Sidekick (8 page)

A smile touched the corner of Ryder’s lips. “I do believe you too have done enough for one day.”

“Oh don’t give me that I do believe you have done enough for one day. Sure I’ve made a few mistakes, but this has been the coolest experience of my life.” I realized how true the words were as I was saying them. Aside from all the near-death moments, I had never felt so alive. This was a world I had never known. A world where decisions weren’t always being made for me in advance. A world where my father’s expectations didn’t matter.

A world where I was alone.

Guilt washed over me. I didn’t mean that. Jenny was a part of me. We had that bond that only twins could understand. It was just that—no, I wouldn’t even think it. This experience would have been even better with Jenny.

“I must go,” Ryder said revving the bike’s engine.

“Wait!” I shouted. Ryder looked at me, her eyes suddenly widening in horror. Probably because I was throwing myself towards her, arms open, for a very big hug.

I wasn’t sure myself why I had done it until I was in it.

“I have killed people for less,” Ryder said over my shoulder.

I pulled back hurriedly.

Ryder once again gave me her slightly withering look. Then she was gone, rubber peeling into the distance.

No, I hadn’t been sure why I had gone in for the hug. The universe must have been at play again, because in that moment I done something…something that would change my life forever.

And it was awesome.

Chapter Ten

My phone had twenty-something text messages on it.

They all ran something like this:

You’re on the news!

Don’t think that crazy new, I dyed my hair brown, disguise is going to fool me
.

What the hell is going on with you?!?!

What do you think you’re some kind of superhero?

Nice save on the boy BTW
.

Hello???

I felt like such a jerk. It was unfair what I was doing to Jenny. And what I was going to do next would make it even worse.

I ignored all of the messages and simply typed:

Where am I Jenny?

The words brought back so many memories. It was a game we used to play. Jenny, with her condition, wasn’t always mobile, so she often encouraged me to go out exploring for the both of us. Whenever I got to my location, I would type
Where am I Jenny?
and she would use the GPS on my phone to track me down.

I thought you weren’t using that phone anymore?

I’m not. Please just tell me where it is
.

Yup, that’s right. The universe had been speaking to me during that hug with Ryder. My brain had never worked faster. Everything suddenly had become very clear. I knew that if I didn’t do something, Ryder would be gone from my life forever, and I couldn’t let that happen.

She was everything I wanted to be. Strong. Confident. Brave.

So I had grabbed my old phone, which I was still hanging on to for emergencies, and I shoved it into the leather satchel attached to the seat of her bike. I was guessing my father had stopped paying for the plan, but maybe along with free 911, the GPS still worked.

Hang on
.

My phone buzzed a moment later. I crossed my fingers and looked at the screen.

An address! Jenny had found Ryder’s address!

You’re the best!

Wait! Don’t you dare disappear again! Tell me what’s going on!

I will! I promise. I need a little more time. And don’t tell Dad any of this
.

I waited for a reply but nothing came. A lump formed in my throat. She wouldn’t tell our father. I knew that. She wouldn’t betray me. But she was hurting. Badly.

I thrust my phone back into my pocket. I couldn’t focus on that right now. The only way to make
us
better was to make
me
better.

And I knew how to do that now.

***

Yeah, I knew how to do it.

I just didn’t know how much walking would be involved…and me, with my shoes back on the top of a fast food truck.

When I got to the address, the sun had gone down, taking some of my confidence with it. To make matters worse, Ryder’s abode—if this was truly Ryder’s abode—wasn’t exactly inviting.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect a welcome mat, but I also didn’t expect to be so…uncertain. Before me was a run-down lot with an even more run-down apartment building in the middle of it—nondescript in every way, right down to its tired brick.

I watched old wrappers and crumpled newspapers blow across the cracked asphalt like tumbleweeds, and for a moment I thought
I can’t do this
but then my swollen feet said
Oh no you don’t, bitch
.

I really had come a long way. It couldn’t be for nothing. I screwed up my courage and made for the front doors.

