“Okay, I think I follow you.” I leaned against the wall behind her since there wasn’t anywhere else to sit and stared at Carson on the screen. “So we’re sure my mother didn’t start the fire, right?”
He shook his head. “I got nothing from her about it, so my guess is no. If anything, she seemed really excited about the fire. Like jumping up and down and clapping her hands like some little kid.”
“That’s my mom for you,” I mumbled.
“What about the cemetery?” Jayden turned back to her laptop. “Is it possible she might be there?”
Caron shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“I think it’s worth checking out.” Lou pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Anyone up for a nighttime adventure?”
Chapter Nine
Jayden and I had to be careful about getting out of the house. Nadia wanted to tag along, too, so we gave her the job of keeping Ian and Bree preoccupied and stressed how important it was. My sister had both the charm and cuteness to do the job, so she was definitely in her element. The only questionable part was how long she could keep it up.
I closed my bedroom door and turned off the light. When Nadia brought a card game into the living room so she could play with Ian and Bree, Jayden turned off the house alarm and I got the keys off the rack from the kitchen. Both of us sneaked out the front door and got into the car. Jayden put the gear in neutral and used gravity to back it down the slight hill and into the road. Once she had it faced in the right direction, she started up the engine and we were on our way to Coff-Eazzze to pick up Carson and Lou.
Eternal Light was one of the few cemeteries that sat on a small hill. Wrought iron gates surrounded the place, though they were in desperate need of a paint job. The entryway was wide open for anyone who might want to wander inside for a night visit. We drove along the dirt road as it snaked through the graveyard. We shined our flashlights from our phones out the windows, since light was pretty scarce in a place like this. Rows of headstones lined the grounds for beloved family and friends. We even came across two fresh sites that had been recently covered over. I hoped to God nothing crawled up out of those things.
“I really hate this place.” Carson pulled his cell phone back inside and slumped in his seat. “There’s so much...stuff here. It’s like being tossed into a crowded arena and finding it impossible to focus on one conversation.”
Jayden sighed as she clutched the steering wheel. “I told you you could stay behind.”
“Lou’s my ride.”
She chuckled. “You’re like a bloodhound when it comes to stuff like this and you know it. If anyone is going to find Phaedra’s mom, you can. Besides, we hardly ever get to have an adventure like this.”
“My mom’s hurt and missing,” I said. “Can you keep your enthusiasm to a dull roar?” While I appreciated Jayden’s friend wanting to help, they had no idea what my mother was capable of and trying to convey that was like trying to tell a sociopath that torturing people wasn’t a good idea. Sometimes, you have to let people learn the hard way.
“Sorry,” Lou said.
“Hey.” Carson sat up and shoved his head between our two seats. “Stop the car.”
Jayden slowed us to a stop. “What is it?”
“Not sure, yet.” He stared straight ahead before opening his door and stepping out. “They’re looking at us.”
“Who’s looking at us?” I asked.
“Those kids over there. More like...they’re looking at you.”
I glanced out into the tombstone garden and didn’t see anything other than trimmed grass, darkness, and the woods in the background. Nobody was out there. Nobody alive, anyway.
I opened the door and stepped out without my crutches. Pain surged through my ankle, but I kept walking without any sense of where I was going. Two more doors opened behind me. It wasn’t hard to figure out that one of them wasn’t Carson.
If anything was out there, I didn’t see or feel it. That wasn’t my area of expertise anyway. The only thing crawling across my back and up my arms was fear of the very solid kind that came with a bottle of liquor, nasty-smelling clothes, and a rape on his mind. Thankfully, we didn’t see any of that either. Dew soaked the grass under our feet and crisp, cold air sent a shiver across my face and neck.
“Let’s walk out a little.” Jayden led the way with her camera phone panning from one tombstone to another. “Maybe you should call out to see if your mother’s here.”
It wasn’t a bad idea, though a little embarrassing. Still, if we wanted my mother back, then I’d suck it up and get on with it. Too bad we forgot to pack some rope in the car, in case we found her. I glanced at a rock on the ground, hoping I wouldn’t need it later.
“Mom?” I yelled. “It’s Phae. Are you out here? Mom!” The silence left me empty and as frigid as the air. I was hoping we’d see or hear something. My throat tightened at all of the terrible possibilities. I tried to keep my hopes tapped down, but they must have leaked through without my realizing it. I closed my eyes to keep the tears at bay, my heart longing to hear her voice and feel her gentle touch. “Mom? Nadia and I need you to come home. Kurt is in the hospital, so we’re in foster care.”
“Are you seeing anything?” Lou asked Jayden.
“Nothing,” she replied. “I can’t see anything beyond what my eyes are showing me. That doesn’t mean she isn’t here. It just means I can’t see her future because I don’t have a connection with her. There's too much deadness around. There’s not much of a future in that.”
“She sure chose a great place to hide, then.” I continued off to the right because I wanted to be alone. I didn’t know these guys well enough to let them see me cry. I didn’t want their sympathies either. I wanted my mom. Everything in my life seemed so empty without her in it. Neither Nadia nor Kurt could fill the black swirling void inside me, left in her wake.
