Prophecy (13 page)

“Where were you all day?” My snotty tone gave him all the power. Clearly, his absence had affected me, while it hadn’t bothered him at all to be away from me. The only thing worse than my thinly veiled obsession was the fact it wasn’t mutual.

He shifted into gear and shot me a look. “I needed time. The day didn’t start off as I planned.”

I blanched at the memory of Justin kissing my head. Had it bothered him so much he left school? “Then, I discovered the entire state of Ohio thinks my family is possessed. Today wasn’t my best day.” The quiet engine purred under his control. Liam moved the gearshift without effort, seeming lost in thought down Oak Street to Maple before sliding against the curb outside my home.

“So, you came back to school and waited for me, so you could drive me four blocks home?”

“It’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

“They also talk, you know. They talk and you aren’t talking.” I unlatched my seat belt and turned in the soft leather seat to face him. The warm interior felt like butter against my hands and everything smelled like him, but intensified, concentrated in the small warm space.

“Why do you walk to school every day?” Liam asked.

“Uh, because I’m poor. I can’t afford a car and I can’t take Mom’s while she’s home during the day or she’d be stranded. I refuse to let her drive me. I’m a bit too old for that now.”

“Not even in the winter?”

I took a breath. “Justin drives me when the weather’s bad.”

“Ah.” He tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel.

“Why did you come back for me today?” I looked at my house, making sure Mom wasn’t spying. I doubted she’d recognize Liam’s car.

“I didn’t want Kirk or anyone else bothering you. I told you I won’t let that happen again and I won’t if I can help it.” The edge in his voice cut me. He never told the whole story. He spoke in riddles, making me guess what he meant underneath the words. From where I sat, this sounded like a good-bye, but he’d made a trip to bring me home from school.

“I can take care of myself. I’m not a child. I’ve dealt with these guys all my life.” I lowered my voice. I wasn’t a problem for him to solve.

“Why didn’t you tell me everyone thinks my family’s insane?” His strangled voice made me nervous.

“How? How do you say that to someone?”

“Maybe they’re right.” He stared at his hands on the steering wheel. “Something’s wrong. That’s for certain. Apparently, news has traveled to Ohio. My entire bloodline is cursed. Cracked. Doomed.”

“Liam.” I touched the back of his hand with my fingertips. He shook me away.

“I think I was wrong. I think we shouldn’t be friends. Justin’s an honorable guy who clearly loves you. His family is upstanding and financially secure, both are things to hold in high regard when choosing your friends and acquaintances. I was wrong to interfere and I apologize.”

“Hey,” I snapped. “I decide. Not you. You don’t make those decisions for me.” I glared at the side of his face. “Do you hear me?”

“Right. Your choice.” He turned his face toward mine, barely moving in his seat, his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel unrelenting. He waved a hand at his windshield, toward his home in the distance. “I should get home.”

There it was. He’d picked me up so he could say good-bye. I needed to talk with Justin for the same reason. It was better to say these things in person. Of course, I wasn’t dropping Justin from my life the way Liam had dropped me, but it was the same premise. One last moment of niceness before the aching, what-have-I-done and long nights of making myself it-was-for-the-best promises.

The dark things he’d said about his family bothered me. He hadn’t seemed surprised by the content of the stories as much as the fact people had heard them. I’d had a feeling all the attitude he spewed was a cover to protect himself, but if he didn’t know we’d heard the rumors until today, why was he so unfriendly from day one?

“How was school?” Mom sat in the chair across from me. Her wide brown eyes narrowed.

“Fine. Good.” I corrected a minute too late and she caught it.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. I have a big paper due in Ohio history. We got the rubric today and I’m worried.” Both parts of my statement were true enough, though not necessarily connected to one another in any way.

“Who dropped you off?”

“What?” She was watching. Jeez.

“Uh huh. What’s he like?” She leaned in toward me. A small smile curved her lips.

“Who?” Could she see him from the house? From the sidewalk, there were three steps to a walkway. The walkway ran to our porch steps. Four more steps brought visitors to the front door. It didn’t seem possible to see the driver inside a car from our house, not when I was on the side nearest her.

