by W. J. May
“Yeah,” I said, trying to figure out why he would want to head to bed at supper time. “Where’s mom? I haven’t seen her today.”
“She’s probably in her room.” Dad locked his car door as we headed inside. “You know how she gets once a month.”
I nodded, totally grossed out. She would have come rushing down to see me if she was home. Something else was going on. Dad wasn’t looking me in the eye. Mom would rather go out and get lunch with friends or go to the tennis courts than sit in her room and ruin her figure with a tub of ice cream and reruns of Cheers and not greet her son. “Okay,” I said. “Well, see you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning.”
No mention of dinner? We weren’t the happy go-lucky family but Mom never missed anything. She was the glue that kept us together. I headed up to my room and picked up my guitar. Mom was supposedly in her room, huh? I could check that easily enough. I set the guitar down and headed down the hall. Mom and Dad’s room was on the end of the upstairs. All it would take was a quick run of my fingers on their wall.
My stocking feet were silent on the carpeted hallway floor. I paused outside their door and listened for any sounds coming from the other side. I avoided seeing through my parent’s bedroom at all costs when there was a chance both of them were in there for obvious reasons. When I didn’t hear anything, I figured it was safe. I lightly touched the wooden door with the tip of my finger. Immediately the solid wood became like painted glass. I could see inside the room but I could also see the door right in front of it. Inside, Dad sat on the foot of the bed, taking off his socks and shoes. He was alone in the room and the picture of him and Mom that usually sat on display on the nightstand was now resting face down.
Where the hell was Mom?
Chapter Eleven
“What’s going on, Zoe?” I asked. “You look really nervous.” I had been waiting for third period study hall all morning. I wanted to tell her about my folks. My mom never came home last night.
We were back at school. Life had tentatively returned to normal with classes resuming after the winter break.
Zoe and I have the same study hall on Mondays. Judging by the way she was slowly ripping up a notebook page, school was the last thing on her mind. Her hair was thrown up in a lopsided ponytail and she was wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and no makeup. Zoe rarely treated school like a fashion show, but she usually made an effort to be presentable unless something was wrong. Like there clearly was now.
She looked at me and bit her lip before picking up her pen. Our study hall supervisor had a strict no talking rule. Everyone around us was already absorbed in something else and not paying any attention to us. If she was writing it down, then it had to be pretty important.
She slid her notebook over to me. I saw Kieran yesterday.
I stared at her message. She still had contact with Kieran. Of course she did. He was in love with her and she was in love with him. If Kieran needed help he would contact Zoe. I looked at her. She looked so nervous, wondering what I would think of her. I wrote back: He’s back in town?
He’s doing an investigation into Rylee’s death so he can clear his name and catch the real killer. He wants me to help. I told him I would only help if you also helped.
My brow furrowed. Why do you want me?
We need you. I need you. I would rather not feel like I was completely betraying the team by telling no one else. Seth can’t know about it. He already thinks I’m out to kill everyone. Besides, I’m not sure I want to be alone with Kieran right now.
I raised an eyebrow at the last comment. Why the hell would she not want to be alone with Kieran? She wasn’t afraid of him. She couldn’t be. Even I could see Kieran would never hurt her, even if he did kill Rylee. She had to be mad at him. I realized, to my surprise, that I wasn’t happy by that fact. Heidi was right. You don’t want someone pining after someone else. Even if she was mad at him now, once his name clears they’ll resolve their conflicts and be a couple again. There was no use pretending that I had a chance with her. I wrote down my response quickly before I could change my mind. Sure. When should we meet?
Zoe shrugged and then started writing. How about tomorrow afternoon? I don’t know how to get in touch with Kieran except wait for him to break into my house again.
I nodded. “Why not today after school?”
A loud “Shhh!!” from the teacher shut my question down.
“Because my dad asked me to ask you, Seth, and Heidi if all of us could come to his office and get some bloodwork done,” she whispered back.
