“Oh my god…” My heart leaped into my throat. “That’s my father!” I couldn’t believe he’d come over here and snuck onto their property.
“Wow. Desperate, anyone?” she asked, clicking the mouse and pulling out a little. Now we could see Mr. Butts coming into view, holding his hand out for the dog.
The dog looked over its shoulder a couple seconds before walking back, stopping at Mr. Butts’ left leg and sitting down.
“Oh, I love my puppy. Isn’t she brilliant?” Jasmine was staring at the screen with a huge grin on her face.
“Jasmine, that’s my dad. Do you mind not being so happy about him nearly being eaten?” Now I was mad at her for a whole other reason. My dad may be a Rainbow, but he was still my father. And he was probably worried sick about where I was. I felt terrible for making him so desperate that he’d trespass. It was so not like him to break the law. He didn’t even speed.
She turned around and noticed my expression. Her smile dropped away. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. But Ho Ho is badass, right? I mean, she didn’t touch him, even though he climbed over the fence. She could kill a person if she wanted to. Tear their throat right out.”
“Uh, Jasmine? Not helping.” Malcolm put his arm around me, making me feel just the tiniest bit better.
“Oh, crap. Yeah. Sorry. Sometimes I get a little excited over my baby’s skills.” She turned back to the screen. “Looks like my dad’s talking to him.” She looked at me again. “Are you going to go with him?”
I shook my head. As bad as I felt for him, I couldn’t do it. I had always known that breaking away was going to be tough. I hadn’t imagined it going like this exactly, but it didn’t matter. Malcolm had made his promise to me, and I had made one to him in return. We were stuck together now, until someone tore us apart, and it wasn’t going to be me. “I’m staying. I need to figure out what this is all about, and I can’t do that if they move me away again. And they will. If I go home, I know I’ll find the entire house packed up.”
“Wow, they move fast,” said Malcolm, looking down at me. His body was keeping me warm when I felt so cold with all the craziness and fear.
“They have it down to a science. They only rent furnished houses, so when it’s time to go, all they pack is clothes and linens and we’re outta there.”
“That’s hardcore, man,” said Jasmine. “It’s kind of like my parents. They’re ready to go at the drop of a hat too. They jet off all over the world with one phone call. Their bags are always packed.”
“Doesn’t that get lonely?” I asked, kind of understanding now why Jasmine is the way she is. She’s been raising herself, kind of like Malcolm, only with more of a solid foundation under her, of course.
“Nah. We have video chat and texting and email. Plus, I have Ho Ho and the ding dong next door to bother me whenever I start getting bored.” She shrugged, going back to looking at the monitors. “It’s a life.”
Our fathers walked off the screen next to one another, Ho Ho on the opposite side of Mr. Butts as my dad. I could tell my father was still nervous by his posture. “Where are they going?” I asked.
“I’ll bet my dad is bringing him to the front door and telling him buh-bye, but let’s check it out.” She clicked on the mouse again and soon we heard voices coming through the speakers.
“I’m sorry for trespassing. It’s inexcusable.” My father was stressed; it was easy to hear in his voice. I couldn’t see him, but I’d bet money he was running his hands through his hair. He did that when he was frustrated with me.
“Not to worry. If my daughter went missing, I’d be worried too. But Jasmine heard from her, and Rae told her she was fine. That she just needed a little space and would be back home soon.”
“Have you notified the police?” My father sounded demanding now. Rude.
“Not yet. We just got back from out of town early this morning. Just heard from her, really, and didn’t realize it was an active investigation.”
“The police came here last night. They told me. Is Rae here?”
“No, she’s not in the house. I already told you that.”
“I don’t believe you. Witnesses saw her with your daughter last night. One of them saw her get into your neighbor’s car and drive away.”
Derek. I got angry just thinking of that jerk. He still had my phone, too. I bet my father tracked it down and then interrogated him about why he had it in his car. He’s the reason my father was here right now climbing fences and fighting off killer guard dogs; it wasn’t just because of me. Blaming Derek for my father not using the front door made me feel just a tiny bit better.
