But he knew better.
He could feel her, strong and steady, tugging at his insides. She was close.
Not close enough to relieve him of pain, but close enough for him to run to if need-be.
Making his way to the kitchen, he opened a water bottle and started to chug. Finishing his water, Tristan set the empty bottle down on the counter, wincing as a shot of pain coursed through him.
He breathed in. He breathed out. And he walked to the fireplace.
He had work to do.
After school had ended and Scarlet and Heather were headed to the cabin, Scarlet was still irritated by Kristy’s words. And she hadn’t been able to shake her paranoia about Laura, either. And Tristan’s heart was pumping heavier than ever before, a pulsing reminder that he was gone.
Agh.
Everything was driving her crazy.
Scarlet exhaled through her teeth as she stared out the passenger window of Heather’s car. Her eyes hadn’t flashed since the night Tristan left and she felt stronger than ever.
But something inside her was empty and weak. She closed her eyes and tried to feel Tristan. It took a few moments before she tapped into his soul. He was determined…tired… lonely….
Scarlet’s heart kicked.
Heather whipped her small car down the cabin’s dirt driveway, a cloud of brown dirt kicking up behind them as she sped forward and slammed on her brakes to park.
Heather was a terrible driver.
“Okeydokey,” she said, grabbing her big purse from the backseat. “Let’s see what Nate has to say.”
Nate had texted Scarlet to come over to talk about the fountain. Unfortunately, Heather had been taking pictures of herself with Scarlet’s phone when the text came in, so she saw the message and insisted on coming along.
Scarlet followed Heather inside the cabin and found Gabriel and Nate looking over the tree drawing in the living room.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Nate said to Scarlet. He looked at Heather. “Howdy. What, uh…what are you doing here?”
Heather smiled. “Helping you find the fountain, of course.”
“No way.” Gabriel shook his head. “No mortals.”
Heather raised offended eyebrows. “Mortals?”
Nate smiled politely. “We’ve got this covered, Heather. Thanks, though.”
Heather gave them an oh-please look. “You’ve got ‘this covered’. You mean like the last few times you had it ‘covered’? The times when my B-F-F died? Yeah, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t exactly trust that you’ve ‘got this covered’.” She kept making quotation marks with her fingers, her shiny nails glinting.
“Heather,” Gabriel rubbed the side of his face. “I don’t think you getting involved is a good idea. There are other factors involved this time, other threats.”
“You mean the ‘Ash’ person?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said. “We don’t know where he came from or what he is. Until we know just what we’re dealing with, I think it’s safer if you stay out of this. You don’t want an Ash guy coming after you.”
Heather ran a hand across one of the leather sofas. “First of all, you need to come up with a better name for this bad guy. Ash person? Really? That sounds like a guy who cleans chimneys.”
Nate snorted.
Heather pointed at Nate. “See? Even the nerdy guy agrees with me.”
Nate narrowed his eyes. “I am not nerdy.”
Heather looked him up and down. “You have on a Battlestar Galactica T-shirt and you’re wearing socks with sandals.”
Everyone looked at Nate’s footwear.
Nate shuffled his feet and explained, “My feet are cold because our replacement window still hasn’t come in and it is drafty in here.”
Heather waved him off. “My point is that the Ash guys—can we just call them Ashmen?—don’t scare me. What does scare me is the thought of my best friend dying. So I’m sticking around to ensure the safety of my friend.”
Gabriel exhaled. “You don’t understand. You’re completely defenseless. You’re—”
“Mortal?”
“Yes. The Ash guy—”
“Ashman,” Heather corrected.
Gabriel jutted his jaw. “—could come after you and then we’d have to protect you.”
Heather lifted her chin. “I don’t need protection.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Remember when that beetle was crawling on your backpack at school and you ran away screaming?” He paused. ”That was a bug. I don’t even want to imagine what kind of reaction you’d have if a man with a knife came after you.”
“I would be brave.” Heather stood up straight. “And I wouldn’t scream. Or cry.”
Scarlet bit back a smile.
Heather would absolutely scream. And cry.
“No,” Gabriel said.
“Listen.” Heather glared at him. “I love Scarlet just as much as you and I don’t want to sit on the sidelines doing nothing while you guys try to save her. Life is short.” She paused as she looked at Gabriel. “Well maybe not your life, but my life is short. And I want to do something meaningful with it. I want to have purpose. Something beyond Avalon fairs and Millhouse coffee and nail polish. Please. Let me help save my best friend’s life.”
“Nope.” Gabriel shrugged. “I’m not going to babysit you while we’re trying to undo the curse.”
Clearly annoyed, Heather whipped her head away from Gabriel and looked at Nate. “You’ll let me be a part of this, right? Because I love Scarlet and I’ll do anything to help.”
Nate hesitated. “Maybe.”
Heather smiled victoriously at Gabriel.
“Dude.” Gabriel gave Nate an are you kidding me? look.
Nate twitched his lips. “It wouldn’t be that bad. She could help keep an eye on Scarlet’s health condition and she can look stuff up online for us. And she knows what Battlestar Galactica is so—”
“Yes!” Heather started clapping.
Oh, geez. The clapping.
“No,” Gabriel said.
Nate shrugged. “Let her help.”
Gabriel looked at Nate. “And who’s going to stop the screaming when she breaks a nail. Or a limb?”
“I won’t get hurt. I’m tough,” Heather said.
Gabriel looked at her. “You are not tough.”
Heather frowned. “Do I look like some girlie, defenseless Barbie doll to you?”
Everyone examined Heather. She was wearing a fuzzy winter sweater that looked like it was made of feathers, a short wool skirt, and high-heeled, knee-length boots. Her giant purse, larger than her torso, was slung over her shoulder, and her blond hair fell in perfect curls around her head.
Looking down at herself, Heather puckered her lips. “Don’t answer that.”
Nate shrugged. “I don’t care who comes along on our fountain adventure. What I care about is the tree picture. And right now?” He drew everyone’s attention to the small drawing on the coffee table. “I’m stumped.”
Gabriel’s eyes fell to the old parchment paper. “You still don’t know what it means?”