Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (18 page)

I had been ninety-nine percent sure it wasn’t Sam, but that one percent of me
had been so hopeful. What were the chances that my sister had survived the attack and our house burning down, and ended up in the Nephi, Utah antiques shop? Zilch, zip, z-e-r-o. But still . . .

I shook my head and tried to regain my bearings.
The place next door was a consignment shop full of used stuff. I supposed it made sense they were neighbors to an antiques store. There was a rack of CDs near the door and I read some of the titles. One CD in particular caught my eye and I had to buy it. It was the perfect distraction so I could stop thinking about Sam’s doppelganger.

It was a quick,
thirty-second purchase, and I stepped back outside the shop with my fifty-cent used CD in a small plastic bag. Sarah met me outside, a bag from the antiques shop in one hand, the paper doggie bag with the packaged fruit salad in the other.

“We might as well suck it up and go back to the motel to
face Mr. Crabby Pants,” I said.

Sarah looked at me. “I’m sorry, Reed. I know . .
.” she began, then paused. “I know it’s hard.”

“Yeah, well . . . it threw me a little. You know. Let’s just go.” I started walking in the direction of the motel, and she fell into step beside me. “I got Nathaniel a little something. A peace offering,” I added
and pulled the CD out of the bag to show her.

“ABBA Gold, Greatest Hits,” Sarah read. She gave me a skeptical look as if I’d lost my mind.

“Don’t ask, but I know he’ll like it,” I said, shoving the CD back into the bag.

“If you say so,” she said
. She passed me the doggie bag and linked her arm through mine for the walk back.

H
er hand rested on the doorknob of their motel room, and she blew out a deep sigh. Sarah already felt annoyed about the lecture Nathaniel was sure to launch into the second she and Reed walked in the door. She had plenty of beefs of her own with him and his recent illegal activity. If he wanted to go head-to-head with her, he was in for a heated debate.

Sarah turned the knob and pushed the door open. She spotted Nathaniel lurking in the farthest corner of the room, nestled away from the sun’s light. The door swung closed behind them, and Reed’s warm, comforting presence
buoyed her when he pressed up against her back.

“You could have done me the courtesy of answering my calls,” Nathaniel said, his voice flat and emotionless.
“I did ask that you remain here, and I wondered where you were.”

“Sorry,” Sarah and Reed said at the same time.

“We needed to get Sarah something to eat,” Reed said. “And we were extra careful, I promise. Anyway, I got you something.” He stepped around Sarah and held out his humble gift, wrapped in its small plastic bag.

Nathaniel looked taken aback and hesitated for a m
oment. Then he reached out tentatively and took the bag. He pulled out the ABBA CD and caressed the cover with his thumb. His expression thawed.

“I have not received a gift from anyone in . . . well, as long as I can remember,” he said. “Thank you.”

Reed shrugged. “When I saw it I thought of you, so you know, no big deal. I thought maybe you could listen to it in the car on our way to Salt Lake City.”

“If I seem overly strict
with you,” Nathaniel began, “it is only that I worry about you both. I do not wish to see you come to harm. I apologize for treating you like children, but despite all that has occurred, you still do not seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation. It is frustrating, trying to protect those who do not seem to want protection.”

Sarah felt a stab of guilt and s
he could understand what Nathaniel meant. As a cop, people probably wouldn’t appreciate her giving them a speeding ticket even though she only wanted to keep all drivers safe. Her goal was to help others, but she realized people might not appreciate her efforts.

“Anyone for a game of cards?”
Reed asked, startling Sarah out of her thoughts. He held up a battered deck he’d scrounged up from of one of the dresser drawers.

“Sorry, but
I don’t play card games because I have an unfair advantage. Being able to read people’s minds and all,” she said.

“Oh, right,” Reed replied and frowned. “I guess I’ll
play solitaire until the sun sets then.” He plopped down on one of the beds and started shuffling the cards.

Nathaniel didn’t say anything.

Sarah curled up on top of the covers on one of the beds for a nap, more to kill some time than because she was tired.

The sun had set, and they were on the road once again. The boys had fed and then dashed into the car for their death sleep. She reflected on the strangeness of her current situation, and then she thought about her sister. They were close and spoke on the phone at least twice a week, but there’d been no answer when she’d called earlier. She imagined Sophie was beside herself with worry wondering where she was. If she only knew!

Nathaniel regained consciousness first, and sat up in the back seat. About fifteen minutes later, Reed awakened and stretched.

“I think we’re about a half-hour or so away from the airport,” she said.

“Excellent,” Nathaniel replied. “We should be there in good time for our flight to New York.”

Reed was lost in his own thoughts and he stared out the window at the darkness.
God, I miss you, Sam
, Sarah heard him think.
I feel so frigging guilty for being such a smart-ass annoying brother. I wish I’d told you how cool you were, even if it sounded lame and you thought I was being weird.

Obviously,
Reed was still shaken after seeing that girl earlier in the afternoon who’d looked so much like his sister. “I have a younger sister too,” she said. “Her name’s Sophie. I was just thinking about her.”

Reed turned to look at her, but didn’t say anything. “Sophie and I . . . we’re pretty close,” Sarah continued. “We’ve been through a lot together.
When we were kids, one of our mom’s boyfriends . . .” Sarah hesitated. Why was she telling him this? Would it make Reed feel any better, or would it make him feel even worse? Her personal background was irrelevant, but she had an urge to share it. She wanted to get it out in the open.

