A whiff of cigarette smoke called him from his thoughts. The smell was like a magnet. He inhaled deeply, then turned to see Lani taking a drag. He nearly began to salivate. “Mind if I have one?”
“Sure.” She retrieved the pack and then removed a cigarette.
“I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” Stephanie said. “You know it’s bad for you, right?”
Yasif glared at Stephanie. “Can I have one too?”
The blonde crossed her arms and threw him a dirty look.
Lani lit Yasif’s cigarette and then one for Jake. She offered one to Sally, but Sally shook her head.
Jake inhaled, dragging in a lungful of nicotine, his eyes closing as a wave of relaxation and calm washed through him.
“Can I have one?” Idric’s mousy voice broke the silence.
“You’re too young, bud.” Yasif dragged on his cigarette.
“Seriously?” Idric crossed his arms, pouting.
“The ‘kid’ found Padilla’s body.” Lani looked up from the rearview mirror. “I think he’s earned a bit of adulthood today.” She held out the pack.
A big smile grew on Idric’s face as he pulled out a cigarette, staring at it with fascination. Yasif lit it for him, and Idric inhaled. And promptly began coughing violently. “Easy there, kid,” Yasif goaded with a grin.
“I’m…” Cough. “Not…” Cough. “A kid!”
The others laughed. It was the first light-hearted moment since the attack. Even Jake managed a chuckle.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AS THE ATLANTA SKYLINE became visible, Sally felt a growing sense of urgency. Dark clouds loomed over the buildings, their outlines punctuated by flashes of lightning. It had only been two days since her last visit, but never before had she gone to her mother’s with such trepidation—she really hoped she wouldn’t have to add her mother to the list of missing people.
She had nearly rubbed a hole through her pants drying her sweaty palms. She’d called her mother a few more times, hoping she’d just been in the shower or her phone was on silent. Getting no response at all was driving her mad.
Just as before, people walked along the lamp-lit streets wearing coats, this time adding umbrellas to the mix. The storm was already upon them, rain falling in sheets onto the busy streets.
“That’s all we need,” Idric commented.
Stephanie whined, “My hair’s gonna get all wet.”
“Can we leave her somewhere?” Yasif asked.
Sally threw them both an impatient look.
Idric was antsy. He’d been fiddling with various things the whole trip. Lani pulled the van up to the building, and Sally instructed her where to enter the parking garage. Sally showed her ID to the night guard and then they descended beneath the structure.
“You guys stay here. I’ll be right back.” Sally opened her door.
“Like hell.” Yasif pulled the sliding door open.
“Where are you going?” she asked him.
Yasif insisted, “You’re not doing this alone. Not with all this weird stuff going on. We’re all going with you.”
“That’s really not necessary, Yaz.” But as she glanced toward the entrance, a wave of fear moved through her.
“He’s right.” Lani had gotten out and now stood in front of her. “I don’t think any of us should be alone right now. At least not until we have a strategy.”
Sally conceded.
“Is this safe here?” Sally heard Jake ask Lani, his hand motioning toward the bag with the server inside.
“As safe as anywhere I suppose.” Lani locked the doors.
“Good, ‘cuz I really don’t want to carry it again right now.” He put a hand on his back. “It was killin’ me.”
Sally led them into the building, swiping her card to open the door to the elevator vestibule. As they waited for a lift, her chest became tight, her neck feeling as though it was slowly turning to stone.
The building was eerily empty as though all the residents had left. Probably all watching TV, but it didn’t help Sally’s apprehension. The walk to the apartment was surreal as if the hall itself were trying to keep her from the truth. By the time her hand touched the door handle she felt as though she were generating her own electric field.
She rang the doorbell impatiently as she fished in her bag for her keycard. A soft curse came from her as the search for the card became more frantic. She couldn’t find it and she was beginning to panic. Her mother still hadn’t answered. She rang again, this time pushing the button harder as though that would make it ring louder and force her mom to answer. Still no card, and no answer. “Mom? You there?” Sally’s voice became more urgent. “Mom? Please answer.”
Finally, her fingers found the card and she swiped it through the slot. A green light came on, and she pushed the door open and stormed inside.
She froze. Her stomach sank and her mouth went completely dry. The apartment was completely empty.
“Mom?” Sally dropped to her knees, unable to hold back the dread and tears as she searched the vacant space.
“Everything’s…gone.” Yasif stepped around her.
Idric, still by the door, flipped a switch to turn on the lights. Nothing happened.
“Sal, I don’t think she was taken.” Yasif kneeled next to her, his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up, his face swimming in her tears. “What?”
He placed a hand on her arm. “Everything’s gone. Even the furniture. If someone took her, why would all the furniture be gone?”
Her mind felt sluggish, his words making no sense. He helped her to her feet, but her knees were weak. She looked around at the empty space. The carpet had been cleaned, the wine stain that had been there since her mother first moved in was gone. Indentations in the carpet marked where the furniture had been.
Sally moved to the bedroom to find it just as empty. No bed. No dresser. Nothing.
