“Nina, please let Lester know we found her. Just send him a message. He can call everyone else.” Dan handed his cell to Nina.
Lester. The social worker. Why had they called him? This wasn’t the first time I’d run off for a couple hours. I tuned out Nina’s voice and strained to bring back the piece of memory that had gone through my mind. It wasn’t cooperating. That wasn’t totally a bad thing. My mind must have known I didn’t really want to deal with it right now. But seriously, Wade? And a gun? What had happened? I started to hyperventilate again, doing my best to shove down the fear.
I buried my face in my knees. Now was not the time to go over this, not with Dan and Nina right here.
We drove in sweet silence for a while, but by the way Dan kept looking at me in the rear view mirror, his expression full of concern and a hint of something else, that wasn’t going to last long. Every mile we put between us and the gas station, a vise holding my guts loosened just a little.
Dan would keep me safe, even if Wade did show up. Tears leaked onto my ruined dress, but I kept the sobs inaudible. I hadn’t even considered he would ever do something like this. How many times did he have the opportunity? Why had it happened now?
“How did you get all the way out here?” Dan’s later wasn’t very much later. “Do we need to call the police, Trisha? Did Wade do anything to you?”
Here is where I should have been honest, but nice as they were, they were still fosters. When I first heard that Dan worked in government, I almost panicked and ran. The only reason I could figure them taking me in when they obviously didn’t need the money was that they had heard something, maybe from one of the other kids at the home. Maybe someone had seen me heal. Luckily I still had some scars from back before I healed so quickly. Maybe that threw them off.
No, I wasn’t getting them involved. If Wade had done something, I was going to figure it out on my own. No way I was going to leave him to do it to anyone else, to someone who wouldn’t pop back from almost dead. Or dead even. How far gone had I been? I shivered, but blamed it on still being chilled. The heat blasting out of the vents wasn’t nearly enough.
“I was alone,” I twisted the truth, my gut churning at the deception. As fae, I couldn’t lie, not like I had a strong conscience or anything, but none of us could. I couldn’t lie, but finding ways around the truth came naturally after growing up in the home. Problem was, I was growing a conscience about it since the Inzas took me in and seemed to actually care what went on in my life.
“Then what happened?” Nina asked as she stared into my soul, her brown eyes sad.
“Some people I thought were my friends weren’t.” True. I’d thought Wade was a friend, a great friend. The first real friend I’d had, other than my mom. My real mom. Sure, I’d been close with some of the other kids at the home, but they were in and out. Every time I got close to one, they were moved on. Wade had seemed to understand me, even without knowing all the fae stuff. Somehow he’d always known what I was thinking.
Dan looked back at me, his blue eyes harder than Nina’s. “It didn’t have anything to do with us fighting about Wade before you disappeared, did it?”
I rubbed my arms with my hands, trying to get some of the warmth back. “No, nothing to do with that.” Memory flashed. I screamed something at Dan and ran from the house, slamming the door behind me. I winced. Was that how I always sounded?
So we’d fought, I’d called Wade, and he’d showed up acting like my knight in shining armor and offering to take me away to that party I’d been back and forth about going to. Then he shot me and left me for dead. I patted for a wound again, now that I didn’t have to worry about being shot from behind. Nothing. I fought back a wave of nausea. Some prince he’d turned out to be.
The real question was why? Wasn’t there supposed to be motive or something? We were getting along great. I’d thought things were getting serious. It had been over a year since we’d met. That was serious in teenager time. I rubbed at my eyes. No way was I going to cry again. That idiot was going to be sorry. Who did that to a person they were supposed to care about? I probed at my chest and found the bullet hole in my dress. Thankfully the mud had covered that along with the blood.
The conversation was still going on in the front seat, but I wasn’t listening anymore. Dan didn’t sound very happy though.
Nina squeezed Dan’s arm and it seemed to calm him. Good thing she was here.
I settled into the heated seat and closed my eyes. Healing always exhausted me and I’d done more of it in the last few hours than I’d done these last few months combined. Maybe last few years. The darkness outside didn’t help me with the exhaustion. I cracked an eye open and looked at the clock on the dashboard. 1:26 a.m. No wonder Vince’s was empty.
“How long was I gone?” I asked, keeping my eyes closed.
It went quiet up front. I cracked an eye open, enough to see Nina, who looked like she might cry.
“Since we passed midnight it’s Sunday, Trish,” Dan answered. “You were gone two full days.”
I sat up. Two days? No way! How close to dead had Wade left me? I caught my teeth grinding and had to tell my mouth to stop, letting myself go limp again. Healing didn’t normally take that long. My memory was still hazy.
Had I spent that whole time lying out in the woods? What if a bear had found me? There were bears in the woods, right? Or a hiker. I might have ended up on an autopsy table. Or worse, in the ground. I clenched my teeth again. Now was not the time. I wasn’t going to figure anything out right now. I just needed to relax, calm down. I was with Dan and Nina now. They would keep me safe. I settled back into the warmth of the seat, literally telling my muscles to relax. Everything was going to be okay now.
