Bladed Wings (45 page)

              Everett was still at the TV, his controller in hand as his character ran across the screen. It didn’t look like anything more interesting than some guy in battle armor with a very big gun running down a road.

              “You see Skyler?”

              “She’s not in her room?” Kayla asked.

              “Don’t know. Didn’t see her.” Something sprung up from the side of the road. Gray with patched scales, it looked like a zombie snake. It bit down into his character. He butted it with the bottom of his rifle and hopped back.

              Kayla didn’t answer. She just went back upstairs and tapped her knuckles against Skyler’s bedroom door. “Skyler? You in there?”

              No answer. She tried again to the same result. When Kayla pushed her way in, she expected to see Skyler with her ear buds in, maybe texting a friend or playing some web game. But the room was empty. The bed wasn’t made, but her little sister never did that until right before she went back to sleep. The alarm clock on Skyler’s nightstand read five o’clock.

              Kayla went back downstairs and checked the message machine. The mechanical voice said there weren’t any unheard messages but helpfully offered to send her back to the main menu. Kayla tapped her finger and chewed on her lower lip, gone in thought as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. She picked up the cordless and searched through the memory.

First she tried her dad’s office. A secretary told her that he was still in a meeting. That might’ve meant he was out with some clients getting drunk. It could have meant he didn’t want to deal with any personal issues. Kayla reminded the secretary that it was his daughter, but she sweetly repeated that he was indisposed.

She clicked end and tried again, this time at her mom’s work. The ring tone buzzed for a few seconds before the voice mail picked up. Kayla listened through her mom’s prerecorded voice as she said that this call was important to her and she’d reply as soon as possible. If it was an emergency, there was another extension she was supposed to try to get through to the department chief.

Kayla slammed the phone back into its cradle.

“You’re sure she didn’t say anything about being late?”

“Nope,” Everett said.

With anyone else, Kayla wouldn’t have worried. Everett might’ve forgotten to check in, but Skyler wouldn’t. She would’ve left a note or a message on the home line. Hoping against hope that her little sister just jumped habit, Kayla checked her own phone. Nothing. She tried calling Skyler’s phone, but the tone from upstairs just started ringing.

Kayla scurried upstairs and couldn’t tell if she wanted her sister to be fine so she could strangle her or in some trouble so panic would make sense. This kind of frustration only came from not knowing if she was supposed to do something.

Growling, Kayla searched through Skyler’s phone and started calling through her friends’ numbers. One by one, Kayla got through the awkward conversation of asking each girl if she was with Skyler or knew where she was.

Twenty minutes and Kayla didn’t have any answers or any more numbers.

Smacking her foot against the carpeted floor, Kayla didn’t know what she should do. It wasn’t like she’d ever thought about what to do if a sibling went missing. Then again, she couldn’t even tell if Skyler was missing.

Kayla went back to the front door, saw the keys to her parents’ spare car, and decided what she had to do. She grabbed them, headed out into the cold, didn’t have a coat, and didn’t care. She started driving.

Kayla drove without any pattern. She started off with Skyler’s school, but the gates were locked. The fences even surrounded the faculty lot. A few minutes past five thirty, the school was obviously abandoned for the night. That cut out the feint hope that Skyler got stuck in the world’s longest detention or something.

She cleared another block before her phone rang again. She saw Seth’s name on the display and she really wanted to just ignore him, but she couldn’t do that. That would be just slightly worse than telling him the truth, but he deserved it, so she hit talk. “Hey,” he said with a trace of cheerfulness which hit his voice every once in a while.

“Look, I can’t get out tonight.”

“Everything okay?”

Kayla knew she was supposed to lie because this wasn’t his problem. She didn’t have the energy for it, “No. Not really.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just a family thing.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to get out?”

Kayla couldn’t help but laugh at that one. “No, I can’t. I have to take care of something.”

“I can help you.”

