by Lauren Eason
“Ouch,” I commented. “I think you’re going to bruise.”
“Well, I don’t think you’ll have any problems getting away from an attacker,” Raven joked as she sat back down, waiting for the nurse to release her.
“Hi, Ms. Lockhart?” the nurse started. “Oops, my apologies. Mrs. Mason, I have Raven in the nurse’s office. She had a little trouble in gym class and hurt her nose. Would you like to speak with her?”
The nurse handed the phone to Raven. As I waited for her to finish, I glanced at a newspaper lying on a small table by my chair. Picking it up, I noticed an article hidden in the background about missing runaways. I tore the page out and placed it in the pocket of my gym shorts as Raven handed the phone back to the nurse.
“Let’s blow this joint,” Raven announced as we headed back out towards the locker rooms.
“Who was that on the phone with you?” I asked.
“It was Denise. My father’s at work, so she asked me if I wanted to come home. She’s always trying to be so nice. It really creeps me out,” Raven replied. “I know I should give her a break, but she tries too hard.”
“Oh, I was confused by the last name,” I stated, fishing for some answers.
“It’s her maiden name. She changed it when she and my dad got married,” Raven announced.
“Is she related to Samuel Lockhart?” I asked, remembering the name given to me by Detective Highwater.
“I have no idea. You’d have to ask her,” she stated. “Someone you know?”
“No, it’s a hunch. Detective Highwater told me the names of the founders for the youth outreach program,” I clarified.
“What? And you didn’t tell me?” she pouted.
“Honestly, I’ve had so much going on it slipped my mind. Can you find out if there’s any relation between them?” I asked.
“I guess I could snoop around for you. She’s not exactly the most organized person, but I’ll let you know if I find anything out,” Raven replied. “By the way, I’ve been reading a ton of stuff about lucid dreaming. I don’t have superpowers like you, but I thought it could be fun to learn some of those techniques in case we ever link up in the future.”
“I tried to reach Gabrielle again last night, and I couldn’t even do that. I’ve been in and out of some pretty weird dreams lately.”
“Yeah, Jess told me,” Raven mentioned.
“What? You’ve been talking to Jess this whole time and didn’t tell me?” I asked, stopping before entering the gym.
“I mean...yes? I know you and Jess have some family problems right now, but she’s working on her own stuff. She wanted someone to confide in, so I sat and listened to her—all as a way to get her to understand you,” she added, throwing up her hands in defeat. “You know I’m always on your side.”
“I suppose I’m glad she’s going to my good friend instead of someone else,” I grumbled.
“That’s the spirit!” Raven exclaimed, playfully punching me in the arm. “So, are you ready to go back in here and face total humiliation with me?”
I rolled my eyes as I pushed open the door to the gym.
Chapter Eighteen
We walked into the recreational center, the spitting image of what I had seen in a previous dream. The booths lined the center of the floor in two rows with the name of different organizations under the youth outreach program's umbrella. My sister immediately left my side to venture off in the direction of Steven’s booth. Raven touched my arm gently, shaking her head as I tried to follow after her.
“Let her go. She needs some time to blow off steam. She’ll come around when she wants to,” Raven reassured me with a gentle smile.
“The school newspaper has a booth set up near the back,” Jason pointed out. “I’ll show you.”
Jason led me along the long row towards the back of the recreational center near the stage. A small booth with two kids from our school stood behind a table with a blank signup sheet.
“Hi, Abby, this is Aislin Smith. She’s here to sign up if you two still have any openings available,” Jason said.
“Thank God,” Abby said as she blew out a sigh of relief. “We lost our assistant editor last week because she needed to focus on school.”
“That’s a valid reason,” I muttered.
“Yeah, well, it really put us in a bind. You’re not flaky, are you because we need someone to take some initiative—”
The girl standing beside Abby elbowed her in the ribs to keep her on topic without scaring away potential new recruits. She smiled warmly and held out her hand for me to shake.
“I’m Zahara, the editor in chief for our school newspaper and aspiring journalist. Abby is my photographer. We’ve been trying to run this newspaper with only the two of us for a while. Jason mentioned you, and we wondered when you’d stop by,” she replied gratefully.
“I’ll leave you two to it then. If you need anything, Ais, I’ll be with Ben over by the sports booth. Good luck.” Before I could turn to say goodbye, Jason had already left.
“He’s a sweetheart, isn’t he?” Zahara mentioned, handing me the signup sheet. I took it from her and scribbled my name on the paper.
“He’s okay, I guess,” I said, flashing a smile.
“Ah, so, you’re the one who caught his attention,” Zahara commented. “I was wondering what had gotten into him lately. He seems happier.”
“Oh, well...I don’t know about that,” I replied, blushing as I gave her back the clipboard and pen. “We’re really good friends.”
“Right,” Abby smirked, her eyebrow raised. “We’ve heard all about your run-ins with Melissa and her crew.”
“What Abby means to say is that we’re happy to have you here. It takes a load off our shoulders when it comes to creating the stories and bringing the newspaper to life,” Zahara covered for her. “Abby writes the gossip column as well.”
