The Soul Summoner (The Soul Summoner Saga Book 1) (24 page)

"What do we do now?" I asked him.

Warren carefully put the pack in the back seat. "You and Nathan need to get on the road. The sooner he gets home the better because I'm sure the cops around here are going to be blowing up his phone when they find out about it. I'm going to give you a few minutes head start so he's not recognized by some of the local law enforcement. I just can't wait too long because they won't be able to do anything if it gets dark."

I nodded. "OK."

He pointed over at Nathan. "Make sure he goes straight back to Asheville. He's probably going to want to be with his family, but he needs to get back home," he said. "You should drive."

I frowned. "I just realized this is going to be a really abrupt goodbye."

He draped his forearms over my shoulders. "I know. It sucks, but at least it's for a good reason," he said. "I'm glad we were able to find them."

I nodded. "Me too." I put my arms around his waist and my head on his chest. "Thank you so much, Warren."

He kissed the top of my head. "I'm glad I could help."

I looked up at him. "When will I see you again?"

"Next weekend. I'll come back to you or I can fly you to New Hope," he suggested.

"Let's see how this week goes and we will figure it out," I said. "I'm sorry it's been such a crazy weekend."

He smiled. "Something tells me we're going to be having a lot of those."

I stretched up on my toes and kissed him quickly, knowing that I couldn't linger too long without us both of us being catapulted into the stratosphere and losing all track of time. "I'm going to miss you," I said.

"I miss you already," he said. "Come on. I'll put your things in Nate's truck."

Nathan was still face down on the steering wheel when we approached the truck. Warren opened the back door and put my bag inside. When he closed it, Nathan sat up. He looked a little better than he had at the top of the mountain, but his face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot. He stepped out of the truck and offered his hand to Warren.

"I can't thank you enough, Warren," he said.

Warren shook his hand and squeezed his arm. "I'm really sorry about all this, but I hope it helps."

Nathan nodded. "It does."

Warren put his hand on my shoulder. "You guys need to get out of here. I've got to call this in before it gets too late in the day, but I want you long gone before they start coming this direction."

"Why don't you let me drive?" I asked Nathan.

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. I can drive. Are you ready to go?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Warren walked me around to the passenger's side and opened the door. "Keep me updated on where you guys are. Please be careful," he said.

I smiled. "I promise. Call me in a little while."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead and lingered for a moment. "I will." 

Nathan and I drove for miles in complete silence. I couldn't imagine what was going on inside of his head, and I certainly didn't know what to say, so I just rested my hand on the back of his neck. I watched the road ahead, lost in my thoughts, until the right side of my vision became a little blurred. Soon, the entire right side of the road was missing from my field of vision.

I groaned. "Oh no."

Nathan looked over at me. "What's the matter?" 

I bent forward and opened my backpack. Thankfully, I had remembered to pack the medicine they gave me at the hospital. "Another migraine is starting." I fumbled through the pack. "Nathan, I need your help."

"Hold on." He flipped on his emergency lights and jerked the truck over into the emergency lane on the side of the interstate.

My hands were beginning to tremble. "I can't find my medicine. It's a white box with a prescription label. I can't see to find it!"

He slammed the truck into park and yanked my bag up onto the seat. He dumped its entire contents before finding the small white box. "Here, here!" He ripped the packaging open and popped the seal around the capsules inside their plastic. "It says you're supposed to take two at the onset." He thrust two pills into my hand.

I took some deep breaths and dropped the pills into my mouth without waiting for water to swallow them. He put a bottle of water up to my lips and instructed me to drink. 

I laid my head back against my seat. "Oh god, this is going to be bad."

"Should I find a hospital?" he asked. 

I covered my face with my hands. "No. No. Just drive home. We need to get out of here." I felt dizzy, and the pain was beginning like a pinprick in my skull just above the top of my ear.

"Where's your phone?" he asked.

I handed it to him.

