by Eden Maguire
Raven Taylor.' His voice was faint but I could just make it out. 'Staff reported him missing at breakfast this morning. Over.' There was a pause while he listened, then he spoke again. The father is here. Rebecca has staff out searching the grounds. So far, they didn't find him. Over.'
Leaving the sheriff to report back to base and decide on his next move,
I carried on down the hil , creeping towards the giant trash can that would 94
give me good cover, al the time not real y believing that it would be me
who found the missing boy. I was crouching low and working my way between a black Jeep and a silver SUV when I heard the first noise.
It came from the SUV - a faint tapping sound which stopped then started again, as if somebody inside the car was knocking a smal object against a metal surface. I caught my breath. What did I do now? If I suddenly popped up in view, what would the person in the car think? If I carried on with my stealth assault, the game was up anyway. The tapping happened again and I stood up.
At first I thought I'd made a mistake - there was no one inside the car after al . Then I looked and listened again. Tap-tap-tap from the back of the vehicle - the section behind a metal gril e meant for bags or dogs. I went round to the rear window and took another good look inside.
The kid was sitting cross-legged in the baggage space, a book resting
across his knees, a sketch pad by his side. He was rocking back and forth, locked in his world, tapping his metal pen against the gril e.
Without thinking, I opened the door. Raven didn't stop rocking or tapping. The book in his lap showed a picture of the famous Warhol Marilyns, al sunshine yel ows and oranges, purple hair and crimson,
pouting lips.
Hi, Raven,' I whispered.
He rocked and tapped as if I wasn't there. 'What are you doing here?'
He ran the pen along the mesh gril e, like a pianist running a finger along the keys. The cover of the pad by his side was covered in tiny, complex sketches of his house in Westra.
'Hey, I like your drawings,' I told him, and he looked up at me. I offered him my hand. He took it.
Of course, Phoenix and Arizona knew the second I found Raven. They were there by my side in an instant, in the parking lot to keep an eye on me but staying out of sight as I gently helped the kid from the vehicle.
And I real y love these,' I told him as he let me take the Marilyn pictures away from him. 'Pick up your sketch book, let's go get some lunch.'
He frowned then stiffened, turning back towards the SUV. Every
movement was slow and a little clumsy. The way he moved, he reminded 95
me of one of those old-fashioned puppets on strings.
You want to stay here? That's cool.' Why this car? I wondered, then the answer came to me in a flash that Arizona had the exact same car as this! Same model, same colour. 'I like this car. It's cool.'
Poor kid - the only place in the world he felt safe was in that
stranger's vehicle, believing that his sister would soon come to fetch him.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Phoenix take Arizona's hand and hold it tight.
'If you don't want lunch, how about coming to see your dad?' I tried a different tack. 'He's here on a visit.'
There was no response no reluctance, no eagerness, just a big blank.
Arizona took a step forward but Phoenix held her back. I knew that if she showed herself, they would have to take Raven and zap his already damaged brain clean of the memory.
Boy, was she having the hardest time as she agreed to step back. Think about it - al she wanted to do was the one thing she couldn't, which was to throw her arms around her brother, hug him and tel him everything would be OK.
'Arizona, you need to leave,' Phoenix told her.
She raised her hand to cover her eyes, clutching at her temples and holding back the sobs.
'You have to go before you tear yourself apart,' he insisted. 'I'l take care of things here.'
She took a half a step towards her brother then faltered.
'Come and see your dad,' I insisted, tapping the cover of the Marilyn book as a kind of bait. 'Come with me.'
'Go!' Phoenix whispered to Arizona.
Final y she gave in. I walked around the side of the ranch house with Raven just as she used her power to disappear. There was the bright halo of light, quickly fading and then an absence. Phoenix stood alone.
'Take him in the house. Make sure you hand him over to Rebecca
Davis.' Phoenix was the calmest, the strongest of Raven's team of wouldbe rescuers.
'So tel me about your favourite picture,' I said to the kid, trying to keep the shakes out of my voice. 'Would it be these Marilyns or the cool soup cans that you like the most?'
