Cryostorm (9 page)

“How do you know for sure?”

“I don’t. I’m hoping, that’s all,” I said.

I reached in front of Lois, over her lap, and brushed my hand on my sister’s thigh. Her fingers curled around mine and squeezed. She covered her face with her free hand and her shoulders shook. “How have you done this so long, Mandy? I hate this. I just want to go home and have everything be okay again.”

My heart cracked.

“You know, like, when we were goofing around in gym class—when you decided to show up.” Sob. Shaking shoulders. “Or when you told the lunch lady you’d rather eat your toe than what they were serving. I want that. Those carefree, laughing, goofing around times.”

They were carefree, laughing, goofing around times for
her
, never were for me. I could barely contain my powers back then. Sure, the Agent threat was a little less intense than it was now, and there wasn’t the whole soap opera of adoption, Moms, Zach, death all around me. . . but at least I had more control now.

“I know, G. I know.”

Nate looked back at me from the front passenger side seat. Wonder filled his big brown eyes. He hadn’t heard much about my high school years. Especially last year since I was with Georgia, Dan, and Zach for the better part of it. I tried not to talk about much with Zach in it. Felt weird.

Not that Nate ever showed an ounce of jealousy or concern, which was really nice. Zach was more the jealous-tempered kind of guy. Regardless, I tried to stuff away the memories of Zach, especially the new ones starting to formulate from what Nate had told me about him. How he wasn’t doing anything. Dropped out of school. And then when I’d heard he hadn’t been online at all in months.

I shook my head.
Focus Mandy
. I needed to be strong for Georgia right now. This was about her and Lois. Whatever Lois knew needed to be brought to light.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Georgia asked.

“She could be out for a couple more hours. That crap is potent,” I said. I released her hand and settled back in my seat. Tiredness was starting to exert its force over my limbs.

“Oh,” Georgia said with a sigh.

Tim lumbered out from the registration cabin holding a handful of papers. The door cranked open, and he jumped in. “Okay. Two cabins, furthest back, closest to the trees. We’ll see anything coming.”

“I’ll set up some things around the parameter.” Nate sat up in his seat. “Then we need food and rest. The girls are tired.”

Tim glanced back at Georgia. “You okay?”

She nodded, wiping the tears from her cheek. “Need to get Lois comfortable.”

“She’s in with you. Two beds in your room. Hope you don’t mind sharing with your sis.” He smiled.

“Just like old times,” I said through a yawn.

Food and sleep sounded good. Then I could process anything Lois had to say. Well, hopefully.

Our two cabins were side-by-side and backed up to miles of snow. A forest of tall trees hemmed in the snowy yard. Evidently, beyond the trees there was a massive lake. I couldn’t remember which one. I’d lived north of this town for a few months a while back. Didn’t have much time for boating.

Then there was the whole freezing a lake issue, too.

Backpack thrown over my shoulder, I followed Nate into the girls’ cabin. He carried Lois and set her limp body onto the double bed closest to the heater. The cabin was bigger than I would have thought when we drove up to it. Two beds, side-by-side were to the right, next to a wall heater. A big window allowed the afternoon light to splash over the cream colored down comforters, and a fireplace tucked in the corner screamed to be lit.

Smelled like dust and new heater, but I loved the hint of pine I caught. That always refreshed me, but I’d sure like to hear the crackle of that fireplace and smell the burning wood.

To the left sat a kitchenette that had a square table for four, a sink and a small fridge. Another window gave a panoramic view of the woods behind us.

Probably very beautiful had I not been so tired and hungry and annoyed. At least the snow had finally stopped, along with the wind. So, instead of howling, we heard nothing but silence.

Thick, disturbingly quiet silence.

“We’ll go get food,” Nate said as he approached me. I hadn’t realized that I stalled inside the doorway, door propped open.

The heater roared to life in the corner in protest to my negligence.

“So, what are our names this time?” I asked slouching my shoulders.

Nate’s strong hands guided the backpack over my shoulder, and then took the weight from me. Like he always did. He carried my burdens willingly.

