Bad Storm (13 page)

Whatever if I was trespassing swampland in the middle of the
night.

If Lola was alive, that was all that mattered.

And she was alive. I could feel her, dimly. She was calling
to me without words.

‘
Hold on
,’ I
thought, clenching my fingers into my palms until they were white. I was
shaking and scared, but I hoped that she didn’t know that. ‘
I’m coming for you
.’ I thought it over
and over again, like a broken record.

It wasn’t a short ride either. From Deston Beach to Huntington
was a forty minute trip, but I stayed wide awake and wired the whole time, my
knees bouncing up against the dashboard. There was no one on the
highway—just us and the horrific storm, the winds screaming like ghouls
just outside of the car.

Just as we got off the highway onto the exit that led to the
winding, narrow road just before the conservation’s entrance, Aamir broke the
silence.

“You’re really brave, you know that?”

I laughed hollowly. Of all the things I felt right then,
brave was not one of them. I was teeming with fear, anxiety, and guilt. So much
guilt.

“I’m not brave. I’m just not going to let my mistakes kill
someone.”

Aamir shook his head. “You’re incredible,” he murmured. I
didn’t know if he meant it sarcastically or not, but knowing Aamir, he was
probably being earnest.

And that just added to my feelings of guilt.

“Turn here,” I said, glad to change the topic. A giant sign
welcomed us to the conservation, but the gate was pulled down and there was no
one in the little wooden gate house.

“Should I…” I started, but Aamir raised his hand and the
white and red pole snapped in half, falling to the ground.

“This won’t be great for my tires,” he joked wanly.

But the wind was so strong it swept the pieces away, and
they flew into the thicket of swamp trees.

“Which way now?” he asked as we drove forward—there
was a fork in the road.

“I…she’s near the swamp.” I strained my eyes to read the
signs, but none of them really told me anything. Just the direction of a few
trails and the campgrounds. “Um, right.” I trusted the strange pulling sensation
inside of me. I crossed my fingers, hoping that I was leading him in the right
direction.

‘
Just hold on
,’ I
told her. We drove past the entrance to several trails, but they didn’t feel
right. It was hard to read my gut instinct over the pounding of my heart, but I
went with it, knowing that dulling my senses would only make things worse.

The dark night continued to howl around us, the howls of the
storm growing more intense—leaves, sticks, and unidentified objects flew
by. I knew there was only so much Aamir could anticipate—magic or no
magic. I had my hands balled up in nervous fists as I squinted my eyes at the
signs, suddenly yelling out, “There!” at an entrance to a trail with an
unreadable sign.

“Okay,” Aamir said, pulling his car into the dirt parking
lot just before the trail. I could tell he trusted me—it was bizarre, but
the energy reading must have done the trick. He didn’t know I was right, but he
did know that I believed it.

At least, I mostly believed it. I had nothing else to go on
but the feeling.

“Is she…telling you anything else?” Aamir asked, hesitant to
turn off his engine. “Is she able to come to us?”

“She’s not really telling me things,” I said, opening the
car door despite myself. “I’ll just go find her, thanks for your—”

“As if I’m just going to let you go in yourself.” Aamir turned
off the engine and exiting his sedan. We ran out together in the rain, not even
bothering with an umbrella.

With winds like this, it would have been too dangerous.

“Lola!” I yelled, trying to compete with the storm. “Lola!”

I took a deep breath before passing the trailhead and
jogging down the wooden pier, the canopy of trees above shielding us from
nothing—the rain was coming in from all directions. And it hurt. Damn,
did it hurt.

“Crap,” I muttered, trying not to let on how terrified I was
as foliage flew in my face. Because the reality was, things could be much more
dangerous than this.

We ran down the wooden pathway for what felt like half a
mile, until it opened out into a wooden dock that overlooked the swamp. The
whole time I was ducked down low, afraid of snakes hanging from trees.

Then, I saw her. Crumpled up on a fallen log was a human
being, and I felt the pull inside of me, the warmth that spread from her being.

She was a part of me.

Without thinking, without feeling fear or anything but
absolute obligation, I did what was probably the stupidest and most “UnBailey”
thing of my life.

I clambered over the wooden fence that surrounded the deck,
and jumped into the cold, black swamp.

“Bailey!” Aamir yelled, his voice clear and strong over the
whipping winds.

But I was dead set on Lola. I broke to the surface, gasping
for breath as rain and swamp muck entered my open mouth. I started swimming
towards her, splashing like crazy as my flailing arms hit the water. But I
could hardly see with all the rain and darkness.

It was just a shadow several yards away. But I knew it was
her. I kept swimming furiously until I reached the log, and I clung to it for a
moment, catching my breath before sneaking my hands beneath her unanimated
body, readying myself to pull her back. Somehow.

