The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black: Book Four) (46 page)

“Correct. JoBeth Geary is Annika Fleming. Stay to the right up here.”

Nicky started to breathe a sigh of relief, but realized even that might give something away, so she kept her breathing steady. They were at the fork in the road, and Daciana was having her turn away from Jill’s house.

“So you’re following the movements of JoBeth Geary,” Nicky said.

“Indeed I am. You are too.”

“Me?”

“Right now, Nicky. You and I are driving a path that Annika Fleming took a few weeks ago.”

“What? This road? I thought you said Annika was in Brazil with Shannon.”

“She was! But we got a hit on JoBeth Geary’s passport! Annika flew back to Washington!”

“Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know, but it was a huge mistake on her part. I can see things, Nicky. Things like the seat number on the plane assigned to JoBeth Geary, and the names of the people who sat next to her. I found the people who sat next to Annika on the plane, and questioned them myself. One of them, a dirty old man who loved sitting next to a pretty girl for a long flight, kept his eyes on Annika’s ass from the moment she stood up to leave the plane. He watched her at the baggage claim after they landed. He saw her get into a taxi. He was a treasure trove of information. When I searched the recesses of his mind, I found the company name and the license plate on the taxi that picked Annika up at the airport. With that information in my hands, it was relatively easy for me to find out where Annika went after she left the airport.”

“That’s where we’re going?” Nicky said. “We’re following the route Annika took in a taxi?”

“Correct. Pull over on the left side of the road. I want you to stop just before that fence post.”

They were on the north end of the wealthiest subdivision in Potomac. On one side of the road were enormous, well-lit mansions, spread far apart. On the other end, the end where Nicky parked, there were several acres of undeveloped woods.

“Right here, where we’ve parked your car—this is where the taxi dropped Annika off,” Daciana said. “I’ve seen the GPS records, and I’ve mimicked them exactly. Have a look across the road, at the house over there.”

Daciana was pointing out her window, to the mansion directly across from them.

“Do you know who lives there?” she said.

“I don’t,” said Nicky.

“Do you know any reason why Annika would go there?”

“I’m sorry. I have no idea.”

“I don’t either,” said Daciana. “I came here last night and paid a visit to the family who lives in that house. I had a look in their minds. They don’t know Annika either, and have no memory of her coming to see them. Strange, isn’t it? If Annika didn’t go to that house, why would she have the taxi stop here?”

“What about the neighbors?” Nicky said.

“I visited them too—houses on either side. I learned nothing. I’m missing something, Nicky. What is it? Why did Annika have a cab bring her here?”

Because she was smart enough not to go direct to her destination
, Nicky thought.

Nicky leaned forward, still looking at the houses on the other side of the street, knowing that Annika went the other way. Annika had the taxi drop her off outside the woods that backed up to Jill’s house on the other end of the neighborhood. She took a fifteen-minute walk through the forest. A walk that, right now, was making all the difference in the world.

“I wish I could help you,” Nicky said. “But I don’t know this neighborhood. I’ve never been here before.”

“Yes, I pulled the records on the whole street,” Daciana said. “None of these houses belong to Thorndike families. None of them are even home to teenagers. I’m going to ask you to do something for me Nicky, but I want you to know it’s not because I don’t trust you. I simply need to be certain I have left no stone unturned. If you have ever been to this neighborhood before, or even heard someone talking about it, that information still exists in your mind, even though you may not remember it.”

Daciana turned quickly and looked right in Nicky’s eyes. Nicky held Daciana’s gaze.

“Good,” Daciana said. “I’m going to look in your mind, Nicky Bloom. It will be fast and painless, I promise. That’s right. Just look at me and relax.”

Nicky was so practiced now at fooling the vampires who wanted in her mind she didn’t even have to work at it. Melissa, Renata, Lena—she had fooled all of them with a simple trick she discovered in the back of a limo after the Homecoming Masquerade.

To make Daciana think she had control of Nicky’s mind, Nicky needed to relax, and there was a single thought that soothed Nicky’s mind and body. It was a thought that brought her so much comfort Daciana would see it in her eyes, and assume she was in control.

Just as she had done when Melissa Mayhew stared her down and tried to get inside her brain, Nicky thought of Sergio.

“There it is,” Daciana said. “Now I’ve got you. I’m going to ask you some questions, Nicky, and you’re going to search your entire mind for the answers. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“We are in the Granwood Oaks neighborhood in north Potomac,” Daciana said. “Do you know anyone who lives here?”

Nicky waited a minute, as if she was seeking out the answer in the depths of her mind.

“No,” she said finally.

“Can you think of any reason that Annika Fleming might come here?”

Again, Nicky waited, and then she said, “No.”

“We are on Sycamore Drive,” Daciana said. “Have you ever heard anyone mention this street by name?”

“No.”

“Take your best guess for me, Nicky. Synthesize everything you know about Annika Fleming and come up with an answer to this question. Why did she have a taxi bring her here?”

“She knew there was a chance you would find her,” Nicky said. “So she was cautious. She had the taxi bring her to a place that wasn’t her final destination. She waited here for someone to pick her up and take her wherever she was going.”

Daciana leaned away from Nicky, nodding her head.

“I think you’re right,” she said. “We’re done. Your mind is your own.”

Nicky sat up in her chair, moving about as she imagined someone might when they exited a vampire’s spell.

“Thank you for your help, Nicky.”

“I feel like I wasn’t very helpful at all.”

“Believe me, you were. I might have spent weeks chasing dead ends in this neighborhood. Anyway, I require a favor of you now.”

