The Secret of the Codex

by Melissa Frey

  Kayla just stared. She’d heard what he’d said, but it wasn’t really registering. They’d all discussed the four of them getting powers as a possibility, sure, but what Mandy and Justin were saying now somehow threw it into the realm of reality. How could they be so certain—how could they just know?

  Kayla bit her bottom lip. Maybe the same way she just knew that the first book would be in Alaska, and that the second book would be here?

  Kayla shivered.

  CHAPTER 20

  Stanfords

  Just outside Bozeman, Montana

  Just under two hours later, Grady turned the SUV into the driveway of Justin’s parents’ home. The house stood silent in stark contrast to the bright, late afternoon sky; the storm starting just before they’d left Yellowstone hadn’t reached Bozeman yet—if it ever would.

  Kayla expected to see Jan in the garden at the side of the house, or Roger in the garage tinkering on his next project. Though young, both were retired—Kayla inferred they’d made a large sum of money in the .com boom or something, but they’d never said—and their various pursuits usually centered around their beloved home.

  So the eerie stillness that greeted them now made her hair stand on end. The house showed no signs of life, gave no indication that anyone was home. Kayla tensed; something was not right.

  Grady pulled right up to the closed garage door slowly; the only sounds reaching Kayla’s ears were the crunch of gravel beneath their tires and the low hum of the Jeep’s engine. Grady purposefully placed the car in park and turned the key. The silence that met Kayla’s ears through their open windows was even more pronounced without the crunching gravel or the rumbling motor.

  Though she could hear Mandy and Justin opening their doors and getting out behind her, Kayla stayed where she was, glued to her seat. She just really didn’t want to get out of the car.

  Justin squinted in the brightly lit landscape as he carefully exited the vehicle, barely shutting his door to keep silent—an automatic reaction to perceived danger. Justin led the group—he noticed Kayla following a good distance behind Mandy and Grady—and found each breath he took coming more quickly than the last. He cautiously approached the front door, tapping on it gently. The door gave way under his light touch and Justin heard Mandy gasp from behind him. His eyes drifted down to the broken latch; someone—someone uninvited—had been here.

  Justin entered the house, and, as he did, he felt a knot start to form in the pit of his stomach. On an imperceptible signal that no one was in the house, Justin rushed down the hall to the kitchen, calling for his parents as he went.

  Before she got to the kitchen, Mandy ran into a wall—Justin stood frozen in the hallway. Mandy leaned around him, her eyes never leaving his face, careful not to look at the scene his blank eyes were taking in. She’d never seen Justin’s countenance so . . . nondescript. Like he was no longer there.

  Her eyes slid to the side unwillingly but she forced her head to remain frozen. She did not want to know what Justin was seeing—it had to be something so horrific that he now stood unmoving, staring—but she could guess. She tried to force the image she knew she was about to see from her mind, but to no avail. She stared harder at Justin’s face, brows furrowing, eyes narrowing. She didn’t dare move.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Mandy noticed Grady lean around her to survey the room. Kayla cried out a second later. Mandy saw Kayla grasp the edge of the doorway in an attempt to remain standing as her knees buckled beneath her.

  Unable to fight it any longer, Mandy turned ever so slowly, first taking in the horrified look on Grady’s face, then Kayla gasping for breath on her knees, before she turned completely around. Her breath stopped.

  The sunny kitchen, which had, just hours ago, been a place of warmth and happiness, was now the exact opposite, the antithesis of home and family. The bright curtains above the sink, once cheerfully splashed with vibrant blue and yellow flowers, were now stained with red. Darkening red streaks covered the edge of the kitchen sink, smeared down the side of the cupboard.

  Mandy’s eyes followed the crimson line to the floor. She screamed.

  On the floor, lying side by side with hands barely touching, were Justin’s parents. Their eyes seemed dull, unseeing. Scarlet pools collected on the ground beneath their heads; their throats were cut with a perverse precision. They didn’t appear to be breathing.

