Glow (14 page)

I shook his hand. Happily nothing happened. No vision, no weird vibe. This dude was just a pastor. “It’s nice to meet you. Welcome to Rosedell.”

He reached back and pulled his wife forward. “And this is my wife Dorothy.”

She smiled and gave us all a little wave. “Please don’t call me Dottie, Dave and Dorothy Dodson is already awkward enough,” she joked.

We all laughed at that and then Dad stepped in. “The blonde here is my other daughter Melody.” Melody waved. “Next to her is the girls’ mother, Grace.” Mom waved. “Next to Zellie is her boyfriend Avery.” Avery changed up his greeting with jazz hands.

“And I’m Rebecca Adams,” Becky said, walking up to us with Wyatt on her hip.

“My girlfriend.” Dad put his hand on the small of her back.

“Who’s this little guy?” Dorothy asked, grabbing Wyatt’s foot and jiggling it. He gurgled.

“That’s my son, Wyatt,” Mom answered.

Dave and Dorothy nodded like they actually understood what was going on.

“It’s not as
Sister Wives
as it all seems,” Becky said, handing Wyatt off to Mom and sitting through Mr. Adams on the chair on the other side of Avery.

“More like
Wife Swap
,” Melody muttered. I kicked her underneath the table.

Dad blushed something fierce.

“Small towns, I get it,” Dorothy said. “We grew up in Potosi, Missouri. Before I married Dave I dated his brother Dirk.”

Pastor Dave bumped his hip into his wife’s. “On that note,” he turned to Dad, “I believe there are some people you’re not related to that I should meet?”

Dad ushered them over to the next table for more introductions.

“Becky, you sat in Mike,” Mom whispered across the table.

Mrs. Adams didn’t move. “Am I sitting in him now?” She swiped a roll from Avery’s plate and took a bite.

Mom rolled her eyes. “No.” Mr. Adams stood at the end of the table with his arms crossed.

And Dorothy thought their situation was awkward.

“So, will there be any more impromptu trips to Bend to meet strange people in strange houses tonight, kids?” Mrs. Adams asked.

Crap. Melody and I had forgotten to get our stories straight.

“Okay, now that the rewind is over I can let you in on what we were doing last night,” Melody said. I kicked her under the table again.

She glared at me and continued on. “I needed fireworks to use as a diversion today, so we had to go to the Warm Springs reservation to pick some up.”

“That was the big secret?” Mom asked.

Melody shrugged. “Those fireworks are illegal, and you know that Aunt Hazel always says that the less people there are involved in a rewind the better.”

“And you had to have Avery drive you there because?”

“Because I didn’t know how long it was going to take and I knew you’d need the car seat to take Wyatt home. Plus, you know how Avery and Zellie are. They practically can’t go to the bathroom without alerting each other.”

I considered kicking her again, but didn’t want her leg to end up looking like Mrs. Knapp’s. Melody
had
come up with a believable cover story. I suppose I could handle some teasing. Avery must have thought the same thing because he’d been looking down at his plate and stuffing his mouth with Kettle Chips since his mom had started trying to get information out of us.

As usual, Mr. Adams was the most skeptical of us all. “How much do fireworks cost these days?” he asked me.

“Mel, Mr. Adams wants to know how much the fireworks were.”

She thought for a second and then burrowed around in her purse, coming up with a receipt. Slapping it on the table, she directed her gaze toward where she thought Mr. Adams was standing. “I spent twenty-four bucks.”

He crossed his arms more tightly. “Not bad,” he mumbled.

Melody slid the receipt back into her purse.

“Well,” Mrs. Adams said, “Paul and I are taking the double D’s over to the fairgrounds for the rodeo and fireworks show this evening. You guys are all welcome to come.”

Avery finally looked up from his plate. “Thanks Mom, but Zel and Mel and I are meeting up with Claire at the Lodge. Her parents are throwing a big party for all the people that did the golf tournament today.”

Mrs. Adams stood. “Don’t I know it? In fact, one of the golfer’s wives has a hair appointment with me in half an hour. I better scoot.” She turned to Mom. “What about you, Gracie? You and Wyatt and Mike wanna go to the rodeo with us?”

“Can’t. I’ve got to pick Aunt Hazel up at the airport later on. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Bummer. Have fun with that.” Mrs. Adams wound her index finger under Wyatt’s chin and gave him a tickle. “See you later, Wy-guy.”

