Absolute Zero (9 page)

Chapter 12

“D
ude, what’s up with the no calls?” I said to Zach’s voicemail. “Seriously.”

I tossed my phone onto my bed. This so completely and totally sucked that Zach was dogging me. I logged into Facebook and noticed he’d been on last night and even this morning.

“Time for Facebook but not the girlfriend?”

I reached for my laptop cover to pull it shut when a new friend request notification popped up.
Nate Ashcroft
. I clicked on the profile and sure enough, it was Nate from upstairs. Talk about timing. I clicked accept and went to his information page.

Birthday was June. Single. Loves movies. All interesting stuff, but what caught my attention was his status:

Hoping she’ll accept.

What a strange status. Was that about me?

A chat window opened. My heart zinged thinking Zach had logged on, but it stalled again when I saw it was Nate.

Hey, Mandy.

The clock in the corner read nine o’clock. Didn’t have to leave for the smoothie shop for a couple more hours.

“I got time.”

Hey back atchya, neighbor

Thanks for accepting

I had fun with you yesterday

Me too

Was I too bold to ask you out?

My heart throbbed again. What should I say? He was totally flirting. Totally tempting me. And my boyfriend was
totally
MIA.

A little bold…but nice.

Are you free today?

Nope. Working. Bro’s outta town.

Bummer. I’m having a party tonight at my place, will you come?

You’re right upstairs, I think I can find my way there. Georgia, too.

For sure bring Georgia.

Sunday night partying?

It’s the last week before classes start. Got to have fun.

True.

You’re nineteen next weekend I see.

Can’t hide anything online anymore, can ya?

LOL. So, party at your apartment next Friday.

I’ll get back to you on that one. Not sure what I’m doing.

Boyfriend probably wants you to himself.

Oh crap. What should I say? I looked at Nate’s profile picture. Even in a photo his brown eyes flickered like they were on fire.

“Hey, whatchya doing?” Georgia asked from my doorway. “Can I hang some pictures in here?”

“Sure. I’m just on Facebook with Nate.”

“Nate? Where’s Zach?”

I thumbed toward my bed where my phone lay. “Tried to call him again. No answer. Left
another
voicemail. Oh, but he was on Facebook last night and this morning.”

“Dumbass. He does know you can totally kick his butt and freeze important body parts off, right?”

The Facebook chat box chimed again.

Sorry. Didn’t mean to upset you about my last comment.

You didn’t.

Oh. You disappeared for a while, thought I did.

Just not sure about the BF thing.

Problems?

No. Maybe. Not sure. But I should get going. Have to work.

Okay. Bye, Mandy.

I logged out of chat and slapped my computer shut. “Okay. MEN SUCK.”

Georgia strode through the door holding a hammer and some picture frames. “Men suck, huh?”

I leaned back into my desk chair and brought my fingers to my greasy, unwashed hair. My mouth tasted like dragon spit because I hadn’t even ventured to the bathroom to clean up yet. I squeezed a handful of hair and tugged until my eyes watered.

“Seriously. Zach’s all wishy-washy after our little parking lot make-out session. But then Friday he’s all over me, lovin’ on me, then falls off the face of the earth.” I pushed my chair back and stood. “I’m getting dizzy. You know?”

“And then there’s dreamy Nate.” Georgia held up a picture against the wall. “Right here look okay for this?”

“Hey. What’s that?” I stepped closer.

A pencil sketch of my face with a touch of blue in my hair and eyes came into focus. With calligraphy-like writing, the word Kelvin was sketched at the bottom.

“
Snap
. You drew this?”

“You like?”

I snatched it from her for a closer look. “Totally. When’d you do that?”

“Over the summer.”

“You’re so talented.”

“So. You hate men?”

I stood next to her, holding the picture while she pounded in the nail. Once it was in, I hung the treasure. “Wow.” I threw my arm around her shoulder. “That’s really good.”

“Oh, man. You reek.” She stepped away, waving her hand beneath her nose. “Can we say dragon breath?”

“Sorry.” I clamped my hand over my mouth.

She smiled. “Tell me what’s going on, my slimy sister.”