“You mean, you really want me to write stories?” I asked. “I thought I would have some sort of training period and then work my way up to that.”
“Usually, that’s how it works, but since we’re so short-staffed, we need all hands on deck. I’m sure you’ve noticed the paper hasn’t been running since the start of the school year. Now you know why,” Zahara mentioned.
“What kind of stories do you write?” I asked, intrigued.
“All kinds. Mainly about the sports team, but sometimes we have a club or two that do something for the community or showcase new members. Those types of things,” Abby remarked.
“So, have you two looked into the kidnappings?” I questioned, wondering how involved this newspaper team got.
Zahara sighed and crossed her arms. “Unfortunately, no. Our stories have to be approved by the administrative staff of the school. They don’t think common local news is something reflective of the school or its students. Believe me, I’ve been trying to get the pieces I’ve written about it through them for the past couple of weeks but with no luck.”
“But it does involve us. It’s kids, people from the schools. We’re even taking mandatory self-defense classes in gym because of what’s happening. We’re not stupid. We know what’s going on in the real world,” I pointed out.
Zahara smiled wide, flashing a brilliant row of white against her ebony skin. “That’s why we need someone like you on our team. You’re passionate, and I like that. Abby, why don’t you show her how we come up with stories for our storyboard?”
Abby took my hand and took me around the back of the booth, where they had a moveable whiteboard. On it were pictures Abby had taken of clubs, the football team, and different areas where students liked to congregate during and after school.
“So, we have a process we’ve set in place that’s worked well in the past. These are sample pictures, and everything on this particular board is for demonstrative purposes for new recruits like yourself,” Abby instructed. “I’m the first one to hear the scoop from students through gossip, or sometimes, Zahara will give me a lead. I go to those locat
ions or club meetings and snap some shots. We then come back, place them on the board and brainstorm headlines and talk about how we want to present their stories to the masses.”
“Sounds simple enough,” I commented with a shrug.
“You’d think so, but sometimes we spend hours trying to think of a good headline, let alone devise an entire story to go with each picture.” Her eyes shifted over me as if she were sizing me up. “Honestly, I think some of the stuff we’ve been putting together is boring. I’d much rather write about Melissa being burned by the new girl.”
“It’s not as intimidating or as boring as what Abby’s trying to make you believe,” Zahara replied, peeking her head around the booth.
“And yet, we still haven’t been able to get out a single issue this year,” Abby retorted. From their banter, I could tell they had worked together for a long time. It was a good cop, bad cop routine, and I admired it. They were straight, hard-hitting women with clear goals for their baby, The Madison Gazette.
“There you are! Come with me,” Raven said, grabbing my arm.
“I’ll be right back!” I said as she dragged me along.
“We meet in the room 201 after school on Mondays!” Abby shouted after me. I was glad she told me because it didn’t appear as if Raven would give me the chance to go back to find out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as we ducked behind Steven’s booth. I could see Jess standing to the side waiting for us with a cellphone in her hand behind her back. Raven took it from her as Jess returned to talk to Ben, who approached the booth to distract Steven.
“Raven, what’s going on?” I whispered.
“Jess got Steven’s phone for us to look through, but we only have about five minutes before Ben can’t think of anything else to say about music,” Raven whispered back. She opened the cellphone and scrolled through the recent call list.
“Wait! I know that number,” I said, pointing at it. “That’s the number to the Ocean Blue Lounge. It’s from a dream I was in. Long story.”
“More secrets?” Raven asked eyes narrowed.
I rolled my eyes. “Check his texts.”
Raven clicked on the icon and scrolled through them. “Recognize any of them?”
“Several,” I said slowly, taking the phone from her. “Why is Denise texting Steven?”
“Beats me. One of her many extra-marital lovers, I presume,” Raven mumbled. I shot her a look before she continued. “I think I figured her out, and that’s why she’s been super nice to me. We’ll talk about it later.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know...They’re not talking about that kind of stuff, though. She’s asking him about making good on a delivery. Do you know what that’s about? Have you seen anything arrive at your house?” I asked, wondering if Raven knew anything about the situation.
“Honestly, I have no clue. I try to stay as far away from Denise as humanly possible. Who’s this person?” Raven pointed to Hunter Mathis. “He’s meeting him tonight?”
“Long story short, but I ended up in his dream, and he had a job for Steven. Perhaps, Steven took him up on the offer. The only thing is, I have no way of knowing how old the memory was in the dream, so he could’ve been working with this Mathis character for a while.”
Jess peeked around the corner and waved her hand behind her for the phone. I listened as the conversation in the front of the booth started to dwindle between Ben and Steven. Raven pushed the phone back into her hand. We walked away from the booth towards the front of the center and out through the double doors.
“I guess you owe Ben a favor after that. Did you tell him why you needed a distraction?” I asked.
“Of course not. Like I’m going to walk up and say, ‘hey, Ben, uh, can you distract Steven for me because we think he’s involved in a human trafficking ring?’ Yeah, no way,” she concluded. “Did you get anything useful from the newspaper?”