Nathaniel and Reed both waited without interrupting, so she continued.
“Anyway, this boyfriend of our mom’s, he abused my sister when we were little. He . . . he took advantage of her, and Mom didn’t know about it. Not at first, that is. When you’re a kid, you know something’s wrong, but you don’t know how to stop it or that you can and should get help. Anyway, when Mom found out what was going on, she told him to get out. He did, thankfully, but the whole thing obviously influenced us a great deal. To this day, I have a strong motivation to help others and I hate to see people suffering. Which is why I wish there was something I could say to you, Reed, to make you feel better. I know you’ve hardly talked about losing your family, and I understand it’s hard. I can see it’s weighing on you.”

He ran his finger back and forth along the thick, silver chain hanging around his neck. He’d put on the chain she’d bought for him from the antiques shop without question.

“I feel so guilty,” Reed said at last. “Guilty for everything. Guilty for being alive. For surviving when they didn’t.”

Nathaniel reached
forward to lay a hand on Reed’s shoulder. “If it is any consolation, I do believe that feeling is quite normal. I have felt my own immeasurable share of guilt as well.” He pulled his hand back and retrieved his new CD, passing it up to the front. “Shall we listen to a little music?”

Reed took the CD and inserted it into the player. He was probably eager to fill the air with noise rather than co
ntinue to talk about his recent losses, and Sarah didn’t want to push too hard.

It was
difficult to make out much of the scenery in the darkness, but she could see the silhouette of the mountains lining the moonlit sky in the distance. Gradually, lights began to dot the nightscape, heralding their arrival in Salt Lake City. It was a shame she wouldn’t get to tour aroun, but their flight was due to take off in just over an hour and a half. This visit to Salt Lake City would be a whirlwind trip through the airport and nothing more.

Sarah parked the car, and
felt almost disappointed at having to stop the ABBA CD they’d been listening to. It had turned out to be surprisingly upbeat and catchy, despite most of the lyrics being about breaking up and being cheated on. They crossed the parking lot and entered the semi-circular airport. It felt a bit weird preparing to board a flight without any luggage except for her handbag, stuffed with the few odds and ends she’d picked up in Nephi. Nathaniel retrieved their boarding passes at the ticket counter and dealt them out while they headed towards airport security.

“Richard Humphrey?” Reed asked after reading the name on his boarding pass.

“Shh!” Nathaniel hissed. “Keep your voice down,” he added in a whisper. When he seemed reassured no one important was within earshot, he explained in a low voice, “You do realize ‘Reed Hennessy’ is wanted as a possible suspect or fourth victim in a triple homicide. I could hardly put your real name on the airline ticket.”

“But we don’t have ID to match these made-up names,” I protested.

“I can easily control the minds of humans to circumvent their security checks,” Nathaniel reminded him.

“Sally Parkers,” Sarah read from her own pass. “I guess that’s close enough to Sarah Perkins that I won’t get too confused,” she said.

“Sally? C’mon, Nathaniel,” Reed said. “No one has named their kid ‘Sally’ in at least a hundred years.”

Nathaniel glared at Reed. “It is not an offi
cial or permanent name change; it is only for this one flight. Could we please cease discussing it before we draw undue attention?”

Reed
rubbed his hands over his face and continued walking without saying anything else. He’d said he’d never left California except for one school trip to the Grand Canyon, so obviously he’d never been on a plane.

After passing
through security without incident, they made their way to the waiting area at gate 23. They sat side-by-side, facing the window. Workers loaded the luggage into the baggage compartments of the plane’s belly, as Reed tapped his foot, and opened and closed his fists.

“Reed?”
Sarah asked.

“Hmm?” he stopped his foot tapping and turned to look at her.

“You’re a little nervous, aren’t you?”

“Who me?
Naw . . . well, okay, maybe a teeny bit. I’ve never flown anywhere before, and you know, if we crashed–”

“We’re not going to crash,” Sarah promised, resting her hand on top of his to stop him from fidgeting.

“Statistically speaking–” Nathaniel said.

“I know, I know what you’re going to say,” Reed inte
rrupted. “That flying is safer than getting into a car, yadda yadda. But the thing is, if you’re in a car crash, you might survive, but if your plane crashes, you’re screwed! And what if I don’t die? What if I end up a mangled mess, but not dead, just hurt and having to snack on the other passengers to replenish my blood supply?”

“Do not be foolish,” Nathaniel scolded. “We are not g
oing to crash. You are not making any sense, and you are going to make the other passengers nervous.”

An elderly
couple sitting near them were in fact staring at them and frowning.

“Try closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths,”
Sarah suggested.

“We will be in the air for less than six hours,” Nathaniel added. “The drive to New York would take us at least two days.”

“You can do this,” Sarah said, looking straight into Reed’s eyes to emphasize her point.

“Yeah, I know . . . no big deal. Don’t worry about it,” he replied and turned to look back
outside.

A short while later, the flight boarded and they shuffled onto the plane with the rest of the passengers. They’d ma
naged to get three seats beside each other on the left side of the plane. Sarah had suggested Reed take the window seat so his nervousness would be hidden as much as possible from everyone else.

Reed closed his eyes, struggling to take calm, deep breaths while the plane taxied down the runway and took off. His hand tensed
and he gripped the armrest. Sarah glanced down in alarm when it cracked audibly.

“Oops,” Reed said, lifting his hand, revealing the br
oken armrest.

“I should have said the plane won’t crash as long as you don’t tear it apart,” Sarah said.

“Sorry.” He tried to smile, looking very cute and sheepish. The bright blue color of his eyes grew paler. She’d learned over the last few days that was a sign he was losing control of his emotions, which could cause his fangs to pop out if he didn’t calm down.