Chapter 19 #2
Phoenix didn’t hesitate. He walked around the side of the house, past the porch and the sagging snow-laden hydrangeas, his feet sinking with each step.
We trailed after him—Julian glancing back at the house, Jeremy swearing under his breath, Barrett with his arm around Phoenix—and I pressed my hands to my lips to keep them from shaking.
No one would believe what the Lents went through regularly.
They seemed like such a polished, perfect family in New York City.
My head was freezing. What little hair I had wasn’t getting it done for me right now.
At the edge of the property, where the manicured lawn ended and the woods began which would probably lead to the beach if we kept going, stood a large, weathered garden shed.
The padlock hung open, the door slightly ajar as if someone had left in a hurry last fall.
Phoenix pulled it open with a whine of old hinges.
Inside, the shed was empty except for the faint scent of gasoline.
He stood in the doorway, silhouetted against the weak spill of the SUV’s headlights, and we crowded behind him, silent, waiting, as the snow filled in our tracks and the woods loomed black and endless behind us.
“This is where they’re supposed to be.”
I stared at the shed. It was huge inside. Probably had felt bigger when they were little especially if they were terrified.
Yes, this was where they had been held. I stared at Jeremy. “I don’t think he’s hallucinating this. How would he have known it was here?’
He nodded. “I agree. Okay. We’ve found it.
” He put his arm around Phoenix. “You got us here. The kids aren’t here right now.
That isn’t your fault and it never was. Come on.
We’re going home and tomorrow after we figure out what is going on with you, we will come back.
But we’re getting out of this snow. Alatheia is freezing.
She is in pajama pants, and I don’t know why it’s taken us so long to notice that but we are all going to die if we stay out here.
So come on. You don’t want to hurt Alatheia. I know that.”
Jeremy didn’t give Phoenix the chance to answer. Instead, he put his arm around him tighter and dragged him back to the car, which I could see thanks to the headlights still being on. Barrett had been smart to leave the car on.
I hadn’t been thinking about my legs but Jer was right. It was a problem. Barrett dragged me against him. “Do you want me to carry you?”
I laughed. “I don’t think that would help anything.”
We’d no sooner gotten into the warm car that Phoenix put his head against the window and fell asleep. We all stared at him.
I really didn’t have a clue what was going on. Not any. But we’d just found that place. All those years ago before everything that had happened since, Phoenix had managed to break out of that shed and get home. Thank goodness he had.
My teeth chattered. “Whose house is this?”
“No one we know.” Jeremy and I cuddled together in the backseat. He was warmer than me, but then again, he was actually wearing jeans. “I think they live overseas. It’s always empty. Makes sense they’d use this place.”
Why hadn’t anyone found it? All those years ago? I didn’t know and my guys had been children too. The people to ask weren’t here. And they might not know either.
I shivered. Now that it was over I couldn’t think about anything other than the cold. “Think we should get back in the hot tub?”
Jules laughed. “Well, it isn’t a bad idea.”
In the end, we didn’t go back to the hot tub. Instead, after Barrett pretty much carried Phoenix inside, helped him undress and put him to bed, the rest of us managed to do the same. I was sandwiched between the twins and they were warm enough to unfreeze me pretty quickly.
“There were bound to be setbacks.” I was talking about Phoenix, and I was sure that the three who were awake would know that. I mostly wanted Jeremy to hear me say that since he seemed the most angry about what had happened tonight.
He stared at me in the darkness. “What would you have done if Barrett hadn’t woken up?”
I blinked. That seemed kind of a random response to what I’d said. “I don’t know. He did wake up. Why?”
“Because if you had run out there after him without us you would both be in big trouble. Maybe dead. Or at least at risk for it. So, yeah, I’d like to know what the plan was.”
Julian sighed, loudly. “Jer.”
Oh, I quickly understood. Jeremy was mad. At me. He couldn’t be angry with Phoenix, currently, as he was asleep, but I was wide awake.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been mad at me before.” I spoke aloud what I was thinking.
Jeremy didn’t move. “I’m… Fuck. I’m not really mad right now. I was scared. And I don’t like anything about tonight.”
“Well, we share that in common. Although I did like how you guys showed up with the car. That was really awesome, actually. To answer your question, if Barrett hadn’t woken, and thank you Barrett for being a light sleeper, I would have run up the stairs and then run down them.
I’m pretty sure that is what I would have done. ”
“Okay. Then at least I don’t have to obsess anymore about you two dying out there while I slept in here.” He paused, and in the quiet I could hear the wind outside—wind I was very glad not to be out in. “Sorry.”
I was sure we were going to fight sometimes. Didn’t everyone? But I squirmed. “I’m sorry too. I guess I shouldn’t have gone after him? Or found a way to stop him? Or…”
Julian shook his head. “Don’t let Jeremy get in your head. We’re not mad.”
“I’m really glad that I woke up.” Barrett yawned.
“But now I’m going back to sleep. And if Phoenix goes wandering because of whatever is happening, I’m going to lock him in a room somewhere for the rest of the night.
Yes, I think that probably his relapsing was to be expected.
I wish I knew more. I’ll find out more tomorrow. ”
Jeremy cuddled down against me. “I don’t do scared very well. Not when it comes to the people I love. Where would he even have gotten any drugs?”
