by Nancy Isaak
“Cherry’s shotgun and our guns are already at the townhouse. Plus those two sticks you guys call cop-socks.”
“Excellent. Now, I’ll take Pugly over later on this evening and stick him in the attic room. That way, we won’t even have to think about him tomorrow. With any luck, we should be able to make Malibu in about a half a day. If we get separated, however, you’ve all memorized my dad’s address. And don’t forget that Cammie will hopefully already be there. Let her know that you’re at the door before you go bursting in. There are guns in my dad’s house and, if she’s found them, I don’t want there to be any accidents.”
I took the hand of our youngest member. “Shawnee, are you absolutely certain about Lily?”
She nodded. “They lock her in Peyton’s bedroom when they go to church—and the Oak Park girl who guards her at night is going to mass, too. I heard them talking. And the key to Peyton’s bedroom is on top of the door, on that little ledge there.”
I patted her hand. “Good girl.”
“We’re really going to do this, aren’t we?” Jay looked as scared as I felt.
“Time to get Lily,” I nodded. “And time to get out of this insanity.”
“Rock and roll,” added Jude.
Cherry nodded. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
I put my hand in the center of the table. “One for all—” I began.
Everyone put their hands over mine—except for Jude. Instead, she lifted an amused eyebrow, scoffing, “This is really how you’re playing it, Barbie?”
“Just go with it,” I sighed.
With a snort, Jude relented and added her hand to our pile.
“—and all for one.”
* * * *
There was still one very important thing to accomplish before it got dark.
And unfortunately—I was the only one who could do it.
Which was the reason that I was standing half a block down from the Foxes Compound—watching her saunter toward me.
She looked absolutely stunning in a green halter top and denim Daisy Dukes. Even the scar on her cheek couldn’t take away from her beauty. If anything, it enhanced it—the one flaw in an otherwise perfect face.
Tray stopped a few feet away from me. “Hello, Kaylee.”
Now that she was directly in front of me, I felt all my confidence drain away.
I was so small and ugly compared to Tray. What I was contemplating had to be pure madness—a ridiculous and stupid schoolgirl folly.
“Um…well,” I stammered. “Um…like I was coming to see you, but the Detail wouldn’t let me any farther than this.”
Tray looked behind her at the two 11th graders leaning against a wall, watching us with amusement. “They can be a tad over-protective at times. You’re welcome to come up to the house if you’d like.”
“I…no, thank you.”
“To see Lily?” she offered.
Reluctantly, I shook my head.
“Oh well, now this is getting interesting, I think,” she grinned. “What does my sweet Kaylee want if not to see Lily?”
Trying my best to be brave, I looked Tray directly in those fracking amber eyes. “I want Lily back.”
It was a moment before she spoke, a soft, gentle purr. “Very interesting indeed.”
There was silence between us then.
I was trying to get up my nerve to continue, while Tray was studying me like I was some kind of fascinating insect.
Finally—I took a deep breath and spoke. Embarrassingly, my voice came out sounding small and squeaky. “Does your offer still stand?”
She immediately broke into a beautiful smile. “Absolutely.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
Tray reached over and touched my cheek. She was very gentle. I could hardly feel her fingers as they drew down my face. Still, they sent shivers down my spine—and not the good kind.
“You sure you don’t want to come up to the house?” she asked me.
“No.” I shook my head. “I—I don’t want anyone to know, okay? Is that a problem…will that ruin everything?”
“Not at all,” Tray smiled. “A secret liaison is always—trés exotique.” Her hand had now drifted to my hair and she laced her fingers through it. “I just love your hair,” she sighed. “So pretty.”
“Um…so like…I was wondering if maybe tomorrow…while everyone was at church…” I suggested, trying hard not to stutter.
“Why, I think that’s a perfect idea,” Tray murmured, pulling her hand from my hair and dropping it to my shoulder softly—the softest of caresses.
“But…well, I’m supposed to be at Sophia and Reena’s mass,” I continued, “and I’ll be in trouble if I don’t attend.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Could we maybe meet at my house?” I suggested.
Tray removed her hand from my shoulder, then. She stared at me, her eyes narrowing—considering. I forced myself to look directly back—trying desperately to appear honest.
“Tomorrow…at your house,” Tray finally said. “I guess we can take our own special mass together there.”
“And then you’ll give Lily back?”
She shook her head. “Have you forgotten the deal, sweet Kaylee? You’ll get Lily back after the second time. And you’ll keep her for only as long as our liaisons continue. Will that be a problem?”
I hesitated—pretending to consider this. Finally, I shook my head. “No…no problem.”
She leaned in close and I forced myself to hold steady, dreading what was to follow.
But Tray didn’t kiss me on the lips like I was expecting she would.
Instead—she gently kissed me on my cheek. “Until tomorrow, sweet Kaylee.”
JOURNAL ENTRY: Jay #3
(Jay here—This is being written a long time after this happened to us so, hopefully, I’ll remember it right. Maybe I’ll have Jude look it over, since she was with me.)
