Or, my mind pipes up, she could have circled back around and blended into the tourists a few blocks back.
If so, I’ll just have to depend on Glade to catch her.
But why is she running in the first place? Maybe that woman - Danny - knows, but I didn’t have time to ask her. Worst case scenario is that I’ll lose Rain. If so, I’ll go back to that shop and ask. Maybe Rain confided in her.
As I walk, I become more and more tense. It isn’t just the warehouses or the graffiti now, it’s more an atmosphere. I feel like eyes are following my progress down the street, so much that I keep looking up, scanning for occupied windows. The fact that there aren’t many windows, occupied or otherwise, doesn’t make the feeling go away. The farther I walk, the more I become hyperaware of my surroundings. I wish Angelo was here.
I realize that I hear fighting in the distance and stop at an intersection, trying to figure out where it’s coming from. A breeze flows through the alley that crosses where I’m standing, so the voices could be far away, carried high on the wind to my ears. I glance to my left and see a tall fence blocking any exit, then I look the other way and see a train car parked beyond a few blocky green dumpsters. Apparently this way leads to the tracks.
Train cars would be a great hiding place. I make a left and hope I’m not letting Rain get away.
I’m halfway down the alley when I hear the very obvious sounds of people, uh, loving one another, and it seems to be coming from behind one of the trash cans. I avert my gaze and walk faster, hoping that they’re too busy to notice me.
When I get to the end of the alley, I see that there is actually another street between the buildings and the train cars, with the desert stretching out beyond that. It’s like the city just...ends...somehow, and the railroad is an invisible barrier. Or a moat.
The train itself looks abandoned, but all trains look like that to me. Greasy, rusted and dusty, this one has ten cars and no engine. Paper and plastic bags scatter in the wind, brushing the metal and then letting go to tumble on down the street. The cars sit with their sliding doors wide open so that I can see daylight through them. Some of them don’t have a top, either. A person could easily jump into one and hide at either end. I sigh and walk toward the first car in line.
A small three step ladder is attached to the side of the car, so I step up and then pause when it creaks and I feel it give under my weight a little. Flakes of rust sprinkle to the gravel below. I take a deep breath and bounce once, testing it. The car rocks a tiny bit.
“Hey,” someone yells, making me screech and jump down. “Trying to sleep in here.”
I freeze. People are living here? “S-sorry!” I call. Gingerly, I step back onto the ladder and stick my head around the door. “I’m looking for a girl.”
Hearty male laughter flows from the dark corners. There must be five or six people in there. “Ain’t we all, honey!” the voice answers.
“I - uh, no, I mean...” I stop talking and back down to the street. Hopefully Rain wouldn’t go running into a dark place full of strange men. I know she wouldn’t - she’s too smart for that.
The next car is empty - no sign of Rain, but also no squatters. A few dust-covered boxes are stacked in the corners, but that’s all. I move on.
Train car three has a single person inside. He - or she, because I can’t tell - is on the floor, back against the wall of the car. I squint into the darkness and try to make out details, but then I see the flash of what looks to be a syringe, right before the person’s head comes up and swivels in my direction.
I jump back down to the street with a muttered, “Sorry,” and hurry to the next car, shaken. A few minutes ago, I was hoping to find Rain here. Now, I desperately hope that she is nowhere near this place. I hope she’s dead center of some brightly lit, perfectly safe tourist attraction.
I have to keep looking, though, as much as the idea makes my skin crawl. I’m not sure what else to do.
The next two cars are empty, although it looks a lot like someone has been sleeping here. How does the city allow people to sleep here and not help them?
I’m walking to the next car when someone reaches out from between them and grabs my arm. I squeal, but then a hand clamps down over my mouth.
“Shut up,” a female voice says to me. “Don’t draw attention.”
Then the grip loosens and the hand falls away. I stumble back a little, glancing in the direction of my assailant and tripping over my own feet to put some distance between us. She’s a small Asian woman, and she’s silently laughing at me. “You can’t just go grabbing somebody like that!” I protest.
“Shh,” she puts a finger to her lips, still laughing, and takes a step toward me. “My name is Lia. I won’t hurt you, but we need to stay hidden. There are...not good men...around here. Thugs.”
That thought makes me shiver. “I know. I met a few living in the first car, I think.”
I take a step closer again, into the space between the cars. Now that the shock is wearing off, I don’t think this person is going to hurt me - she just scared me half to death. The woman looks to be about twenty-five, with long black hair that is straight and dyed blonde at the ends. She looks me up and down, too, and then her eyebrows knit together. “Are you lost? You look lost.”
I shake my head. “I’m looking for...”
“Oh, honey...” She pats my shoulder. “Get yourself to a rehab. It’s not worth it.”
“No,” I protest. Apparently she thinks I’m after...something. Drugs, maybe? “I’m looking for a girl.”
She looks horrified, and then she smacks me. Hard. I yelp and grab my cheek, taking a step back and out of swinging range. “We don’t treat people like that here,” she snaps.
Oh, for crying out - “My friend!” I say loudly, before she can go any further or hit me again. “My friend is lost. Her name is Rain. Have you seen her?"
