Chapter 34
34
I was back in the cave.
It was tiny, too small for me to stand. I was curled up on a ledge, listening to the rushing of water nearby. My body was numb with cold. There was something dead in the water near me; the rotting stench reached my nose when the current buoyed the corpse to the surface.
She’d pushed me. But they’d all betrayed me. I tried to scream, but my throat was too sore; nothing came out. I moaned and shuddered.
Someone—something—was hissing at me. I could just barely make out the words over the gushing of water.
Save her?
My eyes flipped open. My alarm trilled on the pillow next to me. I’d kept it turned down, not wanting to wake up anyone nearby when I got up to meet Jonah.
I sat up slowly, still disturbed by the nightmare. I’d had a similar one a few weeks ago, when I’d distractedly drawn a cave in art class ( Is this a cunt? ). This time, it had been more visceral. If I closed my eyes I could imagine the frigid water, the rotting smell.
I got up in the dark clothes I’d worn to bed and shrugged on my jacket. Outside, a crisp wind blew into my face, helping me fully wake. I shook off the last remnants of the dream. Time to focus.
Jonah leaned against the hot tub, silently watching me approach. In his leather jacket, he looked like James Dean waiting by his motorcycle. I felt a tug in my stomach, a sudden desire to grab him, pull his lips to mine. For him to lift me onto the edge, unzipping my jeans.
Whoa. Calm down. He’d never even hinted at being attracted to me. There was just something about this place. It had to be coming from Moon and Sol, the erotic energy in the air.
I tried not to look flustered as I walked up. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He stood, clicking on a flashlight and handing me a second one.
“Oh, nice. Thanks.” I turned it on.
“We’re lucky.” His voice was low. “High winds tonight. We’ll still try to be quiet, of course. But I was worried about someone hearing us.”
“Totally.” Sound traveled so easily in the desert. I paused, listening to the rushing and whistling of the wind. “So where do we start?”
“The spaces that we know for a fact people aren’t sleeping in. Save the riskiest for last.”
“Sure.” I followed him across the veranda and through the dining room. The normally cheerful space felt creepy and watchful, like shadowy people might be crouching behind the chairs. In the kitchen, Jonah opened a few cabinets, which were packed with huge bins of rice, flour, and other cooking supplies. I eased open the door to the walk-in pantry. The shelves held stacks of cans and plastic jugs of water.
“They’re ready for the apocalypse,” I said softly.
“No kidding. Let’s keep going.”
We continued down a hall off the back of the kitchen that opened into the lobby. Jonah quietly opened the desk drawers, pausing as he noticed the car keys.
“They just leave them here?” he muttered.
“I guess if different people are using the car, it makes sense to keep them near the front.”
After a quick search, we approached the courtyard. Against the backdrop of the burbling fountain, I wandered around, shining my light. The eyeless heads were even creepier in the dark.
So was the purple door. Had the curtain in the window moved? When I looked more closely, it was completely still.
“I want to see the statue.” Jonah leaned in, his breath tickling my ear.
I nodded, leading him up the stairs to the second floor, down the walkway, and towards the last door that led to the spiral staircase. We went slowly to avoid loud creaks and stepped out on the landing. The junk room. It felt like we were playing a game. C old… warm… warmer … There was an energy in the air, gathering around us.
I went immediately to the black-and-white painting of the figures and pulled it back. But when I shone the light behind it, there was nothing. Just a dusty open space.
The sudden absence shocked me. “Someone moved it.”
Jonah held up a hand, listening. Then I heard it too: similarly careful, quiet footsteps up the rickety staircase. He turned his flashlight off and motioned for me to do the same. We moved back into the room, crouching behind a pile of cardboard boxes.
The person walked into the room. They ambled slowly around the perimeter, shining their own flashlight into every crevice. They were getting closer.
I tensed, grabbing Jonah’s arm. At the last second, he shot up and aimed his light at them.
“Whoa!” She threw up her hands.
Jonah lowered his flashlight. “Mikki?”
She lowered her own, her voice hushed. “Jonah? And Thea ?”
“What are you doing here?” Jonah asked quietly.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Instead of her usual fashionable attire, she was in a sweatsuit and sneakers.
No one spoke.
I glanced at Jonah. I wanted to trust Mikki, but how could I? After all, I’d just been musing about the idea of plants. I knew Jonah was a good actor; Mikki could be even better.
“What, you think I followed you in here?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” I glanced at Jonah, who watched her carefully.
“Well, you clearly weren’t following me, so I guess I’ll tell you. I’m a journalist.”
Steven’s words came back to me: Whatever you’re looking for, you’re not allowed to share it. If you’re, you know, a journalist or something.
“Investigating…” Jonah prompted.
“Moon and Sol. You?”
“A missing person,” I said. Jonah shot me a warning look.
“Oh.” Her eyebrows jumped. “Okay, that’s interesting.”
“Why don’t we find somewhere better to talk?” Jonah gestured.
