Inevitable (34 page)

Stephen didn’t say anything, and an awkward silence descended over the line. Then he cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’s interesting. Thanks for telling me, Jayne. Hey, I gotta go now. But call any time, okay?”

“Sure thing.” My heart sank as I hung up. He thought I was crazy, that was for sure.

Then I shrugged. I’d done what I could.



“This is it, huh?” Dana slammed the trunk and came around the car. She hooked her arm through mine and leaned her head on my shoulder.

“Yeah.” I tried to smile but my voice wavered, giving away my true feelings. “You’re all grown up and leaving me.”

She squeezed my arm. “You’re an amazing person. I can’t believe I was your best friend for years and you never let it slip to me about your secret powers.”

I pulled free and gave her a big hug. “Thanks for believing in me.”

Dana stepped back and flattened her plaid button-up dress with her hands. “Careful there. I actually had to iron this.”

“And now you’re going to drive in a car for several hours and wrinkle it.”

“Fabulous, huh?” She bit her lower lip. “You’ll come visit, right?”

“I can hardly wait to see you taking that campus by storm.”

“You’ve grown up, too, Jaynie. All ready to get out there and take chances. Look at you, a journalist!”

“Intern,” I corrected, though she was right. I had changed in the past few weeks. Suddenly the future wasn’t set in stone. It was pliable, and I had the power to change it. It was... empowering.

Living through my own death might have had something to do with it, too.

Mr. Sparks leaned his head out the window. “Dana, are we leaving today or should I unpack?”

I gave her another quick hug, fighting a desperate feeling in my chest. What on earth was I going to do without her? “Have fun, Danes. Love ya.”

“You’re the best,” she breathed in my ear. “If you ever see my future through anyone else’s eyes, you better call me and tell me.”

I laughed and let her go. Dana climbed into the car next to her dad. As he pulled away from the curb, she leaned over and honked the horn, then waved out the window at me.

I waved until they were out of sight, and then walked slowly back to my Honda. My stomach knotted up as I thought of what I was about to do, but it was time I did it.



“Beth?” I climbed the stairs with great trepidation, noticing the way each one creaked as I put my entire weight on it. “Beth, are you home?”

Beth came out of her room. She blinked wide blue-green eyes at me. I was struck by how much like me she looked. How had I missed this?

“What is it, Jayne?” Her voice was cautious, and who could blame her? Even though we rode to school together, shared a bathroom, and ate dinner at the same table, until a few weeks ago, I had done everything I could to avoid talking to her. We hadn’t had a relationship in years, and that was my fault.

“Come in my room for a minute. I want to talk to you.”

She followed me, clutching her hands together. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Beth. But I have to tell you something.” Like Mr. Harris, Beth chose her death. Even when I asked Laima to change it, she said she couldn’t change Beth. Only Beth could do that.

But maybe I could help her. Because the future is fluid, and I am Dekla, goddess of destiny.

###

About the Author

Tamara Hart Heiner is a mom, wife, baker, and an author. She currently lives in Arkansas with her husband and three children. Her other books include Perilous and Altercation, young adult suspense novels published by WiDo Publishing.

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Other Books by this Author

D
etective Carl Hamilton is called out on a homicide case, where the partially decayed body of an unidentified teenage girl is found along a remote highway...

Weeks before, Jacinta Rivera joined her best friends Callie, Sara and Amanda for a night of pizza and shopping. But an evening at the mall turned into a terrifying twist of events that drove Jaci and her friends 2000 miles across the Canadian border. The girls escaped the kidnapper’s lair only to find that he has spies and agents working on both sides.

They are being hunted, and not even the police can be trusted….And Detective Hamilton is in a life and death race to find the three remaining girls before the kidnapper does.

The FBI promises Jacinta Rivera and her friends that they are safe. Jaci wants desperately to believe them but weeks of hiding from their kidnapper, alias "The Hand", have left her wary. Hidden from the public eye in an FBI safe house, Jaci must reconcile both her father's mysterious disappearance and the murder of her best friend.

A betrayal lands Jaci back in the grasp of The Hand, shattering her ability to trust and leaving her to wonder if she will ever piece together her broken life.

First Page of
Perilous

September 20

Havre, Montana

Detective Carl Hamilton shielded his eyes against the blaring blue lights and flashed his badge at the police officer. The man moved aside. Hamilton stepped off the paved, two-lane highway just outside of Havre, Montana. Orange tape blocked off the crime scene, hidden by the darkness of early morning. He ducked under the tape and pushed his way into the dry shrubbery.

A sergeant shone a flashlight on his face and asked, “Are you Detective Hamilton?”

He gave a short nod.

“
I’m Shirley White.” Pressing her hand to her nose, she turned her attention back to the ground.

The stench of rotting flesh was strong. “Ma’am. What have we found?”

“It’s a girl. We think it’s one of the four you’ve been looking for.”

Carl’s stomach knotted. “Cause of death?”

“We’ll have to perform an autopsy, of course, but it appears to be a gunshot wound. Is it one of them?”

“
Where is she?”

“
Under the bushes.”

He crouched down and moved the bushes aside, breathing through his mouth. This never got any easier. The branches parted to reveal a young girl, features distorted by death but still recognizable. The open eyes stared blankly up at him. He released the branches and stood up, giving a nod. “Yes. It’s one of them.”

The case had just gone from a kidnapping to a homicide. And there were three girls still missing.