by Nathan Roden
Nate glanced at his phone.
“This won’t stay a secret for long,” he said.
I pointed toward Nate’s phone.
“That picture was staged—I had nothing to do with it. That’s all about publicity,” I said. “To stir up Skyler’s fans and give them something to gossip about.”
Nate nodded.
“It’s going to work, too,” he said. “What happens when Holly sees this? You’re going to be spending a lot of time with Skyler, Wyles. Where is Holly going to be?”
“Wherever she wants to be,” I said.
“Do you think she’s going to hang around that castle and wait for you to show up when you’re on break?” Nate asked. “After you’ve been rubbing up against America’s Sweetheart five nights a week?”
“You know you’re making me feel even more rotten, right?” I asked.
Nate was quiet for a few seconds.
“I’m sorry, Wylie,” Nate said. “You’ve got tough choices to make, and I’m feeling sorry for myself.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “Some people don’t have friends to talk to when things get crazy.”
“I miss her, Wyles,” Nate said.
“I know,” I said. “She’ll be back, Nate. I know it—like I know my own name.”
Nate sniffed and cleared his throat.
“You know I love you, my brother-from-another-mother,” he said.
“Through thick-and-thin, flesh-and-blood, and all the way to the next world,” I said.
“You’re making it weird now,” he said.
“Absolutely,” I said.
“You’ve had enough bad breaks, yourself,” Nate said. “I want to see you and Holly make it.”
“My ‘gifted’ girlfriend messed up your life,” I said.
“That’s not her fault,” Nate said.
“My dad moved back in with my mom,” I said.
“Wow,” Nate said. “That was random. When were you—?”
“What did you say, Wylie?”
The voice came from behind me. I whipped around.
“Hey, Duncan,” I said. “Nice of you to visit.”
“Wylie,” Nate said. He held out his arm toward me.
“Hook a brother up,” he said. I grabbed his arm.
“Mom and Dad are back together?” Duncan asked.
“Not exactly,” I said. “Dad moved back in with Mom, but only because he had nowhere else to go.”
“What happened to Tina?” Duncan asked.
“Her ex-husband came home,” I said. “Tina asked Dad to leave. He’s kind of a mess. He got fired. He never really got over…you know, you—getting sick and…”
“Yeah,” Duncan said. “He didn’t look too good the last time I saw him.”
“You’re going…wherever it is you go, right, Duncan?” Nate asked. “You and the McIntyres?”
Duncan nodded.
“I hope you guys don’t take it personally,” he said. “But being between worlds is not a comfortable position. No one explains why we’re stuck here like this—you never feel like you belong. You know that feeling when you walk into a room to look for something, and you forget what it was you were looking for? Being a ghost kind of feels like that— but all the time. So when you get the opportunity to move on, you really want to take it.”
“But why were you given a choice?” Nate asked.
“We don’t know. The Montgomery’s don’t know either,” Duncan said.
“I guess the McIntyres are excited,” I said. “After five hundred years.”
“They are,” Duncan said. “But they feel bad about leaving Holly.”
None of us had more to say about that.
“Wylie’s about to become a big deal,” Nate said. “A big pop-music star.”
“Good times to be had by all, just in case you want to come along for the ride, Big Bro,” I said.
“Big time, huh?” Duncan said. “Like Hannah Montana big?”
Nate laughed.
“Maybe,” I said. “Shut up, Nate.”
Nate didn’t.
“What are you going to do with Toby?” Duncan asked.
“He’s going with us,” I said. “Skyler has a Westie, too. A girl Westie. Toby will have somebody to hang out with.”
“You know that sounds just a little bit creepy, don’t you?” Duncan asked.
This made Nate laugh even harder.
“Let’s imagine that Hannah Montana asked you to come along on her tour, Dunky,” I said. “Would that be creepy?”
“That wouldn’t be creepy for me,” Duncan said. “What’s creepy to one person is just ‘extravagant’ to someone else, you know? Some people aren’t normal, and those people need some regular people to hang out with and eat lobster and caviar and go to their private amusement parks.”
“I’m just sayin’, Dunk, that you don’t have to go,” I said. “Not right now.”
“Is Holly going with you?” Duncan asked.
“Well, when I start getting paid, I’m going to invite her, sure,” I said.
Duncan looked down.
“I don’t think that’s gonna work, Wylie,” Duncan said. “Holly doesn’t seem like the tag-along kind. And if she’s not there—you couldn’t even see me.”
“I know,” I said. “Look, I’m happy for you, Bro. You have a special girl, and she has a great family. I—We had you for a little while longer.”
“It’s not perfect,” Duncan said softly. “But…I don’t belong here, Wylie. None of this makes any s—”
“You don’t have to explain anything, Dunk,” I said. “And you sure don’t owe me anything. You’re the one who got sick, remember? You’re the one that got…”
“Cheated?” Duncan whispered.
