“I’m fixing to go home. Wouldn’t want to risk having your boyfriend see us together,” he snarls. “He just might feel like he’s been played or something.”
He pulls the door closed with a bang and revs the engine, and I step back as he pulls out and drives away. I stand in the street until he turns the corner and I can’t see him anymore. I want to just sink down to the ground, but the neighbors are probably all looking at me.
I wipe my eyes and cheeks with my fingers and take a couple of deep breaths before I walk back inside. Danny turns to look at me as soon as I open the door.
“Did you kill Ben because he’s your friend?” he asks.
41
Revealed
I go right up to my room and throw myself down on the bed to get the rest of my cry out. After the couple of days I’ve had and the situation with Ben, I am heartsore and still exhausted. My bed is soft and warm and I feel like I’m sinking into it, growing roots that burrow down.
“Jessa?” Finn’s voice carries from the doorway.
He carefully sets down two giant cups of Mugsy’s coffee on my nightstand and closes the door behind him.
“So your day can only go up from here,” he quips.
“Don’t even joke like that,” I say, staring up at the ceiling.
“Sorry.”
I turn my head to look at him as he sits down on the bed. “I didn’t hear you leave.”
“I snuck out the back.”
“I really don’t want coffee,” I say.
“I brought cookies, too.”
“I want to throw up.”
“Then I guess some glitter mousse is a bad … idea.” He trails off, and his mouth parts slightly. He starts slowly shaking his head.
“What?” I ask.
He turns to me, and with one word, he pulls me out of my misery.
“Rudy.”
“What?”
“The Traveler isn’t the one trying to kill you. Rudy is.”
I am instantly awake enough to sit up.
“Rudy!”
Finn makes a grim face. “Rudy was the one who sent me to you in the first place. He sent every Finn he could to every Jessa, and they started dying, didn’t they?”
“But—”
“It’s been so obvious we were blind to it. Rudy left before Mario sent us to your deaf reality, didn’t he? And we were safe there.”
It’s beginning to dawn on me. “And when we showed up at glittery Mugsy’s…”
“A place we’ve been known to frequent,” Finn reminds me. “We were easy prey. Rudy even suggested to me that I should take you away for a while. Once we got there, he knew exactly where to send you.”
“But he can’t come into reality, can he?”
“He’s not working alone,” Finn said. “He’s got a follower who’s a Traveler. Maybe more than one. He’s directing them, and now he knows for sure he’s got the right Jessa, doesn’t he?”
My chest freezes in fear. “You can’t go to sleep,” I whisper. “If he knows that you’ve figured it out, he’ll find a way to kill you, too.”
“You have to talk to Mario. Now. And I have to stay awake until he tells us what our next step is.” He reaches for one of the cups of coffee and takes a long drink.
As tired as I am, I’m not sure I can sleep. My heart is pounding too hard. We’ve got a practically omnipotent being with control over God knows how many other Travelers trying to wipe out most of the universe, with us in it. Who could sleep in the face of that?
“I don’t know if I can,” I say shakily.
“You’ve got to. Can you take something?”
“I … uh…” My mind is racing. “I think there’s some NyQuil in the bathroom.”
“Will it put you to sleep?”
“Knocks me right out,” I answer. “I’ll get it.”
I run for the bathroom, stopping along the way to let Danny know I’m feeling sick and I’m going to lie down—that ought to keep him from disturbing me. Finn can play video games with Danny and keep him distracted—and himself awake. I grab the NyQuil and step back into the room, twisting off the cap and pouring out a dose.
“Down the hatch,” I say, chugging it back.
I set the bottle down next to Finn’s coffee and lie down on the bed. My hand reaches for his.
“Be careful, okay? If you have to leave me and run, do it.”
“I won’t leave you,” he says.
“I told Danny you’d play a game with him.”
“That’s as far as I’ll go,” he swears.
“And you’ll need more coffee. My mom drinks decaf.” I can feel the medicine making me foggy, but I have to make sure he’ll be safe.
“I’ll get more coffee if I need it. And then I’ll come back. I promise.”
I nod, and my head is starting to feel heavy. “Stay till I’m sleeping.”
The bed dips and he eases down next to me. “No problem,” he says, stretching out at my side. I turn and scooch into him, spoon-style, and his arm comes around my middle.
“Finn?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m afraid.”
“You’ve been through a lot, Jessa.”
“I’m afraid for you. What if something happens to you?”
I feel his hand come up, and it gently plays with my hair, his fingers combing through the strands as his voice calms and lulls me.