A moment later, I heard his voice. "Warren, it's Nate. Sloan is getting another migraine. Really?" I felt his hand on my shoulder. "He's getting one too. He wants to know if he should meet us somewhere."

I reached toward him, grasping for the phone with my eyes clamped shut. "Let me talk." I pressed the phone to my ear. "Hey."

"Where are you guys? I'll come to you."

"No. We need to get home. Are you OK?" I asked.

"I'm getting worse by the second," he admitted. "I'm hoping they will be done with questioning me soon. I'm at the police station now."

"Nathan, drive," I said. 

"It might stop if I come to you," Warren argued.

"You said it yourself. No stopping. We've got to get back to Asheville. I took the meds they gave me at the hospital. I'm hoping that will lessen the blow," I said.

"Ok," he said. "I'll call in and check on you."

"Please be careful, Warren." I was unable to imagine how he could begin to cope with dealing with the police in this state.

"Let me talk to Nate," he said.

I handed Nathan the phone as the car rolled back onto smooth pavement. "Yeah?" Nathan asked. "OK. Of course. I've got her phone."

The medicine certainly helped. At the very least, I wasn't paralyzed or vomiting all over the truck. I was, however, slumped over the seat with my head in Nathan's lap for the rest of the drive. I also had his jacket shrouding my head to prevent the pangs from the headlights of oncoming cars. I cried the entire last fifty miles of the trip.

It didn't help that Nathan's phone started ringing non-stop by the time we crossed into Buncombe County. Though Nathan switched his phone to vibrate and tried to talk as quietly as possible, every word I heard was like an axe being driven into my skull. Even the silent buzz from his phone felt like a jackhammer. Finally, he turned his phone off when he realized that my writhing intensified whenever he was on a call.

When we got to my house, I sat up and fumbled for the passenger side door. 

"Wait, I've got it," he said.

He came around to my side of the truck and opened the door. "I'm going to get your keys and open up the house. Sit tight and I'll come back for you." 

Sitting up was apparently a bad idea, and before he had gotten further than a few steps away I started hurling, thankfully, onto the street. He held my ponytail out of the way and kept a firm hand on my shoulder to ensure that I didn't flop forward and crash into the asphalt.

When the puking subsided, he rubbed my back. "Can I take you to the hospital now?" 

"No, just take me to bed. Please," I begged.

He unlocked the door and carried me into the house. I held onto his neck until we got to my room and he carefully placed me on my bed. "I'll be right back," he whispered.

I reached for him. "No, Nathan. Go home. I'm fine."

"You're a terrible liar. I'm not leaving," he said. 

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pounding of his footsteps against the hardwood floor. He turned on the water in the bathroom, then a moment later, my side of the bed dipped down under his weight. A cool washcloth touched my cheek. It felt like a kiss from heaven. 

"I'm going to put this over your eyes to block out the light. They did it at the hospital and it seemed to help," he said. A moment later, the cool cloth was resting over my eyes.

His hands went to work on my boots and he carefully placed each of them on the floor. Next, he stripped off my socks and then tugged my blanket up around my waist. I felt his hand on my thigh.

"I've got to make some phone calls, but I'll be back. I put a trashcan by the bed in case you've got anything left in your stomach."

I fumbled around until I found his fingers. "Thank you," I whispered.

He squeezed my hand and then he was gone.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of an alarm that I didn't recognize. My headache had calmed to a dull throb. I looked over to see Nathan reaching for his cell phone on my nightstand. The early morning sun filled the room.

I rubbed my hand over my face. "What happened?"

He silenced the alarm and rolled onto his side to face me. He was in a white t-shirt and what I assumed were a pair of blue, plaid boxer shorts. 

"Are you in your underwear?" I asked.

He grimaced. "Well, you puked all over my pants."

I groaned and draped my arms over my face. 

"And my boots," he added.

"Oh, this is so embarrassing."

He laughed softly. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts, but better." I looked over at him. "You stayed with me all night?"

He winked an eye at me. "And slept in your bed."

