Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, page 24
Above me, the moon swells high in the midnight black sky. My bare toes curl into the wet dirt, and I shiver against the night wind. Behind me, the front door of the house flies open, and I turn to see Candie rushing toward me, arms outstretched. She pulls me in against her, shielding me from the cold.
“I woke up and you were gone,” she gasps. “What are you doing out here?”
I turn to look at the sky.
“The maiden is awake. I can feel her stirring inside.” I lean my head down against Candie’s shoulder and shut my eyes. “She wants to find the other pieces of herself, to become whole again. She wants to track down the other disciples. I think she’ll lead you back to your family,” I whisper. “She’ll lead you home.”
* * *
We leave together on a Tuesday.
Surprisingly, Mama doesn’t object when I tell her that I’m taking an extended hiatus from show business to go on a long road trip with Candie. She even stays home from work the morning we’re set to leave to see us off.
“What exactly are you two planning to do on this soul-searching journey, again?” Mama asks, nursing her mug of coffee on the front porch as I drop my last bag into the trunk.
“There are people in trouble out there. We’re going to go help them,” I explain without explaining.
Mama wrinkles her nose. “You didn’t get roped into some strange cult, did you?”
“Our leader prefers to call it a happiness movement,” I say sarcastically, pushing the car trunk shut and circling back around to the driver’s side.
Mama takes a long sip from her mug. Even after a near-death experience, these moments of vulnerability between us haven’t gotten any less awkward.
“Mama, I want you to know that I really appreciate all the support you’ve given me in my career,” I tell her. “But I don’t know if I can ever let go of the idea that if enough people praised me, recognized me, took my picture, asked for my autograph, that I’d finally feel like I’m worth something. And I don’t want to keep giving up pieces of myself to others just to feel loved. Maybe someday in the future when I’ve figured things out more I’ll give it another shot, but not right now.”
She considers my words, then says, “As long as you’re at peace with your decision.”
“I think it’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” I reply.
“Hmm. Do you have a full tank of gas?”
“Yup.”
“Checked your tire pressure?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Remember to pull over to rest if you’re getting tired instead of drinking energy drinks. Those things will make your heart explode.”
“What’s the percentage of lung cancer that’s directly linked to smoking? Seventy percent? Eighty?”
“Get off my property.” Mama points out to the road. “And I’m starting nicotine patches tomorrow.”
I give her a Sure, okay smile and wave as I pull open the car door to get in the driver’s seat. “I’ll text you when we get to our first stop.”
In the passenger seat, Candie’s looking at the navigation app on her phone. She’s wearing red-framed sunglasses.
“Want to stop by DC on our way?” I ask, pulling on my seatbelt. “I’ve never been.”
“I thought the road trip thing was just a cover story for your mom?” Candie looks over.
“It is. But if we’re going to go out in a blaze of glory rescuing your cousins, we might as well enjoy some cool museums beforehand, right?”
“Okay.” Candie starts tapping on the navigation route to change it.
“Wow, really? That easy?” I slide my own sunglasses on as I start to back out of the driveway. “I always thought you’d be a high-maintenance girlfriend, but you’re really proving me wrong so far.”
A small laugh tumbles out of her, shaking her shoulders. “Please. We both know you are the high-maintenance one.”
I reach out a hand to shove playfully at her before looking into the rearview mirror to check for oncoming cars. Light bounces across its rectangular glass surface, and for a split second, there’s a flash of a woman sitting in the back seat.
I slam on the brakes, my hands clenching the steering wheel. When I glance in the rearview mirror again, the back seat is empty.
“What is it?” Candie asks.
“Nothing.” I shake my head.
But we both know it isn’t nothing.
Candie stares at me, her eyes obscured behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses. She reaches over the center console and wraps her hand around mine.
“No matter what happens from here,” she says, “you won’t be alone, either.”
I roll the windows down because in this heat, the AC takes at least five minutes to kick in. When I turn the steering wheel, my wrist feels a little heavier than it should. There’s a phantom weight pulling under my skin, a strange itching in my gums, and maybe the shadow of a ghost in the back seat. But it’s all right, because the radio is playing an upbeat pop anthem reminiscent of an old Sweet Cadence single, and Candie is humming along to it, turning to me to say something. I like this song, she shouts, the wind sweeping through her voice and her hair.
