Wings w-1

by Aprilynne Pike

  Laurel stood against the wall and let her mother rail. For weeks she had been a rock — but no one could take all this stress without breaking once in a while.

  “I’m sorry,” Laurel whispered. “I shouldn’t have yelled.”

  With a deep breath, Laurel’s mom stopped pacing and looked at her. Her face slowly relaxed till it crumpled into a mess of tears. She backed against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor as tears streamed down her cheeks. Laurel took a deep breath and crossed the small space to sit beside her mother. She slipped an arm around her mom’s waist and leaned her head on her shoulder. It felt strange to be comforting her mom.

  “Did I hurt your arm?” her mom asked softly after the torrent of tears subsided.

  “No,” Laurel lied.

  She sighed a deep, heavy sigh. “I really did consider not selling, Laurel. But I don’t have a choice anymore. Because of these hospital bills, we’re drowning in debt.”

  “Don’t we have insurance?”

  Her mom shook her head. “Not much. We never thought we’d need it. But with all the tests and medical care there’s just — there’s too much to pay for.”

  “Isn’t there another way?”

  “I wish there was. I’ve been racking my brain, but there’s nowhere else to get money. It’s the land or the store. And to be honest, the land’s worth a lot more. We’ve stretched our credit to the limit just to keep your dad here as long as we have. No one will loan us any more.”

  She turned to Laurel. “I have to be sensible. The truth is—” She paused as tears filled her eyes again. “Your father may not wake up. Ever. I have to look to the future. The store is our only source of income. And even if he does wake up, there’s no way to recover from a financial blow like this without selling something. Knowing how much your father loves his store, what would you have me do?”

  Laurel wanted to look away from her mother’s sad brown eyes, but she couldn’t. She pushed Tamani from her mind and tried to think rationally. She set her jaw and nodded slowly. “You have to sell the land.”

  Her mom’s face was haggard and her eyes looked gaunt. She lifted a hand to touch Laurel’s cheek. “Thank you for understanding. I wish I had another choice, but I don’t. Mr. Barnes will be back in the morning with some more paperwork to finalize the sale. He’ll push it through escrow as quickly as possible, and with luck the money will be in our account within a week.”

  “A week?” It was all so fast.

  Her mom nodded.

  Laurel hesitated. “You acted funny while he was here. You were all happy and agreed with everything he said.”

  She shrugged. “I suppose I put on my business face. I just don’t want anything to happen to mess up this sale. Mr. Barnes has offered enough to cover all the medical bills, and we’d have some left over too.” She sighed. “I don’t know what he knows, but I want to sell while the price is high.”

  “But you signed everything he put in front of you,” Laurel continued. “You didn’t even read it.”

  Her mom nodded forlornly. “I know. But there’s just no time. I want to take advantage of this offer while it’s on the table. If I hesitate again, he may decide we’re too wishy-washy and yank the offer completely.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Laurel said. “But—”

  “No more, please, Laurel. I cannot argue with you right now.” She took Laurel’s hand. “You have to trust that I am doing the best I can. Okay?”

  Laurel nodded reluctantly.

  Her mom rose from the floor and wiped the last trace of tears from her face. She pulled Laurel to her feet and hugged her. “We’ll get through this,” she promised. “No matter what happens, we’ll find a way.”

  As they entered her dad’s room again, Laurel’s eyes went to the chair where Barnes had been sitting. It was unlike her to dislike someone so much without knowing him. But even the thought of sitting in the chair where Barnes had sat made her skin crawl. She walked over to the table and picked up his business card.

  JEREMIAH BARNES, REALTOR.

  Underneath was a local address.

  It looked legitimate enough, but Laurel wasn’t satisfied. She slipped the card into her back pocket and walked over to stand next to David. “Hungry, David?” Laurel said, eyeing him meaningfully.

  He missed it entirely. “Not really.”

  She stepped closer and grabbed a fistful of the back of his shirt. “Mom, I’m going to take David and buy him some dinner. We’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

  Her mom looked up, a little startled. “It’s after nine.”