And that’s when I heard Aamir yell the one word no Floridian
wants to hear.

“Alligator! There’s an alligator behind you!”

I turned my head around and my heart stopped as I saw the
lurking, serpentine movement cut through the dark water.

For the second freakin’ time that night I should have seen
my life flash before my eyes. Instead I just froze like giant idiot, gapping in
terror as the alligator moved towards me…

And froze. Like, completely stopped moving.

“Hurry up!” Aamir yelled. “The charm will only work for so
long! Get out!”

I pulled her body off the log as quickly as I could, and she
plopped into
 
the water with a
splash. I swam forward and to the left, dodging the frozen creature.

And I have to admit, no movie had ever prepared me for how
hard it was to drag a body through water. It’s really, really hard.

And it’s even harder when something is crawling around your
ankle.

“OH MY GOD!” I screamed, water falling into my mouth as
something pressed against my foot and slid.

Aamir jumped into the water and swam towards us, water
falling in all directions as he grabbed my arm and yanked me, pulling me away
from whatever creepy thing was touching my ankle.

He pulled me back towards the dock as I carried Lola on my
back, and he reached a single hand up, pulling his body on top of it in one
fluid motion, bringing me up with him.

It hurt a little, having my front scrap against the wood,
and the wind and rain whipping my face, and Lola weighing down on my back, but
I could hardly feel any of it. It was like I was charged with fear and nerves,
impervious to the forces working against me.

“Hold on!” Aamir shouted, reaching for my other hand and
pulling both of us onto the dock.

I immediately turned to Lola, whose eyes were shut tight. I
pushed her, calling her name as loudly as I could. She didn’t respond, and for
a moment my heart sunk.

“She’s okay!” Aamir said, and I looked at him and nodded,
trusting his ability to sense it. We couldn’t spare another moment here,
waiting for the storm to worsen.

I coughed for a few moments, brackish water coming up my
lips, burning my tongue. Aamir picked up Lola and tossed her over his right
shoulder, extending his free hand to me. I took it, feeling his panic overwhelm
me like hot metal—and I kept it, knowing that the feeling was the one
thing that could keep me alive as we ran over the worn path, keeping our heads
low until we reached the parking lot.

Back at the house I saw Mac’s house in the driveway and the
lights in the front room were on. I quickly ran up to the door as Aamir trailed
behind me, Lola draped over his shoulder. She was wearing a hoodie he kept in
his trunk—otherwise her clothes were mostly torn from her body.

The weather had calmed and the wind and rain was
gone—of course, we were in the eye of the storm
after
I got kidnapped by Aamir’s psycho guitarist.

I swear sometimes it feels like the world actually wants me
dead.

I pounded on the door, too frantic to think rationally and
just ring the doorbell. My heart was pounding terribly, still filled with the
adrenaline rush from the bizarre, near death experiences I had only forty
minutes prior.

The door opened and there Mac stood, staring down at me with
wide open eyes. “What’re you doing?”

I was panting and had to catch my breath before I could
respond, but he looked passed me at Aamir and Lola and his expression changed
from bewilderment to shock.

“You…you found her.”

“Yeah,” I finally managed. “I think you need to check her
out.”

Nick, Trent and Brandon came to the foyer, crowding behind
Mac. I could see Trent freeze up, but I gave him a pleading look. He pursed his
lips, but as soon as he caught sight of Lola, his expression changed. She was
is in trouble. He pushed passed Mac and went to help Aamir with her body.

“So, you came through on your promise,” Brandon said,
sitting down on the couch. I could tell he was amazed—that’s when I
realized he was the wolf I had seen in front of the Crab Shack, not Allison or
Mac.

“Um…yeah, I have a lot to tell you,” I sighed, flouncing
down next to him.

“Where’s Sierra?” I asked, looking around the room.

“I…I put her in my bed,” Nick said, avoiding my gaze. “I
didn’t think it was right to have her sleep on the floor, that’s all,” he said
quickly.

“I didn’t say anything, did I?” I raised an eyebrow. So
maybe this was what Sierra was hiding from me, or “figuring out.”

“Do you mind telling us what’s going on?” Mac interrupted in
a gruff voice. His patience was clearly running thin. I had never seen him in
such an exacerbated state before.

“A lot,” I sighed, dropping my head in my hands.

“Well now that we have Lola safe, can we beat this guy to
the ground?” Trent growled, his eyes narrowing on Aamir, who was hovering over
Lola uncomfortably.

“No! Aamir saved me…”

“To be honest, I’d really like to know what happened too,”
he said in a controlled voice, but looking at Trent as he said it.

“Okay, everyone calm down,” I said, hoping to keep the guys
from ripping each other apart. I tried to calm my dizzy head, and Nick quickly
fled to the kitchen silently, returning with a soothing cup of tea.