“Sir, I don’t appreciate being called a liar in my own home, but I’ll tell you what. You go ahead and take a look around inside if it’ll make you feel better, so you know she’s not anywhere in this house.”
I grabbed Jasmine’s shoulder. “He’s going to find us!”
“Pssshhhh, please. No offense, but that guy couldn’t find his butthole with wraparound mirror and a magnifying glass. Just relax.”
We watched the monitors as they flickered on and off, Jasmine moving the mouse to follow my father around the house. He looked in closets, under beds, and around the backs of doors. He was leaving no stone unturned. When he got to the computer room, I held my breath. He was right above us.
“What’s all this?” my father asked, pointing to the screens and stepping up to see them better.
Mr. Butts wiggled the mouse. When the energy saver went off, the monitors were filled with multi-colored rows and charts filled with numbers. “Stock trading screens. My wife’s a day trader.”
My father leaned in even closer. “Forex?”
“Among other things.” Mr. Butts clicked a button, and all the screens went black. “Are we finished?”
“Not until I check this closet.” My father turned around and the sound of the accordion doors sliding open made me instantly sick to my stomach. He was going to find me and make me come home so we could disappear again.
Chapter Twelve: Malcolm
WE WATCHED MR. LIVINGSTON WALK around the house and search every crevice of it for Rae. The guy was serious about finding her. And no one could blame him; even without the Rainbow thing going on, he was her father and she was an underage teen who’d disappeared the first night after her first day of school. It had to be awful for him and Rae’s mom. I felt bad that we were hiding just feet away from him like this.
Rae moved closer to me, and I put my arm around her. I wanted to protect her from harm and pain. She’s the only girl I’d ever felt this way about. I’d been pushing people away for so long, it surprised me how easy it was to be near her. It probably shouldn’t surprise me though; she was a Rainbow-maker after all.
I’d never call her that to her face, just like I would never want anyone to call me the agent of darkness as a regular name, but the words do describe who we are and what we do pretty well. So much of who we were had to stay locked up inside our heads, never to be shared. Secrets. I was so tired of keeping them from everyone. I’d never realized before now how heavy a burden a secret can be.
Rae’s father finally moved away from the closet, not having found the entrance to the panic room. We all breathed an audible sigh of relief.
“Wow, that was close,” said Jasmine. She looked at Rae. “Are you cool with being here? We can let you out when he’s out of the house and send you to him if you want.”
Rae shook her head. “No. I want to stay. I don’t want to go with him, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay,” said Jasmine, reaching over to gently whack her on the arm with the back of her hand. “We have plans to make, asses to kick, and pancakes to finish eating.” She was being a lot nicer now than she had been earlier, when she wanted Rae to help her dad. I wondered if it hurt Rae’s feelings to have Jasmine scream at her like she did. Judging from Rae’s more withdrawn attitude, I’d say, yes. I was still kind of pissed about it myself. Jasmine should apologize in my
opinion. Maybe later I’d tell her, when Rae couldn’t hear us.
“I’ve lost my appetite,” said Rae.
“Me too,” I said. My stomach could growl all it wanted, there was no way I could eat when I was this nervous.
“That’s probably for the best. Kootch has eaten everything that wasn’t moving by now anyway.” Jasmine went back to the screens and watched closely as Rae’s father and Mr. Butts walked into the living room. She turned up the volume so we could hear them pretty clearly.
“If you have any information about my daughter, I expect you to share it with me and the police,” said Rae’s dad. “And where’s your daughter, by the way? Why isn’t she here?”
“I promise … if there’s any information that I think you need to know, I’ll share it with you, not a problem. My daughter is out for a jog. She should be back within the hour.”
Jasmine snorted. “Yeah right.”
