Juniper Wiles, page 21
Gabi looks like she might barf. “Was that…?”
“Charlie Midnight? Yeah. He called me Nora—pissed me off.”
I look at Gabi, feeling this misplaced sense of crazy delirium.
She stares at me for a moment, then smiles and shakes her head. “Remind me never to do that again.”
It’s enough of a pressure release to let out a short laugh and gather my wits once more.
I take a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure he does have her in a cage somewhere around here.”
“Nora?”
I nod. “I’m guessing she’s in that room the bloods came out of.”
I lead the way to the door. It’s slightly ajar. I give Gabi a look and nod to the left, then we both hit the door hard. It’s enough that it bounces off the wall but by that point we’re both in the room on either side of the doorway, weapons ready.
But those three bloods must have been the only guards up here.
What we find is a row of cages, seven or eight of them. Half are empty. Two hold men I don’t know. One holds a guy who looks just like Dean Farris, who played my on-and-off-again boyfriend, James Hearne, on the show. Nora’s in the last one.
I stand there looking at her for a long moment, fascinated by her perfect resemblance to the woman I see when I’m in front of a mirror. The only difference is that right now she looks drawn and confused, her hair greasy, her eyes shadowed with dark hollows. I’m probably not looking so great myself, but she’s suffering from who knows how many months of imprisonment.
“Who are you?” Nora asks.
“Well, I’m not Nora Constantine,” I say.
Beside me, Gabi laughs.
I sling the strap of my gun over my head so that the weapon hangs at my back and cross the room to study the locks on the cages.
“Do you know where the keys are?” I ask Nora.
“In Charlie Midnight’s pocket.”
“Um, I’ll get them,” Gabi says, making a rueful face.
Nora’s gaze goes to Gabi leaving the room, then returns to me.
“He’s dead,” I say before she can ask. “Again. I mean, if he’s really Bret Palmer risen from the dead. Otherwise, he’s just dead.”
Gabi steps back in and tosses the keys to me. I open Nora’s cage then move on to the others. Gabi helps her out. She can’t stand up straight, but she won’t sit down when Gabi tries to steer her to a chair.
“I need to see,” she says.
I ignore the weird feeling of hearing somebody else with my voice as I open the last cage with someone in it, then help Gabi hobble Nora out into the hall. She stands over Charlie Midnight’s ruined body for a long moment, then spits on it.
The elevator bell pings. Gabi steps in to support Nora and I swing my gun back into position, but it’s only Joe and Jack. I don’t see Bo.
“Where’s Bo?” I ask, worry filling my chest.
“Relax,” Jack says. “He’s keeping an eye on things downstairs. Say hi, Bo.”
“Hey Juniper,” Bo’s voice says in my earpiece. “You good up there?”
“I am now,” I say.
Nora’s leaning heavily on Gabi, studying the rest of us.
“Who are these people?” she asks Gabi.
“Friends.”
Nora’s gaze flicks back down to Charlie Midnight’s body. “Yeah, I get that. But…”
“I’m Juniper,” I say when her voice trails off. “And this is Joe and Jack.”
“Why do you look exactly like me—except way more badass?”
Jack chuckles and I shoot him a dirty look.
“What?” I say. “I can’t look badass?”
“No argument from me, darling,” he says, reminding me a little of Cody, back in the red rock mountains.
But I guess they’re all kind of related, in a way.
“It’s a long story,” I tell Nora.
Joe nods. “And why don’t we let it ride until we get out of this place.”
Dean and the other guys have crawled out of their cages, but they’re not in much better shape than Nora. While Gabi takes Nora to the elevator, we help the rest of them. It’s a tight fit, but no one wants to stay up here on their own, or make their way down the stairs over the bodies of the dead bloods.
Once we get to the ground floor, we pick our way through the battlefield until we’re finally outside. Nora and her friends collapse on the grass.
“I knew you’d find me,” Nora tells Gabi.
Gabi gets a pained look, but I can’t help her there.
“So you’ve been there the whole two years?” I ask.
Nora looks shocked. “It’s been two years?”
“Give or take,” Gabi says.
“I don’t get why the sheriff’s office didn’t do what we just did,” I say.
“They tried,” one of the guys says. “Midnight killed them all and turned them into bloods.”
“I still can’t figure out how five of you got the drop on them all,” Nora says. “Or how you were able to fight off that mesmerizing thing Midnight does with his eyes.”
“He pushed the wrong buttons with me,” I say.
“Guys like him,” Joe says, “don’t do as well when the odds are more evenly matched.”
“What does that mean?” Nora asks.
Joe only says, “Plus we had them outgunned.”
“You didn’t answer me inside,” I say to Nora. “Was Charlie Midnight really Bret Palmer?”
She shrugs. “Who knows? But somebody definitely dug up Palmer’s grave and Midnight showed up right after. If he was brought back to life, nobody knows how.”
I do. Emma Rohlin did it, writing a book to connect with her dying daughter.
Jack and Bo have been gone for a little while. Now they come back with bottles of water and packages of jerky, which they hand around. My stomach does a little flip at the thought of eating anything, but I take the water gratefully.
