by Ginger Zee
Mia and Suze stared at Helicity in surprise when she dashed down the stairs. “Gotta help Sam with something!” she called as she hurried out the deck door.
The headlights from Sam’s car shone like a beacon as she raced down the beach to the campsite. She could hear someone yelling angrily. It took her a moment to recognize the person shouting was Andy. His voice was shrill and downright frightening.
Her brother stood nose to nose with Sam, his hands balled into fists. “For the last time, Levesque, where’s my stuff?”
“Andy!” Helicity cried. “Back off! I have your bag!”
Her brother rounded on her. The harsh lights from the car shadowed his face into a demonic mask of fury. “Well, where is it? Because I need something in it.”
Something inside her snapped. She yanked the pill bottle from her purse and flung it at his feet. “Is this what you’re looking for? What you need?”
Andy flinched as if she’d struck him. “What—is that Mia’s—Where’d that come from?” he stammered.
Helicity scowled. “You know where. Your duffel.”
“My duffel? No. Someone—someone must have put it there.” He spun and stabbed a finger at Sam. “Him! I bet he stole it and planted it in my stuff. I warned you he was no good, Hel. And now you’ve got proof!”
“What about getting fired from your painting job, Andy?” she spat. “Is Sam responsible for that, too? And for your unexplained late nights? Is he the reason you’ve been cutting yourself off from Mom and Dad? Why you’ve avoided me to hang out with that dirtbag Johnny?”
She retrieved the bottle and held it up pinched between her fingers. The orange plastic glowed like an ember in the headlights. “Because I think what’s inside this container is the real reason for all that. And maybe more.”
She wanted him to deny it. To tell her she was wrong, that it was all a big mistake. To give her an explanation that made sense of everything.
Instead, he gave her a pleading, desperate look that confirmed her worst fears. “Come on, Hel. It’s not what you think.”
“Isn’t it?” With a fierce twist, she opened the bottle and tipped the pills into her palm.
Andy licked his lips. “What are you going to do with those?”
“What I wish you had done with the first pills that doctor in Michigan gave you. And all the others you bought or stole or tricked someone into giving you.” Before he could stop her, she ran to the water’s edge and hurled the pills far out into the surf.
“No!”
Andy’s scream pierced the air. He lunged toward the water. Sam moved to intercept, but he was no match for Andy’s strength or his years as a football player. Andy tossed him aside like a rag doll, then dropped to his knees in the water.
“Why did you do that, Hel?” Andy rocked back and forth, hugging himself. “You have no idea what I’m going to go through. No idea.”
All the fight drained from Helicity then. She dropped the bottle and lowered herself beside him. Pried his arms free and gripped his hands in hers. And looked directly into his eyes for the first time in months. They were so full of fear and hunger and self-loathing that she almost couldn’t see what else was hidden there: her brother’s true essence, reaching out and crying for help. Just as it had in her nightmare. Except this was reality—and unlike her dream self, she would never let the monster drag him under without a fight.
“You’re right,” she whispered fiercely. “I don’t know what you’re going to go through, or where you’ve been. But I know where you are right now, and that’s here with me.”
She tightened her grip. He looked so agitated that she wanted to tell him that she understood. That he was going to be all right. But she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. There had been too many lies between them already.
Instead, she tried to reach that part of him that was still him. “Talk to me, Andy. Please.”
Andy stared at her, his mouth working. Then his gaze drifted to the bottle, now washing back and forth in the waves. In that instant, something changed inside him. His face hardened. He pulled his hands from hers and got to his feet. “Hel. I’m sorry. But I have nothing to say that you’d want to hear.”
And suddenly, he was running. Not down the beach or into the surf, but to Sam’s car. He tore open the driver’s-side door, climbed in, and slammed it shut. The locks engaged with a solid thunk, and then the engine fired up.
“Andy!” Helicity ran after him, but she was too late. The wheels found purchase, and Andy sped off to the road and disappeared into the night. Defeat and despair robbed her of strength, and she dropped slowly to the sand. “Andy.”
