Psyched (22 page)

“You were right,” she spluttered through chattering teeth, looking over at Vance. “I can’t believe I wanted to stay. You…you saved me. Thank you.”

Vance shook his head. His elbows rested on his own knees, and he looked down. “Don’t thank me. I didn’t save anyone,” he said bitterly. “We’re in the middle of a river with no way out. Standing on the cliff is looking better and better.”

“I was ready to give up,” she coughed. “I was ready to give Malus whatever he wanted to get her back, and he never would have kept his promises. Staying in there would be worse than dying out here. If we look at the big picture, being stranded in the middle of a river during spring runoff is kind of better than getting stranded underground to become demonic fish food.”

Vance closed his eyes and shook his head, a smile of disbelief gracing his weary face. “Demonic fish food?” he repeated. “Really?” He burst out laughing.

“Yeah,” Aisi explained, “you know, like we are the little fishy flakes that—”

He pulled her to her feet and into his arms. They stood close, water lapping at their feet as they wrapped their arms around each other, forgetting for one blissful moment, as their lips met, that they were stuck in the middle of a raging river.

“We didn’t seal the portal,” Vance whispered through her hair.

Aisi pulled back and nodded grimly. “I know. I think this is round one.” The reality that this long, horrible night was only the start of something more, something worse, jolted through her. His tanned face paled. She could see in his eyes that it hit him at the same time, and he hugged her tighter.

“Hey! Hey!”

A voice from the banks caught their attention, and they broke apart. Aisi’s cheeks burned with embarrassment as she turned carefully on the rock to avoid slipping, trying to see who called them.

Charlee waved at them frantically, jumping up and down as she yelled. Her matted, dirty blonde hair hung in dripping clumps around her face, but she hopped as she gestured wildly at them. “I found help! Help is coming!” A few campers appeared behind her, one talking on a cell phone.

“Hold on! Stay where you are! We called the sheriff’s department!” a camper shouted at them. “Help in on the way!”

“Stay where I am?” Aisi snorted. “Where am I gonna go?”

Vance grinned.

As she sighed in relief, her trembling stopped. Just behind the campers, two familiar faces beamed at them as the men approached the water’s edge. Father J emerged from the shadows of the trees lining the river bank holding two large, covered to-go cups of hot chocolate, and her dad held up a box of donuts. Leo popped up from behind them and looked ready to jump into the water to come get her. Big Billy handed his son the donuts to distract him, and Leo wasted no time shoving one in his mouth.

“How’d you get all the way over there, Aisi? You didn’t even wear your swimsuit, you weirdo!”

Aisi laughed. She didn’t need to ask how they knew where to find her. A vision flashed in her mind. She saw them as they held vigil all night in the humble apartment above the diner while Leo slept peacefully for the first time in a long time, free from the night terrors because Aisi was keeping them all busy. They waited for her, knowing the moment she hit the rocky ledge so they could come for her.

“Hey, Big Billy!” she called, hoping her voice carried over the rush of the water. Her dad cupped his hand to his ear to hear her better. She placed her hands by her mouth to make a crude megaphone before she bellowed, “I found her!”

At these words, her father sank to his knees. His clear voice suddenly filled her mind.
She is alive?

Aisi nodded.
He has her, but when I left, she was fighting
.

His hands covered his face, and he wept with joy. The unexpected hope which flooded his soul rushed through her, too.

“So now…we wait,” Vance sighed.

“Pretty much,” she agreed.

She watched the buzz of activity on the shore, and she smiled ruefully at all the attention. Several more people joined Charlee, Father J, and Big Billy on the bank. They kept pointing, shaking their heads, and taking out their camera phones, probably to be the first to get rescue footage for the local news. She leaned against Vance, her shoulder brushing his. “You know what sucks? I am so going to be the topic of town gossip for this stunt for the next year. Think about the day I’ve had since yesterday morning: sabotaged test, running from the law, setting a house on fire, and ending up in the middle of the river after jumping a fifty foot cliff. People will think I went all psychotic.”

“It’s probably better than people knowing you went all
psychic
,” Vance pointed out.

She cocked her head thoughtfully to the side. “Good point. I wonder if Padelski will put me in jail for this?”

