“Gideon Davorin,” he said gruffly, shaking her hand.
“Mara,” I replied when she took my hand. Her grip was soft but firm, and she smiled so brightly, her blue eyes twinkled. Della Jane reminded me of a less buxom Dolly Parton, and I couldn’t help but warm to her despite the unease in my stomach.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re here,” she said when she released my hand. “Anything at all.”
“We’re actually looking for my friend,” I blurted out, causing Deputy Bob to glare at me. “Her name’s Blossom Mandelbaum, and she travels with us. She went out last night, and we haven’t seen her since.”
“She’s sixteen and she’s a runaway,” Deputy Bob interjected. “There’s not—”
“She didn’t tell anyone where she was going?” Della Jane’s brow furrowed with concern, and she moved so she was standing in front of Bob, blocking his view of me and Gideon. “Does she usually disappear like this?”
“Not really,” I said, feeling sheepish. But something about the way Della Jane was looking at me, so hopeful and worried, made me feel as if I had to be totally honest with her. “She did hang out with a commune once for a few days, because she liked the music. But she told us before she left.”
Della Jane snapped her fingers. “I got it. She probably went over to the Tangipahoa Parish music festival. They have all kinds of bands, going on for the next week to celebrate the equinox. Does that sound like something she would enjoy?”
“It does…” I admitted reluctantly. “But she would’ve told us.”
“Maybe she just hitched a ride and didn’t have a chance,” Della Jane suggested. “But I can see that you’ll be worried until she shows up again. So I’ll tell you what—”
Abruptly she turned her back to us and hurriedly wrote something down on the corner of a flier. Then she tore off the corner and faced us again, handing me the paper with Della Jane and her phone number scrawled in beautiful loopy handwriting.
“If you haven’t heard from your friend in the next day or two, give me a call,” Della Jane said. “I’ll look into it personally and see if we can’t find her. How does that sound?”
“That sounds great. Thank you.” I smiled at her, but it felt weak.
“Thank you again,” Gideon told her, and when I didn’t move, he put his hand on my back to gently usher me out of the police station.
As soon as we stepped outside, Gideon let out a sigh of relief. With the sun shining brightly above, it was a warm spring day, and thanks to Della Jane, things had gone better in the police station than I had hoped for. She’d given a logical explanation for where Blossom probably was—safe and sound listening to bands.
Despite all that, I couldn’t shake the chill inside my chest, like my heart had been encased in ice.
7. night terror
I had no idea where I was, since I was completely surrounded by black. And in that darkness, a face began to emerge. An old woman, her face gaunt, and the folds of gray flesh wrinkled and shriveled to the point of mummification.
She began to move toward me, as if gliding through the emptiness. Her gown billowed out around her, a dark fabric making her appear larger and more threatening. Not that she needed the help. Her gray hair stuck out maniacally around her head, like a crazed halo, and her eyes were black as coal.
“What do you want?” I asked, trying to say something to stop her from coming at me.
She opened her mouth then and began to scream—her words came out rapid fire, shrill and furious. It made it impossible to understand, but what little I did pick up wasn’t a language that I knew.
“I don’t know what you want! I can’t understand you!” I told her, but that only made her angrier.
Her wails grew louder, echoing through my skull, and then she extended her hands toward me. Her fingers were long and the nails were yellowed, and somehow I knew that if she got me, she’d never let me go.
I turned to run away from her, but the ground fell out from under me. There was nothing to grab on to, no matter how I tried to reach out, and I tumbled down into a bottomless pit of blackness.
Then, just as I felt my body slam into the hard ground, I opened my eyes and sat up.
Panting heavily, I realized with great relief that it was only a dream. I was safe in my own bed, but I couldn’t seem to stop my trembling and slow the panicked racing of my heart.