Chapter 4
Her mother screamed. Pounded on the window glass. Maddy! she yelled. She was trapped in her squad car like a giant bubble sinking. Maddy could only watch as her mother was buried under the green-brown water of the Mississippi River. Her mom was still screaming, but by now Maddy could barely make out the words. She strained her eyes, trying to make out the words through the windshield: “It is Pike.” Like a light switch, Mom’s eyes changed from looking at her to a wide-eyed all-encompassing death stare.
Maddy woke up in hysteria, screaming and crying. She was drenched in sweat. The bandages on her hands were pulled off. The dream had felt so real. Her body ached from the night before, and now her mind reeled. She couldn’t get away from this name, Pike. He seemed to be everywhere.
She glanced at the clock. It was 11:22 a.m. She sent a text to her mom. “Just checking in. Hope ur okay.” She went to the kitchen table and poured a bowl of cereal. The house felt so empty. There was an eerie stillness, like the calm right before a tornado. Maddy picked up her phone. No text from her mom yet. She called Owen.
“Hey, babe! How are you?” asked Owen.
“Okay.” Maddy couldn’t shake this feeling that something was wrong. “Just wondering if you want to come over.”
“Sure. I have to finish up some chores. Then I’ll be there.”
Owen showed up with donuts and a peppermint mocha—her favorite. Maddy grabbed him and hugged him as though her life depended on it.
“I have this crazy feeling like there is something wrong. I keep hearing this name, Pike. The last words of the woman in the restaurant were ‘It is Pike.’ This missing couple in a case my mom is working on also had the word Pike etched into the rearview mirror of their broken-down car. Even in my dream the name Pike came up.”
She knew she could tell Owen anything, even if it sounded crazy. He had a way of making sense of things.
“Slow down, Maddy. Take a deep breath.” Owen was holding her close. “Who is Pike?”
“I don’t know. I just think he is someone very bad,” replied Maddy. “And my mom is in trouble.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“I don’t know. It just feels like his name should be whispered.”
“So where does your mom come in?” asked Owen.
“I just had this dream where I watched my mom drown. Her last words were ‘It is Pike.’ It might mean nothing, but what if . . . ?”
“This dream was different. Like it wasn’t a dream at all but a message.”
Maddy was the most no-drama kind of person Owen knew. If she was saying that this stuff happened, then chances are it really did. Even if there was almost no proof.
“So what’s our next move?” He would do anything for Madison Fiona Connelly, even if it meant hunting down ghosts.
Maddy replied, “I think we should check her desk here at home. Maybe it can tell us where she is or at least where she’s heading.”