Bloodstone Read online

  ‘They can’t be,’ said Jade. She tried to grab the camera to take a peek. I was annoyed that she didn’t ask, so I yanked it back. I gave her a look that would have wilted daisies.

  ‘Let’s see,’ said Joselyn, leaning towards me.

  Because she asked, I passed Joselyn the camera. Ilaria glanced at her phone, more interested in catching up on social media.

  ‘You’re right. There’s no sign of any photos of the clock,’ said Joselyn, frowning. She shook her head, and a puzzled expression spread across her face.

  ‘Not one, and I took at least a dozen photos. They’ve all fricking vanished. Every fricking one!’ I scowled and brushed the hair out of my eyes.

  ‘Oh, yeah right… Give it to me. You two must have missed them,’ said Jade, rolling her eyes like she didn’t believe me. She searched my camera but found nothing. Not a single shot of the Corpus Chronophage Clock. Frowning, she shrugged her shoulders. ‘That’s pretty much the weirdest grasshopper ever. It obviously doesn’t like its photo being taken.’

  ‘I don’t blame it,’ said Ilaria, lifting her head from her phone for a moment. ‘I’d be sick to death of tourists taking my photo all the time too.’

  ‘Creepy or what,’ said Jade, passing the camera back to me. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her body, seeking warmth.

  ‘I don’t understand it. Maybe my camera’s broken?’ I said, flipping through the rest of my digital collection.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Joselyn, but she didn’t sound like she meant it. ‘That grasshopper on top of that clock sends shivers down my spine, Amelina.’

  ‘Oh, Joselyn! You and your shivers. Okay, let’s forget it. It’s your birthday, and here I am spoiling the celebration vibe. Come on, let’s get back to partying. I promise to stay away from Mr Bug Clock for now! Happy Birthday, Joselyn,’ I said, passing her present to her.

  Joselyn’s face lit up with excitement as she ripped the wrapping paper off in one tear. ‘Oh, this is incredible. I couldn’t have asked for a better present.’ She gave me a huge hug, a real squeeze that took my breath away. Joselyn’s reaction pleased me even though I wasn’t big on hugs. Still, it was a special occasion, so the hug was understandable.

  Joselyn was so excited by the camera she paid little attention to the necklace from Ilaria or the purse from Jade. She glanced at their gifts and put them aside with a brief, but polite, thank you. Joselyn’s attention stayed riveted one hundred percent on the camera. Joselyn danced around the room taking photos.

  I watched as Ilaria’s face fell. Of course, I was glad that Joselyn liked the camera, but her reaction embarrassed me. I picked up the forgotten necklace to try to draw Joselyn’s attention back to it. ‘What a lovely present,’ I said, hoping to re-balance the situation.

  Joselyn blushed. In one swift movement, she put the camera down. She placed the delicate necklace around her neck. ‘Oh, Ilaria, I’m so sorry I got carried away with the camera. Amelina, you’ve cast a spell on me! The necklace is lovely, Ilaria. Thanks so much.’ She reached over and encircled Ilaria in a much-needed hug.

  Jade looked upset at this exchange. Joselyn noticed and scooped up the purse. She turned the purse clasp and reached inside. A pair of heart-shaped silver stud earrings caught the light. Joselyn blushed an even deeper shade of red.

  ‘Oh, Jade, they’re stunning,’ she exclaimed as she put them on. Joselyn bent forward and gave Jade a hug too.

  The present crisis over, Jade edged forward in her seat, no doubt judging the moment. Then, like a sprinter about to take off in a running competition, she went for it. ‘How was your date, Amelina?’

  Joselyn chewed her bottom lip. ‘How was it, was it fun?’

  ‘Y’know it must have been more than OK,’ answered Jade.

  ‘Hey, don’t leave out any juicy details,’ said Ilaria, raising an expectant eyebrow.

  ‘Sorry to disappoint but he didn’t seem in a good mood yesterday. Although Aphrodite’s was fantastic.’

  The room grew quiet, and the girls exchanged glances. ‘Oh. Maybe he’s stressed with exams,’ suggested Jade.

  ‘I doubt it. Not much seems to stress Ryder.’ I lowered my eyes, not wanting to share too many of my secrets.

  ‘I’ve never heard of Aphrodite’s. Where’s that?’ asked Jade.

  ‘Oh, it’s an amazing seafood restaurant, with a lifelike statue of Aphrodite.’ I smiled a small smile remembering that night and Ryder’s kisses. I pushed those thoughts away, remembering what had happened yesterday.