“We should go,” Joe says. “We’ve done our part but now it’s up to the survivors to handle what they want to do next.”
I nod. I kind of want to get to know Nora a little better and, at the same time, I want to get as far away from her as I can. It’s too disconcerting to look at someone who looks exactly the same as me. Somebody who really is a part I only played on a TV show.
Nora still looks like a mess, but there’s a bit of light in her eyes again.
“Who are you people?” she asks.
“Nobody important,” I tell her.
Joe nods. “We just happened to be in the right place at the right time to help you out.”
“You know I’ll figure it out,” she says. “I’m good at getting to the bottom of things, so you might as well tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I say.
I’ll leave it to Gabi to explain how much she wants. Speaking of whom.
“Gabi?” I say.
She meets my gaze and I see that I don’t even have to ask the question; the answer’s already in her eyes.
“This is my Nora,” she says. “You’ve got all the support you need back home with your family of choice, but she’s only got me.”
“I get it.”
“We’re going to need that gear,” Joe says.
Gabi takes off her body armour and adds it to the riot shields and helmets that Bo has already retrieved from inside the library. He makes a bundle of the weapons and protective gear and hefts it easily under his arm. He and Bo each grab one of the helmets.
“Thanks,” Gabi says as she gives me a hug. “For everything.”
I nod and hug her back.
When I step out of her arms, Joe takes my hand and we disappear from the Crescent Beach world, but not before I see the astonished look on Nora’s face.
As soon as we’re standing in the backyard of the greenhouse, it all hits me. I’m shaking so bad that Joe has to help me undo the fastenings to get the body armour off. I feel light-headed. He walks me to the picnic table, sits me down, sits beside me and puts an arm across my shoulders.
I bend down, face in my hands, overwhelmed by the enormity of what I’ve done. I want to throw up again but my stomach’s empty. I want to cry but the tears won’t come.
“I…I’ve killed people, Joe,” I manage to get out.
Not pretend. Not in a film.
“No, you didn’t,” he says. “Those weren’t people. I told you, once they’ve been turned they can’t be changed back.”
“I killed Charlie Midnight.”
“Yeah. And he was never a person. He was always a monster. You erased a shadow and gave that world a chance to see a little bit of light.”
“I’ve never killed anybody before.”
“First time’s a bitch,” Jack says.
I open my eyes to see that he and Bo are sitting on their heels in front of me.
“And hopefully,” Jack adds, “it’s something you’ll never have to do again. But Joe’s right. You did good.”
Beside him, Bo nods. “Yeah, I was doubtful about getting involved when Joe came to me—I mean, it’s not really my business, right? But we did good. I feel good. You should, too.”
“But those…they’re all dead.”
“They were already dead,” Jack says. “We helped them rest in peace—they wouldn’t have wanted to be walking around hurting people.”
I straighten up a little, grateful for the steady support of Joe’s arm around my shoulders. I might have fallen over otherwise. Now that the rush of action is over and the adrenalin’s leaving my system, I feel the tenderness on my abdomen where the blood slammed into me. I’m going to have an unholy bruise there.
“You really believe that?” I ask Jack.
He makes the shape of a cross on his chest. “Hope to die, darling.”
Joe gives me a light squeeze. “You need some rest,” he says. “This kind of thing really catches up to you if you’re not used to it.”
“I don’t think I can sleep. I’m afraid of dreaming it all over again.”
“We’ll guard your dreams,” Bo says.
I want to ask how he can do that, but my mouth feels thick and I can’t get the words out.
The last thing I remember is a wash of darkness coming over me.
10
Thursday
I wake in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room with the faint sound of dog laughter in my ears. I feel a confusing sense of uneasiness and contentment. I smell coffee and the distinctive aroma of bacon and eggs cooking. Resting on my leg there’s a dog’s head, which feels familiar. I reach down to feel the comforting bristle of Sonora’s fur against my palm. She sighs at my touch. But it wasn’t Sonora I heard laughing.
“Hey,” a voice says.
I turn to see Jilly sitting in a chair by the side of the bed, mug in hand, Bobo snoozing contentedly on her lap. He lifts his head to look at me. That silly clown grin of his makes me smile.
“Did I faint?” I ask.
She nods and takes a sip of her coffee. “Joe said it was pretty rough over there. Saskia checked you out though. You’re beat up but no breaks and no concussion. You were suffering from exhaustion and shock, so she said bed was the best remedy for you.” She gives me a sympathetic smile.
Not remembering any of this is so unsettling I decide to ignore it. “I never faint.”
“Oh, please,” Tam says. “Girls always faint.”
I turn my head to see him sitting on the other side of the bed.
“I’d give you such a whack if it didn’t require moving.”
He lays a hand on top of mine. “Just wanted to make sure you’re my real sister and not some doppelgänger from another world.”
“She’d give you a whack on the head, too.”
“So you met Nora?” Jilly asks.
“Yeah, and wasn’t that weird.”
Now I remember dreaming last night that I saw her again. She seemed to be floating in the woods and I kept pushing through the branches to get closer, except when I finally did, it was only to find I’d been chasing my own reflection in a mirror set into the bark of a giant tree, as though it was growing there. I also remember feeling safe because sitting on either side of me were a pair of coyotes. They looked up at me. One said it was morning and I might as well get up. The other nodded, adding, yeah, we’ve got things to do.
