Dark Calling (15 page)

Shiny white s
hoes appear
in front of the main door of
the bathroom.  Afraid to go any further, Keely pulls her phone back out.
 
Silently curses the fact that she doesn’t have Nick’s
number.  How can he be so close
and yet so far
away?
  The squeak and slide of Apophis’
shoes warn her he is moving.
  Her
hands shake
badly as she keys in the
text.  S
he has to clear it and try a
gain.  Just two words.  APOPHIS HERE
.  Knows it’s enough for Bryon to understand.  Hits send
and shoves it into her pocket
as the stall door is flung op
en.  She sucks in a huge breath
prepared to howl out a horror movie worthy scream, but it’s cut off with a li
ghtning quick blow to the
scar on her throat.  She
falls back into the toilet
choking
.  Her head hits with a thwack.  Vision blurs as pain shoots down her n
eck.  His hands are in her hair
pulling her up.  Hi
s face comes into view.  L
ovely and loathsome at the same time.  It is that
horrible
night all over again.  He’
s going to kill her this time.  She can read it in his eyes.  The venomous scorn.  The determination.

He
grabs her by the shirt,
s
lams
her against the tiled wall.  H
e
r
collar rips as he shakes her.  Slams her again, striking her head once more
.
  This time, Keely can feel the warm stickiness of blood in her hair.  She gags as she gasps for air.  Apophis holds her face between his hands.  Lick
s her cheek where her tears leave
salty wet streaks.  Runs his icy fingers over her raw
and bloody
l
ips.  Slides them down her side
and over the bare skin showing on her stomach.    “Shame.  We could have had
so much
fun.”  He shoves her to the side.  As Keely stumbles, she tries to aim herself toward the trash can in hopes of making enough
noise to alert Nick
. 
She misses.  H
its the
floor.  Slides into the wall.  She k
icks out at the trash can sending it flying into the
door.  She smiles up at Apophis,
her brother, as Nick bursts through the door, dagger in hand.

He smiles back at her with an expression Keely cannot decipher.  “We aren’t done,”
he states coolly
. 

Nick thrusts his dagger in Apophis’ direction.  Just as it is about to make contact, he d
isappears as if melting
into the floor.  The knife continues on to hit the mirror above th
e sink.  It explodes.  Shards of glass spill like confetti. 

“Keely?”  Nick rus
hes to her.  Slides to the floor
beside her
like he’s sliding home
.
  The last thought s
he has before she passes out is
,
Safe
.

Nine:

Bryon trails behind Nick
trying to focus on keeping a look out for anyone who may notice a bloodied girl being carried through the hallway.  This is much harder than it sounds, because the girl just happens to be Keely.  They are doing a terrible job of keeping her safe.  It occurs to him, and not for the first time, that perhaps they should call in reinforcements.  Or replacements.  They are just too inexperienced.  He says as much to Lila and Dustin as they all meet at Nick’s car. 

“We can discuss this later, Bryon.  Right now, we need to get Keely checked out,” Dustin chides him.

Mr. Giordano jogs over to them
carrying a first aid kit
.  Kneels inside the car and assesses
Keely’s injuries with knowing hands.  After several agonizi
ng minutes
, he concludes she
probably has
a concussion and multiple superficial wounds.  He cleans the swollen gash under her
hair and begins questioning them.

“What happened?”

“Apophis,” Nick and Bryon say in unison.

“How did you know?” Nick asks Bryon.

“She text me.  That’s why I came down to the bathrooms.
”

Nick reaches past Mr. Giordano.  Fishes through Keely’s pockets and comes back with her cell phone. 

“Nick, you can’t do that.  You can’t invade her privacy like that,” Lila says disapprovingly. 

“You think I’m lying?” Bryon says.  Suspicion colors his tone.

Nick pauses.  Eyes meet Bryon’s.  “Why would I think that?  I’m just checking her phone to see if
there are
any other texts we should know about.”  He turns to Lila.  “And privacy went out the window a long time ago, don’t you think?
  Like maybe about the same time
we started following her.
”  He opens her text messages and curses.  Checks her call log.  Looks at the time of the last call.  “She got a text from her mom saying to call when she was alone.  And she called.  Apparently it was Apophis.  I can’t believe she didn’t tell us.  How could she be so stupid?”  Nick throws the phone onto the front seat.

“It’s her mom, Nick.  People trust their moms,” Lila murmurs.

“It was stupid.  I was right there.  She could have told me.”

“Well, maybe she wanted that privacy I was talking about.”

“Maybe we should discuss this later.  Shouldn’t she be in bed or something?” Dustin wonders.

“Take her home.  Let her sleep, it will help her heal, but wake her every couple hours.  Just long enough to make sur
e she
can
wake up
,” Mr. Giordano instructs.

It’
s decided school is no longer safe for Keely.  Bryon knows she will hate this.  Not so much the missing school part, but it b
eing decided for her while she’
s unconscious.

He drives her
car
,
following behind Nick
.  Dustin and Lila are behi
nd him in Dustin’s
Gremlin
that Bryon thinks is the exact same color as lime Jell-O.

