Beautiful Dead 02 - Arizona (15 page)

'Would Brandon be included in the gang?' I wanted to know exactly

where Rohr Brother Senior fitted in. 'Brandon, Kyle and Jackson - 102

they're a team?'

'Sometimes.' Phoenix clammed up, lowering his gaze and walking slightly ahead. 'Look I don't choose my brother's buddies!'

I thought this through. 'OK, I get it. You don't want to drag Brandon

in because Kyle's not a nice person to be around and you'd rather I didn't paint Brandon with the same brush. Is that right?'

A nod was al I got by way of reply.

I ran to catch him up. 'Plus, Kyle and Jackson they were there on ... on the night!' The fact hit me between the eyes - they'd been members of the kil er gang that gathered by the petrol station in town. 'Phoenix, they were part of what happened to you!'

He shook his head.

'Does that mean yes or no?' I grabbed his hand and made him slow down. 'Look at me and tel me the truth.'

'They were there,' he admitted. 'Along with maybe twenty other guys. But we don't need to focus on that right now. This is about Arizona, remember.'

'Jeez, how could she even like this guy?' We were walking again, almost within sight of the first houses on the Peak Road into town.

'Arizona loved Kyle,' he reminded me. Liking and loving - they're not the same thing.'

'So what now?' I meant, what was our next move, once I'd been to Brandon and got him to take care of my crushed car hood. 'Do I make another move to get Sable alone and ready to talk?'

'No way.'

'We only have three days to do this, remember!' Friday was racing towards us, the final deadline set by Hunter. 'So do I confront the Taylors over Raven push them to spil the guilty family secrets?'

'That works better,' he said. Our pace was slowing. We could see the houses and it was past time for Phoenix to leave.

'Maybe it goes like this. Arizona fights al the time with her parents -

her mom especial y. She wants Raven back home, is ready to give up everything to be with him twenty-four seven, to be the kind of shadow she believes he needs.' 103

Phoenix nodded. 'You mean, she real y fights with Al yson. It turns nasty and the family is fal ing apart. Frank is too weak to stop it happening.'

My turn to nod. I'm talking faster. 'And you know Arizona - when she figures she's right she doesn't let go. Al yson too. They're two immoveable forces. In the end, it has to end violently.'

Maybe,' Phoenix said, almost too quiet to hear.

'It's possible! Picture it. Just how unfeeling can we figure Al yson to

be? Here's a mom who didn't stay home from work even when her

autistic son ran away from school. You hear of unnatural mothers like her, you read it in the newspaper, you don't expect ever to see one. But maybe this is Monster Mom in the flesh!'

So they final y fight out by Hartmann.' Phoenix picked up the last threads of my latest theory. 'Arizona is out there looking for Raven, Al yson tracks her there ...'

And accuses Arizona of knowing where the kid is, this is down to her, she's one crazy girl hiding her brother from the authorities ...'

'They struggle by the water's edge. There's an accident - Arizona slips and fal s in ...'

I'm nodding like crazy. This real y could be the key to unlock Arizona's mystery. With three days to go, we were almost there.

'But Arizona can swim.' Phoenix put on the brakes. 'She won medals at junior school.'

Now I was dead set on nailing Monster Mom. 'She hit her head as she

fel , went unconscious, sank right to the bottom.' I stopped as the rough track turned to paved sidewalk. 'Don't come any further,' I warned.

'You want me to leave?' he asked with that lopsided half-grin.

'Hunter wil know if you come any further. You have to go back to Foxton.' I pushed him away. He caught both my hands in his. 'Go!' I gasped.

We kissed for a long time before he drew back.

'You'l never guess,' he laughed, then broke off his sentence as if he was embarrassed.

'What? ... Phoenix, there's a car coming!' I heard it higher up the 104

street, growing louder.

'Hunter says I can stay.'

'Stay here with me? Not go back to Foxton?'

'We know Kyle Keppler wil come after you again. Hunter says I have to be here to take care of you.'

I gasped, feeling my whole body glow. 'The whole day? Is that what you're saying?'

'And night,' he promised, putting his arm around my waist and drawing me behind some high advertising boards, out of sight of the passing car.

