“No!” he shouted, making me jump. “I mean, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I didn’t realize how… overprotective your guardians were. We should plan something else.”
“Okay,” I grumbled. I hadn’t realized how much I was looking forward to the escape with him until it was off the table.
Jaron flipped the sculpture over. The back of the star glowed red-hot. “All right, hit it again, Maribel.”
I reached my mind out to the water, and it responded quickly, rising in a stream and sizzling against Jaron’s artwork. Steam billowed up around us, sticking to my skin and raising goosebumbs on my arms. Jaron’s breath against my neck quickened, a charge like I had never felt before passed between us. Every nerve ending in my body was aware of him like he was hard wired into me. My breath hitched when I heard the sculpture fall to the table with a dull thud. He spun me toward him and his hands were on me; on my neck, in my hair, pulling me into a deep kiss.
I threw my arms around his neck, it was sticky with the steam surrounding us, he deepened the kiss, running his tongue along my lower lip, and I crushed myself into him. His strong scent filled my nostrils and intoxicated me. I sighed, and he tore his lips away from mine, kissing along my jaw to my neck.
“Maribel,” he whispered.
I shivered and struggled to find my voice. “Y-yes?” I choked out, my heart thumping wildly.
“Can I confess something?” he murmured against the sensitive skin of my collar bone.
“Anything,” I said in a voice that didn’t sound like my own.
He looked into my eyes and pulled me tighter. “From the moment that I saw you, I knew that I wanted to have you.” His eyes traveled down my body and he trembled. “And from the moment you opened those beautiful lips, I knew I wouldn’t rest until I got to know the person behind all of that beauty.”
“Which do you want more?” I asked, staring into his smoldering eyes.
Jaron’s long fingers traced the curves at my waist. “I want you, every part of you—”
I tried to not feel disappointed; he was a boy after all. Of course he wanted sex more than anything else. Clarissa had warned me about it for years.
“This part.” He laid a hand over my thudding heart. “And this part.” He placed his other hand gently on the side of my head. “Are the ones that I am particularly interested in.”
My spirits rose. “Really, I’m innocent—but not that innocent. I know boys are much more interested in… other things,” I whispered, too shy to even say the word sex in front of him.
“Maribel, thousands of women have beautiful bodies—of course none so beautiful as yours. And many women have a gorgeous face—it’s true you outshine them all. But no woman on the planet has your heart or your mind. So as interested as I am in your other parts…” He tugged at the hem of my shirt and traced his finger along the bare skin at the top of my pants. “They are not the reason that I lo—”
Jaron’s cell phone rang, and I was immediately angry at whoever was calling for interrupting what he was trying to say and what he was making me feel. It was as if someone had pumped my head full of helium and I’d float to the rafters. I’d never felt so light and happy. He moved to get his phone and I mirrored his movement, I was drawn to him like a magnet and wasn’t about to let any distance come between our bodies. The phone rang again and I was about to tell him to ignore it, but noticed the concerned furrowing of his brow and stopped myself.
“Hello,” he said hesitantly. In two second all of the light was gone from Jaron’s handsome face, replaced by an angry mask. Nothing but whispered white noise reached my ears, but I knew it was bad. “No, that isn’t possible.” His voice cracked. “No! You didn’t look everywhere. You had to have missed something. It isn’t possible!” he shouted loudly, maybe expecting something to change if he did. The person on the other end of the phone continued talking, and he listened for a moment before turning and throwing it with all of his might. It hit the metal wall with a clang and broke into pieces.
Jaron fell heavily to his knees. “No, God, no!”
“What happened, Jaron? Who was that?” I knelt in front of him, unsure of what to do.
His thick shoulders shuddered and a tear escaped his eye before sizzling into nothingness on his cheek so quickly I wondered if I'd really seen it in the first place. “Jaron? Talk to me—”
“No,” he said, jumping to his feet. “No time for talking, Maribel. I’m sorry that I ever got close to you. No matter what I do, everyone I love is taken from me. Come on.” Pulling on my arm, he led me out of the door and into the last dwindling light of day.
