chapter 11
Kim was reluctant to leave Tremain, especially since all Addy could tell her was that a feeling was urging her to go. It sounded like she might have the same condition as Tanner, but Kim didn’t know Addy had been talking to him so she couldn’t even discuss that part with her. If her feeling really was like what Tanner had, she felt terrible for not being able to help him.
On the way to her villa to grab a few things, Addy stopped in the library and picked up a couple of books on Akori symbols. Kim was going through them, page by page, trying to find the one on Addy’s neck.
The searing pain from her new symbol went away, but the glowing continued. She wished the pulling sensation driving her to move in the opposite direction of Tremain would subside. Addy didn’t use her navigation system, she just drove blindly in the direction she felt the pulling was the strongest.
The girls had been driving for nearly an hour when Addy had to stop for gas. The car didn’t have much when they left, and it was on fumes as she pulled into the station. They both stood outside of the car as Addy pumped gas.
“You know what Matt said?” Kim asked her as she leaned up against the side of Addy’s car.
Addy smiled sweetly and motioned for Kim to stop leaning on her car. Kim took a step away and made a face at her.
“I can only imagine what Matt—”
“I’m being serious. He told me Gage has been miserable not talking to you.”
The mention of his name made her stomach flip, and she suddenly felt bad again about making plans with him she had no intention of keeping. “We didn’t really talk for years. There’s no way he’s become that attached in a couple of weeks.”
Kim shot her a disapproving glare. “Really, Addy? The guy’s known you your entire life. Why’s it a stretch he'd fall for you? I can’t believe you’re not interested.”
The pump stopped and she placed the hose back on it’s hook.
“I never said I wasn’t interested, I just don’t think it’s that easy, that’s all.”
“It is that easy.” Kim pointed at Addy as she turned to get back in the car. “The only one making it hard is you.”
Addy sat back in the driver’s seat. “He asked if I’d see him tonight. He’ll probably be looking for me soon.” It was hard not to think about Gage, especially with Kim randomly bringing him up. She reached in her bag and turned her phone off, not wanting to deal with any calls.
Addy’s car was black outside with black leather interior, which made the burning heat feel even more intense. They drove with the top down for a long time on northbound A1A. The ocean was in view a lot of the time and the perfect day turned into a beautiful evening.
Addy glanced over at Kim, who was beginning to look tired. “Do you want to get a hotel room somewhere?”
She closed the book she was looking at. “That depends, how close are we to wherever it is we’re going?”
Addy shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. The feeling isn’t getting any stronger or weaker, it’s just pulling me. I’m not really tired yet.”
“Let's just keep going then.” Kim closed her eyes. “I’ll just rest here.”
At about 3 a.m. Kim’s phone rang. Startled from her sleep, she searched her purse for it.
“It’s Matt,” she said. “What should I do?”
“You can answer it and lie to him about where we are, or you can just let it go to voicemail—your choice.” Addy hoped she wouldn’t answer it.
“Nice choices.” With a sigh, Kim hit the reject call button. “Sorry Matt.”
A minute later her phone chirped indicating she had a voicemail. She put it on speakerphone and played the message.“Hey Kimmy. Just wondering where you guys are. Everyone’s freaking out. Bernard said you were going shopping, but it’s after 3am. Gage took some of the others out to search for you. Give me a call back.”
Knowing Gage and the others were out looking for them made Addy feel terrible. Kim closed her eyes and Addy just kept driving.
The sun was coming up, so Addy stopped to pick up some coffee and bagels. She should’ve been tired, but she was wide-awake.
Kim was awake when Addy got back in the car.
“We’re going shopping. The only clothes I brought are what I’m wearing. Everything else was dirty,” Addy said, handing her a cup of coffee and a bagel.
“Shopping sounds good,” Kim said through a yawn.
“I also think we’re getting close to wherever it is we’re going.” Addy could almost see in her mind where she was headed. “Let's go a little bit further and maybe I can find exactly where it is.”
“Ok, but what do we do when we find the place?” Kim tore a piece of her bagel off and popped it in her mouth.
Addy had no idea what she was gonna do when she reached her destination. If it was anything like Tanner’s situation, she’d just be stuck hanging out until her feeling subsided, as Tanner’s did.
“I guess we’ll see when we get there,” she said, pulling back onto the road.