They weren’t locked.

Once inside, I looked around. Little light from the distant streetlamps made it through the grimy windows, but from what I could see, only a few bits of garbage lay strewn about the cracked linoleum floors. There was also an elevator directly in front of me. A safety inspection clipboard, covered in cobwebs, hung on a nail beside it. On the other side of the elevator, I saw the door for the stairs. My feet screamed obscenities at the thought of it. I couldn’t climb anymore. Then again, the thought of walking all the way back to my apartment made them scream even louder.

Well, what could be the harm in pressing the up button to see if it worked? If it did, I would check out a few more floors. If it didn’t, well I would lie down on the grimy linoleum until I died or something.

Just as my finger was reaching for the button, my phone rang loudly.

I jolted so hard I thought my spine might have cracked. Why didn’t electronic equipment know when you were in a very scary place and adjust the volume accordingly? Stupid phone was going to wake up all the crack dealers.

I fumbled to answer it.

“Brenda?”

“Bren—oh, yeah Brenda here,” I whispered nervously. The reporter. The totally hot
watch out I’m going to flex, and it might knock you down
reporter. I started to smooth down my hair before I realized that was stupid.

“How are you? I think I saw you on the news again.”

“News? Me? Oh no you must have mistaken me for someone else,” I said. I wasn’t exactly sure why I lied. I was already using an alias, but things felt like they were getting too complicated. And my father, thankfully, was leaving me alone for the moment—read erasing my existence from his mind—but that would not stay the case if I didn’t keep my head down.

“Are you sure? I could have sworn—”

“Nope. Not me. I would remember climbing a flying pirate ship and saving a little boy from the clutches of death. That girl was so incredibly brave…and beautiful too. Some might even say hot.”

“Yeah, I definitely would,” he said with a questioning tone.

I wasn’t very good at this.

“So, what are you up to right now?”

“I’m, uh…I’m, uh, doing feminine things.”

“Feminine things?” he parroted slowly. “You know this isn’t the 1950s. I am aware of the Dark Arts.”

“Ha! Dark Arts. That’s good…yeah,” I said, softly punching myself in the forehead with my knuckles.

“Right. Okay, seeing as my career as an expert rapport builder is going nowhere, I might as well get to the point. I’m doing a piece on the Sultana and her crew, and I wanted to maybe interview you.”

Sure. Interview me. That’s all. It wasn’t as if he wanted to see me.

“And I wanted to see you.”

“You’ve got to stop doing that,” I muttered, pondering for half a second the possibility that he was a mind-reading witch, but I pulled myself back before I got too sucked into the fantasy of him stirring a cauldron without his shirt on.

“Doing what?”

“Never mind.” I paused, taking a moment to think. Was this really a good idea? I hadn’t exactly gotten my life sorted out. Mr. Pushkin was going to kill me if I didn’t come up with another thousand dollars, I was indebted to Mr. Raj who was raising baby stripper-vipers, and I was using an alias to protect myself from my very own father. It really didn’t seem like the best time to add romance to the mix. Then again, anything involving that many muscles couldn’t be a bad idea.

“Sure. I’d love to do an interview.”

Reporter dude probably said something in return, but I didn’t hear it. The elevator had suddenly hummed to life.

I sure hadn’t pressed the button, but it was moving, coming down to be precise.

“Um, I’m going to have to call you back.”

“Sure, I—”

I hung up on Muscles. I really needed to find out his name.

Glowing yellow numbers above the elevator door were pinging down,
four…three…two…

Okay, I didn’t have any weapons, and my feet were swollen and possibly explosive. That meant my only shot was to throw my cell phone directly at the head of whatever was coming out of that elevator. I lifted my arm, poised to strike.

The elevator pinged one last time and then stopped.

The doors opened.

It was empty.

Huh.

I stood with my arm still up, weighing my options. The yellow glow coming out from the open box did look inviting, and my old phone was somewhere at this address. Therefore, it stood to reason that Ryder was at this address. And I wanted to talk to Ryder. And Ryder wasn’t on the ground floor. Therefore, I should probably get in the elevator.

