Comes the Night

  Chapter 24

  Fries with That

  Alex

  It was twelve noon and Alex and Brooke were at the mall.

  “What do you bet Maryanne’s still sleeping?” Brooke asked.

  “Either that or staring up at the ceiling, bored out of her mind.”

  Alex found herself holding her breath as she and Brooke strode—well, Brooke strode, Alex just walked—past the shops and into the food court. Automatically, she checked out the exits. She could see two. One by the smoke shop and one by the cinemas. Good. That was good.

  Money in hand, Brooke volunteered to get their orders at Submarine Sam’s while Alex found and held a seat in the food court, which was filling quickly.

  Alex twisted in her seat, wishing Brooke would hurry. Though she’d never admit that to anyone. Never show it in a million years. Except—crap!—she was showing it right now! She’d been scratching her sweaty left palm.

  She stopped immediately and folded her hands on her lap as she sat straight in the chair. Then, realizing how dopey that must look, she shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her pea coat and slouched down in the seat, throwing her head back.

  Better.

  It was the crowd.

  It was being so enclosed here. Again she checked out the exits.

  She sighed. It wasn’t abating, this claustrophobic feeling she’d had since the rape. It was still there, ready to erupt the moment the walls closed in.

  The only relief she got from it was when she cast out. She never felt a bit claustrophobic when she was out there in cast form. Fear took a back seat. Well, except for worrying about their bodies, so helpless back at Harvell House. If only that insulation from her phobias would last longer when she cast back in.

  She looked around the food court—the crowd was buzzing. The cool kids were going with their tall, non-fat, half-caf lattes. Kassidy and Leah were hitting on a couple of guys from the community college. Successfully, it appeared. And everywhere—at every table—people were talking. Yes, this would be the best place to learn what, if any, rumors were flying about the Mansbridge Hellers. And the best person to supply them would be—

  “Hey, Alex!”

  Dani Mann.

  Alex turned to see Danielle Mann smiling at her. She’d been dressed as a sparkling fairy godmother last night and the occasional bit of glitter still shone in her hair. And OMG, was that a touch of green clinging to the side of her neck? She and Frankenstein must have gotten more than a little friendly.

  “Hey, Dani,” Alex said. “Have a seat.”

  Dani slid into the bolted seat across from Alex, settling her poutine and Pepsi-laden tray on the narrow table.

  “You guys peaced early last night.” Dani’s eyes roamed the food court as she tucked into her gravy soaked fries.

  “Yeah. Just... not in the mood.”

  “And after you worked so hard on your costume!”

  “Right.” Alex grinned. “The dance just seemed... pretty lame.”

  “Oh, it got better as the night went on.” Dani waggled her eyebrows. “Especially for me.”

  “You and Frankenstein?”

  “The one and only. Also known as Huxley Burns.”

  “Don’t think I know him.”

  “You’ve probably seen him around, though he doesn’t come here much. He’s a jock, into health food and all that.” Dani saluted the notion with a fork full of cheese. “You’d probably recognize him without the green paint though. At six-two, he’s hard to miss. He hangs around with Bryce Walker a lot. You know Bryce, don’t you?”

  Alex’s attention perked, but she just lifted a casual eyebrow. “Bryce Walker? Isn’t that Seth Walker’s younger brother?”

  “Older brother, actually. He’s a year behind Seth in school though. Childhood cancer—leukemia. From what I understand it’s a miracle he’s alive. But he missed two years of grade school because of it.”

  Oh shit. Alex had known a girl back in Halifax who’d been stricken with leukemia in middle school. She’d recovered and was now studying nursing in Fredericton. But it had been touch and go—mostly go—for a while. Alex felt a pang of sympathy for Bryce Walker, but tucked the feeling away. She was here for gossip. She had to stay focused. “Was Bryce at the dance?”

  It was all she needed to say. Dani shook her head. “No, he wasn’t out last night. I guess the horses had a scare or something and he wouldn’t leave them.”

  “I saw Seth at the dance. He and his girlfriend... ”

  “Melissa Kosnick.” Dani rolled her eyes. “Those two—all over each other. And I thought Huxley and I were bad! But Seth and Melissa... don’t it just make you want to—”

  “Hurl.” Brooke plopped her tray onto the table as she took a seat beside Dani.

  “Er, sorry Brooke.” Dani grimaced. “I know you and Seth used to be an item.”