  Justin fell to his knees. The spattered kitchen in front of him epitomized the most vicious of crime scenes, its horror reserved for only the most unlucky of visitors. And these victims—guilty of nothing, certainly nothing that warranted this—were his parents.

  He was choking, unable to catch a breath. Mandy dropped to her knees in front of him, putting herself between him and the gruesome sight. She gripped his face fiercely, willing him to look at her. His eyes, which had been fixed on the gory scene, slowly turned to meet Mandy’s. They stared intently at each other, sharing this moment of abrupt and devastating grief in silence. A single tear escaped down Justin’s cheek.

  “Jus . . . Justin . . .” a choking voice whispered.

  Justin’s eyes shot up. He flew to his feet then fell at his father’s side. “Call 911!”

  Kayla ran for the phone, quickly punching in the number.

  “Dad? Dad, can you hear me?” Justin grasped his father’s free hand, holding it in both of his as he strained for any response.

  But his dad was unconscious again; his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Justin started CPR in a desperate attempt to revive his father. Justin leaned over, his ear to his father’s mouth. His breathing was irregular, coming in shallow gasps, but still there. He sighed, shoulders relaxing, when his fingers found a faint but consistent pulse on his wrist.

  He reached up to the counter, his hand finding a cloth. He pressed it to the wound on his dad’s throat, pressing tightly to stop the bleeding, but not so tightly he couldn’t breathe.

  Mandy was already at his side, and now took over. Justin—sure then that his father was being taken care of—attended to his mother.

  He moved around Mandy to his mother’s other side, grabbing her wrist. He stared at his watch as he searched for a pulse. He leaned his ear to her mouth, listening for any signs of life. He found none.

  He immediately began CPR, trying in vain to revive his mother. But his attempts were ineffective and he soon gave up; his mother was gone. He slowly laid his head on her stomach. He couldn’t feel a thing.

  Kayla returned the phone to its cradle and joined Grady who was carefully looking over the scene. Justin’s eyes stared blankly, unseeing. Kayla walked over to him, resting her hand on his back for a brief moment, then drawing it back almost as quickly. Kayla could understand how he felt. She herself had been overwhelmed with grief once, and it never really went away.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  As she took her place on the floor next to Grady, drawing her knees up to her chest and leaning back against the cupboard, she fought the ensuing onslaught of painful harsh images that she could never fully erase from her memory. She’d tried to forget, tried to shove the memories back to the furthest reaches of her mind, but the sight of Justin’s parents just lying there in a pool of their own blood . . . a single tear escaped the corner of her eye, followed by another and another until she had to wipe them away with the back of her hand. She was fighting—but she was losing.

  A sharp knock on the front door made Kayla jump, but she was exceedingly grateful for the distraction. She rose too quickly on her way to the front door, causing her head to spin. Lightheaded, she teetered slightly before stabilizing herself with the kitchen counter. Perhaps her fall at Yellowstone had affected her more than she’d like to believe. She blinked and shook her head to clear it before she took a few unsure steps toward the front of the house. She deliberately drew a deep breath as she reached the door.

  Kayla threw the door open and immediately stood aside as the paramedics rushed through. She pointed toward the kitchen but sta
yed frozen in place.

  She would’ve thought this would’ve been easier, having been through it before. Apparently experience doesn’t help in this kind of situation. Maybe it makes it worse. Because I know what’s coming next for him.

  After making sure that the paramedics had plenty of time to get set up in the kitchen, she slowly made her way back to the room. She needed to see Grady right now, to feel him next to her. She needed the support. Literally.

  She drew another deep breath before entering the room. She tried to prepare herself again for the scene, but knew her attempt was in vain. She didn’t understand how the paramedics in front of her could walk into something like this all the time and still do their jobs.

