What was most unsettling was that, although Serena looked fl.u.s.tered and out of breath, she lacked the one crucial expression that Ash and her other four schoolmates currently shared: confusion.
"Are you all right, Serena?" Ash asked. She placed a hand on the girl"s elbow. "This is Ashline Wilde, by the way."
"Thank you, Ash," Serena said in her light and airy voice. "Did you fend off those two men all by yourself?"
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Even as she asked, her blind eyes shrewdly looked to where the other four had cl.u.s.tered.
"She had a little help," Raja said, and picked up the walking stick. The shiny orb on the top was caked with the kidnapper"s blood. She wrinkled her nose with disgust. "Why don"t I clean this up before I give it back to you?"
Serena just nodded, the disconcerting grin not leaving her face. "I definitely heard Rolfe Hanssen as well."
"Guilty as charged," Rolfe said.
"Lily and Ade, too," Ade offered helpfully.
Serena giggled, a strange and ghostly laugh. "At least we"ll have something to talk about during photography tomorrow, won"t we, Lily?"
Lily squinted at her. "You"re not in my-oh, we"re making jokes now?"
Ash withdrew her cell phone from her purse. "Well, I can"t imagine this will go over well with the headmistress, but we"re going to have to call the cops." She flipped the phone open.
Before she could even dial a single digit, Serena"s hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, with such ferocity that Ash actually jumped. Serena"s grip was stronger than Ash would have imagined for such a small girl. Then again, Serena had spent at least a full minute clinging to the dock railing for dear life.
"No," Serena whispered. "No police."
"Are you kidding me?" Raja said. "Two men in 73 dark clothes and camo just tried to pull a blind girl- no offense-into a windowless van. That"s some pretty twisted s.h.i.t."
"We"ve even got some of their blood." Lily pointed to the walking stick in Raja"s hands. "Maybe they can do some of their DNA hocus-pocus and track these guys down."
"No. Police," Serena repeated, breaking down the words with finality.
"Those were your bookies, weren"t they?" Rolfe suggested. "You have a gambling problem and they came to collect."
Serena giggled hoa.r.s.ely again. "When you can"t see the cards, you do lose your chips awfully fast." When no one laughed and she seemed to sense that everyone was still staring at her, she said, "Listen, I"m really tired.
It has to be well after midnight. Two dudes just chased me down the street and tried to throw me into a van . .
. and I have an algebra quiz first period. Do you know how exhausting it is to take a test in braille? So do me a favor. . . . Let me get a good night"s rest, sleep it off, and go about my day, and I"ll give the cops a statement when I"m good and ready."
Ash opened her mouth to argue, but the phone, which was still open in her hand, suddenly chimed to life. Startled at first, she glanced down at the caller ID.
Darren"s photo popped up on the screen. "s.h.i.t," she mumbled. "Sorry. I have to take this."
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She hit the send b.u.t.ton, and before she could even get a word out, Darren"s harsh whisper exploded out through the phone. "Where the h.e.l.l are you, Ash?"
Ash breathed with relief. At least they hadn"t left without her, and it was comforting to hear a friendly voice. "Long story. Just sort of got held up with a couple of other outlaws from Blackwood, and . . . Wait, why are you whispering?"
Darren scoffed on the other end of the phone, and she heard Jackie hiss something at him in the background.
The phone thumped around as it changed hands, and Jackie spoke into the receiver. "We"re whispering because the sheriff just crashed the party here at the Bent Horseshoe.
Headmistress Riley must have noticed a few too many empty beds tonight, or empty s.p.a.ces in the parking garage. All I know is that Darren and I are hiding on the floor in his truck and waiting for you to get that hot little a.s.s of yours over here!"
"s.h.i.t," Ash cursed. "Listen, Jackie, I"m here with friends. You and Darren get the h.e.l.l out of there. I"ll find my own way back."
"Okay," Jackie said hesitantly. "But if I check your bed in an hour and you"re not in it, I"m heading back to town with my hunting rifle and getting you." The phone clicked off.
"Picnic"s over," Ash said, and flipped her phone closed. "The headmistress is on to us, and the sheriff and his posse decided to crash our little party."
"Last chance," Rolfe offered Serena. "We can walk you right up to the sheriff and help you give your statement.
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h.e.l.l, the excitement from all this might convince the headmistress not to crack down on us."
