They both hopped into the car and Avery started it up. He drove out of the parking lot and started down the mountain toward Rosedell.
“Should we call ahead to let them know we’re coming? Or call the police?” Avery tilted to the side, taking his phone from his pants pocket.
Ben gestured for him to put it away. “They’ve got some sort of plan and I’m sure Melody will call the police. I don’t want to intervene unless we have to, but I know I’ll feel a whole lot better being close by if something goes wrong.”
“What exactly do you think is going to go wrong?”
“I just have a weird feeling. I’m sure you know this from being with Zellie, but bad things happen when Retros don’t go with their guts.”
Avery pushed his foot on the gas pedal, more than exceeding the speed limit.
Chapter Eighteen
Melody stood with her ear to the bedroom door and her hand on the knob, readying herself while Zellie finished glimpsing. She was exhausted and anxious for this event to be over with. It had been a long day and she’d been hustling for most of it. The almost kiss with Raleigh seemed like it had happened days ago and it had occurred only that morning. Melody sighed.
Get your head together, Wells. Not the time to be thinking about boys.
Her sister opened her eyes and shook the glimpse off, standing. She came up behind Melody and put her hand on the light switch, preparing to flip it on when the time came.
“Anything new?” Melody whispered.
“Of course not.”
They waited in silence.
Five minutes later Melody heard the two men ascending the stairs. She tapped the top of Zellie’s foot with her own in warning.
Melody tightened her grip on the door knob as she listened to Claire struggle.
This will all be over soon. Hurting her will be worth it in the long run.
When she was sure that the kidnappers were right outside the door, Melody said, “Now!” as she swung the door wide. Zellie flipped on the lights, illuminating the faces of the men and a terrified Claire.
“Grandma, which one are you?” Melody asked, stepping into the hallway with Zellie on her heels.
“What the hell?” The tall man exclaimed, letting go of his grip on Claire. Her upper body hit the carpet with a thud. She kicked at the man holding her feet, trying to send him down the stairs.
Rushing toward Melody, the tall kidnapper pulled a switchblade from his pants pocket and jammed it into her stomach. He drew his hand back, readying to stab her again.
Melody cried out and doubled over in pain
.
She fell to her knees.
God, please, please help us!
Blood seeped from her wound as the shorter man was thrown off balance and dropped Claire’s legs, grabbing onto the banister to keep himself from falling. Zellie shot her right hand out over Melody to rewind, but her action was thwarted by the tall man, who seized her hand and snapped it backwards, breaking Zellie’s wrist.
Claire rolled down the staircase, her hands and feet bound, knocking her head against the wall, her body going limp.
Zellie wrenched her broken wrist from the kidnapper’s hold and backed up into the bedroom, giving herself more distance to raise her uninjured hand. The tall man pushed Melody to the side. She watched as both men went for Zellie, their faces seething with rage.
“Do something!” Melody screamed, looking up at her sister.
Zellie extended her left arm and focused her power on the men, stopping them in mid-stalk. She stood frozen, her body shaking.
Downstairs, the small leaded glass window at the top of the door tore into pieces as a man’s fist punched through it. The security alarm screeched to life as the bloody fist retracted from the window and was replaced by another man’s arm, fingers outstretched, forcing itself into the room, reaching upward.
Avery and Ben.
Melody felt herself drift into a foggy dreamlike state. She got to her knees and then her body unfolded from its protective position as she stood. The blood from her stab wounds vanished as the cuts shrank and closed over.
Released from Ben’s power, Melody looked down at the window. He lowered his hand, taking control of Claire. She began rolling up the stairs, unknocking her head against the wall, the heavy oak banister, and then the wall again.
“What’s going on?” Zellie hollered. She cradled her injured wrist to her chest, maintaining her hold on the men in the bedroom.
“Ben’s here,” Melody shouted. “He’s rewinding Claire.” The instant the words left her mouth, Ben pulled his arm from the window, stranding Claire in the middle of the stairs in mid-fall. She yelped and Melody moved to catch her, stumbling and sliding on her butt, grabbing Claire by the strap of her tank top. Melody sat her up and took the wadded up bandana from her mouth.