  ‘Cool. I didn’t know you liked seafood, Amelina?’ asked Joselyn, looking puzzled.

  ‘I don’t, but somehow this tasted different. The food was beyond good.’

  ‘Must have been his company. With the likes of him, anything would taste good! I bet he’s got a six-pack that you could eat food off!’ smirked Jade.

  ‘Jade! You’re disgusting and forgetting he’s my boyfriend. Or I should say was. His company, six-pack or not, was in short supply since his attention was only with his friends who showed up at the last minute.’

  ‘Was your boyfriend, Amelina? So it’s over between you and Ryder?’ asked Jade. She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice.

  I glared at her. ‘Yeah, it’s over, though it hardly started.’

  ‘You seem a bit down, Amelina, are you okay? What happened?’ asked Joselyn.

  ‘I’m fine, Joselyn, but I don’t want to talk about it.’ I gazed out of the window, hoping someone would change the subject.

  ‘Really? You sure, Amelina?’ replied Joselyn, raising an eyebrow of concern.

  ‘One hundred percent,’ I answered.

  Ilaria glanced around the room at her friend’s faces. ‘Moving on. Well, if Ryder is no longer your cute boyfriend, does that mean we don’t get to meet his cute friends?’

  ‘I’m not sure, Ilaria. Let’s see, I suppose it would be a shame if we didn’t get to hang out with Kyle. He’s really nice and good-looking too.’ I grinned at the girls.

  Jade’s eyes widened. ‘What’s his fit profile like?’

  ‘Oh, my God! He’s fair-haired, medium height, and has brilliant green eyes,’ I replied, grateful for the chance to change the topic of conversation away from Ryder who I would rather forget.

  ‘Sounds interesting,’ they all chorused, laughing at the same time. Except for me; I smiled half-heartedly.

  ‘So, what happened between you and Ryder?’ asked Jade, who was unable to let her curiosity rest.

  ‘Jade, I said I didn’t want to talk about it.’ My voice rose in irritation.

  Jade gave me that look I knew so well. In Jade-speak, that meant she would get to the bottom of it, no matter what.

  Jade held my gaze, and I caved. ‘The other day didn’t go well. I was late to meet Ryder, and he went all dark and gloomy on me. And the next day, he showed up at my house, but it’s all a bit hazy.’

  ‘I didn’t know you were meeting up yesterday,’ said Jade. She raised her eyebrows and pointedly stared at me.

  ‘It was a… last-minute thing.’

  ‘Oh, so something must have happened! What was it, Amelina? Did he kiss you, or did he do something you weren’t expecting?’ Ilaria rolled her eyes, and her question hung in the air.

  Jade waited for my response, and I said nothing. I fidgeted. I didn’t want to talk about it—at all.

  ‘C’mon, Amelina, tell us what happened,’ coaxed Ilaria, her expression as curious as the cat who swallowed the canary.

  ‘Shit, sorry. I don’t know, I can’t remember.’

  ‘What do you mean you can’t remember?’ asked Joselyn, her forehead creasing with worry.

  ‘Just that, I can’t remember,’ I replied. Anxiety dripped from my voice.

  ‘I knew it. Ryder’s a sod, isn’t he? Maybe he slipped you a date drug. You sure nothing happened?’ Joselyn’s eyes bugged out with worry.

  ‘Hey, I never said anything bad happened, Joselyn. I can’t remember. I had a weird episode.’

  ‘A
weird episode?’ asked Jade.

  ‘Yeah, I fainted and can’t remember a damn thing.’

  ‘Mmmm. Don’t you think that’s worrying considering you were alone in the house with him?’ asked Joselyn.

  ‘Yeah, I admit it’s creepy, especially as Shadow reacted like a crazed feline on the verge of gouging his eyes out. It was all so strange.’ I rubbed my forehead with my hand. A headache was coming, I could feel it.

  Joselyn squinted and shook her head in anger. ‘I’m not surprised. Shadow and I seem to share that opinion. I’d keep arm’s length away from him if I were you.’

  Jade interrupted. ‘Hey, that’s a bit harsh. Maybe Ryder came to Amelina’s rescue again, like before down the river pathway. Who says he did anything to harm her? She fainted, and he was there to help.’

  The girls broke their gaze and looked anywhere but at me. The room felt close and hot. I touched my lips, remembering. I knew Jade would take that view. But no one else came to Ryder’s rescue.