“I don’t think so. My sister’s missing. It’s probably nothing,” she stopped at a light, “I hope it’s nothing.” Kayla stared at the red light. It looked like an angry eye that she really wanted to punch. Itching to move, she didn’t want this to be a moment she remembered for the rest of her life. She didn’t want this to be the day she lost her sister. Against all of the bad somethings which tumbled through her skull, Kayla said, “She’s probably just at a friend’s house or something.”

“I can help.”

“No, really. That’s okay. You don’t have to get dragged into this.” It was probably nothing, she kept telling herself, and letting him help meant he’d see that shredded part of her life. No, she wouldn’t let him.

“Meet me at the school in ten minutes.”

Before she could stumble out with another no, he hung up.

Chapter 8: Lost Prayers

Kayla didn’t have to pull a U and drive back to the school. She could’ve stuck to the roads she thought her sister might’ve used. But Kayla had to admit she didn’t have many more places to look. Unless Skyler’s friends had lied, then something happened. Kayla felt her eyes burn and blur with tears at the thought.

A car could have hit her. The Alliance could have grabbed her. A thousand different disasters could have hurt her.

When Kayla pulled up to the next light, Kayla whispered, “Please God. Please don’t let that have happened.” When the light switched to green, Kayla wiped her eyes and told herself to keep it together. She couldn’t break. With nothing better to do, she put her phone back to her ear and tried her parents again. Nothing again.

Before the light changed, she had one of those darkened thoughts that stung. She didn’t know how to call any hospitals. 911 sounded obvious, but it was for emergencies. Skyler was only gone for a couple hours, and Kayla guessed she’d have to wait long enough. Too many other explanations would have made sense. Maybe she was with a friend. Maybe she lost track of time at the library. Maybe she fell asleep somewhere.

When she pulled up to the school, Kayla didn’t know where she was supposed to find Seth. If she didn’t see him right away, she’d get back to searching for her sister. It wasn’t like he could do a lot to help anyway. But he was there, under their school’s electronic sign. Kayla pulled over and Seth got in without saying anything.

“Any ideas?” he asked.

“I wanted to check the way she goes to school.”

“Okay,” he said. “If we drive by anyone on the street, just slow down, okay?”

“What are you going to do?”

“Look inside their heads,” he said. “If they’ve seen her, I’ll see it.” Kayla nodded, her teeth locked together because he didn’t say something else. If anyone hurt her, Seth would know that too. “Just slow down and give me a chance to look.”

They started driving again and she slowed down each time. They saw a jogger so she slowed down and matched the runner’s pace. Kayla couldn’t see Seth’s eyes but she guessed they sparked with that indigo. He shook his head, “He hasn’t seen her. Keep going.”

They circled through the neighborhood twice. A couple other people walked or jogged the streets, but no one saw Skyler. Kayla wanted something better to do. Driving around felt like searching a bucket of water for a particular drop. She couldn’t see Skyler and she couldn’t know if there was something wrong. Someone could’ve been hurting her as they drove around.

“We’ll find her,” Seth said.

“You’re supposed to say that she’ll be okay.”

“I can’t know that.”

“You could lie,” Kayla said.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Not at all?”

“No.”

“Then where do you go when you cut? You’d tell me if you were just some guy who drove off to play video games or hang out with this friends.”

“But since I won’t lie, it must be something really important?” he asked. “You’re probably right. Is that something you really want to think about right now?”

“Please, I need to think about something else.”

“We’ll find her,” he said again. “And if something did happen to her, I promise I’ll gut whoever did it.”

“It’s not about revenge,” Kayla said. “I just want to see her again.”

“You love her?”

“She’s my sister.”

“Yeah,” Seth said. “But I see a lot of people who don’t love their families. Everyone says they do. They might even think it. But I see their thoughts and feel the texture of their feelings. They don’t. They don’t love their parents. It’s all habit for them, something they think they’re supposed to believe.”

“That must be hard,” Kayla whispered. She felt her lips shiver at those words like the sounds were somehow too cold to speak.

“I doubt it,” Seth said. “They’re just too scared to admit the truth. They’re raised in a society that says they’re supposed to love their parents, their siblings. They say the same things because admitting anything else would make them look like bad people.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said. It was easier to look and search as she talked about something else. Her mind was stretched and fired too fast. This took much enough energy that she could hold it together. Kayla had to thank him later. “It must be hard for you.”

