Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (3 page)

The rain continued throughout the day and into the night, showing no signs of letting up. Cat lay on her bed trying to read, but found herself skimming the same page over and over again. After closing the book, she threw it across the room in frustration. She scanned her room for something else to occupy her mind. Through the sound of the rain pounding on the roof, Cat heard a noise at the window. Knowing Jewels wouldn’t be out in the pouring rain, she approached it cautiously. Looking down at the lawn, she saw someone’s outline standing under the large Sitka spruce tree. By the light of the Victorian lamppost, she could see it was Ryan. He was being soaked by the rain, despite his efforts to try and stay under the cover of the large tree. Cat wanted to talk to him, but she couldn’t. She just shook her head
and turned away, closing her window curtain
.
As she made her way back to her bed, Cat sighed as she clutched the ring around her neck.

Ryan was confused as he saw her bedroom light go out. He wondered what had happened within a day to make her act like this.
Did I do something wrong?
He asked himself.  He kept looking up at her window, peering through the water-logged strands of dark brown hair hanging in front of his icy blue eyes, and ignoring the rain running down his face. He fought with himself, trying to decide if he should go up there and talk to her or just give her space.
I’m going up there,
he decided. The moment he took a step toward the house he was pinned by the headlights of a car turning into the driveway.
Great, it’s Taylor. There’s no mistaking that Mustang.
Taylor jumped out of his car, his angry footsteps quickly ate up the distance between them. His large muscular frame was definitely intimidating.

“What do you think you’re doing, Beckford? Stalking my sister, huh?” Taylor asked.

“Hey, is something wrong with Cat?” Ryan’s worried voice calmed Taylor slightly.

“Look man, it’s none of your business,” he replied. “Now go home and leave her alone, alright?”

“Your sister’s my girlfriend, whether or not you like it, and I want to know what’s going on!” Ryan demanded.

“Yeah, you’re right. I hate the idea of you being her boyfriend, but I guess I’ll have to deal, seeing as how Cat is one of the most stubborn people I know. But you need to give her some space. Believe me, I’m not just saying that to get rid of you,” Taylor’s eyes pleaded with him to comply.

“Alright, I’ll leave her alone…for tonight.” As Ryan turned and began walking away, Taylor just stood there in the rain, shaking his head at Ryan’s retreating back.

The following morning Cat awoke to the sound of her mom placing another plate of food at her door. Having not eaten for a whole day, her stomach groaned as the smell of bacon drifted underneath the door into her room. Cat waited and listened for the creaking of the attic stairs to stop, signaling her mom was gone. She opened the door and grabbed the plate quickly. Shutting the door with her foot, Cat ran to her bed, scarfing down the food along the way.

Hearing Cat’s bedroom door open and close brought a smile to Rachel’s face as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. “She’s eating again,” Rachel said to Sam as she entered the living room.

“Well, hopefully this is a sign she’s coming around,” Sam replied, looking at his wife, happy to see a spark in her eyes.

“I hope so, Sam. I hope so.”

“Oh, and Aldon just called. He said he met with Gretchen this morning.”

“Did he find out anything?” Rachel asked anxiously.

“Gretchen apparently didn’t give her the journal. It was an entity that resides in her store, whatever that means,” Sam replied.

 “But she could’ve taken it away from Cat. Why did Gretchen let her leave with it?”

“Aldon asked the same question, and her answer was, ‘We have no control over the future, and Cat was meant to have that book.’”

“Did she say anything about us?”

“Aldon said she reassured him that our secret was safe, for now,” he replied with slight worry in his tone.

“So what does that mean?” Rachel’s face reflected the concern in her voice.

“I don’t know. That’s all he said.”

Sam and Rachel exchanged glances, and then looked up toward Cat’s attic bedroom, both wondering what the future held.

Turning on her computer, Cat noticed she had forgotten to sign out of her TeenSpace instant messenger. She had more than fifty messages from her friends. She deleted them all, not reading any of them. She didn’t know how long she could keep this up.
I want to talk to them, I do. But I just don’t know what to say. And I don’t want to have to explain everything. It’s hard enough as it is,
she thought.

After shutting down her computer, Cat stared out the window toward Julie’s house. It was still pouring down rain, and Cat realized she had made herself a prisoner in her own room. So many questions ran through her head.
Who are my real parents? Why can’t I shake the feeling I’m more different than just what I see on the outside? Why have I been so sheltered my whole life? Is there more I haven’t been told?
Her head began to throb due to the pressure building up. She opened her mini fridge, popped one of her pills, and washed it down with a gulp of water. Flopping on her bed, she tried to cry, but no tears came. “Must be all out,” Cat said, laughing hollowly. A knock at her door interrupted her thoughts.

“Cat, honey?” Rachel asked.

“Go away.”

“Cat, please talk to me. I’m still your mother, blood or not.”

“Don’t even start with the ‘I’m still your mother’ stuff. You’ve got no right to say that. Not after the way you’ve lied to me my whole life!”

“Catherine Colvin, you open this door immediately! We’ve let you have your space, and now we need to talk,” Rachel demanded with her hands on her hips. “We’re sorry we lied, but you have to understand, we did it for a good reason. So you wouldn’t feel different.” Rachel waited a few seconds to see if Cat was going to open the door. When she didn’t, “Please open the door. All I want to do is talk. If you don’t like what I have to say, then you can stay in your room the rest of the summer. Just give me five minutes, please.”

Cat rolled off her bed and made her way to the door. She hesitated at first, then reached for the handle and turned it, letting her mom in. “You’ve got five minutes,” she announced with her back to her mom. Rachel grabbed Cat in a hug and squeezed. Surprised by the action, Cat stood there trying to take in what was happening. She could feel her mom’s tears soaking her shoulder as Rachel shook with sobs.

“Cat, please forgive us. We love you. I love you,” Rachel wailed as she squeezed Cat harder. Finally breaking her defensive stance, Cat turned and hugged her back.

“Rachel, it’s okay. I just need time. Thanks for the space, but I need to do this on my own terms.”

“I know.”

“How did you expect me to react? You dump all of this on me, and then what? We all just hug and frolic in fields of daisies?” Gently pushing her mom back, Cat stared intently into her golden brown eyes, which seemed to have lost some of their usual luster. “Put yourself in my shoes and think how it would feel if, one, your best friend goes missing, and two, you find out you’re adopted. I mean, hello, scarring much?”

“I know, that’s why we didn’t want you to find out like this. We had a plan-”

“Yeah, a plan to not tell me,” Cat interrupted.

“No, we were going to tell you eventually. I’m sorry you found out this way, sweetie.”

“Yeah, so am I,” she murmured. “So, are we finished here? Because I have some much-needed longing and gazing out my window to do,” Cat said dryly.

“Well, there is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Rachel replied, digging in her pocket. She pulled out a set of car keys, and then showed them to Cat. “Your dad and I were going to wait until you started school again, but we thought that with all we’ve put you through, maybe this would help a little.” Cat’s eyes grew wide as she tried not to break her melancholy demeanor. She reached out and grabbed the keys from her mom’s hand and saw the logo of the one car she had asked for after she passed her driver’s test.

“You got me a Jeep?”

“Yeah, and it’s orange too. Your favorite color.” Cat hugged her mom again and then backed away.