We drive north, the brutal mid-August Georgia sun beating down on the road ahead, the hot haze making bits of asphalt glimmer like crushed diamonds.
Acknowledgments
This book was written in 2020, when I was scared and lost and grieving much like most of the world. Working on it got me through the darkest times, and I want to thank you first, dear reader, for picking it up and going on this journey with me.
Thank you so much to my incredible editor Kate Meltzer, for championing my weird bloody tale, and understanding the vision of horror and romance I was going for, and saying, “I think we can take this further.” Thank you to Emilia Sowersby, assistant editor extraordinaire, for everything you do, and for being one of GGF’s first supporters. All my gratitude to my agent John Cusick, who has guided me through this wild ride with so much enthusiasm and patience.
Thank you so much to the brilliant team at Macmillan: Morgan Rath, Teresa Ferraiolo, Leigh Ann Higgins, Mia Moran, Emily Stone, Katy Miller, Ilana Worrell, Elizabeth Peskin, and Jennifer Healey. To the design team, Samira Iravani and Beth Clark, thank you for the absolutely jaw-dropping cover. Thank you to the Roaring Brook team, Allison Verost and Connie Hsu, for your enthusiastic early support. And thank you to the subrights team, Kristin Dulaney, Kaitlin Loss, and Jordan Winch.
To Sarah Chung, best friend, devil sister, my first creative partner, I never would have written a single word without you. I owe it all to every cringe fic we wrote in the eighth grade (who what when where why), every comic we drew in French class, every hour we spent laughing on our thinking curb.
To Ming Chow, the original member of Team Gorgeous, my twin, thank you for your endless steadfast friendship and support, I will forever cherish our years together as the two Asian girls living in a small Southern town.
To Nora Elghazzawi, my war buddy, you saw this story through from the very first draft to the very final one, GGF literally would not exist without you. Thank you for sharing all those highs and lows, for laughing and crying with me, know that you are amazing and I will always be your biggest fan.
Thank you to the best critique group ever, the ladies who kept me focused and motivated (and laughing) through the pandemic, and gave me the confidence to finish this story: Flor Salcedo, S. Isabelle, Candace Buford, Maya Prasad, Michele Bacon, and Tanya Aydelott.
Thank you to Emily X. R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma for creating Foreshadow and giving me my first publishing credit.
To the amazing authors who came before me, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Joan He, and many others, thank you for paving the way so stories like mine could enter the world.
To my family, Baba, Mama, and David, thank you for the support and love that allowed me to reach the horizons I was aiming for.
To my daughter, who told me she was proud of me and that even if my books are not “famous” I am “famous in her heart,” thank you for changing my world for the better in every single way.
And finally, to lao gong. You are my rock, my anchor, my voice of reason when I get too neurotic. Thank you for being my person for the past twenty (!!) years, for walking nearly every stage of life with me, and for being the first to believe in me, and to keep believing in me during all the years I was “trying to write my book” by asking me how that novel was coming along. Well, it’s DONE NOW:P Eye knee.
About the Author
Linda Cheng was born in Taiwan and spent her childhood moving between cultures and continents. She received her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and worked as an art director across South Carolina and Georgia where she developed a deep love for sweet tea, grits, and Southern Gothic stories. She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada, with her family. Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is her debut novel.
Visit her online at lychengwrites.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 by Linda Cheng. Illustrations © 2023 by David Milan.
Published by Roaring Brook Press
Roaring Brook Press is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 • fiercereads.com
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cheng, Linda, author.
Title: Gorgeous gruesome faces / Linda Cheng.
Description: First edition. | New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2023. | Audience: Ages 14-18. | Audience: Grades 10-12. | Summary: Disgraced teen idol Sunny comes face to face with Candie, her former bandmate, and the demons of their shared past when the two enter a K-pop competition that devolves into a deadly nightmare.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022057230 | ISBN 9781250864994 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250865007 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Contests—Fiction. | K-pop (Subculture)—Fiction. | Lesbians—Fiction. | Chinese Americans—Fiction. | Korean Americans—Fiction. | Horror stories. | LCGFT: Horror fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.C497524 Go 2023 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022057230
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eISBN 9781250865007
First hardcover edition 2023
eBook edition 2023
Linda Cheng, Gorgeous Gruesome Faces
