Bye-Bye, Evil Eye Read online

  This time, I do fall over. “What?” I gasp as my butt hits the ground.

  For a second, his face softens and he looks like the old Nick again — the one who adored me so much in Greece. He puts a hand out to help me up. But then pulls it back as he remembers the wall of anger that’s still standing between us.

  “I thought you knew,” he says, his expression hardening again. “Why do you think it took me so long to ask you out? I knew it was wrong, but I liked you so much and so I went and did it. My mother was furious with me when I told her that I was going out with you. That’s why I couldn’t ask you over untilI knew they’d be out. I figured if I gave them some time, they’d get used to the idea of you and me. I really thought you were something special. And then I find out that you were cheating on me?”

  Cheating? This is a total nightmare. I reach down and pinch my leg, praying the pain will wake me up and send me zooming back to reality. But of course it doesn’t. “What are you talking about?” I squeak. “I never cheated. Who told you that?”

  “I know you were flirting with other guys in Greece. And sneaking around with your old boyfriend here in Toronto. And that lame excuse about your family being in town?” His beautiful lips collapse into a pout. “If you’d just told me the truth, maybe we could have had a chance. And things wouldn’t be so ugly now.”

  Are we ugly? Or is it just me? My hands fly up to cover my burning face. I want to hide, to run away and shut this whole dirty mess out. “I can’t believe this is happening,” I moan under my breath.

  Nick’s eyes darken. “So you admit it, then?” he says.

  “No! Absolutely not! It’s a lie!”

  Call me crazy, but I swear I see a flicker of hope flash across his face. “Really?”

  “Of course it is. Who’s been telling you these things?”

  He scoops a stray leaf out of the pool and lays it carefully out on the cedar deck to dry. “She asked me not to say anything.”

  Now I’m getting angry. “Come on, Nick! You owe me this much. Who told —” But my words trail off as the sordid pieces all start coming together. When he looks up again, I can see the answer to my question shining in his beautiful green eyes. And the truth makes me so sick to my stomach, I think I might hurl.

  It all makes so much sense now. How can I have been so clueless? I stand up slowly and take a step back. My limbs feel limp and wobbly — like octopus legs. And my voice is barely more than a breath on my lips. “You don’t have to answer, Nick. I know who it was.”

  Spinning around on my heels, I storm back through the house and leap onto my bike. I feel nauseous. I can’t believe this. She gave me the Evil Eye. She poisoned my fish, stole my passport, destroyed my car, pushed those awful “cures” on me. She pretended she wasn’t superstitious so I wouldn’t suspect her. And it worked! How could I have been such a fool? I even let her chop off my hair and turn me ugly! And all because she’s jealous. My whole body is shaking with anger.

  How could she do this to me?

  Chapter 18

  “I need to speak to you in private. Now.” My voice is shaking. I’ve never been this furious in my life.

  Kat’s brown eyes widen with surprise as she ushers me inside. “Sure. What is it?”

  How can she stand there so innocently after everything she’s done? I bite the inside of my cheek and force myself to wait until we’re in her room. But the second the door closes, I let loose. “I can’t believe it was you!”

  Her mouth falls open. “Me?” she squeaks, clutching a hand to her chest. “W-what did I do?”

  I stomp my foot on the floor. I wave my arms in the air. I’m so angry, I don’t know what to do with myself. “You were jealous of me all along,” I holler. “You poisoned my food in Greece, and it must have been you who loosened the strap on my sandal so I’d slip down that hill. And you stole my passport and egged my house and made my life hell through the awful ‘cures.’ You lied to me about that curse book I saw on your desk — it was yours all along, wasn’t it? You were looking up ways to torture me. No wonder you were disappointed when I didn’t agree to poke that girl’s eyes out. It would have made you pretty happy to see me in jail, wouldn’t it? And to do all this over a guy? I can’t believe it! How could I have been so blind? This whole time, I thought you were my best friend!”