“Nate invited us to a party upstairs tonight. Zach’s not returning my calls.”

“What’s up his butt?”

“Don’t know because I can’t get him on the phone or anything.” I crossed my arms over my chest. My heart cracked a little. “He’s totally my first love even though I haven’t said the exact
I Love You
words to him. He knows everything about us. Why would he bail on me without even talking to me about it? Have I been a naggy girlfriend?”

“You’re not a nag. No. You’re not doing anything wrong. He hasn’t bailed. Something’s up. He’ll talk to you today, I bet. I’m sure it’s just his folks ragging on him again.”

I navigated toward my bathroom. “I hope so. This whole relationship thing sure is sucky sometimes.”

“At least you can control your powers better, otherwise, this apartment would have been an igloo by now.”

“True.” I paused at the doorway. “Maybe I’ll get to know this Nate guy a little more, huh?”

“No harm in that.” She winked. “As friends, I mean.”

Friends
.

My phone rang out from my bed. I hopped over and snatched it from the covers. “It’s Scott.”

Her face blanched, and she descended onto the bed, next to me.

I clicked speaker.

“Hey, Scott, you’re on speaker.”

“Georgia. I’m sorry, but she bolted. She never came home last night. I had Jess hack into the hotel records, and she checked out last night right before we got here.”

“Shit. Did he find anything else out?”

“No. We talked to the hotel manager. But it’s not a little po-dunk hotel, they don’t see all the people coming and going.”

“Did you go into her room?”

“Jas got us in there. It was clean. So clean Jas didn’t even pick up a fingerprint. I’m sorry, sis.”

Georgia hung her head low. I rested my hand on her shoulder. “Thanks, Scott. When you comin’ home?”

“Be there tonight. How’s the shop holding out with you two running things? Burn it down yet?”

“Tried to. A little fire behind the dumpster yesterday, but I doused it.”

“A fire?”

“Found a bunch of cigarette butts. Probably some kids messing around back there. It’s pretty sheltered.”

“Strange. Okay, well, we’re heading to the airport. See you tonight.”

“Okay, Scott. See ya.”

“Love you guys.”

“You, too.” I clicked end.

“Damn it.” Georgia shot up from the bed. “I want to find her so bad and ask her about the safe and the book and the DVD. Gary knows nothing about it. The safe’s empty. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been in it. We don’t have that book Mom said had more info about The Center. I feel like we’re just sitting here, waiting for
The Big Bad
to happen again or something.”

“I know—”

“And in the meantime, you’re living the Young and the Restless life with two boyfriends, not sure which one to choose. Me getting dumped, blah-blah-blah.”

“I do
not
have two boyfriends. And as for Dan. He’s a jerk. We’ll find you someone better. Maybe that Jason guy you met will be at Nate’s party tonight.”

“Whatever.” She stepped toward my dresser and snatched up the other picture to hang. “You go shower, stinky, I’ll make your bedroom more presentable in case you’ll be entertaining someone in here soon.”

Chapter 13

“I
can’t believe you came down to visit me again, Nate,” I said, as I slurped my smoothie. “And you brought me a flower.” I brushed the cool, yellow petals against my cheek.

“Happy to. If you couldn’t tell, I kind of like you.”

“You are bold, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been known to be.” He raked his fingers through his dark, brown hair. “I’m sorry if it’s putting you in a bad spot with your boyfriend, but I just can’t help myself.”

My face flamed. Sure was hard not to like this guy. Showering me with all this attention. I usually wasn’t a flower-kind-of-chick, but the gesture sure was sweet. And the fact that I was having these tingly feelings about someone other than Zach meant I really needed to talk to Zach…like now!

“Are you and Georgia coming over tonight?”

“We’re done here around eight or so, after that we’ll come up.”

“So, you and Georgia--you sisters or something?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just that you live together, work here together, you both have those streaks of color in your hair and on your nails.”

I rested my hands on my lap. “We’re close as sisters.”

“That’s cool. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I always thought it’d be fun.”

“Yeah. It’s cool.”

“Hey, Mandy, will you grab some more napkins from storage?” Georgia asked from around the corner.

