Auracle. Part 15

Matt nods thoughtfully. "Good thinking, kid. You mean to tell me Seth will actually eat a banana for you?"

"He will if he's hungry enough."

As soon as they've paid for their food, Rei shoves the cartons of orange juice, bananas, and granola bars into his duffel bag.

"I'll call you if I find him," Rei promises as he swings his duffel bag up onto his shoulder again.

"Yeah. Hopefully he'll listen to you. I just don't get it," Matt shakes his head. "Why the h.e.l.l did he run if he didn't do anything wrong?"

"I don't know. He got scared, I guess. You know Seth."

"Yeah!" Matt grins. "Can you believe it, though? He outran the cops! On foot! He's pretty d.a.m.n fast, isn't he?" he says proudly.

Rei grins back. "Yeah, he is. We run together a couple of times a week and he can run circles around me."

I sincerely doubt that.

"Leave it to Seth to get screwed like this. Who was this girl, anyway? Anyone I know?"

"No, her name was Taylor. She'd been chasing after him for a while."

"Oh, man," Matt laughs. "It must be tough to be such a stud that all the chicks are after you."

"I wouldn't know."

Oh, please! Even from here, I notice a few sleepy coeds in their tank tops and low-riding sleep pants peeking over their fat-free yogurts and bowls of Kas.h.i.+ to check out Rei and Matt.

After breakfast, Rei jogs out to the car to find me waiting for him. Once he backs the car up, I start pointing, right, left, left, straight, until we reach a greasy spoon-style restaurant on a plot of land bordering the forest. Rei pulls the car into the parking lot. After he fills his pockets with food for Seth, I lead him the rest of the way on foot.

He's in a hurry. "I thought you could travel at the speed of sound," he prods me. "Why are you moving so slowly today?"

The speed of sound? Oh, please. Mach 1 is for amateurs. He grins at the look I give him, but I pick up the pace for him anyway, ignoring the wicked urge I have to make him sweat to keep up with me. He's every bit as fast as Seth, even while picking his way over jutting roots and fallen branches, but a twisted ankle would not be in anyone's best interest right now. As soon as we reach Seth's hideout, I point and hover over Seth, who has obviously heard the footsteps and pressed himself as far under the canopy of pine needles as possible.

Rei steps up onto the fallen trunk and walks down the length of it, looking around. "Seth?"

"Rei?" Seth's head pops up and his eyes bug out with relief. "How the h.e.l.l did you find me here?" He's on his feet in a second and there's that awkward moment where guys hug, then realize they are hugging and step away from each other with that embarra.s.sed look on their faces. Oh, good. Now Rei is wet and muddy, too, but he seems too happy to have found Seth to care. Rei pulls a banana out of his pocket.

"Food! Yes! I haven't had anything to eat since yesterday morning."

It's like Seth is a sword swallower, the way he shoves that banana down his throat. Rei hands him a carton of orange juice and fishes the granola bars out of his pocket. Seth stuffs an entire granola bar into his mouth.

"Did the cops see you come in here?" Seth asks with his mouth full.

"No, but Seth..."

"Every time I tried to come out to call you, I'd see a cop!"

"Seth, I am begging you. You've got to turn yourself in."

Seth's expression immediately turns defensive. "Rei, we've been through this. It's not gonna happen. If I turn myself in, what'll that do for me? Just get me to jail a whole lot faster."

"Come on," Rei implores him. "You look like you've been through h.e.l.l."

He smells like he's been through much worse than that.

"Look, I'm parked at a restaurant about a half mile away. They have bacon and eggs ... and hash browns," he bribes. "We'll get something to go and we can sit in the car and talk about it."

Seth looks reluctantly at Rei, but we all know that granola bars and a banana don't even qualify as an appetizer to Seth. "Fine. But those better be some d.a.m.ned good hash browns. And if I see any cops, I am out of there!"

CHAPTER 22.

It almost feels normal, just three friends hiking through the woods. Except I have no body. And the police in two states are looking for Seth.