(Jude here—Skipper did good.)
The morning of ‘Lily’s rescue’, Jude met me at the Medical Center. She pretended that she was there to see me about some pain she was having. It was Sunday and—after treating her—we would go across to the Performing Arts Center and be bored at Reena and Sophia’s church service together.
But first—we packed Jude’s crutches with sedatives.
Because they were hollow, when we pulled the top part of the crutches away from the bottom, there was just enough space inside to hide the drugs that I had managed to ‘appropriate’ from the medical supplies.
I was still worried that we didn’t have enough (or maybe too much!) but—with the exception of the ones I had given Kaylee—these were all I had left.
So, it wasn’t like we really had much of a choice.
* * * *
As Jude and I sat with Cherry and Shawnee in the back of the Performing Arts Center, listening to Sophia lead mass, Jude quietly pulled her crutches apart and passed the pills to Cherry.
For once we were lucky to be pariahs. Because we were seated by ourselves, no girl was close enough to overhear as we talked quietly together.
“How’s Kaylee?” asked Cherry.
“She’s being brave, but I can tell she’s really scared,” I answered, honestly.
“She’ll be fine,” said Jude. “Barbie’s wearing her big girl panties today.”
Trying to appear casual, I glanced toward the front of the auditorium. Tray was nowhere to be seen, but Orla and Peyton were in their usual seats, with 11th and 12th graders seated all around them.
“I count eight Protection Detail,” I whispered. “There’s two missing…and Alice.”
Cherry motioned with her head. “Alice is right over there. She’s sitting with Sue and Rachel today.”
Moving my head slightly to check, I looked to my right to see Alice talking to the twins. All three were chuckling quietly over something that had just been said.
“So, that means there are at least two
left out there patrolling…or maybe with Lily.”
Shawnee shook her head. “They just lock her in,” she squeaked—her voice breaking with nerves.
I turned to look at the younger girl. She was biting at the skin along the edge of her thumb and her eyes were wide.
Up onstage, meanwhile, Sophia finished a prayer—closing her bible with an over-loud thump. She lifted her arms and instructed us to all rise and sing some hymn I didn’t know and couldn’t have cared less about.
Instead of singing, I leaned over and whispered in Cherry’s ear. “If there are eight girls eating lunch—as well as Orla and Peyton—you’re going to have to use all of the pills. Any less and it probably won’t work.”
Cherry nodded.
“And you’re sure it’s going to be soup?” I asked, worried.
“That’s what Sophia said—something with lentils and carrots,” Cherry whispered back.
Which was important—we had been waiting impatiently for two weeks now for Sophia to make soup after church services.
Because—it was an integral part of Kaylee’s ‘plan’.
As the church-song ended, Sophia began her usual sermon—this time something about hell and damnation, with a lot of quotes from the bible, especially the Book of Revelation. About two minutes in (Sophia usually spoke for about ten to fifteen minutes), I tapped Cherry on the leg.
Immediately, she began to cough.
I tapped her leg again and she stopped coughing.
Thirty seconds later, I tapped Cherry’s leg once more.
Her coughing was loud this time. It went on and on…a big, hacking nasty cough.
Girls started turning around to look; a few began to titter in amusement. Sophia finally became irritated and stopped speaking.
But—it was when Orla half-rose in her seat to search out the ‘cougher’ that I rose up, pulling Cherry with me.
“It’s okay!” I said loudly. “I’m on it. I’ll get her a glass of water or something.”
Then, with Cherry still coughing, we both walked quickly out of the auditorium. As we went, I kept whacking Cherry on the back, pretending to help her.
Shawnee started to rise from her seat to follow us, but Jude held her back. “Sit!” I heard her tell Shawnee, quietly. “They’ve got it covered.”
* * * *
Cherry and I figured that we had maybe five minutes before someone would come looking for us. And that didn’t even include accidentally running into the girls from the Protection Detail who were somewhere out there patrolling.
So—we ran—as if our lives depended on it.
Because they probably did.
* * * *
Except for two pots of soup bubbling away—kept warm by those little lighted cans they put under trays at a buffet table—the kitchen was very quiet. Cherry and I had been worried that Sophia might have left somebody behind to watch over the soup but—I guess, to Sophia—the call of the Lord was more important.
“Oh, crap! They look exactly the same,” I cried, lifting up the lids and looking into the soup pots. “What if we choose the wrong one?”
Cherry picked up a ladle, dipped it in one pot, then the other—tasting both. “It’s this one,” she said, motioning to the pot on the left.
“How can you be so sure?”
“More vegetables in this one. Sophia’s always been a brown-noser. She’ll give the best stuff to the Foxes and the Detail…no doubt.”
Taking out the bag of pills, Cherry dumped them into the soup pot on the left. They floated on top of the broth, causing Cherry to take the ladle and stir them vigorously to make them melt.
“Hurry!” I urged.
“Do you think they’ll be able to taste them?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but it won’t make any difference if they catch us here. Come on! We have to go!”