While Avery got dressed in the requisite khakis and polo shirt in the bathroom, Melody and I went to our bedroom to change for the party.

Melody whipped my vision notebook out from its hiding place under my mattress and sat down on her bed. “Tell me everything Christopher’s mom showed you,” she whispered.

I relayed the vision while I stripped the plain cotton sundress off and put the green dress I had worn to my sixteenth birthday party on. It was still one of the nicest things I owned and a favorite of Avery’s.

Melody scribbled the details down in the notebook and then put it back under my mattress. “It sounds like plenty of places around here, the landscape, I mean. But it didn’t look familiar?”

I slid my feet into a pair of flat black sandals. “It wasn’t someplace I’d been before, but it definitely has to be close by. Maybe a touristy campground or something? That would explain the teepee.”

“I’ll head to the library tomorrow and do a search.”

Yes, we were the last kids on the planet not to have a computer at home. No internet on our cell phone either. Dad thought it would make us morally stronger or something. Whatevs.

Melody stood in front of our closet with the door open, staring at its lackluster offerings. “Ugh. I have nothing to wear that’s nice enough.”

I joined her in her staring and had to agree. “We have to stop by Claire’s and grab,” I did air quotes with my fingers, “‘
the only shoes’
that go with the outfit she’s wearing tonight. She forgot to take them with her this morning.” I pulled a dark denim skirt off its hanger. “Why don’t you wear this and borrow one of Claire’s shirts? She has lots of fancy stuff.”

Melody put the skirt on and evaluated herself in the mirror. “Yeah, okay. That’ll work.” She went over to her dresser and unplugged our cell phone from its charger. She squinted at the screen as her thumbs moved quickly over the keyboard. Finished, she tossed the phone into her bag. “Now Ben knows where to go when he gets into town.”

“And hopefully where he’ll stay.”

We headed over to Claire’s house. Avery unlocked the front door with the key she’d given him at The Lodge and once again manned the alarm system. I picked up Claire’s shoes – a pair of red, strappy patent leather high heels and Melody borrowed a sparkly gold halter top that draped at the neckline. As Mel and I were walking down the hallway, I was hit with a blast of pine scent. I clutched my sister’s arm and dropped Claire’s shoes to the floor.

“You guys ready? We’ve still got to get Jay,” Avery called from downstairs.

“Just a second,” Melody called back, guiding me to the wall and helping me sit down.

I let the vision wash over me.

Two white men dressed all in black, one of medium height and the other around 6’2”, stood in front of Claire’s house. The taller man picked the lock on the side door that led into the garage. The lock popped and they slipped inside. They hurried through the empty garage and over to the keypad next to the door that opened into the mudroom. No Suburban meant that Claire’s parents weren’t home.

They cautiously pushed the unlocked mudroom door open and then waited, listening. No one made a sound. The alarm didn’t go off. They moved through to the kitchen, where the digital clock on the front of the range glowed green and read 3:22. It was the middle of the night. But which night? Neither one of them glanced in the direction of the dry erase calendar that I knew hung next to the refrigerator.

Keeping close to the hallway wall, they walked to the bottom of the stairs and paused again. Still no sounds. Claire was asleep.

Stepping lightly, they ascended the stairs. At the top they turned left and walked toward Claire’s bedroom. Her door was ajar. The taller man touched his fingertips to the doorknob and pushed the door open slowly. The red patent leather shoes sat in the middle of the floor. This was going to happen tonight.

The men went to Claire’s bed, one on each side. The shorter man took a bandana from his pants pocket and wadded it up in his hand. Claire was closer to him; despite having a king-sized bed, she always slept on the right side instead of in the middle. The man with the bandana sprung on Claire in one quick movement and forced the bandana into her mouth. She sat up, trying to jerk away from him, trying to scream. The tall man crawled across the bed and grabbed her hands, yanking them behind her back. Holding both her wrists in one of his hands, he produced a zip tie from the breast pocket of his black long sleeved t-shirt and secured it around her hands.

Working together, the men dragged Claire to the end of the bed, trading off who let go of her for the second it took to get around the bed posts that held the canopy. Claire kicked and squirmed, bucking her torso up and down as the taller man wrapped his arms around the top of her. The shorter man zip tied her ankles and then hoisted up her lower half. They carried her out of her bedroom and down the hallway to the top of the stairs.