  “David’s hungry,” she said.

  “Starving,” David agreed, smiling.

  “And he did drive me down here on a school night,” Laurel added.

  Laurel’s mom looked at them doubtfully for a few seconds, then turned her attention back to her sleeping husband. “Don’t try the cafeteria food,” she warned.

  “Why are we doing this again?” David asked after they’d driven around for almost an hour looking for the right part of town.

  “David, there’s something wrong with that guy. I can feel it.”

  “Yeah, but sneaking to his office and peeking in the windows? That’s a little much.”

  “Well, what do you expect me to do? Call up and ask him if he’d like to tell me why he creeped me out so badly? That’ll work,” Laurel muttered.

  “So what are you going to tell the cops when they arrest us?” David asked sarcastically.

  “Oh, come on,” Laurel said. “It’s dark. We’re just going to circle the office, peek into a few windows, and make sure everything looks legit.” She paused. “And if they happen to have left a window open, well, that’s not my fault.”

  “You are so nuts.”

  “Maybe, but you’re here with me.”

  David rolled his eyes.

  “This is Sea Cliff,” Laurel said suddenly. “Turn your lights off.”

  David sighed but pulled over and killed the lights. In stealth mode, they crept to the end of the cul-de-sac and stopped in front of a dilapidated house that looked like it had been built in the early 1900s.

  “That’s it,” Laurel whispered, squinting at the business card and the numbers on the curb.

  David peered up at the imposing structure. “This doesn’t look like any real-estate office I’ve ever seen. It looks abandoned.”

  “Less chance we’ll get caught, then. Come on.”

  David pulled his jacket tighter as they crept around the side of the house and started peeking in the windows. It was dark and the moon was new, but Laurel still felt exposed in her light blue T-shirt. She wished she hadn’t left her black jacket in the car. But if she went back now, she might not have the nerve to return.

  The house was an enormous, sprawling structure with slightly newer additions sprouting off from the main building like random appendages. Laurel and David peered into the windows and saw a few bulky, shadowy shapes in the dark rooms—“Old furniture,” David assured her — but the house was mostly empty. “There’s no way he’s actually doing business here,” David said. “Why would he put this address on the business card?”

  “Because he’s hiding something,” Laurel whispered back. “I knew it.”

  “Laurel, don’t you think we’re in a little over our heads here? We should go back to the hospital and call the police.”

  “And tell them what? That a realtor has a fake address on his business card? That’s no crime.”

  “Let’s tell your mom, then.”

  Laurel shook her head. “She’s desperate to sell. And you saw her with this Barnes guy. It was like he had her in a trance. She just smiled and agreed with everything he said. I’ve never seen her do that before. And that stuff she signed, who knows what it was!” Laurel peered around the corner of a particularly crooked addition and waved at David. “I see a light.”

  David hurried to crouch beside her. Sure enough, near the back of the house, light shone through a small window. L
aurel shivered.

  “Cold?”

  She shook her head. “Nervous.”

  “Have you changed your mind?”

  “No way.” She crawled forward, trying to avoid the large branches and trash strewn across the yard. The window was short enough to peek into while kneeling on the ground, and Laurel and David positioned themselves on either side of it. Blinds covered the glass, but they were warped and easy to see through. They heard voices and movement from inside, but with the window closed, they couldn’t make out any words. Laurel took several calming breaths, then turned her head to look into the window.

  She saw Jeremiah Barnes almost immediately, with his imposing figure and strange face. He was sitting at a table working on papers she could only assume he would be bringing for her mother to sign in the morning. There were two other men standing together, throwing darts at the wall. If Barnes was unattractive, these two were downright grotesque. Their skin hung on their faces as though not properly attached and their mouths were twisted into severe grins. One of the men’s faces was a mess of scars and discoloration and, even from across the room, she could tell one eye was nearly white and the other almost black. The other had bright red hair that grew in a strange patchy pattern that even his hat couldn’t completely hide.