“Come on, come on, come on.”
She turned at the sound of Sam’s muttering. His thumbs were moving frantically over his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
Sam didn’t look up. “My camera.”
Helicity’s heart dropped. Sam’s camera had been mounted to the dashboard of his car. She knew how important it was to him. But still…“You’re not calling the police, are you?”
“Yes!” He swiped the screen, jabbed a finger at it, and looked up with a triumphant grin. Then he registered her stricken expression and quickly added, “I mean, no, I’m not calling the police! I just remote-started my camera.”
At her look of confusion, he flipped his phone around. On the screen was a video of headlights bouncing on a dark roadway. “I didn’t have time to explain because the remote-start app has a short range, so I had to fire it up right away, before Andy got too far.” He knelt beside her. “The camera automatically uploads video to my phone. As long as he’s with the car, we’ll be able to see where he’s going.”
Helicity felt a flash of hope. But then it died. “Won’t he realize the camera’s on?”
Sam shook his head. “I rigged the dash holder to cover the view screen so I wouldn’t be distracted by the video while driving. You know…safety first and all. Now, let’s watch.”
They leaned their heads together over the phone. For a short time, the video showed side streets lined with weeds and scrub, the occasional electric pole and palm tree, and a few handmade signs advertising local businesses. Then suddenly, the car took a sharp turn. A dilapidated roadside motel with boarded-up windows, cracked pavement, and peeling paint loomed into view. THE HARBORVIEW, a broken marquee read.
Andy parked and turned off the headlights and engine but didn’t get out. There was a rustling noise and then Helicity heard Andy’s voice. He was on a cell phone, she realized. Not the one their parents paid for. The other one.
“Yeah, it’s me.” He sounded tense. “Listen, can you meet me at the Harborview?”
He hung up and Helicity and Sam exchanged looks. “Johnny,” Sam guessed. Helicity clenched her teeth and nodded.
Not long after the call, another car pulled up. Someone got out and slid in next to Andy.
“Surprised to hear from you, Drew.” Johnny’s voice made Helicity’s blood simmer. “Last time we talked, you said you didn’t need anything more from me.”
Andy cleared his throat. “I had a supply. But it’s gone.”
“Uh-huh.” Johnny let out a long, disappointed sigh. “Well. That puts you in a tough spot, doesn’t it? I mean, I could set you up, obviously. But you already owe me for your last stash. You got cash now?”
Andy started to say something, but Johnny cut him off. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Lucky for you, I got a job that requires a guy with your kind of muscle.”
“What kind of job?” Andy asked.
Johnny’s low chuckle sent a frisson of dread up Helicity’s spine. “Carrying the heavy stuff we’re going to steal.”
Hand to her mouth, Helicity listened with growing horror as Johnny outlined his twisted scheme.
“There’s a hurricane coming, right? That means people are going to clear off the peninsula. So, we troll the neighborhoods, look for houses being boarded up, people loading their cars, and businesses stupid enough to put ‘Closed Due
to Storm’ signs in their windows. When they move out, we move in.” He chuckled again. “But hey, I’m not heartless. We’ll make the break-ins look like storm damage, so the owners can claim the insurance. Win-win, right?”
Andy was silent. When he spoke, he sounded as if he was teetering on the edge of despair. “Johnny, I can’t—don’t make me do this. I’m not a thief.”
“Oh, really,” Johnny sneered. “You didn’t have any trouble helping yourself to some cash a few days ago. Or did that tip jar and wallet empty themselves?”
“I’m going to pay them back! But I’m not going to steal from other people. Besides,” Andy added desperately, “getting trapped on the peninsula in a hurricane to rob some houses? That’s just insane.”
“Is it? Or is it insane not to take advantage of such a golden opportunity?” Johnny’s tone turned sly. “But hey, if you really want out, fine. Good luck, though.”
“With what?” Andy asked warily.
“Withdrawal.” Johnny gave the word a sinister slant. “Heard going cold turkey is a real downer.”
