Scarlet Rain (The Escaped #2)

by Kristin Cast

  “No, not this exact video, but a picture of something really similar.” Eva scooted off the end of the bed and paced in front of Bridget’s dresser. “Where the hell did I see it?”

  “The Internet?” Bridget offered.

  “No, it was in a book, but I can’t remember which one.” Eva dug her toes into the carpet and stared down at the fluffy fibers surrounding her feet.

  “Some book that must’ve been. With pictures like that, I would have had nightmares for weeks,” Bridget mumbled.

  “That’s it!” Eva said with a clap. “Books that gave me nightmares. Come on, Bridge. We need that book, which means we need to break into my house.” Flooded with enthusiasm, Eva rushed to Bridget’s closet in search of appropriate burglar attire.

  Fifteen

  “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Bridget said, waving her hands in front of her face. “Did your trip to the Underworld scramble your brain? Because there’s absolutely no way you can break into your house.”

  “Of course there is. It is my house, after all.” Eva disappeared into the vast walk-in closet.

  “Yeah, but you’re a wanted fugitive. Remember what happened last time we tried to ignore what was going on in the world and go out?” Bridget leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest. “I got arrested. Arrested, Eva. There were bruises around my wrists, the building smelled like depression and Kraft singles, and, worst of all, I had to pay for all of the damage to that rental car I smashed into the police cruiser. Me! Can you even believe it? That crappy SUV sucked up my fun-things-Bridget-likes-to-go-do money for the next month.”

  Eva pulled a black T-shirt over her head before answering. “You should have gotten the extra rental insurance.”

  “Jesus Christ. Now you sound like my mother,” Bridget mumbled. “Why are you changing into that boring black top? My closet has so much more to offer.”

  “Yeah, but nothing particularly practical.” She grabbed an electric blue, fringed skirt from its hanger and offered it as evidence. “I’d be spotted immediately wearing anything else, and what if I have to make another run for it?” Eva dug through one of the cedar-lined drawers and pulled out a pair of black yoga pants.

  “You’d think with how much they charged me for this condo, they’d have figured out how to infuse the drawers with vanilla or something. I don’t know how stealthy you’re going to be when you smell like a hamster cage,” Bridget commented.

  “You mean, how stealthy we’re going to be.” Eva threw a pair of black pants and matching black top at Bridget and followed her back into the bedroom. “Put those on. It’s almost dark, so we need to get going.”

  “Fine,” Bridget moaned, and slid her pastel pink shorts halfway off before flopping onto the bed. The TV clicked on and the screen flared to life. “Oh, there’s the remote,” she said, fishing it out from between the tangled bed sheets.

  “As you can see, we’re a few blocks away from St. John’s Hospital.” The newscaster pointed behind her as she began her live coverage.

  “The news again,” Bridget whined. “This shit is always on.”

  Eva slowly stepped into a pair of black sweats as she listened to the unfolding news story.

  “Police barricades have been set out in a mile radius around the location. It still remains unclear what exactly is happening tonight at one of Tulsa’s busiest midtown hospitals, but I have been informed that lives have been lost in the events transpiring in the building behind me. I’ll keep you up-to-date with more information as soon as it is available.”

  “Are you finished watching this, or do you want me to leave it on in the hope they’ll flash a picture of you on-screen along with the Tulsa’s Most Wanted headline?” Bridget quipped.

  “Yeah, turn it off. We need to leave anyway.”

  “But it is nice to see there’s something else going on in this town that doesn’t involve you.”

  “It is refreshing, isn’t it?” Eva smiled and stuffed her feet into a pair of Bridget’s tennis shoes.

  “Actually, James is at that hospital right now, making sure you’re not at the scene.”

  “That’s funny and kind of nerve-racking at the same time.”

  “So, you know I love these little adventures we go on, but how do you think we’re going to get into your house unnoticed? I doubt your mom will be enjoying a night out on the town while her daughter is missing and being hunted by the law.”

  “We both know that house inside and out. We’ll develop a solid plan as soon as we assess the situation.”

