by Lynn Viehl
I ran to the front door and jerked it open, hurrying through the house to the kitchen and the rack where Gray kept his spare keys. I changed direction to grab a quilt I’d washed and left folded in the laundry room, but the sound of Trick’s bedroom door opening made me race back into the kitchen to grab the spare keys before I flew back outside.
“I can get you as far as the docks,” I told him as I unlocked Gray’s truck and threw the quilt in on the seat before I helped him inside. “How do you get to the island from there?”
“I have a boat.” He looked through the windshield at the sky. “There are only a few minutes left. We’re not going to make it in time.”
“Yes, we are.” I got in behind the wheel and started the engine. “Fasten your seat belt.”
I put the truck in reverse and hit the accelerator, looking through the back window as I sped down the drive. I ran off onto the grass before I could maneuver the truck onto the road, and muttered as I shifted into drive.
Jesse glanced back at the house. “Your brothers are going to be very angry with you.”
“They’ll live.” I should have felt horribly guilty for stealing Gray’s truck, but I was too worried about Jesse. “If Trick had let me get my learner’s permit, I wouldn’t have to be a carjacker now.”
“You’ll be punished for this.” He closed his eyes and sank back against the seat. “For me.”
“You’re worth it.” I glanced sideways, and nearly ran off the road when I saw how ashen he was. “Cover yourself up with that quilt.”
I ran stop signs and red lights all the way from the farm into town, but it was still early and there were hardly any cars on the road. I pulled into the lot by the docks just as the sky lightened to a soft pale blue.
Jesse stumbled out of the truck as I raced around it to help him. “Where is the boat?” I asked after I draped the quilt over his head and shoulders.
“Over here.” He pointed and then staggered, almost falling before I caught him. “Do you know how to drive one?”
“Trick taught me last summer when we went on a fishing trip.” He sounded so weak I felt my heart constrict. “You’ve never shown me all the good fishing spots around here, you know.”
“Next time,” he promised.
I hauled him toward the small black-hulled boat at one end of the pier, and once he had climbed down into it I uncoiled the two rope lines securing it to the dock.
After I stepped off the pier onto the boat I went to the console and turned a key that was sticking out. The boat vibrated as the outboard engines started, but when I turned around I saw Jesse collapse, the quilt falling away as wisps of smoke rose from his body.
“No.” I dragged him under the canopy over the console and covered him up. “Hang on. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The engines roared softly as I drove the boat away from the pier. Once we were in deeper water I throttled up, increasing the boat’s speed until we were jetting across the surface of the lake.
The wind blowing in my face made me squint, and lake water sprayed over the bow to pelt me like needling rain. I felt Jesse’s hand on mine and looked down at his eyes, which were weeping tears of blood. “We’re almost home. Don’t you die on me now. You have to introduce me to your parents.”
“I’ll try.” His voice was barely a whisper. “Catlyn, whatever happens … I’ll always be with you.”
“I know.” I held onto his hand. “Stop talking now, or you’ll make me crash into the island.”
As we crossed the last quarter mile, I saw a small pier where I could dock the boat. I also felt the first rays of the sun on my neck and smelled smoke. Once I’d pulled up alongside the concrete posts of the dock I didn’t bother with the ropes, but hauled Jesse up and helped him onto the weathered, silvery wooden planks. I put my arm around his waist and supported him as we stumbled toward the tree-lined embankment on the other end.
A man hurried to meet us, and got on Jesse’s other side to help support his sagging body. To me he said, “This way. Please, hurry.”
Between us we got Jesse from the pier and through the trees to a small cinderblock structure where two more men were waiting. They took Jesse from us to help him inside, where they went down a flight of stairs into the dark. I picked up the quilt from where it had fallen on the ground, but when I tried to follow them the man who’d met us at the dock stopped me.
“You can’t go with him, miss.”
I gave the man an impatient look. “I just want to know if he’s okay.” I tried to yank my arm from his tight grip. “I have to explain what happened to his parents—”
“You can’t be here,” was all he said as he turned me around and marched me back to the pier.
Despite my protests the man forced me back into the boat and made me sit down. “I’ll take you back to town now.”
“What if I wait here while you go check on him? I won’t move a muscle, I swear.” The man ignored me as he started up the boat. “Will they take him to a hospital? Is he going to be okay?”
The man spared me a glance. “You saved his life by bringing him home, miss. For that, I know his family is grateful.”
Grateful, but not enough to let me stay on the island.
All the frantic energy drained out of me, and I sat down on the bench seat behind the console. I had to go home and face the music now, something I didn’t look forward to. Trick had been awake; he would have heard the truck when I’d pulled out of the drive. He’d be waiting for me at the front door.
At least things can’t get any worse.
I looked across the water at the dock where I’d left Gray’s truck. I hadn’t remembered to take the keys out of the ignition, but it was still where I’d parked it. Then I saw someone walking out on the pier to meet the boat and frowned. Trick wouldn’t have known where I was going. Something flashed from his face, and it took me a moment to realize that it was the sunlight reflecting off the silver lenses of his sunglasses.
Things just got a lot worse.
