Page 20 of A River of Crows

“Both, Lo.” Mom spread her arms out and tilted like she was soaring. “Ridge has wings now. He can fly in the sky and swoop into the creek. My boy always wanted to be a crow, and now he is.”

Sloan shut her eyes tight as her mother continued her mock flight around the living room. She can’t help it, Sloan reminded herself. Nobody chooses to be crazy.

Just then, Dylan Lawrence flashed into her mind. No, Ridge wasn’t at the creek. He wasn’t a crow, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was gone.

Sloan had just put Caroline to bed a few hours later when the phone rang. She snatched it up before the second ring.

“May I speak to Sloan?” the voice was unfamiliar.

Sloan folded her legs up under her. “Who’s this?”

“Felicity.”

The name rang through Sloan’s head like a cymbal crash.

“Please don’t hang up,” Felicity said.

Sloan wanted to do more than hang up. She wanted to throw the phone across the room.

But somehow, her body had become petrified stone.

“I’m sorry about the store,” Felicity said. “I just wanted to talk.”

Sloan gripped the phone tighter. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“Have you been watching the news? Logan Pruitt. Dylan Lawrence.”

“Yeah, a little.” Sloan tried to sound indifferent, as if those two names hadn’t been on a constant loop in her head all evening.

“Don’t you wonder, Sloan? You have to wonder. It happened right around the same time as—”

“Don’t say his name.” Sloan clenched her teeth. “Don’t act like you care. Like you loved him.”

Felicity cleared her throat. “I know Dylan. I mean, I know who he is. He’s a music teacher there in Mallowater. I emailed him and told him I’d like to talk.”

Sloan shifted in her seat. “And?”

“And he’s agreed to meet with me. I’ll do it alone, Sloan, but I’d like you to come.”

“What about your family?” Sloan spat out that last word.

“They think I should leave well enough alone. But I can’t. Something’s not right here. I think deep down, under your anger, you realize that.”

Heat burned in Sloan’s cheeks. “You know nothing about my anger.”

“Of course I do.” Felicity’s voice sharpened for the first time in their conversation. “I got hurt too. We all did.”

“Don’t call me again.” Sloan ended the phone call and then yanked the cord from the wall.

Chapter 8

Mallowater, TX, 1988

The police called off the search on day six of Ridge’s disappearance. Sloan returned to school on day eight. Mom said they needed to get back to some “sense of normalcy.” Like anything could ever be normal again.

Even her school didn’t feel right without Ridge in it. No one seemed sure how to treat Sloan. Even her friends avoided her. Only Noah met up with her at recess and waited for her after school to board the bus. He walked her home from the bus stop every day, even though his house was closer.

So, when Sloan spotted Noah’s mom waiting for them at the bus stop Friday afternoon, she sensed something was wrong.

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