“Got it.” I stood and took the two steps to the closet next to the bathroom, then looked back to Nate. “Want to help?”

He hopped out of the booth, wide-eyed and ready to perform. “What do you need?”

“Follow me.” I cranked open the door and waved him in. “Top shelf, back row there. See them?” I went to follow him in, but the front of my flip-flop caught the little doorframe thing on the floor, and I lurched forward.

I heard a thunk above my head and looked.

A dart dangled inches from where I’d just been standing. I glanced at Nate. His back was to me, so I yanked the dart from the door, backed out, and slammed it shut. My heart hammered my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs.

“Hey. What are you doing?” He yelled through the door. I iced my body down and froze the handle, locking it shut.

“The door accidentally shut. I can’t get it open,” I lied. “Hold on. I’m going to go find a key or something.”

Georgia screamed. I bolted around the corner to the front counter. The prep area burst with flames, but not from a cooking problem. Fire enveloped Georgia.

A tall, skinny guy, decked out in black fatigues held a dart gun, pointed at Georgia.

“You missed me, by the way.” I showered him with ice, focusing my intense cold on the gun he pointed at my sister.

She was flamed up, so it would have bounced off her, but still. Something pinged off my ice shield, and I whirled around to see another Rambo wannabe bursting through the doors.

I threw an ice ball at the guy and clocked him on the head. He stumbled. I slicked the floor, and he fell flat on his ass. I locked him to the floor with a chamber of ice over his whole body, leaving only his head free to move.

The guy on the counter fell to the side, spasming like he’d had a seizure or something. The ice around him shattered. I leapt to him and kicked his wicked gun away. Georgia, still flaming, came around the corner.

“He nicked me. He…” She staggered.

I grabbed her shoulders with my ice-hands. “Flame down, girl. Flame down.”

She looked at me through heavy lids. “I didn’t see him…in time.”

“Where are you hit?”

“Tired.”

I tightened my grip around her. “It’s the drug. Hold on. I’ll see if my healing you will chase it away.”

Blood trickled down her left arm. How’d I miss that? I glanced at our frozen friends. They were still immobilized. I shook Georgia’s shoulder. She flinched, and her eyes shot open, but her body sagged against mine.

I eased her to the floor, then cooled her arm down with a patch of ice over her wound. Through the crystals, I saw the blood stop flowing and the wound mesh together.

“How do you feel?”

“Better. Hold on.” She turned her heat on. Her skin pinked up, and the ice patch on her arm melted.

I helped Georgia to her feet. “Okay?”

“Wow, that stuff works fast. He didn’t even get me all the way.”

“Tell me about it.” I shivered, remembering the zillions of times I’d been stabbed with those darts or needles.

I turned to the two Rambo guys. “Okay, what’s your story?”

A pounding resonated from the back. “Ah. Crap. Nate’s locked in the supply closet.”

“What do we do with these guys?”

“Quick. Let’s drag them into the prep area. I’ll get rid of Nate. Scott’ll be home in a couple hours.”

After we got our hostages into the freezer beside the prep area, Georgia and I scurried to the frozen supply cabinet. “Okay, defrost it and I’ll jiggle the door like it was stuck.”

“Hang on, Nate. I think we got it here,” I said. “Let the lies begin,” I whispered to Georgia.

She chuckled. Sure, she could laugh. She’d only been lying to people for a few months. I’d been doing it a lot longer. Not so fun anymore.

She melted the ice, and I yanked the door open. “Oh, man. The door stuck. I’m so sorry, Nate.”

“What the heck happened out there? I heard someone scream.”

“Georgia had a little mishap in the kitchen area. I totally tripped and smashed into the door, jammed it locked or something. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He stepped out of the closet and sucked in a deep breath. “Sounded like world war three out here.”

“I dropped a ton of ice all over,” Georgia said. “I’m so glad Scott’s coming back soon so I can get out of here. I’m not meant to work in food service.” She giggled, and her cheeks took on a nice crimson color.

“I smell something burning. Do you?” Nate walked to the front of the store with Georgia and I close behind.