CHAPTER 41

Tens and I exchanged worried, awestruck frowns as we drove toward Dunklebarger. Tony had the radio on and we listened to reports. “The funnel cloud just missed the downtown area of Carmel, but cut a seven-mile swath. The storm cell is headed east toward Noblesville. If you have a cellar you should be listening to us from there.” Callers rang in with their eyewitness accounts, everything from “There’s a live cow stuck in our oak tree” to “We don’t have power in Fishers. Anyone know when it will be restored?”

I listened with one ear while trying to survey the apocalypse around us. I could see the exact stretch of land that the tornado touched down on, but there was no rhyme or reason to what was damaged and what was left alone. Trees were ripped out of the ground and littered the roads with roots and power lines. More than once we bumped over fields to get around piles of houses and vehicles and dead farm animals. The fury of Mother Nature had spared nothing and no one in her path.

I didn’t think anyone could have survived this. I thought we were too late. That we’d failed.

Only the smallest bit, a closet, of Dunklebarger continued to stand. The rest of the building had disappeared, as if it had never been there. “Where did it go?”

“A farmer ten miles away is probably looking at it. Happens all the time—there was a silo dumped at the Colts practice facility last year, still full of grain,” Joi answered.

We piled out of the car shouting, searching. Tens and I headed toward the creek. Tony and Joi found a pile of debris in the woods and started trying to lift parts.

She can’t be dead. She can’t be dead. She can’t be dead.

Then, the lone upright door swung open and Juliet appeared like an avenging angel ready for battle. Her hair hung lank and dripped down her face. Her hands were scratched and bleeding and her clothes clung to her skin. I ran to her, picking my way over branches and sheets of twisted metal.

She’s okay. I shouted for the others to come. If Juliet had survived under the stairs, maybe Bodie and the others had too.

When Tony joined us, he and Juliet locked eyes. Hers rolled back into her head and she collapsed. Tony caught her. Joi dialed 911 demanding help now.

“Breathe.” Tens leaned down and whispered the single word in my ear.

I realized I’d been holding my breath.

Joi barreled into what was left of the closet and found an elderly lady, bruised but otherwise fine. Enid couldn’t walk, and she couldn’t really explain how they’d gotten from upstairs to the closet in time. I didn’t know if she suffered dementia, or if the whole incident had rattled her beyond clarity. Directing us to do our thing, Joi took charge of Enid, to cluck over her.

Tony held Juliet, whispering prayers and comfort.

Tens and I knew Bodie, Sema, Nicole and the headmistress should have been somewhere in this mess too.

We yelled and called their names until we were hoarse. Tens, Custos, and I headed into what was left of the scraggly forest. Dumped car parts and a tractor trailer lay crumpled on the footpath. Even the creek had Sheetrock, stuffed animals, and a toilet deposited in the middle of it. The iron fence Bodie had climbed through so many times was dug up and impaled into the heart of a tree. I didn’t want to imagine what that might have done to a person.

Tens and I couldn’t find the kids by the creek or in any of the debris. I couldn’t find Minerva, either. Though Custos did her best to nose around and bark at the odd squirrels poking their heads back out, we were fresh out of places they could hide. There was no birdsong; the world was strangely silent around us.

“Supergirl, check this out.” Tens leaned down and picked up a framed photograph. He used his sleeve to wipe mud from it.

I gasped, “Oh my God, that’s Perimo!”

Frantic honking made us look up at a car barreling around debris toward Dunklebarger’s remains. Rumi piled out of the car, hollering gibberish at the top of his lungs and waving his arms at us. He charged toward Juliet and we ran to meet him, Tens carrying the photograph.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Tony helped Juliet stand.

Rumi was red and sweaty; his eyes wildly took in the scene. “I checked the cottage. You weren’t there or at the store. When I heard where the tornado touched down, I thought, I hoped, you’d be here.” He gasped his words.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, just stared at a piece of paper clutched in his hand. “I found this tacked to the door of my studio with a knife. With the storm, I couldn’t get to you soon. I’m so sorry. So very lugubrious.”

Tens reached out a hand. “What is it?”

Rumi handed the mangled paper to Tens. “The Nocti, she has Bodie and Sema. She wants your Juliet in exchange.”

I gasped.

Juliet swayed to her feet. “The kids? Where are the kids? Are they okay?”

“Of a sort, lass.”

“Where are they?” Juliet asked. “Let’s go get them.”

“Do you know a Ms. Asura?” Rumi questioned.

Juliet nodded, rubbing at her heart. “She’s our social worker. Why are you all so upset?”

I blinked, exhaling a great gust of my own. Of course. How better to get close to Fenestras coming of age?

Rumi nodded. “She has the children.”

“Then they’re okay. Right?” Juliet’s head swiveled as she glanced first at me, then at Tens, and finally Tony. “Right?”

“For the moment,” Tens answered her. I leaned over Tens and saw the note.

DLVR J 2 CRK PRK

2 SM CHLDRN WLL B RTRND

ANSWR PHN 4 INFMTN

—Ms. Asura

“What does that mean?” Juliet asked Tony, puzzled.

Tens stuffed the paper in his pocket.

Rumi glanced at the new dark clouds heading toward us. “Perhaps we’d best get inside to talk strategy?” he asked Tony, as if the two older men were going to lead this charge into the unknown.

“Um, hello?” I called. “Fenestra here, remember? Protector?” I gestured at Tens, then pointed at the men. “You’re human.”

“You haven’t lived long enough, lassie, or you’d know how silly you sound.” Rumi smiled. “I know you’re the top dog. Lead the way.”

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Juliet asked.

“Me too,” Tony added.