Chapter 40
RED MEANS DANGER
MORGAN
“Wow, I would have sworn that was real,” I said.
My breath hung in the cold morning air like a little cloud. I shivered. I would normally want to stay inside on a day like today, but Nelson was showing me some of the geocaches he’d placed around Willow Lake. The whole thing was fascinating, and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
I tugged off the mitten I’d taken from my borrowed stash of clothes and brushed my finger over the cap on the top of a fence post.
“It isn’t even metal,” I whispered.
“You can look inside,” Nelson said.
The park was empty—the cold was obviously keeping everyone else inside this morning.
But I glanced around to make sure no one was watching anyway.
I didn’t want them to find the cache just because they saw me doing something with it.
That’d be cheating, even if Nelson had taken me right to this cache.
This one was the exception because I was learning. The next one I’d find all on my own.
I lifted the fake cap from the post and squealed at the treasure inside. There was a small shiny stone, a pin advertising the Willow Lake Pub, a magnet with a wolf on it, and a small toy RV.
“Holy crap, this is so cool. I never would have imagined you could fit so much stuff inside.”
Nelson looked at the contents. “I don’t think anyone has found this one yet.”
“Because this is all stuff you put here?”
He nodded. “When someone finds a cache, they will often exchange something in it for another item. The cache changes over time.”
“Like it has a life of its own, changing and evolving,” I said.
He shrugged.
I oohed and aahed over each little thing, before putting them all inside the container again. Before I closed it up, though, I tucked in a glittery sticker of a unicorn that I’d picked up from Sparkle and Spice, a little gift store on Main Street.
When Nelson and I had been talking about caches, I decided I needed a signature bit of swag. For now, it was unicorn stickers because that’s all I could find in Willow Lake. Maybe I’d get some little plastic unicorns too. Or rainbow keychains. Or…
Honestly, there were so many possibilities it almost made me giddy with anticipation.
When everything was back in place, I adjusted my woolen hat, pulling it down over my ears a little more, and looked at my mate.
“What next?” I blew on my hands. Even though I was wearing my mittens again, my fingers were still cold.
“How about some hot chocolate?”
“With marshmallows?”
“I’m sure that Parker even has whipped cream.”
“Deal.”
I slipped my hand into Nelson’s, and we walked to the Flying Rowan Café. The streets were as empty as the park this morning, but a quick glance through the windows of the café showed that the place was packed. Obviously, everyone was warming up there.
As soon as we walked inside, the heat made my cold cheeks sting, but that wasn’t what made me smile. It was the conversation and laughter and the smell of sugary treats.
“I love it here!”
I worried Nelson wouldn’t like to be around so many people, but he didn’t look uncomfortable. Maybe being in a crowd was okay because no one was looking specifically at him. In a crowd, he could blend in, a bit like how his shadow form blended into the shadows.
“Let’s get in line,” I said, dragging him toward the counter. “It smells amazing.”
Someone slammed into Nelson and splashed their mocha all over him. Nelson froze. I burst out laughing at the look of shock on his face but quickly slapped my hand over my mouth.
I swatted at the bubbles that had escaped from my mouth and prayed no one saw them. Then I cleared my throat. Fighting the urge to laugh was never easy. The less you wanted to laugh, the more likely you were to do it.
But I managed to keep the bubbles under control.
Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at us. Nelson went a little blurry around the edges. Damn it. And he’d been doing so well a moment ago.
The young woman who’d doused him looked mortified. She was slapping a soggy paper napkin against his face. I didn’t know how the drink had ended up all the way to his forehead, but somehow it had.
“Stop.” Nelson grabbed the woman’s hand and removed it from his face. “That’s enough.”
She mumbled an apology, then scurried out the door with her head down. She dropped her now empty cup in the trash as she left.
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up? I can order. What do you want?”
“A black coffee,” he grumbled.
I brushed a kiss on his cheek. Unable to resist, my tongue darted out to lick a little drop of chocolate coffee from his skin before I pulled away. “You taste good.”
He rolled his eyes, then made his way to the back of the restaurant where the bathrooms were.
I was almost at the counter when my phone rang.
I glanced at the screen. Shoot. It was Violet.
After missing her calls for so many days, I didn’t dare ignore any more.
I sighed and stepped out of the queue and made my way to the small entrance area where I wouldn’t bother anyone by talking on the phone.
When I answered, it wasn’t Violet who spoke. It was Gary.
“Thank fuck,” Gary said. “Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Violet’s missing,” he said. “She’s in danger.”
“What? What happened? How do you know she’s in danger?” I rushed outside. I looked up and down the street, as if I’d be able to find her just like that.
“I see you. Stay there.”
A flashy red sports car—the kind that most people put into storage for the winter—blasted down the street. It skidded a little on the icy roads but stopped in front of the café. A window rolled down, and Gary beckoned me forward.
“Hurry. Get in,” he said. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“To get Violet.”
“You know where she is?” I glanced toward the restaurant. I didn’t see Nelson yet. He was probably still cleaning up. “We need to tell the police. What happened anyway?”
“I’ll explain on the way.”
“I need to tell Nelson where I’m going.”
“We can’t wait.”
“But…”
“He can’t fit in here anyway,” Gary said.
His phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, then flashed it toward me.
There was a picture of Violet. She was tied up.
Tears streamed down her face. She looked furious.
The message read “Every minute you delay, she’ll lose a finger.
When those are gone, we’ll move to her toes. ”
I was going to puke. Or pass out.
I still didn’t see Nelson, but I couldn’t wait. Violet was… Violet. She’d dropped everything to try to save me. Of course I’d do the same for her. It wasn’t even a question.
But what made me hop in the car was that everything Gary said was true. His words didn’t make my skin itch.
As soon as the door closed, Nelson rushed onto the street. He looked frantic.
“Wait… There’s Nelson. Let me…”
Gary gunned it down the street.
“Gary! Holy horseshoes! What are you doing?”
“What I have to,” Gary said.
Then a sharp pain stabbed my thigh.
“What the—" I turned around to see a needle sticking out of my leg.
A floaty, fuzzy sensation fluttered through me. I couldn’t feel my fingers and toes. Then my arms and legs. Then I felt nothing at all.