  “Your college sentences may make you sound smart, but I know that’s just another way of saying that you have zero fucking idea.” Bridget held up her hand. “Look, whatever. We’ll assess and figure out something brilliant, I’m sure.” She grabbed a pair of black flats and slipped them on her pristinely manicured feet. “Wouldn’t this be easier if we stopped by B&N or the library, and picked up the book there instead of ninjaing our way into your house?”

  “I doubt any store or library is going to have the book I’m looking for. It was my grandmother’s. There’s not one like it anywhere,” Eva explained.

  “Then we should get in touch with Alek and have him poof himself into your house, grab the book, then poof himself back here. That’d save everyone some time, and you wouldn’t be risking anything. Where is he anyway?”

  “He’s still in Tartarus,” Eva said quietly. “He got hurt, really hurt, trying to find me after I ran. He would have died if his mother hadn’t pulled him back home.”

  “He’ll be okay though, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah he’ll be fine. Full recovery expected. And something good did come out of my trip. I now have these.” She masked the overwhelming guilt fluttering within her with a fake grin as she pulled the thin vial and the crystal from her bra. “Tada!” she exclaimed, holding them up for Bridget to inspect.

  “Oh, hmm.” Bridget wrinkled her nose. “The crystal’s cute, but the one with the water in it looks like something you’d get from the gift shop at the aquarium.”

  “The crystal is part of Alek’s talisman, which gives him the ability to travel between realms. Apparently, I need to have a piece of him close to me or bad stuff will happen. I don’t really understand. And this is water from the Galazoneri.” She stretched out the word, trying to enunciate it correctly. “It’s how the Furies communicate between the levels of the Underworld. Like a realm chat, I guess. It’s supposed to give me the ability to call Tartarus. Or at least that’s how Maiden explained it.” She tucked the items back under her shirt.

  “If they’re both important, and they sound like they are, you shouldn’t trust them to the abyss of your bra. That’s only for your gloss, cards, and ID when we’re out dancing or drinking.” Bridget pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and fished through its contents. “Here.” She held up a delicate gold chain. “Put them on this so they don’t accidentally bounce free of your jumbo tatas if you have to make a quick getaway.”

  Eva strung the items on the chain and slipped it over her head. “Thanks, Bridge.”

  “Always here to help. Although, you’re definitely going to have to explain who this Maiden person is and what exactly happened in Tartarus. I’m dying to know what kind of fashion is going on down there. And if it was all on fire with people moaning and begging for mercy.” Bridget smiled and clapped her hands.

  “The strangest things make you happy.”

  Bridget cocked her head to the side. “Well, if you went to Spain I’d be excited to hear about the Spanish. It’s sort of the same thing.”

  Eva shook her head. “No, no it’s not. But I’ll tell you everything on our way to my house.” She pointed to the lavishly draped window. “The sun is down. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “Thelma and Louise ride again!” Bridget hollered, punching her fist in the air.

  • • •

  “Get down! Get down!” Bridget hissed as she turned off of Fifteenth Street and into Eva’s
neighborhood.

  Eva immediately bent over and rested her head on her knees. “What is it? Did you see my mom?”

  “No, there were just a lot of cops guarding a barricade on that street, and I got really nervous all of a sudden.” Bridget wrung her hands, then placed them back on the steering wheel. “The anxiety is killing me. I need a Xanax with a champagne chaser.”

  Eva sat up in her seat and huffed. “You have to relax. You can’t be more on edge than I am. You’re supposed to be the calm one in this situation.”

  “I’m trying, but you could go to jail, and I—”

  “Hush! You’re going to jinx us.” She scanned the line of parked cars and pointed to an empty spot. “Park over there. We’ll walk the rest of the way.”

  “So,” Bridget whispered, as she piled her wavy hair on top of her head and fastened it in a messy bun. “How are we going to do this?”

  Eva slid out of the passenger seat and met her friend on the sidewalk. “You don’t have to whisper yet, Bridge. We’re like, four blocks away.” Nervously, she tugged down the bill of her hat to shield her face from the flickering light of the streetlamp.

