Gone (12 page)

But Gaia didn't even flinch. Her glass stayed perfectly still in her hand.

Because it was just the TV. The TV had suddenly turned itself on for some reason, and some crappy action movie was on HBO, with the volume turned up fer too loud.

“
Jesus.
” Skyler belted out a loud, nervous laugh of relief. His shoulders were still hunched up from the shock of the noise. He grabbed the remote and flipped off the TV, and then he slapped his hand over his head. “Oh God, it was the
timer,
” he groaned. “I set the TV timer for nine-thirty this morning, but I must have pressed p.m. by mistake.” He took another breath and laughed, turning back to Gaia. “
God,
that scared me.” But as he stared at Gaia and her perfectly intact glass of wine, his giggle died off. And then a curious look came over his face. Gaia couldn't understand what the odd look in his eyes meant.

But then it hit her. It hit her like a ton of proverbial bricks.

You forgot to be scared, you idiot! You were so caught up in your little self-pitying moment, you forgot to look
like a startled little waif for Skyler. Do something. Do something now.

“Oh… my… God…” She brought her hand slowly over her heart. “Look at me. I am literally petrified.” She blew out a long breath of fake relief. “I swear to God, I thought it was the beginning of World War
Three.
” She shook out her hand as if she were trying to shake off the fear. “Oh,
no,
” she moaned in her best mommy voice. She put her wine down on the coffee table. “Come here, you poor thing. You dropped your wine. Are you okay?
Damn
all that violence on television,” she joked.

“I'm okay,” he giggled, sitting back against the couch. “What about you?”

“Well, I'm fine
now,
” she said, grasping his hands. “That stupid TV timer,” she whined. “That scared the
hell
out of me.”

“I'm really sorry,” he said. “My bad. You're sure you're all right…?” There was still something not right about the way he was looking at her. Some kind of lingering suspicion. It was like he was studying her face, searching for genuine signs of fear. And that was a very bad sign. She had to stomp it out. She had to distract the hell out of him immediately.

She quickly reached over and cradled his face in her hand. “You know what…?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I just realized something.”

“What's that?”

She leaned toward him. “You are monumentally cute.” She examined his face from all sides. “You are. You are, like… movie-star cute.” She didn't blink. She kept her eyes fixed on his.
Maintain eye contact…
.

“Oh,
nice.
” Skyler laughed. “You just realized that, did you?”

“What?” she squawked defensively. “Oh, come on, that's not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“Skyler come on…. you're, like, my brother or something. I mean… I'm not supposed to be attracted to my brother, right?”

Skyler's eyes widened. He seemed momentarily at a loss for words. She held her breath in the silence—partially to keep from feeling ill and partially praying that he was buying this.

“Um that's true,” Skyler said. “You're not supposed to be attracted to your brother. But I'm not.” He leaned closer. “I'm not your brother.”

“Hmmm… That's also true.”

A suggestive little smile crept over his face. This was working. It was definitely working. “So does that mean I'm allowed to be attracted to you, too?” he asked quietly.

“Are you?”

He suddenly reached over and grabbed the collar of her T-shirt, pulling her dangerously close. “Now,
that… is just a stupid question.” He smiled. She could feel his warm breath against her lips as he spoke.

Okay, this was working much, much, much too well. Gaia broke out in a cold sweat. Not from fear, but from panic, pure and simple. She hadn't expected this. She hadn't expected him to move so fast. This was all talk Just talk. But Skyler had forced her to back up the talk with action. And that was something else altogether.

She did not think she could do what it seemed like they were about to do. She did not
want
to do what it seemed like they were about to do. She di d not want it with every ounce of her being. But she had done this to herself. She had upped the stakes on purpose. She couldn't pull back now. If she did, she'd only double his suspicion.

He slid his hand over her collarbone and grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her closer, bringing their lips too close, too fast Too fest for her to stop it from happening.

But thank God almighty for that phone.