  Kat’s looking like she’s been run over by a truck. I never knew she was this good of an actress. “What are you talking about?” she says. “I didn’t … I wouldn’t …”

  “Stop!” I’m screaming now, but I can’t help myself. “I can’t believe you’d try to ruin my life like this! Why couldn’t you have been honest with me from the start? Well, you can have Nick! I don’t want him anymore. Have a nice life together. I’m calling the police right now and telling them who destroyed my car.”

  I take out my phone and start to dial: 9-1-—

  She grabs my arm. “No, please don’t. Okay, I admit I lied. I am totally superstitious. But you’re always telling me how smart I am, and I know you think the superstitions are dumb, so I was just too embarrassed to tell you the truth. But I promise, the book you saw in my room was to stop the Evil Eye. You have to believe me, all I ever wanted to do was help!”

  Something in her voice stops me from finishing the call. She sounds sincere, I think, my thumb hovering over the last button. I want to believe her so badly. But really, how can I? All the evidence is pointing to her. If it wasn’t Kat who’s been doing all these terrible things to me, then who? No … no … it has to be her.

  “Why should I believe you when it all makes such perfect sense?” I ask, lowering my voice a notch. “Every time I talk about Nick, you act all weird and jealous. Like that day on the beach after our first date? Remember? That’s when all my bad luck started. It wasn’t the little girl we saw on our walk, was it? And it wasn’t Costa either. There was never any Evil Eye. It was just you.” Angry tears pool in my eyes, but I blink them away before she can see them. “I really thought you were my friend.”

  Kat squeezes her eyes shut. “I swear it wasn’t me,” she says. “I never liked Nick that way. We grew up like a brother and sister. It was my mother’s big dream that we would get married. But I never … I mean … how could you think …” Her body starts to tremble so hard, for a second I think she’s having a heart attack or something. “You just don’t get it, do you?” she asks, her eyes still closed. “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this,” she whispers hoarsely.

  “Saying what?” My thumb is still poised over the dial pad.

  She takes a shuddery breath. Her body is still shaking like a scared kitten. “I don’t want Nick. I never wanted Nick. I … I wanted … I wanted you!” Her eyes fly open and meet mine. Her face is like Jell-O. “There, I said it. Are you happy?” Her words fill the room like a storm cloud. It’s probably the first time in my life that I’ve ever found myself utterly speechless.

  Oh.

  My.

  God!

  I struggle to unlock my throat. “You mean you’re … I mean … you … but … Kat, I don’t know what —” Before I know what’s happening, she rises up on her tiptoes and lunges forward into my arms. Her tiny hands reach behind my neck and pull my mouth down to hers. I’m so stunned, I don’t know what to say, or do, or think. I’m so shocked, I don’t even remember to breathe. I just stand there and let her kiss me.

  To be honest, it actually doesn’t feel as strange as you might think. In some ways, it isn’t all that different from kissing a boy. But in other ways, it’s like I’ve been blasted onto an alien planet. The whole thing is just too awkward for me to handle. I mean, Kat’s my friend. What the heck is she doing? After a couple of seconds, I regain my senses and push her off me gently. With my hand over my mouth, I stumble across the floor and sink down onto her bed, trying to process all this new information. I can feel the veins above my eyelids begin to pulse frantically.
If there’s ever a chance a person’s head might actually explode from extreme pressure, this has to be it. A moment passes, and then I hear the sound of Kat’s bare feet rushing to my side.

  “Oh God, I’m sorry. Do you hate me?”

  I can’t answer her right away. My thoughts are swirling through my brain at warp speed. “No, of course I don’t hate you,” I finally whisper.

  “Please don’t be mad! You spent so much time talking about my first kiss — it was all I’ve been able to think about these past few weeks. I … I just had to do it.”

  Holy moly, I’m her first kiss. She was never jealous. She never even liked Nick. She likes me!

  “Get Lucky” goes off in my hands, interrupting my thoughts. I fumble for the talk button, grateful for an excuse to break away from Kat for a few seconds. I need a chance to get my thoughts sorted out. “Hello?” I gasp. After all that screaming, my voice is like sandpaper. I can barely manage to get the words out.