I just wished the elevator didn’t also seem so much like a coffin.

I gulped and stepped forward.

I could do this. Lately I was the poster child for girls who do hard things.

I hobbled in and turned around.

I looked at the glowing floor numbers. I already knew which one I was going to press.

Top floor.

My destiny was on the top floor.

I punched the button and clasped my hands together. I suddenly really needed to pee.

If she didn’t kill me, maybe Ryder would let me use her washroom.

Chapter Eleven

Ping!

The elevator doors slid open. It took a moment for me to understand what I was seeing. Then the words
This is more like it!
popped into my head.

Soft lighting illuminated a nighttime oasis. Towering plants with large flat leaves beckoned me forward with their swaying branches. I breathed in deeply. The bamboo floors and sandalwood furniture mixed with the faint smell of spice suddenly made me feel like I had been transported to Tibet, but instead of mountains looming overhead, painted masks gazed down calmly from the walls.

The doors of the elevator began to shut.

I hurried out and stood very still. Ryder could be anywhere. My eyes darted to the ceiling, fully expecting to see her hanging there like a spider.

Nope. Clear.

I considered calling out, but I was pretty sure hearing my own voice would make me pee my pants. Obviously, someone had sent the elevator down for me. I would wait.

Five minutes passed.

Nothing.

My finger itched. The down button on the elevator was calling for me to press it.

I could just turn around and go.

But go where? Back to my apartment with the toilet by the bed? Back to The Pink Beaver? Back home?

The thought of home brought my daddy-anger to the surface again, and that made me all-over mad.

Ryder was messing with me.

Sure, fine, I almost got her shot today, and I didn’t listen like a good little dog when she told me to stay…and now I
was
kind of trespassing, but none of that was an excuse for rudeness.

I opened my mouth unsure of what I was going to say, but damned sure I was going to say something, when suddenly I screamed.

Ryder was standing right in front of me.

Seriously, one second there was a dimly lit foyer with some plants and art, and the next she was right there.

She so needed to teach me how to do that.

Ryder stared at me, cool as a cucumber. A loose knot on top of her head held her fiery hair in place, and a black silk robe with an Asian-looking landscape woven into it streamed over the toned muscles of her body.

“Hi,” I mumbled. “You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.”

Ryder stared at me with her neon blue eyes. I had seen this trick before, mainly from my father. Say nothing and people get nervous. They fill in the silence and tell you all sorts of things they never intended.

But just because I knew the trick, it didn’t mean I knew how to defend against it.

“I can help you.” The words came out a little faster than I had intended.

Ryder raised her eyebrows. For the first time, I saw faint lines creased her forehead.

“I believe this is yours,” she said handing me my phone.

“Oh yeah, thanks. How long did it take you to—”

She held up a hand, and I stopped talking.

“You have done a very dangerous thing by coming here.” As she spoke the words, she turned from me and walked to a seating area by a two-sided fireplace. She then lowered herself into a chair that faced me and crossed her long, toned legs. “So tell me. What would make you do such a dangerous thing?”

“I think I can help you.”

The faintest of smiles reached her eyes.

“As I said on the street, you have helped me quite enough.”

“Okay, so it hasn’t been a success-only journey, but you should consider what I have to say.”

Ryder turned from me and picked up a mug that looked like it had been crafted in some medieval monastery. She took a long sip then nodded once. This was it. My chance.

“Um, so, wow…okay, I’ve come a really long way to talk to you,” I said, “on foot.”

Ryder looked at my feet and settled back in her chair.

I smacked my lips together. “Do you think I could have something to drink?”

“No.”

“Okay,” I said chuckling. “You probably don’t know this, but you only get one
no
a night, and now you’ve used yours all up.”

I waited to see if my joke had any effect.

Ryder’s face was as frozen as her heart appeared to be.

“Okay, well, anyway, I was thinking that after all we have been through today that we shouldn’t end this partnership prematurely.”