Phoenix was breathing. For now that was all I needed to know. Barrett must have been on the same wavelength because I watched as he reached over on the bed to put his hand on his brother’s back.
Tomorrow we’d figure it out.
I let my finally thawing out eyelids close.
I woke to the pale hush of late morning, sunlight pooling weakly at the edge of the drawn curtains.
The room was quiet—too still, a kind of emptiness that pressed in around me as I registered, slowly, that I was alone.
That was pretty unusual for me in the morning.
I was usually the first up and they were all still with me or I knew where they were.
The chill that had clung to me from the blizzard seemed to have settled into my bones, heavy and unwelcome.
My throat prickled with the rawness of sleep, and my skin felt clammy, as if I had come through a fever and hadn’t quite escaped its grip.
Shit. I was sick. When was the last time I had been sick? I didn’t even know. It was a good thing I didn’t get sick much because no one would have taken care of me. This was different than the hospital when I had to come off the drugs.
For a moment, I lay there, hoping the grogginess would dissipate, but it only deepened, draping itself over my limbs like a wet blanket.
The ache behind my eyes pulsed in time with my heartbeat, and my breath tasted stale, tinged with the tang of having slept badly despite having slept long.
I tried to stretch, to summon some sense of normalcy, but my muscles protested—stiff, as if I’d run miles in my dreams. Or maybe it was the way I’d chased Phoenix through the snow and trudged around in it wearing my pajama pants and a t-shirt under my jacket.
The air in the room was cool, but no longer biting, and yet I shivered.
I remembered the wind from the night before, the endless shuddering cold.
Now, even bundled in layers and tucked beneath the covers, it felt as though I’d lost something essential in the night—a piece of myself that would only return with time and maybe some cold medicine.
I listened for voices—the comfort of someone else awake, bustling, moving through the house—but all I heard was the distant groan of pipes and the soft creak of the floorboards settling. My head spun a little as I sat up, and I pressed my fingers to my temples. Yep. This sucked.
I didn’t feel well, not in any dramatic, feverish way—more like I’d been chilled and my body decided to remind me of its limits.
I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin there, uncertain whether I wanted to move at all.
Even the thought of standing sent a wave of nausea through me, and I resolved to stay put, at least for now.
It was late—later than I’d meant to sleep.
Where were the guys? What had I missed? A faint, sour taste lingered at the back of my throat.
I tried to conjure the memory of laughter, of voices in the next room, but the house seemed emptied of them, as if I’d been left behind, a castaway.
No. That wasn’t true. They hadn’t done that.
This was just me not feeling well and letting those intrusive thoughts I always had into my consciousness.
I just didn’t feel well. Not at all.
I closed my eyes for a moment, listening to the silence, letting myself be tired. I really had no choice.
The door opened and Jeremy stood in the entrance. He frowned at me as he entered. “Hey, I was just coming to check on you.”
I lifted my head. “I didn’t hear anyone. I thought maybe I was alone.”
“Barrett took Phoenix to look at the shed. Now that the snow stopped. Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
I shook my head. “I think I am a little bit sick. Not the flu but like I am being punished for being stupid last night.”
He sat down, drawing me to him into a big hug. I groaned. “No, you’re going to get sick.”
“If I’m going to catch it, I already have.
We were snuggled all night.” He kissed my forehead.
“You do feel warm. Hold on.” He rose. “I am going to take your temperature.” Jeremy frowned.
I rubbed at my eyes. I needed to focus. It was like one thing was happening after another and I couldn’t really focus on any of it.
“I don’t know where the thermometer is here.
I know where it is in the big house. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
I hated thinking of him venturing out into the cold. “Jer, you don’t have to…”
He shook his head. “Yes I do. Julian,” he shouted while he left the room. “Alatheia is sick. Come sit with her. I’m going to get the thermometer.”
Julian appeared a second later, concern evident all over his handsome features. “You’re sick?”
“I guess I’m not tough enough for running around in blizzards.”
He groaned, sitting down where Jer had been before. He rubbed my back. “I am so sorry. We’ll call Eric. He’ll tell us what to do. If we need to find a doctor, we’ll go do that.”
I hoped I didn’t need to go to a doctor, although I had health insurance thanks to Kit putting me on the family’s plan since I worked for his mother.
Unless that changed because she was gone?
I chewed on my lip. “I probably just need some rest.” A thought dawned on me.
Barrett had taken Phoenix to look at the shed. “What was Phoenix on last night?”
Jules shook his head. “Would you believe he took a sleeping pill? One he found in the cupboard. Just an over the counter sleeping pill. We now know Phoenix can’t take sleeping pills.
And he is horrified and embarrassed. Jer read him the riot act, and Phoenix called Sam.
I think that’s all the information I have to fill you in on. ”
A sleeping pill? “Why did he do that?”
“Said he just wanted to pass out. Just not to think last night.” Julian kissed my cheek. “Feels like what went on between us was a week ago and not yesterday.”
He was right about that. “I loved it.”
“So much.” He kissed the end of my nose. “I love you.”
Jeremy ran into the room, carrying a thermometer. “Got it. Let’s see how sick you are.”
He rubbed it over my forehead, and it beeped. I felt like the last time I had my temperature taken it was with an ear thermometer. Then again I couldn’t remember doing that at the hospital.
Jer stared at the readout. “Yep. Just over 101. You’re sick.”
This sucked.