Once I finished recounting everything I could remember
happening to me, there was a long silence that seemed to stretch on forever. I
drank some of the tea, and burnt my tongue, the terrible swamp water still
strong in my mouth.

“So, Gita was the reason for the storm,” Mac said in a low
voice, holding the stethoscope he kept under the couch to Lola’s chest. He
waved Nick over, who looked at her sullenly, taking her limp hand into his and
closing his eyes. It was almost like they were orchestrating an elaborate
healing process.

“Yes,” I said, meeting Trent’s gaze. His jaw was locked, and
he was avoiding looking in Aamir’s direction completely. I knew he wanted
nothing more than an excuse to punch him, but at least now he knew why I ran
off with him—and how helped save our lives.

“And she used that girl, Lola, so that she could track you
were,” Aamir said in a hushed voice, anger written in his tight lips. It was
surprising to me that he hadn’t known about this, considering they were
supposed to have such a tight relationship, but I guess there were a lot of
things I assumed about them without really knowing.

“And you didn’t know?” Trent snapped suspiciously.

“It may be hard to believe, but no, I didn’t,” Aamir said,
annoyance flitting across his face. “Gita disappeared soon after you left,
Bailey. That’s why our tour was postponed…we were very worried about her. I mean,
I knew she was upset with…
us
,” he
said, choosing his words carefully when he referred to our hook-up, “but I
really didn’t know she was capable of this. I clearly underestimated her.”

“What was she trying to do?” Brandon asked. “Her and that
guy got away.”

“Not until after we gave them a good beating though,” Trent
growled. This information seemed to pain Aamir.

“She was trying to become the next High Priestess of Cyrus.
You see, currently I’m the next in line, since my father is the High Priest.
But you can prove yourself worthy of the position, so she wanted to eliminate
your pack, since you’ve been uncharacteristically public lately.”

I winced, thinking about how I was the cause for all of
that.

“But the sacrificing? What was that about?” I asked.

“She was calling on an ancient curse that honestly is way
beyond her or Austin’s capabilities. She was calling on the elements, so the
storm, to cloud her enemies from communicating with one another, that’s you
guys. When you make that deal with nature, you are supposed to offer up two
enemy sacrifices—if you perform the curse successfully, a third enemy can
be claimed as your own.”

“So, why did she leave Lola in the swamp?” I asked,
realizing that I was the third sacrifice. She was going to use my energy to
kill the entire pack.

“Of the two souls that are sacrificed to nature, one must be
killed by your own hands, and the other must be left, weakened, out in the
wilderness. That way there’s still a chance you could fail—all of our
magic has an element of chance attached to it.”

“This is really bizarre,” Brandon muttered. But Trent, Nick,
and Mac looked thoroughly engrossed.

“So she kept us from communicating with one another with the
storm. But gave Lola access to Bailey’s thoughts? That might explain the voice
you were hearing earlier, Bailey. You said it sounded like Lola,” Nick posited.

“Yeah. Well it’s not like Gita has access to any of your
thoughts so it was a good strategy on her part.”

“But what about that night we heard her at the Crab Shack,
Bailey?” Trent pointed out, looking awfully suspicious of Aamir. It was made
painfully obvious by the way he was addressing me and not Aamir.

“We did hear her, but we couldn’t sense that it was her.
Which is something we should be able to do.” I relayed the information to
Aamir.

“Yeah, she probably had some hand in crafting a spell or
something. That’s honestly a pretty easy thing to do, as long as the
participants willing.”

We sat in silence for a moment. Then Lola stirred, mumbling
something incoherent. Still, I couldn’t help but perk up—she was moving!

“I should go. I have an aunt who lives nearby,” Aamir said
quietly, looking away from me and to his feet.

“How can we trust that you won’t try to harm us?” Trent
said, moodily. But no one chided him. Everyone was wondering the same thing.

“I guess you’ll just have to,” he said, finally looking up.

“Let me walk you to the door.” I got to my feet and offered
him a smile. I felt bad that he had helped me so much, and this was the
treatment he received from the pack. But I knew that was how it had to
be—it was how we protected ourselves.

At the door Aamir asked to see me the next day. I agreed,
but tried to hurry him out since the eye of the storm seemed to be ending and I
didn’t want him to drive through the relentless tropical nightmare.

I didn’t even bother going back to the living room after I
saw him out. I just passed out on Trent’s bed, only to awaken ten hours later
in Trent’s warm arms. Also, to a prescription from Mac.

Turns out, it was unlikely that I
didn’t
have parasites since I swallowed swamp water. I knew then
that the next time I had to save someone by jumping into filthy bog water, I’d
think twice.