“Let go! What are you doing?” His words had ripped through me like a spear. He wished that he had never gotten close to me.
He stopped and released his grip. “I’m taking you back to your aunt and uncle. You listen to them and get away from this town—”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, Jaron. Tell me what’s going on? Who called!” I shouted.
He put his head in his hands. “The hospital,” he whispered so softly I barely heard, but I immediately understood. The ground felt like it tilted under my realization, or maybe I was thrown off balance by the weight of it. “Owen’s gone.” Jaron dropped his hands and looked at me; I’d never seen a person’s eyes so full of despair.
“No, he can’t be…” My mind played back the stranger dragging his hand against the curtain. “You, you asked for extra security.” My stomach dropped, like I was free falling. Why hadn’t I told Jaron about the stranger? Why hadn’t we stayed with Owen?
“They’re sure he’s gone… but I’m going to find him. I need to take you back to your house where you’re safe.” He started to walk again.
“No, I’m not going back there, not when I know you’re running into the arms of those men. They could kill you!” I tried to keep up with his long strides.
“As long as my brother’s unharmed—”
“Jaron!” I grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face me. His eyes were wild. “If you do anything reckless, so help me God, I will find them. I will track down those people if it’s the last thing I do!”
His face grew even more crazed. “Maribel, they’ll kill you!”
“As long as you’re unharmed.”
He muffled a curse. “What would you have me do? He is my only family. I can’t lose him. I can’t go through that again.”
My mind whirled. What should we do? We had to find his brother, and quick… but how? I started walking toward the gate. “Take me home. My aunt and uncle know something more than they’ve let on. I’m sure they can help us. If anyone knows how to get your brother back, it’s them.”
JARON DROVE FASTER than he ever had with me in the car, and I was glad for all of the horsepower that his mustang packed. Because as much as I hated the feeling of flying down the pavement in a metal cage, time was of the essence. In a matter of minutes, he was across town. Just as we rounded the last stretch of road before the turnoff to my house, a silver Prius turned into our driveway.
“That’s them! They must have been out searching for me,” I said, craning my neck. They had probably worried themselves like crazy. Of course, now I wasn’t so sure that their worries were unwarranted.
Jaron pulled into the drive behind them, and Dylan’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. He parked in front of the house, and I jumped out of the car as Jaron stopped next to them.
“Dylan!” My heart raced as I tried to think of what to say, what if they couldn’t help us? Would Jaron’s brother be lost forever?
Dylan popped out of the car. “Is everything all right, Mari?”
“No, we need your help…” I caught sight of something in the backseat of the Prius and trailed off. Dylan shifted his stance, obstructing my view, but it was too late. I'd already seen. Lying in an unconscious heap across the seat was Owen.
16
I TOOK A STEP BACK, shaking my head. It didn’t matter that I was looking at the proof. My aunt an
d uncle couldn’t do something like this. “It was your car I saw at the hospital?” It shouldn’t have been a question, but it was.
“Yes,” Sylvia said. She had made her way over and went to put her hand on my shoulder.
I brushed it away. “Was that you on the other side of the curtain, trying to scare me for running off or something?”
“What’s going on?” Jaron asked from behind me.
I pointed to the car, and he sighed in relief. “Is he all right?”
“He’s the same as he was in the hospital—”
“Why is he in your car? Why did you sneak him out of the hospital?” I shouted.
“Mari, if we didn’t take him, they would have. We only did it to save him. What other choice did we have?” Sylvia asked, her eyes gleaming with tears. “We would never do anything to hurt you or someone you care about. Do you not know that after everything we have done?”
“After everything that you have kept from me, how am I supposed to feel? It’s like you are two different people, and I don’t know what to expect anymore!”
“We love you, Mari. That is all you need to know!” she cried.
