Fort Lupton (36 page)

Blane nodded.

“
Katy?” Blane
asked.

“
She’s really focused on
passing this horse test,” Heather said. “They have to pass some
safety test before they can ride in the mountains. Paddie’s already
passed because he’s so much . . .”

“
Bigger.” Blane nodded.
“Poor Katy.”

“
She’s been up crying
every night,” Heather said. “You know how she gets.”

“
Perfectionistic,” Blane
said.

“
Like Jake,” Blane said at
the same moment Heather said, “Like Jill.”

They smiled.

“
How are you?” Heather
asked.

“
Concerned about Jake,”
Blane said. “He’s never gone this long without some kind of
contact.”

Heather nodded. They fell into a worried
silence.

“
And you?” Heather asked
again.

“
Me?” Blane
asked.

Heather smiled.

“
I’m . . .”
Blane sighed. “Sick of this room, lonely, wishing I was better, mad
that I’m impatient,
grateful,
so, so grateful for
you, for everything. How is Mack?”

“
He misses you,” Heather
said.

“
I miss him desperately,
just after I miss you,” Blane said. “The nights are the worst. I
miss you guys so much. I can hardly wait to get home.”

Blane coughed. Just a cough. But it so
horrified them that they stared at each other in shock.

“
I’m
sure it’s
noth
. . .” Blane started.

“
I’ll get the nurse,”
Heather said.

The nurse came in to the room Heather was
in. She dressed in hygienic scrubs, a hair cover, and a mask. She
stepped into the negative flow room before going into the room.
Heather watched while the nurse took Blane’s temperature and some
blood and listened to his chest. After a few minutes, the nurse
came back out of the room.

“
I’m sure it’s nothing,”
the nurse said. “I’ll get this to the lab and we’ll
know.”

“
I feel . . .”
Blane nodded.

“
Sick?”

Blane shook his head. He tipped his head to
the side.

“
Jake?” Blane asked the
air.

Heather was so horrified that she could only
stare.

“
I can hear him,” Blane
said.

“
Hear who?” Heather
asked.

“
Jake,” Blane said. “He’s
calling me. He said . . .”

Blane collapse in a seizure.

~~~~~~~~

Monday night — 9:15
p.m.
Phoenix, Arizona

Wrapped in a towel, Yvonne left the massage
room. She wandered down the hallway in spaced-out bliss. Dionne had
to start later than Yvonne, so she wouldn’t be done for a while.
Yvonne had time for a bath in the room. She went into the locker
room to change back into her loungewear.

When she pushed open the door, the woman
sitting on the bench turned and looked up at her. The woman had
long blonde hair and was wrapped in a towel. When she smiled, she
was truly beautiful, but Yvonne could feel a survivor-vibe radiate
off the woman. This woman had been through some bad, bad stuff.
Yvonne nodded to herself and gave the woman one of her bright
smiles. The woman blushed.

“
Did you have a nice
massage?” the woman asked. “I don’t get massages very
much.”

The woman dropped the back of her towel to
show Yvonne scars on her back and arms.

“
People freak out,” the
woman said. “You think they’ll . . .”

The woman gave a slight shrug, and Yvonne
instantly liked her. Yvonne sat down next to her.

“
I think they’ll be just
fine,” Yvonne said. She patted the woman’s knee. “Don’t you worry
about that stuff.”

When the woman nodded, Yvonne realized that
the woman looked familiar.

“
You know, my memory is
not very good,” Yvonne said. “Have we met before?”

“
Nope,” the woman said.
She leaned forward and took an envelope from the open locker in
front of her. “I was asked to give you this.”

She held the envelope out to Yvonne.

“
What is it?” Yvonne
asked.

“
A message from a friend,”
the woman said.

Yvonne didn’t take the envelope.

“
It’s what you’ve been
looking for,” the woman said.

“
A sure-fire ticket to
hell for the Spider?” Yvonne asked.

“
Sadly, no,” the woman
said. “I wouldn’t mind one of those myself.”

“
A way to get back at
Annette for hurting Jabari?” Yvonne asked.

“
Not that,” the woman
said.

“
The person who hurt Mr.
Chesterfield?” Yvonne asked.

The woman smiled and shook her head.

“
A way to eat everything
I’d like and not gain weight?” Yvonne asked.

The woman laughed. She nodded toward the
envelop,e and Yvonne took it.

“
Smell it,” the woman
said.

Yvonne held the envelope up to her nose. She
took a deep breath and smelled sunshine, beeswax, and honey.

“
Alex,” Yvonne
said.

The woman raised her eyebrows.

“
You don’t have a
massage?” Yvonne asked.

“
Oh, yes, I do,” the woman
said. “I told them that if I was coming all this way, I was getting
a massage.”

Yvonne smiled.

“
You are truly the most
beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” the woman said.

“
You’re not so bad
yourself,” Yvonne said with a smile. “Your daughter is a beautiful
girl too.”

The woman beamed.

“
She’s friends with
Paddie,” Yvonne said. “My friend
Delphie
has picked her up at the
Marlowe School to play at the Castle a few times.”

“
Yes, she has.” The woman
smiled.

“
Leena?” The massage
therapist came to the door.

“
My turn,” the woman
said.

She gave a little wave and
left the locker room. Yvonne got dressed in her loungewear. She was
just about to leave when she saw the envelope on the bench. She
picked it up and looked at it for a moment. Glancing around the
locker room, she decided she’d better bring it up to her room. She
left the locker room and went to the elevator. The spa was in the
basement of their hotel. She had to wait for
an
elevator to come all the way down
there. When it arrived, there was a tall, thin, brown-haired person
standing in the back.

“
Alex?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Max,” he said. “Would you
mind if I hung out with you tonight?”

“
Not at all.” Yvonne
smiled.

She stepped into the elevator and stood next
to him. The elevator doors closed and they started to rise. Yvonne
leaned in close to him.

“
Do you have any
superpowers?” Yvonne asked.

“
I’m not a fairy,” Max
said, “if that’s what you’re asking.”

Yvonne shook her head, and Max grinned.

“
You’re going to protect
me,” Yvonne said.

“
I’m going to protect
you,” Max said. “And I’m going to finish this thing once and for
all. My sister and I have a particular dislike for people who hurt
children. But we get really mad when people we love get messed
with.”

“
You mean my handsome
agent?” Yvonne asked.

“
Sandy,” Max said. “You.
Raz. Colin. The list is long.”

“
You’re Alex’s
brother.”

“
What gave it away?” Max
asked.

He waved his hand up and down over his body.
He grinned at her and she smiled.

“
I
am
a lawyer,” Max
said.

“
That’s kind of a
superpower,” Yvonne said.

The elevator stopped at her floor and the
doors slid open.

“
Come along,” Yvonne
said.

They got out of the elevator together.

“
Have you met Dionne?”
Yvonne asked.

“
I
have,” Max said. “Dr. Bumpy was our childhood doctor. My sister
Erin still sees him. We would too,
but we have to see doctors through our work.”

“
Dionne does not like
strangers. Too much time on the road as a singer. It’s good that
you know her,” Yvonne said. She opened the door to the suite. “You
sure you don’t have a super power?”

“
Pretty sure,” Max said,
and stepped into the suite. “Why do you keep asking?”

“
I just have the feeling
that you’re going to save the day,” Yvonne said.

Laughing, Max closed the door to the
suite.

