Beyond Your Touch (26 page)

“What tears also opens. What burns also builds,” he bellowed, slicing the knife downward.

Blinding light flashed against the glass and I was slammed to one side of the bottle as he flung the decanter toward the rising sun, toward the ocean and the rocky spires.

CHAPTER 30

 

—Tag on pink flashlight

 

 

I
woke, lying on my stomach with my arm crooked under my face. My body ached all over. My arm burned as if a thousand wasps had stung it. I rolled off it, onto my side. Slimy rocks, broken glass, or whatever I was lying on crunched and jabbed into my skin. Something hard boxed me in. The stench of seaweed and dead fish crusted inside my nose. Only the wet remnants of the linen shift covered me.

Blinking my eyes open, I struggled to get my bearings. I lay, soaking wet, in a shallow crevasse. Flies buzzed all around me. Beneath me was sand, shells, seagull feathers, a dead fish, and—

Holy crap!

A dark-red jellyfish.

I scrambled away from it, fingers digging into the slippery side of the crevasse to help me stand, slime caking under my nails. I glanced at my arm, the one that had been under my face. Nasty red welts blotched the lower half of it. Jellyfish stings, plus cuts and scrapes.

My head whirled with hazy memories of what had happened: me being ethereal, inside the decanter, Malphic throwing it toward the ocean, toward the rocky spires.

My pulse quickened and I looked up at the rocky pinnacles above me. The Pirate's Coffin, that's where I was, the real one, in the human realm. And—thank God and Hecate or whoever else was watching over me—the tide was out.

I pushed past the throbbing in my muscles, pulled myself out of the crevasse, and started to climb down. The barnacle-crusted rocks sliced my naked feet and legs. My fingernails split as I dug them into slick handholds. When I hit the soggy ground, dizziness closed in around me. I swayed, staggered a few steps, and fell to my knees. My stung arm ached like holy hell, stealing all other thoughts.

“
Saltwater, wash it off, then scrape,
” Selena's first aid advice sang in my head.

I crawled across the mucky sand to a puddle, got out my dagger, then submerged my arm and scraped it with the blade. As woozy as my head was I could barely see.

Hysteria came over me and I cackled. I'd have to put this in my Sotheby's profile.
When thrown from the djinn realm, don't land on jellyfish.

Something rubbed against me, small, furry, and damp. Houdini.

I scooped him up and hugged him tight, his purring loud in my ear.

“Look! It's Annie!” Zachary's voice echoed out from somewhere.

He and the Professor were on the beach, running toward me.

The Professor reached me first. “We thought you were dead, dreadfully, horribly dead. Oh, my goodness. Are you all right?”

“I got stung. Jellyfish,” I rasped. But even as I said it, I realized how ridiculous it sounded in light of everything that had happened. I could taste blood on my lips and something warm trickled down my forehead. I'd gotten thrown off a cliff or through the sky, but none of that mattered. I was okay. But Mother. Chase. They were still there.

Zachary panted up to us. “I told you the cat wanted to show us something.”

“You were very much right, Zachary. Now run to the house and get help, ever so fast.”

I let go of Houdini and the Professor grabbed me by the underarms, bringing me to my feet. I leaned against him, staggering along. What seemed like a moment later, Tibbs arrived and helped the Professor haul me up the beach stairs. When we reached the cliff top, I glanced at the house, the sun spangling the windows, reflecting off the roofs and the white railings of the widow's walk.

My chest tightened and tears streamed down my face. “I have to go back. I have to get Mother. Chase. They're going to kill him.”

“Shush,” the Professor said. “Save your strength.”

Kate rushed out from the house. She flagged her hand at the terrace. “Put her on the chaise. Selena needs to flush those stings. We'll do that right away and get her hydrated, then take her upstairs.”

They helped me to the chaise and Selena slid a pillow behind my head.

“Lie back,” she said. She took my arm and dabbed it with something that was piss-warm and smelled like dill pickles.

