A Very Strange Request

Few things infuriated Jade like Beck. She had known that for a long time. It was part of his charm, to get her to feel something so intense, even if it was usually anger.

The problem was that Beck didn't always take it well when the anger was directed at him. And with good reason, but damned if Jade would ever admit that. She'd let the ship sink before admitting she was the one who punched the hole through the wall. Or hull. Or whatever.

What a stupid analogy. She blamed that on Beck, too.

Never mind the fact that Jade already wasn't a fan of Christmas. It was a day for the religious and goody-goodies, or for entitled little shits who only wanted presents. There was no in-between. Jade wasn't a fan of either extreme. To her, Christmas never meant much more than a couple of weeks off school. And of course, watching festive horror movies.

But for Beck to break up with her, again, two days before Christmas was a kick in the proverbial nuts. Sure, they'd been fighting a lot lately. Jade usually thrived on that, but even she knew the thrill of it was gone. It had become a chore. A burden. And now, he had ended it. She doubted he gave a second thought to the date, but it still pissed her off. It seemed cruel. Heartless, even.

I hate feeling sorry for myself, Jade thought as she slammed the door to her car. That's his fault, too.

In the backseat was her cargo; a mystery box from her teacher, Erwin Sikowitz. The oddball acting instructor had originally asked Tori Vega to deliver it for him. The goody-two-shoes was all set to agree, even before Sikowtiz mentioned paying her.

That got Jade's attention, as Sikowitz waved a wad of rolled-up cash in front of Tori.

"I'll pay you five hundred dollars," he said. "It's very important this makes it to…"

Before Tori could respond, Jade plucked the money from her teacher's hand. "I'll get it there," she said.

"But I didn't say where it was."

"I don't care. I'll get it there."

She couldn't believe how perfect the timing was, and…

...and she realized too late that the wad of money was completely fake; stage money from the prop department. She waved it at Sikowitz. A sheepish grin consumed him.

"That's what happens when you crash a conversation," he said. He plucked the fake money from her hand. "This needs to go back to the prop room, I was using it in my last class."

"Besides, he was asking for my help," Tori said. God help her, she seemed indignant that Jade was poaching her chance to be a Good Samaritan. How adorable. How very Vega.

She turned to Tori, a devious notion already forming. She didn't like Vega, but she could pluck her strings like an aging punk rocker.

"Look, I didn't want to say anything, but...my dad lost his job and we can't even afford Christmas dinner right now," she said. She even managed to squeeze out a few tears that were subtle enough to seem real. "If you let me do this, I'll owe you one."

Jade kept her facade up in the face of Tori's intense scrutiny. Her game was strong. Vega's irritation turned into a soft smile. She'd still get to be a do-gooder after all.

"Okay, fine," she said. "You need it more than me. Go ahead."

Tori departed and Jade couldn't help but wonder at how easy that had been. Almost too easy.

"So where is this going?" Jade asked.

"Mount Baldy."

Jade's laughter filled the almost empty hallways of Hollywood Arts. Sikowitz's face was a total blank. Did he not get it? For real?

"What's so funny about Mount Baldy?"

Jade tried to hold back a second round of cackles, but no.

"Will you please tell me what's so funny about…"

Jade pulled a compact out of her bag and flipped it around to catch Sikowitz's bald head in the reflection.

"Holy Christmas! What happened to my hair!?"

He grabbed the compact as if he'd never seen his own reflection. He licked his free hand and tried to smooth over the wild patch of hair on that side to no effect whatsoever. Satisfied, he returned the compact to Jade.

"That's better. Come on, I'll get the package and give you the address. But! There's one very important detail about this box. Something that you absolutely, positively cannot forget."

Jade sighed. "What is it?"

"What's what?"

"The detail I absolutely, positively, cannot forget."

Sikowitz blinked in confusion. "I don't know. I forgot. Come on." He took two steps, then stopped. Jade ran right into him. She pulled back but caught a whiff of…of something.

Is that…cabbage?

"Oh! I remember. Do not open this package. Under no circumstances! No matter how curious or tempted you are! No matter how much it calls to you! No matter how much you want to satiate your teenage curiosity, you must never, ever, ever open this package."

Jade raised a curious eyebrow. "Why not?" she asked, planning to open it as soon as possible.

Sikowitz blinked at her. "Because it's not yours. It's a gift for a friend. What are you, a savage?"

Jade wondered as she finally slid the key into the ignition exactly what was in the odd-shaped box. It seemed to have a long handle on the left side, and a shorter handle across the top, both of which were wrapped. The box was trapezoidal and felt heavier on the smallest side and lighter on the thickest. It made no sense at all, and that drove her even crazier.