I am relieved and grateful that I found Seth first. After last night's confusion with the static from the power lines, I doubted whether I'd ever find him. But then this morning, everything was so peaceful just before the light appeared. I'm still trying to figure out just what happened, why it appeared ... was it something I did? Or is this a divine message telling me things are hopeless here and it's time to cross over into heaven or wherever the light takes us?

But I can't cross over. If I don't get my body back, Taylor will testify against Seth and he will end up in jail for the rest of his life. I can't just give up. I don't want to give up. This is my life, my time, and even though I feel bad that Taylor's life was cut short, I'm not ready to give up my life without a fight. Plus Rei would never give up on a friend. Even now, he keeps hinting, unsuccessfully, that Seth should talk to the police. It's funny how deep their voices have become, something else I never paid much attention to until recently. As we move through the forest, I almost miss the metallic buzz of another voice that belongs to neither Rei nor Seth.

What is that weird voice, anyway? It sounds like a radio or something. We are almost to the parking lot, so I speed ahead and stop short.

c.r.a.p!.

There, surrounding Rei's SUV with the bright green Vermont license plate, are not one, but three police cruisers. Six cops and a voracious-looking German shepherd are sniffing around the car and the outskirts of the woods. I fly back to Rei and I don't care who sees me when I materialize with a desperate look on my face, pointing like a lunatic for them to go back into the woods.

"What the...?" Seth yelps, but Rei understands immediately.

"Go back!" Rei grabs Seth's arm to turn him around, but Seth is spellbound.

"Hey, where'd Anna..."

"Just go! Run! I'll come back for you!"

"But..."

But now it's too late. The dog starts barking, guttural and fierce. The voices in the parking lot rally in excitement. They light their torches. They take up their pitchforks. They release the hound from h.e.l.l.

And Seth finally realizes what's going on.

To his credit, Seth is fast, but the dog is faster. Rei is almost to the parking lot when the dog bolts past him. I spin around and reach Seth just as the dog leaps up and knocks Seth to the ground, clamping its jaws around Seth's right forearm just inches from where Taylor shredded his wrist.

"Bad dog! Let go!" I shriek. I don't know if it can hear me, but it growls a warning and tightens its grip, so I shut up fast. Seth yells for the dog to let go, too, but he wisely doesn't try to wrestle his arm away.

Four cops have chased the dog into the woods, each of them with their right hand clamped onto the b.u.t.t of their guns. A guy with hair so blond it appears he has no eyebrows gives the dog a command in a language that sounds like real German. The dog's aura reflects its disappointment as it drops Seth's arm and slinks over behind the cop. Seth is curled in a ball on the ground, panting and rubbing his arm, which is covered in dog drool but thankfully not pierced by fangs. The other three cops stand there with their guns aimed at Seth's head, their index fingers quivering on the triggers.

"Casey, get him cuffed! Now!" one of the cops shouts, and another one slaps the cuffs onto Seth with no regard for the bandage on his wrist. Casey ignores Seth's gasp of pain as he and the third cop yank Seth to his feet.

"Seth Murphy, you are under arrest."

"I didn't kill her!" Seth insists. "It was an accident!"

"You have the right to remain silent...."

I get back to the parking lot just in time to see a tall, heavy-set police officer push Rei's head against the roof of the police car and cuff his wrists behind his back while a shorter, even heavier officer kicks his feet apart so he can frisk him. Officer Short finds nothing but two empty granola bar wrappers, Rei's keys, and his wallet. He drops the wrappers on the ground, pockets the keys, and searches through his wallet, removing Rei's driver's license. Funny, I thought littering was illegal. Officer Tall puts his hand on top of Rei's head and pushes him down into the backseat of the cruiser, all the while prattling off Rei's Miranda warnings.

When I materialize in the backseat of the cruiser next to Rei, he won't look at me. I reach out and touch his shoulder, but he just shakes his head to acknowledge me.