She checked the map on her navigation system and discovered that they’d traveled less than 350 miles, but they’d been driving for 12 hours. The road they traveled on skirted along the small islands off the coast and she couldn’t drive very fast. They were directly east of Jacksonville, still along the coast.
Turning down a private street with large, exquisitely landscaped homes, they drove around in circles for a while. Addy was having a difficult time getting a fix on where exactly she was being pulled. It was difficult to tell, but when she made one final turn into a cul-de-sac, she knew she’d found the right place.
She pointed at the huge house straight in front of them. “There.”
“There?” Kim motioned toward the house with both hands. “That’s where we’re going?”
“That’s it.” Addy thought the feeling would get better being so close to where her body was telling her to go, but it didn’t, and the symbol on her neck was beginning to burn again.
“That’s a pretty big gate. Are we just gonna walk up and ask to come in?” Kim asked, smiling.
“Find something to write the address on,” she said. “I think we should look the address up online and see who lives there.”
Kim dug through her purse, pulling out a pen and a gum wrapper, quickly scribbling down the house number.
“We need a better plan than just walking up to the door.” Addy started to drive away. “Let’s get out of here for now. I need to go shopping and get cleaned up.”
Addy pulled around the circular drive as a motorcycle was pulling in.
The person riding the bike was a guy, wearing sunglasses and a backward baseball cap. She checked her rear view mirror and saw him pulling up to the same gate they were just looking at.
Kim’s phone rang. She turned it over and held it up to Addy. “It’s Matt again.”
Addy looked at her quickly, then back at the road. “I’m not gonna tell you not to answer it.”
Kim sat there for a minute watching the phone ring, a picture of Matt wearing a jester’s hat flashed on its screen. She sent it to voicemail and waited for the message notification.“Molly found a note Addy left for her about her cat. I guess that means you two knew you weren’t coming back. Gage was out all night searching but Bernard called him back to the estate. He’s pretty pissed. Call me, dammit!”
When they got back to the estate, she’d have a lot of explaining to do. Addy really felt bad and couldn’t blame Gage for being angry. She probably wouldn’t have to worry about any random acts of affection from him any time soon.
“How about we get a little sun,” Addy said, trying to avoid discussing Matt’s call.
They found a spot on the beach and sat in the sand. It was still a while until the mall opened. They discussed how to handle getting into the house. Neither one of them were particularly good at being sneaky. Addy was usually the reason she and Gage got busted trying to pull off capers as kids. He should’ve known better than to send a five year old to do a ten year old’s job though.
Grabbing Kim’s phone, Addy opened the browser and searched for the address Kim wrote down, trying to see who lived at the mystery house. No matter what she did, she couldn’t find anything.
“That address doesn’t even exist,” she said. “There’s just nothing.”
Kim leaned over and looked at the phone. “But we saw it! Maybe I wrote it down wrong.”
“No. I’m sure you got it right,” Addy said. “We’ll figure something else out.”
Addy knew she’d written it down correctly because Tanner was drawn to the estate, which didn’t have a real address either, but she couldn’t say that to Kim.
The shopping mall they went to turned out to be pretty upscale. Addy still wasn’t tired at all, which concerned her, but she didn’t think she could sleep anyway. They spent hours going through the stores and by the time they were done, the trunk was stuffed with bags. They had new tops, shorts, dresses, handbags, and so many shoes. Addy even hit the video game store and grabbed a game she wanted.
Kim pointed out a spa when they first arrived at the mall. They made appointments for later that afternoon.
When they left the mall, they were both dressed in new clothes and accessories from head to toe, had new haircuts, manicures, and pedicures.
Kim’s long blond hair was cut into a short bob. It looked just like it did when Addy first met her. After having Stubbs trimming her hair for the last few years, Addy was clueless about what to do with hers. Short wasn’t an option because of the new glowing symbol, which had been tough to explain to the woman who was cutting her hair.
After excessive amounts of discussion by the stylists, they decided to leave it pretty long and just cut layers and frame it around her face. She’d never colored her hair before, but they insisted on adding highlights.
Standing side by side in the mirror, it was incredible how different they looked. Kim snapped a picture with her phone, which was flashing its low battery warning.
Kim spotted a Chinese restaurant on the way back to the mystery house so they stopped and ate dinner. Addy’s fortune cookie read, ‘Help! I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery!’ It made her feel much better about her own situation.