Serena"s gray eyes gleamed in the dim light of the alley. "Just get me back to campus."
"You can ride in my Audi," Lily told Serena.
"What about you?" Ash asked Raja. "Is your broom parked nearby?"
"Hilarious." Raja was grimly scrolling through a text on her own phone. "Colt was my ride, and he"s inside distracting the sheriff with ranger talk, so looks like I"m squeezing in with you guys too."
The six Blackwood escapees scurried down the alleyway, with Ash leading Serena by the hand. The girl seemed to be finding their entire escapade pleasantly amusing despite her attempted abduction just minutes earlier. Though, to be fair, Serena was something of a loner on campus. It was safe for Ashline to say that this was probably the most excitement the girl had experienced in a long while.
They reached the mouth of the alley, and from their cloak of darkness on the lampless street corner, they studied the scene in front of the Bent Horseshoe. A green Ford Explorer with "Sheriff" stenciled on the side was parked prominently in front of the entrance to the saloon, the red and blues on top flickering to lend it some limp presence of authority. Ash had met the sheriff once when he"d stopped by Blackwood for a school a.s.sembly on wilderness survival back in the dead of winter. He didn"t strike 76 her as the type to kick through the saloon doors and start busting heads, especially at a watering hole where he was regularly ent.i.tled to free beer.
Leaning against the Ford Explorer was a very young and somnolent deputy, who seemed far more concerned with puffing away at his cigarette than paying the bar any mind.
Lily"s silver convertible was parked at the end of the line of cars in front of the saloon, its top down and glimmering with a fresh coat of dew. Ash stifled a laugh. "An Audi with a soft top in a line of pickups and rental cars?
Way to blend in with the locals, Lily."
Lily shrugged. "Dad always says, "If you can"t stand out, then you should just sit down.""
"Lifestyles of the rich and famous," Raja muttered.
"You five hang back and get ready to run," Rolfe said.
"I"m going to set up a little distraction for Officer Dopey over there. As soon as he walks away, get the car going and start driving for the roadway." And then he treaded silently through the shadows before vanishing around the back of the Bent Horseshoe.
They did as they were told, tensely waiting in the darkness. Lily"s keys jingled in her hand. Raja crouched low to the ground like a sprinter about to fly out of the blocks.
Ash rubbed a hand rea.s.suringly up and down Serena"s back, although Ash was probably the one in greater need of comforting. What did Serena have to worry about anyway? After all, if she hadn"t been drinking, she was guilty 77 only of breaking curfew, and Ash couldn"t imagine the police or the headmistress being particularly harsh to a blind girl.
Just beyond the Bent Horseshoe the silence of the night was interrupted by the shattering of a gla.s.s bottle against the side of the bar. The deputy"s cigarette paused on its trip to his lips, and he turned in the direction of the noise. Still, he didn"t move, as if he were debating whether it was above his pay grade to investigate a mysterious bottle smashing.
"Marv?" the deputy called out. "If that"s you again, I"m literally going to kick you in your big dumpy a.s.s."
There was no reply for a few tantalizing seconds until Rolfe gave him a response: the sound of another bottle shattering.
The deputy threw his cigarette to the ground, toed it out, and then set off to investigate the disturbance.
"Marvin, you drunken b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I swear to G.o.d . . ." He disappeared around the corner.
As if Satan himself were nipping at their heels, Ash and the others took off. Ade gently but powerfully heaved Serena up into his arms and then onto his back in a fireman"s carry. Lily reached the Audi first, slipping the keys into the ignition before she"d even closed her door. Raja hurdled over the pa.s.senger-side door and into the front seat, while Ade and Ash sandwiched Serena, whom Ade had buckled into the middle.
Gravel spat up from beneath the tires, and the 78 convertible shot backward out of its s.p.a.ce, with no regard for stealth. The sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the side of the bar, and Rolfe exploded from around the corner, running up alongside the car. He grabbed hold of the pa.s.senger-side door and vaulted into the convertible . . . directly onto Raja"s lap.
Rolfe, still panting and out of breath, managed to toss his hair suavely to the side and purse his lips at the beautiful Egyptian girl. Without missing a beat he said, "This year, Santa, I"d like a pony and an Easy-Bake Oven."
Raja grunted and pushed him off to the side. "You"ll be getting coal in a place where it hurts if you ever attempt to sit in my lap again." She scooted closer to the gearshift.