Sheriff Yamah watched me climb out of the boat, but he didn’t acknowledge my existence. To the man who’d driven me back, he said, “Morning, Larry.”
“Jim.” Larry inclined his head toward me. “This young lady needs to get on home. Would you make sure she does?” When the sheriff nodded, he started up the engines and drove off back toward the island.
I felt my stomach clench as I watched him go. “I can explain, Sheriff.”
“No doubt you can, Ms. Youngblood.” He didn’t look at me. “Right now I’d like to see your license, and the registration for this vehicle.”
I thought about lying and saying I’d left them at home, but if he checked—and he probably would—it would only make the situation worse. “I think the registration is in the glove box.” I looked at the ground. “I don’t have a license yet.”
He took the radio clipped into his belt and spoke into it. “Bob, I’ve got a blue pickup truck parked down here by the dock. Seems it was stolen. I need you to come on down here and drive it back to the Youngblood place. Yeah, I’ll meet you there.” He waited for an acknowledgment before he shut off the radio.
“I didn’t steal my brother’s truck,” I said as soon as he turned to me. “I borrowed it. I can take it back home right now.”
“You’re an unlicensed driver, young lady,” he reminded me. “You’re not taking it anywhere.” He pointed toward his cruiser, which was parked next to the truck. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t handcuff me or read me my rights, but he did make me sit in the back like any other criminal. I thought about trying to talk to him about Jesse and what had happened, but I suspected the sheriff would only use that information against me.
“I found a girl your age last week down in the park,” the sheriff said, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. “She’d violated curfew to go out joyriding with some friends. Only they didn’t turn out to be such good friends, and now she’s in the hospital.”
I met his gaze in
the mirror. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Not the first time something like that has happened,” he continued. “Last month we had two girls attacked outside the movies after the midnight show. They were robbed and beaten. Then there was this little girl from the middle school who disappeared after sneaking out one night to meet some boy. We found her three days later, wandering in the woods, covered with cuts and bug bites and ticks. Another night and she likely would have died out there.”
Bile rose in my throat. “That’s terrible.”
“That’s what happens to kids who don’t consider the consequences of their actions.” He shook his head. “Maybe you should think real hard about that, Ms. Youngblood. Because the next time you decide that the law doesn’t apply to you, you might not be so lucky.”
I knew he was trying to scare me, and it was working, but I felt a little indignant, too. “I took my brother’s truck so I could help Jesse Raven get home. He told me that you’re a friend of his parents, so you have to know about his condition.”
His voice turned cold. “I know all about Jesse.”
“What I did,” I continued, “I did it for him. He’s my friend.”
Yamah didn’t say anything for a while, and then he glanced back at me. “I don’t know how you got mixed up with Jesse, but it ends now. After this, his folk won’t let him see you again.”
Anger made me tremble. “They can’t stop us from being friends.”
“You don’t know what the Ravens can do to you, young lady.” He sounded bored. “But just in case you’re thinking of trying to see him again, don’t. If you’re caught trespassing on Raven Island, the Ravens will press charges. You’ll spend a minimum of six months in juvenile detention.”
Trick was standing in the drive when the sheriff pulled up, and came over to open the back door as soon as the cruiser stopped. “Are you all right?”
I nodded.
“Mr. Youngblood,” Yamah said as he climbed out. “I apprehended your sister in town. I have enough evidence to bring her in on suspicion of car theft, boat theft, and trespassing on private property. Certainly you can appreciate how serious these charges are.”
Trick put his arm around me. “I’m sure my sister has a good explanation for what happened.”
“There is no excuse for breaking the law, but I’m willing to let her off with a warning this time,” Yamah said. “I won’t do that again, Mr. Youngblood. Unless you want to see how your sister looks in an orange jumpsuit, you’d better do whatever it takes from here on out to keep her in line.” He glanced back as his deputy drove Gray’s truck up the drive before he spoke to me. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, too, Ms. Youngblood.”
I worked up a tepid smile. “Thank you for the ride home, Sheriff.”
Trick waited until the officers left in Yamah’s cruiser before he took me inside. He marched me back to the kitchen and sat me at the table while he stood looking down at me.
For once I couldn’t joke my way out of the situation. “I’m so sorry about this, Patrick.”
“You’re something,” he agreed. “You stole your brother’s truck. You were driving without a license. But that wasn’t enough? You had to steal a boat? You had to be caught trespassing? Have you lost your mind?”
Gray came to stand in the doorway. “Is she all right?” I heard him say.
Trick spared him a glance. “Yeah. You’d better get to school.” When I tried to stand up, he gripped my shoulder and pushed me back down. “You aren’t going anywhere. Not until I get to the bottom of this.”
Sixteen
I did want to tell Trick everything that morning, but I knew when he found out about me and Jesse he’d go ballistic. There was no way he’d understand why I’d been sneaking out for weeks to meet a boy at night, or believe that it had been completely innocent. He really would ground me for life, or see to it that I’d never step foot outside the house again without him or Gray hovering over me.
If I told him the truth, I’d never see Jesse again.