I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Don’t think that way, Wyles,” Duncan said. “This will all make sense, one day. You have to believe that.”
“I’m not sure I can,” I said. “It wasn’t fair—”
“Not fair,” Duncan said. “We can never get away from that thought, can we? We stomp our feet and scream those words when we’re five years old, and that part of us that never grows up. But guess what? I was floating somewhere between life and death, and I met a girl who had been dead for five hundred years. That’s about the craziest thing you’ve ever heard, but it really happened. It’s one of the most important things to ever happen to me, and it makes absolutely no sense. And both of us stayed in this world—until we found each other.”
“When did you get to be so smart?” I grinned.
“I was always the smart one,” Duncan said.
“He was,” Nate said. “I remember.”
“You know what would be fair?” I asked.
“I think I know what you’re going to say,” Duncan said.
“If Mom and Dad could understand it,” I said.
“I would like that,” Duncan said. “But, it might not be the right thing—for them.”
“I can’t imagine that being a bad thing,” I said. “But, I just have to believe, right?”
Duncan nodded.
All three of us jumped when we heard banging at the front door. I approached the door cautiously and opened it.
Holly burst into the room. She was out of breath. I hadn’t heard her scooter pull up. It lay on its side next to the steps, the headlight still burning.
“They…” she breathed heavily. “They found them.”
“Come sit down, Holly,” I led her to a chair. “They found them? Your parents?”
She nodded.
“Are they…?”
“They’re alive,” she said. “But they were nabbed. Kidnapped.”
She slammed both fists against the arms of the chair and shot to her feet.
“Who—?” was as far as my question got.
“They’re in the dungeon of the Castle Wellmore!” she said. “The very place where I worked for six weeks after the flood ruined our business! My parents were right beneath my fee
t!”
“But who took them?” I said. “And why?”
Holly covered her face with her hands.
“It was because of me!” she moaned. “Because of me and Seth! He found out about the ghosts. He found out that we could see them, and he thought he could take the ability from my parents.”
“Who found out?” Duncan asked.
“Sebastian Wellmore!” she screamed. “I knew that man was evil! The few ghosts in that castle were always frightened, and they wouldn’t go near him!”
“Why did you stay?” Duncan asked.
“Mrs. Wellmore hired me,” Holly said. “She was a sweet, sweet lady. Only now she’s dead! He killed her! I know he did!”
“So have the police gone in to get them?” Nate asked.
“The police don’t know about them yet,” Holly said.
“What?” I said. “Why has no—?”
“Bruiser, Dougie, and Delbert are the ones that found them,” Holly said.
“Oh,” I said.
“Mr. Lynchburg informed the Finnegan brothers, but they’re not sure of how to proceed,” Holly said. “They’re afraid of doing the wrong thing because the Wellmores are an old and respected family. They can’t just tell the police that three ghosts discovered a couple being held captive in a dungeon. They don’t want to tip off Sebastian Wellmore because he might do something…something desperate.”
“Bruiser and the others are back here?” Duncan asked.
Holly nodded.
“They couldn’t tell the Finnegans what they knew,” she said. “They did talk to my Mum and Dad. They…they gave them a gun.”
“Wow,” Duncan said.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“We have to get back there,” Holly said. “As soon as possible. You’ve trained up a couple of boys to take over for a while, right, Wylie?”
I shared a quick glance with Nate and Duncan.
“Yeah,” I said. “Sure. They’re ready.”
“Holly,” I said. “You need to get some sleep, Honey. You have raccoon eyes.”
“I know,” she said. “I can’t even think straight.”
“You want to crash here?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“I need to be at the castle,” she said. “For a lot of reasons. When we speak to the Finnegans, I have to make sure that they can talk to the ghosts.”
“I’ll take you, Holly,” Nate said. “You can pick up your scooter later. I’ll put it in the garage.”
“Okay,” she said.
I have seen Holly McFadden full of life and in charge for most of the time that I have known her. Right at this moment, she seemed more frail and helpless than I have ever seen. It broke my heart. I put my arms around her. She squeezed me tight.
I was scared to death.
Duncan and I watched them pull away from my front porch.
“There’s a problem, isn’t there?” Duncan asked.
“Oh, yeah,” I said.
“I’m guessing that you have little say about the time-frame of Skyler KwyK’s plans,” he said.
“Very little,” I said. “Like zero, to be exact.”
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
I took my phone from my pocket. I sighed.
“I’m going to see if I can improve my influence from zero to maybe—zero-point-one.”
“Good luck with that,” he said.
“Luck won’t work here,” I said. “This is miracle territory.”
“Wylie?” Skyler answered on the second ring.
“Yeah, hey,” I said.
“I’m so glad you called!” Skyler said. “This is so exciting! I may not sleep for a week!”
“Yeah, that’s great, Skyler,” I said. “Listen—”
“That photo is everywhere, already!” she said. “The traffic to my website crashed the server. My emails have been through the roof and are getting ready to crash the email server! I knew this was going to be exciting, but I had no idea. She won’t admit it, but even my Mother is shocked!”
