Uncanny Day (16 page)

“Look, I know you guys have the dance tonight and everything. I just want you to be careful, be safe. We love you both dearly.” Rick's voice was solemn.

We nodded and left the room. Instead of roaming the kitchen for food, I had a something else in mind. Upstairs in my room, I flicked my touch pad and cued up my computer.

Come on, please be online.

I checked my list of online chat friends and saw that Kate's name was lit green.

Yes.

I noticed Dean out of the corner of my eye while I typed.

“Now what are you doing?” he asked.

“Just running a theory.”

UncannyInc: Hey.

A moment passed, and a reply came back.

MuddyHuddy: You just can't get enough of me, can you?

UncannyInc: Hilarious. Hey, check it out. A doctor at Murray Hospital just died. I've got a hunch it wasn't an accident.

MuddyHuddy: Now you're the reporter? LOL. What angle are you trying to work?

UncannyInc: No angle. Just want to see if you could find out some facts for me.

MuddyHuddy: Name?

UncannyInc: Dr. Edgar Vance

MuddyHuddy: Okay, stand by.

Dean spoke. “Nolan, what are you trying to prove?”

“I don't know. It's just a vibe I have.”

Dean didn't look happy at my reasoning. “I think you're wasting your time. I'm going for that nap.”

Lucky. I'd love a nap.

He turned to leave and then my computer pinged.

Boy, she's fast.

MuddyHuddy: You're right. Vance's death was no accident.

“Ha! You see? I was right.”

“What?” Dean turned back around.

“Kate says Vance's death wasn't an accident.”

“Oh, what—you're going to believe everything your girlfriend says now?”

I stopped a minute and pondered that. Was Kate my girlfriend? I let the thought slide. My computer pinged again.

MuddyHuddy: I called that guy nurse again and asked him for details.

UncannyInc: Nice networking! So what happened to Vance? Was he murdered?

Dean was looking over my shoulder now. It took Kate a second to reply.

MuddyHuddy: Sorry, you're wrong this time.

I shot a look at Dean.

UncannyInc: Okay—what, then?

MuddyHuddy: Suicide.

My fingers froze for a moment as the answer sank in.

UncannyInc: Suicide?

MuddyHuddy: Nurse said Vance hung himself in his office last night. What's this all about?

UncannyInc: I'll tell you tonight.

A chill ran down my spine; I noticed goose bumps on my arms. I'd forgotten and left my window open that morning. The cold air was still blowing in, although I couldn't be certain that was the reason for my chill.

“Okay, Nolan, this is officially getting weird. I think we should back off,” Dean said. “Listen, forget all of it. Let's just avoid Trent tonight and have a good time.”

I felt like I was in a daze, but I responded to him. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

Chapter Thirty-seven

RIVER CITY DIDN'T HAVE tons of places to eat in town. That wasn't to say we were so unsophisticated as not to have a McDonald's. Also in the mix were Irma's Country Corner and The Burger Barge, hometown staples. Some people actually made the trek all the way to Chicago and back for a more “cultural” dining experience. Dean, Celia, Kate, and I were just fine splitting things down the middle and going to the local Italian place, Roberto's. We weren't alone, though; other couples had made reservations after hearing Dean and Celia were going there.
What am I, chopped liver?

Personally, anywhere would have been fine with me. I just wanted to escape the Rick and Tracy photo shoot from hell. I'll admit, I looked pretty good in my Harold shirt and tie, but I forgot all that when Kate showed up to the Mitchell house.

Gone was Kate's mousy librarian look. In its place was a red-carpet beauty who could've battled for the front pages of the tabloid magazines.

I must have frozen because she caught me staring at her.

“You'd better close that mouth of yours or it'll get stuck that way,” Kate said, obviously pleased to know what I thought of her outfit.

Oh, man—I had never wanted to read a mind as badly as I did right then. The idea quickly faded as I found myself looking at things other than her eyes.

Just as we were all recovering from the temporary blindness the camera flashes gave us and were ready to hit the road, Rick stepped forward. Ah, no dance night would be complete without a Rick lecture. He was a River City deputy, and it was written in his moral code to do such things.

“Hey, kids, listen.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Tonight there are going to be a lot of people out. Everybody's looking to have a good time and that's fine—we want you guys to have fun too. But please, use your best judgment.” Rick was eyeballing Dean and me, although I was sort of more concerned about Kate. I'd read of some hairy situations on her blog before and been glad I hadn't been involved.

“Whose phone do we have for a contact in case of an emergency?”

My burning urge to bring up reason #392 why Dean and I needed cell phones sat on the tip of my tongue, but I'd argued the point before and now was not the time. Still, I got a sideways glance from Tracy.

Kate piped up, producing her own phone from her trademark messenger bag.

“Mine is fully charged and ready,” she said and pressed a button on the screen. The theme music from The X-Files started to play.

Rick approved and took down Kate's number—something I just then realized I didn't even have.

With that, the four of us literally raced to Dean's car and were down the driveway before another camera flash.

***

HAVING CELIA AT DINNER with us made it hard to talk about certain things. Yet Dean was right; I needed to take a chill pill and have fun. This was a night of romance, after all. Blech. Where was the mouthwash?

Even though I was enjoying my chicken Parmesan and Cherry Coke, just rolling with the flow, Kate had other plans. I knew she'd been planning it as soon as we had sat down at our table. She had flipped an internal switch, and Muddy Huddy was up and running.

She tried her best to slide comments into our casual table conversation.