  “Ancient history. Completely.”

  “He’s so not worth it, huh?” Dani added.

  “None of them are.”

  And though Brooke waved the whole thing off with her hand, Alex didn’t miss the look in her roommate’s eyes as stared across the room. Alex shifted in her seat to follow Brooke’s stare.

  Right to the couple in question.

  And there was no question they were a couple.

  Seth and Melissa were holding hands as they sat across the table from one another. Seth played a thumb over her knuckles, back and forth in a gentle caress. The sight of Melissa’s tiny hand in Seth’s larger one spoke volumes. But it didn’t roar; it whispered. This wasn’t Seth paying his dues in the coin of a public show of affection for the benefit of Melissa’s friends, so he could reap his reward in private. The connection between the two was palpable. Alex felt the tenderness they had for each other, Seth’s protectiveness. This was serious. And nothing, she suspected, remotely like whatever shallow emotion he’d harbored for Brooke.

  As they watched, Seth leaned over and kissed Melissa quickly, then pulled back. Gathering both her hands into his, he mouthed something that looked like, “Don’t worry.”

  Alex turned back around. Brooke tore her burning glare away.

  Dani, by no means oblivious to the situation, leaned in closer and whispered, “Did you hear what happened over at the Walker place last night, after the dance? Total Halloween shit!”

  “What was that?” Alex asked. She clamped down on her excitement as she pulled the paper from her wrap, but couldn’t think of eating a bite until she’d heard what Dani had to say.

  Dani looked around, as if she were about to share some earth-shattering secret and didn’t want to be overheard, but chances were that if rumors were flying half the kids in the food court had heard them already. Mansbridge was that small of a town. The schools were that close together.

  “Well,” Dani said. “Apparently Melissa saw a Heller last night.”

  “Oh, one of those costumes with the pennies—” Alex tried to sound casual.

  “Ha! She wishes! No, apparently Miss Melissa thinks she saw a real Heller right inside the house. And then a pack of them flying though the sky, she claims, out at the Walker Farm. Scared the crap out of her!”

  Brooke raised a questioning eyebrow along with that cat-who-ate-the-canary smirk. “Do tell?”

  “Yeah, I guess she and Seth were watching TV late last night and one flew right into the room. Attacked Seth. Melissa too. Then Seth toppled it with a broom—”

  “Poker.”

  Alex shot Brooke a warning glare.

  “Well,” Brooke recovered. “I heard it was a poker. But you know how stories fly around here.”

  “Do I ever!” Dani shook her head. “But it probably was a poker, now that you mention it. Sounds more logical.”

  “Why?” Brooke asked.

  “Pokers are made of iron, but I’ve yet to see an iron broom!”

  “And that’s significant, why?” Alex asked.

  “Oh right, you guys aren’t from around here, are you? Legend has it that Hellers are he
lpless against iron.”

  For one fleeting second, Alex met Brooke’s knowing stare.

  “Anyway, Melissa ran for Bryce while Seth stayed with the Heller,” Dani said. “Bryce was still out in the horse barn. But while she was gone, the Heller got away.”

  “How?”

  “Apparently, a whole swarm of Hellers came in and attacked Seth.”

  “Wow,” Alex breathed.

  “Yeah.” A hint of giddiness was unmistakable in Brooke’s voice. “Yeah... wow.”

  “Bizarre or what! But Melissa swears it’s true.” Dani shook her head. “I’d say someone must have put angel dust in her weed, except she doesn’t touch drugs.”

  Alex fiddled some more with her wrap. “What does Seth say about the whole thing?”

  Dani removed the plastic cap from her soda, tipped the cup back and chomped on the mouthful of ice. “Seth isn’t saying ‘boo’. Nothing at all. His grandfather was nuts, they say, always looking for the Heller, and Seth just hates when people bring it up. So his girlfriend claiming to have seen not just one but a flock of them, must be driving him... well, nuts. But holy crap, he looks terrible.”

  He did.

  Dani continued. “Seth must have talked to Melissa and told her to tone it down.”

  “Why?” Brooke asked.

  Dani shrugged. “Dunno. She wouldn’t say a word when I asked her about it myself. Just mumbled ‘never mind’. But man, I could see it in her eyes! She believes she saw something. But the cat’s got her tongue on the whole thing right now.”