Oh, boy. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“That’s great, Skyler,” I said. “Your first big-business move and you’re a superstar all over again.”
“Don’t underestimate the subject matter, Wylie Westerhouse,” she gushed. “This partnership is a winner from about a dozen different angles. Congratulations! You are an overnight sensation.”
“Look, Skyler,” I said. “I wouldn’t bring this up if I had any choice. Do we have to start immediately? Something really important has come up—”
The tone of voice that I heard next was so different that it was hard to believe it came from the same person.
“Wylie, if this is some kind of a joke—”
“No, believe me; I wouldn’t joke about this—”
“Were you paying attention earlier today? At ALL?”
She certainly was not joking.
“I am putting my career on the line, here, not to mention almost every professional relationship that I have built in my lifetime!” she said. “This business doesn’t care about your schedule—it does not wait for me, and it will not wait for you.”
“I’m sorr—,”
“In this business, you don’t stay at home because you have a stomachache, or a fever, or a sprained ankle,” she said. “You get shots, you take IV’s, you get your knees and ankles taped up, and you do what they pay you to do, Wylie. I thought that you would understand all this. Am I wrong about you?”
“No,” I said. “You’re not wrong about me. I’ll go on if I have to crawl through broken glass. But this isn’t about me.”
“Who is it about, then?” she asked.
“A friend,” I said. “A good friend. A girl. They thought that her parents had been kill—”
“Your girlfriend?” she said.
“Well, I don’t really know—”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” she said. “What kind of friend is that?”
“We work together,” I said, rather pitifully. “She’s been through a lot of bad stuff—”
“I can’t—,” Skyler said. She sounded…well; I didn’t like how she sounded—not at all.
“Wylie,” she said softly, “Please don’t make me have to turn all of this off. Don’t make me have to—” I could hear her crying. Crap. This was not good at all.
“Please don’t tell me that I have to admit to that I made a mistake—that I’m just a spoiled little rich girl who got too big for her britches, and now has to cry on her mother’s shoulder. Please don’t tell me that, Wylie.”
“Skyler—” I said.
“Please, Wylie,” she whimpered.
I breathed for a few seconds, unable to think straight.
“We’ll make it work, Skyler,” I said.
Thirty-Three
Wylie Westerhouse
Branson, Missouri
I parked in front of Quentin’s condo well before sunrise. Don’t get the idea that I’m a morning person, because I’m not. But I couldn’t sleep, and I desperately needed someone on my side. The thought of facing Holly today terrified me.
I squeezed my eyes shut. They were burning. I was much too nervous to even think about sleeping, so I turned on the radio at a low volume. I had no idea what radio was like at that early hour, so I pushed the button to scan through the stations.
During the scan, I heard a couple of seconds of a song that got my attention. I pushed the button again to stop the scan and backed up the tuner to the previous station.
There was a good reason that the song sounded so familiar.
The song was “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, by Wylie Westerhouse. That was a little freaky. The station was the largest and most powerful in the city. When the song faded out, the DJ spoke.
“That was Branson’s own adopted son, Wylie Westerhouse, with Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’. You may remember Wylie from his appearances on ‘America’s Brand New Voice’ last seaso
n. Inside sources report that a collaboration is now in the works featuring young Mr. Westerhouse alongside superstar television and recording artist, Skyler KwyK. Expect an album and a tour featuring the duo in the coming months. We hope that you don’t forget your country roots, Wylie!”
Wow. Another wave of disbelief washed over me. Even though I knew what was coming, hearing it affirmed in the real world threw me for a loop.
I drummed my fingers nervously on the steering wheel as I glanced toward the condo, waiting to see a light come on. This finally happened at dawn.
I waited five minutes and called Quentin.
“Are you up?” I asked.
“Sort of.”
“I’m in front of your house,” I said. “And I have coffee.”
“What a coincidence,” he said. “That’s the exact price of admission. Come on in.”
Q opened the door in his pajamas. His one open eye squinted at the sun over my shoulder. I handed him a cup of coffee as I passed by.
“You might need to heat it up,” I said. “I’ve been here a while.”
“Is something wrong?” Q asked.
I sighed and slid into a chair at the kitchen island.
“Holly came by last night,” I said.
“So you already know,” Q said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Good news. Good news and bad news.”
“We’re going to get them out,” Q said. “If I have to hire an army of mercenaries, we’re going to get them out.”
“I don’t get it, Q,” I said. “If these Finnegan brothers have such a good reputation and the respect of the police, can’t they have the place searched? What about Brian McAllen?“
“What are they going to tell the police, Wylie?” Q said. “There is zero evidence and the only witnesses are dead people. Wellmore is a descendant of a family that dates back over a thousand years.”
“I know,” I said. I rubbed my fingers against my temples. Nerves, tension, and lack of sleep did not leave me at my best.