Kate held a glass of lemonade up to my mouth so I could take a sip. “We're so glad you're okay. Shocked, actually. We never should have trusted that Lotli girl. We should have listened to you.”

I pushed the glass away. “What are you talking about? What did she say?”

“Nothing.” Kate's voice went sharp. “She ran off before we could get the truth out of her.”

“Ran away?” I wriggled my arm out of Selena's grip.

The Professor shook his head. “Indeed, without as much as a word.”

“That doesn't make sense.” I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, warding off the throb of a headache. “She was going to wait. Help the rest of us escape. Tell me—what happened with Lotli, exactly. What time is it?”

“It's almost noontime,” the Professor said, “but she vanished hours ago. She was ever so pale. Her teeth were chattering. It was foolish, but we left her alone in the sunroom to dress. When we checked back, she'd taken her belongings and run off.”

Kate's eyes darkened. “The girl had every reason to feel ashamed. Leaving you and everyone behind like that, it was a horrible thing to do.”

“No,” I said. “She didn't do anything wrong. I told her to leave. It was my—my fault everything fell apart. I broke the pendant she gave me, there was a bright light and the oil failed for a second . . . Chase. Mother. Malphic has them both.” My throat closed off until I couldn't breathe as flashes of Chase fighting and Mother's horrified face came back to me. I shifted and started to sit up.

Selena pressed her hand against my chest. “Hold still.”

“I can't. We have to go back. We need Lotli and there was no reason for her to run away. If anyone was in the wrong, it was us asking her to endanger herself for nothing.” I glanced at Kate. “She took all her stuff?”

“Every last thing.”

“Ah—not everything.” Zachary scuffed forward.

Kate nailed him with a glare. “What are you talking about?”

He pulled Lotli's tiny medicine bag out from his pocket. “I found this under her bed.”

“Zach, you're such a moron.” Selena scowled. “Why didn't you tell anyone?”

He huffed. “Maybe 'cause I didn't have time. Mom wanted me to let the cat out, then the cat wanted me to follow him to the beach, then I found Annie.”

Their voices buzzed in my head. I took a steadying breath and was about to tell them more about what had happened in the realm when Tibbs spoke up.

“Umm—I found something too,” he said.

Everyone turned to gape at him.

“Well, what was it?” Kate's voice was tart.

“I saw fresh ATV tracks on the side lawn this morning, like someone had come out of the forest trail and turned around.”

Kate thumped her fisted hand against the chaise. “And you didn't say anything?”

Tibbs's ears went red. “I heard the sound of its engine, too—just after daybreak. I—I thought it was Selena sneaking in.”

“I'd never have gone anywhere last night”—Selena's voice hitched—“not while Chase and Annie were in the other realm.”

The Professor turned to Kate. “Wasn't it around dawn when Lotli went to get changed?”

A horrifying thought struck me. The forest trail. The route Selena took to go partying. Strange tire tracks. Lotli missing. The black car. Lotli in the trunk. “Shit,” I said, far louder than I'd intended.

Everyone stared at me. Zachary snickered.

I looked at each of them in turn. “Lotli wouldn't have left without her talisman bag. She even wore it to the realm.” My gaze went back to Selena. I hoped to never have to spill our secrets, but it was time. “I think Lotli's been kidnapped.”

“Ohmigod,” Selena murmured. Slowly, she turned toward Kate. “I should have said something. Ah—something happened the other night. I mean, Lotli and I snuck out and went to a beach party. I was dancing. She was just hanging out. We weren't drinking. But, someone—” Her voice failed.

I took over. “I followed Selena and Lotli to the party because I was jealous. I thought . . . Well, what I thought doesn't matter anymore. What's important is that someone drugged Lotli at the party and locked her in the trunk of a car. I found her before anything worse happened.” I gentled my voice and directed my next comment to Selena. “It was a black car. It might have been a Mustang. I saw a guy near it too.”

“Newt? It couldn't have been his car—or him. He was with me.” Selena's eyes widened with shock, but surprisingly enough her voice held more anguish than anger. My stomach tensed. There was something else going on inside her head, beyond the shock that I was hinting her boyfriend's car might have been involved in the attempted kidnapping. But this wasn't the place or time to delve into that. We needed to focus.