Chapter Twelve
Zoe
After school, Heidi and I took the Beetle and met Seth and Brent at Dad’s office. Seth refused to ride with us and Brent had gone off to talk to him. Apparently he couldn’t catch up with him because Brent showed up shortly after Seth, obviously in a different vehicle. Seth sat on a chair in the far corner, glaring at me out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t just suspect me anymore. He’d made up his mind.
Heidi looked at Seth and then exchanged glances with Brent. Eleanor, Dad’s nurse, tried to clear the uncomfortable silence. “Zoe!” she said in an annoyingly cheerful voice reserved for patients. “Your dad’s just finishing up with a patient right now. He’ll see you and,” she glanced down at the chair and continued in a surprised voice, “all your friends, shortly.” She looked me up and down before she stood and went back to check on Dad, or do whatever she did when she left her desk. Probably had to clear a patient room and make it big enough to hold the four of us.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
“What?” asked Brent.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Usually she’s annoyed when I’m here. My Dad probably told her she had to be nice to us. I don’t think she’s ever called me by my first name before.”
“Maybe she had her coffee today,” Heidi teased.
“Or even something stronger,” Seth added.
We all looked up at the same time and over at him. For the first time that day, he smiled. But it was still a bitter smirk without an ounce of happiness in it. Instead of talking and joking around like we used to, we pretended the others didn’t exist. That’s what had become of us now. It was as if we weren’t even really friends anymore. We were just trying to coexist for the time being while we tried to figure out what else we could do.
Eleanor didn’t return to the waiting room and luckily no other patients came in either. Half an hour later, Dad called us in. “How was school today, kids?” he asked. “I hope it wasn’t too hard being back.”
“No,” I said. “It was school, sort of boring.”
“Seriously boring,” said Seth, yawning. “I fell asleep in like three classes. It’s as if the teachers have perfected their monotone over the break.”
Dad smiled. “Don’t take it for granted. Someday you’ll miss it all, even the monotones.”
“I doubt it,” Seth said. “There isn’t much of high school I want to remember.”
“You know that’s not true,” Heidi said, lightly punching his shoulder “You love high school. You keep saying that you never want to graduate and grow up.”
He fixed her with a glare. “That was before.”
“Well, I’m glad the day wasn’t too stressful.” Dad avoided the argument and redirected us to a patient room I hadn’t noticed before. It was larger, with two tables to lie on and four chairs, plus his desk unit and rolling stool. He pulled a tablet out of his desk drawer. “Brent, could you roll your shirt sleeve up? I’m going to take blood from you first.” He set the tablet on the counter and typed in a password. A screen with the five of us showed up, Rylee included. I blinked and turned away.
Eleanor came in, then, to help. She stared at all of us with annoyed interest as Dad took our pulses and blood pressure and several vials of blood. Eleanor arranged the vials of blood very carefully while he did it.
As he took our blood, he shot out a series of questions. “How do you feel? Any fever? Racing h
eart? Odd dreams? Followed by a hundred other typical doctor questions that we basically all answered no to. He marked everything off on the tablet.
“Okay, guys.” Dad pulled his gloves off and tossed them into the appropriate trash. “Thanks. You’re all free to go.”
I rubbed the smiley face Band-Aid pinching the crook of my arm. “Hey, Dad, can I talk to you for a second?” I waved goodbye to the others as they left and then shut the door in Eleanor’s face so Dad and I were alone in the office.
“What’s up?” He slid the tablet into his drawer and locked it. “Is everything okay with you and your friends? All of you were really quiet today compared to Mexico.”
“I know.” I sighed. “It’s complicated. A lot of bad memories being stirred up.” I waved my hand. “I wanted to ask you something else. A while back you said my blood had merged unusually with the radium in the mine, right? To create some sort of halo around my red blood cells.”
“Yes.” He nodded at the vials. “I’m checking to see if all of you have the same thing or if they’ve merged differently on each of you.”
“Would it be possible to separate the radium from my blood?”