Yasif was right, there was no way someone would have gone through all this trouble. If someone had wanted to use her mother as leverage, why take all her furniture? The only logical explanation was her mother had moved.
This left her with an emptiness deeper than anything she’d ever felt. Was something wrong? Was she sick? What possible reason could there be for her to run off and not tell her?
Sally felt tears streaming down her cheek. She wiped them away, but couldn’t stop more from forming.
“Let’s not leap to any conclusions.” Lani approached. “There’s not enough information to guess what happened to your mother. Okay?” The reporter’s straight dark hair was silhouetted by the storm outside. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed a moment later by a rumble of thunder that shook the glass.
“It’s getting bad out there,” Stephanie said.
Sally tried her best to make sense of it all, but it was too much. Her brain and emotions were overwhelmed She could feel her mind shutting down as if it could no longer handle more input. She couldn’t remember a time where she’d ever fainted before. She thought it an odd sensation to watch things fade away around her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
AT FIRST, Sally was very confused. She blinked in the afternoon sunlight. She couldn’t for the life of her remember how she’d gotten there. It was as if she’d just woken up on the park bench on which she now sat. Kids played nearby, people walked their dogs, it seemed like a normal day. She felt a strange sense of calm.
Then, she noticed a familiar face, a tall slim figure walking toward her with his hands in his pockets.
“Daniel?” Her voice sounded strange as though it hadn’t actually come from her.
Daniel smiled, his slim form neatly wrapped in an expensive-looking gray suit. “It’s okay. Everything will be all right.” His voice soothed her.
She stood and drew him into a hug. “What’s going on? Are you really here? Am I?”
“I wish I could answer your questions.” Daniel adjusted the suit as they sat together on the bench. “But that is something
I can’t do.”
“Why not? You are Daniel, right?” Sally gave him a confused look.
“A fragment, perhaps.” He was making no sense. “I can only give you that which you already know.”
“Is this a dream?”
“What are dreams but windows created by our unconscious mind?”
“Okay, you’re not helping.” Sally pushed her hair behind her ear. “Are you Daniel or aren’t you?”
“I am a connection,” he replied.
“Do you know where you…he is?” she asked. “And Billy and Shayne and Mrs. Conley?”
“Billy is on his own quest,” Daniel stated.
“Damn it, Daniel! That’s not an answer!”
“In time you’ll understand how you fit into the bigger picture,” Daniel explained. “Billy must first discover the truth of his missing sister before your paths will cross again.”
“What does that mean?”
“Everyone’s existence is a path of their choices. You cannot deviate from that path any more than you can undo the choices you make. Your path is set by the choices you have and will make. You’ve experienced things—unexplainable things—but only some of them are relevant. Others will be resolved when the time is right, but focus on the wrong ones and you’ll lose your way. You have a role to play in the upcoming battles, but you are not yet ready to face those challenges.”
Sally huffed. “Is there any chance I can get you to speak English?”
Daniel took her hand, his light mocha skin contrasted against her pale complexion. “The path before you is a difficult one, cast upon you by forces beyond your control. You have it within you to make a difference as events unfold, but you must first make a choice.”
“What choice?”
He continued. “That realization is for you alone. It will be a difficult one, of that I can assure you. Just know you have been given all you need for your quest. The rest is up to you.”
“And what about Billy and the others? How do I find them?”
“When the time is right, you’ll know what to do.” He released her hand and stood.
“Wait a minute! Where are you going?” She grabbed him and spun him around to face her.
“I am sorry.” He was suddenly gone.
And then he was back, but ten feet away, walking from her. Gone again, then reappearing farther up the path, still walking with his hands in his pockets. Then he vanished altogether.
“Well, that was so not helpful!” Sally stared after him.
Voices fell on her from above as if drifting down on soft rain. She looked up to see faces in the blue haze of a sky, each of them staring down on her as though she were lying on the floor.
And then she was.
She felt carpet beneath her, hands helping her sit up. She was once again in her mother’s empty apartment.
“Are you okay?” Jake asked.
“I think so.” Her voice sounded weak, her head ached.
“You passed out.” Idric knelt to her right, his hazel-eyed gaze darting up and down her body erratically as though not able to settle on one thing at which to look.
“I had this really weird dream.” Sally pulled herself up with Jake’s help. “I was in a park—”
“Uh, guys…” Stephanie called from across the room.
“Not now, Steph!” Yasif snapped at her.
“Really! You’re gonna want to see this!”
“No one cares about your hair, okay?” Yasif threw her a nasty look, but then his expression changed from anger to fear. “Holy hell!”
Sally turned to see what had gotten them all worked up. “What is that?”
“Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” Idric said over and over, watching the thing with the wingspan of a small plane drop toward them from the sky.
Sally felt a rush of fear. This wasn’t the bear creature they’d faced at the school; it was something new. It swooped out of the clouds, cutting through the storm like a blade. Rather than the shiny metal of an aircraft, however, its wings were black and leathery like a giant bat’s, its skin stretched tightly around bulges that could only be pure muscle. It rose then dropped, releasing a high-pitched scream as it dove toward them.