  “Dani? Why do you sound so strange?”

  “Hi, Mom. Sorry, Kat and I are just, um … out for a jog,” I croak.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but I just got a phone call from the police department and I thought you’d want to hear what they said about Rosie.”

  I take a deep breath, trying to reclaim a bit of calm as I turn away from Kat. Why is it that all life’s crucial moments inevitably seem to happen at the same time? “Okay, but quick, please.”

  “Remember the evidence collection they did on Rosie? They received the report back today. Turns out the weapon the attacker used was probably some kind of kitchen utensil — it was barely detectable, but the results are showing a slight coating of flour and butter at each of the entry points in the tire slashes and also on the gouges in the roof. There were no fingerprints but —”

  My phone falls, exploding on impact into tiny pieces on the hardwood floor. I spin around to face Kat. My mouth opens but no sound comes out.

  “Who was it?” she asks. “Dani? What’s wrong?”

  My skin feels like it’s coated in a layer of ice. And my throat is so dry, I can’t swallow. Is this what it feels like to be in shock? Shutting my eyes, I force out the awful truth.

  Chapter 19

  “There has to be some kind of explanation,” Kat says between sobs. She’s taking the news pretty hard. At first, she didn’t want to believe me. But when I tell her about the police tests, she can’t deny it anymore. That’s when she starts to cry. “Maybe Mummy had a g-good r-reason?”

  “A good reason? For attacking my car? Egging my house? Poisoning my food? Stealing my passport? Tell me, Kat, because I’m trying really hard to understand what could possibly justify all that.” My words are raw again with anger. It’s taking all my self-control to keep myself from screaming again.

  “What do we do now?” Kat asks, between sobs. Her face is in her hands now.

  “We confront her.”

  “And then what?” She peeks at me from between her fingers. Her big brown eyes are swimming with tears. She looks almost as upset as I feel. It can’t be easy finding out your own mother is a psychopath, I think. Feeling my anger beginning to dissolve, I take her hand and pull her towards the door.

  “We’ll figure that out later. Come on, I’ll do the talking.”

  “Wait!” she cries, pulling me back. “You’re not going to tell Mummy about the kiss, are you?”

  “Kat, I —”

  “Please don’t say anything to her. I’ve never told anybody my feelings. Especially not Mummy. She’ll have a fit. She wants me to do the ‘old country’ thing and marry a Greek man and have a traditional Greek home. I don’t know if I’m ready to take that away from her just yet.”

  I shake my head. “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word. Promise.” Still holding hands, we go downstairs to the kitchen to confront Mrs. Papadakis. We find her standing by the sink cleaning a set of wooden-handled knives. Was it one of those that she used on Rosie? I’m furious just thinking about it. She smiles when she sees us.

  “Hello, girls.”

  Dropping Kat’s hand, I take a small step forward and gulp down the wad of nerves sticking in my throat. My pulse is hammering in my ears. “It’s over. I know it was you,” I say.

  Mrs. P freezes. The room is dead silent except for the sound of running tap water. Placing the knives carefully into the drying rack, she turns off the faucet, wipes her dripping hands on her apron, and pivots around to face me. Her “sucking lemons” mouth is back. And her eyes are a pair of black holes.

  “And how did you finally figure it out?” she asks. Her voice is eerily calm.

  I step back until I’m standing beside Kat again. With a quivering hand, I point towards the large canister marked “flour” on the counter beside her. “You left your calling card all over my car.”

  Mrs. P shrugs. “You’re smarter than you look.”

  My mouth drops open. That’s it? She’s not even going to try and deny it? I hear a loud gasp, but whether it came from Kat or me, I can’t be sure. “So, it’s true then? You admit it?” I ask.

  She shrugs again as a smirk pulls at her lips. She looks about as guilty as a kid caught snooping for birthday presents.

  “And do you also admit that you lied to Nick? That you tried to turn him against me by telling him I was flirting with other boys?”

