Little Green Stars

Chapter 58-End Game?

It takes Maeve a minute to process my words because, honestly, it sounds insane. But then again, what hasn't been insane about the last week?

"Grandpa Shamrock?" Maeve asks, rightfully confused."The already dead Grandpa Shamrock?"

"Yes..."

"This is so fucked," Jaxson says.

"Vel's Red Lady can go between this world and some other world," Jin says.

"The spirit world," I correct. "And that's why he wanted me tied to him, so my soul could be split. When a soul is split, it goes after whatever is hurting the thing it's tied too. It's why I've been haunting Jin."

"What the hell does Grandpa have to do with Malcolm?"

"Grandpa cursed Malcolm, taking away his powers," I say, realizing how crazy it sounds.

"This is insane," Bundty says. "That velvet wearing psycho can't expect you to kill a ghost, right?"

"Hear me out, but is there seriously a chance that might be real-life ghostbusters? No joke." Maverick asks.

I mean honestly, he does not sound that crazy right now. At this point, I'd believe anything.

"But why?" Maeve says, ignoring Maverick and Bundty.

"Why what?" I say.

"Why would Malcolm want to kill someone already dead? How do you even do that?!"

"From what I understand, Grandpa might be dead, but his soul is alive. And apparently when you kill the soul of whoever cursed you, the curse breaks."

"What the..." Maeve's typical pissed off look overtakes her face. "Where the hell is Malcolm now?"

"The basement," I say.

"This one?" Maeve asks, pointing towards the house.

"Yes..."

"Doing what?"

"Laying there," Bundty answers for me.

"Laying there?" Maeve says, putting her hands back on her hip.

"I kind of hit him in the head with a frying pan," Maverick says cautiously.

"He was trying to put me to sleep with his dumb hypnosis stone!" I say, digging around in my pockets to show Maeve. "If it weren't for Maverick, I'd probably be Red Lady right now doing who knows what."

Jin's eyes drop, and I instantly feel bad. It's not like Maverick is my hero or anything, but the truth is that yeah, he saved me. That doesn't make Maverick any less of a douchebag, it just kind of makes him temporarily awesome.

"Thanks for being there," Maeve says to Maverick.

I can see Jaxson's eyes roll as Jin's nose twitches. Maverick, on the other hand, beams.

"Let me see that stone," Maeve says.

I reach my hand out and let Maeve take it from me. I wonder if she thinks it's red too?

"This is how Malcolm hypnotizes everyone?" Maeve asks me, turning the stone over and over, analyzing it.

"Yeah, I mean, I figured he better not have it when he wakes up."

"Smart," Maeve says.

I'm pretty sure that's the first time Maeve's called me smart.

"Maeve," I ask, curiosity suddenly burning inside me, "what color is that stone?"

"Not this again." Jaxson crosses his arms dramatically.

"Why?" Maeve says, looking from Jaxson to me.

"Vel has this nightlight, and I think the stars are red, and she thinks they are green. Then the same crazy thing happened with Malcolm's rock. We all think it's red, but she thinks it's green." Jin interrupts, urgency in his voice.

"Your nightlight?" Maeve says as an odd look appears on her face.

"Yeah..." What does she know?

"I remember when mom made it for you, and maybe even Grandpa, too, now that I think about it," Maeve says as if thinking back on a memory.

"Mom made it?"

"Yeah. I remember her using a stone just like this one..." Maeve says, looking at me in wonder. "But, Vel, it looks red to me."

"Like I said, that rock is as red as your ginger head."

"Definitely red," Maverick adds.

"Is this one of those gold versus blue dress things?" Bundty asks. "I'm not ready for another one of those arguments."

"I don't understand," I say, my mind racing."It has to mean something. Jin, remember the way Malcolm reacted at his house when I said I see green stars every night?"

"But what?" Jin asks.

"I have no idea..."

"Oh, my God! Who cares about a stupid mood rock! We need a game plan!" Bundty demands."I mean, we can't just leave your crazy dad in there, and we can't just pretend that Vel's still not in trouble!"

Everyone turns to give Bundty a weird look for her very out-of-character concern for me.

"What?" Bundty says, obviously feeling attacked by everyone's judgy eyes. "He knows who we all are. I, for one, don't want to be on that psycho's radar for knowing too much!"

"Cece is right," Jin says. "We have to do something about Malcolm. But more importantly, we have to do something about Vel."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jaxson says.

"Her soul can't stay tied to Malcolm. She needs her soul to be tied to something else."

"Meaning?" Jaxson says, watching Jin look over to Maeve. "Are you seriously asking my mom to curse herself again?"

Jin lifts his hands to shrug, but they drop limply when he sees my angry face.

"No!" I demand.

"Jin's right," Maeve says to Jaxson. "If I've already tied Vel's soul once, then I'm already cursed."

"There has to be another way!" I yell, my words becoming desperate. "What if tieing my soul again, you knock even more time off your life!" Maeve's already been cursed. Her life is already counting down. I can't risk her losing even more time. "I won't let you!"

"Well, you can't stop me," Maeve says, heading towards the treehouse door.

"Where are you going?!" Jaxson yells after her.

"To make this right," Maeve says before heading down the ladder. 

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