After one last stir, Cherry placed the ladle back where she found it. Then she replaced the lid on the pot and turned to me.
“Let’s rocket!” she said, grinning.
* * * *
Sophia was right outside the kitchen door.
We practically ran into her as we came around the corner. Seeing her, Cherry immediately gave a couple of weak coughs.
“You okay?” Sophia asked.
(Was it just me or did Sophia seem suspicious? Was she just guessing that something was going on or had she been outside the door long enough to see what we had done?)
Cherry stifled another fake-cough with her hand. “Dude, it’s like there’s some scratchy-bug in my throat or something! It’s driving me nuts.”
“Come,” commanded Sophia, walking into the kitchen.
Cherry looked at me—questioning. I shrugged, turning to follow Sophia inside. She went over to a cabinet and pulled out a plastic container of honey. Then, she put some on a teaspoon and gave it to Cherry.
“Here,” she said. “Mommy uses this, when my throat hurts.”
Cherry swallowed the honey, then sucked on the spoon for a while. Finally, she took the spoon out of her mouth and aimed it at the soup pots. “I looked inside. Soup smells real good.”
Sophia beamed. “I made bread, too, for lunch. Rose it in the sun, just like my mommy taught.”
“I’m sure it will be delicious,” I said, truthfully. “Um…Sophia, how come you’re not in the church?”
She shrugged. “Reena can do it. I was worried about Cherry. Plus, I needed to check on the soup.”
Cherry handed back the spoon. “The honey worked real good,” she said, giving Sophia a quick hug. “Thanks, Soph.”
“You should go back now,” said Sophia. “The singing will start soon. That is always the most fun part.”
“Are you coming?” I asked, wanting to get her out of the kitchen. Part of me was still worried that the pills hadn’t completely melted, yet.
“Soon,” she said. “I just gotta’ check. Make sure everything is like it is supposed to be.”
What choice did we have?
Cherry and I left.
* * * *
On the way back to the auditorium, I grew increasingly worried. “I think she knows…I think Sophia saw something.”
“You’re just being paranoid,” Cherry tried to assure me. “I’m sure that everything’s fine.”
But—she was wrong.
* * * *
We sat there at lunch, the four of us—Cherry, Shawnee, Jude, and me—sipping our soup nervously, waiting. A few tables away, meanwhile, Orla, Peyton, and the 11th and 12th graders were happily chattering away over their own bowls of soup.
“I think I’ve lost my appetite,” I finally said, pushing away my bowl. My nerves were simply making my belly do too many flip-flops for me to actually eat.
Shawnee immediately reached over and pulled my bowl of soup toward her. “I’ll finish it for you.”
“You’re so helpful,” Cherry teased.
“Here, kid.” Jude pushed her slice of bread over toward Shawnee. I guess I wasn’t the only one having nerves.
“How long do we wait?” Shawnee whispered.
“Eat quickly,” I suggested.
Within moments, Shawnee clinked her spoon against her empty bowl. “Done!” she grinned.
Trying to appear casual, I glanced over at the Foxes’ table.
Two of the 12th graders were yawning, while Peyton had actually put her head on Orla’s shoulder. Her lashes were fluttering, as if Peyton was struggling to stay awake.
“Now!” I hissed at the other girls. “We move now!”
* * * *
As soon as we were out of the cafeteria, we all started running.
I had been worried that Shawnee wouldn’t be able to keep up. Surprisingly, she not only kept up, she was quicker than the rest of us.
“Come on!” she yelled over her shoulder, urging us to run faster.
Meanwhile, Jude was huffing and puffing. She was still recuperating and the run was obviously hurting her. She looked pale, winded—close to passing out.
“Let’s just get this done!” she growled.
There was a set of stairs off Thousand Oaks Boulevard that heads up into the hill behind the Compound. We planned on using them to get us as close as possible to the Foxes’ house, hopefully without anyone noticing us.
Unfortunately, it would involve us jumping a few fences and climbing over some rocks.
As we started up the stairs, I turned to look at Jude.
She frowned. “You’re seriously annoying me, Skipper…I’m fine!”
But—she sure didn’t look it.
* * * *
The house that the Foxes lived in was beautiful. It was three stories high and covered in white wood paneling. The doors were a forest green and there was gold detailing along the side walls and the edges of the roof.
It appeared to be deserted.
However, there were at least two girls from the Protection Detail still unaccounted for; they could be anywhere.
“Jude, you stay here,” I said, as we hid just outside the fence.
She shook her head. “I’m going in. I’m fine.”
“This isn’t about being fine,” I told her. “It’s about leaving our heavy muscle outside to cover our backs. Something happens, we need you to be able to rescue us.”
Her eyes narrowed—not quite believing me—but she nodded anyway.
“And Shawnee—you stay with Jude. Help her watch for anyone coming.”
The young girl immediately moved over to stand beside Jude.
I turned toward Cherry. “You’re coming with me…ready?”
“You’re so sassy today, Jay,” Cherry grinned. “I like sassy girls.”