“So, how do you think the doctor killed himself?”

Yeah, the first one was a shocker. I didn't have to read Celia's mind to know she thought Kate was a nut.

Dean spoke. “Kate, I think we are going to take it easy tonight.”

I placed my hand on hers under the table. She pushed it away instantly.

Okay, that isn't going to work.

“All right, fine. Then let me ask, what are you going to do at the dance when Trent shows up?” she said, aiming her barrage at Dean. She followed with, “The school doesn't have an Old Navy for us to hide in.”

I too was curious and looked at Dean. He kept his head and just let out a sigh. Kate was playing it smart and obviously bringing up at least one topic that Celia would know about and we could discuss.

“We'll ignore him,” Dean cut back in. I took a sip of my drink. I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well by the roll of Kate's eyes.

“I have no idea what he's after,” I said.

“He's got issues and was just messing with us at the mall,” Celia added.

Kate shot her an ugly look.

“Come on, Kate, calm down,” I said, and this time she did. I started to worry. That wasn't in her character; something else was going on.

“Sorry, I'm edgy tonight,” Kate confessed.

“I think we all are, after what happened to Stephanie,” Dean offered. “Why don't we finish our dinner and head over to school?”

We all agreed, but it left an awkward sensation at the table.

Halfway through the rest of the meal, a few other couples came over to our table, mostly to see Dean, and they swapped a few parent picture stories.

Meanwhile, Kate got my attention and spoke softly. “I think I know what Trent is after, and I have few other ideas of what that thing was in Stephanie's mind.”

She really wasn't going to let this go. I humored her and let her explain.

Pulling a book out of her bag and setting it on the table, she cut to a bookmark she had in it. I read the title out loud. “'The Call of the Cheeto,' by I.B. Lovecrap.” I chuckled at my joke, but was swiftly corrected by Kate.

“It's ‘
Cthulhu
,' and the author's name is H.P. Lovecraft.” Then she added, “This is serious stuff.”

Well, maybe to her, but then again, what tale of the fantastic wasn't serious to Kate? I'd forgotten she had exploded with excitement when I told her I could read minds. It gave her argument a little more credibility.

“There are real cults out there that worship this thing,” Kate pointed out.

I nodded, finishing off the last bite of my dinner. I was stuffed. How could I now be asked to go and dance myself into a crazy sweat, probably regretting every bite later as it came back up in the guys' bathroom?

Kate kept talking. “It's never explained what Cthulhu really is, but in Lovecraft's story, it's said to be ‘
sinister with latent horror
.'”

“Hold on. I thought you said it was a king of some kind,” I interjected.

“You're talking about the Shadow King. Right, but Cthulhu is just another example of what I'm trying to get across to you.” Kate was a combination of excited and giddy.

“Which is?” I asked.

Kate's shoulders slumped. “That thing you saw is something foreign, alien, something beyond this world!”

The last part Kate sort of yelled and a few heads turned our way, along with Dean's and Celia's. Kate slid the texts back into her bag sheepishly. I looked over at her finished dish of some sort of pasta.

“Man, what did they put in yours?” I laughed, trying to cover for her.

Although I knew Kate was basing all her theories off things that truly didn't exist, she was starting to make a point. We had no idea what this thing was or where it came from. I felt bad for her and wanted to make up for it, but I was even shocked at myself as I agreed to secretly read Trent's mind at the dance, per Kate's request.

I blamed it on her hot dress.

Chapter Thirty-eight

RIVER WEST HIGH SCHOOL was all decked out. I'd already seen most of the decorations earlier, during Stephanie's memorial service. Now the lights were down low (dark, almost), and the atmosphere was that of a nightclub.

Beams of colored light shot out of the main entrance to the school gym as if an alien attack was being fought inside. Kate's goofy theories must have been still wavering between my rational thoughts.

At first, all we could hear was the low thump of bass, but once we were at the mouth of the dance itself, we were hit with a fused soundtrack of pop and dance music. Not my style, and let me remind you that I had never planned on attending the event in the first place. Yet, life had taken a swing and hit a monster out of the park.

So now there we were, Dean and I, milling around outside the gym as we waited for the girls as they “freshened up.” As I tried to peek into the dance beyond where we stood, I felt a tap on my elbow.

“Okay, what does she have up her sleeve?” Dean asked directly.

“Huh?” I was caught off guard. “Who, Kate?”

“Yeah. What's she planning?” Dean didn't sound happy.

I shook my head; I couldn't lie to him. “Kate sort of convinced me to read Trent's mind. She believes he's behind all of this.”

Dean closed his eyes, clearly more frustrated. “I told you to stay clear of him tonight,” he said, now reflecting his own dad mentality.

“And I'm going to. I just need to slip in and slip out. He'll never know I was there.” I watched Dean move his gaze to the floor.

“Nolan, I think it's a bad idea,” he said frankly.

The girls came back, and Celia took Dean's arm in hers. “Come on. Let's go in!” she almost squealed.

At least one person was actually enjoying tonight.

***

A SEA OF SILHOUETTES danced in herds to rhythmic psychosis somebody actually called music. To have a conversation in there meant you had to bring your own megaphone. It was just my luck that I'd forgotten mine. I tried anyway, blaring my words to Dean.

“You'd have to break my legs and drag me by the collar to get me out there.” I thumbed outward, indicating the crowd to him. Dean smiled.

“What?” I asked.

“You're about to have your legs broken.” Dean shouted back.