“I don’t know yet. Zahara has been working on several stories about the kidnappings but is having trouble getting them approved for publication. I’d really like to read them to see if she has any good leads or working theories that may help us,” I relayed.
The door opened behind us as Jess stepped out onto the sidewalk to join the conversation. Her head dropped in a shy manner as Raven stepped away to give us some space.
“Ais, I—”
“Jess, you don’t have anything to apologize for. It was all me. I turned into our parents by not trusting you when I’ve always known you’ve had my back. You’ve proven yourself to me more times than I can count, and I should’ve told you first,” I apologized.
Jess gave me a hug as Raven returned, clearing her throat. “Are we all good now?”
Jess nodded. “What did you get off of Steven’s phone?”
“He’s meeting Hunter Mathis tonight at his club. He’s one of the founders of the outreach program,” I stated.
“So, he’ll be gone from his home tonight?” Jess asked, a plot forming in her mind.
“I don’t like where this is going,” Raven groaned.
“Hear me out,” Jess stated. “With Steven gone, we may be able to get inside his house and snoop around. Find more clues without having to rely on Aislin’s dreams. No offense.”
“None taken,” I smiled.
“You’re talking about breaking and entering,” Raven declared. “I’m good with computers, not locks...unless you have a key?”
“Uh, well, no. I don’t,” Jess replied, defeated.
“Wait a minute,” I said, grabbing their attention. “When the fuse went out, Jason and I went searching for it. It was in that little room in the basement. It had a grate in the wall, and it led into Steven’s garage on the other side.”
“That’s a little weird,” Raven commented.
“I don’t know why it’s there or who thought it was a good idea to make it a part of the house, but we could unscrew it and crawl through.” It was risky, but I felt like it was a better lead than my dream hopping.
“Do I have to?” Raven asked. “I didn’t exactly sign up for stuff that I could go to jail for.”
“No, you can be the lookout,” Jess replied, trying to ease Raven’s nerves. “We’re not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I’m okay with spying on Steven,” she said. “Just keep your phones on vibrate. I’ve seen too many horror movies to know that much.”
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you two,” Ben said as he and Jason jogged up to us in front of the building. “You guys okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Raven asked.
“No reason. You all kind of left abruptly, so we thought something may have had happened,” Jason replied. “What are you ladies doing for the rest of the evening? We’re swinging by to pick up Max and Harold for the pier. Thinking about hitting up the arcade and some rides. Want to come?”
“Uh, well—”
“Aislin and Jess would love to, but I’m supposed to be studying for a major test tomorrow. They’re helping me out. If I don’t pass, then there won’t be any homecoming for me,” Raven interrupted, covering for me.
“That’s cool. You all will be at the football game this Friday?” Jason asked.
“Of course! We wouldn’t miss it,” Raven assured him as he and Ben turned to walk away. Raven spun around to face me. “You’re going to that football game.”
“I know. I already told Jason I would,” I assured her. I wasn’t one to break off previous engagements.
Jess checked her watch. “It’s getting late. The outreach program will be wrapping up soon. We should get a move on so we don’t miss our window with Steven. Chances are he’s going to meet that Mathis guy straight after this. We better hurry.”
Right,” I concurred as we headed towards my car. We hopped in as I drove us out of the parking lot and back towards home. Raven groaned from the back seat.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, glancing into the rearview mirror.
“It�
��s Denise. She’s asking me if I can spend the night at your place since she’s going out again tonight,” Raven replied as she texted a rapid response to her step-mother.
“And that’s a problem because...?” Jess inquired, twisting around in the front seat.
“Well, she’s not hanging out with her new husband—to put it bluntly,” Raven sighed. “My father has no idea. He’s been traveling a lot for his business lately, and Denise is taking advantage of it. I can’t prove it, but I know something is going on.”
“You know you’re always welcome at my house,” I answered, trying to comfort her.
“I know, but that’s not the point. I’m pretty sure she’s cheating on my dad,” Raven stated.
“Join the club,” I muttered under my breath. Jess gave me a stern look.
“What? You mean you don’t have any suspicions about Mom?” I asked her, meeting her gaze as I drove us down the darkening streets. “Think about it. She’s gone all night and doesn’t get back till early morning?”
“She said she was working...”
“Jess,” I urged, “you really believe that?”
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as her mind whirled. I knew she was thinking it over, trying to remember all the scenarios where our mother had to step out suddenly or was called into work. It all seemed like a poor excuse now and possibly one of the reasons our mother was advocating for family counseling.
I pulled into the driveway, peering over the hedges and fence into Steven’s yard. As I eased the car into the garage, I shut off the engine as we sat in silence for a moment.
“Don’t all of us get out at once,” Raven joked, leaning against the seat.
“Are we sure we want to do this?” Jess asked, not sounding as confident as before.
“Wasn’t this your idea?” I asked. “Do you want to find Gabrielle or not? You told me not to count Steven out.”
“I know what I said, Ais,” Jess snapped. “I just...don’t want it to be him.”
“No one wants that, Jess,” I said, turning to face her in the car. “I know this is hard, and I know you want to do the right thing. We can’t think of Steven as our neighbor or our friend. We have to think of all the victims.”