Jack and Bo, keeping their promise. It was their laughter that woke me up.
“Earth to Joon,” Tam says with a gentle tap on my hand.
I focus on him and we exchange smiles. “You actually met Nora Constantine?” he says.
“I did.”
“How’s that even possible?”
“You can ask that after meeting Gabi?”
“Where is Gabi?” Tam asks.
“She stayed behind to be with Nora.”
Tam nods. “Of course she would.”
“I think I want to get up,” I say and give him a pointed look.
“Now you’re being modest? Who do you think put you to bed?”
“Not him,” Jilly says. “Joe carried you up. I have to tell you, I almost died when he carried you into the house and you were just lolling unconscious in his arms. Saskia and I put you to bed.” She frowns. “That’s quite the bruise you’ve got on your stomach.”
I sit up and wince, feeling that bruise. I look around as Tam leaves the room, but I don’t see my clothes. Jilly puts Bobo on the bed and goes over to a chest at the foot of the bed where she brings me my phone and some unfamiliar clothes.
“Yours were a mess,” Jilly says as she lays them down on the bed. “They’re in the laundry, so these’ll have to do for now. They belong to Saskia, so they should fit.”
“Thanks.”
The sweatpants fit well. The top’s a little roomy—Saskia is bigger up top than I am—but it’ll be fine until I can get home.
“We sponged the worst of the blood and gore off,” Jilly goes on, “but you’re probably going to want a shower.” She grimaces and sticks her tongue out.
I turn to the dresser and for a moment it seems like I’m seeing Nora reflected back, the way she looked when she’d just gotten out of that cage. My face is relatively clean, but I’ve got blood and God knows what else dried in my hair.
“I was tempted to just throw out your clothes,” Jilly says, “because I don’t know if all the stains will come out, but then I thought maybe you’d want some scruffy clothes for the next time you go adventuring.”
I look over my shoulder to see if she’s serious.
“Or not,” she adds.
“What time is it?”
She shrugs. “Not sure. A little before noon, I think.”
I pick up my phone to find out, and see that I’ve got a few texts. Most are from Tam, wondering where I am. The most recent is from Nick.
“What is it?” Jilly asks.
“There’s a text from Nick.”
“And you don’t want to see him—or you do, but you need to recuperate, or…?”
She studies my face as she talks, trying to gauge what I’m feeling, but good luck with that, because I don’t know what I’m feeling.
“I think I like him,” I say, “and I’d like to see him, but I’m not ready for an actual date yet. I don’t want the pressure of just one on one for a whole evening.”
“So tell him we’re all going bowling in a couple of days and would he like to come along?”
“Bowling?” I say.
“What? Who doesn’t like bowling? Tell me you like bowling.”
“I do. The whole cast and crew on the show used to go once a month and a lot of us kept getting together long after the show was over. It’s just not something I’ve done since I left L.A.”
“Oh, that’s way too long.” She frowns. “How come this never came up before?”
“Beats me. Where do you play?”
“Pop’s Pins on Lee Street—up in Foxville. It’s all ten-pin lanes and I don’t think it’s changed much since it opened in the fifties. They even have the original soda fountain.”
I give my belly a gentle press. The pain is immediate. “I don’t know that I’ll be able to bowl but I’d like to see the place. I’ll text Nick to see if he wants to meet us there.”
Jilly waits for me to send him the message, then gets me a towel from a linen closet and lets me take that blessed shower.
Maybe this whole going out thing will be too much, too soon, but I feel more myself once I’m clean, and I really need to make some positive memories to overwrite what happened in Crescent Beach. Not that I’m going to forget it any time soon. But I’m going to take a page from Jilly’s book. She once told me that even when she’s not feeling great she still puts on a cheerful face and half the time she ends up actually feeling better.
It’s worth a try.
By the time I get to the kitchen I hear Tam playing music with Geordie in the backyard. Wendy and Jilly have decided to make me breakfast, starting with coffee, which I desperately need, and a bowl of yogurt and fresh fruit.
“Do you want pancakes or the eggs and bacon we had?” Jilly asks, leaning against the stove.
“Anything would be amazing. I’m starving.”
“Eggs and bacon it is.”
“You guys don’t have to wait on me,” I say.
Wendy smiles. “You’re still looking a little peaked, and she’s feeling guilty for getting you into the whole mess with Crescent Beach, so enjoy it while you can.”
“Plus we never did find out how Ethan died,” Jilly says.
“Yeah,” Wendy adds. “The theory that someone injected him with SUX was a bust.”
“Actually, I think I’ve figured it out,” I tell them.
They both stop what they’re doing and give me an expectant look.
“Well, don’t leave us in suspense,” Jilly finally says.
“I just need to confirm something first.”
“No, no, no.” Jilly shakes her head. “You can’t leave us hanging. That’s not how it works.”
“Does Agatha Christie spill her guts,” I ask, “or does she save it for a big reveal?”
That seems to mollify her. “Are we gathering all the suspects together in one room?”