Her eyes go wide when she figures out what I’m saying. “Oh,” she says.
“Long black hair, about this tall, and slim,” I finish. “She might be going by the name Sabrina.”
She looks at me for a long moment, her dark eyes searching my face. Then she says, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
I smile and nod, hoping she has Rain tucked away safe somewhere. She disappears through the space between the cars and turns right.
I lean against the cold steel and wait, hoping that Rain will come and that I can talk her into going home with me. Even if she’s safe here on the mainland, I’m worried about her being alone here. There are so many people, and a lot of them are, well, not nice. Rain was born on Jagged Grove - she has no idea about the kind of trouble that happens here.
I’m suddenly very thankful for Angelo’s firm grip on the island. Not that he is a dictator - U.S. law wouldn’t allow that - but he’s fair, and very protective of all of us.
I wish he was here now.
Lia comes back through the opening and puts a hand on my arm. “We have not seen your friend. At least, we don’t think so.”
“We?” I ask, instinctively looking behind her and seeing no one.
“There are a few of us here, in one of the cars. We keep to ourselves. But we have not seen a girl like you describe.”
I’m turning away when I catch a whiff of something...peaches. I stifle a gasp. I can barely smell it, but the aroma is unmistakable. Lia said we...so there must be a coven here, holed up away from the population. I open my mouth to say something and then remember where we are. On the mainland, keeping magical abilities hidden is usually the safest bet for a witch.
That doesn’t make me feel any better, though. I want to tell her about Jagged Grove, and how much better it is there, but I somehow doubt she’ll believe me. Even if she does...well, I don’t know these people. She could be a big trouble-maker for all I know.
Besides, my worry is for Rain, not a bunch of strangers. I thank her and turn away, making a mental note to tell Angelo about them later. He’ll know what to do.
I
shake my head and head for the next train car - the last one, actually - not liking the way my thoughts immediately jump to Angelo at every turn. It’s dangerous, especially when my heart does a little flip every time I think about him, anyway.
It’s embarrassing, is what it is. I’ve never depended on a man in my whole life...so why does depending on Angelo feel so right?
I have no time to worry about this.
The last car is empty, so I walk back toward the alley. I figure I’ll go just a little further this way, and then go back to-.
I see a dark flash at the end of the street, and start running. That flash was black hair, and the person running was Rain.
Chapter 18
The good news is that she’s running back toward town and the shop where I first saw her, instead of deeper into the slums. The bad news is that I need to run faster. I almost lose her several times, simply because I have to slow down once in a while to breathe. After the first block, I don’t call her name anymore, because I know she can hear me but chooses to not answer. It’s better for me to save my breath and try to catch up.
Luckily, foot traffic is picking up too. As the sidewalk gets more crowded, Rain has to slow down or risk hurting someone. I do, too, but there are less places to hide here, and I can see if she turns into one of the stores here, or onto another street. I also start keeping an eye out for Glade, hoping that he’ll intercept her along the way.
She’s weaving through a small throng of people looking at something in a store window. I see her head bob between shoulders...until it disappears.
I stare at the place where she was, but she doesn’t appear again. I look farther down, thinking that she made it through without me seeing her, but she isn’t anywhere.
My footsteps falter. I’m not sure what to do now.
The small crowd starts to move, but they aren’t just walking down the street. They are agitated, I can tell by the raised voices. Something is happening, and it almost has to involve Rain.
I break into a slow jog to get there, then shoulder my way through to the center of the pack. Rain is there, but she’s kneeling over a man on the sidewalk.
He’s a very large man with doughy skin and a shiny bald head. He’s wearing a Hawaiian shirt and blue jeans. He’s also unconscious. I realize that she’s got her hands on his chest.
“Rain?” I ask, kneeling beside her. Absently, I feel the deep tug of my healing powers, pulling my attention to the man.
She looks up, terror, relief and defiance warring for dominance in her eyes. She didn’t want to get caught, but she didn’t want this man to die, either. I smile at her. “He needs help,” she says. Wet streaks stripe her round cheeks. She looks small and scared, like a child.
I nod and turn my attention to him. Rain starts to move her hand away, but I take one in my own and hold her there. “We’ll do it together,” I say.
The man’s lips are starting to turn blue. He’s most likely having a heart attack. This is a quick fix using our powers, but there are a lot of people watching and I don’t want this spectacle to get even more out of hand. Thinking of spectacles, I remember something that happened during a political protest on campus once. I take a deep breath, squeeze Rain’s hand to get her attention, and say under my breath. “Pray.”
She startles and looks at me. “What?”
I raise my eyebrows, trying to communicate my idea without words. “I said to pray,” I answer, through gritted teeth. I jerk my head toward the people standing around, just as sirens echo from somewhere too far away to help this guy.
Finally something clicks. “Oh...OK...”
We bow our heads, and I take her hands in mine, placing them over the man’s chest.
I feel the pull of energy...through me, through Rain, and on into the big man’s body. It crackles through his veins, knitting him up, repairing the damaged heart tissue. I’m getting lightheaded, but I don’t let go.
“When I fall, I’m going to need you,” I say to Rain under my breath. “Please.”