  “I’m trying to prep myself for stealth mode.” Bridget increased the volume of her whisper. “What’s the plan?”

  “Uh, I don’t really have one yet. I figured we’d get closer and see if my mom’s home. Then,” Eva said, shrugging, “I don’t know. Go from there?”

  Bridget shook her head back and forth. Wisps of hair floated down into her face. “Shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty plan. Come on. Follow me.”

  Eva kept to the shadows and let Bridget forge a path. Unfamiliar houses surrounded her, and Eva realized she was lost in her own neighborhood.

  “I must drive on autopilot,” she murmured, really looking at the houses for the first time.

  “Almost there,” Bridget muttered.

  “Finally. I feel like we’ve been walking for at least half an hour, and we didn’t park that far away.”

  “We’ve been taking the long way around to get to your house. You’ve never gone this way? I’ve done it at least a thousand times.”

  They turned down Columbia Avenue and Eva relaxed at the familiarity of her surroundings. “Shouldn’t we be one street over? We’re going to end up behind my house.”

  “Oh my God.” Bridget let out an exasperated sigh. “Would you just trust me and stop asking so many questions? I’ve totally got this.” She stopped in front of a quaint, Craftsman-style home and inspected the outside. The white siding glowed pale blue in the moonlight. “Looks good,” she chirped, before traipsing through the grass and into the backyard.

  Eva cemented her feet to the ground. “Bridget! We can’t be back there. That is someone’s backyard.”

  “What did I say about trusting me? Plus, they don’t have a fence,” she said matter-of-factly. “And all the lights in the house are off. It’s not that late, so they’re probably not even home.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we can go back there whenever we want. It’s not our house.”

  “I love you, but sometimes you’re like an annoying little sister.” Bridget marched over to Eva, grabbed her arm, and pulled her through the yard. “Would it make you feel better if I told you I’d asked the people who live here if I could climb their fence whenever I needed to?” Bridget put a foot on the wood and hefted herself up on the first rung.

  Eva followed her lead and did the same. “You really asked them?”

  “Well, no. But how else do you think I got into your house all those times when I was drunk in high school and couldn’t go home?”

  “I guess I was under the absurd assumption that you used the front door.” Eva peered over the fence and studied the backyard. Circles of colorful light glowed from the solar-powered glass balls Lori was so fond of. Together, they’d chosen the perfect location for each orb and giddily awaited nightfall, when the backyard would be transformed into a disco-like oasis. There was a world full of memories trapped within the confines of the fence. A world in which Eva felt like she no longer belonged.

  “It doesn’t look like your mom’s here,” Bridget said, interrupting Eva’s thoughts.

  Eva blinked back tears and swallowed through the tightness building in her throat. “You’re right. I don’t see any of the usual lights on.”

  “Well, let’s get this done before she comes back.” Bridget hoisted her slender frame over the fence and stuck the landing on the other side. “What are you waiting for?” she asked, tucking a few free strands of hair behind her ears. “Just climb the last two step things and jump. It’s only cushy grass down here.” She bounced up and down a few times to demonstrate its cushiness.

  Eva did as Bridget instructed, and climbed the two wooden planks before hopping over the top of the fence. “Oof!” Air rushed out of her lungs as she smacked down onto the grass. “Not so cushy,” she croaked.

  “Good thing you heal quickly.” Bridget offered Eva her hand and pulled her to her feet.

  “Doesn’t make it hurt any less,” she groaned, wiping dirt and grass from her pants.

  “Is it weird being back? I mean, you haven’t been gone for very long, but so much has changed.”

  Sadness rippled beneath her chest as Eva studied the back of her house. “I feel like the girl who lived here doesn’t even exist anymore.”

  Bridget interlaced her fingers with Eva’s and gently squeezed her hand. “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.”

  “Are you quoting The Sound of Music?”