"Warren's going to be so pissed," I told him.

"Warren threatened my life if I left you alone," he said.

"Really?" I asked surprised.

He laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah. First, I threatened to kill him. Now he's threatened to kill me. I think we've reached the first level of friendship." 

I raised an eyebrow. "Friendship?"

He laughed. "OK, maybe not exactly."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Six," he said. "Do you think you'll go into work today?"

I groaned. "I have to. I have a feeling this is going to be a crazy week for all of us."

He nodded and sat up. "I'm sure it is. I'm probably going to head to Raleigh today."

"What happened last night? I could hear you talking on the phone, but I couldn't make sense of anything because of the pain," I said.

He swung his legs off the bed and wrapped the bed sheet around his waist for the sake of decency. He walked to my bathroom and rinsed out his mouth with my mouthwash.

"Well, some of my buddies in Raleigh called to tell me that some guy found a skeleton at Buckner-Falls. They said they thought it might be a young female, but they wouldn't know for certain until they heard from the medical examiner. I told them I had a theory about the suspect being an avid hunter and that they should canvass the area with cadaver dogs. They said they were going to today. My story sounded plausible enough, I guess."

I pushed myself up in the bed. "How are you doing with it all?" Nathan had removed my hiking boots and socks, but I was still dressed in my jeans and even my rain-resistant, bright orange pullover. 

He splashed water on his face. "I'm all right. It was a pretty big shock yesterday, but I feel better knowing we found her, if in fact it is her," he said.

"Have you talked to Warren? Did he make it home?" I asked.

"He was in pretty bad shape when he was threatening my life. They questioned him for a few hours but released him without any suspicion. I think he was going to stop and rest for a while before trying to drive," he said.

I walked into the bathroom behind him and grabbed my toothbrush. "Where are your clothes?" 

"In the dryer. I washed them last night while you were passed out," he said. "I hope that's OK."

I laughed and squeezed toothpaste onto the brush. "I puked all over you. The least I can do is let you wash your clothes." I looked up at our reflections in the bathroom mirror. My hair was halfway in and out of my ponytail, my face was black with mascara and dirt, and my eyes were swollen and puffy. "Well, I look just awesome."

He laughed. "Like a princess." 

I spat toothpaste into the sink and stuck my tongue out at him. 

He smiled and left the bathroom. A few minutes later, I turned on the shower and he walked back into my bedroom fully dressed as I was picking out an outfit for work. He strapped on his tactical belt and checked his gun before tucking into his side holster. 

"I've got to run home and change and head to the department. Call me later and let me know how you're doing," he said.

I walked across the room and put my arms around his neck. "Thank you so much, Nathan." 

He was smiling when he pulled back, and he wiped a smudge of black out from under my eye. "Anytime, Sloan."

* * *

A couple of pain pills knocked out what was left of my headache on my drive into work. Still, the world seemed a little too bright, and my brain seemed to be half a step behind in processing thoughts and paperwork. It was like having a hangover without having the good time the night before.

The morning was exceptionally mundane except for the news articles that kept coming through my email from the state capital. By that afternoon police had located the other body in the woods, and the medical examiner confirmed that the first skeleton was that of a teenage female. The police and the media were all speculating that the remains were of Ashley McNamara and Melissa Jennings, and some reporters were already saying the murders may be the work of a serial killer.

I didn't hear from Nathan again that day other than a text message to check on how I was feeling.

I had called Warren that morning before leaving the house. He was awake but still in a great deal of pain. He promised to call me later, after he figured out if he was going to make it to work. When his name popped up on my caller ID again, I was sitting in my office with my feet propped up on my desk, eating a bag of pretzels and drinking a Diet Coke out of the vending machine.

I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my ear. "Hello." 

"Hey," Warren said. 

I popped another pretzel into my mouth. "Hey. How are you feeling?" 

He groaned. "Like someone took a battle axe to my skull last night. I came into work, but I'm counting the seconds till I can leave and go home."