SKYLER'S CELL PHONE WENT OFF WITH a shrill electronic beep that snatched Gaia from the jaws of hell. He pulled away awkwardly and glanced down at the number.
Gaia pulled away fast and pushed herself back against the arm of the couch, breathing in the glori ous distance between them and clenching her entire body under a thick, invisible shell.

“It's just a page,” he mumbled. “Crap, I'm sorry, I have to deal with this for a minute—”

“That's okay,” she assured him. It was beyond okay. Nothing could have possibly been more okay.

Skyler jumped up from the couch and walked across the room to his computer. “It'll just be a second,” he called to her.

“Fine,” she chirped.

He double-clicked a few times on the laptop. “Everything okay over there?”

“Fine,” she replied, clamping her hands firmly between her knees.

“Have some more wine if you want.”

“Okay.”

She tried to mentally peel Skyler's reptilian film off her body.

Just breathe. You're cool now. Everything's cool You've still got control of the situation. This is all under control.

“Oh,
man,
” Skyler groaned.

She turned back to him. “What's wrong?”

“This dude,” he complained. “This guy in my class. He's supposed to present for us tomorrow, but he doesn't have any of the notes. He's freaking out. He just sent me
an e-mail—damn it” Skyier jumped up from his chair and tugged a notebook out of his bag. Then he trotted quickly across the room, grabbed his jacket, and threw it on. “I've got to go bring him these notes right now.”

Gaia's antennae shot up.
E-mail.
Skyler had just gotten a page and an e-mail. From
them?
His father, Chris, Ulrich, whoever? It had to be, didn't it? Skyier had to be lying. Nobody ran out of the house in a panic just to bring some dude notes for a school presentation. That just didn't qualify as an emergency.

This was it. This was her shot. He was stepping out, probably to another one of their “top secret” meetings. And while they were out there discussing more of their demented plans, Gaia would just go ahead and raid that e-mail folder for some hard evidence.

Skyler ran over and knelt down next to her, leaning his elbows on the arm of the couch and shoving his face uncomfortably close to hers again.

“We'll just have to pick up where we left off when I get back.” He grinned.

He was clearly giving Gaia a glimpse of Skyier Rodke's “bedroom eyes.” It was a disgusting sight that she deeply wished she had not been forced to witness.

“Right,” she breathed, forcing herself to smile.

She expected him to jump back up again, but he didn't. He stayed right where he was, tilting his head and gazing at her.

“What?” she asked, praying he wasn't waiting for a kiss goodbye. A real kiss.

“Here's what I think we should do,” he announced. “
I
think. … instead of wasting our time at the kiddie prom, we should just stay right here tomorrow night. And I will make you an unbelievable dinner. I'll get some very old wine from the Rodke stash, and we'll drink, and we'll eat, and I'll put on some music, and you and I will celebrate your official last night of being trapped in high school. Hell, we can even dance if you want,” he added. “And then, when we've had enough to eat and enough to drink… we'll do whatever
else
we feel like doing….” He flashed her another impish grin. There were those bedroom eyes again. Gaia did everything in her power not to puke right in his lecherous face. “It'll be a quiet romantic evening fit for two adults,” he said. “No kids in poufy dresses allowed.” He raised his eyebrows. “What do you think?”

What did she think? She thought it was abundantly clear that the Rodkes didn't want Gaia making any more public appearances.

“I think that sounds
perfect.
”

“Good.” He nodded proudly. “It's a done deal. You and me. Tomorrow night. In-house date. Two consenting adults,” he joked. Not funny.

“
Yes,
” she agreed. “Absolutely.”

“I gotta run. Will you be okay here for a while on your own?”

“As long as you're coming back” she said coyly.

“Well, I might be a while. Me and this guy… we might need to work on that presentation a little. If you're asleep when I get back, I promise not to be offended.”

Gosh, how noble of you.

“Okay,” she agreed. “I'll miss you, though….”

