Flicker (27 page)

"The operation went smoothly. We won't have
biopsy result for several more days, but so far your vitals have
steadily improved and you should be released in about a week."

I touch Dad's fingers but continue to look
at the doctor. "What does this mean for me?"

He straightens. "We're hopeful it means the
end of your headaches. We'll continue to monitor you for quite some
time, but I'm optimistic this will be the last time we'll see you
in here."

Something still isn't making sense. "I
thought you were an EMT."

He smiles. "Not exactly. I ride with the
EMTs from time to time. It was part of our training in med school
and I like the change of scenery." He shrugs, completely
unapologetic for his deception. "I suspected something was wrong
with you but thought if you knew I was a real doctor, you wouldn't
listen to me."

"That's true." He still seems too young to
be a brain doctor. "So you… fixed me?" A lump forms in my throat
and I fight back tears. Right when I was beginning to accept that
what I'd always thought of as a condition was something more,
something that could actually help other people, it's gone.

After Dr. Martinez leaves, Mom goes on a
coffee run, passing Cameron in the doorway. I haven't fully wrapped
my mind around the idea that I can't flicker, but they seem to have
something else on their minds.

Dad leans close and squeezes my hand. "Biz,
honey, you did it."

I look back and forth between them. Cameron
smiles down at me, and I'm taken aback by the change in him. A
light shines from within him. "You look so… happy."

"That's because I am. Biz, they caught him.
Because of you."

My head whips to Dad.

"I filled him in while you were unconscious.
I wasn't sure if you told him a second time, but since you trusted
him enough to tell him once, I thought you'd be okay with me
telling him again."

I nod.

Cameron continues. "The police staked out
the park and caught him trying to take a little girl." He shakes
his head, a dazed look on his face. “I still can’t believe it was
Turner.”

I touch the cut on my face. “Yeah, I
know.”

Dad covers my hand with his. “The police
said that he snapped when Jessica disappeared. They think he took
the girls in some warped attempt to fix whatever he screwed up with
his daughter.”

Something still feels off. “So who’s the guy
I kept seeing?”

“
He really was someone’s dad, but not
the way we thought.” Cameron says. “His daughter disappeared a few
years ago and when he heard about the kidnappings, he came here to…
I don’t know…”

“
He said he hoped there was a
connection to his daughter,” Dad explains.

That explains the horrible expression on his
face. “Do the police know what happened to the other girls?"

They exchange a look and Cameron sinks into
a chair next to the bed. He clasps my hand, a broad smile lighting
his face. "They found Katie."

My gaze whips between them. "Alive?"

They nod.

"But how? Where has she been?" When I set
out to stop the kidnapper I thought if we were lucky, we’d find out
what happened to Katie. I never in a million years imagined they’d
find her alive.

Dad clears his throat. "Turner and his wife
kept them in a cabin out in the woods a couple hours from here.
They found three other girls with Katie."

"What did he—" I stop. I shouldn’t ask that.
Not yet. "Is she… okay?"

He rests his forehead on the bed. "It’s too
soon to tell. Physically she seems healthy, but the doctors…" he
trails off.

Dad touches my other hand. "She has a long
recovery ahead of her."

The ache in my chest slowly shifts. It
doesn’t go away completely, but my breath comes a little easier. I
squeeze Cameron’s hand. "So she’s really home?"

He looks up. Tears shine in his eyes. "All
because of you."

I want to be happy. My plan worked. And any
doubt about Cameron’s involvement with Katie’s disappearance are
over. But I still have so many questions. Most importantly. "Does
everyone know what I did?"

Dad touches the side of my face. "Nobody
knows but us."

Chapter 39

ONE MONTH LATER

I'm standing in front of school, waiting for
Mom to pick me up for an appointment with Dr. Martinez. Getting
back into my routine hasn't been as difficult as I expected. Sure,
it sucks that my long hair is gone, but not having headaches more
than makes up for the unexpected ‘do. Stride Right insisted I get
tutors for Trig and English so I wouldn't fall any further behind,
and as much as I can't stand him, it's kind of bizarre to have him
looking out for me.

I'm still not driving, but between Cameron
and Amelia I've been getting around okay. Dr. Martinez doesn't want
me doing much, so I'm spending more and more time taking photos.
The shot of Turner—the one that led to all this—never saw the light
of day because I never returned to the park to take it. That was
the day the police staked him out and my head nearly exploded.

I haven't been by the Strand yet. Or any
other place where I've flickered. What's the point?

Although that's a little hard to do when I
have to be ferried around by Mom, who's pulling up now.

"Sorry I'm late," she says as I climb into
the car. "I had to juggle my lunch hour with one of the other women
and she was late coming back."

"It's okay, Mom. We have plenty of time." I
lean my head against the seat and close my eyes to the outside
world. The trees make me the saddest. Even when it's cloudy, they
remind me of everything that's been taken away from me.

The radio comes on and Mom's golden oldies
fill the car. I open my eyes for the sole purpose to roll them, and
am startled by the flickering light. I look around. We're in the
Strand. Mom doesn't know anything about my ability so to her the
Strand is just another stretch of road. I've never told her to
avoid it.

The contrast between light and dark grows
stronger, faster, and I close my eyes. A tear leaks out the corner.
I lift my hand to wipe it before Mom sees, but freeze with my hand
in front of my face.

I open my eyes.

Squeeze my fingers together.

And they start to tingle.

THE END

Acknowledgments

(also knows as my giant list of thank yous)

First and foremost, I’d like to thank my
grandmother, Marian Walker, to whom this book is dedicated. The
idea of FLICKER came to me while caring for her in the hospital,
and a year later she read a draft, even though she’s hardly my
target audience.

Special thanks to: Stacey
Graham, the best cheerleader and weird-hat-wearing friend a girl
could ask for (will you please
adopt me
and add me to your brood?); Jason Tudor, my part
ner-
in-tattoo and quieter
cheerleader; Kristine McCombs, for sitting
by my side while I finished the first draft; Scott Browne,
my unintentional word-war partner who kept me going during NaNo;
Natasha Fondren, the ebook formatting wizard who baby-stepped me
through the technical side of things; and Erica Orloff, for
freaking out when I shared my pitch and giving me the idea that
this might be a story worth telling.

Thank you to my beta-readers: Nadine Semerau, my
first—and most enthusiastic—reader, who never lost faith in me and
withheld inspirational poems until I really, really needed one;
Valerie Kramin, without you Katie’s story would have ended much
differently; June “Bug” Kramin, your persistence has paid off;
Rowyn Graham, your excitement in the story kept me going; Terri
Lynn Coop, your brutal honesty made FLICKER the best it could be;
and Erica Chapman, the absolute best writing friend ANYONE could
have. Your plotting madness and determination that I make the one
character who I had a soft spot for evil locked it all into
place.

To my parents, Gary and Judy Hooyenga, for
supporting me no matter what and reading a young adult novel more
times than you probably care to.

For Jeremy, who wasn’t in my life when I wrote
FLICKER, but asked to read it very early in our relationship and
has kept me going ever since.

Finally, to my Sisterhood of Snark. I would have
cracked a long time ago without you by my side.

About the Author

Melanie Hooyenga has lived in Washington DC,
Chicago, and Mexico, but has finally settled down in her home state
of Michigan with her new husband Jeremy. When not at her day job as
a graphic designer, you can find Melanie attempting to wrangle her
Miniature Schnauzer Owen and kicking Jeremy’s butt at Kinect
boxing.

Next from Melanie Hooyenga

FRACTURE

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