“I didn’t realize it was such a tough question. How long are you going to think it over?” Her smile grew. “There’s only one family in town driving a brand new Mercedes, honey. It didn’t take a private detective.”

“Oh. He’s nice.” Sort of. Not really. I picked at the roll beside my salad. Mom had stacked grilled chicken slices over greens, which meant she was too tired to deal with her more complicated recipes. I was thankful.

“He picked you up from swim?”

“Yeah.”

“I know I’m getting old, but aren’t teenage girls usually keyed up after the new guy drives them home?” Mom turned her head slightly, trying to get a read on me.

“Mom? Do you still have your books on Mythology?”

She set her fork down. “Why?”

“I saw Liam looking it up online. I thought you could help. Maybe he could borrow your books?” Growing up, she’d had an entire shelf in Dad’s study filled with books on mythology. I liked to sneak in and look at the watercolor pictures in the biggest tome. The book was heavy and hard to manage with my little hands, but it had smelled like an old attic, dry and peppery. I’d liked it. When she caught me tracing the images of sea nymphs on blank paper, she’d put all the books away. I’d looked every day after school for signs of them, but they were gone.

“Honey, I got rid of those old books years ago.”

“Right.” The books didn’t matter anyway. After our talk in his car, Liam and I probably wouldn’t be speaking again soon. Everything about him left me dangling, waiting for the rest of the story, but only one of us thought our story was over. He’d said goodbye, but I saw us stretching out in an unending ribbon of time. I pinched my eyes shut. That made no sense. Besides, he’d said the website was Oliver’s. It was time I stopped trying to find common ground with Liam. I covered my tummy with one palm, hoping to settle the sudden nausea. I needed more sleep.

Mom studied me. “I wonder what got him interested in Norse mythology. There are plenty more relevant things to research. What’s wrong with technology in medicine, or drone building, or something current?”

“I didn’t say he was looking up Norse mythology. Why didn’t you assume I meant Greek mythology?”

Mom looked at me, unblinking. “You asked for my books. They were Norse.”

My thoughts wobbled, unsteady in my mind. An unusual brand of tension zipped between us. “Not all of them.”

Her expression seemed to challenge me. To what?

The doorbell rang and I nearly fell off my chair.

Mom looked past me to the door. “Expecting company?”

“Justin.” Shoot. My tummy clenched for a new reason.

Mom followed me to the door. “Hello, Justin. Come in. We have salad.”

“Salad?” Justin cocked an eyebrow. “I’m a meat and potatoes guy, Mrs. Ingram. This doesn’t happen on accident.” He curled a forearm at his side.

“Certainly not.” She laughed. “You have your mother’s sense of humor and your dad’s face. I’d venture to say genes have more to do with those arms than meat and potatoes. Can I get you a soda?”

“Thanks.” Justin followed Mom to the kitchen, and I trailed behind.

“Liam Hale drove Callie home from swim today. What do you know about him?” Mom handed Justin a soda, feigning nonchalance.

Justin gave me a sidelong glance. “He’s new.”

She locked palms over her hips. “And you aren’t. You watch over Callie. You have since grade school. You must have an opinion on this. Dish.”

“I don’t know him, Mrs. Ingram, but I plan to fix that.” Justin cracked open his soda and leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Good.” Mom nodded and walked away, giving us space.

“Come on.” I led the way to my room and shut the door halfway. Mom said the door stayed open when I had boys over. I agreed. I didn’t want her sneaking upstairs and listening in on something private. I sat at my desk with a view of the stairs.

Justin set his soda on a stack of paperbacks beside my keyboard. “Okay, hear me out before you get pissed off.”

“What’d you do?”

“Nothing. Hardly anything. Something you should have. Scoot over.” He reached around me to the keyboard and typed Liam’s name in the search engine.

“Justin!”

“Wait. Look.”

Pages of search results came back on the Hale family. I couldn’t process the information fast enough. Cases against the family, dropped out of court. Speculation the accusers were paid off or intimidated into silence. Photos of Liam, Oliver and the man in the sweater vest entering dark buildings. Captions claimed the Hales were part of some elite rich guy club and speculated over various scandals. His father’s murder. I gasped.