Phoenix was there in my room, sitting on the bed, waiting for me. We'd said goodbye on the outskirts of town and I'd walked on alone. He'd already checked in with Hunter and the Beautiful Dead out at Foxton and was stil at my house before me.

'You need to see Brandon about your car,' Mister Sensible insisted.

'Tomorrow,' I argued. I didn't want any interruptions to our alone

time.

'Now. They forecast rain. Cal him ask him to tow it in.' Sighing, I took out my phone.

Brandon answered my cal almost before the dial ing tone kicked in. 'Darina, what's up?'

'My car is what's up.'

'Did you crash it?' He jumped to the obvious conclusion as if the idea amused him.

'No. It got smashed up. Your friend Kyle Keppler forced me off the road. His brother-in-law performed acts of violence with an iron bar.'

'Why would he do that?' The tone changed and Brandon's question came back sharp and suspicious.

I glanced at Phoenix, who had got up from the bed and was standing by the window. 'Kyle doesn't like me, that's al I can tel you.'

'That's a whole heap of dislike, for two guys to do that to your car. Were you hurt?'

'No, I'm cool. But my car isn't. I was hoping you could fix to have it towed in for repair.'

Brandon didn't hesitate. He checked that I was home and told me to

wait. 'I'l pick you up. You can show me where the car is.' 105

Sighing, I came off the phone. 'So how do I explain this to your brother?' I asked Phoenix.

'Say it has to do with Arizona.' He suggested that a half-truth would be enough. 'Brandon knew about her and Kyle, remember.'

I nodded. 'OK, that'l work. He'l think Kyle got mad with me for meddling somehow in his personal life. And he'l know the guy has a temper.'

Believe me, Brandon won't ask questions. He'l take care of you, like

he told me he would.'

With his last breath Phoenix had made his brother promise to be my protector. Brandon had held him in his arms and sworn on his life.

'And I real y have to go with him?' I sighed as I put my arms around Phoenix's neck. 'When al I want is to stay here with you.'

He smiled, and we worked on improving the physical side of our relationship before the throaty roar of Brandon's Harley engine interrupted us.

'Go!' Phoenix said, unpeeling my arms. 'I'l be here when you get back.'

I rode pil ion on Brandon's Dyna, using his broad back as a shield from the wind, feeling the flick of his fringed jacket against my arms. We drove towards the Peak Road under the storm clouds that Phoenix had warned about.

When we drew level with my car, he braked and pul ed across the road. We both got off the bike and walked slowly around the car.

'Kyle and Jon did this?' Brandon checked with me. The metal bar had crumpled the hood pretty good. The windshield was smashed and one of the wing mirrors was hanging loose. 'Those guys were out of control.'

I nodded. *It was scary.'

Brandon narrowed his eyes. ' OK, I don't need to know why.'

Trying to look helpless and innocent wasn't easy for me, so my don'task-me shrug wouldn't have won any Oscars.

'I'l handle this, Darina. You'l get your car back good as new.'

'And that was it,' I told Phoenix, taking off my wet denim jacket and 106

hanging it over the chair by my desk. You were right - no questions, no

lies.'

He was waiting by the window when Brandon dropped me off at the house, taking care to stay out of sight. By now, cold rain was fal ing and dusk came down before it was due.

So Phoenix's plan to enlist Brandon's help had worked. Brandon would tow the car to a garage, then pay a visit to Kyle's house. He and Kyle would come to an understanding for Kyle to stay away from me from now on.

'Thanks,' I told Phoenix as he handed me a towel for my dripping hair. More sounds outside the house told me that Laura was home from work. 'Wait here,' I whispered.

Downstairs, Laura was tired, so what was new? She kicked off her

shoes and sat down with a beer. 'The wind's whipping up a storm,' she predicted. 'So where's your car, Darina? I didn't see it in the driveway.'

'The windshield wiper came loose.' (True, actual y) 'Brandon Rohr is going to fix it.' (Also true.)

'That's nice. Did you eat yet?' 'I had pizza.' (Not true.)

'You should eat better, Darina.' (Tree.) 'So where's Jim?'

'Out of state. He won't be home.'

'You don't need to fix a meal since I already ate.' I hovered by the foot of the stairs. 'I have to work on my science project.'