I can just imagine her taking off again and leaving me to be trampled a mob that had just witnessed a miracle.
“Only if you promise I’m not in trouble,” she says, lifting her chin a little. A defiant act, but I can still see fear in her eyes.
“You aren’t in trouble, beyond making us worry too much. Penley is, though.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes at his name. She starts to say something, but my energy flushes out through my arms and into the unconscious man. I feel myself fade, then fall.
Chapter 19
I don’t think I’m out for long, but I’m too shaky to move when I wake up. I do open my eyes, though, when I hear hushed whispers and then Rain’s voice, telling someone to stand back.
She’s bending over me, a delighted grin on her face. “That worked,” she whispers, “But now they think you’re some kind of priestess or something.”
“What about that man? The one who was sick...?”
She waves a hand. “Ambulance took him away, but they said they were sending one for you, too. We have to go. Now.”
I groan, shifting on the hard concrete under me. “Help me get out of here,” I whisper back. My throat hurts, and it’s hard to swallow. She nods and puts her hands under my shoulders, helping me to sit. Almost immediately, I feel hands on my arms and back, and even my head. I duck away, but they keep touching me.
Someone pushes Rain, making her stumble and very nearly fall into my lap. I catch her with both hands, but then I’m being groped again. People are saying things, bending in close to my face, but I can’t make out any of it - it’s all a bunch of deafening babble. I cringe.
Rain finds her footing and pulls me up, then gets crushed into my side when she swings one of my arms over her shoulders to help. I grunt. “We have to go,” she yells. “These people are nuts!”
I nod and we start to make our way back toward the downtown area, but no one is letting us leave.
“You have to fix me!” a man in a cowboy hat is yelling into my ear.
I flinch away and don’t answer, but he’s not the only one. A ragged, skinny woman clutches my free arm and drags me down to her level. “Save my mother,” she says, pointing to an even frailer-looking woman in a wheelchair nearby.
And when I look up, I see that the crowd is only getting larger. When Rain and I look at each other, the fear between us is almost palpable. She strong arms her way to our left, literally shoving people aside and making a way for us. That works for a few feet, but then someone takes her arm and tries to drag her away from me. I hold on tight to her and hit the arm with my fist, trying to make the person let go. It doesn’t work.
We’re still being jostled around and yelled at so much that I barely hear the gunshot.
Everyone freezes. The gun goes off again - a resounding boom that bounces off the buildings around us - then people start to scatter.
I’m not sure what to do. I pull Rain close to me, in case we have to run, and then try to find the shooter. I check both sides of the street, then up and down the sidewalk, then...
Then Glade steps out from behind a parked van and walks toward us, slinging a rifle over his shoulder as he hurries in our direction. I heave a sigh of relief. I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my life.
Movement behind him makes me realize that he’s not alone. Angelo is behind him, striding fast in our direction. Even from here, it feels like his gaze is boring into mine. He does not look happy. In fact, he looks mad enough to kill us all, but I’m so relieved and happy to see him that I don’t even care.
Behind him, men fan out in all directions to do damage control. Too many people saw too much, and this whole scenario would be hard to explain.
I can’t think of any other way for it to play out, though. I couldn’t let that man die.
Rain lets go of me and runs to Glade, hugging him hard when she reaches him. I walk toward Angelo, hoping that he doesn’t start yelling at me here in the street. I try for a sm
ile, and to my surprise he smiles back. Just a small one, but I’m glad he isn’t going to yell at me right now. I’m still too drained to fight back.
When he reaches me he doesn’t hug me. Instead, he says, “Glade,” then pushes me behind him. I look back the way we came to see the people from before headed our way. Uh-oh. Apparently even gunshots don’t completely scare them off.
Beyond them, I see two police cars park in the middle of the road.
This might get ugly.
With a glance at one another, we manage to answer questions in the way Angelo taught me once - we lie. It isn’t nice, but the truth is too ridiculous to be believed, anyway. Angelo uses the whole ‘she’s a doctor’ thing that he likes so much, while Glade tells people who ask that it’s a super-secret military operation and that he needs them to swear to utmost secrecy.
I hear Rain explaining that the man was an alien being whisked away to a quiet compound in the desert and I grin. Enough stories like this, with no one agreeing to what happened, will ensure that the stories get wilder and wilder until no one is sure what, exactly, they saw.
According to Angelo, the method works perfectly every time. People love a conspiracy theory, and the men roving through the crowd in military gear only adds to the speculation.
The crowd is starting to thin now, and I hear Rain and Glade off to my left, arguing about something in half-whispers. I don’t know what, though, because a little old lady with brilliantly dyed red hair is tugging on my arm. “Do you know what happened?” she asks me, her eyes wide behind thick glasses.
I bend down with a smile - she comes up to about my bicep - and do some whispering of my own. “I was only trying to help that guy,” I explained, “With my magic. You see, I’m a witch, but if the government finds out they’ll lock me away on a secret island. And do experiments. Probably.”
Her fingers cover her mouth. “Oh, no! That’s terrible!”
I nod. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
Addicted Witch: A Jagged Grove Mystery Page 13