“What’s that?”

“Switch places with me so I can drive this sweet little ride again before I call it a night.”

Art, Rosalyn, Andrea, and Mary.

Four names left on the spreadsheet that didn’t have numbers attached.

Jill was desperate for a lead on one of those names, and of late, she and Nicky had taken to wearing cameras and microphones to school. The same jewelry that gave the Network eyes and ears in Daciana’s house became a regular part of Jill and Nicky’s outfits. Walking through the hallway, having lunch in a crowded restaurant, sitting in the back of a quiet classroom—all of it was captured on film for Jill to watch and rewatch later.

Usually with Zack.

She didn’t mean for Zack to become her watching buddy as she went over the footage, but it was the only way she could spend any time with him. And she had to spend time with him.

She didn’t realize how much she missed having him in her life until she got him back. Now that he had returned, Zack was a calming presence who made it possible for Jill to continue with the mission, despite all the frustrations.

Frustrations like Ryan, who played the warm, loving boyfriend at school, but was cold and standoffish when no one was looking.

Like Helena and Phillip, who were impatient for Jill to figure out the missing numbers on her spreadsheet, and were starting to pester her.

She was frustrated by the other students at school, who had settled into a severe case of senioritis. Outside of Ryan and Jill, no one in Samantha’s group was giving any effort to the Coronation contest. When Jill asked for people to follow Andrea, Rosalyn, and Art around and see what might be learned, no one volunteered. Mattie, Jenny, Jake, and the rest had all checked out. They came to class but were hardly present. They were counting the days until graduation, all of them certain that their golden ticket was punched, since a victory for Samantha seemed inevitable.

Jill was frustrated that Annika’s rash decision to return had nearly cost them everything. When Nicky told Jill about a frightening car ride with Daciana after chapel, she nearly lost it. Fortunately, between Annika’s decision to take the back way to Jill’s house, and Nicky’s ability to resist Daciana’s charms, it sounded like they dodged the bullet.

For now. How many other little mistakes were out there waiting to lead Daciana straight to Jill? It was frustrating to think about.

But more than all of this, Jill was frustrated that her hack on Daciana’s machine was dead. It was maddening to her to come so close only to have it all fall apart. They would never have an opportunity like the one they lost when Daciana discovered a pewter charm Jill left behind. Every penny of every bank account of every vampire in the clan—they were a six-digit code away and they couldn’t do it!

She needed lots of Zack to work through the frustration. Long, heavy doses of him. It was the only way to quiet her mind about the mistakes already made, and opportunities already lost.

And if Zack happened to learn a little more about the mission than she intended him to, well, that seemed a small price to pay.

“I’ve gotta tell you,” Zack said one afternoon, “this is the most boring show I’ve ever watched.”

They were on the couch in his apartment, looking at footage from the previous afternoon at Thorndike. Jill had connected her tablet to Zack’s TV and they were watching a scene from the courtyard, as
viewed through the cameras in Jill’s earrings.

“So that girl’s the one who is winning in your game,” Zack said, pointing at the screen.

“Yes, that’s Samantha Kwan. She thinks she’s going to be the next immortal.”

“But she’s not, because you’re going to figure out this missing number and change everything.”

“Just be quiet and watch, will you?”

“But I have so many questions! Like this girl.
The bubbly one. What’s her deal?”

“Jenny? What about her?”

“She’s with this Jake guy, right?”

“Yes, they’re together.”

“But she’s not really that into him.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Watch,” Zack said, taking the tablet from Jill and swiping his finger across the screen. He scrolled the video back a few frames. “Right here,” he said. “She’s gonna look across the yard when her boyfriend’s talking to her.”

Jill hadn’t paid any attention to Jenny the last time through. Watching again, she saw that Zack was right. Even as Jake was trying to talk to her, her attention was on something else entirely.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Jill. “Jenny doesn’t know anything. We’re watching this section because Art and Rosalyn are about to walk by.”

“Who are they?”

“Two people from my list. Right here. Watch and listen.”

On the top of the screen, Art and Rosalyn appeared, entering the frame as they walked the diagonal path through the courtyard.

“The microphone wasn’t able to pick up much of what they’re saying over all the noise,” said Jill. “Watch their lips. See if you can glean anything.”

They watched as Art and Rosalyn moved from the top to the bottom of the screen. Rosalyn was talking the entire time they moved. Jill couldn’t make out a word of it.

“Grape jelly tastes great on roasted pinto beans,” said Zack.

“What?”

“I’m trying to read her lips. That’s what I get. Watch, play it again.”

Jill rewound the footage and started playback where Art and Rosalyn ap
peared. This time, as Rosalyn spoke, Zack said the words that might be coming from her lips.

“Grape jelly tastes great on roasted pinto beans.”

It was a perfect match.

They started laughing. “This is a total waste of time, isn’t it?”
said Jill.

“Seems that way,” said Zack.

“How the hell am I supposed to get the numbers from these people? None of them are willing to talk.”

“Have you tried bribing them?”

“Yes. No takers. Nicky even tried flirting with Art, which worked last semester, but not so much now.”

“You mean that guy we were just watching?”

“Yes. Last semester Nicky had him in her pocket, but this semester he doesn’t want anything to do with her.”

“That’s because he’s getting laid,” said Zack.

“Art Tremblay? Hardly.”

“No, seriously. Play the scene again. I want to show you something.”

Jill shook her head. “Fine, but after this we’re done watching this garbage. It’s giving me a headache.”