“You want to get rid of your powers?” Dad’s brow furrowed. “Zoe, this is a pretty serious thing you’re talking about here. You won’t ever be able to get them back. The odds of recreating the exact same conditions with the mine and the lightning storm are next to impossible.”
“I know.” He didn’t get it. He thought it was all scientifically amazing. “But I want them gone. I don’t want them anymore. I want to be normal.”
He looked ready to argue with me. I could hear it in the way his breathing changed, his heart rate increased and the vessels around his heart constricted. He made a physical effort to control himself. He understood it was my choice in the end, not his. “I’ll look into it.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I hugged him and he held me longer than necessary.
“I love you, sweetie.”
“Me, too, Dad.”
Out of the office and back in the waiting room, Eleanor sat behind the desk. “Your friends left.” That was it. No good-bye. No interest except in the popping of her bubble gum.
“Okay.” I grabbed my coat and scarf and left.
Outside, it had started snowing again. When I walked to my car I found someone had cleared all the snow off. “Thanks, Brent.” I smiled and reached to unlock the door. It was already open. I must’ve forgotten to lock it when Heidi and I arrived. I got in and reached to start the car, trying to get the cold air to turn warm.
I nearly jumped when I saw someone sitting in the passenger seat. “Crap!” I punched the visor.
Kieran rubbed his arm. “You know these old cars are easy to break into.”
I started the car and sighed. “You can’t just keep popping in. Someone’s going to notice.”
“I’m not planning to make a habit of it.” He grinned. “You look pretty with a knitted hat and scarf and red nose.” He pressed his lips in a straight line when I didn’t return his smile. “I didn’t tell you where I’m staying.” He handed me a folded piece of paper. “This is the address of the motel where I’ve set up camp. It’s only in the next town over and they let me pay in cash. If you need to reach me, you can call me there. Ask for Jamie Frasier.”
“Seriously?” I said. “Jamie Frasier? Watching a little bit too much Outlander, are you?”
He smirked. “Don’t be ridiculous. I have loads of things to do while holed up in a crap motel and snow falling outside.” He shrugged. “I read the books and watch the show. Have you talked to Brent?”
“He agreed to help us.”
“Zoe?!” Brent’s voice called out in the parking lot, as if on cue, toward the car. I unrolled my window.
Kieran stiffened beside me. “So much for meeting tomorrow.”
How’d he know I told Brent to—of course, sixth sense.
Brent squatted down by the window. “I just came by to ch—” He noticed Kieran. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Kieran stared at him with guarded interest.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Brent’s voice came out as guarded as Kieran looked.
“I was just leaving.”
My head moved back and forth like watching a tennis match. “He wanted to know where to meet.” It sounded lame.
“Well,” Brent said and straightened, “hurry it up. I’ll wait in my car for you and make sure you get home safely.” He turned and headed away before I could reply.
“He’s not too happy with me.” Kieran fixed the rear-view mirror so he could watch Brent. “Let’s meet tomorrow at the motel.” His face softened into a brief smile as he reached to stroke my cheek. “Please get some rest tonight, Zoe. I don’t want you up all night worrying.”
I bit my lip and nodded. I had the impulse to hug him and tell him everything that was happening in Elliot Lake and how Brent apparently had a crush on me and how Seth was losing it and my Dad knew everything. I stopped myself. Even if I wasn’t still mad at him, he couldn’t stay here just to gossip. He needed to get going. I reached for his hand, slid my gloved fingers between his.
He squeezed my hand. “I should go,” Kieran said as he stared at our hands. “While the coast is still clear.”
I nodded. Could he see everything I was feeling? Sense everything that was going on? Like how much seeing him again tied my stomach into knots of longing and hurt.
He leaned toward me and hugged me, his lips brushing lighting against mine. I closed my eyes to kiss him again when suddenly all that I felt was cool air and the sound of the car door closing and crunching footfalls in the snow drifting away. I sat staring at the parked cars in the lot. A whiff of his scent still hung inside the Beetle. I inhaled deeply. It seemed familiar and yet so foreign to me.