A phone chimed. Jayden looked at her cell and cursed. “The parental unit is on to us, Phaedra. Dad texted and he sounds pissed.”
“How do your parents usually handle sneaking out of the house?” I asked.
“Not sure. This is the first time I did it. Vanessa was the expert on that, but she learned how to get back in the house without them knowing about it, too.”
“Great. They must think I’m a wonderful influence.” I leaned against a tombstone and massaged my sore ankle. I noticed Jayden started texting something. “What are you telling him?”
“Might as well go with the truth. Like I said, it’s my first time and I obviously suck at it.” She blew a bubble, popped her gum, and chewed it all back in her mouth without leaving any residue. For someone who never did this before, she didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “I’m trying to use some of that dumb psychology stuff on him. Maybe it’ll work—I don’t know.”
“Psychology? Really? You must want me out of your house something bad.”
“Eh. Something like that.” She continued to carry on a text conversation with him.
Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to our surroundings. Just when I thought I was somewhat understanding my lovely foster sister, she threw me for a loop around the bus instead of under it.
A swarm of squawking blackbirds poured out of the trees. All of us stood there staring, almost unafraid to move. They swooped up into the sky and circled like a tornado before turning and heading back to the ground toward us.
“Run!” Carson screamed from the car. “They’re coming for you!”
All three of us turned and ran. I had no idea how far we had gotten from the car until I realized we had to go up a slight incline to reach it. The squawking gained more ground than we had. I had seen too many horror movies to think about what would happen to us if those birds reached us before we got to the car. My heart pounded in my chest and my sore ankle burned. There was no way I’d cover enough ground on time. One bird flew past me and then another. They came with pencil sharp beaks and screeching in our ears. I grabbed my head and hoped they wouldn’t go after
my eyes.
My feet lifted, flipping me head over heels into the air while throwing me forward about ten feet off the ground. I must have flown about thirty feet across the cemetery and slammed hard into the grass. When I opened my eyes, the corner of a marble block was about an inch from my face. If I had landed any closer, my skull would’ve been cracked open.
The cawing brought me back to my sensing. I lay flat on the ground and grabbed my head, hoping I was flat enough that the birds would miss me.
“Get down!” I yelled at the others. I barely saw them through the blades of grass. “Now!”
Dozens of birds darted overhead in a tight ink smudge in the sky. Their shrieking was so loud that it probably wouldn’t matter if they poked out my eardrums. Their cries alone would make me deaf. I kept my cheek pressed into the cold, dewy grass with my head still covered, praying it would be over.
Even though it was only a minute or two, it seemed like an eternity before the raucous birds trailed off. Cautious, I lowered my hands and lifted my head to glance around. We were back to the silence of the grave. I looked up to see both Jayden and Lou being as wary as I was. We all made eye contact before we deemed it safe to move.
“Get up!” Carson was out of the car now and waving at us. “Come on. Someone is driving straight for us. We gotta go. Now!”
We put our butts in gear and started for the car. Jayden tossed Lou the keys as she ran past her. My foster sister headed for me. She slipped her arms around my waist and pulled my free hand over her shoulder. Using her as leverage, we hustled it as fast as my throbbing ankle would allow.
By the time we got to the car, the headlights were off and Carson was behind the wheel. Both he and Lou were motioning for us to hurry. Jayden let me slide into the backseat first and then she followed. Other than Carson, we all ducked low but kept an eye on our surroundings.
In the distance, a cop car put on their flashing lights. They must have spotted us. We are deep now.
“Don’t make any sudden movements that are going to scare them,” Jayden said. “We don’t have any alcohol in the car or anything. They’ll let us go.”
“No way.” Carson floored the gas, fishtailing us across the cemetery grass and slamming the back left into a nearby tree.
“Are you nuts?” Jayden yelled.
“For God’s sake, you jackass, stop the car!” Lou shouted.
“We can beat this.” Carson gripped the wheel like he was about to race down a track. He lined us up to go speeding around the cop car and slammed his foot even harder into the accelerator. The cop car did the same, only they were probably much more skilled at this than Carson was.
“What the heck are you doing?” I screamed. “I won’t go to jail for you, you moron. Stop this damn car, now!”
The cop car spun out to the right and away from us. It slammed hard across a row of tombstones, kicking up both smoke and dirt. We sped past them, but I continued to stare out the back window. By the time the dust settled, the cop car was tilted slightly to the left and a splatter of broken marble blocks surrounding their vehicle.
“Oh man,” Carson said. “Did you guys see that?”
“Yeah, stupid,” Jayden replied. “We’re all in the car with you. Now pull over.” She smacked him on the side of the head for good measure.
“Not yet.” He slowed down and turned onto the main road into the cemetery. “They probably called us in. More cops will be out there looking for us.”
“Look, Baby Driver. I don’t know what kind of grief you have with the police, but you’re not throwing any of us into it with you. Get your jollies off another way.”
“We’ll switch in a minute.” Carson turned left onto the street and continued speeding down the road.
“Do you want to attract the police?” Lou said. “It’s either that or Phaedra’s going to get so scared that she’ll send you through the windshield whether you’re wearing a seatbelt or not. Did you see what she did back there? Or are you too stupid to figure it out?”
