Chapter 9 Hailey’s Nightmare #2
As she woke in Holly’s bed to the smell of bacon and coffee and the sound of muffled voices in the kitchen, Hailey twitched her crusty nose.
Her head was pounding and full of snot from a long night of uncontrolled sobbing, which she thought ended with a visit from an Envoy, but now she wasn’t sure.
She felt her shoulder where she thought he’d touched her, and something quite unexpected happened.
Her heart leapt.
She wanted to see him again. Him—the one who pulled her and Holly from the house fire; the one who would have rescued Holly if only he could have; the one who watched over Hailey now, even though she couldn’t see him, protecting her from the evil Envoy—Cobon—who killed Holly…
though, why he killed her, she couldn’t quite remember. ..
Hailey staggered into the bathroom and twisted the sink faucet before looking in the mirror.
“Ah!” she yelled.
“Are yeh alright?” asked Pix through the door, and Hailey had to think about that.
“I think so…”
She surveyed her reflection. She had to do something, good lord, she looked a fright.
Her eyes were red and swollen, her face was unevenly puffy and her hair—her hair was a physics experiment.
It defied gravity, standing almost straight up and out like she’d been electrocuted.
She knew better than to let it dry un- corralled.
Still, it almost looked as if someone had teased her hair with a comb and hairspray while she slept.
She cranked on the shower and climbed inside.
By the time she got out, her puffiness had gone down, her headache had faded and her hair was in a more natural state.
When she joined the others in the kitchen for breakfast, they each greeted her with hugs and kisses, except for Fin. He sat in the corner and merely nodded as he wolfed down a piece of toast.
“Did you sleep well, dear?” Uncle Skeet asked as he pulled her chair out.
“I think I did.”
“Sorry we were so late in getting home. We didn’t wake you, I hope?” Pix said as he set a plate of breakfast in front of her.
“I didn’t even hear you come in.” She took a bite of bacon and suddenly realized how hungry she was. Made sense. She hadn’t eaten a thing in…days? She finished everything on her plate and drank two glasses of water before she said another word, and that word stunned the table into silence.
“Why did an Envoy kill Holly?”
The brothers froze, most of them mid-bite, and they looked at each other in shock. Then they all shot their anger at Fin, who looked just as surprised as everyone else. He shook his head and shrugged as if to say, “Don’t look at me!”
Hailey looked patiently at each of her uncles, her grandfather, and Fin, but they each looked to someone else expectantly, and in the end, nobody answered her.
“Somebody…” Hailey said. “Anybody?”
“Where did you hear that word?” Uncle Pix finally said in a horrified voice, as if Hailey had just dropped an f-bomb.
“I don’t know.” That was the God’s honest truth—she had no idea where or even when she’d first heard it. “In a dream, I think.”
The brothers exchanged worried looks.
Perhaps now was not the time to mention the Envoy on the balcony last night, she thought.
Hailey drummed her fingers on the table.
Suddenly, everyone was too busy pushing food around their plates to talk to her.
One revelation was sufficient for the day, she determined.
If she delivered another shock, one of her uncles might have a coronary and keel over.
She decided to just let the dust settle and changed the subject.
“Fin said he’d take me to the funeral home today to see the bod—” Hailey cut herself off and took a deep breath. “—to see Holly,” she corrected, as her chin trembled.
The brothers turned angrily to Fin again, who was acutely and completely engrossed in reading the wax paper cover on the butter and refused to look up.
“I’ll drive you myself,” Pix grumbled. He pointed his finger at Fin. “And you,” he ordered, “you stay away from Hailey. She’s not one of yer innumerable conquests!”
“You just told me this morning to look out for her,” Fin said, dropping his fork and holding his palms up.
“You can look out for her from a distance—arm’s length or further!” Pix’s face went red when Fin rolled his eyes.
“Fine.” Fin sat back in his chair and gazed at Hailey.
Hailey didn’t feel like she needed Fin looking out for her at all. She had an Envoy watching her back. What could be more secure than that? However, there was nothing in the world more soothing than riding in Fin’s car.
“Uncle Pix,” Hailey said timidly, “may I please ride with Fin today?”
Pix looked like he was going to blow a gasket. He opened his mouth to say no, but as soon as he saw Hailey cringing away, he sighed and dropped his shoulders.
“You may,” he said smiling at her, but then he shook his fist at Fin. “You keep yer hands to yerself!”
Fin, sitting safely out of Pix’s reach, winked at Hailey.
“I saw that,” Pix hollered from the kitchen.
Fin pushed back from the table and helped Hailey with her chair.
“We’ll meet you there,” Hailey called as she and Fin walked out the door. “We have to make a quick stop along the way,” she informed Fin when they reached his car.
“I’ll take you wherever you want, Hailey,” he said, sounding distressed as he opened her door.
Hailey froze and looked up at him.
“Are you alright?”
His eyes bounced around the ground a little before he looked at her. “I’m sorry about last night,” he said softly, his head slightly bowed. “I don’t even know why I left, and I didn’t even realize I was driving 'til I hit the tunnels…”
Hailey didn’t know what to say, but she did know she wouldn’t try to conjure her feelings from last night.
Never had she been as low as she was when she realized Fin had abandoned her, and that was the last place she wanted to dwell.
The muscles in her throat pulled, and her eyes stung as she looked at him.
“No worries,” she said, taking his hand and smiling through her tears. She trusted he had a darn good reason for leaving, and she believed he regretted it. “Thanks for coming back,” she added and patted his hand before she got in the car.
Fin held onto her hand for several seconds after she was seated, so long that she looked up to see if he had something else on his mind.
He only gazed at her.
“Fin?” Her cheeks heated. “Can I have my hand back?” She smiled but couldn’t look him in the eye. He let her hand slide out of his and closed her door.
“Could we stop at the church?” she asked with misty eyes after he started the car. “I want to light a candle and say a prayer for Holly.”
“Church is a safe place,” he said, and Hailey cocked her head at him. He threw the car in gear. “Envoys are afraid of God.”