Cassidy Jones and the Luminous (Cassidy Jones Adventures Book 4) (16 page)

“We have a jet waiting at Boeing Field,” General Alton informed Gavin as he helped Serena into the car.

“Thank you, sir.” Gavin gestured for General Alton to get in next, then climbed in after him. The agent closed the back door and got into the front seat of the vehicle.

“Did I ever say how freakin’ cool Gavin is?” Nate stated in awe.

“He is a badass,” Jared agreed.

“That must be his boss,” I remarked.

“No
dur
,” Nate said.

I gave him a swift jab in the upper arm.

“Bully,” he teased, massaging his arm as he craned his neck to get one last glimpse of the Phillips’s impressive ride.

~~~

It seemed that Luminous
was everywhere I looked. Pedestrians passing us on the way to school, drivers taking swigs at stoplights, our schoolmates, school staff—it was an epidemic.

How can we just let them infect themselves?

What kind of people are we?

“Cassidy, think of the consequences,” Emery whispered, reading the distress on my face. I had counted ninety-seven Luminous bottles since that morning. How had I not noticed it was everywhere?

“I can’t believe I was so blind, either,” Emery confessed, in perfect timing with my internal dialogue. It bugged me when he did that.

Robin approached, sporting a smile and a Luminous.

“Hey,” she sang.

“Hey,” I returned, eyeing the bottle. Now it made sense. The parasite was making Robin nice.

She winked at Emery and took a swig. I didn’t like that at all.

“Cassy,” Jared called.

Emery and I stopped walking so he could catch up.

“This sucks,” Jared whispered in my ear.

“It does,” I agreed. Our troubled eyes leapt from Luminous bottle to Luminous
bottle.

~~~

My stomach took a nosedive when I spied an evil Luminous perched before Miriam at our table in Levy’s class, appearing deceptively harmless. My fingers twitched at my side, ready to grab it and hurl it through the window.

“Don’t,” Emery warned, realizing I was on the edge of going ballistic. Each time I saw a bottle of that unholy water, I wanted to scream. “I’ll take care of it.”

As we made our way toward Miriam, Jared crossed the room, looking on the verge of smacking Luminous bottles off the tables he passed.

“Hi, there,” Miriam greeted Emery. She brought the water toward her provocative smile. I would have rolled my eyes at her flirting, if they hadn’t been occupied with burning twin holes into her Luminous. A couple of inches closer to her mouth and I’d have knocked it from her hand.

Emery slid into my chair, smiling.

“Hey.” He took the bottle from Miriam and pretended to drink.

Miriam watched him with delighted shock. This was the first time Emery had reciprocated her endless flirting, or so she thought. What would she say if she knew his only motivation was to protect her?

“Thanks,” Emery said with a smile. “I was thirsty.”

“Well, it’s about time!” Miriam teased, reaching for the bottle. When her fingertips brushed Emery’s, he opened his hand. The bottle fell between their chairs, hitting the floor. Water splattered the bottom of their pant legs and shoes.

Miriam squealed.

“Smooth, Phillips.” Emery feigned embarrassment.

“You’re wet! Here, let me help you.” Miriam snapped her sweater from the back of her chair and brought it toward Emery’s thigh, intending to dry him off. He caught her hand.

“That’s thoughtful of you,” Emery said with that toying smile. He backed toward his chair, holding her sweater at bay. “Maybe next time.”

“It’s a date.” Miriam winked a twinkling eye at him.

“Are you two finished?” I pretended to be exasperated. In reality, I wanted to hug Emery for protecting my friend.

“Looks to me like they’re just getting started,” Dixon remarked.

“Looks to me like class is about to start,” I retorted. Then I noticed the pensive woman with mousy brown hair and big round glasses who was sitting behind Levy’s desk.

The final bell rang.

“Please be seated,” the substitute teacher said, rising. “I’m Miss Prescott.”

“
Miss Prescott
,” Dixon echoed. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, sporting a brutish smile. He would make this woman rue the day she subbed for Levy.

“There are no lesson plans,” Miss Prescott said, stationed behind the desk, fiddling with her hands. “So you can use this time to study for other classes.”

