Towering (17 page)

The cashier was a girl about my age. I remembered what Astrid had said, about everyone knowing everyone around here. “I think that blue car’s been following me. Any idea who it is?”

She glanced outside, squinted, then shrugged. “Doesn’t look familiar. You from around here?”

Considering the circumstances, I said, “I’m from Long Island, staying at the Big Spruce Lodge.”

“Shame. We don’t get many new people here.”

“I’m staying a month. I’ll stop by again. You always work mornings?”

“No, during school I work nights.”

“Perfect. I’ll stop by.

She nodded. “I’ll look for you.”

She was still watching me as I walked out the door. Which was good because she could be a witness if anything happened later on.

Clutching my groceries in one hand, my keys in the other, I sprinted for the car. It took a minute to open the door since Mrs. Greenwood, of course, didn’t have remote door locks. I got in, locked the door, and waved to the check-out girl. I drove to the exit, signaled left, but turned right. The guy still followed me. I accelerated. It was about half a mile to the expressway entrance, and I wanted to be going fast, real fast, when I got there. The guy kept pace with me.

As soon as the expressway signs came into view, I started to signal. The guy signaled too.

I took the ramp and made like I was going for the southbound entrance. The guy followed me. We were going close to eighty. At the last minute, I swerved left, taking the northbound entrance.

The Taurus missed it and soared into the southbound lane. I headed north.

I’d lost him. But it didn’t explain why he’d been following me in the first place.

The distance between exits around here might be ten miles or more. I had lost him in a real way. Still, I would keep one eye on the rearview.

To further evade the guy, I got off at a later exit, then drove back. No one was on the road but the snowplows. I followed them until I got to the back road I’d taken to the cabin, then realized it hadn’t been cleared. Fortunately, the trees protected it a great deal, so the snow coating was light. Still, I pulled over earlier than before and began to slog through the snow. It was even harder than the first time, but now, I had a goal. Rachel. Beautiful Rachel, Rachel who knew better than me or anyone what it was to be all alone.

My legs ached, and it was hard to lift them in and out of the soft snow. Still, I did. The pain felt good. It made me feel alive and like my life had purpose.

I knew what that purpose was too, to persuade Rachel to come with me, to run away with me. It was the only safe way. I was certain the guy who had followed me was really after her. He knew about her, somehow. She had told me about her mother’s killer. He wanted to find her. Maybe I had tipped him off. If she came with me, we could find someone, the police, the FBI. Someone who wasn’t me to get to the bottom of this. After all, what reason did she have to stay, other than some woman who was holding her captive?

And suddenly, I heard a voice in the distance, singing something. But it couldn’t be. The tower was tall, and surely, the window was closed against the cold and snow. Was I delirious from the frigid weather? Or was some supernatural force calling me toward her?

He would come today. I was certain of it. I sensed him. And, more than that, I sensed that he was struggling to get to me.

I loved him. Though we had barely met, there was some power greater than me, greater than all, that bound me to him.

I looked out the window, certain I would see him in the distance. Nothing. Yet I knew he was coming.

For every reason and no reason, I began to sing. Even though the tower was high and the weather was windy, I knew he would hear me. I knew it would urge him on toward me.

Finally, I could see the tower in the distance. The voice, Rachel’s voice, grew louder in my head, and though my legs were numb with the walking and my body was near freezing, I kept going, pushing through trees and obstacles in my way.

Then, suddenly, I was there before the tower. It looked older than I remembered, maybe because of the freshness of the white snow. It looked so dilapidated I might be able to bring it down with the slightest push and rescue her that way.

No, not that way. I could see the rope, her strange, magical hair, hanging to the ground. Above it, I saw her face. She was waiting for me.

I waved to her.

She waved back.

I looked behind me one last time, to assure myself no one had followed me. Nothing. I waved again and yelled, “Hello!”

The sound carried. She jumped up and down, yelling, “Hello! I’m so glad you’re here!”

“It’s nice out! Can you come down?”

“You’ll help me back up?”

“Yes!” I didn’t want to. I wanted her to come with me. But that conversation could wait for later. I wanted her to come down now.

She had gone back inside to get something. She threw it down, and I saw it was a braid, shorter than the one that hung from the tower. I looked up. She was already climbing down.

As she made her way down the rope, I tried to think about how dangerous this was, how crazy, freaky dangerous. I’d done rock climbing at a gym at home, fake rocks, tons of safety equipment. I was good at it, but here—people got killed falling from lesser heights.

And yet, we had done it before. I was willing to risk it to see her.

Finally, she dropped down beside me, and I took her in my arms.

“Missed you,” I said. “I couldn’t make it in the rain.”

“I knew.” She shivered. “Cold here.”

“I brought you some stuff.” I gestured to the coat I’d stolen. “There’s a hat and gloves in the pocket. I thought we could play in the snow. Have you ever done that?”