“No, it isn’t. I think I have a right to know all of the secrets that you’re keeping! Like why I can do this.” I concentrated on the fountain in our front yard. A stream of water shot out and I caught it, shaping it into a liquid ball.
“Get in the car, both of you,” Dylan shouted as he scanned the fence line.
He said it with such authority that I obeyed without really wanting to. Jaron got into the back seat first, setting his brother up and checking his pulse. Sylvia and Dylan stayed outside the car arguing in hushed voices. I was annoyed beyond words, but Jaron seemed unperturbed. Contrary to the anger bubbling in my chest, he looked beyond happy. Dylan opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat.
“Thank you, thank you so much. I can’t even…” Jaron trailed off, relief thick in his voice.
Dylan threw the car in reverse. “Jaron, I’m going to ask you some questions—”
“No!” I said. “I’m going to ask you two some questions.”
“We’re going on a long drive. You’ll have plenty of time to ask questions, now I need to ask him something. If I don’t get some answers, both him and his brother are going out on the sidewalk and we are leaving without them,” Dylan said in a voice that was almost unrecognizable.
I glanced at Jaron, who looked nervous. “All right, I’ll be quiet, for now. If you answer one question… where are we going?”
Sylvia turned to face us. “We are going to Bayou Baby,” she said.
“What? I don’t think any of us are particularly hungry. Why would we go there?” I asked.
“To see a woman named Cala. And since you only specified one question and I’ve answered two, let ‘s move on.”
I’d never seen Sylvia so ruffled.
Dylan took a breath. “Jaron, why are you here?”
Jaron paused for a moment before answering. “Because I got a call from the hospital saying my brother was missing and Maribel suggested we come here.”
“No.” Dylan eyed him in the rearview mirror as he continued speeding through town. “Why did you come to our town?”
Jaron pursed his lips.
“I said why did you come to our town?” Dylan asked in a much louder voice.
Jaron sat even more tight-lipped than before. “Why aren’t you answering the question?” I asked, my pulse increasing. Was he keeping as many secrets as my aunt and uncle?
“Are you able to answer the question?” Sylvia asked.
Jaron shook his head no.
“Do you want to answer the question truthfully?” she continued.
He nodded fervently.
“He’s bound?” Dylan asked.
Sylvia narrowed her eyes at Jaron, studying him before answering. “Yes, I do believe he is. But you never can be sure in these situations.”
“She’ll know, and then we can get some real answers. If he isn’t bound, that's answer enough for me,” Dylan said.
“Me too,” my aunt agreed.
Silence fell and both of their faces were twisted in deep thought. “What is going on? Bound? What are you talking about? You sound crazy!”
Sylvia sighed. “I wish I could tell you everything, but just as he is bound to silence, you are bound to forget. So there is little point to a question and answer session just now.” She rubbed the side of her head. I opened mouth and she raised her hand. “Please, no more questions. I will answer as many as you can throw at me on the way back home. But right now, you are in danger and I need to think.”
None of this could be happening. I wasn’t really in a car with a man in a coma, my boyfriend who was somehow bound not to answer questions, and my aunt and uncle, who insisted we go to our favorite seafood restaurant in the middle of the night. Dreaming, I had to be dreaming. Of course, even in dreams, I wasn’t sure that I could come up with something this crazy. I tried to meet Jaron’s gaze, but he was either unaware that I was trying to communicate with him or avoiding it deliberately.
I turned to the window and watched as the city scenery thinned to the sparse scape of the highway. The last light of day was gone and the moonlight bleached the darkness a gloomy gray. The familiar forest of shabby pines stretched up on either side, but looked sinister in the strange light. By the time the car pulled into the parking lot of the Bayou Baby, it was way passed closing time.
“See, they’re closed. Now can we do something not crazy, like have you tell me what’s going on?” I asked as Dylan parked the car.
“Cala will be here,” Sylvia opened the door.