“Melody, honey, get Zellie quick!”
Grandma.
“Zellie! It’s Claire!” Melody screamed.
“Stay away from the door!” Ben yelled from outside. “The cops are coming in!”
Her sister backed from the bedroom, dropping her hand and pulling the door shut. She jumped down the stairs, clearing four at once and sat on the other side of Claire. Zellie grasped Claire’s upper arm firmly and her eyes snapped shut.
The front door burst open, flying back on its hinges and splintering around the lock. Two police officers rushed into the foyer with their weapons drawn, followed by another two, who dropped the battering ram they’d been holding and went for their weapons.
Zellie opened her eyes. “Got it.”
Melody and Zellie cradled a bewildered Claire between them. “They’re up there,” Melody said, pointing to the Vargas’ bedroom. The first two officers ran past her, while the other two stationed themselves on the stairs above them.
One of the officers kicked the bedroom door open. “Hold it right there!”
Avery, still out on the porch, leaned into the house and quickly disabled the alarm. An eerie quiet settled over the house, the echoes of the alarm buzzing in everyone’s ears.
“All right, steady now.” The police officers moved forward together and apprehended the kidnappers.
“We’re all good up here, Neves,” the officer who appeared to be in charge called down the stairs.
Neves lifted her radio to her mouth and called for an ambulance.
Chapter Nineteen
After the ambulance whisked Claire away, we all gave our statements, which thankfully were taken by a cop neither Mel or I had interacted with in the past two days.
Officer Neves handed each of us her card.
“Great, I can start a collection,” Melody said under her breath.
I didn’t have the strength to elbow her in the ribs.
“Please give me a call if you all think of anything else I need to know.” She smiled at us. “Although, we’ve got the guys and the letters that they’ve been sending to Mr. Vargas, so this should all go smoothly. Thanks for your help this evening.” She gestured to my wrist and Avery’s cut up hand. “You both need medical attention. Get yourselves on over to the hospital.”
I sat in the back of Avery’s Jeep with Melody. My freaking wrist was killing me, but I kept my mouth shut knowing it was nothing like the pain that my best friend was in. Or my boyfriend, for that matter. The streetlights periodically shone on Avery’s hand loosely gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles crusted over with rusty-brown congealed blood.
“Did you call the police?” Melody asked, her timid voice breaking the silence that had enveloped the car.
Ben turned in his seat, glaring at her. “
You
didn’t call them?”
She shook her head “no” and bit her lip.
“The alarm must have alerted them…” Avery said, “…or Ben and I trying to break into the house. I’m sure Mr. Vargas was paying to have the house watched.”
Ben trained his angry eyes on me. “Did the cops see you holding the kidnappers?”
“No. I’d shut them in the room and jumped down the stairs before the cops came in.”
“Well, that’s good.” He huffed. “At least you did something right.”
I didn’t answer him. Not because I didn’t want our conversation to be glimpsed or because I was afraid of ruining Candace’s Master Plan, but because what he said was true.
At the hospital, while Ben and Melody called all the parents and waited to hear what Claire’s prognosis was, Avery and I both got our hands looked at. I insisted on staying with him while he got six stitches on the lowest knuckle of his middle three fingers. Avery’s hand looked better after it had been cleaned up and he didn’t seem to be in any pain after a shot of lidocaine.
“Your turn.” He stood next to me as the doctor plastered my wrist and then wrapped it in hideous neon pink.
“I’ll be back in a sec,” the doctor said, “you’re going to need one more round.”
I could feel Avery’s eyes on me, feel him searching for what to say. After the dressing down Ben gave us in the car, I was debating telling everyone everything, Master Plan be damned. I didn’t give a crap if Mildred knew I was coming for her or not. I had two pieces of the vision and only needed one more to know where she was hiding.
That was the thing. I had one more vision to make it through. I’d kept all this from Ben so far and it was probably best in the scheme of things that he was mad at me. But I could tell Avery. I had to tell Avery.
“You’ve got a good explanation, right Zel?” Avery asked, nudging my chin with his finger and tipping my face up to look at him.
I sighed. “I don’t know how good it is, but I do have one.”