The adults in the front went back to their conversation. The heat started to make me sleepy, even through the hunger pains. I half listened to the voices up front, just in case something they said would jog a memory, but it was getting more and more difficult to stay awake. The trees drifted by outside in the dark, nearly mesmerizing. My mind fought hard, trying to figure out what had happened, but my body won and I drifted off into sleep.
# # #
I have only hazy memories of getting myself from the car to my room, where I fell into bed without even a shower. I slept most of Sunday, waking up glad that it wasn’t a school day. Not that Nina would have made me go, but the school thought I was enough of a troublemaker as it was. No need to miss any more days.
I groaned as I tried to pull myself out of bed, body still exhausted. I could put off being tired for an indefinite period of time, up until I slowed down. Then it hit me like a freight train. Dirt broke off of my hair and plunked down from my shoulder to the floor.
Renewed groans burst forth when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I didn’t normally care what I looked like, but this was enough to make even me cringe. My normally light brown hair was almost grey from mud. Nina had tried to get me to shower last night, but I wouldn’t listen, too tired to even think about it. The pajamas I wore were clean, but that was it. I looked like an Aborigine going hunting. Wait a second. I leaned in closer to the mirror. Was that… yes, a zit. Ew, my first one ever. Regenerating skin didn’t get zits. Unless it had dirt over it all night, apparently.
Grabbing my towel, I rushed for the bathroom. The water never seemed to take so long to get warm before. I stripped and jumped in while it was still cool, not learning any patience, even after all I’d been through the last few days.
Finally it started to get hot. Ahh, wonderful warm water. I cranked the hot handle on even more. I was never going to take hot water for granted again.
After nearly turning myself into a prune, I hopped out and towel-dried, making a quick check for new scars. A small puckered scab on my chest. I touched it, no pain. I pushed. Still nothing. Fully healed. The scab would fall off and I probably wouldn’t even have a scar. I turned around and looked at my back in the mirror. Nothing. No exit wound. Was t
he bullet still in there? Not that it mattered, but it was kind of icky to think of a hunk of metal stuck in my body. Hopefully it had worked its way out. It was just going to have to stay there if it was still inside me. No good way of getting it out, and I couldn’t exactly ask for help.
I grabbed my dirty pajamas off the floor. I owed Nina at least that, and headed back to my room.
I shut the door behind me, locking it before heading to the closet for some clean clothes. Nina always kept everything perfect. I tossed my once clean pjs at the hamper and missed. Normally I’d leave them there, but not today. I picked them up and stuffed them into the hamper on top of my other junk. Strange that there were still clothes in there. Nina always did laundry on Saturday. I couldn’t imagine her not going about her routine, even if I was missing. In fact, I hadn’t heard anything from downstairs. Had they gone to church without me?
Suddenly desperate, hoping they were worried enough about me to stay home and yet telling myself I was being stupid, I threw on the closest pieces of clothing and ran for the stairs.
“Is everything okay?”
I grabbed my chest, heart nearly popping out. Dan. He had stuck his head around the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen.
“Yes, sorry,” I mumbled. They were here. I should have known they would be. Even if I didn’t understand why, they cared.
“Okay.” He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push it. “Hungry? Nina has breakfast almost ready.”
As if on cue, my stomach let out an embarrassing squeal. Dan lifted a dark eyebrow and smiled. Sure, it was a strained smile, but at least it was a smile. “Let’s get that taken care of.”
I followed him into the kitchen, the smell of everything bagels and melted Velveeta cheese hitting me like someone had tossed a brick. Poor Nina. The entire refrigerator was going to be emptied over the next few days if I had my way.
“You’re up,” Nina said, smiling brightly. Hers was less forced than Dan’s, but still not her normal smile. She flipped the bacon in the skillet and then turned back toward me. “This will be ready in one minute.”
One minute? My stomach gurgled out a protest.
Dan chuckled. “I don’t know if she can wait that long, babe, maybe you should just give it to her now.”
“The bacon isn’t crispy.”
“That’s okay,” I interjected. “I don’t mind it being a little under done.” This was weird. No yelling? No questions? Now I was worried.
Nina shrugged, used her spatula to fish out two pieces of bacon and plopped them straight onto the golden mountain of cheese and bagel. She put the perfectly toasted top on and slid the plate to me. I grabbed the plate and the food filled my mouth in a flash.
The sandwich was nearly gone before I looked up. Dan was staring at me while Nina finished another sandwich, thankfully back pointed toward me. She was always so perfect, so polite. If she saw me eating like that she’d probably have a heart attack. She turned to us and slid the sandwich to Dan.
“Gone already?” she asked after a glance at my plate.
I nodded, not able to speak with my mouth full.
Dan shook his head, chuckling at me, then bowed his head to pray before he ate. That was something I’d always appreciated about them, they believed in something but didn’t try to make me. The state wouldn’t let them force me to go to church, but there were other ways to get me to listen if they’d wanted to.
Another two sandwiches with eggs, cheese and bacon on them disappeared. By the last one, I was slowing down enough to actually taste. These things were awesome, nothing like what I had grown up eating. Mom only had a hotel microwave to work with most of the time, which meant lots of mac and cheese. I still don’t eat mac and cheese unless I’m really, really desperate.