I sprang out into the thick humid air and caught up to her. “And what does Cala have to do with any of this?”
“Everything,” she whispered, searching around the wide front door that bore a closed sign. Lifting up a box lid, she grabbed hold of a thick rope coiled at the bottom.
“What are you doing, looking for a spare key? Try the welcome mat.”
“Mari, stop being so snippy.” Sylvia pulled hard on the rope and a sound like a wind chime rang in the restaurant.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jaron and Dylan carrying Owen between them. They had his arms draped over their shoulders, and if anyone caught sight of them, he could have passed for a guy who'd had too much to drink being supported by friends. A light flickered on and my palms started to sweat. What were we doing here? Had my family really lost it? Would these people scream and call the police? I wouldn’t blame them if they did. It’s what I’d do if a gaggle of strangers with an unconscious man rang the bell at my house at midnight.
The handle jiggled, and the door slowly crept open, spilling a wedge of light across the pavement.
“State your name and your business here,” said a low scratchy voice.
“It’s Sylvia—”
The door flew open and standing in its place was an old woman. She was as wrinkled as a raisin, but her eyes shone with such youthful ferocity it was impossible to guess her age. “Sylvia, sweet thing, what are you doing here at this hour?” she asked brightly. “I could get some gumbo on the stove—”
“No, Cala, we’ve brought Mari…” Sylvia gestured to everyone behind her and the old woman’s reaction wasn’t near as surprised as I’d though it would be.
“And a few others, I see. I wondered the last time if I could hold it back in her eighteenth year. Just getting too powerful…”
“I know, but there was no other option… I think they’ve found us.”
She nodded, deepening her double chin. “It was only a matter of time, child. Now come on in before anyone sees you,” Cala said, turning back into the place.
“Here, I got him,” Dylan said, taking the full weight of Owen and carrying him through the doorway.
“Do you really think we’ll get answers here?” Jaron asked, meeting my eyes for the first time since we left.
“I don’t know. I guess there’s only one way to find
out.”
“What if we don’t like the answers we get… what if you don’t like what you find out?” He rubbed his palms together and inspected them while waiting for my answer.
“Knowing is always better. I don’t care what I find out in there. I just know that I’m ready to be done with all of the secrets, lies, and craziness.” When he didn’t look up or respond, I prodded, “Aren’t you?”
He nodded and walked through the doorway, taking my hand tightly in his before closing the door behind us.
The restaurant was dark and strangely hollow at night without the sounds of hungry customers chatting with one another. A door at the back of the room next to the kitchens stood ajar. I had never noticed it before, and as I got closer, I realized that it was built to look like part of the wall. Cala’s voice reached my ears.
“He’s got it bad,” she whispered. “Don’t know what they were giving him, any chance?”
“No,” Dylan said. “I wish we could tell you more, we just know that they were after him, and we couldn’t let that happen.”
Jaron paused in the doorway and looked at Cala. She was waving a stick over Owen, who was lying flat on the floor. “What are you doing to him?” Jaron asked with a threatening edge to his voice.
Sylvia and Dylan raise their eyebrows. Cala seemed unperturbed.
“Don’t worry now, boy. I’m not planning on using your brother as a piñata, unless you think he has candy on him, of course…” She glanced at Jaron from underneath her heavy lidded eyes.
He suppressed a grin. “Can you help him?”
If I had asked the question it would have come out laced with skepticism, but his voice was saturated in so much hope it tugged at my heart.
“Yes, I believe that I can—”
“Really?” Jaron interrupted, stepping forward.
“Yes, really. Now get over here and let me get a look at you,” Cala said. He walked to the center of his room, skirting his brother, and stood beside her. She put her hand on his chin and pushed it left and right, fixing him with an intense gaze. “Did a number on you too, didn’t they? Willingly it looks like…” She turned to Sylvia. “I’ve got just the thing for these two, you’ll have to help me with the sick one—it may take a while to get him back. Few weeks even.”
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