“Or nap!” Dixon tipped his head back and whistled a snore.

I rolled my eyes at Miriam.
Oh, yes, Dixon. You’re a clever one.

“Dear Students and Staff,” Principal Woolsey’s somber voice flowed through the intercom.

Miss Prescott sat down, as though the announcement was her cue, and stared at her shaking hands.

“I share this news with you with a heavy heart. Moments ago, I received confirmation from the authorities. Mr. Levy has been reported missing.”

~~~

Mr. Levy’s disappearance had put me in a tailspin. It was one thing to hear about a complete stranger disappearing, but quite another to know the victim.

A victim of what?
I shuddered at the possibilities.

The school hallways were unnervingly quiet. Spooked whispers, soles of shoes scraping against wood, long faces—it was like walking through a funeral home.

“What do you think happened to Mr. Levy?” I asked Emery, rubbing the goose bumps on my arm.

“Not here.” He pointed to an emergency exit that was positioned out of the flow of traffic.

We wove our way through our schoolmates to the secluded spot. Emery swung his back to the wall. This was a habit of his. He liked to keep an eye on what was going on around him.

“A better question is: What’s the connection between Luminous Water
and missing locals?”

“So you think there’s a connection, too?” Emery had voiced my fear.

“‘In the magical universe, there are no coincidences, and there are no accidents,’” Emery quoted.

“Is that your way of saying
yes
?”

“It’s William S. Burroughs’s.”

“Emery, please don’t joke around. If we’re right, my mom—” I couldn’t finish.

Emery hooked my neck in the crook of his arm and placed a brotherly kiss on my forehead.

“Your mom will be fine,” he promised.

I wiped away tears. “Do you think the parasite killed the people who are still missing?”

Emery tilted my face up to his so he could look into my eyes. “There are no bodies, Cassidy,” he reminded. “So, no, I don’t think the parasite kills its host. Forgive me for being insensitive.”

“I forgive you, and it is a good quote. I think everything that’s happened to me was meant to be.”

“‘Let us follow our destiny, ebb and flow. Whatever may happen, we master fortune by accepting it.’ Virgil.”

I knocked on his head. “How many quotes do you have in there?”

“Do you want me to answer that?”

“No.” I grew serious again. “What do we do from here?”

“We go to fourth period.”

“You know I wasn’t referring to this very instant.”

“I do. I just don’t have an answer beyond this very instant.”

I found his admission discomforting. Emery always had answers.

After a long, frustrating day of knowing that people were in danger and not being able to do a darn thing about it, I couldn’t wait to cut out of my house at midnight in search of a situation that I
could
take control of, like a robbery or a cat stuck in a tree.

But before I could be in the right place at the right time, I had to check on Joe. I discovered him pacing his alley.

“Joe, what’s wrong?” I whispered, almost giving him a heart attack.

“Green Eyes,” he breathed, turning to face me with one hand clutching his chest. I narrowed my eyes on his dreadlocks. They looked damp. “You’re as quiet as a ghost. I was even keeping an eye out for you.”

His face looked stricken, as if he
had
seen a ghost.

“Maybe you should sit,” I suggested. Joe didn’t look well.

He just nodded, which freaked me out even more. I gripped his arm, guided him to the doorway that his box was nestled in, and helped him sit on the top step. He brought trembling fingertips to his head and stared into the void before him, as though watching a disturbing scene in a movie. Something was terribly wrong.

Is it the parasite he swallowed?
Panic grew in my chest.

“Joe, do you need to go to the hospital?”

He shook his head. “No hospital. I’ll be fine. Just need to sort things out.”

“Sort what out?” I touched his dreadlocks. They were damp. “Why’s your hair wet?”

“Took a dip in Lake Washington,” Joe explained. “The way that vitamin water made me feel wasn’t the only thing that riled my suspicion. Doc did, too. His best friend had always been a bottle of Jack Daniels ’fore he came back, and he used to have a limp. Told me once he’d discovered a lump on his leg, but wasn’t gonna do nothing about it. Can’t go on living forever on the streets, he said. Thing is, he don’t limp no more.

“I been spying on him at the shelter, where he’s serving up meals and passing that water around to folks. I followed him this evening when he left. He got on a bus and I got in a taxi. Had to show proof I was good for the fare ’fore the taxicab driver would take me anywhere. Thank the Good Lord that Doc got to where he was goin’ quick. Only had fifteen dollars on me.

“He got off at a park next to the lake. Not sure of the name. He walked into that park like he was in no hurry at all. I kept my distance, ’specially since we was the only two around. Appeared that way, at least. There was a young lady with long, yella hair waiting for him on the beach.

“Side by side, they made their way into the lake, walked right in and went under. The cold water didn’t even bother them none. When they didn’t come up for air, I ran out from the bush where I was hiding and went into the water to search for them.

“There was no sign of Doc or the lady. Only the moonlight over the water.” Joe rubbed a hand over his stubbly face. I had never seen him so disturbed—granted, there was plenty to be disturbed about.

“Do you think they committed suicide?”

“No. I don’t. Don’t know what they was doing. But I know they didn’t drown. I know it in my gut.”

“Then why didn’t they come up for air?”

“I don’t rightly know.”