“Thank you,” I mumbled around my last bite. It was still awful quiet in here, about the whole me going missing thing. My stomach flipped, suddenly heavy with the anxiety added to all the food.
“You’re welcome,” Nina said. “I’m just so glad you’re here for me to do this for.”
“And thanks for coming to get me last night.” I meant it too. I don’t know if I had ever really thanked them before, other than the basics, but right now it was heartfelt.
“Are you ready to talk about what happened? It’s best to get the police involved early,” Dan said, his food completely chewed and swallowed of course. “Lester is coming over later. I’m not trying to push you, Trisha, I just want to get this handled.”
There it was. They’d just been waiting. Of course they had all morning to relax and think about what they were going to say. I’d just gotten up. I should have come up with a plan before putting a foot on the stairs, but I’d needed to know they were here.
Nina put her hand on Dan’s shoulder. “It’s his way of protecting you,” she explained for him.
“I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need to be protected.” Nina slid another sandwich in front of me. I fiddled with it for a second, fighting the urge to devour it. I wasn’t the one that needed protection. Wade was. The next time I saw him, I was going to… something. Wasn’t sure about that part yet. I pushed the last sandwich away, my body at odds with my stomach, muscles screaming for fuel but stomach feeling like I was out to sea right now. I needed to get this Wade thing handled. I needed to know if he cared that he’d killed me, if there was a reason.
“Are you okay, honey?” Nina asked. I tore my gaze away from the table and glanced her way. She looked honestly concerned.
“I think I’ll go lay down for a while.” I shoved my chair away from the table, keeping my eyes pointed toward the floor so I didn’t have to see Dan and Nina’s worried expressions.
“Are you feeling okay?” Dan asked. I nodded but headed for the stairs. “Maybe we should have taken her to the ER. Just to make sure nothing’s wrong,” I heard Dan say to Nina behind me.
“No, I just need to rest a bit,” I said, halfway up the staircase.
Nina followed me to the base of the stairs. “We’ll be right here if you need anything. If you don’t feel good, we really should have you checked out. How long were you in the woods?”
I shrugged and climbed the stairs faster. That was a good question. I made it to my room without having to answer, but I could hear the two of them talking downstairs. I shut the door and moved straight for the window, sliding it up and slipping out in one well-practiced move.
They weren’t going to like it if they found out, but I had to go see if Wade was still around. I wasn’t going to let what happened to me happen to anyone else. I dropped to the ground outside the house, my left ankle sending up a little twinge at the distance down but instantly healing.
Practically tiptoeing, I grabbed my bike off the front porch and pushed it toward the road. The sight of Dan’s Mercedes in the drive made me pause. Was this really how I wanted to handle the situation? They had been there as soon as I’d called for help last night. And they would find out that I’d snuck away again. Dan was going to be so mad. I so wanted to go back to the house, to pull up a chair in the kitchen and down two more sandwiches while trying to explain what had really happened Thursday.
But I couldn’t. I couldn’t get them involved in this. For them to know what had happened, they would have to know what I was. I definitely wasn’t ready for that. While I was starting to love the Inzas, I didn’t trust them yet. Look where almost trusting Wade had gotten me. And it wasn’t just trusting that they weren’t going to turn me over to some government program. There was another kind of trust involved, the kind that meant I could believe that they wouldn’t look at me like I was some kind of freak if they knew. I definitely wasn’t even close to there yet.
Sure, I might be a freak, but I didn’t want them thinking that.
Just in case Nina decided to check on me and found me missing, I took a hard left at the first intersection, then a right at the next. My legs felt like butter for the first few pedals, then
set into a rhythm. The calories were starting to kick in. Every time I heard an engine I’d duck into some bushes or behind a neighbor’s vehicle. I was going to be in so much trouble. Couldn’t think like that. I had to find Wade.
The ride to Wade’s wasn’t far. He had his own apartment about a mile from the Inzas’ place, something extra that Dan hadn’t liked about him. Plus the fact that he was out of school already. He’d never mentioned his parents and with my own parental guidance problems, I’d never asked.
Looking back, that might have been kinda dumb. But I’d met him in the library for Pete’s sake. I was just there to get out of the house. Who knew what he was doing there. Now that I thought about it, that was a little fishy. He wasn’t really the library type. Had he known something? He’d never even hinted about anything fae. But maybe that was why he’d killed me, he was part of one of those groups and had figured it out.
Getting close, I pulled into a small alley and coasted to a stop. I leaned my bike against the building and peeked around the corner. No one in sight. The walk from where I’d stashed my bike to the parking area for his apartment should have only taken about two minutes, but I was in stealth mode. Another good thing about the fae blood, we were a sneaky people.
I made it around the last corner and stopped. His junky pickup wasn’t sitting there. He was always home on Sunday afternoons. It was the one day he didn’t have anything scheduled and there was no way to get him to go out, or so he’d always said. I guess killing his girlfriend might have changed his mind. I waited there, hidden around the corner until dark, nearly bored out of my mind, but he didn’t show.
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