something you didn’t want to say in front of Zale and Eva?” I asked her.
She nodded, looking tense.
“Did you tell the Conclave? Or your mom?”
