CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I opened my eyes slowly to a soft, filtered light, conscious of nothing except my head, which was pounding mercilessly. I stared up at the faded yel ow ceiling, careful not to upset the imbalance in my skul . The scent of herbs and greenery fil ed my nose.
There was color. I could smel . I was alive. And I was back where I belonged.
I heard a soft snoring sound from beside me and I slowly turned my head to the side, nestling it deeper in the pil ow.
My hand was down beside me along the side of the single bed and another hand was grasping it, reaching up from the floor beneath.
I lifted my shoulders and head to see who had a hold of me, letting out a grunt at the pain that throbbed at my temples and tightened along my forehead.
On a pile of pil ows laid out on the ground, was Dex. He was on his side, sleeping it seemed, his hand holding onto mine.
I managed a smile, then flopped my head back on the pil ow, the pressure to keep my head upright was too much.
I let out an involuntarily moan, overcome by the discomfort and pain.
Dex stirred beneath me, his hand squeezed mine. He sat up and peered at me, his hair sticking out messily on the sides.
“Kiddo?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
“Hi,” I croaked out.
He cleared his throat and sat up straighter, taking my hand in both of his.
“Your eyes are back to normal,” he said as he looked at me intensely. “How are you feeling?”
“Honestly? I don’t think I’ve ever felt worse.”
“Roman said you’d feel like you were crushed by a steamrol er.”
“That about sums it up.”
“He said it would pass, though, in a day or two. I insisted we take you to the hospital but he said whatever injuries you got wil fade quickly. Something about them not being rooted in this world.”
“Oh. Good to know,” I said. I brought my head to the other side and took in the surroundings. We were in the room that looked like a greenhouse turned office. My small bed was pushed up against a desk and an ancient behemoth of a computer. Plants upon plants were stacked up along a low table and up a bookshelf.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, hearing only quiet in the house.
“Ada and Roman went to town to get some food. I think Bird is outside going on a walkabout or something.”
“Are they OK?” I remembered seeing the exorcism bed being ripped in two, the charred ring that held fire, the fear in Ada’s eyes when she gazed at me floating above the bed in a wild swarm of lightening.
“Bird’s fine. Roman looks like shit but he’s alive. I think Ada’s a little shel -shocked. But she’l be fine. She’s an Amazon, just like you are. It must run in the family.”
At the mention of family, I frowned. Images and sentences from seeing Pippa in the Thin Veil came floating back to me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and leaned in closer. He took his hand and gently stroked my chin with his thumb.
“I went to a place...” I began, unsure of how to start or finish. “A place cal ed the Thin Veil. Black Sunshine. Pippa was there. I talked to her...”
He nodded, his eyes reading mine. “You know she’s your grandmother.”
“Yes,” I said, breathing it out. “You knew...”
“I figured it out,” he said. “But I didn’t want to be the one to tel you.”
“My mom...my mom said she was crazy, she put her away. Both her and my dad, they practical y kil ed her.”
His hand went up to brush the hair off my forehead. My skin jumped at his touch, butterflies ignited in the heart of my being. “I am so, so sorry, Perry. I wil do everything I can to not let that happen to you.”
“You already have,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t have made it back here if it wasn’t for you.”
“Roman almost had you. He was so close. But I think he was too afraid of making the same mistakes he did with the boy. The one who died. He should have been able to free you himself. I had to do something.”
I swal owed hard, overtaken by his sacrifice. I felt so very small .
“I guess I have to save your life at some point now,” I said. “To make things even.”
“Perry,” he said quietly, his fingers trailing down the side of my face, “you’l never have to save my life. You gave me life. I never lived a single day until the day I first met you.”
Then he smiled warmly at me. It had all the grace and heart in the world.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Bird’s voice broke through the moment. “I heard voices and wanted to see if she was OK.”
Dex didn’t move but his eyes flitted up to Bird in the doorway and he smirked. “You sure suck at timing, bird man.”
To be honest, I was a little grateful for Bird’s intrusion. I wasn’t ready to hear such things from Dex’s mouth. I was stil mad at him for what he had done and my heart prickled a little from the memory. I could forgive Dex but it didn’t mean I could forget.
“It’s OK, Bird,” I said, moving my head just enough to see him and his grandfatherly face. “He was just fil ing me in on what happened.”
Dex took his hand away from my face and sat farther back on his pil ows. One hand, though, kept a hold of mine.
“You already look better,” Bird said, looking me over and nodding approvingly.
“Wel , black eyes and a lightening mouth never did anyone any favors.”
He chuckled. “Your humor has returned too. well , Miss Perry, now that I can finally talk to you in there and you alone, I am very happy to see you again. How do you feel?”
