Later that evening, following another ride from a kindhearted, elderly couple, Zandria stood on the bank of the Mississippi River looking out over Mud Island. Dropping onto the green grass, she kept her backpack on and watched the water flow down the river. Every so often she could just catch the sounds of children shouting as they made their way down the water walk on the island. She smiled. Years ago, just after they had moved to Leeco from their old pack, Grandpa Adam had taken his three grandchildren to Memphis for the day. He had shown them the pyramid, zoo and ended the day with a walk down the miniature model of the Mississippi. She remembered clearly as Grandpa read to them the little plaques with bits of information as they made their way along the paths and sometimes in the water itself. As the youngest, he had held tight to her hand until exhaustion had made her stumble and skin her knee. Grandpa picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. It had been a good day and she smiled in memory of it. Maybe it was stupid of her to take such a long detour on her way to New Orleans, but this place was special to her – it represented a time when life was most normal. These days, a reminder of normal really appealed to her.
She was so lost in her memories, she didn't hear the two men as they approached her. “Well, what have we here?”
She jumped up and whirled around, spying the two only a few feet away. Each of them were at least six feet tall and wore grubby clothes, ratty jackets and well worn sneakers. The one on the left had dull gray eyes, a bad case of acne and his front two teeth missing. The other's nose looked as if it had been broken but never reset with hazel eyes and lips that were too big for his thin face. Both wore their hair in dreadlocks, matted and dirty and smelling horrible. Warning bells went off in her head and she tucked her chin into her chest and started walking out of the little park towards the road. Toothless stepped in front of her. “Hey, baby, why you leaving so fast?"
She stopped and swallowed, grimacing as the breeze brought the smell of rancid food and days old body odor to her nose. Opening her mouth so she wouldn't have to smell it, she got a mouthful of their funky musk and barely managed to keep her stomach from roiling. She took a step back, right into Broken Nose's body.
“You heard him, baby, why you leaving so fast?” She felt his hand on her arm and she yanked it away, taking a step to the left. Adjusting the pack again, she tried to move to the right, but Toothless intercepted her again. Wrapping his hand around her arm, he squeezed. “Rude, ain't cha? We're just wanting to be friendly.”
She froze as they sandwiched her between them. Blinking several times, she tried to keep herself under control and not let them know how scared she was, how badly her hands were shaking. “Excuse me please,” she mumbled then tried once again to step out from between them.
“What's your name?” Broken Nose asked from behind her. He had pressed himself up against her again and began pulling at her backpack. “Let's get this off your back so we can talk more comfortably.”
Instinctively, she locked her hands around the straps and shook her head. “I need to go.” She heard a group of people enter the park, laughing and joking together. Quickly, she leaned towards the river then slipped out to the left, toward the road, when they moved. Hurrying away from them, she moved behind the new group and climbed the hill back to the road without looking back, her heart thudding in her chest.
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Cayson slipped out of the passenger side of Chase's truck and shut the door. It had taken a while to find Henry's house in Charleston; Chase's GPS wouldn't work properly, but after getting directions from two different stores, they had found it. It was a nice home, snuggled between two small tree covered hills; it looked natural, and he approved wholeheartedly. Had his wolf not been so distressed over their mate, he knew he would be fighting the brute to keep from running in the woods. Instead, he lay curled in a ball inside, whining for Zandria. “We'll get her back soon”, he whispered and received no response. Stretching, he got Chases's attention. “Looks like the right place,” he said then pointed to the large rv parked at the side of the ranch style house, the license plate matching the one Carson had seen in her dream. Together they walked to the front porch and knocked on the door.
A few moments went by and then the wooden door opened, revealing an older human woman wiping her hands on a worn apron. “Evening. Can I help you?” She looked at the two through the locked screen door.
“We're looking for Henry Lawrence,” Chase gave her a warm, friendly smile. “Would he happen to be home?”
She wrinkled her brow. “He's in the back,” her gaze took in the two of them, “I'll get him.” She closed the door and they heard voices talking in the house. After a moment, it opened again.
“Howdy, what can I do for you?” Henry stepped out on the porch and stuck his hand out. Chase shook it and then Cayson. He motioned towards a couple of chairs on the porch. “Have a seat,” then he sank into a rocker.
Cayson folded up his large body into the chair and winced when it groaned in protest, then relaxed when the wood proved sturdier than it sounded. Looking out from the porch, he gestured towards the woods. “You have a really nice place here.”
Henry nodded. “Thanks,” he studied them a moment. “Now I know you didn't come way up here to admire my view. What is it you two fellers want?”
Chase chuckled. “Right to the point, Sir. My name is Dr. Chase Blackston and this big guy here is my brother-in-law, Cayson Hennison. We're looking for someone and think maybe you can help us, Mr. Lawrence.”
“Call me Hank.” He sat back in the chair. “You can come out Carol. I don't think they mean us any harm.”
Carol walked out the door. “Can I get you gentlemen something to drink?”
“No ma'am, thank you for your kindness,” Chase answered. Carol took a seat in the rocker next to her husband, folding her hands in her lap.