She fully intended to open it, of course, but not there in the school parking lot. She at least had the sense to get down the road a little way before she snooped.

She turned the key. The car sputtered and stalled out. She switched it off and turned it again.

Click. Click. Click.

"Shit!" Jade yelled, smacking the steering wheel. She knew the starter had been acting up, but she figured she had a few weeks before it quit on her completely.

Her first instinct was to text Beck and ask him for help. But that option went out the window an hour and seventeen minutes ago when he broke up with her. She'd never find a starter for $500 either. Even if she could, the labor would take longer than she had to deliver the package. Mount Baldy was twenty miles outside the city. And who knew how far up its slopes this little neighborhood was beyond that? So far as Jade knew, Mount Baldy was a ski resort area; no one willingly went up there otherwise. In the winter it was too damn cold and snowy, and in the summer it was a gross, wet mess.

Jade got out of her car and kicked the tire twice. "Piece of shit," she grumbled.

"What did that poor tire ever do to you?"

Jade winced, as she heard the one voice that grated on her even more than Tori Vega's. Fitting, since it belonged to Tori's older sister, Trina. The elder Vega was hurrying toward her car a few spaces away. She wore a snug pair of denim shorts that showcased her impressive legs. And her pink top might have been cute on anyone else. Perhaps someone not attached to that obnoxious voice.

She's even dumb enough to be smiling as she said that, Jade thought. The smile faded as Jade took half a step toward Trina. "It stuck its nose in where it didn't belong. I kick anything and anyone that does that."

Trina's genuine smile faded, replaced by a tentative, fake one. "Oh," she said. "Ha, ha. Sorry for asking."

She hurried past Jade, wanting to end the encounter. Jade would usually be all for that, but not this time.

"Hey, wait."

Trina turned, nervous. "What?"

"Is your pain-in-the-ass sister still here?"

Trina shook her head. "I don't think so. Why?"

Jade rubbed her tired eyes. There was no way out of this. She had to get the stupid, freaky package to whatever nut job lived on Mount Baldy. Her car was dead. She could either tie Trina up and steal hers or do something much, much worse.

Ask her for help.

Jade considered her options. It was five hundred dollars. But was any amount of money worth driving anywhere with the more obnoxious of the Vega sisters? Jade took in Trina's posture, trying to judge her openness. She was rigid and stiff. Afraid. The thick muscles in her thighs were...were...

Damn. Those legs are...something. Wait, what?

She shook her head to break off eye contact. Snap out of it, idiot. You're wasting time.

"Sikowitz asked me to take this package to a friend of his. It's about twenty-five miles away, up on Mount Baldy."

Trina raised a rather self-important-looking eyebrow at Jade. "So?"

"He's paying me."

Trina kept right on staring.

"My car died, genius. Can I use yours?"

Trina did something Jade never thought she had the nerve to do. She laughed at her. "Are you kidding me? You're the nastiest, most hateful person I know and you want me to do you a favor like that?"

Jade took a menacing step forward. Trina brought her hands up and shifted into a fighting stance. It caught Jade off-guard. She forgot about Trina's martial arts training. It was impressive to see; her legs moved quickly and precisely. Jade wondered why she couldn't bring that level of focus when she tried to dance.

"I'm not going to hit you! I just…shit." Jade lowered her voice. "Please. I hate having to ask but I've got no options."

"What about your boy toy?" Trina asked. The derision in her voice was obvious. Trina had been crushing on Beck for years. Everyone knew it, and everyone ignored it. To focus on it would be embarrassing. "Doesn't he work on cars?"

Jade winced, and for a moment her tough chick exterior seemed to shake. Shake, but not collapse. "We broke up today."

Trina's features softened. For a brief moment, Jade saw a flicker of an actual person under the ridiculous Trina-mask. "Oh. I'm sorry. I mean it sucks, but I really can't…"

"I'll pay you," Jade said quickly.

That shut her up for a second. "How much?"

Jade resented the notion of sharing the money, but if she didn't get up there, she wouldn't have any to speak of.

Of course, she thought, Trina doesn't know how much he paid me.

"He gave me like two hundred dollars to do this. I'll give you half of that if you'll help me."

Trina seemed to consider this for a long moment. "All right," she said. "But you can't be mean to me. Or, you know, try to kill me and leave me up there or anything. Even if you make it look like an accident."

A devious smile came to Jade on instinct. "Do you know how many people I've actually killed and made it look like an accident?"

Trina seemed to shrink away from her. "No," she said. It was little more than a whisper.

"No one else does, either."

With that, Jade turned and grabbed the bizarre package from the back seat. She stopped short as she stood with it. Had the weight distribution shifted?

What the hell was in this thing?