A car door opened. Helicity thought Johnny was finally leaving until he added, “Oh, and since you still owe me money…”
A close-up of fingers suddenly filled Sam’s screen. “Hey!” Andy cried. “Leave that alone!” The image began tilting and rocking violently.
“Johnny’s trying to take the camera!” Helicity cried. “Sam, turn it off before he sees it’s on! Hurry!”
Swearing, Sam swiped and stabbed at his phone. The screen went black.
“Do you think Johnny saw it was running?” Helicity asked anxiously. “That he knows someone was listening?”
“Not much we can do about it if he does.” Sam was quiet for a moment. Then he added, “But hey, Andy tried to stop him, so that’s something, right? And he refused to be Johnny’s muscleman or to stick around with the hurricane coming. Since we’re his ticket off the peninsula, he’ll have to find us before too much longer.”
He offered Helicity a hopeful smile, but she just raised and lowered her shoulders. When it came to her brother, she didn’t know what to think anymore. She could only hope that the little piece of the old Andy she’d glimpsed would find the strength to come back to her before it was too late.
Until then, sitting in the sand worrying was not an option. “Let’s break camp.”
After they dismantled the tents, they began moving all the gear to beneath the Beachside deck. Andy didn’t return or contact her, but there was nothing she could do about that. She didn’t know the number of his burner phone. She didn’t know how to track down Johnny, or if Andy was even with him. For all she knew, her brother was driving around the peninsula on his own.
“I’m heading in,” she told Sam when the last of the gear was stowed away.
She assumed he would follow her up the stairs then, but he elected to stay by the fire pit so as not to run into Cyn. “I’ll watch for headlights at the campsite. If—when—Andy shows up, I’ll text you.”
But with the winds starting to pick up and a light rain falling, Sam ended up moving indoors to one of Suze’s couches. In the morning, he and Helicity discovered his car parked on the beach where the campsite had been. The keys were tucked under the front seat. The camera was inside the glove compartment.
As for Andy, he was nowhere to be found.
* * *
“You’re absolutely sure your brother knows about the hurricane?” Suze asked as she fitted a bit into an electric drill. The Gibsons had departed twelve hours later than promised, with a cheery wave from Suze and a muttered “Good riddance” from Mia that Helicity silently echoed. Now everyone was working hard to stormproof the bed-and-breakfast. Afterward, they would pack their bags—Mia for her return flight to Michigan, Suze for a visit with friends away from the coast, and Helicity and Sam for their road trip with Andy. They all planned to leave as soon as humanly possible.
Helicity prayed Andy showed up in time. The sooner they hit the road the safer they would be.
“He knows,” Helicity answered Suze’s question. “He’s with Johnny, finishing up some last-minute…business.” She waited for Suze to drill a series of small holes down the edges of a large plywood board before adding, “I’m sorry he’s not here to help.”
“Fine time for him to vanish,” Mia complained. “We need his muscle.”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Sam hefted the board into place over a window.
Mia appraised the sinewy muscles of his bare back and arms and shrugged. “Meh. I guess you’ll do.”
Helicity wanted to join in their banter. But her uneasiness made even smiling seem impossible.
The one bright spot of the day was when Trey showed up unexpectedly, laden with food for a last picnic on the beach. Helicity allowed herself to relax while they ate, but no longer.
“I’m sorry, Trey,” she apologized when she saw his downcast expression. “It’s just there’s a ton to do, and I’ve got a lot on my mind.” She touched his hand. “But I’m really glad you came over. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have a chance to say good-bye in person.”
“Good-bye.” Trey punched the sand over and over. “I hate that word.”
“Me too.”
They gathered up the remains of the meal, then headed back toward the Beachside.
“So, listen.” Trey stopped her on the dune path. “I, um, I got you something. You know, to remember me by.”
As always, Trey’s awkward shyness spread warmth through her. “Trey,” she said softly, “I’ll always remember you. Always.”
“Still.” He pressed a small package into her hand. “I was going to give it to you at the lake that day. But we never got a chance to sail together.” He made a face at the sky. “Thanks again for that, derecho.”