“The guy I saw wasn't Newt. It was his brother, Myles,” I said. “I convinced myself I was wrong. But now I'm almost a hundred percent sure.”

Tears welled in her eyes.

“Dad's going to kill you.” Zachary grinned.

I waved at him to be silent. “Zach, not now. Please.”

“I really liked Newt.” Selena's bottom lip trembled. “He couldn't have done anything.”

Kate bent toward the Professor and lowered her voice. “Do you mind calling Annie's father and telling him what's going on? He, all the men, will want to know she's safe. They'll want to know about Susan and Chase—and this Lotli episode too.”

As the Professor pulled his phone out and walked away, Tibbs cleared his throat. “About this kidnapping. Umm—I've been doing some digging. Newt's family isn't . . . My friend Bob told me—”

Selena cut him off. “Newt's family is respectable. They have a summer home in Bar Harbor. His dad's a stockbroker. Newt goes to Harvard.”

Tibbs grimaced. “That's not exactly true. You never met his parents, have you? His father's not a stockbroker. He runs a blog, something called
Serpent Wrestler
. Their summer home belongs to a friend of his. He hosts an alien conspiracy TV show. He's the one with the deep pockets.”

Selena's voice squeaked. “You've been busy.”

He shrugged. “I bought a few beers and asked the right people. You forget—you're not the only person who grew up around here. I went to school in Bar Harbor, public school. I have a lot of friends.” His gaze met hers. “I was worried about you.”

“Oh.” A flush colored Selena's cheeks as if she was flattered, but she pressed her lips into a firm line and scowled.

Kate tsked. “I'd say Tibbs was the only one around here with a brain”—she shot a hard look in his direction—“though he should have said something sooner. I'm guessing there's more to this?”

“Not much. But Selena isn't to blame.” His gaze returned to her. “There was no way you could have known. Newt's whole family has been lying—to everyone in town. My friend Bob's doing some plumbing work for them. He saw some stuff from the TV show in their basement. He geeked out and started snooping.” Tibbs took his cap off and slapped it against his leg. “I should have said something, but I didn't want you to get mad. I was hoping you'd break up with Newt. Worst case, I thought they were frauds. I didn't know Annie suspected Myles of... whatever.”

My mouth went dry. “I've got a really bad feeling about this.”

“You're not the only one,” Kate replied.

I rested my hand on Selena's arm. “You all right?”

“Yeah, I guess. Mostly I feel like an idiot.”

“Join the club. All I wanted was to get Mother back. Now she and Chase—” For a second I felt like I might throw up. I closed my eyes, holding back tears. “He's in so much danger.”

An old-fashioned-phone ringtone cut through the silence, sounding from the other side of the terrace.

“Hello?” the Professor said. “Yes, we're exceedingly happy. She's going to be sore for a few days, but she's fine. Definitely.” He hurried back and held the phone out to me. “It's your father.”

My heart soared as I took it. “Hello, Dad? I feel so horrible.”

“Thank God you're all right. Hang in there. We're going to be on a plane home tonight.”

“We didn't get Mom. She's still there.” I pressed the phone tight against my ear, my voice breaking into a sob. “Chase—he's there too. He was fighting—” My voice failed.

“I know. We're not going to leave them there.”

“I—have to go back with you. I can't not go.”

He didn't say anything for a long moment. Finally, he said, “I know.”

“Dad?” I took a ragged breath. “Why, Dad? Why did Malphic let me go? He kept Chase and he still has Mother. Why let me go? It can't just be because Mother asked him to.”

Dad's voice was firm, but there was a hint of sadness in it. “Malphic knows personal freedom at a cost is more painful than being imprisoned—even more painful than death.”

My mind went back to those moments in the bottle. Watching helplessly through the dark glass as Chase fought for his life had been hell.

I let out a long breath. “Malphic's right,” I said.