My heart crumbles for him. I honestly think Rei believed that his good intentions would protect him from this, and the reality of how an arrest will look on his college applications is probably starting to dawn on him. I brush my hand against his cheek, hoping to get his attention. His eyes are leaden when they finally meet mine, but I try to convey everything I want to say to him. I'm sorry. This sucks. This is my fault. If I hadn't talked you out of going to the falls, none of this would have happened.

He closes his eyes, leans his head against the back of the seat, and sighs. Okay, I can take a hint. I fade away and give him his s.p.a.ce.

After Seth is stuffed into the back of the cruiser, the cops congregate. They congratulate themselves. They congratulate the dog. Apparently, the arrest of the notorious Seth Murphy, murderer-at-large, is a very big deal. They seem a little too excited about capturing Rei as well, which makes me wonder if they work on commission. Part of me realizes they are just doing their job, but the rest of me is not feeling all that benevolent toward them. I take a moment to indulge my darker side's suggestions.

I bide my time until Officer Tall starts driving back to the police station. At the exact moment Officer Short raises his paper coffee cup to his mouth, I turn on the FM radio as loud as it will go. The sudden blast of music startles Officer Short enough that he squeezes his cup and the lid pops off, spilling lukewarm coffee all over his lap. "Son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

Officer Tall jabs at the b.u.t.ton to turn the radio off.

I just turn it back on. Again and again and again (hey, I could do this all day!), until both cops are yelling for the other to "fix that d.a.m.n thing," and I see the corners of Rei's mouth curve up ever so slightly. I slip back beside him, still invisible, and listen to the hammering of his heart.

At the police station, they take fingerprints and mug shots of both Rei and Seth, then they search them both for G.o.d knows what and lead them, minus their shoelaces and belts, into separate cells. I am convinced there is a psychological game that's played out during an arrest. It seems that the police officers slam the metal cell doors much harder than necessary to make that CLANK reverberate as loudly as possible. Seth jumps a mile, but Rei doesn't even flinch. Officer Short seems disappointed. The thin mattress on the cot is stained, and I know Rei-he'd rather sleep on the floor than on something that skeevy. He leans his back against the wall and slowly slides down until he's sitting on the floor. He closes his eyes and after a few minutes, his breathing becomes slow and deep. Apparently, he's just going to float through this ordeal in a higher state of consciousness.

"You get to make a phone call," Officer Tall informs Rei a short time later. Rei doesn't look particularly pleased with this information, but he reluctantly calls home. He keeps his eyes closed during the entire conversation, his thumb pressed into that spot on his forehead, and at times he holds the phone a few inches away from his ear while Yumi vents. As soon as she's finished raking Rei over the coals, she wants to talk to the arresting officer. Rei looks at Officer Tall with a trace of sympathy as he hands the phone back.

I am having a fan-freaking-tastic time at the station-there are so many things to spill and drop in this place! Maybe it's blasphemous, but I feel like G.o.d bringing a plague of locusts on the Egyptians, and I even holler Let my people go! at Officer Short for dramatic effect. Of course they can't hear me, but the increased tension is duly noted and the happy high everyone felt after the arrests has been significantly reduced, one toppled coffee cup at a time.

Officer Tall drops a prepackaged sandwich and a bottle of water onto the cot in Rei's cell. What's for lunch? Sodium nitrates, bovine growth hormones, and saturated fat, all nestled between four triangles of squishy bread-or to the nutritionally unenlightened, ham and cheese on white. Rei hands the sandwich back with instructions to please give it to Seth.

Rei can't hear them talking at the front desk, but I can. According to them, Seth is wanted in Vermont for first-degree murder, so as soon as the paperwork is complete, he'll be extradited back there. They are not quite sure what to do with Rei, though. There's a discrepancy about what exactly he's being charged with, if anything. Rei and Seth both told the police that Rei was there to talk Seth into turning himself in. The police got hold of Matt and he confirmed this, and apparently, Yumi pointed this out several times in her conversation with Officer Tall. Officer Short still wants to book him as an accessory, but Officer Tall wants to release him. I leave Officer Tall's coffee standing in a gesture of goodwill.

