Darkest Dawn (16 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Bri

Bri’s heart hammered so hard that she could almost feel it in her mouth. The sensation was terrifying and disgusting as she swallowed the lump in her throat and took a steeling breath to calm herself. She shoved her phone into her pocket, feeling awful about lying to Sloane. Her hands tightened around the plastic container holding six from the dozens of muffins she’d made that morning. It wasn’t like her to lie to her friends. The feeling was overwhelming and it made her stomach clench. She couldn’t betray her mom though. Abbey had always told her to keep anything she heard about the Therons a secret from the town. Everyone loved to gossip in Willows Lake, especially about the ex-mayor who went crazy. Not many people knew he was sick.

Sitting at home didn’t do her much good. She needed answers. She knew Kael wouldn’t hurt her, especially after what he’d done for her the other day at the pool. Even if he was friends with Chloe. Bringing him muffins was the perfect excuse. She’d make up the rest when she got to his house.

The word “house” didn’t encompass the sprawling mansion in front of her. It reminded her of something she’d seen in movies. A place where unsuspecting people went inside and never came out. The building was made from stone in varying shades of gray. Vines and moss had made their way up the facade, claiming a majority of it. Bri noted the lack of maintenance.

She checked behind her and could swear she heard the sound of Kael’s motorcycle in the distance. She held her breath and listened harder, closing her eyes to perk up her senses.

Nothing.

She quickened her pace and finally made it up to the front door, then she knocked and waited.

She tried a few more times but no one answered. She tried to peer through the stained glass in the door but saw no movement inside. She didn’t want her trip to be wasted.

A twig snapped nearby and she almost jumped out of her skin. She turned toward the sound and two chipmunks dashed out of the bushes. She watched them shrink into the distance before getting back to the task at hand. Whatever that was. Regret surged through her.

What are you doing here?
She knew the fake reason she’d come. All of her stress baking had given her a reason to drop by. Going inside the house was another thing entirely. She knew she’d have no excuse for snooping. Which is why she needed to make her visit quick and efficient.

She took the key from her pocket and pushed it into the lock then turned. The knob moved easily but the heavy door pushed back enough for her to hesitate. She still had a choice.

When her mom’s face flashed across her vision, it fueled her resolve. She needed to get her phone back to figure out why Abbey still wasn’t home.

The door swung open without a sound except for the
whoosh
of air that filtered into the house around her. She quickly closed the door, pressing her hand against the cool wood.

At that moment, she allowed herself a second to admire the room in front of her. She felt as if she’d stepped away from her life and entered a different time. Dark mahogany wood stretched above her to an impossibly high ceiling. The wood was carved with intricate detail that she wished she had more time to admire. She stepped further into the foyer and placed the plastic container onto a large circular table in the middle of the room. The glossy surface was shaped into a map of the world, with rich colors outlining the different countries. Her container was a foreign object in the opulently decorated space.

She headed for the wide staircase in front of her. She hugged the railing on her way up, straining to hear if anyone was moving around in the house. At the top of the stairs was a long hallway that must have been the length of the mansion. It was as wide as the staircase lined with a half-dozen rooms on each side. How was she ever going to find Kael’s room?

She decided to take one door at a time and hoped that his wouldn’t be the last one. The further she got from the stairs, the more her heart raced.

The first two doors she tried were locked. She tried her luck on the other side of the hallway and was surprised to find the one open. She mentally crossed her fingers and pushed inside.

A steady humming stopped her at the entrance to the bedroom. She leaned over the threshold, peering in. A king-sized four-poster bed sat in the middle. She nearly jumped when she saw a lump under the covers, but stopped herself from fleeing the room when she realized it was Kael’s father. She stepped further into the room, her curiosity controlling her feet. He was asleep. The machines next to him whirred and beeped. From all the wires leading to the body she presumed most of them were keeping him alive. His breathing was shallow, barely perceptible until she got close. From the few times her mom spoke about him, she knew he was in and out of consciousness. She reached the edge of the bed and watched the steady rhythm of his breathing in time with the humming of the machine at his side. He was a husk of the man she’d seen in old photos. In his prime, he had been a handsome man. She couldn’t help the smile on her lips at Kael’s resemblance to his father, more so now than ever. They had the same distinct cheekbones, nose and mouth. The thought of Kael brought her back to her mission.