  “Laurel.” David was waving her over to his side of the window. She ducked under the sill and peered in from the other angle. “What the hell is that?”

  Chained at the far side of the room was something that looked half human, half animal. Its face was twisted lumps of flesh patched together almost at random. Large, crooked teeth poked out between its lips from a distended jaw topped by a bulbous monstrosity that might have been a nose. It was vaguely humanoid, and Laurel could see scraps of clothing wrapped around its shoulders and abdomen. But a collar lined its corded neck, giving it the appearance of a bizarre house pet. The hulking form slouched on a dirty mat, apparently sleeping.

  Laurel’s fingernails dug into the windowsill as she stared at the thing. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and somehow she couldn’t look away. Just when she thought she might be able to gather the nerve to turn her head, one blue eye cracked open and met hers.

  NINETEEN

  LAUREL THREW HERSELF AWAY FROM THE WINDOW. “IT looked at me.”

  “Do you think it saw you?”

  “I don’t know. But we have to go. Now!” She heard guttural noises from inside and her knees felt glued to the ground.

  The two men yelled at the creature to shut up, but Barnes silenced them with a loud word Laurel didn’t recognize. A gentle crooning followed, and within seconds the howling of the strange creature had quieted.

  Laurel leaned back toward the window but felt a small tug at the back of her shirt. She turned.

  David shook his head at her and pointed to the car.

  Laurel paused, but she wasn’t quite satisfied. She held up one finger to David and snuck one more peek through the side of the window.

  Her eyes met the mismatched gaze of Jeremiah Barnes.

  “Go!” she hissed to David, and launched herself toward the front of the house. But before she got more than a step away, she heard the glass shatter and felt a large hand grab her by the neck, yanking her through the window into the filthy room. Rough fingers scraped at her throat as she felt the wooden window frame break against her back.

  Then she was flying. She screamed for just an instant before she hit the wall on the opposite side of the room. Her head spun. Distantly she heard a grunt from David as he hit the wall beside her. Laurel tried to focus as the room around her seemed to spin. David reached out and pulled her to him, and she felt a trail of hot blood drip onto her shoulder.

  The room finally stopped spinning, and she looked up into Barnes’s jeering face. “What have we here?” He smiled cruelly. “Sarah’s little girl. I’ve heard more about you today than I ever wanted to know.”

  Laurel opened her mouth to retort, but David squeezed her arm. Laurel felt a thick, syrupy liquid trail down from the stinging wound on her back and wondered how much damage the window frame had done.

  “Good girl, Bess,” Barnes said, patting the strange animal on her half-balding head. Then he dropped to a crouch beside Laurel and David. “Why are you here?” he asked in a soft yet commanding voice. Laurel felt her mouth begin to open of its own accord. “We…we had to find out why you…why you—” Then she managed to grab hold of her wits, forced her mouth shut, and glared at Barnes.

  “We could tell something wasn’t right,” David said. “We came to see if we could find anything.”

  Laurel turned with wide eyes and looked at David. He was staring straight ahead with a slightly dazed look on his face that was eerily similar to the look Laurel had seen on her mom just an hour earlier. “David!” she hissed.

  “And what were you planning to do if you found anything?” Barnes asked in that same strangely compelling voice.

  “Get proof. Take it to the cops.”

  “David!” Laurel yelled, but he didn’t seem to hear her.

  “Why are you so worried?” Barnes asked.

  Again David opened his mouth, but there were too many secrets that could come spilling out. Laurel closed her eyes, apologized mentally, and slapped David across the face as hard as she could.

  “Shit! Ow! Laurel!” David cupped his cheek in his hand, stretching out his jawbone.

  A sigh of relief escaped Laurel’s lips and she squeezed David’s hand. He just looked confused.

  “I’ve heard enough,” Barnes said, standing up.

  The red-haired man smiled — a sinister caricature of a real smile that made Laurel cringe and shrink back against David’s chest. “Let’s break their legs. I could use the exercise.”