“Shitty,” I said, but smiled. I was happy to see him, too, and in the right circumstances.
“Your body wil recover fast,” he said. “You might be able to go home tomorrow.”
Home? I hadn’t even given my home much thought. What would I be returning to?
“Don’t worry,” Bird said, picking up on the vibes that were tensing up my muscles. “Ada has cal ed your parents.
They know you are safe.”
That doesn’t mean anything anymore, I thought. I shot Dex a look. He stared back, pupils hard with determination. >
I could almost hear what he was thinking, that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to me. And yet I was suddenly and appropriately scared. Dex may have just pul ed me out from another dimension, but when it came to my parents he had absolutely no power whatsoever.
We left the house early the next morning, just as the sun was done climbing above the brown, grassy hil s. Roman was hard-faced and tired as he saw us off. He was stil as removed as he was earlier and kept his cool demeanor, but I could at least pick up a sigh of relief; like by helping me has was able to forgive himself about the boy.
I was stil feeling a bit broken and bruised, but I had no injuries on me whatsoever, and after I was thrown into a much-needed, steaming shower, I felt almost as good as new. It was nice to be back in Dex’s car, sitting in the back with Ada, not constricted by rope or wrapped in duct tape.
We dropped off Bird at the bus terminal in Lapwai. I insisted we drive him to catch his plane in Boise. Hel , for what he did for me, I would have taken him all the way to Red Fox. But he told us we needed to get home before things got any worse for my parents and I had to agree with that.
It was hard to say goodbye to the man. Along with Dex, Bird was one of those people who got me, and made me feel like I could face anything. He cared and he was selfless. I wanted him to come home with us, to explain to my parents what happened and why it happened. But this was a battle that Ada, Dex and I had to fight on our own.
The thought was terrifying and it preyed on me as we drove back into the cold mountain passes, heading toward Portland. I sat shotgun watching the trees whip past my window, wishing I didn’t feel just as scared as I had when I was heading the other way. Pippa was right. I not only had to watch out for the dead, I had to watch out for the living.
My living loved ones were proving to be just as frightening, and an equal threat.
I could tel Dex was thinking that over too as we both sat in silence, music playing quietly from the speakers. Only Ada seemed in good spirits and was chatting to us about who knows what. She must have gotten the hint that we weren’t paying attention, because she tapped Dex on the shoulder.
“Hey, Dex?”
He grunted in return and glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
“You stil with your floozy girlfriend?” Ah, there it was. The elephant in the car.
I almost gasped at her audacity but caught it just in time.
I didn’t want to make any sudden movement, lest Dex think I actual y cared whether he was with Jenn or not. Cuz I didn’t.
Or at least I told myself I didn’t.
He gave her an incredulous look. “Obviously not.”
She smacked him on his arm. “Don’t look at me like I asked a stupid question. Because it’s not a stupid question at all , and you damn well know it.d gl He looked back at the road and adjusted his hands on the wheel. “Fine.”
“So you broke up with her?”
“Yes,” he said sharply.
“Way to find your bal s, man,” Ada congratulated him and sat back in her seat.
I snuck a peek at him. He was chewing on his lip, brow low on his eyes. The question made him uncomfortable and I was glad. That’s all I was glad for. The fact that he broke up with that stupid bitch had no effect on me.
“Who got custody of Fat Rabbit?” I asked.
A smile tugged at his lips and his expression lightened.
“I did. Rebecca’s looking after the farting bastard right now.”
“Poor Rebecca,” I said. I wondered if I was going to see her again, wondered what the future now held in store for me. First things were first though. I had to get home and sort that shit out. No matter what happened to my grandmother, no matter my feelings about it, I couldn’t let it happen to me. I had to do whatever I could to appear completely sane and normal for the next while, if not forever.
I would not let my own parents turn on me and turn me in.
I turned around in my seat and looked hard at Ada.
“What?” she asked.
“Ada,” I said, “when we get home, I need you to promise you’re going to do whatever you can to make me look normal.”
She let out a laugh. “Wel , that’s not going-”
“Ada!” I cut in sharply. “I’m serious. Mom and dad won’t hesitate to put me away in a hospital. We have to drop all this exorcism nonsense.”
“Nonsense? But it’s what happened,” she protested.
“Perry, the things I saw. What you did...”
“I know. You, me, Dex, we are the only ones who know it and wil ever know it. You’l have to tel them that Dex took me to a native shaman. But that he applied some herbs and did a healing session. My fever broke. It turns out I was delirious. I’m fine now and I don’t remember a thing.”
She gave me a wary look. “Do we real y have to lie?
Mom and dad aren’t the enemy anymore. You are fine.”