  The room was worse than her brain had remembered it, and the sight alone made her nauseous. Instead of letting herself fully absorb the gruesome scene in front of her, she turned her attention to Grady, focusing her eyes solely on him. She fought with all her strength to ignore everything else in the room as she walked over to him with slow, deliberate steps.

  He looked up before she reached him. Once he saw the expression on her face, he jumped to his feet and ran to her side, pulling her to his chest. He couldn’t begin to guess what she was thinking; he just knew she needed him now.

  They stood there in the middle of the room and let everything else disappear for a few brief moments. They drowned out the sound of the paramedics frantically trying to revive Justin’s mother, desperately trying to stabilize Justin’s father, repeatedly moving Mandy and Justin out of the way so they could work. As the world fell away, Kayla and Grady simply leaned on each other, offered each other strength when they didn’t have enough themselves.

  After a few moments, Grady pulled away to look at Kayla’s face. He couldn’t make sense of the expression he saw there. He’d recently discovered Kayla to be a strong person, able to handle just about anything thrown her way; their kidnapping had proved that. What had happened to Justin’s parents was beyond horrendous, but he sensed something else beneath the surface, something that told him there was more to the story.

  Grady put his hand under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his. Her eyes were pleading with him through her tears—a silent but unmistakable plea to make her suffering go away.

  He stole a glance around the horrifying kitchen, ensuring that they were not needed. Then he dropped his hand from Kayla’s shoulder and grabbed her hand, leading her to the living room. He sat on the floral couch and pulled her down next to him, then put both hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.

  “Kayla, sweetie, what’s wrong?”

  Kayla’s head dropped, and Grady’s heart broke. She just looked so utterly and completely helpless.

  But Grady wasn’t going to let her deal with whatever this was alone. “Kayla?” He dropped his head until his eyes met hers.

  Kayla sighed and clutched his hand tightly in both of hers. “Did I ever tell you about my family?”

  Grady shook his head but remained silent.

  Kayla took a breath. “When I was fifteen, growing up near Seattle, I came home from school one day and my mom and sister weren’t home like they were supposed to be. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but then my dad came in the front door and I knew . . .” Her voice cracked. “I knew something was wrong.” She wiped away a lone tear trailing down her cheek. “My mom and sister had been in a horrible car accident. My sister survived, with months of therapy. But my mom . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  Grady understood. He reached his free hand around the back of her neck and pulled her head to his chest. “I’m so sorry.” His heart ached for her suffering, for what she had lost. He could feel his own heart breaking again as he heard Kayla’s muted sobs. He wished he could take her pain away.

  Kayla broke the silence after a short time. “This just . . . brings back all those memories. I had them locked away nicely. I didn’t want to think about them again.” She kept her head on his chest.

  Grady kissed the top of her head. “I am truly sorry you had to go through that—and have to go through it again.”

  Kayla raised her head to look at him, the tears still flowing. “I want Justin to know that I understand. But I . . . I just don’t know what to say to him.”

  Grady caught and held her gaze. “Just think about what you needed to hear. Sincerity goes a long way.”

  Kayla nodded and stretched up to kiss his cheek. Her tears were drying; it seemed that for now, she was done crying. “I don’t deserve you.” She smiled faintly up at him.

  Grady kissed her forehead. “I’m sure you have that backward.” He rose to his feet, then helped Kayla to hers. “Are you okay now? Can you go back in?”

  Kayla nodded, wiping under her eyes, then stood straighter as if to convince herself it were true. She grabbed Grady’s hand once again, and let him lead her back to the kitchen.

  CHAPTER 21

  After

  It had started raining. That was all that Justin could think of as the paramedics wheeled Roger Stanford outside. Wouldn’t his dad get wet?

  He stumbled out of the kitchen—Kayla and Mandy were both very close on either side of him, but he couldn’t figure out why—and collapsed on the couch in the living room. The rain was hitting the porch roof. It seemed really loud. Why wouldn’t it stop?

  He supposed it was fitting. Rain always accompanies sad occasions, doesn’t it?

