Golem in My Glovebox (28 page)

The chanting had reached a fever pitch. Riley broke free from my grip and took off toward the children at a run. Like a fool, I stood there and watched, unable to think what to do.

I knew the rules of Red Rover. I’d played it as a kid. Two teams lined up and chanted, calling on one person from the opposing team. That person had to charge the crowd and try to break through. If he succeeded in breaking the chain, one of their people went back with him to his team. If he failed, he joined the other team.

Riley, a grown man running at top speed across the grass, was unable to break through the linked hands of small children. He smacked into the chained arms, then fell to the ground.

They let go of each other immediately and swarmed him.

I heard glass break behind me, but didn’t stop to investigate. I ran toward the dog pile of kids beating the crap out of my boyfriend. I tugged one child after another, feral beasts who snarled and grabbed sticks before jumping back in to do more damage.

Something cracked. It might have been bone or it might have been a stick. I couldn’t know. They kept moving in front of me so I couldn’t see. There were too many of them, and they were under Katy’s control as much as Riley was. If I hurt them, I was as bad as she was.

I reached inside myself and pushed at them as hard as I could with my mind. A few stopped for a second, glanced around, then resumed. I tried again, threading my mind through the pile, emotionally grabbing at each small person. But they were slippery, as if she’d coated them in emotional slime, filthy and slick.

And then I could. Something changed. I was stronger, somehow. My emotional grip was steel, and the children were easier to catch hold of. They stopped, dropped their bloody sticks, and walked away in a daze.

Riley lay in the grass, one eye swollen shut, cuts on his face and forearms, and one foot at an awkward angle.

I fell to my knees, my hands fluttering over him. I didn’t know where I could touch him without causing further pain. His eyelid blinked over his one good eye, and he groaned. When he passed out I was grateful that he had a temporary reprieve from all that pain.

I choked back tears of panic. He was too big for me to move. My brain, normally at its best, most efficient in an emergency, fritzed out. I had no idea what to do.

Something soft brushed my cheek. “Boys are icky.”

I jerked my head, and Katy moved away before I could grab her. She smiled at me, angelic and golden. “I don’t want to play with boys. I’m going home now. You can come when you get rid of the boy cooties.”

A tapping against my leg brought me back to full awareness. Katy had gone, but I hadn’t seen her leave. Even I wasn’t totally immune to getting zapped by her, it seemed.

“Zoey, come on. Please.”

I glanced down to find Gris slapping my leg. “Where did she go?”

“She left. You went still and stared straight at her when she walked away.” Gris’s distress swirled in the air between us.

My head felt like it was full of mashed potatoes. “We have to get Riley to the hospital.”

“I already called an ambulance while you were out of it.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

I had no idea what had happened. Where did my extra juice come from? I wasn’t sure if I’d leveled up in my power, or if Katy had let them go. But she’d still made me freeze when it came down to it.

“It was me,” Gris said, as if he heard my thoughts. “My emotions originated from you. When I saw what was going on, I came running and gave you a signal boost.”

I frowned. “Did you break my car window to get out?”

He ducked his head. “Sorry about that. She locked me inside and dropped your phone in the grass.”

“No. Don’t be sorry. You saved Riley’s life.” I smoothed Riley’s sleeve against his shoulder, and brushed his hair away from a gash in his forehead. “We can always get a window fixed. Though you’ll have to be the one to explain it to Maurice. And next time, you might honk the horn if you need to warn me.”

He looked surprised. “Ah. The horn. I read about that in the owner’s manual.”

“You saved us, Gris.” I looked him directly in his tiny, turquoise-chip eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

* * *

To my surprise, the paramedics accepted my pathetic explanation that Riley’s injuries had occurred when he stepped off a cliff during a hike, and that I’d managed to get him all the way to the cottage before calling for help.

I followed them to the hospital, and as soon as the medical team had set Riley’s ankle and cleaned and dressed his wounds, I claimed the chair next to his bed and sat to wait.

He was in good hands, and he wasn’t injured nearly as badly as he looked. I relaxed enough to doze while I waited for him to wake up.