She headed to the door.

“Bri.” Her name floated in the space between them, making her pause.

Her mouth went dry and she glanced over her shoulder. Mr. Theron’s body was still and his eyes were closed. The machines continued working and Bri guessed one of them had made the noise that sounded like her name. She picked up her pace and ducked out of the room, closing the door silently behind her.

With a new resolve to get the heck out of there she went to the next door. She found several guest bedrooms and two bathrooms before she was close to the end of the hallway.

She crossed her fingers that Kael didn’t have a creepy basement or attic bedroom. Maybe she should have done her research. Though how insane would it have been for her to ask where his bedroom was? It’s not like they had any relationship other than the one her mom had bridged between their two families.

She opened the next door. Her heart practically leaped into her throat when she realized it was the place she was looking for.

A bed was pushed against the closest wall by the door. The shirt that she’d seen Kael in the other day was hanging off a chair in front of a desk. She immediately went to the desk and opened all the drawers. A deep line creased her forehead as she realized the drawers were empty. There wasn’t even a pen or pencil in any of them. She crossed the room to the closet. Sparse clothing hung from hangers, a few items she recalled him wearing in the past. No cell phone. She knelt down and sifted through the random pairs of shoes on the floor. She sat back, confused. Did he have the phone on him?

She stood up and spun around in a slow circle, inspecting the room. The conversation with Chloe had replayed in her mind again. Even the feeling of defeat hadn’t stopped her from knowing that Kael was involved in her mom’s disappearance somehow.

A door slammed in the hallway and she knew this time she wasn’t imagining the sound. Her eyes darted around the room for a hiding spot. The closet wouldn’t offer any coverage so she slipped under the bed.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bri

Bri’s labored breathing sounded like a freight train in her head. Thank goodness she wasn’t claustrophobic or else she might have hyperventilated in her hiding spot under the bed. She pressed her cheek into the hardwood floor that seemed to echo her breaths. She pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle them. She hadn’t imagined someone else being in the house. She hoped it wasn’t Kael. Her mom had mentioned a visiting nurse. She wished it were her. If the nurse caught her she could claim to be a friend of Kael’s. How else would she have had a key?

Bri waited another few agonizing minutes before starting to slide her body across the floor. She needed to get out of there. She froze when two feet appeared at the other side of the bed.

Kael’s sneakers faced her accusingly. They appeared to be in a standoff. She didn’t move a muscle. Thankfully she hadn’t come out or surely she would have been caught. He walked around the bed and Bri moved her body to the middle. Her lips were pressed together so tightly that her teeth threatened to poke through her skin. His feet stopped at the closet. She didn’t remember if the closet was already open when she got there. She hoped it had been.

A faint electronic beeping caught her ear. She immediately recognized it as dialing.

A few seconds later he spoke. “It’s me.” A pause. “Yeah I’m aware you’re in school. Do you have eyes on Bri?” An electric shock pinched at Bri’s heart. “Huh. Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Another pause. “We can finish this tonight. I’ll come over to your place.”

Something pressed into her body from above and she let out a whoosh of air. He’d sat on the bed so suddenly that she didn’t have time to move. The weight of his body pinned her against the floor. One of his feet disappeared from the floor momentarily until the empty shoe struck the ground, making her flinch with the vibration. Then the other foot went up and another came down a few seconds later.

She crossed her fingers.
Please don’t let him fall asleep.

Her silent prayer was answered when his body lifted from the bed and crossed the room. His socked feet padded across the floor and through another door that she hadn’t seen before. What a great detective she was. What if he had been in there when she came in the room? Multiple worst-case scenarios flooded her mind.

