Chapter Twenty-Three

Aria

If I stay in the tracks made by other cars, I’ll be fine.

I repeated that over and over, chanting it like a mantra. With a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, I tried to forget that I’d rarely driven myself anywhere. And I’d certainly never driven in weather like this. My parents would have never allowed me out in a storm, even if I had stayed in Reckless Falls. Not after what happened to my sister.

I leaned forward even farther. Was the weather this bad the night Violet died? I never thought to ask. I never wanted to know more about my sister than what was absolutely necessary.

But as my heart thumped sickeningly in my throat, I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d seen it all as it was happening. Was she laughing happily with her friends, with death taking them all by surprise? Or had she known what was coming and screamed the whole time?

I blinked back surprised tears. I rarely used to think about Violet, but lately I’d been thinking about her more and more.

Everything slid sideways.

It took me a moment to realize my thoughts weren’t the only thing that was spinning.

The car was too.

I cut the wheel and tried to remember if you were supposed to turn into a skid or turn out of it. My spinning back tires suddenly caught a patch of cleared roadway and sent me shooting sideways across the road. I screamed and cut the wheel even harder.

The sky and earth blended together. There was a muffled thunk. The airbag shot out in a blur of white powder. There was an awful screeching sound.

I gasped and realized that sound was coming from me.

Gingerly, I reached up to touch my stinging cheek and realized I’d scraped it on the now deflating airbag. The white powder settled around the car’s interior in a cruel imitation of the white flakes that slowly covered my immobilized car.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I took a breath and began a gentle exploration of my body. Wiggling my fingers and toes caused no pain, but there was a sharp pain in my chest. I pulled back my shirt. My seatbelt had cut a dark red line across my breasts.

I was going to have one hell of a bruise in the morning.

I shivered. Already the cold was starting to seep into the heated interior. Carefully, I leaned over and sifted through the spilled contents of my purse until I found my cell phone. It was charged and ready for me to call someone for help.

But I didn’t need help. Did I?

I grunted and put my shoulder to the door. After three thrusts, I managed to nudge it open wide enough to squeeze out into the snow.

The world was as white and blank as a sheet of paper. The snow fell so thickly I had no sense of direction. Not south or north, not even up and down since the flakes seemed to fall in every direction.

I gripped the top of the door and steadied myself. I’d been heading home, so my car bumper had to be pointing in the right direction. Right?

I ran my hand along the side until I reached the headlight. It was still on, somehow, but its light was hardly enough to see five feet in front of me.

I took a step. And then another step. My fingers slid from the hood of the car. I took another step and then turned.

The snow was so heavy it fell like a thick curtain in front of my vision and I could no longer see the light. Or my car.

I was lost in a world of white, and I was completely alone.

“No!” I windmilled my arms back and forth, and then back and forth again, until my knuckles struck something solid. With a yelp of relief, I flung myself onto the hood of my car. It felt reassuringly solid under my body, substantial enough to keep me safe.

I slid along the side until I found the open door again.

Gasping, I collapsed back down into the driver’s seat and cried.

I did need help. I blew against my hands to warm them and then grabbed my phone again. I needed to call someone, and quickly too.

But who?

I flicked to Xavier’s contact number and dialed, exhaling a careful breath through my teeth. “Come on, honey, pick up,” I muttered as the phone rang and rang.

But when his chirpily snotty voicemail informed me that he was too busy being fabulous to pick up the phone right now, I remembered that they were hanging cabinets today. They probably couldn’t hear the phone over the noise of construction.

“Shit.” I exhaled and set my phone down. Panic was starting to seep in, the aftereffects of shock. “Shit, shit, shit!!” I screamed, banging my hand against the window. The snow puffed up in a little swirling cloud, clearing a patch for me to peer into the whirling white.

Who could I call?

My parents? That was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d rather call AAA. But did I even have them anymore? I reached over and sifted through my purse detritus until I found my overstuffed wallet and dumped out the collected mess. Receipts and ticket stubs and credit cards rained out, and I spread them all out. “Aha!” I exclaimed in glee as I picked up the battered old card and held it up to the light.

It had expired four years ago and I’d never thought to renew it. Why would I? Jane Doe didn’t think of these things.

But Aria Jane did.

I exhaled and leaned back. I could try to call a garage, but who knew how long that would take? I could try calling…who else did I know here?

Derek?

His name popped into my head like it had been lurking in the shadows until it was ready to strike.

When I needed food, he helped me. When I needed the harassment to stop, he helped me. When I needed a nudge to leave the house, he’d stayed by my side so I wouldn’t feel unsafe in the outside world.

He’d invaded my privacy. But without him, I’d never have worked up the courage to leave Killian.

In a strange way, he’d rescued me.

When he’d fixed my phone, he programmed his number into my contacts. I’d been so angry with him that I almost deleted it. I breathed a silent prayer of thanks that I’d never followed through.

Maybe he’d rescue me again.

The phone hadn’t even rung yet when there was the sound of fumbling in my ear. Then a gruff, “Yeah?”

Relief flooded my body just to hear his voice. “Derek?”

“Aria?” He sounded panicked. “Where have you been?”

I bristled. “Why, were you looking for me?”

He hissed out a frustrated sigh. “Actually? Yeah. I was fucking looking for you. I drove all over town looking for you and I just came back to the house to check if you were back. Where are you? It’s bad out there.”

I was so cold, but the worry in his voice make me feel strangely warm. I blinked back tears. “I know,” I choked. “I got in an accident.”

“What? Where? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m on route 16. I think I’m only about a mile or so from the house, but it’s hard to tell. I slid off the road, I’m…”

“I’m coming.” I heard him moving, fast. “I’ll be there really soon.”

“Derek!”

“What?”

“Be careful driving your Jeep, the roads are really bad.”

“Oh, no way. I nearly wiped out on that turn you’re stuck at. No way I’m going back out in the Jeep.”

“What?”

But he had already hung up.