Kissed By Moonlight (16 page)

It was a strange thought. How many people ran away from their life to go back home? Wasn't it usually the opposite?

But at the same time another emotion rose up in opposition: resistance. It was surprising. Despite everything that happened in the last few days, I liked it here. I still wanted to be here.

A warm feeling spread out from my chest.

"Thanks, mom," I said.

"For what?"

"Oh, nothing... nothing."

I couldn't tell her that just hearing her voice gave me the little bit of strength I needed to stay where I was and see this through. She had been the one to get me to come out here in the first place.

"School's going well. Passing all my courses and all that."

I could
practically hear her smiling. I imagined her leaning back in her chair or on her bed, one hand laid over her chest as she smiled. The thought made me smile, too.

"And you're still having a good time with your new friends?"

I'd told her about going to the parties at Jim's, about finding a good friend in Jenn. Of course, I hadn't said anything too particular about what went on at these parties.

"Yes, mom..."

"Oh! Have you met a boy yet?"

"Mom!"

I'd met a couple boys, actually. I found myself thinking both of Adam and of Vick. They were so different from one another, but they were both in my mind. Of course, I had no idea what Adam actually wanted. Really, was that night a date or wasn't it?

And Vick was just so intense, and really different from all the other guys in the frat. Why was he with them in the first place?

"I'm sorry about all the questions, sweetie. It can just get so boring here, is
all. I've been thinking of you a lot lately."

"Things are going well, then?" I said, smiling. It was nice to have some good news for once. Good news was the real fuel that kept people going. Without it, you just lose the will to really do anything but exist. I knew that feeling all
too well. It was the thing that made me hide that UCLA letter all those months ago.

"Yes, the doctors say the numbers and results they're seeing are very promising. One of them actually said just yesterday that they didn't even think this would have been possible without me actually coming and staying here. Getting that acceptance letter was serendipity,
Steph!"

"Yeah..." I said.

We talked for about an hour longer. I knew this was going to fatten my cell bill, but it was worth it.

I wanted to keep talking until I had to go, but I could hear mom's strength
beginning to fade. Her laughs got a little more forced every few minutes, her voice a little more distant. Until finally she had to end it.

"I'm sorry,
Steph. I'd love to talk all night, but there's a nurse in the room giving me a look like the one you used to use when I didn't want to take my pills. I'm going to take a nap for a while, I think. Please, call again soon. I love you,"

"I love you, too, mom," I said. I heard her receiver clatter as she hung it up, and then the line went dead.

My ear hurt from having the phone pressed against it for so long. And the cell was hot, too. It was creepy how they got hot like that.

I tossed the phone down onto the bed and gently rubbed my ear. The flesh was warm, feverish. A pit opened up in my stomach as I looked out my window. It got dark out so early late in
Fall.

That call had transported me into a happy place while I was on it, but now that it was over, I was back here in reality. The quiet pressed in around me, and my breathing sounded too loud.

I made myself concentrate on the good news from mom. We both seemed to be doing so much better now that I wasn't clinging desperately to that meager, status quo existence I'd left behind in Pasadena.

Shifting myself off the bed, I stretched, wincing as the blood flowed back into my legs. Throwing on my jacket, and I went out to meet Adam at the cafeteria and find out what he'd learned about Jenn's disappearance.

Chapter 22

The place was pretty packed with
students still eating supper. It was pasta night, and I could smell the rich sauce. My stomach grumbled at me, and I fretted about how long I'd have to stand in line. Had Adam already grabbed food?

I went over to get into the spaghetti line, casually scanning all the tables full of students for Adam. The big room thrummed with conversation, with the metallic noise of fork and knife on plates, with the sizzle of cooking.

There didn't really seem to be anywhere to sit, either. But that was okay; we could worry about that after I'd secured myself some supper.

"There you are. Let's go," Adam said, taking one hand out of his jacket long enough to tap me on the arm.

"But... Aren't we getting supper?" I said. My stomach was hollow.

"No. Not here. Come on, if I leave the car out there too long they'll tow it."

He grabbed the red plastic tray out of my hand and set it back on the stack. Then he pulled me out of the line. The students behind me filed forward to take my place.

"But... food
.." I said as he pulled me slowly around the knots of people towards the exit. My stomach seemed to lag behind me, unwilling to leave.

Why couldn't he just tell me whatever he had to say right there at the cafeteria?

Instead, he let me outside into the cold night air. That actually helped a bit with the hunger as my body contracted against the chill. It really was frigid out. There seemed to be ice crystals floating around, glinting a little in the light.

"Get in," he said, opening the door.

It was a late-model BMW sedan, its black coat shiny and smooth. I sat down and clicked my seatbelt in place by muscle memory, my eyes and thoughts still on the double exit doors from the cafeteria.

The car jounced a little as Adam got in, and the engine purred like some purebred cat when he turned the car on.

It was a strange contrast. The BMW had all the luxury accessories: leather seats, a GPS right in the dash, the speedometer and all the other gauges projected onto the windshield. And in the driver seat sat a guy wearing a torn leather jacket, blue jeans with torn, thready knees, and a few days worth of stubble on his cheeks.

He even looked uncomfortable there, shifting to find the right position. The automatic mirrors kept whining as they tried to follow his movements.