“I figured you were partial to Mildred and Gertrude since that’s what you took when you rented the apartment above us.” He smiled.

Okay, that almost made me laugh. I think the tiredness hit me like a tsunami because we’d finally found Lois. Just in time too, considering Agents showed up as we left. Lois never would have made it out of there alive.

“What can I pick up for you?” Nate untucked the zipper of my jacket from the flap of fabric over it and tugged.

“Red Vines. Need lots of those.”

“Chocolate, too,” Georgia chimed in.

Tim had led her to the bed already and was in the kitchen looking through the windows and making his way to the bathroom, checking everything out.

“Maybe I should send Tim and stay with you guys. You look beat.” Nate pushed the jacket off my shoulders and down my arms.

I happily let him. I knew I could be stronger if I wanted to be. But yeah, not so much.

“We’ll be fine, right G?”

“Yeah. We’ll kick anyone’s ass who dares come near this place. We just got Lois, no way are they getting her or us until we’ve had time to talk with her.” Georgia rolled over to her side.

I buried my face in Nate’s chest. “Okay. Go get food, do your booby trap thing, and we’ll hold down the fort.”

His hands combed through my snarly hair, then down my back. He touched a kiss to the top of my head, then slid his arms around me.

Man he gave the best hugs. Felt like they wouldn’t let any danger in. Could wipe out any doubt. “Keep your cell phone close. I can be to you in seconds if you need something.”

“Seconds?”

“Okay, minutes because of the snow.”

“You ready?” Tim stepped toward the door.

I let go of my death hold on Nate and followed them, locking the door after I’d shut it. Georgia was out cold on our bed, Lois hadn’t moved. I snatched my backpack and moved to the bathroom. I started the water running in the sink and plugged it, then squirted some soap in there. I’d gotten pretty good at washing the necessities in sinks for sure.

I unzipped my bag and dug out my undies and bras. I tossed them in the water. A pink envelope shuffled to the green tiled floor.

That was Zach’s birthday gift to me from months ago. I’d never opened it.

My heart hammered.

“No.” I slid it in the bag and zipped it shut. “I need to forget about Zach.”

Easier said than done since it was my fault his life had taken such a nosedive.

Chapter 14

W
et hair draped over my shoulders, I hunched over the keyboard. I sat at the kitchen table, back to the bright window so I could watch if Lois woke up.

I had a few free minutes to surf the net while Georgia was in the shower. I glanced at the sealed envelope sitting on the wooden table beside the computer. Zach had mentioned it had a private chat room site address that he’d set up for us to talk with no one knowing.

Did I dare?

I logged into Facebook under Georgia’s fake account name, Serafine Frost, and I went to his profile.

No status, and the last entry was nearly two months ago. But there were several posts from friends on his wall.

Dude, where’d you go?

Sorry ‘bout your mom.

Even one from Samantha.

Call me.

I clicked on her site, but we weren’t friends so I only saw her picture and status, nothing on her wall. Stupid Samantha. She’d wrecked everything for me and Zach.

Then again, it’d directed me toward Nate, so I shouldn’t complain, should I? I felt so responsible for Zach’s situation, though. Considering I was dead to him, I couldn’t contact him or help him in any way.

I glanced up and saw Lois had shifted positions. Now on her side, facing me. Maybe the drugs were wearing off finally.

I glanced at the envelope. With shaky fingers, I picked it up. I slid my finger beneath the seal and pushed. My heart rammed my ribs with a force so strong I thought for sure it’d puncture something.

I laughed when I saw the solid pink card cover.

Our joke. Not one to do much of the girly thing, he always tried to get me pink stuff whether it was candy, clothes—even drinks.

I flipped it open and found a small, dainty necklace taped to the cover. A cursive, gold M. Tears stung my eyes.

Happy Birthday, Mandy. Please come meet me in this chatroom. Midnight. Night of your birthday. I’ll tell you everything ~~Z

Below it was a website address. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

A few keystrokes later, a log in page popped up.

Username:

I sucked in a breath and held it. I couldn’t see anyone else in the room, but probably because I wasn’t logged in.