“Pretty sure he already has a room with my name on it,” he replied carelessly, shrugging.

Aisi looked at him thoughtfully. No guy had ever been all that interesting to her. She’d never been sure she was the kind of girl who could put herself out there for any guy, even if she did like him. Too many unknowns popped up in a relationship, too many things she couldn’t control. And yet…he got her. He believed in her. She reached down and took his hand, lacing her fingers with his.

“If I have to go to jail, you can be my cell mate.” She smiled up at him and rested her head against his shoulder.

Chapter 23 A Little Break

Aisi leaned forward on the counter of her dad’s diner, elbows on the hard surface with her face in her hands as she dreamily watched the world go by. The lunch rush was over. Leo strapped a couple of mop heads to his bare feet and cleaned the floors by taking a running start, skidding down the aisle between the counter and the booths. From where Aisi stood, she could see past the wires and metal of the street lights and phone poles to the lush hills beyond which basked in the blazing sun of early summer. The hills kicked off the barren brown of winter with burgeoning greens and blooming pinks. Apple blossom air wafted through the open front door despite the strong cooking smells coming from the diner.

A few people she knew walked by the diner’s windows, enjoying the gorgeous weather as they ran their errands along Main Street. A mother and daughter who looked strikingly similar strode past. The two of them paused just long enough to glance in the window. Charlee grinned and waved before moving on. Monica stared for a moment with an unreadable expression on her face. She offered a faint smile and a little wave before hurrying to catch up with her mom.

Aisi smiled back as a bright peal of laughter rang through the small dining room. Zinnia and Colby sat in the corner booth by the front door, snickering at some inside joke and holding hands as they shared another milkshake that would surely give him indigestion. Zinnia’s taste in clothes had become a bit subdued since she got together with Colby. At the moment she wore neon green skinny jeans and a white tee, although she pulled her platinum hair, faded to a subtle pink at the tips, into a wild topknot high on her head.

Zinnia caught Aisi’s eye and hopped up from her seat. She approached her friend, leaning on the counter as she mirrored Aisi’s position. “I think we need to get some fries to counter Colby’s lactose intolerance,” she said, glancing back at him with a grin. “He is a stinky beast if he only has milk. Can I make some?”

“You? Working a fry machine? Your mother would die of humiliation,” Aisi replied, eyes gleaming as she found her abandoned bleach-scented rag and started wiping counters again.

“And you know how I love to embarrass the matriarch,” Zinnia shrugged. “I live to bring shame to her distinguished name. So can I?”

“No. There’s nothing fun about playing with boiling oil,” Aisi pointed out. “It was a medieval torture method, you know.”

Zinnia pouted a bit. “I just hate coming here and having you make everything for me.”

“I won’t be making it,” Aisi smiled. She called over her shoulder, “Hey, Jorja, one order of extra-large fries to dine in.”

Her mom’s head poked up through the large window separating the kitchen from the dining area. Her long, thick red curls pulled away from her face in what had to be the world’s longest hair net. A black ball cap with ‘Big Billy’s Downhome Diner’ emblazoned in white embroidery sat askew over her freckled face. “Order in!” she called. Soon the hiss of frozen fries hitting hot oil and the delicious smell of frying potatoes filled the air.

Zinnia leaned in closer, her voice lowered to a whisper. “So your mom closed her fake fortune teller shop and is working here? Is this getting back together thing working?”

Aisi glanced back through the window. Her dad stood next to her mom, the heat and steam distorting her view of them as they leaned against each other. Her mom’s ball-capped head barely reached his massive shoulder as she rested her head against him. For a fleeting moment his hand skimmed hers, their fingers interwoven briefly before he went back to scrubbing the grill. Aisi was glad the sizzling of the oil kept their whispers from her. It seemed wrong to intrude on a private moment like that.

She turned back to Zinnia and shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to ask. I guess if they have anything to say, they’ll let me know.” She leaned up to grab the plate her mom dropped with a clunk on the metal counter as she hollered, “order up!”

Aisi reached for a fry absentmindedly before she continued speaking with a full mouth. “She blamed my dad for Nakia’s disappearance. Now that she has reason to hope we can get her back, now that she knows everything, knows why it had to happen the way it did…”

“They’re getting all lovey dovey in the kitchen, huh?” Zinnia finished as she snatched a few fries. She carried the plate back to their table. Aisi left her rag on the counter and followed, plopping down on the bouncy bench across from Colby and Zinnia.

