I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. Everything obviously ended up okay, considering he was sitting with me, but by the look on his face, I didn’t think it was all that easy for him.
“Let’s just say, I plummeted to the ground. Broke a few bones, my leg was facing the wrong way, and a whole heap of internal bruising.” He winced, remembering the pain.
My heart sank just thinking about the pain he must have suffered. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like, and there I was, wondering if I could do the same thing. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Just promise me you’ll never do anything dangerous, okay?”
“Cross my heart.”
***
It was seven p.m. and Mum was a no-show. Tyson had come home about half an hour earlier without any signs of fur in his mouth—cat one, Tyson zero.
When Mum still hadn’t shown up by seven thirty, Aiden and I decided to order Chinese and the latest
Fast and Furious
movie. That series was the ultimate guy/girl movie date. The boys got their fair share of cars and girls, and the girls got more than our share of eye candy. The whole car racing thing was kind of hot, too.
The Chinese food arrived at eight, and Mum still wasn’t home, so I sent her a text asking her if she was still coming home.
About a minute later, my phone beeped with a new message.
Sorry, hun, I’m caught up at work. I won’t be able to come home till late tonight, sorry xxx.
So we started the movie and dug into the Chinese without her.
Mum still wasn’t home by the time the movie ended, so Aiden ordered another random movie that I had never heard of, and quite frankly didn’t care to watch. But I was happy for the distraction. Anything that would stop me thinking about Chelsea was okay by me.
Just as I dozed off in Aiden’s arms, Mum opened the internal door to the garage, waking me up in the process.
“Oops. Sorry, sweetie, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Nah, you didn’t wake me. I was just resting my eyes.” The last thing I needed was for her to feel guilty about her lack of motherly involvement and take time off work, because then she might actually have time to notice there was something not quite right with me. The less attention I received from her, the better.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, sitting down beside me.
“I’m fine.”
She looked sceptical. “Has she really been okay?” Mum asked Aiden.
“You know, I’m not seven. I can answer for myself, and I told you, I’m fine,” I snapped. “Why won’t you believe me?”
“Because I know you. You’ll say anything to get me off your back.” She was obviously trying to lighten the mood.
“She’s been okay. She’s mostly just tired, that’s all,” Aiden assured her, and at the same time giving me a way out of any further interrogation.
“Sorry I snapped. Aiden’s right, I am really tired. I think I just need a good night’s sleep,” I faked a yawn.
“That’s okay, honey. Why don’t you take yourselves up to bed, and I’ll see you both in the morning.”
Aiden and I got up from the sofa. I leant down and kissed Mum on her cheek. “Night, Mum.”
“Good night, honey. Take care of her for me, will you?” she said to Aiden.
“I always will,” Aiden assured not just Mum, but me as well.
We headed for the stairs. I loved that Mum didn’t have a problem with Aiden staying over, especially then. I was afraid to leave Aiden’s side, for fear that I might fall to pieces the moment I wasn’t in his presence. I couldn’t risk it. I needed to be at my best if I wanted to have any chance of saving Chelsea. Speaking of. “Oh, Mum, just a quick question.”
“Yeah, darl?” She turned around in her seat so she could see me.
“Have you heard anything about Chelsea’s disappearance?”
“Chelsea’s missing?” She took a second too long to answer.
She was hiding something, and I really didn’t feel up to trying to get it out of her. And besides, Aiden would be able to tell me what she was thinking anyway.
“Her mum thinks so. She wasn’t in her bedroom when her mum went to wake her up this morning, and she didn’t turn up at school today.” I was sure Mum already knew the story.
“Maybe she’ll turn up tomorrow.”
“Maybe.” I turned around and walked up the stairs with Aiden in tow. No matter how much I hoped that she would show up tomorrow, I seriously doubted it would be that easy.
“Tell me,” I said, closing the door behind me. “What was she hiding? I know she was hiding something.”
“She was definitely hiding something, that’s for sure. But exactly what she is hiding, I’m not really sure. You see,” Aiden paused while he lifted his shirt up and over his head, leaving me unable to concentrate on a word that came out of his mouth. Even after all this time, the sight of his god-like body left me as mesmerised as that first day at the beach.
“Should I put my shirt back on?” Aiden asked, snapping me back to reality.
I shook my head, blood rushing to my cheeks. I hated being caught out, especially when I should be concentrating on finding my best friend. “Continue. I promise I’ll keep focused.”
Aiden hopped into bed. “All I was going to say was that your mum started thinking about how she heard about Chelsea’s disappearance. Then her thoughts were all over the place. She didn’t stay with one thought for long enough for me to catch on.”
“Do you think she’s hiding something to protect me?” I crawled in beside him.
He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
I hated not knowing. And more so, I hated that she might have information that could help us find Chelsea but wouldn’t give it up, probably in some noble attempt to protect me. God, I already knew Chelsea was missing. What I needed was some honesty.
“We will try to figure this out tomorrow, but for now, we need some sleep. You won’t be any use if you can’t keep your eyes open tomorrow.”
Sometimes he sounded wise beyond his years, making me wonder if he was really seventeen. For all I knew, he could be fifty-something years old and just pretending to be a teenager. I mean, his parents could easily pass for being in their early twenties, which meant that Aiden would look younger than them, even if he was really old, too.
“My God, you over-analyse everything, don’t you?” Aiden asked, smiling.
“Well?” I hoped I was wrong.
“Well, I was just thinking that if you stay up all night worrying about what your mum is or isn’t hiding, then you’re going to be tired and grumpy as hell tomorrow.” I was too annoyed by him calling me a crabby little so-and-so to call him out on dodging my question.