“The gossip’s true, Callie. Their family is a big deal where they came from. If my family went to unmarked buildings at night, no one would care, and I guarantee it wouldn’t be in the newspaper. Something’s wrong with them. I researched them for about an hour before I came here. It felt wrong to look behind your back. I thought we could read the articles together and make some logical decisions.”

“Decisions?” My mind blanked. Decisions on what? “Liam’s father was murdered.” How bad would that screw me up? No wonder he was guarded and didn’t like the stepdad. I’d wanted my parents to split up. His dad was yanked, violently, from his life. “They live under such scrutiny. It looks like his family was photographed everywhere they went.”

“You can’t seriously want to get involved with this guy.” Justin’s voice dropped an octave. “People with money can’t be trusted. There’s your evidence. They covered claims against them. Don’t you wonder what kind of claims they were? I’m pretty sure they weren’t parking tickets. Think about what you’re starting. Don’t go jumping in without looking first.”

“I don’t jump without looking.”

“Callie.” He rubbed my shoulders in his giant hands and I flinched. “I’m trying to look out for you. It’s harder when you ignore solid advice.” Justin leaned over me, pressing his chest to my back, typing again.

“You don’t have to worry about Liam. He drove me home and dumped me.” My nose and eyes stung. “He said his family is a mess and we shouldn’t be friends.”

Justin pressed his lips to my head. “I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t.

“Why did reporters follow them around?” I ignored the kiss, not wanting to think more about it than necessary. Justin’s touches had new meaning. I couldn’t get my head straight enough to address our relationship before the next bomb hit. I’d wanted to talk with him about us. Now all I could think of was the Hales. A million new questions came on the wings of Google.

“They’re rich. Like celebrities, based on money and legacy. The Rockefellers or Trumps of Europe.”

“You really think they moved to another country to cover their tracks?” I shook my head. “I don’t believe that. Plus, any decent criminal knows running is an admission of guilt.”

Justin moved to my side and knelt, gathering my hands in his. “Listen, I can’t stay right now, but I wanted to show you what I found. You’re smart enough to make your own decisions. You can keep searching or not. Your choice.” He cleared his throat and squeezed my hands. “I care about you. You know that. I think what we’ve got is more than a friendship, and you’re leaving for college soon.” His crystal blue eyes pierced me to the chair. “When you leave, I don’t want to wonder what might have been.”

I took a long breath. A sliver of my heart urged me to climb inside his arms and be safe, stay in Zoar and see what happened. The rest of me, all the parts that made me crazy and challenged my friends, coworkers and parents, refused to settle for safe. I wanted an adventure, and Justin deserved one, too.

“Justin.” I squeezed his hands back. “I can’t.”

The hopeful expression on his face melted. He dropped my hands and stood. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“No. Not okay, but I won’t fight you. You’re stubborn as hell and if I get pushy, you’ll deny me on principle.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m a bull rider, Callie. I don’t give up when I land in the dirt.” He pressed his lips against my temple in a chaste, but meaningful, toe-curling way.

I sucked air.

“See you tomorrow?”

I nodded dumbly as he left my room, tapping the top of the door frame as he passed through, like always. His jaunty footfalls thumped down the stairs to the front door.

“See ya, Mrs. Ingram.”

The door snapped shut behind him.

“Bye, Justin.” Mom’s voice came from the bathroom across the hall. I’d missed her coming upstairs, despite my half-open door.

“Mom!” I shut the windows on my computer screen as she came into view. “You were listening?”

“I was not.”

I stared in disbelief.

She crossed the room to my bed and peered through the curtains. “What do you think about the Hale family? Do you think any of the speculation is true? None of it’s good. That’s for sure.”

Clearly, she’d been listening. I rolled my eyes and pushed aside the fact we’d talked about Liam before discussing Justin’s declaration. If Mom was skipping that conversation, I certainly wasn’t bringing it up.

“I don’t know. I’ve only spoken with Liam. Oliver acts like Mr. Personality. I don’t know anything about their parents.” I cringed at the word, remembering Liam had lost his dad and didn’t like his stepdad. “You had Mrs. Hale over for tea. What did you think of her?”

“I think she’s troubled.”

Troubled. Old Mrs. Printz had used the same word to describe Liam’s great-grandmother Mary-Catherine.