96
'Did you see Frank Taylor?' Phoenix wanted to know. He was at the wheel of my car, driving us back towards Hartmann Lake. I'd handed Raven over to the principal, made a lame excuse and left.
'I found the kid in the forest,' I'd told her. 'I figured he belonged here.'
You should have seen the way Raven looked at me when Rebecca Davis took control - hurt and confused doesn't real y hit the mark, but it's the best I can do. He thought we two were yel ow and red, purple and green Marilyn buddies and now here I was, dumping him back with the grey people.
So, did you?' Phoenix repeated.
'Uh, no luckily, Frank wasn't around.' I had to stop feeling sorry for Raven and focus on our next step. 'I got out of there as fast as I could, before Rebecca could ask me any awkward questions.'
'Cool.' Phoenix drove for a while.
'How is it, being Raven - not talking, not getting other people, just living inside a bubble?' I wondered. 'Pretty lonely, I guess. And think, Phoenix - if the kid was able to talk, al the answers he could give us.
Like where he went the morning Arizona drowned, who he saw, how
come he ended up in the mal ...'
He glanced my way then back at the road ahead. 'You want to know something weird?' he murmured. 'Back there in the parking lot I tried to read Raven's thoughts, but I couldn't do it.'
'That's crazy!' Phoenix and the Beautiful Dead had amazing
telepathic powers. 'What happened?'
'I tried and there was nothing just a jumble of stuff.'
'Maybe you didn't have enough time.' I offered excuses. 'And Arizona was finding it tough. There was a lot going on.'
'No.' Phoenix stopped me. 'The fact is - the kid's brain is wired up differently. No way could I get through to him.'
We were both silent then, driving by Hartmann. The fal sun glittered
gold on the clear green water. On the far bank a lone deer drank. 97
'I have some news about the latest bunch of vigilantes.' Phoenix restarted the conversation as we pul ed on to metal ed road and headed for town. 'You know the guys who came looking for trouble at the weekend?'
'The ones who camped out at Government Bridge?'
'Yeah. Wel , Kyle Keppler was there, and his buddies from Forest Lake.'
The news made me groan. 'That guy's like a bad smel - real hard to
shake off. You know I went over there yesterday?'
Phoenix nodded. 'Even though I said to stay away.' 'I didn't reckon on him being there.'
'You shouldn't go near him or his place, Darina.'
'Aren't you listening to me? I figured he'd be working at Mike's. I
needed to talk with Sable. Did she find out about Kyle and Arizona? If she did, what exactly did she do about it?'
'Too risky,' he insisted then clenched his teeth as he took a bend a shade too fast, throwing me against him.
I pul ed myself upright and clamped my mouth tight shut. Another period of silence fol owed.
'OK, so I'm doing it al wrong!' I burst out at last. 'Arizona said way back that I was too dumb to help you guys. Now you believe it too!'
'I didn't say that,' he sighed then he pul ed the car down a dirt track to the side of the road. We
stopped beside a field of yel ow grass with a barn in the distance. 'You know I worry about you, Darina.'
'No need,' I protested. But I didn't fool him. 'OK, so you worry about
me. Thank you.' I smiled and kissed him.
He gave a sad little sigh. 'Al this is happening to you because of me al the pain and doubt. I wish it didn't have to be like this.'
'I wouldn't have it any other way.' I needed Phoenix to know this. 'Every second we spend together is a gift. I don't care what it costs.'
He gazed at me, the long golden grass sloping up towards the
mountains behind his head, his eyes shining beautiful and blue. 'Stay safe 98
for me,' he whispered, then he kissed me softly on the lips. 'And let me
worry OK?'
'OK,' I smiled.
'And this has nothing to do with you being dumb.' 'For sure?' I asked, gazing into those eyes.
'Trust me,' he murmured, kissing me again to make certain I believed him. 'Darina, I love you.'
' But?'
No buts.'