Helicity giggled, then opened the package. Inside was a tiny glass-stoppered bottle containing a single piece of silver-blue dolphin confetti.
“It’s the confetti from your party,” Trey told her. “There’s a little loop of wire so you can wear it as a necklace. If you want.”
“I want.” Helicity immediately threaded the bottle onto the chain that held Lana’s lightning bolt. The two charms nestled together, metal and glass, gold and silver-blue. “It’s beautiful and I love it.”
She hesitated, then opened her arms and closed the distance between them. Trey enveloped her in a lingering hug and for a moment, Helicity felt happy. Then he pulled back. But he didn’t release her. Instead, he touched the side of her face and slowly moved in until his lips were so close to hers she could feel the heat coming from his breath.
A car horn honked, signaling his mother’s arrival. Trey didn’t let that stop him. His other hand brushed her cheek. And then he pressed his lips to hers.
It was her first kiss. She blinked her eyes open, breathed Trey in, and tried to cherish it. To give herself over to it. But for some reason, she held back. Why, she didn’t know. It was a beautiful kiss. At least she thought it was. Especially for a first kiss. Not that she would know any different. And yet…
Trey sensed her detachment. He pulled away from the kiss and opened his eyes. She read confusion, then hurt in their dark depths. Without saying a word, he turned and ran to the car. The door slammed, and he was gone.
She blinked back tears of guilt as she watched his car disappear around a bend. As she headed up the Beachside stairs, her anxiety about the kiss melted into the anxiety over Andy again, and with it, a new feeling of guilt.
“I shouldn’t have confronted him like that,” she berated herself later that afternoon as she and Sam packed the camping gear into the trunk of his car. “Now he’s out there somewhere with Johnny. Or worse, alone and—and…” She couldn’t finish the thought.
Johnny’s warning about withdrawal had haunted her after she went to bed the night before. Unable to sleep, she looked it up on her phone. The list of symptoms was appalling. Nausea and vomiting. Fever. Racing heart. Muscle cramps. Depression. Agitation. And worst of all
, an overpowering craving for drugs.
She didn’t regret throwing Mia’s pills in the ocean. But the thought of her brother suffering because of what she’d done or turning to desperate measures to feed his craving…it was almost more than she could bear. And his continued absence added fuel to the fire of her rising panic.
So did the hurricane now spiraling into the Gulf. Two days earlier, the tropical storm—as it had been then—had lashed Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and the south coast of Cuba with the heavy rain and damaging winds. Since then, it had traveled on a northwest track toward the Gulf, sucking up energy from the warm tropical waters and mushrooming to a Category-1 and now to a Cat-2 with a well-defined eye, outer bands that stretched out nearly three hundred miles, and wind speeds clocked by aircraft reconnaissance at ninety-eight miles per hour. It was still several hundred miles from the Texas coast. But it was coming closer.
For those who knew what to look for, the signs of the hurricane’s approach were clear. Increased winds. Mounting waves. Cirrus clouds building on the horizon. Helicity saw it all while on the beach with Trey. She knew what would come next. By late afternoon, the clouds would have thickened, and the winds and waves would be blowing and surging with greater power.
If they were lucky, that would be the worst to happen for many hours yet, and their planned departure that night would be without risk. The storm was moving at a decent clip of sixteen miles per hour last she checked, but storms often slowed before making landfall. She hoped this one would, too, because they were running out of time to escape, and still, no Andy.
The size of the hurricane was also troubling. Many people believed a hurricane was only dangerous when it made landfall. But the truth was, the outer bands could be treacherous, too. Their spiraling winds could whip up tornadoes and spawn destructive thunderstorms with heavy rain, fierce wind gusts, and damaging lightning. Coastal communities could experience significant flooding while the center of the hurricane was still hundreds of miles away.
The only certainty with hurricanes, Lana had once told Helicity, was that each was unique. Getting out of the storm’s path before it was in striking distance was always the best option. And that’s just what Helicity intended to do.