Haunted Waters (4 page)

Chapter 10

I could tell Ashley was upset
when she came home, but I didn’t know why. I figured it was because Mom had yelled at her about The Creep thing. Sam and I talked a little about it during the Avalanche game, but he didn’t get on me too much. He just said I should lay off Leigh for a while about Randy, and I said I would.

There was a break in the game when one player hit the Avs center with his stick and knocked him down. There was a lot of blood, and the announcers couldn’t believe the officials hadn’t called a penalty. I stared at the player who had hit him and saw Boo’s face. I had to close my eyes.

I asked Sam if he thought that last play was a penalty.

Sam sat up straight as a news report flashed on the screen—something about a terrorist capture in France. “Hang on a minute,” he said. “I want to hear this.”

Usually he listens pretty well. You know how grown-ups can pretend they’re listening when they’re really not, and they look right through you, then ask you to repeat what you’ve just said? Sam hadn’t done that with me much, but this time he was so focused on the TV that I went to make some popcorn.

I walked upstairs while it popped and knocked on Ashley’s door. She was on her bed writing in her diary, her scented candle burning on her nightstand. Every time she writes in her diary she has to light the candle. She says it gives her inspiration. It smells like pumpkins and cinnamon and makes me want to go on a hayride.

She didn’t look up, which was my signal to go back downstairs and leave her alone. I let Pippin and Frodo (our two dogs) outside and grabbed the popcorn from the microwave.

Chapter 11

Sam woke us before daylight Friday morning,
and we hurried to get ready. Bryce carried both of our backpacks while I helped Dylan find his water bottle and stuffed raccoon. We said good-bye to Pippin and Frodo.

Mom caught us at the door and kissed us all. She had come in my room the night before while I was writing in my journal and asked if I wanted to talk, but I said I didn’t. Now I felt guilty for not telling her about watching the movie with Hayley.

“Did you get your medicine?” she said, kissing the top of my head.

I rolled my eyes and went back to the kitchen cupboard. Since I was eight I’ve had to take pills to control a seizure disorder. Mom says it’s not a big deal, that the doctor says I’ll grow out of it, but sometimes it feels like I’m getting worse. I stuffed the two bottles in my jacket pocket and raced to the Land Cruiser.

“Have a good time,” Mom called from the door.

She stood there as we pulled away, waving and smiling. I knew exactly what she’d do after she closed the door. She’d make a pot of coffee and head upstairs to the office Sam had built for her. Like his, it looks out on the mountains, but the inside is decorated with pictures of our family, famous writers, and our dogs. She also has knickknacks, candles, and quotes like, “Nothing—unless it is difficult—is worthwhile” and “The wastepaper basket is the writer’s best friend.”

When the sun comes up, she’ll be looking out at Pikes Peak, typing away. She says writing does something for her that nothing else does, but I’m not sure what. Maybe it puts her into a different world, and she likes that because her own world has been pretty painful.

Bryce and I fought for the front seat. Sam finally said Bryce could have it on the way there and I could have it on the way back. I pouted and tried to sleep beside Dylan’s car seat as we rumbled south on I-25. The interstate cuts a path past the Front Range of mountains between Denver and Colorado Springs. We passed the Air Force Academy and its huge football stadium. I noticed the exit for Focus on the Family and peered into the darkness to see if I could make out Whit’s End and the giant green slide that runs down one side of the building. I noticed a lump by the road, and when we got closer, I saw it was a huge animal.

“That’s a bull elk,” Sam said. “Wouldn’t want to see the car that hit the thing.”

I wondered if the elk’s family would miss him as much as we missed our dad.

Soon we were heading west on Route 24 toward the mountains, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

When I woke up, we were parked in front of a grocery store. “Where are we?” I said.

“Woodland Park,” Sam said. “This is the last store we’ll see for a while. Let’s get some supplies and keep going. I want to hit the pass before the sun comes up.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about but followed him inside.

He put Dylan in a shopping cart shaped like a car and pushed another one in front of Bryce and me. “Dylan and I will get everything for sandwiches and burgers,” he said. “You two get the good stuff.”

“What do you mean?” Bryce said.

Sam leaned close and smiled. “Chips, soda, candy, popcorn—all the stuff your mom wouldn’t like. You have 10 minutes.”

Bryce and I took off. Mom fixes healthy foods and snacks, but she’s not against an occasional trip to McDonald’s. Somehow, I thought Sam and she had planned this—a weekend of bonding with the stepdad—but right now I didn’t care.

We zipped down the chip aisle, picking out sour cream and onion, barbecue, and thick chips for dipping. Bryce grabbed some huge pretzels, and I found a tin of cashews I thought Sam would like.

In 10 minutes we had the cart full of food. It would probably take us a year to eat it all.

Chapter 12

I helped Sam load our food in the SUV
while Ashley buckled Dylan into his car seat. The store had been fun, except that the guy who bagged our stuff looked like Boo Heckler’s muddy little friend. I couldn’t help but think of school Monday. If Boo kept pressuring Ashley and me to loan him our ATVs, we’d have to stop driving them. And if his threats were real, I was in trouble. I didn’t see any way out except for wearing a catcher’s mask and taking the bus to school.

As Sam drove up an incline, the sun glinted in the side mirror. The clouds turned orange-gold, and a line of yellow light sparkling against the horizon totally took my mind off Boo.

“What is this place?” Ashley said, leaning forward from the backseat.

“Wilkerson Pass,” Sam said. “Most incredible scene in the whole state if you ask me.”

“What’s so special about it?” I said.

Sam reached the top of the hill and slowed. “Take a look.”

My jaw dropped. The whole world seemed to open up. The road stretched all the way to the mountains for what seemed like 100 miles. There were a few farmhouses here and there, but it was mostly open range. A hawk flew overhead, looking for prey.

“Amazing,” Ashley whispered.

“It’s the Great Valley!” Dylan said, obviously remembering one of his
Land Before Time
videos
.

Sam chuckled. “And most of it has stayed the same for hundreds of years. What you’re seeing right now is what the Native Americans and the pioneers saw as they rode through here.”

A few stars were left over from the night, and the moon was still full over the whole area. A couple of miles farther we wound our way down the mountain and saw buffalo near a stream. Sam stopped and we got out to look at the huge beasts.

Suddenly the buffalo took off, stampeding across the valley. I don’t know what scared them, but the sight made me dread Boo Heckler again.