  He idly noticed Mandy holding his hand; he didn’t even feel it. He thought she seemed worried. The thought perplexed him. Worried about what? His dad? Yeah, he thought, that would make sense.

  He closed his eyes and laid his head against the back of the couch. Kayla touched his shoulder lightly. He wanted to shrug it off, but what was the point? The rain just wouldn’t stop coming, his dad was getting wet, and his mom . . .

  No. He would think about hiking, camping, their recent trip to Yellowstone. It had been so beautiful there. So unlike here. Was that just this morning?

  He heard a second stretcher coming down the hall, but didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t need to. He knew very well what he would see if he did.

  His mom was gonna get wet, too.

  “Justin?” A quiet voice barely got through. “Baby?”

  He blinked and opened his eyes, but didn’t move his head. Again, what was the point?

  He felt Mandy’s chest heave beside him. Why was she so upset? She barely knew his parents! He was the one who should be upset! He was the one who had been robbed of his family! No more heartfelt birthday cards, no more homemade Thanksgiving dinners, no more snowy Christmases . . .

  Geez, stop it already.

  “Justin.” Mandy was still trying. He was listening, wasn’t he? She was right here, right next to him. Say it already! I can hear you, obviously.

  “Baby, are you okay?”

  Of course I’m not okay! How could I possibly be okay? Justin made an attempt to sit up and eked out one word. “Yeah.”

  Mandy and Kayla both sighed beside him. Grady cleared his throat from the chair across the room. When did he get in here?

  “Justin,” Grady began, “what can we do for you?”

  Justin straightened his back, sitting up rigidly. At least he felt rigid. “Where did they take my dad?”

  Grady glanced through the closed window. “They gave me the name of the hospital. We can go there, if you’d like.”

  Justin nodded. He didn’t have any other ideas, and all this talking was giving him a headache. Or was it just making the one he already had worse?

  Kayla patted his shoulder. He felt like a dog.

  Perhaps just to change the subject, he muttered, “I can’t stay here tonight.”

  Grady nodded and jumped to his feet. Justin thought it might have looked funny under any other circumstances. He thought Grady looked eager to leave the room. He didn’t blame him. Justin was eager to leave, too.

  Kayla stood with him. “We’ll go pack up our things. Meet you in the car?”

  Jus
tin felt Mandy nod beside him. “Yeah, we need some air, anyway.”

  Mandy stood and Justin followed, glad to step outside and finally be out of the house.

  He didn’t care if he got wet.

  The Parkside Motel—Grady’d gotten the name from Roger’s doctor, Dr. Coolidge, just before they’d left the hospital; Roger was still unconscious so Dr. Coolidge promised to call if he woke up—was moderately maintained, marginally clean, but in desperate need of an update. It certainly wasn’t fancy, but Kayla was glad they at least had somewhere to stay. Somewhere that wasn’t Justin’s parents’ house.

  Nestled up close to the five-story hospital, the two-story motel was invisible from all but the hospital’s north side. Though the hospital was large, the motel was not, and, except for a dismal four-pump gas station, the tiny motel stood alone on the back side of the hospital.

  Knowing they would not want to be far from the hospital—and that they all needed some rest—Grady checked the four of them in for the night. Justin and Mandy sauntered off to their room in silence, oblivious to the diminishing rain still steady enough to soak through their shirts.

  It was already seven thirty, so Kayla suggested she and Grady head out to find some food. When Mandy answered the door with bloodshot eyes, Kayla immediately realized that her friends weren’t ready to be out in public. She quickly promised to bring back some food for the two of them. Mandy simply nodded then slowly turned and disappeared back into the darkness.

  Grady drove to a nearby diner, a small, middle-of-nowhere establishment complete with a uniformed waitress behind the counter serving up endless refills of bad coffee from a stained carafe. Kayla headed toward the only available booth, one wedged between the front entrance and a side wall.