Rae’s dad had been about to walk away, but then he hesitated. “What’s that supposed to mean? Need to know?” He pointed to his own chest. “You need to let me decide what I need to know, not the other way around. If you have any information about my daughter, I expect you to share it. Now.” His hand dropped to his side where it turned into a clenched fist.
“Like I said, Mr. Livingston, if there’s any information you need to know about your daughter that I’m privy to, I’ll be sure to share it with you and the police. And now you’ve done your search, you can see she’s not here, and so I have to ask you to leave.”
Mrs. Butts appeared from the kitchen. “Is there a problem here?” she asked.
“No, Rae’s father was just leaving.”
“No, I was not. I know you know something, Butts, and I want you to tell me what it is. I’m not leaving until you do.” He was very agitated. If we didn’t hear it in his voice, we’d see it in his posture. He looked ready to punch someone.
Mrs. Butts pushed between the two men, effectively moving her husband back and causing Mr. Livingston to step away so he could avoid touching her chest.
“We know you’re upset about Rae,” she said, looking directly at Mr. Livingston. “We completely understand, as we have a daughter her age ourselves. If we thought our daughter was in danger, we’d be doing exactly what you’re doing. We promise, as soon as we have any information that will be helpful to you finding Rae, we will give it to you. But in the meantime, you’re wasting time being in our home, when you should be out searching for her, don’t you think?”
It was so smooth, how Mr. and Mrs. Butts kept making promises they didn’t actually have to break. And neither of them had lied either. They kept saying she wasn’t in the house, which is true. She’s under it. I looked down at her, and at the same time she glanced up at me. Her expression showed worry and stress. I pulled her into a hug, letting her rest her cheek against my chest. I watched the video over her head.
Mr. Livingston looked around the room, his frustration evident. “I think … that there’s something funny going on here.” He stepped back away from Jasmine’s parents. “I think you’re hiding something. And I need to warn you that if I find out that’s the case, then you’re going to be very sorry.”
“Are you threatening us, sir?” asked Mr. Butts, moving around his wife to stand just in front of her.
“I’m making you a promise. You have no idea who you’re messing with and who I’m friends with. Rae is a very special girl and her going missing is not your average Amber Alert situation.”
“Everyone knows his child is special, sir. We don’t disagree with you on that. We understand your stress over it, so we’re going to forget that you just threatened us in our own home.”
“Don’t misunderstand me. This is not just about her being my child. She’s a special child. A child like no other. You may think that about your daughter, but I know it about mine. She has other people looking for her, not just me. Other people who know she’s special. And we will find her.”
Rae jerked her head off my chest and turned around, coming partway out of my arms. She was staring at the screen, at her dad. I was pretty sure I knew why, too.
“What exactly are you saying, Mr. Livingston?” asked Mrs. Butts. “Are you saying there’s something we should know about your daughter? Does she have a medical condition or something that makes her more vulnerable?”
“No. But if I think you need to know something, I’ll be sure to tell it to you.” His snide tone was impossible to miss. He was really enjoying turning the tables on the Butts with their need-to-know stuff.
“Seems like you already did tell us,” said Mr. Butts. “Let me break it down to be sure we got it right. Rae’s special, like no other teen. So she has other people searching for her besides just you and besides just the police. Did I get it right?” Mr. Butts stood there, shoulders back, head held high. I could totally picture him in uniform, covered in medals.
Mr. Livingston didn’t say anything.
“So tell us, since you seem to want to throw your weight around here this morning, who are these people? These other interested parties?”
“That’s none of your business. Just watch your back. And better make sure you’ve crossed all your Ts and dotted all your Is. I’d hate for them to find out you’ve been hiding my daughter from us.” He turned and walked to the front of the house.
We watched on another screen as he opened the front door and walked outside. A lady was standing on the front doorstep. “Come on, we’re done here,” he said.
“That’s my mom,” said Rae in barely a whisper.
“Why didn’t she go in?” asked Jasmine, staring at the screen.