“Look out!” Jake pushed Sally away from the windows. The rest scrambled as the creature came crashing through the thick glass. Sally dropped and covered her head.
The next few moments were a mixture of shattered glass, piercing shrieks, and utter confusion. When Sally was able to get a glance, she saw the creature tearing at the wall, pulling itself through the high-rise safety glass. Finally, the window gave way to the creature’s strength and the broken sections fell inward to the floor, allowing in a torrent of rain. The creature issued another screech, the sound followed by rolling thunder from the storm.
“Everyone okay?” Jake screamed over the noise.
Sally looked up to see the giant bat-like thing taking up the entire space of her mother’s living room. It looked at her with determination in its red eyes. It moved toward her with all the grace of an awkward bird, but wasn’t deterred. The only thing in its way was Stephanie, who seemed too stupid to get out of the thing’s way. She stood there screaming at it as though that would somehow ward it off.
It snapped at the blonde, and she threw up her arm in defense. She was a minor inconvenience for the creature, however. It turned on her, clamping down on her forearm with its razor sharp teeth.
Screams in movies were nothing like screams in real life. The sound that came from Sally’s roommate was like nothing Sally had ever heard. She couldn’t imagine a person’s voice making that kind of noise.
The creature picked Stephanie up by the arm and tossed her aside like an unwanted toy. Sally panicked, not knowing what to do. There was nothing for her to use to attack the creature; all the furniture was gone. She didn’t even have a mug to throw at it.
Just know you have been given all that you need for your quest. That was what Daniel had said. Why she’d thought of his words at that moment she wasn’t sure, but another shriek from Stephanie made her realize she had to do something quick.
It was then she remembered what had happened in the van, the thing Idric had done to ward off the creature on the roof. Desperately, she turned to him. “Idric, is there anything you can do?”
“What makes you think—” he began.
Sally cut him off. “Idric, quit the act. I know you did something back there in the van! I know you’re scared, but if there’s something you can do, we need you!”
He hesitated.
The creature turned back to face them, releasing another ear-splitting shriek. “I don’t have anything with me!” He hollered, his small voice drowning in the thunder.
Sally didn’t understand what he meant. What does he need? There was nothing with him in the van.
Lighting flashed, rain pelting them from the gaping hole that was once her mother’s apartment windows. Stephanie lay on the floor, unmoving and bleeding profusely. Sally turned back to Idric and gave him a pleading look.
The boy hesitated, but then looked as though he’d remembered something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stone about the size of a golf ball. His voice was small against the storm as he began to utter words Sally couldn’t make out. The stone glowed with a blueish light, growing brighter and brighter as he cast his incantation into the wind. Then with a quick motion, he released whatever energy he’d summoned. The creature, already moving toward them was struck by the blast, sending it crashing back through what remained of the windows. It screeched as it fell from sight toward the city below.
Sally exhaled and rushed to Stephanie’s side.
“This is getting outta hand!” Yasif said, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath.
“Are you okay?” Sally asked her roommate.
“Do I look okay?” Stephanie screamed, her voice full of fear and rage.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” Lani suggested urgently.
; Sally interjected, “We’ve got to stop the bleeding first. Idric! Into the hall, find something, a towel, anything.”
The kid was fast. He was back in moments, holding several folded towels. She had no idea where he’d found them, and in that moment, she didn’t care. Sally yanked a towel open and wrapped Stephanie’s arm. Her roommate cried out in pain, but it had to be done. She pulled the towel around as tight as she could to staunch the bleeding.
Yasif had his phone to his ear, barking instructions. She hoped an ambulance would arrive soon. Stephanie had gone pale, blood running in lines down her face.
“Stay with me, Steph! You’re going to be okay.”
The blonde coughed, more blood spurted from her mouth. “Damn it! She must have been hurt somewhere else!” Pulling at her clothes, Sally searched for another wound. Sure enough, the creature had punctured her side. There was so much blood!
“They’re not going to get here in time.” Yasif stood over them shaking his head, phone still in hand.
“Shut up and help me!” Sally barked, shoving towels into the wound. Tears streamed down her cheeks; she couldn’t control them. There was so much damned blood! Her hands were covered and halfway up her forearm. “I can’t stop it!”
Idric appeared by her side. “I might be able to do something, but it won’t be much.” He held out the stone he’d used earlier and began reciting more strange words.
Sally fell back against the wall, crying as the boy worked his magic. “Please be okay, please be okay. I don’t think I can take it if something else happens!”
Idric moved the stone in circles above Stephanie, continuing his chant. Once again, it lit up. After a few moments, light fell off the stone in a haze, raining down toward Stephanie’s body. Sally noticed immediately that the flow of blood slowed. A glimmer of hope shot through her as she grabbed a clean towel and began wiping off the wounds.
“It’s closed up,” Jake noted.
“Sorta,” Idric replied. “It’s more like a Band-aid. It will hold the wound closed, but only for a time.”
Sally Singletary's Curiosity (The Sally Singletary Book 1) Page 10