“Please,” I said, closing my eyes and sinking further into the seat. “Don’t put ideas in my head.”
Lou was right though. The police didn’t just spin out like that on their own. They had the help of the psychokinetic kind and it was probably mine, considering how pissed off and scared I was. Just like usual, I didn’t feel anything happening right before it happened, otherwise, I would’ve stopped it.
“She’s right.” Jayden kept her face close as she stared hatred into the side of Carson’s head. “You’re going to be the next one to be flying twenty-five feet through the air if you don’t stop this car. Unlike her, I won’t need psychokinesis to do it.”
Carson finally got a clue and pulled us over into a gas station. He and Jayden switched out and she drove home, although her driving wasn’t too much better than his. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any police on the way back to the coffee shop to drop off Lou and Carson. Unfortunately, we encountered a pissed-off set of parents waiting for us in the living room when we got home.
Chapter Ten
I didn’t think Ian and Bree had it in them to go off like that, but they did. As tense as their tirade made me, it was somewhat nice to have parents yelling for a change. My mom would’ve done the same, but to see that she wasn’t the only one who cared, warmed something inside me. Despite their punishment of grounding both of us for a month, I didn’t feel threatened by them at all. Defiance had nothing to do with it. Their insistence on me recognizing their authority did. If we made it out of this without the cops coming to our house or social services removing Nadia and me, I’d gladly do my time in the Kendrick’s doghouse.
The following morning, rather than sit around the house and feel more like a disappointment to Bree, I decided to slip my satchel across my shoulder, grab my crutches, and start for the door. I held it open for Nadia as she hurried into the hall and waited for me. Since we put her in charge of parental diversion while we were gone, she was the only one who still had privileges.
When we made it to the kitchen, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared. Jayden was at the table holding a spoonful of fruity cereal while Bree was nursing a cup of coffee by the stove.
“You’re both going to school?” Ian stood between the table and the counter holding a milk carton.
“Yeah, well…”I held the chair for Nadia while I thought up a good excuse that wasn’t so disrespectful. “We’ve caused you guys enough trouble, so—”
“Nonsense.” He placed the milk done and grabbed two more bowls from the cabinet. “While we don’t approve of what you and Jayden did last night, it doesn’t mean you’re in the way of anything.”
“This would be a different conversation if the police were here.” I placed my crutches against the wall and pulled out a chair for myself to sit on. “I’m guessing they never came or called?”
“No.” He placed a bowl before us along with two different kinds of cereal to choose from. “But, there was some chatter across the police scanner about a disturbance in the cemetery last night. The one where the two of you were. Care to talk about what happened?”
“Not really.” I picked one out and poured it. I snatched the other box from Naida just as she was about to go overboard.
“That happened to be the same thing your cohort said.” Ian sighed as he leaned into the back of the chair across from where I sat. He glimpsed Jayden, who blushed before resuming her dive into her bowl. “Of course, I’ve also learned that if you twist the punishment with just the right force, things always come to light.”
“More like, I learned.” Bree slapped a newspaper down beside Ian and stormed out of the kitchen.
I glanced at Jayden, hoping my face wasn’t too threatening. I wasn’t mad at her. If she was crazy enough to text her parents about where we were last night, then it wasn’t much of a stretch that she would tell them every detail, too. I sure wish I knew how Bree twisted the punishment knife.
“Then why would I want to talk about it?”
I asked. “You’re not supposed to be that kind of shrink.”
Laughter jumped out of Jayden so fast that she nearly choked on her breakfast. She hid her smiling face behind a napkin.
Signaling as though the weight of the conversation had taken its toll, Ian glowed with ire before turning away. “Finish your breakfast, please, so we can be off.”
#
Getting around the school was somewhat of a pain in more ways than one despite taking three ibuprofen for all of the achiness I was still suffering from last night. However, my condition gave me a license to be late for my classes for a change, which was nice. Things were going okay until I got to the cafeteria and noticed Jayden heading my way.
“You’re mad because I told him, aren’t you?” She stood holding onto her tray, not ready to sit just yet.
“No.” I tapped the home button on my tablet and motioned for her to sit.
“Yeah, right.” She sat across from me and went for her chocolate cupcake first. “Mom threatened to turn it into two months for me if I didn’t tell them what happened. They were more worried that someone from the preternatural authorities might figure out it was us in the cemetery last night.”
“There is such a thing?”
“Not that I know of.” She opened her carton of milk but put it back on her tray.
“So why did you tell them anything? Not that I’m saying you should completely disobey your parents, but you could’ve said we were meeting Carson and Lou at the coffee house.”
“My parents know their parents, so that wouldn’t work. Besides, you have to know when to tell them the truth and when not to. That’s what Vanessa taught me. It’s like paying into the bank before you make a withdrawal. My telling them the big truth now means it’s easier to hide the little stuff later.”
I had to give her credit for that one. I haven’t been around my mother long enough to know how to play those games just yet. I hoped I wouldn’t have to either.
Silent Scream (Bittersweet Series, Book 2) Page 8