Rei's dad, Robert, arrives at about two in the afternoon with Seth's dad. They both look a lot more concerned than angry, and Robert looks positively sympathetic. When Robert and Officer Short approach the cell, Rei watches them impa.s.sively from his spot on the floor, as if pulling himself up from the rock-bottom depths of despair requires too d.a.m.n much effort.

Once his cell door swings open, he asks his father one thing: "Did you bail out Seth?"

Officer Short has a hearty chuckle over this and claps Robert on the shoulder as though they are old friends. Idiot! It takes me all of three seconds to locate his latest cup of coffee and knock it over.

"There is no bail set for Seth," Robert explains as gently as possible. "Jack drove me here. He's talking to Seth now. They'll bring him back to Vermont as soon as the paperwork is settled. There was no bail set for you, either. No charges were filed."

Okay, well, I must have been busy wreaking havoc with someone's coffee when they made that decision. This is good!

Rei doesn't look quite as happy as I would have hoped. He presses his back against the wall, pushes himself up to a stand, and gives Officer Short a raw look as he leaves the cell.

"You know," Robert continues, "you were very lucky they didn't press charges. In the state of New York, you're old enough to be charged as an adult."

"Yeah," Rei agrees, "lucky me. So why did they keep me locked up if they weren't pressing charges? Why didn't they just let me go?"

"Talk to your mother," Robert says without looking at him. "I had nothing to do with that."

CHAPTER 23.

The Highlander was towed to the police station just in case they needed it for evidence, but apparently nothing of interest was found because Robert is free to take it. I hang out in the backseat to hear if Robert interrogates Rei on the ride home, but the sound of the wind rus.h.i.+ng past the windows is punctuated only by occasional fatherly concerns. "Are you hungry?" "Are you thirsty?" "Do you want to stop at the rest area?" Rei shakes his head at the appropriate times, but otherwise, he leans back against the headrest and stares out the pa.s.senger window. His eyes are reflected in the side mirror, looking lost in thought.

It's quiet when Rei gets home, too, because Yumi chooses to inflict the silent treatment on him. I resist the wicked urge I have to topple her teacup. It doesn't take long for Yumi's resounding silence to split straight through Rei's armor.

"Look! I'm sorry! Do you think I planned for this to happen?"

"I told you to leave this alone! What do you think your chances of getting into M.I.T. would have been if they decided to press charges?" Yumi shoots back.

"Is that all you care about? What about Seth? What about Anna?"

"What about Anna? What does she have to do with this?"

Rei shuts his mouth. "I'm going upstairs."

"We are not finished with this conversation!"

"Maybe you're not, but I am."

He tosses his duffel bag onto his bed and heads directly into the weight room. Even though the door is closed, I hear the sound of windows closing and shades falling shut. He wants to be alone.

I just hover around the swing chair and try to form a rational thought. I know he's devastated. Even though Rei is only half j.a.panese, Yumi has drilled into him the cultural philosophy that honor is a coveted virtue ... a coveted virtue that has now been defiled. It doesn't matter that no charges were filed. Just the fact that he was detained and spent the morning in a jail cell was a violation in itself. Plus I'm sure he did not enjoy that pat down search. By a guy. Rei's funny about stuff like that; in fact, I'm surprised he didn't head straight for the shower, but it seems he needs to clear his mind first.

He's been in there for close to an hour when I hear the sound of an engine gunning, and the pa.s.sing sound of squealing laughter. I follow the noise to a cloud of dust as Cori's car pulls into my driveway and slams on the brakes.

When Taylor climbs out of the front seat, the first thing I notice is the large square of white gauze taped to my upper arm.

"I hope your arm doesn't hurt too much tonight!" Cori yells as she throws her car into reverse.

"It's fine! Don't you love it?"

"WE LOVE IT!" comes a chorus from the car as the four giggling girls peal out of the driveway.