Page 36 of Shadow and Skulls

Kat rolls up beside us, and we both turn to smile at her.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Her gaze falls to her watch. “Why aren’t you in school?” she asks as it returns to me.

“Oh, there was an assembly today. I hate them. It was for all grades too, so even the little kids were going. Way too peoplely for me. I cut out of there early.” I tell myself to shut up, remembering how Dad always says it takes longer to tell a lie than the truth.

“I don’t remember Charlotte talking about an assembly. What was it about?”

Rolling my eyes, I lean against the car. “It wasn’t even on the school’s schedule. It’s just some boring senator … wait, no, congressman, giving a speech or something, but I wasn’t in the mood to suffer through it. I feel bad Charlotte had to go.”

How easily I slip back into my normal teenager persona.

Kat suddenly looks concerned.

“I was just getting ready to go back to the school,” I add quickly.

She starts her bike and turns it around. Something’s wrong. I don’t think she’s concerned I’m not in school. It’s something else … something much more serious.

“What’s wrong?” I yell as she guns out of the driveway.

“Get in,” JD says, pushing me toward the back of my car.

I run around and slide into the passenger seat. As soon as my door closes, JD whips around, spraying gravel over the yard.

“Call your mom and tell her we’ll be there in five,” he says, pulling out his own phone and putting it to his ear.

When she answers, I tell her exactly what he told me to say.

“I’ll be ready,” she says, hanging up without saying goodbye.

“Fuck!” he yells when whoever he’s called doesn’t answer.

“What’s happening?” I ask nervously.

“We’re going into lockdown.”

“What? Why?”

He glances at me before turning his attention back to the road. “I think Charlotte’s in trouble.”

My heart falls right into the pit of my stomach. I left her at school. All alone.

The second we pull up in front of Junkyard Creations, my mom comes running out with Jesse. JD fills them in as my mom slides in behind him, plopping down in the backseat of my car.

“Get to the warehouse. The guys should be pulling in any minute. Keep trying Jackson!” Jesse yells as she rushes across the street to her bike. “Tell Dirk I’m going to the school!”

“Goddammit,” JD says as he pulls away. “What the fuck is going on?”

I bite my lip, keeping quiet. This is all my fault. I should have stayed at school today. If I was at the assembly, I would have gone over and sat with Charlotte. We always sit together when the high school and elementary have combined activities. She probably wondered where I was at.

My mom reaches over the seat and squeezes my shoulder. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she reassures me.

The guys are just getting off their bikes when we pull into the warehouse parking lot. The second JD puts my car in park, I open my door and run toward my dad.

“Charlotte is in trouble,” I cry the second I’m within arm’s reach of him. He grabs me by my shoulders, holding me away from him so he can look me in the eye.

“Where is she?” he asks calmly.

I wave my hands around frantically, trying to tell him that I left her at school and how scared Kat looked when she tore out of the junkyard. Jackson rushes past us, heading over to Petey.

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