“We're looking for my fiancé, “ Cayson jumped right in. “Her name is Zandria and I think you gave her a ride in your rv a few days ago?”
Hank looked at his wife. “Zandria? That name doesn't seem familiar to me.”
“She may have been using another name. She's about five foot four, long blond hair, pale blue eyes and wearing dark rimmed glasses. Hold on, I have a photograph.” Chase pulled out his cell phone and realized it was almost dead. He had gotten out of the habit of caring for a cell phone since it didn't work on pack lands "Gotta remember to charge this thing," he mumbled.. Flipping through the photographs of Carson, he stopped at the one of Zandria taken the evening she got her glasses and showed it to them. “Sweet, lovely girl with a beautiful voice. She went missing about a week ago.”
Immediately Hank and Carol exchanged glances then nodded. “You mean Valarie. Now, don't get us wrong, but she seemed to not want to be found, if you get my meaning. Why are you looking for her?” asked Carol. “How do we know you aren't the ones she's trying to get lost from?”
Cayson sighed heavily. He looked at the picture on Chase's cell and handed it back to him. Damn, but he missed her horribly.
“Like Cay said, she's his fiancé. See, she had a fellow looking for her, because he thought she did something really bad last year. He found her in our town last week. Before we had a chance to talk to her about it, she found out he was there and ran off. Left a note saying she was protecting us from him.” Chase unfolded the note and handed it over to Hank who read it and handed it back.
“Well there's that. Seems to me that would be exactly how Val.. I mean Zandria would act. She seemed such a kind, sweet soul. Wrapped my Carol right around her finger.” He chuckled as his wife flushed.
Cayson relaxed. At least they were willing to talk about her. “Did she say anything about where she was going?”
Carol nodded. “She told us she had an uncle in Atlanta that she was going to see. Said she tried to call him to come get her but there wasn't an answer. It was a lie, of course, but she seemed harmless enough and what she was doing was her business. She could
n't remember the name of her uncle from one moment to the next. We took her as far as the truck stop at the turn to Gatlinburg. Spent the weekend with our boy's family at the campground there. The mountains there are different from the ones here in West Virginia, and we just love going there for short trips.”
“Atlanta,” Cayson let out a breath. “At least we know where she's heading.” His booted foot started tapping on the worn wood floor. Throwing his hand down on his knee, he quelled it. “Sorry, ma'am. I miss her so badly and I'm worried to death about her. That girl is my heart.”
Hank patted his wife's knee. “I understand that, son. Carol here is my whole world. Makes a mean fried chicken dinner which is almost done. I don't suppose we can talk you into staying for chow?”
“Thank you again, but we better be going. Atlanta is a long way from here and I'd like to get Zandria found so I can get back home to my ma... wife. She's expecting our first child.” Chase stood up and Cayson followed suit. Sticking out his hand, he shook it again. “Thank you for all your help.”
Hank fished a card out of his shirt pocket. “That's got my phone numbers on it. The cell doesn't work so well around here because of the hills, but the home line does. We'd appreciate it if you let us know when you find her. In the meantime, we'll be sending up prayers for her and you two, as well as for your expected baby.”
“Thank you again, Hank... Carol. We'll let you know when we find her.” Cayson stepped off the porch, Chase close behind. Carol and Hank watched them climb up into the big black pickup and pull out of the driveway.
“I hope they find her,” Hank murmured as he put his arm around Carol's shoulders.
“So do I. Poor child, out in this world alone with a loony looking for her. God be with her.” Carol hugged her husband then went back in the house to finish dinner. Hank watched the truck until they disappeared out of their driveway. Just as he was turning to go inside, he saw a silver sedan start up across the road and follow them. “Strange,” he mumbled then went inside to wash up for dinner.
TEN
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“O M G! I cannot believe my father made us take you with us. Come on, stupid, move it!”
Laura reached and grabbed her arm, pulling her forward. The sidewalk was uneven and Zandria's foot caught on a piece of buckled cement, causing her to stumble and fall face first. She hissed softly and sat up seeing a hole in the knee of her jeans. Great. Not only was she eternally fat and hopelessly clumsy, now her mother would give her a hard time for ripping her best pants.
“Seriously? You stupid cow! Everyone is looking at you.” Laura snarled. “Get up!” Beside her Shelby fidgeted and Diana found something interesting in the sky to study. Diana seemed smug but Shelby had flushed a bright red. "Laura," she whispered but shut her mouth at the malignant glare from both her friends.
“I'm sorry, Laura.” Zandria got to her feet and dusted the gravel off her abraded stinging hands. "The concrete is uneven. I didn't see the piece poking up."
“Hey! Are you alright?”
Zandria looked up and could barely make out the face of a guy standing in front of her. “I'm fine,” she whispered then lowered her face, hiding the red blush behind a curtain of long blonde hair.
“You heard her, she's fine, Bryant. She falls all the time, no biggie.“ Laura waved her hand dismissively then placed it on his arm. "You remember Diana and Shelby?" She gave him a bright grin and licked her glossy lips before leaning against him. “So, are you going to the ball game? I'll be cheering. It's the first game of our senior year!”