With a shout of delight Lily brought her foot down hard on the gas. Ash glanced over her shoulder through the dust cloud trailing behind them, scanning the storefronts for any sign of the deputy. He was probably still investigating the "disturbance" behind the saloon, but they weren"t out of hot water yet. All it would take would be a wail of the siren, a bleep of the horn, a harsh order from a bullhorn to pull over, and they were finished.
If there had been a camera mounted on the hood of the car, facing back through the windshield, the scene it captured would have been beyond hilarious. Six random students squeezed shoulder to shoulder into a tiny convertible, la.s.soed together by happenstance. With the towering redwoods around them and the thigh-high mists 79 rolling through the trees, it might as well have been a scene from a zombie movie.
Something hadn"t been sitting right with Ash for the last few minutes, and it finally clicked. "Serena," she said, "how the h.e.l.l did you get into town?"
Slowly but surely all of the pa.s.sengers turned to Serena for an answer, including Lily, who was driving.
Serena, sensing the eyes on her, rotated her head to the left and to the right. "I sleepwalked."
"You sleepwalked . . . four miles? Through the woods?" Ade asked.
"Without hitting a tree?" Rolfe added in disbelief.
"Or getting hit by a car?"
Serena shrugged as though this were perfectly normal. "I do it all the time when I dream. Restless mind, restless feet, you know?"
"Not really," answered Raja.
"Follow-up question," Ash said. "Even if you did sleepwalk, how is that supposed to explain why only the five of us heard you screaming?"
"Weird." Serena"s face remained placid. "Guess the bar has strange acoustics." She smiled and pointed to the side of the road. "Look-a moose!"
The side of the road was empty.
Serena giggled.
As they cruised back to campus, Serena spent the rest of the trip staring out the window next to Ashline. Even though Ash knew Serena was blind, she found herself 80 leaning back so that her head wouldn"t block Serena"s "view." At one point Ash couldn"t help but wave her hand in front of the girl"s face just to make sure she wasn"t fak-ing it.
The sleepwalking, the screams, the attempted kidnapping-and strangest of all, Serena"s placid acceptance of all of the above-were seriously starting to creep Ashline out. From the way that Ade had shifted as far against the car door as he could, and the way that Lily"s eyes kept flitting up to look in the rearview mirror, it seemed as though the blind girl had that effect on everyone.
When they drove through the stone pillars, Lily slowed the convertible to a crawl. They wheeled up the side of the quad, approaching the faculty lodge. The lights were off, the dormitory as silent as the gra.s.s on the quad itself, but Ash and her fellow pa.s.sengers held their collective breath anyway.
Serena tilted her head back, taking in the wind.
"Smells like Blackwood."
As soon as they"d pa.s.sed the faculty lodge by a good sixty feet, Lily pressed her foot down on the accelerator, taking the corner fast enough to whip her pa.s.sengers to one side of the car. Rolfe grinned with pleasure as Raja, who was not wearing a seat belt, was tossed bottom-first onto his knees.
"Who"s sitting in whose lap now?" he asked her.
The look she gave him in reply would have petrified Medusa.
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They swept down behind the girls" dormitory, and Lily showed no signs of slowing as she approached the underground lot. "Get ready to run for your dormitories,"
she warned her pa.s.sengers. "Serena, I"ll help you back to your room."
They rolled down the hill and through the parking lot"s entrance, and connected with the cement floor of the garage with a thump. Lily rounded the corner and spied an open spot between two SUVs directly in front of them. She gunned it, and even Ash, who adored adrenaline rushes, cringed as they headed straight for the log-braided wall. But Lily successfully stopped the car on a dime.
Their car doors echoed mightily through the underground garage. They had just slipped out from between the SUVs and were heading toward the stairwell, with Ash holding Serena"s hand and guiding her along, when they came to an unexpected halt on the garage floor.
Like ninjas that had just separated themselves from the shadows, four professors wielding flashlights and wearing unflattering soured looks had converged around them. Ash spotted Dr. Hammersby, her chemistry professor, as well as Mr. Ashmont, professor of mathematics.
Most ominous of all, in lavender slippers that matched her bathrobe, was Headmistress Riley, whose bitter expression reminded Ash of someone who had just been force-fed lemons. She held her electric lantern up in 82 front of her face, letting her fury radiate through the cold, damp underground garage.