'So go,' Laura sighed, putting her feet up on the couch and resting her

head against a cushion.

Phoenix lay beside me in my room. We listened to the raindrops against

the window panes, we stared out at a black sky.

I was more alive than I ever remember, my heart bursting with joy.

We lay on our backs, our arms stretched above our heads, fingers intertwined, staring into each other's eyes. I curled in towards him, he didn't move, and we lay there for an age. Then he kissed my forehead. I

raised my face up towards him and let his lips touch mine. More alive and

aching, kissing him, being kissed.

The rain beat against the window.

I wanted this to last, knew that it couldn't. This was the way it would 107

have been ...

Before midnight the storm broke. It rol ed in on a stronger wind that brought thunder and lightning that split the sky in two.

Phoenix sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He

pressed a trembling hand against his forehead.

'What is it - the storm?' I was torn out of my paradise and suddenly afraid. An electric storm was the biggest danger the Beautiful Dead encountered here on the far side - it weakened them and robbed them of their powers, made them vulnerable to their enemies.

'I have a pain, here.' Phoenix took my hand and guided my fingers to the angel-wing tattoo below his shoulder blade.

'Is it bad?' I asked as I stroked his smooth, cold skin then leaned forward to kiss the wings once, twice, three times.

'You make it feel better,' he murmured. 'Darina... '

'I know ... you have to leave,' I whispered quickly. 'The others are waiting for you on Foxton Ridge.'

He stood up and raised me with him, wrapped his arms around me and breathed the words against my cheek. 'I want to be with you, I swear!'

'I love you. Go.'

'In the morning, come out to the ridge. Wait for me there.'

Lightning forked across the sky, wind rattled the window frame. Fear made me shake from head to toe. 'Go,' I begged. 'Leave, before it's too late.'

The storm raged al night long - rain and wind, a black sky shot through with jagged lightning strikes. I lay on my bed tel ing myself by tortured degrees that Phoenix would have made it back to Foxton, would have met

up with Hunter and the Beautiful Dead and by now they would be long

gone from the far side, somewhere safe on the other side of the grave. I would go up there in the morning, once the storm had cleared.

Thursday and Friday that's al we have, I told myself. So how am I going to get up to Foxton without my car? I sat up in bed as thunder rol ed overhead.

Now that I had no transport, it was as if my legs had been cut from 108

under me.

Whoa, what do I do?

Maybe I set out now, in the middle of the storm. I hitch a ride out of Centennial, get dropped off at the Foxton junction, walk lip to the ridge and be at the barn by dawn.

I was climbing into my jeans and shirt, pul ing on my boots when Hunter appeared.

The room fil ed with silver light. He materialized by the window, the

storm pounding against the panes. I thought my mind had flipped and I was total y crazy.

You shouldn't be here!' I gasped, rooted to the spot. 'Where's Phoenix? Where are the others?'

'Safe,' he replied. In the shimmering light, I saw that he was shaking.

Water ran from his hair, down his granite face. His eyes were so dark and sunken that for a moment I was scared he'd become one of the deathheads raised from limbo to terrify far-siders who strayed too close to the barn.

'You should be with them.' If he stayed any longer, he would be too

wounded and weakened to leave. 'Why are you here?'

,I need you,' Hunter confessed. A flash of lightning tore the sky and made him shudder. He put one hand against my desk to steady himself.

This stil didn't compute. Hunter was strong and firm - unshakeable. He shouldn't be weak and trembling. 'Need me - how?'

'Come with me,' he pleaded. 'Quickly.'

'Where?' I was ready to travel with him, if he stil had the power. I got ready for the wings to start beating, for the light to surround me.

'To Foxton.'

'What for?' Here they came - the rush of wings, the strong gust of cold, wet air as Hunter opened the bedroom window.

'To find Lee Stone,' Hunter told me. He took my hand and, surrounded by the storm of strong wings, lifted me out of the house, into the night.

'Lee didn't make it,' he explained as the eerie force tore at my face, my hair, every muscle and bone in my body. 'He's stil here on the far side.

You have to come.'

109

When you travel with the overlord of the Beautiful Dead, you don't fly or float, spin or drift. It's like you're caught in the eye of a tornado, held there until you arrive in the place he wants you to be. Then you fal a