Zandrai chewed her lip, keeping her eyes down on the concrete and waited while Laura fawned over the human boy. Though most of the pups attended classes at the pack school, Laura attended the public one in town so that she could partake in extracurricular activities not offered in their tiny group. That suited Zandria fine. It also meant one less person to bully her during the day.
He took a step back from her, pulling his arm from hers and turned towards Zandria. She saw his feet stop next to hers and timidly raised her head. “You sure you're ok? That was a pretty bad fall," he asked gently. One hand reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm Bryant. What's your name?"
“I'm fine,” she insisted then quickly dropped her head again when Laura marched over. "Zandria," she whispered then took a step back away from the advancing girl.
“Pay no attention to her, Bryant. She's just some girl that lives near me that my father made me take with me today. She's like retarded or something.” Her voice raised a bit taking on a whiny tone. “I was actually going to call you later because I wanted to see if you would come out to the after game party Friday.”
He took a step away. “You know that term is really offensive, Laura, and it bothers me that you think it's alright to use it. My baby brother is autistic and has a lot of people calls him names like 'retarded'. You know, just because someone is different doesn't mean they are stupid.” He took a step towards Zandria and laid a hand on her shoulder. She flinched. “I'm sorry that some people are so insensitive. She looked up and saw his smiling face. "So what about you, Zandria? Are you coming to the game and party on friday? Maybe see you there?"
She opened her mouth to reply when Laura grabbed her hand and jerked her forward. “We have to go, sorry Bryant," she ground out then practically ran from him throwing out a “see you on Monday” over her shoulder as they disappeared down the sidewalk, Diana and Shelby running to keep up.
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The bus pulled into the station and stopped. Zandria shook the cobwebs free in her mind and stretched as the driver made his announcement. Rubbing her palms on her knees, she could almost still feel the sting from her dream. Glancing outside, she heard the driver say, “Vicksburg. We're a little ahead of schedule so there's fifteen minutes before departure. Next stop, Port Gibson. Reminder, if you get off the bus and fail to return within the next fifteen minutes, you will be left behind, and no refunds.” Shivering, she pulled her hoodie up over her head. The bus was cold after spending so much time outside in the hot southern sun. Knowing her luck, she would probably get a cold.
She had been surprised to find two one hundred dollar bills stuffed in one of the pockets of her backpack while washing her clothes at the Laundromat yesterday. For the life of her, she couldn't imagine where it had come from or how long it had been there, but finding it was like winning the lottery. Carefully stowing it away again, she had finished her laundry, folded it and replaced it into the worn backpack as an idea took root in her mind. Walking out of the stuffy building, she had made her way down the block to the bus station and promptly used a bit of her new found fortune on a ticket to New Orleans. Sure, she could get there cheaper on foot and by hitch hiking, but this would be faster, easier and safer, not to mention it'll be nice to just relax for once.
Looking out the window now, she saw that the bus station looked pretty much like all the others. A squat, nondescript building on the outside and from what she could see through the window to the inside, plastic chairs and artificial plants were scattered about the waiting room. Back on the far wall sat several vending machines. Her stomach had been rumbling for the past thirty minutes, so she grabbed her pack from under her seat and fished out a couple of dollars from the front pocket. Hesitating for just a moment, she threw it on her shoulder and made her way down the aisle. As she exited the bus, she ran into the driver, bouncing off his rather large stomach. “Getting a soda,” she mumbled then hurried into the terminal. He called out, “Leaving in twelve minutes.”
The dollar was old and crumpled, but hopefully it wouldn't give the machine too much trouble. Zandria flattened it out best she could then ran it over the edge of the machine. Carefully she fed the dollar into the slot only to have it spit out again. Yanking it out and with another pass over the edge again, the second time it stayed in and she pushed the button for her favorite bag of chips. It fell to the exit as c
hange spat out onto the floor. Cursing softly to herself, she dropped to her knees and went to work fishing the quarter out from where it had rolled.
“She's not on the bus. Are you sure this is the right one?”
Zandria froze just as her fingers touched the runaway coin. She knew that voice – it was one that she had hoped to not hear again; Bobby Stanton, beta of Leeco pack had entered the room. Carefully, she pulled the coin to herself, stood up and slipped into the door next to the soda machine. She was in some sort of supply closet, but it was too dark to see much past the first foot. The door was made of slats which spilled a marginally small amount of light as well as letting her hear them clearly. Holding her breath she listened.
“I saw her getting on this bus in Memphis. She wasn't at the other stops so she has to be here somewhere. You check the bathrooms and I'll look around here.”
Zandria shivered and held her breath as the two approached the wall containing the vending machines. Quietly she grabbed the doorknob and braced herself. Sure enough, the light through the door slats was blotted out as Bobby grabbed the knob and twisted it. Thankfully, he only halfheartedly attempted to open it, and when it didn't budge assumed it was locked. She didn't let the breath she was holding out until he moved away. She waited there in the dark, her heart thumping a million miles a minute, praying to Luna that they wouldn't hear it or the short panicked gasps that were being forced from her lungs. The two met up again after their search was concluded.
Broken Melody (Luna's Children) Page 9