I wished, I really wished, there was someone left I could really talk to.
After school the next day, I plugged the address of the motel into my phone GPS. “I’m glad we’re taking my car,” I said to Brent. “This is definitely a sketchy place.”
“Are you sure it’s safe for us to go there? I should’ve come here on my own.”
“We’ll be fine. We’re superheroes, remember?” I joked. “With all of the training we’ve been doing, we can take care of ourselves in case something comes up.”
“I guess.” He shook his head. “It still seems dangerous to me.”
“Well,” I said, putting my seatbelt on, “it is dangerous. We’ll have to be alert while we’re there. But I think after the fire from the water tower, the attack of the diner, and well, recent events, a sketchy motel of druggies and prostitutes seems to fit in with the new norm.”
“Yeah, except we’ve already lost one of us.” Brent sighed. “If we believe Kieran didn’t kill Rylee, and he’s going to try and convince us. We need to find out who did. Before they start picking off all of us, one by one.”
I stared at him in surprise. “We’ll be fine,” I repeated as I pulled out of the school parking lot and we made our way through the streets and to the highway. “Have you and Heidi talked to Seth’s dad?”
“Heidi did, during her study hall today. She called his mom, actually.” Brent moved his fingers like he was playing an air guitar with one hand. “Apparently Seth’s signed up for therapy, but he hasn’t been going. He’s been spending more and more time in his room. His mom’s going to bug him to go today.”
“He’s eighteen. No one can force him to go to the meetings.”
“No,” Brent agreed. “His mom’s super cool. He’ll listen to her. I know Heidi’s going to stop by his place and talk to him today. Maybe go with him if he wants.”
“What about you?” I asked. “The two of you used to be pretty close. What’s happening to us?”
“Not that close.” He sighed. “Everything’s changed since the mine.”
I couldn’t deny that. Everything had changed. For better or worse.
Chapter Thirteen
Seth
&nbs
p; “I wanted to try out this new cookie recipe,” Heidi babbled, sounding nervous. “You were the first person I thought of for taste-testing since my dad’s allergic to chocolate and my mom won’t eat sweets.”
“Sure.” I sat in Heidi’s kitchen as she mixed ingredients in a bowl. The scents of dark chocolate, eggs, sugar, and butter assaulted my nose, but it smelled good.
Unfortunately, they weren’t the only scents. It didn’t cover up Heidi’s perfume which had to be pure essential oils from lilacs because I couldn’t smell any chemicals mixed with it. Citrus cleaner covered the wooden table, countertops and somewhere down the hall was definitely a dirty laundry basket that needed to be tended to. It had taken a while for my stomach to get used to my new power nose, but at least I didn’t get nauseous anymore.
It didn’t stop me from wrinkling my nose at the one unpleasant scent I could detect.
Heidi saw my face. “It’s the dirty laundry, isn’t it?” She set the spoon down. “I’ve been tasting sweat and dirt from it all for about a week now. Maybe two.”
“I’ll believe it!” I shook my head. “Why the hell don’t the people in your house do laundry? Is your washer broken?”
“No, but it’s hard for us to keep up on household tasks.” Heidi grew quiet. “Dad’s away on business all the time, and my mom’s been taking on extra shifts to help me with college tuition. I was the main one who did the chores before, but lately it seems like I can’t find the time between my own work and… other stuff.”
I felt a small stab of jealousy about her going to college. I wanted to go and got into a few of the ones I applied for. At the very least I’d have to defer for a year to work. I know Dad wanted to help me out, but he really wasn’t able to. At least not enough. He and mom worked hard, barely enough to pay the mortgage and put food on the table without trying to come up with an extra twenty grand for me to go. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t meant to escape the shit-town of Elliot Lake. Unlike Brent, who had ridiculously too much money. “I didn’t know you were working. When did you start?”