“I can make anyone do anything I want.” Seth remembered her abilities, “How could anything be hard for me?”

“No, that’s not what I mean. You see people. You see through the lies and everything. I guess it would be hard seeing everyone’s flaws. No one was really meant to do that.”

“And you still think our abilities are miracles?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” They pulled up to another stop sign. There was a woman pushing a stroller with grocery bags dangling from the hands. “Stop,” he ordered. Kayla paused at the sign and looked around. Anyone else would’ve thought she was lost and just checking out the street signs.

“Straight,” he said.

“You saw her?”

“I’m not sure,” Seth said. “The mom wasn’t paying attention. There was a girl, but I couldn’t tell if it was your sister. She was safe though.”

Kayla didn’t know if this should make her feel better or worse. Seth wanted to help her, but she just had to see her sister. Nothing would make her feel okay until she knew that she didn’t just lose another part of her family. She had to keep away from the rage inside of her. It burned at the edges of her thoughts like this forest fire threatening to eat up everything around it.

“What were we talking about again?” Kayla pulled fifty in a residential area. It was dark. There weren’t any kids around, but she still felt guilty. Too many feelings. She wished she could be as calm as Seth.

“Distraction,” he said, “Right. You were saying that it would be hard to see what everyone was thinking.”

“You don’t think that’s true?”

“It’s not.” Seth’s face turned out toward the window. She wanted to see his face, know what he felt. Another feeling bubbled up to the front of her mind. She wanted to reach out and help him. He’d been alone too long. No one deserved that, she thought. “I have more information than anyone else. That’s an advantage.”

“But it makes it harder too,” Kayla said.

“Everything is hard.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” she said. He looked at her, yet she couldn’t read his expression. She couldn’t tell if that was disbelief or hope. “You could be close to someone.” She hoped he wouldn’t hear the longing in her voice.

“No,” he said. Before she could say something, he pointed up ahead. There was a small park about a half block away. “It’s here. She’s close.” Relief flooded through her, but Kayla still heard him say, “Huh. I guess that means it’s not genetic.” Kayla sped up some more, slammed the breaks, and jumped out.

Kayla didn’t care about her abilities or where they came from. She just wanted to make sure she wouldn’t have to go to any funerals. Her feet pounded the pavement when she saw someone seated on one of the park benches. Covered in darkness, the park looked bleak and empty. With sunshine, it would’ve been a great place for kids. With shadows every where, it would’ve been a great place for some horror movie.

A girl had her head down, her forehead pressed against her knees, but Kayla wanted to think that she recognized her little sister’s brown bangs, her favorite jeans with the tear over her shin, and her pink sneakers.

Twenty feet away, Kayla shouted, “Skyler!”

Her sister looked up. Any rush of anger that might’ve sprung up from all of the worry and fear disappeared the second Kayla saw the streaked tears down Skyler’s face. A bang of stray, twisted hair stretched over her eyes. Crumpled in pain, Skyler locked her eyes shut. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t move.

Kayla slowed down to a walk, careful with each foot. She didn’t want her sister to run. It was like coming up on a scared animal. “Skyler?” she asked, her voice low. “What happened?”

“Nothing new.” She touched her knuckles to her cheek. Kayla reached out and placed her palm on Skyler’s wrist. It looked like she wanted to say something else, but didn’t want to let it go. “They were at it when I got home today. Too much. Way too much. I couldn’t do it anymore. I just couldn’t deal with them.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back down against her forearms. Her words were muffled, “Everything they said hurt. They kept digging and ripping through each other like they didn’t care anymore. I didn’t know they could hate each other that much, but we’re a family. We’re supposed to be a family, right?”

“We are a family.”

“They’re not. Not anymore. You don’t hurt family,” Skyler hissed that like she wanted to draw claws and tear something apart. It was the kind of rage Kayla never expected from her. “But it’s all they do now.”

“I know it’s hard, but we have to get through this.”