I opened my eyes. Frickety frack. I was going to have to let my best friend get kidnapped.

Melody pulled me to my feet.

“C’mon, ladies,” Avery called from downstairs again, “you’re both beautiful. Enough with the primping.”

“Zellie got her period. We’re looking for some tampons,” Melody hollered back.

“Oh. All right. Well, I guess I’m going to get a pop then. I’ll be in the kitchen.” We heard Avery walk past the stairway and down the hall.

“Why am I the one that the embarrassing thing is always happening to? Why couldn’t you have gotten
your
period?” I asked, reaching down and retrieving Claire’s shoes from the floor.

Melody shrugged.

I sighed and told her the vision.

“One of those guys has to be Grandma, don’t you think?” Melody asked.

“Yeah, this feels like her. She’d definitely want to be in on stopping someone from hurting Claire.”

“Balls,” Melody cursed.

“What?”

“Well, I was thinking that it sucks that I have to strand the guys at the mountain. It would be nice to have back-up to subdue the guy that isn’t Grandma.”

“Isn’t that what the police are for?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I can’t call the police to the scene of an accident that involves you twice in twenty-four hours. Way too suspicious. Thank God your rewinds aren’t usually this close together.”

“We
could
have Avery help us, I know he-”

“No way. We’re supposed to be keeping him out of this, not using him as a body guard. He’ll have to stay at the mountain too.”

I admit it. I pouted and stuck my bottom lip out like a little kid. No backup, no police, no Avery. “This sucks-“

“-balls, yes, I said that already.”

“Okay, seriously, guys,” Avery said from the bottom of the stairs. “Have you looked in Claire’s bathroom under the sink? I think I saw a gigantic Costco box of tampons in there the last time I was looking for toilet paper. Which, FYI, is hidden underneath that weird crocheted cat in a dress.”

“Let’s just go to the party. I’ll have
yet another
plan ready by midnight,” Melody whispered, pulling me down the hall. “Dude, Avery, that thing is not a cat, it’s a raccoon. Anyone with two eyes could see that,” she yelled down the stairs.

Chapter Fourteen

Ben sat between Connor and Marcus in the backseat of Connor’s Suburban, watching I-5 whizz by out the window over Marcus’s head. The kid had been asleep for the past few hours. Having your boyfriend die and your mind filled with suggestion could do that to a person. Connor had also caught some shut-eye, but was now awake, his forehead pressed up against his window, his body turned away from Ben toward the door.

In a close situation like the backseat of a car, body language said everything. Connor wasn’t ready to have their elbows brush together, never mind forgive him. But he was here. He’d trusted and believed Ben enough to come with them.

Frank exited the freeway in Stockton and followed the road signs advertising a whole strip of fast food restaurants. He bypassed the usual joints and pulled into a motel parking lot that sported both a Krispy Kreme and an In-N-Out. He parked in front of the In-N-Out.

“Last chance for a Double Double. We’ll be in Oregon in a few hours.”

Marcus roused. “They don’t have In-N-Out? That’s stupid.” He stretched his arms above his head and opened his car door.

Frank and Christopher hopped out of the car. “You coming?” Christopher asked.

“Go ahead,” Ben answered.

“Suit yourself.” Christopher shut his door.

Ben chuckled. “Frank is totally obsessed with Double Doubles. It’s not like they don’t have greasy hamburgers in Oregon.”

Connor made a gagging face. “I haven’t eaten meat for over a year, so his obsession is lost on me. I do like their fries, though.”

“Well, we should go in and get something to eat, then. Or we could go to Krispy Kreme?”

Connor sat up straight and looked Ben in the eye. “I figured we should talk. Let’s just get it over with, because since you showed up at my door I’ve been trying to reconcile my feelings.”

“What are your feelings?” Ben asked, prepared to hear anything.

“Seeing you again makes me both want to jump your bones and throw up.”

“I find I have that effect on a lot of people.”

Connor grinned and then his expression turned serious. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Besides your lying about all of this supernatural power business, which I sort of get why you would lie about, you use your sex appeal as a power too.” Connor shook his head. “And with the way I feel about you, Benji, knowing who you are, who you can be...yet still wanting you...I find that disgusting.”