Get your head in the game!

When she heard the shower turn on she knew this was her chance. She pressed her hands into the floor and pushed. She glided across the smooth floor. Her shirt caught on something sharp sticking out of the wood. She unlatched her shirt from the floor as it caught on another piece.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She pulled her phone from her pocket and flipped on the flashlight. She didn’t have time for this. She needed to get out of there.

The light beam from the flashlight illuminated a raised carving in the floor. She was able to detach her shirt completely from it but not before noticing that it was in a familiar shape. Her teeth started to chatter as the realization flooded her. She snapped a picture of the design and pushed herself out the rest of the way. She jumped up from the ground and darted out of the room, down the hall, and descended the stairs. When she landed in the foyer she practically sprinted to the door.

She wrestled it open and screamed when she saw a figure on the other side.

A woman, probably in her forties with bottle blonde frizzy hair, stood at the entrance. Bri noticed she had a badge with the symbol from the local hospital on it along with her name, Melissa.

“Hi,” the woman said, her thin eyebrows raised.

“I was just—” Bri stammered and moved out of the way.

Melissa walked into the house and turned on her heel. “You’re Abbey’s daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s always showing me pictures of you. I’m Melissa, Mr. Theron’s nurse.”

Bri took Melissa’s outstretched hand and weakly shook it once before letting go. “I was just dropping off—” Bri nodded in the direction of the muffins she’d baked.

She swallowed. Kael had to have seen those when he came in. And if he knew Abbey was missing, who else would have brought them? She needed to leave before he caught her.

“Those are from my mom,” Bri offered before launching herself onto the stoop, hoping Melissa wouldn’t say anything to Kael. The front door closed behind her, sealing her fate. With her hands free, she ran down the front walkway and onto the road. She didn’t stop running until the house was out of sight.

She was out of breath when she reached the main road, adrenaline coursing through her body. Kael would know she’d been at his house. Now she had proof of his involvement with her mom. She wasn’t sure of what exactly he had done but she knew without a doubt he knew what was going on. She knew Jake and Tucker would be pissed that she’d lied and gone to Kael’s house. The photo on her phone would be the evidence she needed. Bri pulled up the photo she’d taken of his floor. She’d only seen the design a few times before. Only when she’d been in dressing rooms with her mom or at the beach. It was proof that Kael and Abbey were more than they seemed. For what other reason would her tattoo be carved into his bedroom floor?

***

Bri spent the next hours searching her mom’s room for more clues. She knew it was a fool’s errand but she did it anyway. She’d already exhausted most of her baking supplies and without swim practice to look forward to she needed to keep busy.

I should have gone to school.
The thought was immediately dashed away. She wouldn’t have been able to figure out how much Kael was involved if she had. And being locked up in that building would have made her stir-crazy.

Something stopped her as she was elbow-deep in her mom’s hamper. A noise almost like knocking filtered up through the second floor.

She held her breath until she heard it again. Yes. Definitely someone knocking.

Max had a key to the house. Why didn’t she use it? Maybe Max went home right after school? Or she might have left her key at the house? Her thoughts were hazy; it was completely possible. Bri raced down the stairs.

She pulled open the door and choked on her next breath.

Kael stood on the doorstep, his hand mid-knock, and his mouth turned down in an angry scowl.

He pushed past her into the hallway. His tall frame only magnified how wrong it was that he was in her home. Other than Friday at the natatorium, she’d rarely caught a glimpse of him outside of his mansion.

“Um hi?” She stood motionless, still holding the door open.

He dropped something on the table. She followed his hand and her heart plummeted. The plastic container glared at her. It might as well have been a photograph of her under his bed.

Think!

His voice was low and threatening. “You were in my house.”

She waited a few seconds, attempting to unscramble her thoughts. “Dropping off food. For your dad. My mom is … away and asked me to.” She wasn’t sure where the lie came from but a light bulb went off in her head. If she could trick him into giving away any information she could turn the whole conversation around on him. She had to be smart though.