“Yes, we do have to lie.” And they are my enemy, I thought.
“Can you do that, little fifteen?” Dex asked.
She crossed her arms. “Wel , yeah, I’m pretty good at lying. I just don’t think it’s going to be the end of the world like you are both brewing over. They’l be upset and hel a mad but real y they’l be glad you’re OK. When I spoke to them, they were just real y, real y worried.”
Dex and I exchanged a weighted glance and spent the remainder of the drive in silence. Silence except for my heart that was beating faster with every street we passed.
By the time we turned onto our fair street, twilight hung in the sky, casting a moody glow over everything, and I was nearly sick with nerves. As we came up the house, we saw three extra cars in the driveway; two of them had Portland Police displayed on the sides. I gasped. Dex reached out for my hand and I clutched it hard.
“Wow,” Ada said under her breath as she looked over the scene. “Think mom and dad overreacted much?”
The Highlander came to gradual stop, the asphalt crunching under the tires.
Ada hopped out of the car and started walking slowly toward the house.
Dex held my hand tighter and leaned across the console to me. “I have you. You’re going to be OK. I won’t let anyone take you anywhere.”
Forget my parent’s overreacting; I hoped Dex and I were the ones overreacting.
I nodded but my lips couldn’t find a smile.
We got out of the car. He came around to me and grabbed my hand, holding it as tight as before. Ada was almost at the front door when it flung open and my father came roaring out like a charging rhino.
“YOU!” he screamed, as he stormed toward us, not even giving Ada a glance. He was surprisingly fast and his fury was directed at Dex, not me.
He came right up to Dex and swiftly clocked him across the face.
I screamed as my dad’s punch knocked Dex back a few steps. He didn’t fight back but he protected his nose with his hands as my father went after him again.
“That was for my daughters!” he yelped, as he threw another punch, which Dex managed to dodge.
There was something a bit touching about my father doing that for Ada and me, but that feeling didn’t last long when there was a flurry of activity and three cops ran out of the house, fol owed by my mother and Maximus. My mother grabbed Ada, crying and holding her close, while Maximus cal ed my name and trotted over.
I moved away and went to join Dex but the three cops were at him, one of them holding back my father while the other two grabbed Dex’s arms behind him and threw him against the cop car. They fished out the handcuffs and began to read him his Miranda rights.
“What the f*ck!? Nooo!” I cried out, and started running but suddenly arms were wrapped around me from behind as Maximus held me back. “Let go of me, you f*cking a*shole!”
“Perry, calm down,” he said, but didn’t let up.
I screamed at my father, “What are they doing? They can’t arrest him!”
“He’s wanted for kidnapping,” the officer with my dad said, letting him go. My dad adjusted his tie and kept his beady eyes on Dex, his face read and sweating.
“We’ve been looking for you all around the state,” said the other officer who was holding Dex’s head down against the car. I now recognized him as the Channing Tatum cop from the other day. “Two cases of kidnapping, crossing state lines.”
“Hey, I chose to go with him!” Ada yel ed, flinging herself out of my mother’s hug.
“You’re a minor,” the officer responded.
I strained against Maximus’s stronghold. “But I’m not! I wil ingly went with Dex too!”
“But you’re not of your right mind,” I heard a voice say from my right. I looked at the house, past Ada who was marching up to the cops, past my mother, who failed to grab hold of her, and saw Dr. Freedman walking calmly down the steps. “You’re not well , Perry, and you cannot make decisions for yourself.”
“No,” I uttered, and tried again to get away from Maximus. I wanted to run to Dex, pul him away from the cops and run free. I could see from his face, as the cops frisked him, as his head was squished hard against the car, that he felt the same. Panic and indignation flared in his eyes.
“Don’t fight it, Perry, do as I say,” Maximus whispered in my ear. “I won’t let them take you anywhere but you have to play nice and play fair. Calm down.”
I didn’t care what Maximus had to say. There was only one person I was going to listen to and he was being arrested.
Dr. Freedman stopped in front of me and smiled in his condescending way.
“Perry, take a deep breath and look where you are.
You’re with us. With your family. We’re going to help you.”
I heard Dex cry out and tore my eyes away from the doctor. Dex was shaking his head, trying to fight and losing as the cops tried to force him into the back of the cruiser.
“Dex!”I screamed. But it was useless. The car door slammed in his face and the two officers got in the front.
The car started and pul ed away from the road, leaving me in the dust.
I screamed again and struggled but it was useless. I was trapped.
“Relax, Perry,” the doctor said. “You’re in my hands.”
He stepped closer to me until he was all I could see.
“You’re safe now.”
“You’re safe now.”
I screamed somewhere deep inside.