by Ami Diane
“It was delicious, thank you. I’m just not that hungry.” She hid behind her glass of iced tea, hoping the innkeeper wouldn’t notice the flush in her face.
When Rose turned her back to drop the plates in the sink, Jimmy said in a low voice, “There’s salami in the ice box.”
She smiled gratefully at him.
“Save some for me,” Flo grunted.
CHAPTER 9
ELLA SLIPPED HER beanie over her curly hair, the hat still damp from her previous outing. Every move she made was slow—sluggish with dread. Outside, her boots crunched over the snow and through puddles of light cast by the antique street lamps. Shadows diverged into the dark alleys and side streets, and she wondered if Six lurked in the darkness somewhere nearby.
She arrived at Lou’s just as he was closing up his shop.
The words whooshed out of her before she could take them back. “Alright. I’ll do it.”
His beady eyes trained on her. “Stella?”
“Ella.”
“Close enough.” An unctuous smile she’d only ever seen on used car salesmen spread over his face. “Wise choice. Trust me, she may not be much to look at, but this car’s a beast under the hood.”
She didn’t care about that. She just needed it to run and take her home, far from the eccentric, beautiful town full of death, shady cowboys, and thieving squirrels in dresses.
Lou’s hand scratched at several days worth of stubble before moving to his belly. Then, he snatched a rusty key from the collection on the wall and led her around back. With his sleeve, he swiped the driver-side door until he located the handle.
After several unsuccessful tugs, he mumbled, “Frozen shut.”
Ella’s mouth pinched into a thin line, and she eyed the surrounding cars, wondering if this really was the best option on the lot.
With one last pull, the door swung open with a groan that rent the quiet evening. He dangled the keys in front of her face. “Might want to let ‘er run for a few minutes first. I’ll pull the gate open for ya.”
After a deep breath, she thanked him, albeit with a tinge of sarcasm.
As he waddled away, she slid into the seat. The scent of stale tobacco and curdled milk punched her in the face. Gritting her teeth, she turned the key, surprised when the engine roared to life. Maybe she was being too hard on the mechanic.
While the engine warmed, she ran inside and grabbed the luggage she’d left in her jeep, giving her car a final tap on the hood.
Back outside, she brushed and scraped the windows of her new-old car with an ice scraper she’d found on the passenger seat. The scraper looked like it had seen better days and scraped almost as much glass as it did ice, but it de-iced enough for her to be able to navigate the snowy roads.
The circle around the vehicle complete, she checked the tires, and some of her determination faded. Snow tires they were not. Crude snow chains hugged them and looked like they’d been put on recently which suggested Lou had been confident she’d return for the piece of junk.
Back in the car, Ella rubbed her gloved hands together to gather some friction then placed them in front of the vents spewing out lukewarm air. Her breath came out in small clouds, and for some reason, the sight made her shiver even more.
Ella searched for the positive. The engine hummed, even if there was a sputtering with it, and the seatbelt worked. So, there was that.
She put the car into drive and nosed the vehicle forward. First, she would stop at the inn to gather her things and say goodbye. Also, she needed to settle the bill for her room. Since she couldn’t use an ATM—not that she’d seen any—a check would have to suffice. At least she happened to have a few left in her purse.
The two-door sedan crept over the snow. Her trust in the vehicle climbed with each passing yard.
As she slipped through the gate, Lou waved. Ella nodded back, not wanting to take her tight grip off of the steering wheel. The car chugged along, vibrating her whole seat like she was on a tractor. Or a massage chair. She added that to the column of positives.
When she turned onto Main Street, the engine sputtered like it had tuberculosis. Her grip on the wheel tightened, her fingers tingling.
Ella pleaded with the car. “No, don’t do this to me.” She should have named it. Vehicles usually treated her better once she named them.
Keeping one foot on the brake, she fed it gas. It roared to life, but as soon as she let off the gas, it chugged and the whole car shuddered.
Just got to keep moving.
She bounced along, clipping past other cars slower than she would’ve liked considering they were parked. Most of them appeared to be classics, and most of them appeared to be drivable.
Ella’s teeth chattered, half from the temperature, half from the tension. Ahead, Keystone Inn shined like a beacon. The warm glow from the windows spilled onto the garden, beckoning her on like the end of a finish line.
It occurred to her she’d have to park the car in order to gather her things, thus taking a chance it would die. She briefly toyed with the idea of letting it continue on at a snail’s pace, run in and grab her stuff, then catch up to it, before dismissing the idea. Then, she thought about it again as the car sputtered.
Just as she passed Sal’s Barbershop, the engine coughed a final time then died.
“No, no, no.” Ella rotated the key several times, but the engine never turned again. Apparently, the drive down L Street had been its swan song.
Her forehead hit the wheel in frustration and stayed there. Everyone had been pushing her to leave, wanted her out of Keystone Village, but it seemed no matter how hard she tried, the town just wouldn’t let go of her.
“Stupid Lou. Stupid lemon.” There would be no making lemonade out of this jalopy.
