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I made it to the edge of the field by the time Zach found me.
“Alex!” He burst out of a familiar car, Misty and Candace right behind him. Before I could pull myself up he dropped to the ground and gathered me in his arms. I was so relieved I wanted to cry. “Hold still. Simon told me you’d been hurt.”
“No—we have to—” I let out a low groan as heat burst through me. Zach lifted me, heading back to the car. Misty paced us, waving at Candace to get back in. “Sam—”
“We know. Simon told me.”
He settled me in the back seat and climbed in next to me, sandwiching my right hand. I figured he needed to keep contact. More heat shot up my right arm, straight to every ache—including the giant one in my head.
Misty watched us from the front seat, clutching the headrest when Candace took off. “A ghost told him where you were. That is so cool.”
“Good to see you, too, Misty.” She flinched at my raw whisper.
“I need you to relax,” Zach said. He spread one hand on the left side of my head. I held still, even though the contact made it throb more. Heat filtered in past the throbbing, and dialed it down to an ache I could tolerate. “Better?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He sat back, the blue glow that surrounded him not fading like it did before. Instead it got deeper, like it mirrored his emotions. And the emotion on his face right now was barely controlled rage. “Simon told me everything, including the clue that—woman gave you. Any idea what it meant?”
“Absolutely.” I’d had time to think—and a desperate need to distract myself as I crawled across the field. I looked at Misty, sure she wasn’t going to like what I said next. “We have to go to Hyattown.”
~ ~ ~
When I told them we had to get there by way of the McGinty house, Misty paled.
“Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t go anywhere near there unless I was.” I discovered that pain was like a laser focus—it made every thought crystal, and my decisions obvious. “You don’t have to come with, Misty. I know how you feel about that place.”
She glanced at Zach, and blushed. Again. Wow—twice in the same day. She had it bad. Not that I blamed her. “I’m not leaving you alone, Alex. Not now. Mrs. Hyatt has gone off the tracks, which means none of us are safe until she’s caught. Were Sam and Jake,” she leaned over the seat, lowering her voice. “Were they still—”
“Alive,” Candace said. I swear Misty jumped a foot. “She wants to know if they’re still alive.”
“Yes.” I grabbed Misty’s hand, met Candace’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “They’re alive. And I am damn well going to keep them that way.”
“You go, girl.” Zach’s comment had Misty giggling like an idiot.
Candace flashed a smile over her shoulder, right before she swerved around the corner, on to the street with the McGinty house. She stopped right in front. “Okay, kids. Time to go play.”
“Right.” I turned to Zach, my heart pounding. “Can you get Simon here?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I think you’ll need him.”
He blinked at me, and I knew he understood what I wanted from him when he swallowed, and closed his eyes. The blue glow had finally faded, leaving the pale gold I was used to seeing around him. It started pulsing. I opened my mouth to ask if he was okay—and Simon appeared behind him, right outside the car.
Relief lightened the worry on his face when he saw me. Zach pushed the door open, and I followed him out, standing on the cracked sidewalk. Too many memories were attached to this deserted house.
I was about to add a few more.
“Zach,” I said, already regretting what I was about to do. “How close do you have to get?”
He raised his eyebrows, but answered my question. “Close enough to know. I don’t have to be on top of them, if that’s what you’re asking. I just have to know.”
“Okay.” That would solve the whole me going in alone dilemma. I took his hand, and he stilled. He didn’t stop me, just nodded, once. I swallowed. “I am so sorry, Zach. I need you to find Sam.”
With a gasp he doubled over. I held on to him, helped him kneel on the sidewalk. Simon followed us down.
“Breathe, Zach,” he said. “Let it happen.” He met my eyes. “Sam is close by. The pain jolts him harder, the closer the object.”
“Stand,” Zach whispered. He sounded terrible. And I felt guilty as hell for doing it to him. “Help me—stand.”
Misty jerked away from Candace, stepped right through Simon and grabbed Zach’s arm. He moaned when she touched him, and she let go, throwing me the cheerleader death glare she usually reserved for rival teams.
So—she obviously couldn’t see Simon. She didn’t even feel him. I was still trying to figure out why I could.
“Zach—” She hovered over him. “What’s wrong? What did she do to you?”
“He’s a seeker, Misty,” I said. “He finds things—”
“You knew.” She stalked around him. I dropped Zach’s hand, backing away from the fury in her eyes. She pushed me, so hard I lost my balance and landed butt first on the sidewalk. “You knew what would happen and you did it anyway.”
For a second I thought she was going to punch me. Instead she spun, crouched next to Zach.
“Okay,” he whispered, sounding anything but. “Help me up.”
She wrapped one arm around his waist, pulled him to his feet. He couldn’t straighten, and the agony that clenched every muscle left me feeling even guiltier.
Candace pulled me up and yanked me back toward the car. “Tell me this is temporary.”
“It’s temporary.” I watched Misty help Zach through the open gate, Simon hovering behind them. “She really likes him, doesn’t she?”
“He is some spectacular eye candy.” I stared up at her. She met my shocked gaze with a half-smile. “No point in not stating the obvious. The not so obvious—he’s a good kid, with a big heart. He asked us on the way to get you if we’d be careful using the word find—he wrote it down—and he’d tell us why when he could. That’s the why, I take it.”
“There’s a giant, unbelievable explanation behind it, but yeah. He knew I’d ask,” I whispered, hugging my waist. “He didn’t even hesitate.”
“Did he see you with Sam?” I nodded. “Then it was a no brainer.” She let out a sigh. “Come on. I want Jake out of this mess as much as you want Sam out. Fool that I am, I’m crazy about the lug.”
“Candace.” She turned to me. “Once we get down there, I have to go in alone. I’ll need you to keep them away, yourself included.”
Nodding, she took my left arm, steadied me when my ankle protested more walking. “I’m not going to ask why, since you wouldn’t be doing this without a good reason.”
“Thank you.”
Now I just had to stop a crazy woman bent on killing them both. No—I didn’t believe she’d let either one of them go, no matter what she told me.
I planned to snatch them out of her crazy, bloodstained hands.