“Yeah, I think so,” Aisi said. “I want to be grossed out by all the smooching and stuff, because watching your parents kiss should be a total ugh, right? But it’s kind of nice. It almost feels like getting my family back could actually…I dunno…happen.” She took the ketchup bottle sitting at the edge of the table and poured some into a ramekin of mayo she’d brought with her, stirring it together with one of the longer fries from the plate. She popped the whole thing into her mouth while Colby stared at her in disgust.

“What are you doing?”

“Just making the world’s most amazing fry dip ever,” Zinnia said, dipping her own fries in the pinkish orange concoction. “So any word from Vance?”

Colby picked up his phone and scrolled through his recent messages. “Yeah. Just got a text. He should be back here in a few minutes. Crazy day with Father J.”

“I hope Father J works him hard and kicks his trash,” Aisi remarked, reaching for the plate again. “Not everyone is good enough to score an internship with someone like Father J.”

“Shouldn’t you be working or something?” Colby asked, possessively pulling the plate of fries closer to him. “Shouldn’t you be doing something other than eating my fries?”

Aisi laughed. “Still not used to small town living, are you? My next table, the Cutlers, will walk in at 4:30 on the dot for their nightly feast of Big Billy’s famous meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Same time, same order every single night. I can pick my nose until then if I want.”

Colby looked repulsed. He pulled back while simultaneously pushing the plate of fries away. “But you won’t, right?”

Aisi grinned and lifted her pointer finger to her nose, twisting it to make it look like she was digging for green gold in nostril canyon. Leo skidded by at that moment and hollered, “Aisi picks her nose! Aisi eats her boogers!”

“I do not, you annoying little scab!” she cried, grabbing him as he tried to slide back the other way. She pulled him into her lap and tickled him. His mop-head feet kicked wildly as he laughed and tried to escape. “Take it back or I tickle torture you!”

He laughed, gasping, “No, I take it back! Please don’t make me pee! Mom, help! Aisi is killing me!”

From the corner of Aisi’s eyes, she could see her mom watching them, an affectionate smile dancing on her lips before she moved toward them and put her hands in mock disapproval on her hips. “What is going on here?” Jorja demanded.

“Mom!” Leo panted, pretending to be exhausted as he reached for her. “Save me!”

“Aisi, you shouldn’t be tickling him,” she said, “because this boy is MINE!” She pulled him away and carried him toward the apartment stairs, tickling him as she carried him up. Leo’s peals of laughter faded as his flailing legs disappeared around the corner. Big Billy stood at the kitchen door with a dish towel draped over his shoulder, watching their shenanigans with shining silver eyes. The barest hint of his voice echoed in Aisi’s mind as he returned to the kitchen:
One day, I will have them all together again.

Vance and Father J walked through the open front door. Vance looked unbelievably gorgeous, as usual, in his loose jeans and a graphic tee that clung to his muscular frame in all the right places. He looked exhausted as he dropped his backpack full of gear onto the table next to where Aisi, Colby, and Zinnia sat. Father J followed him, chattering animatedly.

“…and thus we see how difficult it can be to tell an actual personal possession from a place possession. It is so much easier to cleanse and bless an area than to expel a non-human entity from a physical body.” He smiled at everyone at the table. “Well, hello. How lovely to see so many of my favorite people in one place. Aisi, I hate to bother you while you’re resting from your labors, but do you suppose I could trouble you for one of those delightful cherry sodas you make? I think Vance could use one, too. He is rather tired of me and could use some refreshment.”

Vance bolted up in his seat. “No, sir, I’m not, I…”

Father J’s eyes twinkled. “You should never lie to a priest, Vance.”

Colby grinned, pushing his plate toward his friend. “Here. Have some fries, dude. It’ll help.”

“Bring the soda upstairs, Aisi,” her dad told her as he emerged from the kitchen. He shook hands vigorously with Father J, and together they climbed the creaky stairs to the living quarters. Aisi hopped up to get the cherry soda after letting Vance give her a quick kiss on the cheek. His hand brushed her arm, which tingled as she walked away.