  Laurel felt David stiffen, and his breathing turned short and erratic.

  Barnes shook his head. “Not here; this address is on my card. I’ve got enough blood to clean up as it is.” He crouched down again and looked back and forth between them for a long minute. “You two like to swim?”

  Laurel narrowed her eyes and glared at the man, but David held her back.

  “I think you’d find a little dip in the Chetco quite…refreshing tonight.” Barnes stood and grabbed David’s shoulders, yanking him to his feet. “Search him.” The other two men grinned and began emptying out David’s pockets — wallet, keys, and a tin of Altoids. Barnes picked up the keys and tossed them to Scarface and slid the mints and wallet back into David’s pants. “So the cops can ID you when your bodies are found in the spring,” he said with a chuckle.

  Without David to hold her back, Laurel launched herself at Barnes, her nails seeking his face, his eyes, anything. Barnes tossed David to his partners and grabbed Laurel’s arms, twisting them behind her till she whimpered in pain. He set his mouth close to her ear and stroked her face. She couldn’t even flinch away. “You just hold still now,” he whispered soothingly. “Because if you don’t,” he continued in the same dulcet tone, “I’ll tear your arms off.”

  David was struggling with his captors, yelling and trying to get to Laurel, but he couldn’t fight any better than she could. “Quiet!” Barnes roared in a voice that filled the room and echoed off the walls. David’s mouth clamped shut.

  “Take the car,” Barnes said. “Drive up past Azalea and toss them in the river. And don’t forget to weigh them down,” he added cynically. “Make sure there’s no way this one,” he gestured toward Laurel, “shows up before the papers are signed tomorrow.” He laughed. “Spring is ideal, but as long as it’s not tomorrow, I don’t really care when they find them. And leave the car up there. Not in the parking lot — beside some trail. I don’t need some missing kid’s car hanging out in front of my office.” He glared sidelong at them. “Walk back. It’ll do you two good.”

  “You’re not going to get away with this,” Laurel muttered between clenched teeth.

  But Barnes only laughed. He released her arm and looked at the red splayed across his hand — David’s blood. �
�What a waste,” he said, wiping the blood from his hands with a white handkerchief. “Take them away.”

  The two men trussed Laurel and David together and tossed them into the backseat of David’s Civic. “You can scream all you want now,” Red said with a grin. “No one’ll hear you.”

  As they drove, streetlights flickered over the car, just enough light that Laurel could make out David’s face. His jaw was flexed and he looked as scared as she was, but he didn’t bother to scream either.

  “Feels good to be out doing this again, doesn’t it?” Scarface said, speaking aloud for the first time. Unlike his companion, Scarface’s voice was deep and smooth — the kind of voice you’d expect to hear from the hero in an old black-and-white movie, not from this rough, disfigured face.

  “Yeah,” said Red with a laugh — a wheezing rheumy laugh that made Laurel’s stomach turn. “I’ve been so sick of sitting around that old dump waiting for something exciting to happen.”

  “We’re some of the best in the whole horde. But Barnes treats us like we’re nothing. Sends us off to take care of kids. Kids!”

  “Yeah.” A few seconds passed in silence. “We should rip ’em to pieces instead of tossing them in the river. That’d make you feel better.”

  A soft chuckle from that perfect, movie-star voice filled every inch of the car despite its low volume. A chill shivered up Laurel’s spine. “I’d like that.” He turned to peer back at Laurel and David with a frighteningly calm smile. Then he sighed and turned his eyes back to the road. “But they can’t be found for a few days. Pieces are hard to hide — even in a river.” He paused. “We better just follow orders.”

  “Laurel?”

  David’s whisper distracted her for one blessed instant. “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Barnes.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Yeah, but I should have trusted you. I wish…” His voice trailed off for a few seconds. “I wish that we could have—”

  “Don’t you dare start saying your good-byes, David Lawson,” Laurel hissed as quietly as she could. “This is not over yet.”