Free The Stargazers by Allison M. Dickson Page A

involve a ride in another demon carriage. “That sounds wonderful.”
    “Well don’t get too excited . You’ll soon find this place is a ghost town.”
    Aster immediately thought of some of the witches back home who called on the spirits of the dead. She’d never participated but had always been curious. “Really? Do you actually get to converse with ghosts ?”
    Ruby frowned for a second. “Who? Oh… you thought I meant real ghosts?” She burst out laughing . “W e have to work on your lexicon.”
    They were just hauling the last load of weeds to the compost pile when Ivy came outside to inspect their project. Her face went slack with shock. “My gods! You girls are like the Wonder Twins out here. This garden never looked so good.”
    Ruby shook her head. “Work and me get along about as good as Team Edward and Team Jacob. The newbie did all the heavy lifting.”
    Ivy gave Aster a knowing glance. “Beautiful job. Just make sure you’re not working too hard, understand?”
    Aster, who knew the true meaning behind that statement, nodded .  “Yes, ma’am. I guess I got a little carried away.”
    Ruby snorted. “You don’t see me complaining. Hey, can we take a walk down the street? Show Aster the sights in our quaint little village?”
    “I suppose. Just don’t let me hear about you smoking, Miss Ruby. I got eyes downtown, and they report back regularly.”
    Mischief danced across Ru by’s face. “You’re not talking about Missus Crenshaw down at the ice cream place, are you? She’s blind as a bat . C’mon, Aster. L et’s get cleaned up and go before she changes her mind.”
    A half-hour later, the two girls met on the porch. Aster had grown tired of baring her legs and settled on a light ankle-length skirt with a matching short-sleeved shirt of the softest Ellemiren cotton. Ruby, however, was the complete opposite. Her skirt was a pleated heavy fabric of dark green and black checks. She topped it with a short black shirt with ANARCHY— another word with which Aster was unfamiliar—splattered across the front in red, like blood. Completing the look were heavy black boots laced up to her calves and black and white striped stockings that went up past her knees. The outfit made no sense at all to Aster, and yet it se emed to work at the same time. None of the other girls dressed like Ruby , and that was probably how she intended it.
    Soon they were strolling toward the center of Miller’s Gl enn, where Ruby said “ it all went down.” Aster wondered if that meant the town was at the bottom of the hill, or if it was more of this world’s strange slang. 
    Most of the houses on either side of the street were just as tall and grand looking as the Oasis house, but many were shabby with peeling paint and weed-infested lawns. A few residents sat out on their porches to enjoy the cool morning before the heat moved in. They eyed the girls with narrowed eyes as they passed by. “Why are they looking at us like that?” Aster asked.
    “They know who I am. That’s reason enough. And they don’t know you, so that’s two strikes against us.”
    Aster understood. “They don’t like you? How come?”
    “Everybody around here has a story about the Hill family. If it isn’t about my crackhead mom, it’s about my idiot brother usually. But I’m not exactly a saint either, I guess.”
    “How so?”
    Ruby laughed and gestured toward her outfit. “Look at me. Shouldn’t that be enough?”
    “Maybe, but in my family we’re regularly judge d by appearances. It isn’t right. ”
    They walked in silence for a few minutes, and Aster thought the subject was closed. Then Ruby said, “Okay, it’s not like I’m that bad. But I’ve been in trouble with the police.”
    “Yeah? For what?”
    “ Fighting in school, mostly. I don’t take shit from the bullies. Did a few weeks in juvie for putting a rock through the school quarterback’s prized 1969 Mustang, after he threw a full cup of Coke at me while