  “It’s the most positive thing I could think of. You know I’m not good with emotions. It would’ve been better if I’d burst into song with ‘My Favorite Things,’ but I figured someone would call animal control, thinking cats were being slaughtered.”

  Eva controlled her giggles and hopped up the steps behind her. “Dammit. I don’t have my key.”

  “No problem. Mine’s around here somewhere.” Bridget stood on her tippy toes and felt around the top of the doorframe.

  “Bridge, you don’t have a key.”

  “Voila!” she cheered, and slipped it into the lock.

  “Since when has that been there?”

  Bridget shrugged. “Since your mom asked me to house-sit back when we were, like, twelve or something.” She put the key back in its spot and slowly pushed the door open. The distinctive ding of the alarm sounded, and Bridget let the door swing open the rest of the way. “Alarm’s on. That means no one’s home.”

  Eva jogged to the keypad and entered her code. “Okay. Mom packed up all of Grandma’s books and put them in the closet in the spare room upstairs. All we have to do is find the box, then leave the way we came in.”

  “Easy peasy,” Bridget chimed.

  “Yeah, except that it’s dark, and we can’t see anything since we can’t turn on any of the lights.”

  Bridget made a few clicks on her phone and a blinding fluorescent light shot Eva in the face. “We have light now.”

  Eva held onto the railing as she walked upstairs, blinking the white bursts from her vision.

  “I’m so glad Lululemon finally opened a store here. Your butt looks amazing in those pants, by the way. It’s probably all the running you’ve been doing lately. You should really keep it up.” Bridget poked Eva’s cheeks.

  “A firm ass. At least there’s one pro to being wanted by the police.” They reached the second floor, and Eva paused before continuing down the dark hallway. “Bridge, hand me the light.” Eva took control of Bridget’s phone and headed toward the guest bedroom’s closed door.

  Bridget’s words tickled the back of Eva’s neck. “I’m so nervous. Aren’t you nervous?”

  “Yeah, but only because you’re making me nervous by spider monkeying me.” A chill sprouted in her spine, and she shook her shoulders. “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Bridge. It’s just my house. It’s not like there’s going to be some crazy axe murderer hiding under the bed.”

  “Well there probably w
ill be now that you said that,” Bridget hissed.

  Eva rolled her eyes and threw open the door. The narrow beam of light barely reached the opposite wall as she shone it around the room. A quilt-covered bed and two end tables were packed tightly against the wall across from the closet and a towering armoire. “See? Nothing bad.” Eva walked through the cramped space and opened the closet door.

  “Not nothing.” Bridget fanned the air in front of her face. “It smells like old people in here.”

  “This was my yiayiá’s room. All of her stuff is packed up in this closet. No one comes in here, and it hasn’t changed much since she passed. And, luckily for us, my mom has some kind of OCD when it comes to labeling things.”

  The white light illuminated Lori’s neat handwriting on the side of each box. “Books” was written in bold, black sharpie on two of them. “Of course they have to be on the bottom,” Eva sighed. “Come help me with these. You’re being a horrible sidekick.”

  Bridget moaned and dragged herself over to the open closet. “You know I’m not good at manual labor.”

  “Put all those hours you spend working out with your hot trainer to good use and lift up these boxes for me. They’re just full of clothes, and Yiayiá wasn’t big, so they shouldn’t be too heavy.”

  “You really think my trainer’s hot?” She squatted down and dug her fingers in between the two boxes. “I didn’t even give him that much time. I was like, meh, beige paint.”

  “Just lift when I tell you.” Eva positioned herself next to Bridget and gripped the sides of the second cardboard box. “Okay, go.” The weight lifted from the top of the box, and Eva slid it free from the stack. “Perfect. Only one more.”

  Bridget released the boxes, and they collided with the floor with a soft thud. She shuffled over and readied herself for another round. “If I break a nail because of this, I’m seriously going to be pissed.”

  “Lift,” Eva instructed, ignoring Bridget’s whines. She yanked the second box free and slid it next to the first. “You open that one, I’ll open this one,” she said, grabbing the phone and shining the light over the two boxes.