For that reason I gave him a severely edited version of the facts. I told him that I’d found Jesse after he’d been thrown from his horse, saw how hurt he was, and thought only of getting him home. There hadn’t been time to ask permission, so I’d taken Gray’s keys and the truck. The only way to get to Jesse’s home was by taking his boat. Everything I’d done, I insisted, had been to help an injured, helpless boy.
Trick paced around the kitchen. “Why didn’t you come and get me when you found him? I could have driven him to the emergency room.”
“There wasn’t time, and he didn’t want to go to the hospital,” I said. “I guess I just reacted.”
He stopped and studied my face. “You’re lying.”
“I didn’t think.” I resisted the urge to hunch my shoulders as I stared at the cracks in the table. “I only wanted to help him. That’s all.”
“So you drove him to town, stole a boat, and took him out to this island. Because you didn’t think.” He dropped down in the chair beside mine. “Who is he?”
“His name is Jesse—”
He slammed his fist on the table. “Who is he to you?”
I looked into his furious eyes. “He’s just a boy. That’s all.”
He sat back. “And you expect me to believe this story.” He got to his feet and started pacing again. “Go get cleaned up. I’m taking you to school.” When I stood he glared at me. “You’re grounded until you tell me the truth. Then I’ll decide what to do with you.”
Arguing was pointless; he was too angry to listen to me. I nodded and went upstairs.
Trick didn’t simply take me to school; he parked and escorted me to the admissions office, where he signed me in. “I’m picking you up today. You wait for me out front.”
“But Gray doesn’t have practice until … ” I trailed off when I saw his expression. “All right.”
After Trick left, I had to wait for a pass, but the secretary was busy with another kid who had to call home. She let him use a phone sitting on small table beside her desk, and when he couldn’t reach his mother she gave him a telephone directory to look up the number for her office.
After the student left the secretary made out my pass and handed it to me. “Here you are, Katie. Thank you for waiting.”
“No problem.” I didn’t bother to correct her on my name. “Ma’am, I forgot some homework, and I have to turn it in today. Could I call my brother real quick?”
She nodded and turned back to her computer, and I went over to the table and opened the telephone directory, flipping through the white pages to the letter R. I didn’t know Jesse’s parents’ first names, but there couldn’t be that many Ravens in Lost Lake.
As it happened I found no listing for anyone named Raven, but there was a number for Raven Island Property Management. Quickly I dialed it and waited for someone to pick up.
“Property management,” a woman answered.
“Hi,” I said in a low voice. “Is … is Jesse Raven there?”
Her voice sharpened at once. “Who is this, please?”
“My name is Catlyn. I’m the one, I mean, I brought Jesse home this morning.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the secretary was frowning at me. “Please, can I speak to him?”
“I’m sorry, miss,” she said, her tone a little softer now, “but the family doesn’t accept outside calls.”
I bit my lower lip. “Can you at least tell me if he’s all right?”
“Don’t call this number again, or I’ll have to report you to the police.” She hung up on me.
I put down the receiver, grabbed my backpack and left the admissions office. Jesse’s family probably had a private number; like most rich people they’d only give it out to people they trusted. I couldn’t even call back to try to persuade the lady in property management to give Jesse a message from me; she’d call Sheriff Yamah. Who would be delighted to arrest me for making crank phone calls.
I trudged through my classes, and
since I’d forgotten to make my lunch I almost didn’t go to the cafeteria. Then I remembered that Ego’s foster parents worked for the Ravens, and went to find him.
“You can’t call them,” he told me after I asked if he knew the family’s private number. “The only telephone on the island is in my dad’s office.”
“Is his office Raven Island Property Management?” I asked, and he nodded. “Does your mom or dad take messages for the family?”
He thought for a minute. “I don’t think so. My parents usually just talk to vendors to place orders and schedule drop-offs.” He eyed the soda I’d bought for myself. “What are you, dieting?”
“I forgot to pack something this morning. No, that’s okay,” I said when he offered me the bag with his free lunch. “I’m not hungry.”
His expression turned shrewd. “Tell you what. You explain why you’re so interested in the Ravens, and I’ll give you half my PB&J.”
I saw Barb standing in the lunch line. If she heard me talking about this morning, she’d gossip to everyone. “I need to find out how Jesse Raven is. He was hurt this morning.”
“You heard about that?” Ego looked impressed. “My foster mother got a call about it right before I left for school. So who told you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. “Did she tell you what happened to Jesse? Is he all right?”
“Are you kidding? Marcia lectured me about it,” Ego said drily, and then raised his voice to imitate a nagging woman’s tone. “‘Diego, I hope you’re never as inconsiderate or ungrateful as the Ravens’ boy. After sneaking off and staying out all night, he comes home in such bad shape they had to medicate him. This is what happens when you give kids too much. They get spoiled.’” Ego grinned and shifted back into a normal tone. “Anyway, Marcia said Jesse’s going to be fine, although he’s not going anywhere for a while.”
“What do you mean, he’s not going anywhere?”
“His parents didn’t know he’d left the island or was out after curfew, so now he’s in hot water with them. You know what that means among the obscenely wealthy?” He handed me half his sandwich. “No yachting privileges, no caviar snacks before bed, no private screenings of unreleased blockbusters in the family’s private theater.”