The mention of the mechanic’s name brought Ella’s emotions to the surface. Her frustration turned to anger—a rare emotion for her. She was always the level-headed, positive person in her circle of friends and family. But that greasy mechanic became her breaking point. Lou had traded her a piece of junk that hadn’t gone more than three blocks.
Ella kicked the door open and didn’t bother closing it. Her boots stomped through the snow as she retraced the defunct car’s tracks.
He was about to get the mother of all tongue lashings. Maybe she’d throw in a few finger wags for good measure. She wasn’t sure. She’d wing it.
But one way or another, Ella would leave Keystone with a working vehicle, even if she had to steal Lou’s tow truck.
Her hands curled into tight fists as she made a bee-line for his shop. She was so focused on her destination, she missed seeing the figure sprinting towards her in the dark.
“Ella!”
She whirled around, fearing Six was chasing her. Will’s tall silhouette jogged towards her.
Ella stopped short, and some of her frustration dissipated. “Will? How did you…”
“Get out of jail?”
A nearby lamp caught an infectious smile from under his fedora as he came up alongside her. They stood in the middle of the street as miniature flakes fell around them.
“Chapman let me out. Pauline suspects some kind of accidental medication interaction, but she’s sure it wasn’t my device. And since the sheriff doesn’t have any evidence…” He trailed off and shrugged.
“That’s great! I mean, that he let you go, not about the whole medication interaction.” Her smile faded. So, the coroner had come to the same suspicion. “Was Kayline on any medications?”
“Not that I know of. But we’d grown apart, and I knew she was dealing with depression. Pauline, who’s also the town’s physician, remember, wanted to try giving her medication for it but that was right before we broke up, so I’m not sure what ever came of it.”
“Well, congratulations on being released. Wait, is that what you’re supposed to say when someone gets out of jail?” She clicked her tongue against her teeth, remembering how she had felt when Chapman released her. She would’ve appreciated a congra
tulation. She nodded, satisfied. “Yeah, congrats.”
He chuckled. “Thanks. And I’m not off the hook yet. Sheriff Chapman still thinks I had a motive to kill her, but he can’t hold me on his suspicions.”
“So, he still thinks it wasn’t an accident?”
He shifted his weight on his feet. “The medication interaction is just one theory. Pauline hasn’t ruled out poison yet.”
Ella’s brain began turning. Poison usually meant intention. Poison usually meant murder.
Will’s gaze drifted over her head. “Did I interrupt you from something? You seemed like you were in a hurry.”
His question drew her back to her current predicament, and her anger towards Lou returned with vigor. By way of explanation, she waved a wild hand at the broken down sedan sitting in the road.
“Yes. I was just on my way to make that slimy mechanic pay. Excuse me.” She resumed her march.
Will caught up easily, matching her pace with his long strides. “He sold you that thing?”
“Not sold. Traded. And I definitely got the raw end of the deal. I made it a whole three blocks.”
Will’s snort quickly turned into a cough when she shot him an icy glare. The shop was dark, and all the doors were closed.
Ella banged on the entrance. “Lou, get out here! I know you’re in there!”
When nothing happened, she yelled for him again and pressed her eyes to the glass window. Dust and cobwebs obstructed most of the view, but the shop appeared empty.
“Ella,” Will called from the sidewalk. “He’s not there.”
“I just left here.”
“He probably high-tailed it out as soon as you drove off.”
“Where does he live?”
She could barely see his face in the dark, but it was hard to miss the surprise in Will’s voice. “You want to visit him at his house?”
“Yes. If I don’t leave town tonight, the sheriff will be furious, probably put me back in that cell. Although, I don’t see how, seeing as how that’s not legal. But then, he doesn’t really seem to care about the law.”
Will considered this a moment. “No, he cares about the law. He’s just got a loose interpretation of it. Come on. I’ll help you push your car out of the street.”
“That thing is not my car,” she muttered. Then, she realized how she sounded and closed her mouth.
Inside the sedan, fresh flakes coated the seat through the open door. After putting it in neutral, Will pushed it from behind while she walked alongside, pushing and reaching in through the window to steer.
Slowly, the vehicle ambled forward, and she aimed it for an empty spot along the road several yards ahead.
The quiet street was filled with the sounds of the chains on the tires crunching through snow. Ella searched for a topic of conversation.
“So, Mr. Whitehall,” she said his name with an air of faux formality, “what is it that you do? I heard Jimmy and Rose talk about you fixing things around the inn. Are you the town handyman?”
“Most of the time, Miss Barton,” he said, mimicking her tone. “But I was—am an inventor. I used to travel door-to-door selling my inventions and gadgets.”
“A door-to-door salesman? Don’t really see many of those anymore.”
“No?”
She pulled the wheel counter-clockwise, guiding the car into the large, empty spot.
“Do you have an occupation?” He eased off the back of the sedan.
She chuckled. “Of course. A woman’s got to eat, doesn’t she? I’m a teaching assistant at the university. Doesn’t pay much, but it helps offset my graduate expenses. I’m getting my masters in linguistics.” She put the car in park, rolled the window back up, then closed the door.
“Fascinating.”
She searched his expression for sarcasm, but his eyebrows were up in genuine interest. Usually, when she told people her profession, their eyes glazed over.
