Part 9 (1/2)
Mr. Adams closed his eyes and exhaled, defeated.
”You reek of that ridiculous rose perfume that she wears.” She shook her head at him. ”Didn't think I knew that was going on, did you?”
The saloon doors creaked as they were pulled back and my parents walked in.
Avery snapped his fingers in front of my face.
I came back to reality. ”I've got to call my mom right now.”
Claire's red glittery cell phone slid across the carpet and hit me in the thigh. I dialed.
”C'mon, c'mon, c'mon,” I paced across the room, willing Mom to pick up the phone.
”h.e.l.lo.” Thank G.o.d.
”Mom, it's me. Do you know where Dad is?”
”Um...I was sleeping. Hold on, let me see if the minivan is here.” I heard her shuffle over to the bedroom window. ”Yup. The minivan's parked in the driveway. Do you want me to get him? Are you okay?”
”I have to tell you something. Please don't get mad, okay?”
”I'm listening.” I noted that she didn't say she wouldn't get mad.
”I had a vision about Dad, when I hugged him goodbye and then, something else...it was like a vision, but more like I was seeing the immediate future? I don't know, one second I'm talking to Avery about his mom and then-”
”Avery is there?”
”Yes, Mom, Avery is here. Out of all the things I just told you, that's what you're focusing on?”
She took in a deep breath and then let it out. ”What did you see, honey? Was it anything like the vision I showed you?”
”In the first one I saw Dad trying to get a gun away from a lady, but she shoots him. In the second whatever, I watched as Avery's mom tried to shoot Avery's dad, but then you and Dad walked into his office.”
”Mike Adams office? Oh, G.o.d. I didn't have the dream about him last night, Zellie. I can't go near there or he will die for sure.” She took another deep breath. ”I will keep your dad here and call the police. You have got to have Avery call his father and find out where he is.”
”Okay.” I paused, and then forced myself to ask, ”You're not mad at me?”
Mom started to cry. ”We'll talk about this later Zel, go call Mike and find out where he is.”
I ended the call with my mom and sat down next to Avery.
”You've got to call your dad and find out where he is.” I handed Claire's phone to him. He looked at me, then at the phone and then back to me again like he had forgotten how to use the thing. ”Seriously, now. It is very important that we know where your dad is. Something could go down tonight and both of our fathers could end up dead.”
Claire finally just came into her bedroom. ”Zel, I think he knows he needs to call his father. However, you have just freaked the c.r.a.p out of me and I'm guessing that he is feeling the same way too. I mean, h.e.l.lo, you have visions visions! How are we supposed to wrap our heads around that and quick like jump on the ”Psychic Girl” bandwagon?”
I put one hand on Avery's knee and extended my other to Claire, pulling her down to sit next to us. ”Look, I've wanted to tell you both about this, for a while now. It's just that it's weird and confusing and I thought you would think I was crazy.” And it would have ruined everything. c.r.a.p. It was was ruining everything. ”I thought I had more time.” ruining everything. ”I thought I had more time.”
Claire leaned in and peered into my eyes. ”Have you had any visions about me? Do you know when I'm going to die? Am I skinny? Does everyone in the whole town come to my funeral?”
I grinned. Leave it to Claire to bypa.s.s the whole weirdness of my abilities and move right on to how it might affect her instead. ”No, I haven't seen your death. I haven't had that many visions. Just the ones tonight and the one about...” I turned and looked at Avery, who was staring at me like I was an alien. ”...Avery.”
He pulled his knees to his chest, letting my hand fall to the floor. I deserved that. ”So that's what was happening all those times you were s.p.a.cing out? You were having visions? Did you have one the first night we got together?”
”Yeah, that was the first one I had.” I drew my hands back into my lap. This whole frickin' scene was about to unravel and I didn't have time for it. There was no time to explain myself. ”Look, I know you all are freaked out, but this is good. I can stop things before they happen. Avery, I really need you to call your dad and find out where he is. I promise to answer all your questions later, okay?”
