IX

Delia was waiting on the porch, looking out into the distance for any signs of her stepdaughter and unconventional son-in-law. She jumped with surprise when Lydia came around the corner of the house. "Lydia! You almost gave me a heart attack! Where's…" She trailed off; taking in her stepdaughter's smudged lipstick and wrinkled dress. A knowing smirk curled her lips and she ushered Lydia inside quietly. "Your father's in the dining room and Adam and Barbara are in the kitchen. Why don't you go upstairs and fix your lipstick before dinner?" The words were whispered conspiratorially. A mortified blush stained Lydia's cheeks.

"Is that Lydia?" Barbara called from the kitchen.

"Go!" Delia shout-whispered, shooing Lydia up the stairs.

Dinner was every bit as sappy as her husband had predicted that it would be. Delia was thankful for the ghost's absence. Lydia was the one to present her father with the envelope containing a photo of Delia's ultrasound, barely able to contain her excitement. The dam broke, however, when her father clapped a hand over his mouth and looked at her stepmother with swimming blue eyes. "Is it true?" Her own blue eyes were wet as she nodded her head yes. The most heart-wrenching moment of the night by far, though, was when Barbara dropped her cutlery in shock and turned to her ghostly husband, bleary eyed. "Adam…" She'd said, fat tears rolling down her red cheeks. "We're having a baby." Tears of joy were shed all around. It was late in the night before anyone departed for bed.

Lydia was disappointed to find her old bedroom empty and uncomfortably warm. She lay in the darkness for a long time, staring up at the ceiling and wondering what it was that he could be doing. "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse." She tested. He didn't come. And he didn't come the next morning either when she tried again. "Where is he?" Adam asked over breakfast. Lydia shrugged noncommittally and stabbed her yolk with her fork until it bled all over the egg whites. "The Neitherworld. Didn't want to be here for the announcement. He probably just lost track of time." Mr. Maitland didn't press her further. He'd known her long enough to know when she was pretending not to be upset.

He didn't return the whole weekend. Lydia did not allow her distress to show through to her parents or the Maitlands, and they had no complaints about his absence. Lydia was the one they'd wanted to see, not him. Her father drove her back to Autumn Woods Sunday night, seeing as she'd left her car there in favor of magical travel. Lydia was quiet, solemn the whole drive. Her father knew better than to rub it in her face that the poltergeist had yet to return. Her silence killed whatever smug sense of superiority he might have felt. When he pulled up to her complex, they kissed each other on the cheek and said their goodbyes. The apartment was empty. Nona and Mandy were working. Their furniture was still pushed against the wall. The salt circle was intact. The book lay open in the center of the floor on a different page than the one it had been on when she'd left for Winter River. She paid it no mind.

"Pale Mistress! Pale Mistress! Luna missed her Pale Mistress!" The tiny kitten rubbed herself against Lydia's ankles until she was picked up.

"Hello, precious. I missed you, too." The raven-haired girl carried the kitten with her to her room, leaving her suitcase behind in the living room. The two curled up on her bed, Lydia in the fetal position and Luna tucked under her chin.

"Why is Pale Mistress sad?"

Lydia clenched her eyes shut, willing her paranoid thoughts away. "I'm fine."

"Is it because Master is gone?"

The girl said nothing and snuggled the kitten closer. Luna slept in Lydia's room that night.

It was impossible to focus on her classwork. Her gaze blurred on the blackboard and her thoughts flew away from her. The professor's droning transformed into a dull buzz in her ears. The sheet in front of her that should have been filled with notes was blank. "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse." She whispered to herself lowly once more, not giving a damn that she was in the middle of class. Again, he didn't come. Mandy and Nona caught her in the parking lot between classes. Her friends were overjoyed at the news of Delia's pregnancy, but their joy was tainted by Lydia's solemn demeanor. They were sitting in her car now, discretely sharing a joint.

"I don't know where he went," Lydia answered when the English girl inquired about the lack of her husband's presence. "And I don't know when he's coming back. If he's coming back."

Mandy frowned, sympathetic. "Don't think like that! Of course, he's coming back!"

"What if something's wrong? What if a sandworm ate him? What if he did something really, really bad and they arrested him? I don't fucking know how it works down there. Everything's crazy and upside down." The other two girls did not stop to ask Lydia what in the living fuck a sandworm was. "What if-", her voice broke, involuntary tears wetting her cheeks. "What if he met some really beautiful dead girl that isn't all fucked up like me?" She buried her head in her hands, shoulders shaking as she confessed her fears.

Nona shushed her, pulling the sobbing girl into a hug. "Then he's the stupidest man I've ever met. But that's not what's going on, so stop talking like that. He loves you, Lydia. He'd never." Lydia did not reply.

Mandy put a hand on her friend's shaking shoulder. "Let's go out tonight. Lucy's throwing a house party." Lucy was a fellow exotic dancer. "You can't dwell on this, babe." A sob wracked her entire body at the nickname. "You just can't. He'll be back. I know he will." Again, Lydia did not respond.

Lucy Allen was a wild child from California. Her townhouse was already packed by the time they arrived in Mandy's Mustang. She greeted them all warmly- already quite drunk- with tight hugs and kisses on the cheek. Lydia returned the hug, just going through the motions. She was trying to follow Mandy's advice, she really was. It was hard to banish her darker thoughts. She broke away from the group and made her way to the kitchen where she knew the alcohol would be. She just wanted to be numb. The crowd parted like the red sea for her. She wore all black tonight; flip-flops, the gypsy skirt she'd snagged from Goodwill and a black lacy bralette beneath a see-through mesh top. The first two shots of cheap whip cream flavored vodka went down burning. A popular dance song that Lydia disliked immensely bumped the house, giving her a headache. The third shot burned less than the first two.