  The smirk vanishes and a shadow passes over Mrs. P’s face. “Can you blame me?” she asks. The calm is gone. Now her voice is bristling with anger. “Nobody ever sees my daughter when she’s with you. It’s like she’s invisible. Even in Greece — our own country — you were the centre of attention. You stole it all for yourself with your beautiful face and your fancy clothes. I tried very hard not to let it bother me. But when you tried to steal Nicholas away from my Katerina? That was just too much. For years I’ve known that this was the boy for my daughter.”

  I glance briefly over to Kat, who’s frozen beside me. She’s like one of those statues from the courtyard at the Olympic Palace. “Hang on,” I say. “Did you ever ask either of them if they wanted to marry each other?”

  Come on, this is your chance to tell her, Kat! I’m practically yelling at her with my eyes. But her gaze is so fixed on her mother that she doesn’t even see me. I turn my attention back to Mrs. P. My question must have struck a nerve, because the veins in her temples are bulging and the skin on her neck is turning red.

  “Hush up!” she hisses. “You know nothing about our life or our history! Our two families have been close for generations. We moved to Canada together, planned our futures together, helped and supported each other as we settled into this new country. Our children are meant to be together. But, of course, you don’t understand any of this — how deeply the Greek ties run in our blood.”

  I shake my head and sigh. This whole mess is beginning to strike me as sad. So desperately sad. And in that instant, something changes inside of me and I’m not afraid of her anymore. Not a bit.

  “We’re not in Greece, Mrs. P,” I say. “This is Canada. And we have laws in this country about destroying other people’s property.”

  She clutches her apron, her knuckles popping white. “Don’t talk to me about laws. Since the beginning of time, every girl in my family has married a Greek man. Nicholas has been promised to Katerina since they were babies. And you think you can sweep in and try to interfere with that? How dare you?”

  That’s when Kat finally speaks up. Her voice is quiet, but her eyes are glistening with rage. “Stop, Mummy. Just stop. I can’t believe this is happening. How could you do this to Dani? The whole thing is sick!”

  Mrs. P turns her attention over to her daughter. And for the first time, I can see a crack in that Greek warrior mask of hers. “Katerina, I did this for you. How can a mother stand back and let someone else steal her daughter’s future? When you get married and have a child of your own, you’ll understand why I
had —”

  Kat’s hands fly up to cover her ears. “Stop it! No! I’ll never understand what you did to Dani. And here’s a news flash — maybe I won’t get married. Or have children either. Or maybe I will. But either way, it’s going to be my choice. Not yours.”

  Mrs. P’s mouth hangs open. From the gaping look of shock on her face, I guess that this must be the first time her daughter’s ever defied her. Kat looks bigger and stronger than I’ve ever seen her look before. And she isn’t trembling anymore. Maybe there’s some Greek warrior in her blood too. Go, Kat, go! I cheer in my head.

  “Did you ever think that I might want to do something else with my life?” she continues, clasping her thin hands to her heart. “Did you ever think of finding out what I wanted? I mean, you could have at least asked me if I wanted to marry Nick. That would have spared all of us a lot of trouble. Because if you had, I would have told you absolutely and positively NO.”

  “Katerina, please. You don’t mean that.”

  “Stop! Would you just stop telling me what to think and start listening for a change? Nick is like my brother! How could anybody want to marry their brother? And how could you try to ruin someone’s life just to ensure that I would marry someone Greek? Why is that such a big deal anyway? It’s not like I’m going to forget where I came from.”

  You’d need a forklift to pick my jaw back up. I actually forget all about my own troubles while I watch her stand up to her mother. I was right when I said there’s something magic about that first kiss. Look what’s happening to Kat. It’s like she’s growing up right here and now. Right in front of us all.

  “You weren’t just hurting my friend, you know?” she continues. “You were hurting me too. Deceiving me all this time by giving me all those crazy cures to pass along to Dani. I can’t believe you used me like that.”

  I wasn’t planning on stepping back into the conversation, but I just can’t help myself. “Yeah, that’s right,” I pipe up. “It was all a big lie. There was never any of that ridiculous Evil Eye.”