He pulled away just as one of the campus' Crown Victoria security cruisers pulled around.

"Where are we going? Did you find Jenn?"

"Not yet. But I did some checking, and I think I might have an idea what's happened."

I turned towards him, the cafeteria gone from my mind. The shoulder strap dug into my flesh.

"Really? What is it?" I said.

Adam sighed, his eyes scanning the road ahead. There was another car waiting to pull out of the campus, its
brake lights a sinister red.

"I... I can't really explain it here."

"So, where are we going?" I said.

"My place.
My parents' place. It's just on the other side of town.”

Hazelglen
was so small it didn't really have anything resembling a rush hour. In fact, I thought it probably only had a couple intersections with traffic lights. And that was on Main Street. The rest of the town was all four-way stops.

There weren't many pedestrians, either. Everyone wanted to stay out of the frost, I guess. A few people scurried down the sidewalks, their shoulders hunched.

We passed the police department, which was a rather modern-looking building nestled between two houses. A couple cruisers sat in front of it, and I could see the officer sitting at the front desk in his black uniform. If I called them now, would they consider Jenn a missing person? It should have been long enough.

The BMW's engine purred louder as we started up the other side of the valley. Was his place outside town? The bright blue halogen headlights lit the trees and the shoulder of the road in spectral light.

I would have missed the driveway if we didn't turn onto it.

The old house was surrounded by an impenetrable tangle of trees. Even with no leaves, their branches were all so close together I couldn't see the sky. The house sat on a circular
plot, the dead grass cut short right up to the edge of the tree line.

The house was three floors high, with a central turret poking a bit over top of the tree canopy like some sort of snorkel.

There were no lights on in the many windows. It was the sort of place you might expect to see in a ghost story. Except the shutters were all in place, none hanging loose to flap and whine on their hinges in the breeze. The paint, from what I could see of it in the car's headlights, looked fresh and not chipped.

Despite the obvious care taken for it, a shiver ran down my spine and I shifted
uncomfortably on my heated seat.

"Is... Is anyone home?" I said.

"Only me. The family doesn't like to spend a lot of time around here. It's hard to shake a reputation in a small town."

"So why are you here?"

He killed the engine. The headlights stayed on for a few moments before dying as well. A shot of fear ran down through the center of my chest. Keep calm, I told myself, it's just an old house. But what did it have to do with Jenn?

Adam stepped out of the car, his feet crunching the gravel on the driveway. Cold air rushed into the cabin, forcing my little pocket of warmth out. The windshield started fogging with my misty breaths.

"Tradition. All the Arnold men go to Redeemer. Come on, it's warm inside. And there's food," he added, snorting a little laugh.

The front door was up four steps, surrounded by a covered porch. At that moment, the patio furniture sat in the dark
were mounds of monstrous shadow.

Adam unlocked the big old oak door and tugged it open. Even with it dark inside, I could feel how big the room inside was as my senses reached out into it.

He flicked on the light.

"Home, sweet home..." he said,
sounding like he'd rather be anywhere else at that moment.

"Wow..."

An enormous chandelier suspended from the ceiling (which seemed to go all the way up through the first and second floors here) lit the hall. There was a broad spiral staircase ahead. More rooms let off from this one. I thought I saw the end of a long dinner table through a set of French doors.

"You live here?" I said. It seemed like a grand old hotel.

A grand old haunted hotel, that is.

"I try to spend as much time away as possible. There are people who come once every few days to make sure everything's still clean, but usually I'm all alone here."

"Is Jenn here now?" I said, hoping this was all some big surprise reveal about how he'd found her and nursed her back to health here.

"No. Come on; kitchen's this way. Sorry I had to pull you away like that, but there's not a whole lot of time."

"Time for what?" I said.

Then he grasped my hand. My body responded, buzzing with
a contented warmth. This was what I'd wanted after our date (I know he never said it was a date, but I'm saying it was!). His palm was warm and dry, and his fingers squeezed just tight enough around mine as he led me away from that massive entry hall.

Chapter 23

The kitchen was huge, with massive stainless steel appliances and beautiful carved cabinets. A marble-topped island ran most of the length of the room, with its own sink.

So it was a bit of a letdown when he pulled a loaf of bread out of a basket, a jar of peanut butter from a cupboard under the island, and a plate and a butter knife from a
dishwasher. Even so, my mouth still watered.

He smeared the peanut butter over a slice of bread as he talked.

"You know how I told you that there's a family curse? I'm sure Jim's talked about it, too," he said.

I nodded, licking my lips as I watched the knife blade spread the smooth, brown peanut butter over the white bread. He went right to the edges with it.

"Well, there really is a curse. I'm sure you've heard of all the witch trial stuff that went on in New England?"

"I've seen
The Crucible
," I said, "So... you guys are witches or warlocks or something?"

He snorted and shoo
k his head as he cut the crusts off the slice. He did the same thing with the next piece as well, then he pushed the plate bearing the peanut butter bread across the island to me. I grabbed it up and took one bite, closing my eyes as it stuck to the roof of my mouth.

"No, not witches or anything.
But there was a witch. My great-great... whatever grandfather denounced her to the witch hunters that came into the area. Anyway, it turns out my grandfather was having an affair with this witch, and he probably told the hunters out of spite or something. No one in the family's sure why..."