“I think, maybe when I was a little girl. I remember building a snowman with Mama. But then, she got scared and we had to go inside.”

“We can build a snowman. Put it on.”

I picked up the coat and held it so she could step into it. Then, the hat and gloves. Once dressed, she twirled around, modeling, and I wondered if that was some instinct all girls had, twirling, modeling, even if they’d never seen a television or even met another girl before.

I had a strange sense of
déjà vu
, looking at her, as if I’d seen that girl in that coat before. I shook it off. Of course I hadn’t.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“Adorable.”

I kissed her. The wind picked up the fresh snow and flung it around us, and I felt like this was the first day I’d ever lived, like Tyler and Nikki and everyone at home didn’t exist, and we were the only people in this beauty of a white world. “So what should we do?”

I stared around at the green and white trees, feeling the ache in my muscles, the cold on my face. The air was silent, waiting.

I looked at Wyatt. “I’d like to make a snow angel.”

“A snow angel?”

“Yes. I’ve read about them in books. You lay on the ground and flap your arms until it looks like wings and a full skirt.”

“I know what a snow angel is.” Wyatt glanced around. “It just takes a lot of room. We sure can’t go on the lake.”

“Please. If I made one, I could see it from my tower, even after you leave. There’s a clear spot back there, behind those trees. I can see from the window.”

I suddenly realized I’d staked it out. I’d been doing it for years, planning my escape, thinking of how it would be when I left. Why had I never tried it before? Was I so afraid of falling, of dying?

I had no life to lose. Until now. I breathed deeply, letting the world into my lungs.

It was as if saving Wyatt from the ice showed me that I could do something, that I wasn’t helpless, worthless after all.

I grabbed his arm. “Come this way!” I felt like a different girl.

“You show me then,” he said, laughing. “I’ll follow you.”

“I will!” I knew there was a clear path nearby. I’d been tracing it and retracing it.

“We have to pass that tree.” I gestured toward the big one, the one that had always frightened me as a child, its gnarled branches resembling a monster. It almost completely blocked the path.

I reached behind me for Wyatt’s hand. He grabbed mine, squeezed it.

After we passed the monster tree, there would be two more. Then, the clearing would become visible. It was so incredible to think I’d be there, in person.

The only thing Wyatt had not brought was warm shoes. But I ignored my frozen feet as I pushed through the snowy tree limbs, then held them for him.

As he clambered through, one branch slipped from my grip. It sprung back, hitting him in the face and sending a pile of snow onto him as well. “Oh, sorry.”

“You did that on purpose!” But he was laughing.

“No, I didn’t!”

“Okay. Just let me hold the next one for you.”

“Not a chance.” I ran as fast as I could toward it. Which wasn’t very fast because of the snow. I had never walked in anything like it before. At least, that I remembered. The snow was white and sparkly with a hard crust on top. But when you stepped on it, your foot sank down, down, and you had to lift it high to get out. Wyatt was gaining on me.

He grabbed me. “Let me go first, actually. Not very gentlemanly to make you do all the pushing.”

“You just want to get back at me.” I struggled against him, and then, I reached the tree.

“Maybe,” he said.

I pulled up a huge, snow-covered branch, held it back, and then, again, flung it in his face. “Gotcha!”

Even though that time, he must have known it was coming, he didn’t duck. He let it hit him full in the face. “You think you’re so funny!”

I laughed. “I’m hilarious.”

He started to run fast, overtaking me. He reached the last tree. I hung back.

He pulled back the branch. “Come on, Rachel.” His voice was low, enticing.

“Sweet Rachel. I’ll hold it for you. I won’t throw snow in your face. I’m the bigger person.”

“I’ll bet.” He was holding the branch so a huge pile of snow was aimed at me.

“Okay, then. Take your punishment. Admit you lost.”

I sighed. “I suppose I have to. You’re more powerful than poor little me.” In a way, I wanted to feel it, all that snow against my face.

I stepped toward it, closing my eyes. But he didn’t release it. He let me in.

We had reached the clearing. The sun had risen, and the snow sparkled with a white glow that had every color of the rainbow. I jumped up and down and into his arms. “We made it! We’re here! Isn’t this the perfect place to make an angel?”

“Do you know how to make one?” he asked.

“You’ll show me.”

He smiled. “The trick is getting up and down without making footprints in the angel. You have to fall back flat. I’ll show you.” He broke away from me and walked a few steps to a clear area, away from the trees. He stood straight and just fell. Then, he flapped his arms and legs like scissors until an angel appeared.

“Now, help me up,” he said.

“How?”

“Careful. Just stay off to the side. Help me balance.”

I did what he said, and he was able to rise, only stepping in the tiny spot below the angel’s “skirt,” where her feet would be. Then, he backed away.