So we didn't just have another fight?' I leaned in and kissed him back. I had that achingly awesome feeling of being closer to Phoenix than any two people had ever been or ever could be.
Take it easy,' he told me, climbing out of the car and waiting for me to reverse back on to the highway.
'I love you!' I mouthed.
'I love you,' he replied. My heart soared.
For the longest time I kept him in sight in my rearview mirror -
standing there with his feet wide apart and his thumbs hooked into his belt, watching me go.
Minutes later I was wishing I stil had Phoenix in the car with me.
The incident started with a truck coming fast from behind and overtaking me on a bend.
Dumb driver!' I slammed on my brakes to let the truck get by. 'What's with you?'
Now the truck driver tucked in front of me and braked suddenly, his
tail lights glowing red under the pinewood canopy.
I braked again, with some ful -on cursing. That was until I recognized the guy hanging out of the passenger window as the Harley rider I'd seen in the Kepplers' yard - the one who'd been giving Sable the over-friendly hug. Then it felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. I slowed to a halt, praying for the truck to disappear out of sight.
But no, the driver up ahead performed a spectacular U-turn in the narrow road. He headed back towards me, and I could see it was Kyle Keppler himself at the wheel, with his dark-haired buddy stil hanging out of the passenger side, yel ing wild insults. The truck stopped and I got
ready for a face-off.
First Kyle and then his Neanderthal friend stepped down from the cab. 99
They walked slowly towards me. The friend stopped maybe three metres from my car, while Kyle came right up.
'Honey, this is where your luck runs out,' he sneered. 'You get away from me one time, and one time only.'
'What did I do?' I protested, my heart thumping in my chest. More in hope than belief, I looked in niy rearview mirror for Phoenix.
Kyle wasn't about to enter into explanations. His fist landed against my windscreen then he wrenched open my door and reached inside.
I struggled, but the guy was too strong. He lifted me out of there like I was a rag dol , then dumped me in the scrubland at the side of the road. I staggered back against the rough surface of a granite rock.
'Real cool car,' the buddy in the background said. He was carrying a
steel bar that I hadn't seen until then. 'Yeah it's a freaking shame.'
By now my heart had broken through my chest, it was pounding up in my throat, making me gag with fear. Kyle Keppler gave the other guy a signal and I heard the metal bar whack into the hood of my car.
That could be your skul ,' Keppler told me, pressing me hard against the boulder. 'Jeez, what a mess.'
I knew my legs wouldn't hold me up. I felt myself sinking to the ground. Then in a nanosecond everything changed.
Phoenix appeared in his halo of light, solid out of nowhere, taking a swing at Keppler, who saw him just in time and ducked. His buddy tossed him the steel bar and he caught it.
Some people scream in terror. I found I couldn't utter a sound.
Now Keppler wielded the bar like a basebal bat. He swung it at
Phoenix's head.
'Where the crap did he come from?' the guy in the background yel ed, crouching behind Phoenix like a footbal defender, trying to trap him against the banking.
The bar missed Phoenix's face by centimetres. Phoenix dived in to
butt Keppler in the stomach and send him staggering back towards me. 'Stand clear,' he warned.
Keppler raised the bar and smashed it down once, twice more. Each 100
time he grunted as he missed, too slow to land a blow as Phoenix moved smoothly from side to side.
But it was two against one and I could see the other guy moving in, sticking out his foot to trip Phoenix and pin him to the ground while Keppler towered over him, ready with the bar.
I found my voice and yel ed for Phoenix to watch out.
With one hand he stayed the bar in mid-air, with the other he shoved the accomplice so hard that the guy toppled and slid half under my car.
Now with both hands free, Phoenix turned his ful zombie strength on Keppler. He tore the bar from his hands and beat him back against the rocks. The bar was at Keppler's throat, forcing his head back and making his eyes rol in his skul . I fil ed my time stamping on guy number two's hands as he tried to crawl from under the car.
Don't you ever touch Darina!' Phoenix was centimetres from Keppler's distorted features. You lay one finger on her and you're dead!'