He dialed his home phone number and waited for a moment. ”The voicemail picked up, my mom's probably still sleeping. I'll try my dad's cell.” He punched in the cell number, said h.e.l.lo and then made a weird face. ”The phone picked up, but n.o.body answered it.”
I took the phone from him and gave it back to Claire. I could really use a G.o.dd.a.m.ned plan right about now. I chewed my bottom lip furiously. ”Do you think he's at his office?”
”I don't know, I mean, he left the house after the fight we had...and if he didn't go back home that's probably where he is.”
Standing up, I pulled the other two to their feet. ”Okay, here's what we're going to do. Claire, I need to borrow your bike. Avery and I are going to ride over to his dad's office. My mom is calling the police. I'm sure they will be there by the time we get there, but I can't just sit around here and not do anything.”
Claire went to her walk-in closet and rummaged around, pulling a teddy bear out from the depths. She unzipped the little satchel on the teddy bear's back and pulled out a key, holding it up to show us. ”Zel, you don't have to borrow my bike, we're taking my mom's car. C'mon, I'm driving.”
”Have you ever even driven a car before, Claire?” Avery jiggled his leg up and down. Zellie put her hand on his knee to quiet it. He whipped it away from her touch. He just...couldn't, not right now, not with all of the crazy s.h.i.+t she was saying and him not being able to tell if it was true or not. It had to be true, why would she make it all up? But...h.e.l.l if he could believe anything that came out of her mouth. He had trusted her and she had withheld so much...really important freakin' life altering stuff.
”Uh, yeah, when I was nine my dad let me sit on his lap and steer.” Claire looked at him in the rearview mirror. He scowled. ”Okay, no jokey time, got it.”
He leaned over her shoulder from the back seat. ”Could you possibly go any faster than three miles an hour? We could have gotten there quicker if we'd ridden bikes!”
”Sor-ry!” She pushed hard on the brake pedal, jerking the three of them forward. ”Oops! Well, let's be thankful it's an automatic or I would have even more pedals to choose from!” She jammed her foot down on the accelerator. ”Hey, Zellie, isn't that your dad?”
The Wells' beat up old minivan careened around the corner and sped past them.
”c.r.a.p!” Zellie said, looking back as it turned another corner. ”Hurry up! We've got to get to Avery's dad before my parents realize that I'm not at your house. If they show up at that office-”
”I know Zellie, people will die.” Claire rolled to a near stop at the intersection and jammed on the accelerator again.
She ran three more stop signs, slowing down in front of Adams Insurance, Avery and Zellie were out of the car before she came to a stop. ”Hey, wait for me!” she shouted, shoving the car into park and leaving it running in the middle of the street.
Avery had his keys out, fumbling with them to get the door unlocked. He could hear his parents' voices inside the office, but couldn't see anything. All the blinds were drawn. s.h.i.+t. Zel's effed up vision thing was going to come true and he couldn't make his stupid hands work!
Zellie turned to Claire. ”Call the police. They should have been here by now.”
Finally steadying his hands enough to unlock the door, Avery stepped inside. His mom turned to face him, her finger on the trigger of a gun. The cow bell on the door clanged as the Wells' minivan tore down the street and rammed into the back of Claire's mother's car.
Chapter Nine.
I rushed forward from the sidewalk to the minivan, struggling to open the pa.s.senger door, but it wouldn't budge. Mom was slouched against it. Dad's body was hunched over the steering wheel, the air bag smothering him, his chest pressing against the horn. Both of my parents were unconscious, their faces b.l.o.o.d.y and starting to swell. Smoke billowed from under the hood, a fire had started.
”Mom! Mom! Wake up, can you hear me?” I pulled with all my might against the door. It was no use. I ran around the back of the van to Dad's side. The door opened. Thank you, G.o.d. I reached in and pushed him back off of the steering wheel, silencing the horn.