“The roof?” I asked. “There’s a platform that’s pretty high up. And with the wind, I don’t think anyone will be able to hear us.”
“You’ve been up there?” Jonah looked surprised. He and Mikki followed me up the rickety staircase and out the door. I again slipped off a shoe to prevent the door from closing. Up here the wind was more intense, and I settled myself onto the ground by the door. No way was I getting near the edge.
It was a beautiful night view, the crescent moon and stars shining over the flat, rolling landscape.
“So how do we do this?” Jonah asked. The three of us instinctively huddled together; it was cold up here.
“Why don’t we share what we know?” Mikki asked.
“I can’t believe you’re a journalist.” I shook my head. “You seemed so… suspicious of everything.”
She smirked. “I thought it’d be a good cover.”
I thought of her session, how she’d slept with her best friend’s husband. Had that all been a lie?
“Who do you work for?” Jonah asked.
“I’m freelance.” She pulled her hood over her head.
“So what are you investigating about Moon and Sol?” I asked.
“I used to live in LA, and my friend and I would go to this bougie yoga studio. Well, she’d go, because she could afford it, and I’d use her guest passes. There was this teacher that my friend loved, but I found kind of intense. Fast-forward ten years. I’m listening to this relationship podcast that Apple recommended to me—don’t judge—and I recognize the voice. It’s her. Sarah. But she’s calling herself Moon. And…” Mikki paused for dramatic effect. “She has a Mexican accent.”
“ What? ” I said.
Jonah leaned forward, his forehead creased. “So when she was teaching yoga…”
“No accent. Well, a very faint Southern one.” Mikki shrugged.
“Wow.” Moon’s whole persona was built on her traumatic past, growing up in a dangerous city in Mexico where her father had disappeared and her brother and childhood crush had died. Had she made everything up? The thought made me feel suddenly nauseous.
“She’d been presenting as white up until a few years ago,” Mikki went on. “Obviously, other people have done things like this, but no one’s found out yet. The podcast is in the top fifty in the relationships category; their audience is big and growing. This is going to be a huge story when it comes out.”
“Do you have any proof?” Jonah asked.
“I was able to get her last name from the yoga studio. Unfortunately, she was going by Sarah Smith—pretty impossible to track with normal search methods. But I did find her picture on an acting profile from eight years ago.”
“Sol told me he and Moon met at an audition.” I glanced at Jonah. “Sorry I forgot to fill you in. But I was thinking they must’ve met Catherine in LA.”
Jonah nodded, then turned to Mikki. “What else did you find out?”
“Well, I saw this negative comment on Reddit—”
“I did too!” I broke in. “I even wrote to them. But they never wrote back.”
“Maybe he’s having second thoughts after talking to me.” Mikki rolled her eyes. “He was a little cryptic but said he wanted to help me. Apparently he was living here for a while, a few months. He didn’t know Moon was lying about her background, but he said he wasn’t surprised. He also told me that Moon and Sol use tactics to keep people in line. They have some kind of philosophy that he found disturbing, though he didn’t say what it was. But he did send some photos from his time here.”
“Can we see?” I asked. Maybe there would be some of Catherine. Jonah had already found proof on Facebook, but the more, the better.
“Yeah, I’d actually like to show you one in particular.” She tapped at her phone and held it out. It was one of the ubiquitous group shots—two rows of people, arms slung around one another, identical grins.
“There she is!” I pointed to the redhead in the back. Relief surged through my chest. I was finally seeing it with my own eyes: Catherine had been here.
“Yup.” Jonah zoomed in on her. Her smile was big but somehow fake-looking; it didn’t extend to her eyes. Her necklace sparkled, catching the sunlight. A gold chain with a diamond: the same exact necklace that Moon always wore.
“Go to Moon,” I directed. Jonah did and I pointed. “They’re both wearing the same necklace.”
Jonah zoomed out; no one else appeared to be wearing one.
“Oh my god.” I pointed to the man next to Catherine: shaved head, broad shoulders, with a deep cleft in his chin. “That’s him!”
“Who?” Jonah asked.
“The Australian guy who came to the hospital claiming he was Catherine’s therapist. Clint.”
“Yeah, Clint. He’s my source from Reddit.” Mikki glanced at me.
If he was spilling to journalists, clearly he wasn’t working on Moon and Sol’s behalf. So why had he shown up at the hospital? Had he known people would drag Catherine back here? Had he been trying to warn her?
“Keep looking.” Mikki gestured at the screen. “There’s someone else you need to see.”
Moon and Sol were in the front and center, arms wrapped around each other. Steven stood next to Moon with his usual trademark scowl, even in this happy scene. Grace was also in the back row, though her hair was neon pink instead of orange. Another woman stood next to her, her face almost hidden underneath a baseball cap. Middle-aged? Slightly older? She was smiling, that much was clear.
“Her?” I zoomed in. The sun was bright and her face was in shadow, but the mole just below her mouth was unmistakable.
My breath locked in my throat. It couldn’t be.
But it was.
The woman in the back row was Karen.