I leaned over and typed:

Rambo

My finger hovered over the return button. Should I? He’s probably not there. What if he was? I could pretend I stumbled into the room.

I pressed enter and my lungs burned, reminding me to exhale and get some more oxygen to my already fried brain.

The screen flashed, but a small box opened in the middle with a text box at the bottom. To the right, the room showed two names.

Rambo and Zach.

“Shit,” I whispered. He was in the room.

I swiped my sensor pad to get my cursor to the X at the corner of the box.

Ding
.

Zach had typed something.

Who’s this?

I drew in another breath. My hands shook so much I couldn’t get them to hover over any key on the keyboard specifically. Then the sweat factor started, despite the frigid room temperature.

How’d you get in here?

I leaned over the keyboard and typed:

Mistake. Sorry. Bye.

Don’t go . . . how’d you find it by mistake? Please tell me.

Shit. I knew so little about how this stuff worked. He might have figured it out.

Hello? You there?

I’m here. Who are you, Zach?

No one.

Where do you live?

Okay, I knew all this, but I just wanted to . . . I didn’t really know what I wanted or what I was doing.

Nowhere special.

You were alone in this room.

Was waiting. Hoping someone would come back.

Oh. Sounds sad.

Who are you?

Rambo.

But really, who are you? How’d—

Voices outside the door snapped my attention forward. I swiped the sensor pad to the X and clicked.

And in an instant, Zach was gone. God, what was I doing? This was stupid.

“Mandy?” Nate hollered from the other side of the door.

I hopped up. “Coming.” I heard the bathroom door open as I unhinged the locks and pulled the door open. Nate and Tim stood there, arms full of grocery bags. But beneath one bag, I saw Nate holding a pack of Red Vines.

He was so sweet. I was scum.

Chapter 15

“I
kind of hoped the smells of food would wake her up,” Georgia said as she poured the spaghetti sauce on my steaming noodles.

“Won’t be long now, she’s moved a few times since we got here,” Nate said.

We all sat at the small table facing each other. Not much chatter, though. Only sounds of slurping and silverware clanking. No one needed to say anything—we were all anxious for Lois to wake up.

I swirled the noodles around my fork and glanced at Nate. He looked out the window. The bright orb descended behind the tall trees, sending a long shadow over the sea of snow. It sparkled, actually. Like gems had mixed in with the snow.

“Sunsets are my favorite,” Nate said as he reached for his glass of milk. “Means we made it through another day.”

“And sunrise means we made it through another night?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“Georgia!” Lois screamed.

I whirled around to find her sitting straight up in her bed.

Georgia flew out of her seat, knocking it against the wall, and darted to Lois. “Here. It’s okay.”

Lois’s hand went to her neck and she flinched. I stood and moved toward them. “That’s from the needle. Neck might be sore for a bit.” Wasn’t sure if I should offer to heal it for her, considering she was pretty freaked out at the moment. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She looked to Georgia. “You’re alive. You and Amanda are alive?”

She nodded, sitting next to Lois, a hand on her shoulder. “We’re okay. We did what we needed to do to escape the Agents.”

“You—your—flames.” Lois shook her head. “I need water.”

Tim hopped up from his seat and hustled to the fridge. “I’ll get you one. You hungry?”

She nodded, but then palmed her forehead. “Oh.”

“Yeah. No nodding, quick movements, nothing for a while, okay?” I said. “Just move slow for the next couple of hours.”

“Where are we?” she asked, using Georgia’s hand as a guide to her feet.

“South of Burgess. We’re safe,” Nate said.

“Never safe.” Lois moved toward the kitchen, hand outstretched to Tim for the water bottle.

“Here. Sit,” Georgia led her to her chair. “Eat and talk, please.”

“You put your nose ring back in,” Lois shook her head.

Really? She was going to focus on Georgia’s nose ring? She wasn’t even Georgia’s true mother.

Georgia stuck out her tongue, and Lois gasped at the silver ball in the center of it. Georgia sucked it back in and smiled. “Wanna see my tat?”