  “That’s not all that’s got her tongue.” Brooke nodded toward the couple, who were half-standing to lean across the table for another kiss. Brooke smiled, dangerously.

  Alex shook her head. “God, why don’t they just get a room?” She turned back to Dani. “Did Bryce see anything?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Not that he mentioned to Huxley. And they had hockey practice this morning before Huxley picked me up for school.” A smile absolutely lit Dani’s face. “Oh, and guess what else happened at the dance!”

  “What?” Alex asked out of a politeness she never would have pretended last year, yet she was soon tuning out the drama of who broke up with whom, which cheerleader got pissed at which jock, who puked on the dance floor, and what they were smoking in the boys’ john. Her eyes were on Seth and Melissa.

  Seth did look like hell. There were dark circles under his eyes on his otherwise too-pale face. As she watched, he ran a hand through his disheveled hair, and then did so again. Melissa didn’t look any better. She wore not a trace of make-up, and her long black hair was pony-tailed up in place. Clearly not the beauty queen’s usual attire. As Alex watched, the two stood, looking for all the world as if pulled by a simultaneous thread. They left their uneaten lunches on the table and—oh shit!—started walking this way!

  “Be nice,” Alex warned Brooke.

  She grinned. “Aren’t I always?”

  Alex’s heart pounded as Seth and Melissa drew closer, but they didn’t so much as cast a glance at the girls, not even when Dani gave a friendly little wave. No, their eyes were fixed on the exit, on getting the hell out of there.

  Brooke’s hand on Melissa’s arm stopped them as they passed.

  “Oh hey, Melissa,” she said, her voice dripping with fake concern. “I heard you had a hell of a night. Or, should I say a Heller of a night?”

  Melissa’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing, only pressed her thin lips more closely together.

  “Back off, Brooke,” Seth said.

  “What?” Brooke asked. “Can’t a girl be friendly? Concerned?”

  “You can’t!” he said.

  Brooke ignored the dig. “I heard Melissa saw some sort of boogie-man-thingie—”

  “A Heller,” Melissa whispered, and Alex’s heart went out to the terrified girl. “It was a—”

  “It was nothing!” Seth hissed at Brooke “Why don’t you just mind your own fucking business, Brooke. Come to think of it, why don’t you just do us all a favor and get the hell out of Mansbridge. Head back to New York or New Jersey or whatever city it is you whore around in.”

  Dani was mercifully quiet, her eyes shifting from Brooke to Seth to see who’d win this showdown.

  Brooke would. Alex knew it as soon as Brooke smiled. “Oh Seth, sweetie... there you go, getting all he-man again, protecting your little girlfriend. You must think she needs protection.”

  “Brooke... ” Alex’s warning tone was ignored.

  Brooke’s eyes shifted to Melissa. “Guess that’s going to be a full-time job now that the Hellers are out again, huh Melissa? You won’t dare cuddle up in the dark now. Heaven knows what’ll be waiting there next time. And of course now that they’ve seen you, what do you bet they come looking for you? Man, if I were in your shoes, I would so not go out at night. And oh wow, if you hear that Heller scream—”

  Alex kicked Brooke under the table, rattling the laminate top of it.

  Thankfully, Brooke silenced immediately. But my God! How much she’d said! So much more than the rumors had!

  “Screw you, Saunders,” Seth said, vehemently.

  “What, again?”

  But that last remark didn’t seem to reach Seth. Holding Melissa’s hand all the more tightly, he stormed toward the exit by the cinemas. Alex watched them walk toward the double glass doors, past the ‘now-showing’ posters and the little arcade attached to the box office. Seth’s arm swung up as he opened the door for Melissa. She stepped through, but he didn’t follow.

  Instead, Seth stopped suddenly. His head turned slowly as he stared back at Brooke and Alex, an odd look on his face. A pondering look.

  A look of narrow-eyed suspicion.

  Definitely suspicion.

  Her heart pounding against her ribs, Alex looked away.

  “There’s Huxley!” With a ‘k-bye’ Dani was out of her seat and heading to the other side of the food court. Huxley was all smiles as she bounced to his side.

  “That wasn’t too bright,” Alex grated under her breath. “If Seth connects us... ”

  “Damn it, Alex... I know.” The tremble in Brooke’s voice was unmistakable.

  Alex looked down at her uneaten wrap, knowing she’d never be able to eat a bite now. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “God, yes,” Brooke agreed.