  Puzzle Piece 32:

  The Sleepover – Make Up

  Make up YouTubers,

  Internet everywhere,

  How many of these,

  Feature smeared makeup parties,

  Not one single daring one.

  Before we said another word about what Ryder had or hadn’t done, Ilaria’s little sister, Emma, peeked into the doorway. She crept into the room, hoping to hide and succeed in staying. Not a chance. Ilaria tried to shoo her away, but she wouldn’t budge.

  After the interruption we moved on, leaving Ryder as a topic for later discussion. The next party activity was a make-up session in the dark, a fun way to banish my worry blues. Shrieks of laughter erupted, and when we’d finished, we switched the lights back on to see what the end results were.

  ‘You look like you’ve fallen into a make-up bag!’ said Emma, tittering. ‘It’s my turn. Do me next, do me next!’ Emma bounced up and down until I thought she would drive us all crazy. Unable to contain ourselves any longer, we burst into a fit of giggles. Emma waited next in line. Once we’d finished with her makeover, I couldn’t recognise anyone, not even Emma.

  Emma’s painted face grew animated. ‘Y’know I’m going to see Justin Bieber in concert.’

  ‘Oh, are you?’ we all chorused, unimpressed with her announcement.

  Joselyn smiled. ‘Have you got good tickets?’

  ‘What’d you mean?’ asked Emma as she turned to Joselyn, her mascaraed eyes round in wonder.

  ‘Oh, you know. What kind of tickets do you have? Are you by the stage, on the balcony, or are you standing?’

  ‘Or are you sitting?’ asked Jade, her eyes shining with unexploded mirth.

  ‘Or are you flying?’ Ilaria added, dissolving into hysterical laughter. She stood up and hopped around the room flapping her arms like a crazy loon. Encouraged by further giggles, Ilaria couldn’t resist asking one more question. ‘Or are you abseiling? You know, rock climbing in reverse down into the show?’

  Fits of hysterics followed, and Emma joined in too. It was one of those moments where the laughter commandeered our thoughts until our stomachs ached, and tears dripped down everyone’s faces, all except for me. I stared out the window into the darkness, lost in my own thoughts.

  The girls’ laughter evolved into hysterics, and they were in grave danger of making themselves sick. Of course, the sweets and popcorn the girls had consumed didn’t help. Between the giggling and the occasional raucous burp, the girls continued laughing until long streaks of black mascara smeared with lines of multi-coloured make-up all down their faces. I chuckled at the spectacle while I pushed thoughts of scary circus clowns out of my head.

  Emma hopped from foot to foot with urgency apparent to us all. ‘You all right, Emma?’ I asked.

  ‘Just need the toilet,’ she replied, standing up awkwardly.

  ‘You better go!’

  Emma rushed out of the door, a blur of patchy makeup and desperation.

  ‘Hey, guys, it’s nearly Emma’s bedtime. Shall we have a séance after she goes to bed?’ asked Jade.

  ‘Yeah, what a great idea,’ said Ilaria.

  Joselyn shook her head at such news. ‘I don’t think we should.’

  ‘Stop being such a kill-joy, Joselyn. It’ll be fun.’ Ilaria nodded her head and grabbed Joselyn’s hand, showing comfort where it was needed most.

  ‘Besides, we have our resident séance expert, Amelina, with us,’ added Jade. Her almond-shaped eyes glowed with a passionate intensity.

  ‘Me? You’ve got to be kidding!’ I replied.

  ‘You’re always wired up to your psychic shit, Amelina,’ said Jade. ‘Why, not?’

  ‘True. I suppose.’

  ‘Decided?’ asked Jade, wide-eyed with excitement.

  Joselyn nodded in agreement. Despite her acceptance of the situation, she didn’t appear pleased, and her face looked grim.

  ‘Okay, as soon as Emma hits the pillow we’ll give it a go…’ I replied.

  Once Emma returned from her trip to the loo, we resumed chatting and laughing at the “Bieber.”

  Ilaria’s mum, Pam, hurried into the lounge, wondering what all the noise was about. ‘What a sight! Look at your black face! Well, I can see you’re all having a whale of a time, but I’m afraid to say it’s time for Emma to go to bed. Your face will need a good scrub, young lady!’

  ‘Oh, Mum, can’t I stay a bit longer?’ said Emma, pouting, her lipstick forming a little pink rosebud of disappointment.

  ‘No, you can’t, Emma, it’s already past your bedtime.’