"Like, leave some for the rest of us, Deetz."

Lydia looked over her shoulder from where she was hunched over the plastic foldout table. Claire Brewster was beautiful in her hot pink tube dress. "Don't worry. There's still half a bottle of Kahlua left if you want me to start a pot of coffee for you." Her words slurred. Claire gaped at her, open-mouthed. Lydia had never talked back to her before. The goth always ignored her when she tormented her. It's what made her such an easy target. "Is your rapist boyfriend here, too? Or is he too busy fucking your best friend?" She noticed that Claire still wore the obnoxiously large diamond encrusted gold band on her ring finger. Not that she had any room to judge the ornateness of another woman's engagement ring.

Claire's hands fisted at her side, her matching hot pink nails cutting into her palms, and she grit her teeth. "Josh is like totally in love with me! And he never touched that disgusting whore! She's a filthy liar and everyone knows it!"

Lydia just laughed darkly and poured herself a fourth shot, making Claire's cheeks burn. The raven-haired girl coughed as it went down. Once she was stable, she turned, hands clutching the rickety table behind her to keep her purchase. "I bet it eats you up inside, doesn't it? Knowing that you'll never be good enough. You know your little boyfriend took pictures of my best friend while he was raping her. There's actual photographic evidence. I saw it at court. You would have too if you were there." Claire's blood ran cold at her words. Lydia tilted her head, genuinely sympathetic. "What did he say to get you to stay home instead of going? That it was all lies and he didn't want you to see them smear him? That it was all too dark and nasty for your poor little woman brain to handle? That's how misogynistic pigs generally think."

"You're lying!" Claire was shaking her head, tears swimming in her crystalline eyes.

Lydia smiled sadly. "You have no idea how badly I wish that I was. I can email them to you if you want. My lawyer has copies. It's some pretty gruesome shit, though. I don't think you want to see it." Claire stormed from the room, unable to bear another word. Lydia took another shot.

Mandy and Nona found her about fifteen minutes later sitting by herself on the empty balcony, chain smoking. Mandy sat next to her and Nona lit a cigarette of her own. "Josh is here," Mandy said quietly, laying her head on Lydia's shoulder. "We shouldn't have come. We should've just gotten drunk at home." Lydia's hand grasped hers tightly. It was Nona's turn to be the designated driver, so she was the only sober one of the three. Though, Lydia was significantly drunker than both of them. The sober girl was scowling and remained silent. Their solemnity was out of place at the wild house party. "Nona," Mandy began, eyes closed. "Can you take us home after ya'll are done with your cigarettes? This was a bad idea." Nona just nodded her head, staring hard at a hanging potted plant.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

There was a commotion inside that caused all three of them to break out of their reverie and stare at each other, puzzled. Before they could gather their bearings and investigate, Josh Peters slammed open the balcony doors. "YOU!" His gaze was locked on Lydia. He was furious, and his face and polo were soaked. He smelled strongly of alcohol. Mandy tensed up. Nona stepped in front of him, blocking his gaze. "What the fuck do you think-", he backhanded her, causing her to fall to the side and almost topple right over the edge of the banister. His sweaty hand grabbed Lydia by the throat and picked her up, slamming her against the wall. She saw stars as her head was knocked back. He easily had a foot and a hundred pounds on her. "What the fuck did you say to Claire, you fucking bitch!?" The hand around her throat tightened and Lydia scratched at it. He held fast. Mandy clutched at his shirt, trying to pull him off of her friend. He elbowed her hard, making her fall back to the ground with a gasp, holding her stomach in pain. A crowd was gathering out on the patio, but none of them tried to help. They just watched. "SHE LEFT ME! She threw my ring into the fucking pool! You ugly," his other hand joined in on choking her and his grip tightened further, "lying," her vision was going black, "SLUT!"

All at once, she was released. Josh flew backward, knocking over some members of the crowd, and Lydia fell to the ground, gasping. Where before the house had been unbearably loud, it was now dead silent. Nona grabbed her hand, and Mandy's, and pulled them through the crowd. It parted for them easily. Everything was moving so fast. Staring, horrified faces blurred as Nona pulled them to the Mustang. Lydia stumbled on her way down the steps and Nona steadied her with a hand around her back. Before she knew what was happening, they were on the road.

"What happened? Who pulled him off me? Everything's so fuzzy…" Lydia's stomach churned unpleasantly and her mouth watered from nausea.

"I did. Telekenisis." Nona answered, coffee eyes trained hard on the road before her. Mandy was shaking, too upset for words. The rest of the trip was spent in shocked silence.

Lydia threw up in the parking lot as they arrived back home. Nona held back her long hair and Mandy rubbed her back, then they helped her up the stairs. Luna's voice greeted them excitedly as they stumbled through the door.

"Master is home! Master is home!" When the kitten's words registered in Lydia's intoxicated mind, she raised her incredibly heavy feeling head. There he was, floating on his back and filing his filthy nails into points as if he'd always been there. His grin was self-satisfied.

"I was wonderin' when you gals would get home. I've been waitin'-", his smile faded and he stopped talking abruptly when he turned his head to the side and saw them. There was vomit on his wife's skirt and dark red marks around her neck. Nona and Mandy's faces were grim, deadly serious. Nona's left cheek was a darker shade than the rest of her caramel skin, a telling bruise blossoming. Mandy was almost as white as Lydia. Immediately, he darted to them and took Lydia into his arms, taking the burden off of her friends. "B…" She smiled dreamily, clearly drunk, and rested her heavy head against his chest. "I didn't think you were coming back…" Her eyes drifted closed before he could answer. She was out. He pulled her in impossibly close, tucking her head under his chin protectively. "Two down, one to go," Nona growled before he had a chance to demand information.

"I want Josh Peters dead, Betelgeuse. I want him dead tonight."