Page 76 of Sunflower

“I’ll get rid of it,” George said, getting up from his seat. He picked up the bug and scarf, zipping them both up in their baggie before switching the jammer off and striding towards Urban Grind’s indoor seating area.

Boomerang watched him go and shrugged, before refocusing on my glove that was still rolled up in her tight grip. This time, when she connected to her maps, everything worked smoothly. She brought up an image of the world on her tablet, then unfolded my glove to get at Leland’s hair and dumped it into heropen bare hand. Tilting her head to the side, she stared at the hair, her eyes narrowing with focus, before she muttered under her breath, “Bloody hell, old man. What have you got yourself into?”

Initially somewhat amused that she called Georgeold man,just like Callum did, I shot an alarmed look at Callum. “I thought she was just going to scry for the location?”

While he watched her work her tablet, Callum leaned over to me and nodded. “That’s what she’s doing. She always receives something of a tease of the target’s frame of mind before her focus drills down on a current location.”

“So, he’s thinking about George right now?”

With his eyes still on Boomerang as she transitioned from a map of the world to a map of the Continental US, Callum nodded. “After what I saw earlier? It’s like nothing else exists other than George and how to bury him.”

Somehow, I felt like Callum meant that literally. Silently, I watched the man in question return, his hands now free of the baggie. George settled into his seat and leaned forward to watch the proceedings without a word.

The longer she focused, the more detailed the maps got. Soon, the map of California zoomed into an area that covered both Granmere, where Callum lived, and Hulwin, where our parents lived.

I held my breath as she hovered on this map for a moment. “He’s been focused on this total area for a good three weeks or so.” She gripped the hair tighter in her fist and frowned. “But as to his current location…” She moved the map around slowly, turning it this way and that until she was happy before zooming further in. “He’s in Hulwin.”

My heart stopped, and I stared at Callum in horror. No, not our parents. I grabbed his hand in terror. “Callum…” Oh, God.

“Looks like… Fletcher Lane, Hulwin.”

“George,” Callum said, his voice sounding just as worried as mine, and eyes frantic as he gripped my fingers so tightly that I felt the bones grind.

“On it,” George replied, already pulling his phone out and swiping at the screen.

“Sixty-eight Fletcher Lane, Hulwin.” Boomerang took a deep shuddering breath and lifted her head from the screen before noticing how frantic we all looked. With George on the phone, waiting for his call to connect, she looked at Callum with wide eyes. “What’ve I missed?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Joey

Itwasn’tuntilCallumshook me that I realized I’d zoned out.

So many thoughts kept running through my mind, each more horrifying than the last. Images of going home and finding Dad’s body covered in blood and lying in the kitchen or finding Erin’s body, neck broken and sprawled on the sofa, waiting for me and Callum to find after racing home.

“Mo lus na gréine,they’re going to be fine,” Callum said as he crouched in front of me, holding me by the shoulders and staring into my eyes, his own just as frantic as mine no doubt were. “They were going out, remember? They said they weren’t going to be home until later.”

An image of them being attacked from behind as they were messing around at the front door with their keys entered my brain.

“No, Joey,” Callum said emphatically, leaning forward until his forehead pressed against mine. “That’snotgoing to happen.”

“You can’t promise that,” I whispered, holding onto his forearms like they were the only thing anchoring me to this world. Remotely, I heard George and Boomerang on their phones, almost sounding like they were underwater, even though they were literally less than six feet from me.

“—don’t give a flying fuck that it’s Saturday night, and you’re on a date. I need you to grab Hellhound and head over to—”

“—not sure yet. No, Sav, no need for you to come into the office just yet. I’ll let you know if—”

“Hey,” Callum said, moving his hands from my arms to my cheeks and forcing me to look at him and not the two people pacing next to us. “Ignore them, okay? I know it’s hard, but I need you to help, okay? I’m going to call Mam, and I need you to call Barry. We’re going to keep calling them until one of them picks up, okay?” Staring deeply into my eyes, he nodded slowly, encouraging me to work with him. “Okay?”

Swallowing heavily, I nodded. “Okay.” I didn’t think it was my imagination that a look of determined relief spread over his face. With shaky hands, I grabbed my phone from my pocket and placed it on the table. It took three attempts to unlock it, another four to open my contact list and find Dad’s number. I didn’t think I’d be able to hold the phone to my ear, so I left it on the table and hit dial, then speaker.

The sound of a ringing phone soon filled the air.

One ring. Two rings. Three.

A tear ran down my face. Why wasn’t Dad picking up? He always answered my calls in the first three rings.

Four. Five. Six.

---