“It’s easier for you,” Skyler said. “You’re gone in a year. These fights won’t have anything to do with you.” Kayla nodded even though that wasn’t really true. No distance would break everything that tied her to her family.

“We’re going to have to go home,” Kayla said. A hundred feet away, Seth had his arms over his chest, his legs crossed as he leaned against one of the lamp posts. He didn’t look at him, and Kayla was pretty sure she was focused on not eavesdropping. Then again, he could’ve listened to all of Skyler’s thoughts to hear their whole conversation.

“I can’t.”

“It’s getting cold.” Skyler rubbed her hands together. The thin coat over her shoulder couldn’t do much against the chill. Her cheeks were pale and tinged almost blue. “We can’t stay out here for long.”

That was the kind of argument built out of common sense. And it didn’t matter because Skyler didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t care. “Doesn’t matter. I’m not doing that anymore.”

“Okay. Then I’ll stay here with you.”

“That’s not fair,” Skyler said. A fight would’ve been a fight. They could’ve been stupid and angry with each other, but if Kayla just stayed, then it didn’t matter. Skyler wouldn’t keep her out there. Instead of telling Kayla to go back home, her sister nodded over at Seth, “Who’s that?”

“Just a friend.”

“Boyfriend?”

“I’m supposed to be out here dragging you home again.”

“Can’t do that if you brought a boy out here. You don’t want him to see you with your crazy sister when she scratches your face off.”

“You’re not that vicious,” Kayla said. “Sorry.”

“Do you love him?”

“Okay, maybe you are that vicious,” Kayla regretted those words the seconds they were on the air. “No, we’re not together.”

“Not even close to what I asked.”

“Are you really going to make me stay out here all night?”

“No,” Skyler said. “You can go home. No one’s forcing you to be here.”

“You are,” she said. “I’m not going to just let you freeze out here.”

“Did they notice?” Skyler wanted to know. Her eyes bristled again. They got too wet, too shiny. “Did they notice I wasn’t there?” Kayla didn’t want to answer and she didn’t want to lie either. “Exactly. I don’t need to go back there. They’re not parents. Not anymore.”

“They’re always going to be our family.”

“Not really,” Skyler said. “Not anymore.”

Kayla wanted to find something good to say, something that would make Skyler feel better and help her get back to something like normal or happy. Then again, she wanted those same words for as long as the angry glances turned to angry whispers to angry hisses and angry shouts. When screaming dominated their house.

“I’m going to tell him to go, then I’ll be right back. Okay?” Skyler didn’t say anything.

“She’s hurt,” Seth said when Kayla approached. He unfolded his arms and stood straight.

“Yeah.” Kayla didn’t know how to say this. She pulled out her keys and held them out for him, “Look, you don’t have to stay. You can take my car. I’ll get it as soon as I can.” Seth looked at her like he didn’t really understand what she meant. “We’ll be okay. You don’t have to feel bad about going. This could take a while and I can’t ask you to just wait.”

“May I speak to her?” Seth wouldn’t look at her. For someone with the power to rewrite brains, he seemed nervous. “I might be able to help,” he said again.

“What are you going to say?”

“Something good.”

“I don’t think you should.”

“She’s hurt. She’s lost. I might be able to help her.”

“You’re going to read her?” she asked. “It’s cheating if you can just find out what she wants to hear.”

“I’m not going to lie to her. I promise. Assuming you trust me.”

“That’s not playing fair.”

“I know,” and he took that for permission, because he walked past her. Kayla wanted to follow, but he motioned for her to stay there. He sat next to Skyler, his hands on his lap. He didn’t look at her. Skyler smiled once, maybe a little nervous sitting next to the guy who was her older sister’s boyfriend. Even if he wasn’t her boyfriend.

Kayla paced back and forth and wished she could know what they were saying. It wasn’t quick like she half-hoped. It would’ve been nice if he could’ve tried, failed, and came back. She didn’t want to be that negative, but they talked. They kept talking for minutes where Kayla didn’t know what to do with herself. She didn’t want to pull out her cell phone. She didn’t want to go back to the car either. She itched to know what they said.