“I’m not grumpy when I’m tired,” I snapped, proving him right. Okay, so I was buggered. And maybe I do get a little irritable when I’m tired, but did he really need to point it out?
“Well, yeah,” he said with a smirk. “Because I’m the one who has to put up with you all day.” He ducked out of my reach as I swung my arm in a playful punch, hitting the pillow instead.
Chapter 9
Chelsea wasn’t at school the following day, and I couldn’t find out anything from her mum, who was a blubbering mess when I called her. I was
so
not good around highly emotional people. If I could, I would avoid them at all cost.
My own mother knew more than she was letting on, and I was going to get it out of her one way or another. But that would have to wait until later. Aiden and I were at his house, waiting for Anna and Dave to get back to let us know if they were able to figure out anything about my vision.
“Why do we have to wait for them to come here? Can’t we just go to them?” I asked. Even at the best of times, I was not good at waiting. All this sitting around and doing nothing was doing my head in. I wanted to be out trying to find Chelsea. And if my vision was really a vision, then she was in some serious trouble.
“Neither I nor you can teleport yet, so we’re just going to have to sit and wait,” Aiden said, not taking his eyes off the TV. He was playing some car racing game on Xbox, which was really starting to get on my nerves.
Aiden’s phone rang—it was Ben. “What’s up?” he said, answering the phone.
His expression quickly went sour. Aiden didn’t say anything, he just listened to Ben who sounded pretty pissed off. I couldn’t hear well enough to make out what he was pissed off about. All I could pick up were snippets, and it was something about Chelsea.
“Why don’t you come over to mine?” Aiden suggested. “Yep. See ya soon.” He hung up the phone.
Aiden switched the TV off, then turned to me. “You’re not going to believe this. Ben has just come back from the police station.”
“What. Why?”
“They were questioning him about Chelsea’s disappearance. Apparently, someone said that they saw him with her the night she disappeared.”
I was gobsmacked. There was no way that Ben could have taken Chelsea. That boy worshipped the ground she walked on. And why the hell would he abduct her after he finally got her to like him? It just didn’t make any sense.
“I know, I know.” Aiden looked as bewildered as I felt. “He’s coming over now, so he can tell us all about it when he gets here.”
Dave and Anna suddenly appeared before my eyes. They were sitting almost exactly where they had been just before they disappeared yesterday.
“Ben!” they exclaimed in unison. I guess they had already heard about him from our thoughts. At least we didn’t have to waste time explaining.
“I don’t know who would have told the police, but there is no way it could have been him,” Aiden said.
Dave scoffed. “Of course it wasn’t him.”
The front security intercom buzzed. I could see the video monitor from where I sat. It was Ben. “Geez, that was quick,” I muttered. He had only called a few minutes earlier.
“He was just around the corner when he called,” Aiden said, getting up to let him in.
A moment later, Aiden returned with Ben, who looked seriously pissed.
Aiden ducked into the kitchen, while Ben joined Anna, Dave, and me on the sofa.
“I suppose you all heard that I’m officially the prime suspect,” Ben said, running his fingers through his sandy blond hair before folding them behind his head.
“I heard that the police questioned you, but prime suspect… how?” I asked
He thought for a moment before answering, “I dunno. Apparently someone reckons they saw me with Chelsea around midnight the night she disappeared. That basically means that I was the last person to see her, and that makes me prime suspect.”
Aiden came back into the living room with his arms full of bottles of Coke. He handed them out, then sat down beside me and gave me mine.
“I wasn’t even with her at midnight,” Ben continued. “I was at home, in bed sleeping. But apparently, that’s not a good enough alibi. They said that I could have easily snuck out in the middle of the night.” He stopped to take a swig of his Coke. “And the worst part of it is, they won’t even tell me who the bloody person is who reckons they saw me.”
“Of course they won’t,” I muttered to myself, which I wish I hadn’t because everyone heard, and it just made Ben more upset.
“How can they not? This person is accusing me of something I didn’t do!”
“They’re protecting their informant,” I explained. “And yeah, it sucks big-time when you’re innocent,” I added, letting him know that I believed him.
Ben threw his head back against the sofa and stared at the ceiling without saying another word.
Moments later, Anna’s voice appeared in my head, “
He’s definitely innocent.
”
I jumped. I had become used to hearing Aiden’s voice in my head, but hearing Anna’s startled me. Thankfully, Ben was too caught up in his own problems to notice my reaction.
“Sorry,” Anna mouthed to me.
“
Don’t worry about it. You just took me by surprise.”
I hoped that what I said came through to her as mental speech rather than just as a thought she was overhearing. I wanted to be a part of their world, and I needed to hone my abilities so I would be included in their silent discussions.
Anna gave me a barely noticeable thumbs up, confirming I did it right.
“That’s my girl.”
Aiden’s voice shone with pride.
“I don’t know what to do,” Ben said, still looking up at the ceiling. He was completely oblivious that there was another conversation going on that he wasn’t privy to. And to think that only a few days ago, I was just as ignorant as him.
Anna scooted over to sit next to him. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll help you get this mess sorted out.” She placed her hand on his arm in what looked to be a comforting motion, but I knew better. I was sure she was sending some of those feel-good endorphins pulsating through his body. I just hoped she wasn’t going to give him an overdose like she had to me.
Almost instantly, Ben’s mood picked up. The worry lines that plastered his face disappeared.
“Don’t worry, I’m not about to make that same mistake again.”
Anna laughed in my head.
“And besides, I don’t want him hitting on you, or me for that matter.”