  We all stifled our laughter as Emma sauntered off muttering a sulky and forced ‘goodnight.’ I popped off to the toilet to clean my face with some face wipes. As I pressed the wipes against my lips, I experienced a burning sensation on my swollen lips. It appeared like I’d had a severe allergic reaction, and to complete the look my bulging lips revealed black tattoo marks. I wiped and wiped, but the swelling wouldn’t go down. What would the girls say when I returned to join them? I searched in my makeup bag for some concealer and extra lipstick to hide my grotesque lips. As I glanced in the mirror, about to do what I could to hide the problem, I saw that my lips had returned to their normal size with not even a hint of a tattoo.

  Puzzle Piece 33:

  The Sleepover – Ghost Stories

  Sleepover bundle,

  Ghost stories, giggles, fuelled by,

  Curiosity,

  Popcorn, confectionary,

  Dead rock stars, and air guitar.

  After the disturbing lips episode, my nerves were on edge, but I had no intention of sharing what had just happened with anybody. After Emma and Pam had left the room, I sensed an atmospheric change and kicked off the second half of the party with an announcement. ‘Hey, now that Emma’s gone to bed, let’s have that séance? See if we can contact the dead.’ I wiggled my eyebrows, trying for a spooky effect, but my hands trembled knowing I’d just had the spookiest moment only minutes ago.

  ‘Yeah, great idea, Amelina. I thought Emma would never leave,’ said Jade, screwing up her face with excitement.

  ‘Now we can have some real fun,’ agreed Ilaria. ‘First, let’s wash this gook off of our faces. I’m itching. Amelina’s fine, she’s already done her face.’

  ‘Yeah, feel much better now, good luck with the gook gunk.’ The girls ran down the hall to the loo and took turns washing the makeup from their faces. Once finished, I heard them slink down the hall to the lounge. They didn’t want to wake Emma.

  Jade couldn’t contain her excitement. ‘A séance it is. Shall we get started?’

  Joselyn shifted in her seat. ‘I’m still not sure. A séance sounds too sinister.’ Joselyn stared at me with an intensity that creeped me out.

  ‘Sounds creepy, but it’ll be fun. We tell ghost stories, anyway, so what’s the difference? Come on. It will be a laugh,’ said Jade, gurgling with amusement.

  ‘I love ghost stories. Perhaps that’s the way to get the spirits in the mood. A gentl
e warm up. It’s just the distraction that I need,’ I said to Joselyn, hoping to win her over. I nudged her arm and flashed a smile in her direction.

  ‘Okay,’ whispered Joselyn, her voice tiny and filled with uncertainty. A shiver ran up my spine. Joselyn had sounded like her own particular brand of phantom.

  Ilaria took that ghostly whisper as a prompt to gush with excitement. ‘Yeah, let’s move on from Ryder and take a tour of the scariest and creepiest stories instead! Let’s start with some ghostly deeds. Did you hear about the Chinese restaurant at Caxton Gibbet? It burnt to a cinder. And what’s even stranger is that the original inn, on the same site, also burnt down in the 1920s.’ Ilaria bobbed her head, glad to share her news with the group.

  ‘The George Inn, yeah, that’s a weird, spooky coincidence, isn’t it?’ agreed Jade, her voice rising with excitement.

  ‘The place’s cursed. I heard they hung the landlord on a gibbet for murdering his guests as they slept. The room where they met their deaths was always intensely cold,’ I said, joining in the ghoulish fun, hoping to banish Ryder from my thoughts.

  ‘God, that’s creepy. Talk about gruesome,’ said Joselyn, looking less than happy. ‘Thanks. I’ll not sleep a wink tonight. Now I have a cold shiver running down my spine.’ Joselyn shuddered and grabbed a blanket to spread around her shoulders.

  ‘I didn’t expect to sleep a wink, anyway. Maybe while we’re wide awake, some dead guy will return from his eternal slumber for a chat. Hopefully, we will be blessed with the likes of a famous rock or pop star,’ joked Ilaria.

  ‘Now that would be cool,’ I said. ‘One night, I had a dream where the rock stars leaped out of the posters hanging in my room. The next thing I knew, we had a crazy party in my house. It was a bit freaky as some of them were long dead. They were rocking out until the wee hours,’ I added. I stood up and struck my favourite rock hero pose. The room was silent. Joselyn, Jade, and Ilaria gazed at me with wide-eyed astonishment.

  ‘God, you’re crazy, Amelina. You know, I never know whether to believe the things you say or do. Great air guitar poses, by the way,’ said Jade with a smirk.