“Because my dad wouldn’t have let her.” Rae sounded sad. I got the impression she felt bad for her mother. Seeing the woman standing out there by herself looking freaked out and nervous made me feel sorry for her too, and I didn’t even know her.
Jasmine turned around. “What was he talking about? About those other people who aren’t cops?”
“I don’t have any clue what he’s talking about. It’s the first I’ve heard about it.”
“Maybe it’s private detectives,” I said. “He’s probably hired someone to find you since the cops aren’t having any luck.”
“Maybe,” said Rae, shrugging. She looked back towards the screens, but her parents were gone now. Mr. and Mrs. Butts were walking to the kitchen. For the first time, I noticed that’s where Kootch had been the whole time. He was leaning against a counter, eating a pile of bacon.
Mrs. Butts took it away from him and put it on the counter.
The expression on his face was classic Kootch. I couldn’t hear him but I was sure he was asking what she did that for. He’d see nothing wrong with eating all the bacon while half the breakfast party was stuck in a panic room not able to get to it.
“Why aren’t they letting us out?” asked Rae.
“They’ll keep acting like we don’t exist until they’re sure no one is looking through any windows or anything,” explained Jasmine. “Closing all the blinds now would be suspicious.” Jasmine pulled the Internet up on one of the screens. She clicked around with her mouse and typed a bunch of stuff in, using Rae’s name as a search term. Articles came up about a missing teen in our town.
Jasmine read for a few minutes silently before filling us in. “Says here they interviewed Mr. Holder and some kids at the party who saw you with some other people. Must be me and Kootch. I wonder if they’ve been to his house.”
“He didn’t say anything,” I said, wondering why.
“They must not have caught him at home, or he would have mentioned it.”
“What about Kootch’s parents?” I asked. “Wouldn’t they come get him from your house if the cops were there?”
“First, we don’t know if the cops identified Kootch as being with you guys. And second, no. Kootch only has a father now, and he’s a total douche nozzle. If he was home at all, he was passed out drunk. He’d never hear the doorbell.”
“Oh. That su
cks.” I hadn’t realized that about Kootch’s family. I’d assumed he had something more like Jasmine going on - a mom and a dad and a nice fenced-in back yard. Yeah, he said his father liked to test his abs, but I’d figured that was just a once in a great while thing when he’d had too many beers at a party. Besides, when he’d said it, he’d been feeling my dark vibe; that always exaggerated the awful, or at least that’s what I’d always believed.
“You have no idea. Don’t tell Kootch I told you this because he gets all pissy about it, but his dad is a complete alkie loser. Thankfully he’s gone a lot or Kootch would probably be dead by now.”
“That’s a horrible thing to say,” said Rae, sounding shocked.
“Yeah, maybe. But it’s true. Trust me. The guy likes to use Kootch as a punching bag. I don’t have this scar on my eye for nothing.” She turned back to the article. “It doesn’t mention anything about detectives being involved.”
“Would it?” I asked.
“Why not? It’s part of the news. Seems like your parents would want to give the public plenty of people to call if they have tips. If I had a missing kid, I’d let the world know I had detectives on the case.” She turned around, a sly look on her face. “But maybe they’re not detectives, have you ever thought of that?”
“Who else would they be?” asked Rae.
I rubbed her arm several times, trying to use friction to warm her up. She was covered in goosebumps.
“I already told you. My parents told you too. There are people out there who are looking for kids like you so they can use them for their own purposes.”
“People like who?” I asked, not even bothering to keep the skepticism out of my voice.
“Governments. Corporations. Nutjobs. And probably other groups I don’t even know about. But any one of those would give a gift-wrapped box of their own testicles to have either one of you on their side so you could bring the whammy and help them get what they want.”
“That makes no sense,” I said. “No one has ever come after me. And Rae’s just been living with her parents all this time. She’s never seen anyone like a government guy or whatever, right Rae?”