“Spit it out, because I really don’t like being this mad at you.”
So, I told him. About Wes and Candace and Christopher’s mom. About how I believed one of the kidnappers was my grandma, but it had turned out to be Claire and how Mildred had people watching Ben and not me.
He listened without interrupting me once and when I was done, he kissed me on the forehead. “When are you gonna learn to stop keeping all of this to yourself and let me in?”
“Now. Right now. I’ll never keep anything from you again. I’m sorry.”
He gave me a sad smile. “Save your apologies for Ben and Claire.” He shook his head. “You should have seen how scared Ben was when we couldn’t get in to save all of you. He was just as freaked out, maybe even more so than I was. You’re his family as much as you are mine, Zel. He would do anything for you and I know he’s gonna be pissed that you didn’t trust him enough to find a way to tell him about all of this Mildred stuff.”
“I know, but I just can’t tell him yet. Please. Don’t say anything.”
The doctor walked in and sat back down on the stool in front of me. “Well, I couldn’t find any more pink, so I’m going to have to finish the job with either plain old white or this nice sunny yellow.”
“She’ll take the yellow,” Avery said, grinning.
“Um, no.”
“Claire will appreciate the fashion penance,” he teased.
I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re such a boy. Claire will think that pink and yellow clash and that will lead to bedazzling.”
Avery’s grin grew wider. “She’ll definitely take the yellow then.”
We stepped out into the ER waiting room and were descended upon by our parents. Worried hands on our faces, tight hugs that lessened when we protested, offers of ice cream and pop and unlimited TV time for the next few days. I even felt the buzz of Mr. Adams patting me in the shoulder. Aunt Hazel was the only adult that didn’t have any love for me. She just gave me a terse nod of her head and said, “Why in God’s name did you let them wrap your wrist in day-glo colors? Have you lost your mind?”
I admired the beige industrial tile on the floor.
Dad guided Avery and I over to a bank of chairs in the corner and sat us down in the two seats between Ben and Melody.
“Claire’s parents got here about half an hour ago. We’re still waiting to hear how she is,” Dad said, taking the seat on the other side of Melody. Mrs. Adams stood next to him, shifting from foot to foot nervously. Dad grasped her hand and calmed her.
Mom sat on the other side of Ben, cradling a sleeping Wyatt in her arms. She gave me a wan smile. “She’ll be okay, sweetheart.”
“I hope so,” Ben said, standing up and pacing a few steps.
I looked down. I was barefoot and still dressed for bed.
“Here you go.” Mom pulled a pair of flip flops from the compartment under Wyatt’s stroller and tossed them at my feet. “I’ve got a sweatshirt crammed in here too if you need it.”
“And about sixty diapers,” Mrs. Adams chimed in, teasing.
The sliding glass doors from the parking lot whooshed open and Frank, Connor and Marcus rushed over to us. Connor immediately had his arms around Ben. Dad stood and shook Frank’s hand. Marcus loitered in the background, messing with the hem of his t-shirt and looking half-asleep.
“Where are Jason and Christopher?” I asked.
“Jason is still sleeping it off in the bathtub at The Lodge and Christopher is parking the shuttle bus that the valet was kind enough to let us borrow,” Frank said, giving Melody a stern look.
Melody reached into her bag and pulled out Connor’s car keys. “Here.” She handed them to Frank.
His expression softened. “I’m glad you’re okay, Melody. Ben told me you were stabbed.”
Mom and Dad flipped out at the same time. “What?” Mom said, standing up and practically dumping Wyatt on the floor. Mrs. Adams took him from her, so that Mom could join Dad in fawning over Mel.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Melody said, making no move to keep our parents from loving on her. “Ben rewound me.”
Mom turned and threw her arms around Ben from behind, accidentally whacking Connor in the face.
And that’s when Christopher walked in. He stopped short of our group and shook his head. “What is it with you people and all the hugging?” He looked at Frank. “Aren’t we really mad at, like, half of them?”
Frank shrugged.
“What’s happening, jive turkeys?”
Jive turkeys?
Claire’s dad wheeled her over.
“Claire!” Avery and I rushed toward her, ready to give her a hug, but her dad cut us off.