“I'll miss you, too.” He leaned forward but thankfully only went for the peck on the cheek. He stood up to leave, but then he seemed to have a follow-up thought. He dropped back down to his kneeling position. “Hey, let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“I've just been thinking…. You know how in our e-mail to Jake, you were saying that you didn't even know what you'll do next? Once you're done with school?”

“Yeah?” Ugh. She had to remember to explain that e-mail to Jake ASAP.

“Well… what
do
you want to do next? I mean, have you decided on college yet?”

What with her busy schedule of defending her life, Gaia hadn't quite gotten around to college decisions just yet. She hadn't really gotten around to any thoughts about her future at all. Making it out Of hi gh school was about as much of a “goal” as she had set for herself. Making it out
alive,
that is. But her future never really felt secure enough to start planning
what it would actually be like. A better question right now was, Why the hell did Skyler want to know?

“l guess I haven't quite thought that far ahead yet,” she said. “Why?”

“Well, what if you could go anywhere?” he asked enthusiastically. “Like, the second you got that diploma in your hand, what if you could just disappear from all of this and go anywhere in the world? Where would it be?”

“You mean, like… with you?” she asked, beaming with false excitement. What was he after here? Was this part of their scheme? To whisk Gaia off to some exotic location or something? She would really like to see them try.

“
Maybe,
” he said. “Seriously. What if it could be anywhere? What if we could just ‘get lost' for a while? Your dream destination. Hawaii? Fiji…?”

Gaia's mind split off in opposite directions. On the one hand, there was her growing suspicion about the Rodkes' “travel plans.” But on the other, she couldn't help but consider the real answer to Skyler's question. What if she could just get lost? Where
would
she go once this was all over?

Her thoughts immediately turned to her brother. D was still out west on a farm in Ohio, trying to adjust to real life—life outside the walls of that horrific nightmare of an institution in Florida. That would be the first place she'd go. She would pack
herself a bag and get on the first flight out to Ohio and she would visit D. Maybe she would stay with D and Daisy and her family for a bit. Breathe in some nonpolluted air for a change. Run her bare feet through some real green grass that hadn't been planted there by order of the mayor's office. Fall asleep to the sound of crickets instead of car alarms. Wake up to the smell of bales of hay instead of garbage and cigarette smoke wafting up from the street.

If she could
do
this… if she could take down the Rodkes—strike down the last round of enemies—put an
end
to the deadly psychodrama that she was still forced to refer to as her life—then D would be the first and only person she'd want to see. They could really talk for the first time. They could make some new memories that had absolutely nothing to do with Rainhill Hospital or Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

If
she could make it out of this. It was all just one very big “if.”

She turned back to Skyler. “Florida” she lied. “I just
love
Florida. I've had some of the greatest times of my life there.”

Skyler looked delighted. “Florida, huh? Well, wouldn't you know it—Florida just happens to be one of my favorite places, too.” He smiled.

“Oh, is that right?”

“Love it,” he said. “Florida…
Very interesting…
” His grin grew wider. “I'll be back, okay? Don't wait up
if I take too long.” He gave her one last peck on the cheek, and then he skipped over to the door, shut it behind him, and locked it.

Gaia sat perfectly still for a five count, and then she leapt up from the couch and bolted across the room. She was sitting at his laptop by the count of ten. Now she was dying to know what this whole “traveling” scheme was about. Maybe the answer would be somewhere in his e-mail. Maybe all the answers she needed would be in his e-mail. She was praying for it.

She logged on, glancing back at the door and listening for any potential indication of his return. But he was definitely gone. She carefully typed in
SkyMaster16,
and at long last she was
in.
She pounded her index finger on the mouse and clicked on his in box….

Damn it. Hardly anything was there. He had obviously deleted most of what he'd received. But he had yet to delete the last e-mail. The one he had just received. There was no subject, but there was an author. Oh, was there an author.
[email protected].