Kam woke me after what seemed like five minutes, but had actually been a couple of hours. “Hey. You doing okay?”

I nodded and sat up. Riley grinned at me from the bed. He looked better, but his eye looked wonky. I rubbed my eyes. “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

“You needed some rest,” he said.

I gave him the stink-eye. “I’m supposed to be taking care of you, for once, not the other way around.”

Darius stood across the room, silent and frowning.

“Did you guys just get here?” I asked.

Darius nodded. “We drove as fast as we could. I’m sorry we weren’t here sooner.” He flicked his gaze toward Riley.

“Gris was there,” I said. “We survived.”

“Where to next?” Kam asked, plopping into a chair by the door. She wore a tailored skirt and jacket in navy blue, pointed-toe shoes in the same shade, and a crisp white blouse.

“I don’t know yet.” I frowned. “Why are you wearing that?”

“I’m dressed as a business woman today.” She sat up straight and gave me a pursed-lip, serious face.

I glanced over at Darius. “She must have a ton of luggage to schlep around.”

He made a disgusted face. “Not as much as you’d think.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Where are you getting your clothes, Kam?”

She shrugged and glanced away. “I make them.”

“From what?”

“Magic.”

I groaned. “Kam! I thought you were saving up your magic to open the portal and go home. You said it takes a year to recharge, as long as you don’t use any of it. Why are you squandering it on outfits?”

She dropped her hands and picked at a fingernail. “It’s only a little magic.”

Darius and I shared a look, and he shrugged. Apparently, he’d already had this conversation with her several times. I let it go. How Kam handled her life was not my business. That was the entire point of getting her away from the bastard who’d kept her captive for over a hundred years. If she wanted to spend every last bit of her magic on fabulous hair and a manicure, that was her right. It did make me wonder a bit why she wasn’t as eager to go home as I’d thought she was.

I uncurled from my seat and stretched my back. “I need to make some calls and find some food.” I bent and kissed Riley on the forehead in a spot without any damage. “You guys stay with him, okay?” I hugged them each in turn and stared at their faces, as if to make a permanent imprint of them on my heart. “Thanks for coming. I’m really glad you’re here.”

Hoping I hadn’t tipped my hand, I tried to appear casual and unhurried as I left the room.

I needed privacy. With the exception of Gris, other people had become a liability. If I had any shot at all of getting my mother away from the psychopath, I had to go alone to do it.

I slid into my car, grateful that no one had followed me. The passenger-side window in the back was missing, but Gris had, apparently, cleaned up the broken glass while I was in the hospital.

“Gris?”

He climbed over the headrest from the back seat. “I’m here.”

“We’ll have to do this last part on our own.” My voice shook, and I took a deep breath to slow my heart rate.

He placed a tiny hand against mine. “I know.”

I reached into my purse and retrieved Katy’s file I’d taken from the prison. “She said she was going home.”

Gris climbed to my shoulder and watched as I flipped through the pages. “There,” he said, pointing.

“Breezy Point Amusement Park? Who the hell grows up in an amusement park?”

“It says her family owned it.”

“Awesome,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We can bond over the Tilt-A-Whirl and share a cotton candy.”

I tapped the information in her file into my phone and did a search. It took a few minutes to find it, since it didn’t really exist any longer, at least not any more than the dinosaur park existed. I groaned.

“What?”

“Forget the cotton candy. We’ll be trekking through an abandoned amusement park. Prepare for creepiness.”

“At least it’s not at night. How long will it take?” He hopped off my shoulder and climbed up to the dashboard.

I mapped it and sighed. “Forty-five minutes. Finally. A short drive.”

After a quick stop to fill up the tank and grab food through a drive-through, we were on our way to the coast.

Gris stayed on the dashboard and kept me company, which held terror at bay. If I lived, Riley, Darius and Kam would all want to kill me. Art, too, probably, though it wouldn’t be the first time for that.

This wasn’t my only experience riding into battle on my own without telling anyone. The first time, I hadn’t known what I was doing, and Riley had appeared at the last minute to save me from the nasty incubus. This was different. Except for Gris, who was, essentially, an extra piece of me more than he was an additional person, I couldn’t afford for anyone to stand with me. Either I saved us all on my own, or I would die trying, but everyone else would still be safe. And Art had been right. I was the only one with any shot at taking this bitch out.

