Sudden Independents (29 page)

Below in the street, teenagers were busy throwing whatever they could find into the growing bonfire. Small kids danced around, picking up smaller objects, gleefully tossing them at the inferno’s edges. Four boys swung a couch and counted to three. The couch landed inside the flames, launching sparks into the heavens. Burning embers fell on the boys, who quickly scattered amid laughing echoes.

Scout found a place to sit in the shadows of the roof’s fireplace and Raven huddled next to him. The fire alleviated the nasty odor that hung around the large city like flies around an open sewer. The smell also reminded him of the last big fire, the one that claimed all his possessions.

“What are they doing?” Scout asked.

“Burning stuff and trying to keep warm, I guess.”

“So this is what city kids do for fun.”

“It beats staying indoors and staring at the walls.”

Scout watched the progression below. “At least there won’t be any trash left when they’re done. They should have fire parties on every block until this place is cleaned up.”

Raven craned her neck for a better look at something and Scout followed her line of sight to a group of kids seated on the ground below. Scout thought he recognized a girl as she stood and left the others.

Raven waved Scout to follow and they crept, making scratchy noises scooting across the rough shingles to the edge where they had gained access.

“Who is it?” Scout whispered.

“Kessie.”

Kessie opened the gate to the backyard. Scout figured she was probably going to the bathroom. Raven scrambled over the side of the house to the fence below.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to talk to her.”

“You can’t. She’s one of them. You’re not thinking straight.”

“She’s my best friend. She’d never cross me, no matter what. I just want to talk to her, okay?”

“You’re going to mess up everything and blow our cover. Kessie is not like you. She’s still under Chase’s influence.”

Raven shook her head. “Just stay here. It will be all right. Trust me.” She dropped without a sound before Scout could argue his point anymore.

Scout swore under his breath and crawled to the other edge of the roof overlooking the back. He saw Kessie doing her business by a bush. He felt guilty for spying on her like that, but his girlfriend was about to walk right into the fire, and Scout wanted to be ready to pull her out before she got torched.

Raven’s cheery voice rose from below. “Hey, what’s going on over there? Are you watering the lawn?”

Kessie hustled getting her pants up. “Raven! Is that really you? How did you…? When did you…? Come give me a hug, girl.”

“Are you going to wash your hands first?” Raven laughed. Kessie ran up to her and the two embraced.

“What have you been doing all this time?” Kessie asked. “Did they actually let you go?”

“Yep, they weren’t going to hold me forever. What could they do? Then I had to wait for the snow to melt before I could make it back.”

“Did that bitch survive? What was her name? Mandy?”

“Molly. She did. They found her after that blizzard finally stopped. I told them they didn’t have a prayer of coming here and causing trouble. Not with the numbers we got.”

“That’s the truth,” Kessie said. She dropped her arms and stepped back from Raven. “Is that the truth?”

Raven approached her friend, but Kessie held up a hand. “Some weird stuff went down when that bitch ran off,” Kessie said. “That little girl isn’t exactly a little girl. Did you know that?”

Raven snorted. “The kids back at that town think she has magical powers. What a bunch of bull, right?”

Scout leaned back and shook his head, suddenly fearing that he and the rest of them trusted Raven too soon. No, he told himself. Her fear of Chase was real. Raven was real.

“Yeah, did you know about Chase?” Kessie asked.

“What about him?”

The silence spread out between them. Scout couldn’t take it anymore. He crawled back to the low spot over the fence. The red dancing glow out in the street appeared like a backdrop from hell. Scout hit the ground, silently making his way to the corner of the house.

“You can’t be serious,” Raven was saying. “Why would you?”

“You were gone and I had to make a choice. As long as we’re living in hell, I might as well be on the demon’s side.”

“Demon,” Raven said. She shivered and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her coat. “I didn’t come back here for that. I’m not interested in that kind of stuff anymore.”

“Why did you come back?”

“This is my home. I wanted to see you.”

“Chase said you’d be different if you came back. He said I’d notice it. He was right.”

“I don’t care what Chase says!”

A tingle crawled up Scout’s back and settled on top of his scalp. The air grew heavy with the surrounding cold. He wished Raven would get away from Kessie before things escalated out of control.

“I’m sorry, but I have to take you to him.”

“What? I don’t want to see him.” Scout heard the fear in his girlfriend’s voice.

“He said you’d say that.” Kessie beckoned the shadows on the opposite side of the house.

