Part 43 (2/2)
He follows my instructions even though they seem to bewilder him. ”Oh, there's the road,” he says, as if he can only see it now that we're on it. ”What now?”
”Keep following this road. It will take us through the canyon for a few miles before we get to town.” We fly up Apollo Canton Road, dodging lightning. At one point, a strike hits the canyon wall beside us, and a tumble of red rocks starts to fall. We barely make it through before it crashes into the road.
Lexie isn't the only one of us who screams.
”Daphne, I don't know about this!” Dax says. ”Where do I go now?”
”Straight ahead,” I say as Ellis starts to come into view. ”We're almost to town.”
”What town?” Garrick says.
Joe groans like all of this is too much for his head.
”The one right in front of us,” I say. I can see buildings and homes through the rain, nestled in the heart of the canyon. Lit up like little lighthouse beacons beyond the storm. My mom's shop is there.
Home is there. The walls of red rock surrounding the town that had once made it feel like a prison, now make it look like a fortress of safety. ”You can't see that?”
”Daphne, we're heading straight for a giant mountain!” Dax says.
From what I can tell, it isn't raining over the town. That and the fact that Dax and Garrick can't see it rea.s.sure me that Sarah was right. Safety is only half a mile away.
Lightning crashes right in front of us. Dax yanks on the wheel hard, and we swerve in a circle, spinning donuts in the red mud that covers the road to Ellis Fields.
”Just keep going!” I shout. ”We're almost there.”
The car speeds up. Thunder shakes the car and a lightning bolt rips a hole in the road right where we would have been if we hadn't surged forward. Dax clutches the wheel hard and clamps his eyes shut.
He's bracing himself for impact as we pa.s.s the Welcome To Ellis Fields city limits sign. A second later, he relaxes and looks around, stunned.
”Well, I'll be harpied.” He whistles under his breath.
”Where the Tartarus did this all come from?” Garrick asks, staring out the windows as we roll into Ellis's Main Street.
I direct Dax to stop the car in front of Paradise Plants. The road here is dusty and dry as always. I get out of the car, followed by Dax and Tobin, and stare in disbelief at the storm we've left behind. It's like a great fence of rain and clouds circles the whole town, but above us the near-evening sky is dusky but clear. Out on the sidewalk, a couple walking their dog stops and stares, pointing at the strange phenomenon. The door to Paradise Plants starts to open. I brace myself, expecting to see my mom or Jonathan for the first time since I left. I don't know what I am going to tell them.
Can I possibly tell them the truth?
I hear the bells over the door and out walks Indie. She snaps a photo of the wall of rain with her phone. Then she sees me.
”Daphne?” She waves. ”What're you doing here so early? Did you see that crazy storm?”
”Yeah, just drove through it. I decided to come early for winter break,” I say. ”Thought I'd bring some friends home for a couple of days to meet my mom.”
”Oh,” Indie says. ”Didn't you know? Your mom isn't here. She and Jonathan went to Salt Lake City this morning.”
”What?” I ask, taken aback. ”What could get my mom to leave Ellis? She wouldn't even come to see me off to Olympus Hills.”
”I don't really know. They took off in a big hurry. It has something to do with CeCe; I know that much.”
Dread pulls at my stomach. I listen to the thunder rolling in the sky beyond the outskirts of town. My family is out there somewhere. ”What about CeCe?”
”I don't know exactly. Jonathan called here this morning all in a panic. He said something about how he thought CeCe hadn't left here on her own. It was like he thought she'd been taken or something. . .
”Taken?” There was that word again. It had haunted me in Olympus Hills and now followed me here.
I want to sit down in the dust right here and now. On top of the day I've had, this last bit of information is more than I can bear. People aren't supposed to disappear from Ellis. Bad things don't happen here. This is supposed to be the safe place. My haven.
”Jonathan said he found a receipt for a bus ticket from Saint George to Salt Lake City in the stuff CeCe left in her apartment. Only the station said the ticket had never been redeemed. Jonathan said that he remembered that CeCe had some friends in Salt Lake, and they just took off and left me here.
Your mom said she was going to call you.”
Yeah, but my phone is in a bucket of rags back in Olympus Hills. She could have left a thousand messages without me knowing it.
”I think they're totally overreacting, if you ask me,” Indie says. ”So what if she didn't take the bus after all? I still think she jumped at a chance for a new job to get out of this h.e.l.lhole.”
”Daphne,” Lexie calls out from the car. ”I don't think Haden's doing so well.” Dax and I exchange a worried look.
”Um . . . carsick,” I say to Indie.
”Yuck. I'm out, then. I'm supposed to finish watering plants before I can lock up.” She goes back in the shop, and Dax and Tobin help me get Haden into the house. He's grown very cold; his fingers and lips look blue. We settle him on the couch and I pile blankets from the linen closet on top of him. Each one smells like a piece of home to me.
Brim curls up in a ball on top of Haden's chest and starts purring. My mom always claimed that the frequency of a cat's purr has restorative properties that can help a person heal more quickly. At the moment, I hope she's right.
”This place is . . . quaint,” Lexie says, coming through the door, followed by Garrick and Joe.
Garrick plants himself at the kitchen table, looking as forlorn as possible. Joe lingers in the doorway, like he's not sure he's welcome here. ”You guys have running water, right?” Lexie asks.
”Yes,” I say. ”But if you're looking for a bathroom, you'll have to trudge to the outhouse in the backyard.”
Lexie looks like she's about to faint in horror.
”I'm kidding. The bathroom is upstairs, second door on the left.”
”Oh good,” she says, but from the bewildered sound of her voice, I'm sure she thinks that a house with only one bathroom is almost as archaic as one with an outhouse.
She makes her way up the stairs, with Tobin trailing behind her. Garrick lays his head on the kitchen table. Joe clears his throat from the doorway.
”You can come in, Joe,” I say, but I don't look him in the eye as he enters the house.
He starts to approach me as if my invitation to join us had meant more than that. ”Daphne, I . . .” he starts to say but I hold my hand up to stop him.
”Don't, Joe,” I say, barely able to keep my anger in check. ”I don't want to hear any more of your apologies right now. I don't have the energy. I don't know if I ever will.”
”Daph, please,” he holds his hands out in front of him.
”I forgive you, Joe, for what you did. But that doesn't mean I can forget.” I know that Joe hadn't intended on trading me personally to the Underrealm when he made that deal, but knowing that he would give up the idea of me for fame and fortune, still stung like h.e.l.l. It sucks knowing your father would have chosen to make it so you never existed in order for him to become a rock star. ”Now respect me when I say I don't want to talk about it.”
<script>