on the phone. I blinked and looked up at him.
“What is it?” he asked.
My mouth worked, trying to find the words. “She just sounded so… worried. Like, really worried. Not just the stupid fake worry she always has about everything.”
His brow furrowed a bit, but he didn’t press the topic. “Come on,” he said with a glance to the clerk, “let’s wait outside.”
I followed him from the building. The warm air felt jarring after the ice cold temperature of the station, while the fields and town seemed nearly silent. A trio of parking spots lined the front of the building, with a yellow-painted concrete curb ahead of them. Walking a short distance from the door, we checked that the clerk couldn’t see us too well and then sat down.
Birds called to each other. I watched them flitting over the crops across the road.
I couldn’t figure out what might have worried her. It couldn’t be the Sylphaen. Or greliarans. Or anything else that’d threatened my life in the past week. And surely Noah had mentioned I’d survived changing. I mean, they didn’t sound like they’d thought I was dead, and however much of a jerk he’d turned out to be, he still would’ve had to say something when he came back without me.
Right?
“So how long will it take them to get here?” Zeke asked.
I flinched, his voice snapping me from my thoughts. “A few hours, maybe.”
A single car sped by on the road. I tensed, struggling not to feel like they might be watching us.
“We have enough change left to get something to eat?”
I glanced to Zeke.
He shrugged. “Couple hours to kill.”
I looked back at the cluster of trees called Corwin. Thanks to my weird dehaian metabolism, it’d been a day or so since I’d eaten anything.
And I didn’t want to just sit here out in the open the whole while.
There had to be a restaurant in there somewhere.
“Sure,” I agreed.
We stood and headed for town.
Chapter Four
Noah
“So I was thinking we could get pizza at Deltorio’s for dinner. That sound good to you guys? Evening out on the town and all that?”
I looked away from the television as my mom popped her head around the accordion door to the sunken den. With her wavy, blonde hair swinging in her loose ponytail, she waited for our answer.
“Yeah, Sandra,” Baylie replied, shifting position in her place at the other end of the long couch. “That’d be great, thanks.”
I nodded.
Mom smiled and then she disappeared back down the hall.
Baylie propped her head on her hand and returned her attention to the television. She and I had gotten into town late last night, and we’d been here most of the morning, channel surfing for lack of anything better to do.
“I swear,” she sighed as the mid-morning news started, the screen flashing from fuzzy shots of the state capital to reports of some unexpected storm out near Hawai’i. She flipped to a different station. “Cable is so overrated.”
My lip twitched as I glanced to her. “Movie marathon?”
“ Please .”
I pushed away from the couch. Stepping around Baylie’s yellow Lab, Daisy, who was asleep in a patch of morning sunlight nearby, I headed for the cabinet below the television. Tugging open the doors, I regarded the rows of movies.
“Comedy… action… what’re you thinking?” I offered.
“Whatever you want.”
I skimmed the titles in the cabinet. It was a tradition with Baylie and me, watching movies when I came to visit. There wasn’t much else to do in Reidsburg, and as activities went, it was a whole lot better than going to the gas station or the other random places people in this small town hung out.
It didn’t hurt that we had pretty much the same taste in films, either.
I tugged out a box set of The Godfather movies, and another of the Lord of the Rings. Either would eat most of the day, which wasn’t a bad thing. I wanted distractions, and we both needed anything resembling normalcy.
“Thoughts?” I prompted, turning
“What is it?” he asked.
My mouth worked, trying to find the words. “She just sounded so… worried. Like, really worried. Not just the stupid fake worry she always has about everything.”
His brow furrowed a bit, but he didn’t press the topic. “Come on,” he said with a glance to the clerk, “let’s wait outside.”
I followed him from the building. The warm air felt jarring after the ice cold temperature of the station, while the fields and town seemed nearly silent. A trio of parking spots lined the front of the building, with a yellow-painted concrete curb ahead of them. Walking a short distance from the door, we checked that the clerk couldn’t see us too well and then sat down.
Birds called to each other. I watched them flitting over the crops across the road.
I couldn’t figure out what might have worried her. It couldn’t be the Sylphaen. Or greliarans. Or anything else that’d threatened my life in the past week. And surely Noah had mentioned I’d survived changing. I mean, they didn’t sound like they’d thought I was dead, and however much of a jerk he’d turned out to be, he still would’ve had to say something when he came back without me.
Right?
“So how long will it take them to get here?” Zeke asked.
I flinched, his voice snapping me from my thoughts. “A few hours, maybe.”
A single car sped by on the road. I tensed, struggling not to feel like they might be watching us.
“We have enough change left to get something to eat?”
I glanced to Zeke.
He shrugged. “Couple hours to kill.”
I looked back at the cluster of trees called Corwin. Thanks to my weird dehaian metabolism, it’d been a day or so since I’d eaten anything.
And I didn’t want to just sit here out in the open the whole while.
There had to be a restaurant in there somewhere.
“Sure,” I agreed.
We stood and headed for town.
Chapter Four
Noah
“So I was thinking we could get pizza at Deltorio’s for dinner. That sound good to you guys? Evening out on the town and all that?”
I looked away from the television as my mom popped her head around the accordion door to the sunken den. With her wavy, blonde hair swinging in her loose ponytail, she waited for our answer.
“Yeah, Sandra,” Baylie replied, shifting position in her place at the other end of the long couch. “That’d be great, thanks.”
I nodded.
Mom smiled and then she disappeared back down the hall.
Baylie propped her head on her hand and returned her attention to the television. She and I had gotten into town late last night, and we’d been here most of the morning, channel surfing for lack of anything better to do.
“I swear,” she sighed as the mid-morning news started, the screen flashing from fuzzy shots of the state capital to reports of some unexpected storm out near Hawai’i. She flipped to a different station. “Cable is so overrated.”
My lip twitched as I glanced to her. “Movie marathon?”
“ Please .”
I pushed away from the couch. Stepping around Baylie’s yellow Lab, Daisy, who was asleep in a patch of morning sunlight nearby, I headed for the cabinet below the television. Tugging open the doors, I regarded the rows of movies.
“Comedy… action… what’re you thinking?” I offered.
“Whatever you want.”
I skimmed the titles in the cabinet. It was a tradition with Baylie and me, watching movies when I came to visit. There wasn’t much else to do in Reidsburg, and as activities went, it was a whole lot better than going to the gas station or the other random places people in this small town hung out.
It didn’t hurt that we had pretty much the same taste in films, either.
I tugged out a box set of The Godfather movies, and another of the Lord of the Rings. Either would eat most of the day, which wasn’t a bad thing. I wanted distractions, and we both needed anything resembling normalcy.
“Thoughts?” I prompted, turning
Similar Books
