Chapter 40 Caulder
Caulder
“There,” McCullough says, pointing ahead. “The house.”
I follow his arm, squinting in the darkness. There’re the lights outside, flickering softly, illuminating some of the front. But most of it—the majority of it—is pitch-black, as if it’s been abandoned. There’s no soft glow from the windows like there was when we left.
Terror blooms in me, coursing through every vein.
Not the same terror from when I thought Emerson was attacking me.
Not even the terror from when I saw Mr. Jay’s body or Javi’s jacket sleeve or Marlene’s bloody clothes.
This is the terror that comes from knowing that, when we open that door… Avery might be the body we find inside.
No, I growl at myself. No, I won’t think that way. Avery can’t be dead. Hell, she probably would take one look at the killer and tell them it’s not in her plan for today, so no thank you. The thought brings on the smallest smile, and I increase my pace.
“Hang on,” McCullough says. “What happened to the power?”
He’s clearly seeing the same thing I’m seeing.
“Must be the storm,” I say, even though there’s not even mist in the air now. I hope it’s a sort of delay thing, or maybe the wind.
But McCullough isn’t convinced. He puts his arm out in front of me, making me stop.
“I don’t know about this, Caulder,” he says. “When we left, the power was on. Do you think this is some kind of signal?”
I don’t follow his logic. Cutting the power as a signal seems, well, dumb in terms of a signal, and not something I can see Avery doing. More likely, she’d try to flash a light or something.
“I doubt it,” I say. “If anything, I think this means they’re in trouble. We should hurry.”
I start to move again, but he grabs my shoulder, keeping me in place. I throw off his arm, pissed now that he’s keeping me away from Avery.
“I’m not staying out here if they’re in danger,” I snap at him. “We have to help.”
“Caulder,” McCullough says slowly. “We have to accept that they might be beyond help. Christine—Ms. Dorman—knew the risk she was taking. We have to protect ourselves.”
I stare at him like he’s grown a second head. “Fuck that. I’m going in.”
And now, I don’t give him the chance to grab me. I duck under his arm and bolt toward the house, splashing mud all over my already-soaked clothes. I race up to the door and fling myself at the knob, throwing my body into turning it.
But it’s locked.
That has to be a good sign, doesn’t it? They wouldn’t lock the door if they…if someone had gotten in.
I rattle the doorknob and pound on the door.
“Avery?” I yell, louder than I probably should. “Avery, are you okay? Avery, it’s Caulder, let—”
The door flies open, and for a moment, I’m frozen, staring at bright green eyes that are wide at the sight of me, at her lips, slightly open.
“Caulder?”
The moment breaks, and I go flying inside. Avery throws her arms out to catch me, but I’m too big, and I crash forward, sending us both to the ground. I manage to turn so I don’t smash her, instead bringing her down in a heap on top of me.
If her eyes were wide before, they’re wider now.
I wait for her to scurry away, to show her disgust at how close we are—but she stays where she is, her chest on my chest, her legs flung out to the side, her face hovering above mine.
She’s staring at me as if she doesn’t believe I’m real, and she reaches out a hand and touches my cheek.
“You’re alive,” she says, and her eyes actually start to sparkle with tears. “You’re alive.”
I sit up, and she reaches her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder as she sobs. I don’t know what to do, not really, until finally, I put my arms around her and just hold her tighter and let her cry.
“You asshole,” she mumbles against my neck.
It forces a laugh out of me. Only Avery could be hanging on to me for dear life and insulting me at the same time.
“Ahem,” a voice interrupts, and Avery jumps and looks up.
Kaitlyn’s standing there, one hand on her cocked hip, and something between shock and a smirk playing across her face.
“Well then,” she says, watching as Avery steps awkwardly away from me. “I guess Emerson was right.”
There’s something dark in her eyes that I don’t like, a kind of hatred. But also sadness. I spot tears as well, angry tears. And then it hits me: Javi will never come through that door. She’ll never hug him or touch him again.
Shame burrows in my gut.
“I expected better,” she says, looking Avery up and down, then turns and stalks back to the living room.
I exchange a glance with Avery—or I try to. She’s staring after Kaitlyn, bewilderment on her face. She follows Kaitlyn, attempting to say something, leaving me sprawled on the floor.
“We found Emerson, but he bolted for some reason, and we lost him again,” Mr. McCullough says, locking the door. “We figured he was headed back this way. And we found Marlene’s—”
“Caulder?”
A quiet, ragged voice yanks my attention to the left, where Marlene stands fidgeting with the edge of her sweater. I stare at her, unable to believe what I’m seeing. Now it’s my turn to say what Avery said to me.
“Marlene? You’re alive?”
She nods, a shy smile taking over her face before she notices Mr. McCullough behind me, her eyes going wide.
“You,” she says, her voice surprisingly cold. “What’re you doing here?”
Mr. McCullough tilts his head. “What am I doing here? Marlene—”
“Where were you?” she demands. “Where have you been?”
Mr. McCullough’s brow furrows at Marlene’s questions. He turns and looks at the rest of us, as if one of us will answer for him. But no one does.
“I went to get something from the van,” he says. “Forgot something. No big deal.”
Marlene and Kaitlyn exchange a look that ends with Kaitlyn raising her eyebrows in a silent question before she turns back to Mr. McCullough.
“Right,” she says, her tone ringing with an easy confidence that sets off a warning bell in my head. “Did you go up the main road? We tried the shortcut from earlier, and there was a mudslide in our way.”
Mr. McCullough nods. “Oh, yeah. I mean, the main road was easy. Straight shot. Like I said, just took a while—”
“Wrong,” Kaitlyn says. “The main road was not easy. Which tells me something very important, Coach.”
She tut-tuts, shaking her head. “You’re lying about where you were. Now, why would you want to do that?”