Three raggedy boys rushed at Raven, who dropped the first one to reach her with a solid punch across the jaw, but the other two dragged her down quick. Kessie watched quietly.

Scout charged around the corner of the house, but Raven caught sight of him before the others and yelled, “No!” He slid to a stop and rolled behind a thick evergreen tree, with the sweet sticky scent of Christmas filling his nose as his heart hammered in his chest. He’d missed his chance to surprise Kessie and her group while their back was turned. When he peered underneath the boughs, Kessie was staring his direction.

She shrugged and bent next to Raven. “Chase is going to be so happy to see you again. You’re still a part of our crew no matter what you want. We’re not some afterschool club you can just quit.”

Kessie kicked the boy who still lay on the ground shaking his head as if dazed. “Get up and help.”

As the three kids forced Raven out of the backyard, Kessie faced the bush Scout hid behind and smiled. Scout stopped breathing until she left after the others. Then he swore and jumped the fence to follow.

T
here was some kind of lump in the middle of the couch, or at least that was Molly’s excuse for rolling on her side again. The back of the couch smelled funny, so she turned once more, staring up at the ceiling for the sixty-fifth time that night. Not that she was counting.

Her mind raced with worry about Scout. She’d given Vanessa her word that she would watch over him, but some promises were impossible to keep. Especially when dealing with a teenage boy used to doing whatever he wanted.

Jimmy and Molly tried to keep Scout and Raven from their night wanderings, but Scout played on Jimmy’s fear to find Catherine before he contracted the plague. It was manipulative and low. Molly thought Scout wasn’t being hurtful intentionally.

Raven knew the city, and Scout knew about being sneaky. Maybe that was a function of the Boy Scouts, but Molly wasn’t sure. She just hoped his survival skills were in perfect working order out there in the night.

Molly left Hunter to sleep alone so he could get a good night’s rest, since these thoughts kept her rolling at night. During the daytime, she allowed Jimmy the bulk of the worry waiting at the window for Hunter and Ginger, while Molly rolled restless and awake in the back bedroom.

After another revolution, she was back on the lumpy side of the couch. Ginger sat in the worry chair facing the window. Her arms were crossed as she stared out into the dark hours of early morning.

Molly swung her feet to the floor and stretched. “You can’t sleep either, huh?”

Ginger’s head turned around and her tired eyes glanced Molly’s way. She didn’t smile like usual. Instead, Ginger sighed and pulled at the large sweater she wore. Her hair showed no signs of mangled sleep the way Molly knew hers did after all her spinning on the couch. Molly reached up and tried to smooth the rat’s nest into place.

“I gave up,” Ginger said, “I keep tossing. I didn’t want to worry Jimmy anymore tonight, so I thought I’d sit out here and wait for Scout and Raven to come back.”

“Job’s taken,” Molly said, bringing the hoped for result; a tiny smile cracked through Ginger’s restlessness. Molly could appreciate those tender smiles a lot more now.

She walked over to the window for a look. The stars were much closer here and filled the sky. Jimmy said it was because of Denver’s high elevation.

A series of loud noises rumbled from one of the bedrooms and reverberated through the house. Molly smiled, and shook her head.

“Does Hunter always snore that loud?” Ginger asked.

“Always.”

“How do you sleep at night?”

Molly shrugged. “You get used to it. Luis said he might be able to remove Hunter’s tonsils and adenoids in a couple of years.”

“What’s an adenoid?”

“You got me, but it sure sounds loud.”

“I bet Catherine could fix him.”

Molly flinched at the word “fix.” She experienced one of those “miracle fixes” that Catherine performed in her short time with them. Fixing Hunter’s broken arm and stopping Vanessa from bleeding to death were medical fixes, physical healings. But Molly’s so-called healing still left a bad taste in her mouth. She knew now that she’d been screwed up. At least she thought she did. Her memories were fuzzy around the edges, like a dream that quickly fades when your head leaves the pillow. She remembered being angry all the time. And normal people usually don’t burn down houses. But since Catherine did whatever she did, Molly just wanted what was best for everyone else. Was that her cure? She didn’t know. All she knew was she was happy now, people included her in things and she counted a lot of them as her friends. The best part was Hunter being there for her after everything she had put him through.

Besides all that, she’d patched up things with Ginger. Ginger was easy and that wasn’t an insult. She was truly easy because she was so open and friendly and accepting of others. Molly was lucky. She almost made a real mess of things before the “fix.”

She thought about this stuff a lot now, especially therapy and how she might be able to help others. She had found her true calling without realizing she needed one.