He carries Keely’s
bag inside as Nick carries her.  Lila pulls the futon out, making it into a bed for Keely.  Nick lifts her head gently, placing a pillow beneath.
  Bryon thinks she looks
too pale.  Her lips are the dark red of dried blood.  Her shirt is torn revealing the black lace of her bra strap.  He wants to fix it so it doesn’t show.  Afraid to touch her, he pulls the blanket up to her chin.

“What do we do now?” he asks, addressing no one in particular.

“We wait and wake her up in a couple of hours like Mr. Gi—Joe said,” Nick answers.

“No, that’s not what I mean.  We need help.  This is too big for us.  This is the
second time in two days she’s been
attacked.”

“The second time you guys saved her.  Isn’t that our job?” Dustin says.

“Protection is our job.  Bryon’s right.  We should have prevented this from happening in the first pla
ce, then she wouldn’t need saving
.  We messed up.”

“She’s alive.  We didn’t mess up that bad,” Dustin counters.

“Bad e
nough.  She shouldn’t be lying
here unconscious.  We need help,” Bryon repeats.

Dustin puts his hands up, surrendering.  Lila pac
es in front of him.  “Call D
ad, Icky.  He’ll know what to do.  Maybe they can just send somebody with a little more experience.”

Nick is defeated.  He failed his first assignment in the worst way.  He stares at Keely.  Why were there so many attempts in the last two days for her?  That could be explained by her rapidly approaching birthday.  However…  How did they get in her house?  How did they know she was staying at his house?  And how did they know she was in the bathroom at that exact moment today?

There’
s a leak.  Someone is giving them this information.  Nick is certain.  But who?
He stares at his friends.
 

“Everybody get out,” he demands.

“
What
?”  Bryon is perplexed.

“Out.  Now.  All of you.  I need to think.  Make some calls.  I’ll get this figured out.”
  He ignores the insulted look from Dustin.  The angry glare from Bryon.  The hurt and confus
ed expression on Lila’s face.  He c
rosses his arms over his chest.  “I’ll update you guys when I can,” he adds, dismissing them.

*
**

The feeling of being watched make
s Keely open her eyes to the silky white canopy above her.  Something stirs at her side
.  Confused, she turns her head.  The room is
extremely
bright and
when she sees him h
er stomach churns with dread.

“Who did this to you, Keely?”  His voice is so wonderful, she finds it hard to ha
te him.  He moves closer and
she is shocked by the tension coiling his body.  Is he c
oncern
ed
?  For her?  This has to be a joke. 

Her voice comes out strained, scratchy in her raw throat.  “As if you don’t know.  As if you care.”

She has to hand it to him, he actually appears puzzled
as he shakes his head
.  “I care ve
ry much
.  And I do not know who would do such a thing to someone of such importance.  To a child of mine.”  His voice tightens at
the end.  Becomes icy.

Though she already knows
,
to hear him say it
,
to confirm i
t,
she
gasps in shock. 
Pulls the sweet smelling sheet closer to her as if she can hide beneath it.  Like when she covered her head as a child, certain the boogie man lived in her
closet.  Now the boogie man i
s her father.  “The same person who murdered your other daughters.  The same person who tried to kill me before.”

Her fath
er’s eyes become dark.  The color
of a stormy sky
.  Keely cringes away from the fury twisting his features.  “Who?  I want the name.”  His hands fist at his sides causing the veins to bulge
on his pale skin
.

“My brother,” she whispers.

“No.  You’re conf
used.  Asmoday would never.”  He shakes his head.  “He would never go against my will.  You misunderstand, my child.  He was merely retrieving you for me.  To bring you here.”  He lifts his hands and Keely’s
eyes dart around the room.  It’
s the same as before.  The strange but lovely wooden bed.  The old lamp.  The door.

“No,” she says absently.

“No?”  He looks amused, as if he is talking to a small child with an overactive imagination.

“No,” she repeats.  “Not Asmoday.  I mean my other brother.  I mean Apophis.  And I am quite certain he was trying to kill me.  I have the scars to prove it.”  She lifts her head.  Reveals the shi
ny scar that crosses her throat
now bruised from the
shot he delivered to her windpipe in the school bathroom.

“Apophis
.” 
He says it as if it puts
a
bad taste in his mouth, leaving
the one word lingering in the air.  S
uddenly, he is gone, and she’
s left alone
in darkness
.

Keely wastes no time.  She hurries from the bed, her legs tangling in the blanket.  She shoves it off of her.  Scrambles to t
he door, flinging it open.  The room—it appears to be a formal dining room—is also dark and she realizes that her father must be the one who lights this place so brightly.  Moving slowly, sh
e runs her hand across the wall
feeling for a light switch.  The wall is cold.  The room is frigid.  Heat must be another thing her father took with him.  Her fingers move over the bumps from several coats of paint. 
The mural
, she remembers.  The wall ends, and she turns to follow a new wall.  A hand clamps
around
her wrist and she freezes.  Somehow, she doesn’t scream.  Just a stunned intake of breath is her only reaction.  Sh
e doesn’t even try to pull away
because the slithering rush in her veins already tells her who it is.

“Asmoday,” she mouths and somehow
he hears her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Daddy
dearest left me here.”