About a half hour into the ride, my phone rang. Expecting it to be a furious reaper, djinn or mothman, I was surprised to see it was Sara. I didn’t want to worry her, but if I didn’t live through the night, I needed her to know how much I loved her. And how sorry I was to have been neglecting her.

I touched the screen to answer.

“Hey, Zoey. I hope you’re not in the middle of a car chase or an interrogation. Have you got a minute?”

I glanced at the clock on my dash. “I have about ten minutes. How’s you?”

“I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. Maurice said you’re having a rough time.”

I smiled into the phone. All the problems she was having, and she was worried about me. “I’m doing okay, Sara.” I said it like I meant it—and found that I really did. “I think I’ll get to see my mom before the end of the day.”

“That’s fantastic! So you’ll be coming home soon?”

I thought about it. One way or another, I would be. Standing upright or tucked into a coffin, but I’d be home soon. “I believe so. I think we’re almost finished here. Now tell me what’s going on with you.”

“Well, I’ve lost five pounds.” She laughed.

“I hear you’ve been doing serious treadmill time at night.”

She snorted. “Maurice talks too much. My skin is super dry right now from all the midnight sleep-showers I’ve been taking.”

We talked for a while longer, until I saw the faded sign that towered over the entrance to the beach.

“I need to go, Sara. Tell Andrew to get you some of the moisturizer he makes. And Art’s going to call soon with the name of a therapist you can talk to about Hidden stuff.”

She grew quiet for a moment. Sara knew me. We’d known each other a long time, and worked together every day for years. “Whatever you’re doing today, stay safe, Zoey. I need you to come home alive.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’ll do my best. You and Maurice hug each other for me. I love you both so much.”

After I hung up, I drew a shaky breath, shut off the car and stuffed the phone in my jeans. Gris and I hopped out, and I locked the car behind us.

The sign looming over the entrance had an ominous quality about it. Most of the letters had been rubbed off by blowing sand, but the old-fashioned carnival-like feel and few remaining letters told me I was in the right place.

I plucked Gris from where he stood on the hood and placed him on my shoulder. “You ready?”

He nodded. “I’ve got your back.”

I didn’t doubt that he did.

The entrance led us to a sand-coated boardwalk lined with boarded-up buildings in faded colors. At intervals, sections of the boardwalk stretched toward the water. I walked down the first one and found an old carousel. Part of the roof had collapsed. Some enterprising soul had already taken away all the horses. The place where the calliope had been was a gaping hole. Nothing remained but broken bulbs, splintered wood and sand. A lot of sand.

I sympathized with the carousel. Each gust of wind blew sand into my hair, my eyes, my mouth.

The carousel—and all the other dilapidated rides—weren’t likely to be what I was looking for. I turned my back on the ocean and eyed the buildings lining the boardwalk. She was in there, I was sure of it.
They
were in there. That’s where Katy had my mother.

“What do you think, Gris?”

He shifted on my shoulder. “Most of the buildings were probably shops or games. I would guess her family lived upstairs, above something quieter, like a bakery or a palm reader or something.”

“Makes sense. They wouldn’t want to live over the milk-bottle ring-toss game.”

“Right.”

“I guess we’ll have to just check all the buildings until we find one that might be appropriate.”

I made my way back to the main drag and examined each building more carefully as we passed them. Some were easy to dismiss. Their fronts folded down and were nailed shut. These, we knew, had been games.

Other buildings were trickier. Their signs were often too difficult to read, and the windows had been boarded over. Several had open doors, and for these, I had to be careful looking inside. Katy wasn’t a physical threat, but anyone she controlled might be. She’d already proved that with the children. It wasn’t only Katy I was worried about, though.

I was a woman alone at an abandoned amusement park in the middle of nowhere. Chances were good that people sometimes used these empty buildings for shelter. Anybody could be in there, from homeless runaways to crack dealers. I didn’t even have Sara’s Taser with me.