~~~~~~~~

Monday night — 10:15
p.m.
Denver, Colorado

Jill leaned up on her elbow to see if Katy
was finally asleep. Katy had not passed her horse exam today. She
was so upset that she’d cried almost all night. Jill had lain down
with her in her bed to try to comfort her, but Katy needed Jacob.
He wasn’t here. After an hour of sobbing, sleep had caught up with
Katy.

Jill got up from the bed and went out into
the loft. Her bare feet padded across the cool wood floors. She
went to the nursery. The boys were sound asleep. They would sleep
for another hour or so, then want to be fed. Jill went to her
bedroom and stood in the doorway.

She couldn’t bear another night in that bed
without Jacob.

As she had the last few nights, she went to
her office and settled in to work on the Marlowe School. She opened
her laptop and pressed the button for it to come on. While she
waited, she opened her project journal and went over her notes.

Hearing something, she looked up at her
laptop. Her usual desktop image of Katy and the boys was gone. The
screen was black except for a square in the middle. Jill leaned
forward. The square was a small box with some kind of video playing
in it. The image was light orange with vague shadows, possibly
sticks or trees, moving through the orange-yellow fluid. She
grabbed her computer mouse and clicked the “make larger” button.
The video filled her screen.

She had no idea what she was looking at. She
noticed the sound was off and clicked it on.

“
He’s stuck,” Blane’s
voice said.

Jill gasped. Blane had passed out while
Heather was visiting him. They hadn’t been able to wake him.
Heather was beside herself with worry. No one could explain what
had happened to Blane. He seemed to have just fallen asleep.

“
Jill!” Blane’s voice
said. “No one can hear me. You have to listen.”

“
Blane?” Jill
asked.

“
Jake’s stuck,” Blane’s
voice said. “They’re all stuck.
Delphie
too. Your father. Keenan.
Can you see it?”

“
Orangey liquid stuff?”
Jill asked. She hit Print Screen and saved a copy of the image. She
cued the image to print.

“
I can’t see it,” Blane’s
voice said. “But I can hear him.”

“
What does he say?” Jill
asked. Her printer began to print the image.

“
He says it’s liquid
amber,” Blane said. “He says they are stuck in it. Held outside of
time. He has no idea why.”

“
Fin too?” Jill
asked.

“
Finegal
is there too,” Blane said.

“
Shit,” Jill said. She hit
Print Screen again to make sure she had a copy. “What did Fin get
them into?”

“
Jake doesn’t know,” Blane
said. “But he thinks you, Edie, Tanesha, Yvonne . . . you
have to help them.”

“
Us?”

“
And the boys,” Blane
said. “Katy.”

“
What?” Jill asked. She
hit Print again.

“
Tell Heather that I’m
okay,” Blane said. “I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and not remember
any of this.”

“
Okay,” Jill
said.

Her computer made a buzzing sound. Lightning
flashed across the screen and the laptop went dark.

“
Shit,” Jill
said.

She hit the on button,
but
the lap top made a fizzling sound and
started to smoke. She watched for a moment to see if it would burst
into flame. When it didn’t, she went to check the printer. She
carried the two sheets of paper back to her desk.

Not sure of what to do, she set the images
down and went to bed. She was dozing off when she felt an urgent
need to get the printouts. She jogged to her office and grabbed the
sheets. When she got to the bedroom, the first image changed. Jacob
was staring at her through the orange. She smiled at him, and he
grinned back. She laid the sheet on his pillow and got back into
bed.

For the first time in days, she fell sound
asleep and dreamed of orange seas of amber.

Sea of Amber

Tuesday morning — 5:25 a.m.

“
Try it yourself,” Jill
said to Tanesha over her cell phone.

In her own kitchen, Tanesha stirred a pot of
oatmeal at the stove.