~~~

I went straight from Joe’s alley to Emery’s house. Even though I could have knocked on the front door—now that everyone in his household knew my secret—I’d grown accustomed to using his bedroom window late at night.

After hearing what Joe had witnessed, Emery took a moment to process.

“We’ll search Lake Washington tonight,” he announced.

“You mean
I
will search Lake Washington. This could be dangerous, after all.”

“No.
We
will.” Emery pointed to himself and me. “It’s non-negotiable. We’ll rent scuba gear this morning and borrow a boat from a marina in the evening.”

By “borrow,” Emery meant hotwire and steal.

“I’d also like to check out this Doc character. We’ll stake out the shelter.”

“What makes you think he’ll be there? Remember, he and that woman never came up for air.” This was my delicate way of pointing out they may have drowned. Joe was convinced they hadn’t, but what other logical explanation could there be?

“I’m with Joe on this one,” Emery said. “They didn’t drown. Doc will be at the shelter tomorrow.”

Emery’s plan wasn’t sitting well with me. His plans seldom did.

“Shouldn’t we call your dad before we do anything?” Gavin would probably veto the whole thing. Without a doubt, my parents would.

“My dad has a full plate of bureaucracy right now. Your parents will worry. We’ll do this
tú y yo
.” Emery pointed to himself and me again.

This was the way he liked it. Just the two of us. The brain and the muscle.

The next morning while getting ready for school, my BIG mouth and I created a problem, one that Emery wouldn’t be happy about.

As I brushed my hair in the bathroom, I told Jared what Joe had witnessed, and about Emery’s plan to search the lake. Being an experienced scuba diver, he announced he was coming along, too.

“You can’t go,” I stated flat out.

Jared watched me in the bathroom mirror, arms crossed, an obstinate expression on his face.

“Why not?” he challenged.

“B-because—” I used the brush to direct the words like an orchestra conductor: “Because . . . you can’t!” I went back to brushing my hair, which was my way of saying
end of discussion
.

The corners of his mouth turned up into a determined smile. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Well, you’re going to have to take
no
for an answer!”

Jared shut the bathroom door, leaned against the counter, and fixed an amused smile on me. I pretended he wasn’t there as I ripped the brush through my hair.

“What’s the likelihood of me taking ‘no’ for an answer?”

“What’s the likelihood of me duct-taping you to a chair?”

Jared laughed.

“What? You think I won’t?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Look, Jared.” I shook the brush at him. “This isn’t a game, and it’s probably dangerous, if the scrapes Emery and I have gotten ourselves into before are any indication! Besides, he knows how to scuba dive—”

“So do I. What about you?”

“N-n-
no
,” I sputtered. “
But
I can hold my breath for a
real
long time—”

“If you knew anything about scuba diving, you’d know that’s a very bad idea.”

“You’re making me want to scream!” I declared, but he did have a point. Jared had been diving since he was young, and what kind of trouble were we realistically going to run into? We’d be in fresh water, at the top of the food chain.