Then he flung the bar away. It fel with a clatter as he landed a punch on Keppler's jaw, sending him sideways, grovel ing in the dirt alongside his buddy.
'I ought to kil you for this,' Phoenix muttered.
'Don't!' I begged. No more fights. No hidden blades, please!
Our brief conversation had given the two guys a fraction of breathing space - long enough for them to be up on their feet and coming at Phoenix together.
This time I did scream.
Phoenix took hold of Keppler's swinging fist and sent him crashing against the dark-haired guy, flinging them both against my car, making it look so easy.
'OK, enough,' he decided out loud. This is going to hurt real bad.'
Then he stared into their eyes - the sidekick first, then Keppler -
zapping them with the ful force of his mind-blowing power.
A sudden, fierce wind kicked up and I saw the dirt rise, heard the wings begin to beat. Mil ions of wings - hordes of dead souls released from limbo who gave Phoenix his ability to wipe memories clean, leaving 101
the victims empty and aching, waking up later and wondering what the hel happened and how they came to be lying in the dirt covered in bruises.
At first Keppler resisted. He tried to lunge again towards Phoenix, but my Beautiful Dead boyfriend stood his ground, his gaze fixed on him like a laser into his brain. Keppler staggered backwards, into his buddy, and they hit the ground together.
Countless wings raised the dust storm high into the blue sky as Phoenix stood proud and victorious.
'Brandon wil take your car for repair,' Phoenix promised me.
We'd had to leave it in the ditch and walk into town before Keppler and his buddy came round.
I was dazed, my head refused to work clearly after the shock. 'Logan
wil do that. I only have to ask him and Christian they'l work on the car together.'
'Brandon,' Phoenix insisted. 'Tel him where we left it. He'l tow it
in.
'Just tel him not to take it to Mike's Motors,' I joked. 'OK, not funny, huh? And before you say I told you so about Keppler, I admit it - you were right.'
'Brutal guy,' Phoenix confirmed.
We walked slowly along a rough sidewalk, with no one around. The lost souls had packed up their w
ings and gone wherever they cal ed home. 'Tel me what you know about him, besides the Arizona connection.'
Phoenix stuck his hands deep into his jeans pockets before he dropped
the bombshel . 'The guy with him - that was Sable's brother, Jon
Jackson.'
'Her brother!' I hadn't thought of that when I ran my Jerry Springer scenario, back in the Kepplers' front yard. I had him down as a love rival, remember. OK, so I have this personality defect of rushing headlong, and here's another example.
'Jon was at Government Bridge with Kyle and a couple of others. They like to hang out together.'
'Would Brandon be included in the gang?' I wanted to know exactly
where Rohr Brother Senior fitted in. 'Brandon, Kyle and Jackson - 102
they're a team?'
'Sometimes.' Phoenix clammed up, lowering his gaze and walking slightly ahead. 'Look I don't choose my brother's buddies!'
I thought this through. 'OK, I get it. You don't want to drag Brandon
in because Kyle's not a nice person to be around and you'd rather I didn't paint Brandon with the same brush. Is that right?'
A nod was al I got by way of reply.
I ran to catch him up. 'Plus, Kyle and Jackson they were there on ... on the night!' The fact hit me between the eyes - they'd been members of the kil er gang that gathered by the petrol station in town. 'Phoenix, they were part of what happened to you!'
He shook his head.
'Does that mean yes or no?' I grabbed his hand and made him slow down. 'Look at me and tel me the truth.'
'They were there,' he admitted. 'Along with maybe twenty other guys. But we don't need to focus on that right now. This is about Arizona, remember.'
'Jeez, how could she even like this guy?' We were walking again, almost within sight of the first houses on the Peak Road into town.
'Arizona loved Kyle,' he reminded me. Liking and loving - they're not the same thing.'
'So what now?' I meant, what was our next move, once I'd been to Brandon and got him to take care of my crushed car hood. 'Do I make another move to get Sable alone and ready to talk?'