“And what can you do with that?” he asked.
“A few things, but English as a foreign language teacher is my goal. I love languages—love studying them and learning them. So, this just seemed the best fit. Plus, it would open doors for me to work overseas.”
“Do you speak many languages?”
Ella opened her mouth to respond then froze. All around them, the sky was beginning to glow, like a reverse sunset, and getting brighter by the second.
Will whipped his head back. “Oh, no! Run!”
Ella stood rooted to the spot, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Will pushed her and yelled at her again to run. He didn’t let up until she was sprinting.
“What’s going on?” she cried as they raced down Main Street. She slipped in the snow but managed to maintain her balance. “Where are we going?”
“You have to get out of town now!” His hands pushed the small of her back, prodding her to run faster.
“What? Why?!”
Panic filled Ella. What was happening? Had there been some kind of nuclear bomb? She hadn’t heard an explosion.
Her thoughts raced, out of focus like a bad camera lens. What about her stuff? And she still didn’t have a vehicle. Where was she supposed to go on foot?
The sky now blazed like the day. Blue and purple electricity swirled and arced constantly, so close together, they covered the town like a dome.
Ella went from a fear she was going to die to a surety she was going to die to praying to every deity she could think of.
“Will! I don’t understand. What’s happening?” Her lungs burned, and her thighs ached.
“Hurry! Don’t slow down!”
The last of the town buildings swept past, and still, they continued sprinting, heading in the direction from which she entered Keystone Village.
The bluish-purple electric wall bisected the whole horizon in front of her. A new surge of fear filled her when she realized that was where they were headed. Will wanted them to run towards the scary electric field.
A new sensation crawled over her skin. A tingling traced from her fingertips and toes, up her arms and legs. Every part of her wanted to turn and run the opposite direction, but she had to trust the fear in Will’s voice, the strain on his face.
Ella felt like her lungs would burst, and her calves began to seize. She pushed through the pain, digging her boots hard into the snow. They were nearly at the edge of the flashing wall.
The electrical field built, turning white hot. The lines pulsed, grew, and coalesced, climaxing with a brilliant, blinding flash.
Ella let out a startled yell, her retinas blazing. She squeezed her eyes shut, but the light still bled through her lids. She had never seen anything brighter, and all she could fixate on was that it was the end of the world and any minute she would die.
Ella braced for the impact from the shock wave, but it never came.
“You’re too late,” Will rasped behind her, his voice broken. “I’m so sorry, Ella.”
Her eyes were still closed, but she could see the light fading. She peeled open one lid then the other, and looked around. It was no longer night in Keystone Village. Waves of heat rushed towards her like an oven.
A hot sun crested the horizon, creating a fiery sunset. Or sunrise. Since it was in the wrong spot in the sky, she couldn’t be sure if it was east or west. She couldn’t be sure of anything.
Ella turned slowly, taking in a new landscape. All words left her. The dome of electricity was gone, replaced with an abrupt edge of snow and asphalt. The berm she’d crashed her car into had been replaced by a crest of sand.
She blinked. The highway, the forest, the mountains, all were gone. Large sand dunes stretched before her as far as she could see.
But they weren’t just south. The tan slopes wrapped around the park, the large forest, and the base of Twin Hills. The hills blocked most of the northeast view, but she was sure the dunes continued on behind them.
Ella closed her eyes, counted to ten, then opened them again. When nothing changed, she pinched her arm, but
that did nothing more than shoot pain over her skin.
She stood at the edge of a snowy town in the middle of a desert, and the wintery night had been replaced by a fiery sunset dipping behind the dunes.
“Will, what just happened?”
CHAPTER 10
“WHAT WAS THAT?” Ella tore her eyes away from the miles of sand and searched his face. “Am I having a nervous breakdown? This feels like one. Or some kind of delusion. Oh no. This is what happened to Kayline, isn’t it?” Her breathing quickened.
“No, it’s not a breakdown or delusion.” The inventor’s chest deflated. He searched the sky as if searching for words.
It took her asking him a third time before he answered her questions, and even then, the answers came slowly.
“You're trapped here. Just like the rest of us.” His gaze slid from the melting snow at their feet and met hers. They were full of sadness and regret. “I’m so sorry, Ella.”
“Trapped where?”
“In Keystone.”
Ella looked from him to the dunes to the town behind him. “I’m sorry. I’m trapped?”
“Yes. In Keystone.”
“Who is?”
“You are.”
“Me? Trapped?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Huh.”
Ella ran a hand through her hair, realized her hat was still on and pulled it off. She searched the sand behind her again.
“I have another question for you. Bit silly, really. But, um, where did the forest go? And the mountains? And the stars?” She pointed up in case it wasn’t already clear which stars she meant.
His cheeks puffed out as he let out a slow breath. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
“Sure, sure. But you should probably try. I’m keen on the answer and a very good listener, especially when I’m on the verge of losing it.” Ella tried to keep her voice calm, tried to keep the rising panic from overtaking her.
What did he mean by trapped?
Will rubbed the back of his neck and turned around. Ella shuffled beside him, and they ambled towards the town.