Page 33 of Skalterra By Nightmare
I ran out before she could see the guilt on my face.
Maybe Mom was wrong to ask this of me, but she’d never been wrong before. She wouldn’t ask me to do something so horrible without good reason.
There was definitely something she wasn’t telling me, though. I wasn’t naive enough to let that go unnoticed. My resentment for it grew with each shop I ducked into, until I had a hearty stack of flyers in my hands. I shoved them into a trashcan, hoping Liam wouldn’t pass by and see them.
“Wren!” Liam called from across the street. I jumped at his voice, but his kind smile told me he hadn’t seen me throwing away his hard work. “Over here!”
I bounded across the road to meet with him and Sabrina. Their stack of flyers was considerably lighter than it had been when they’d set off without me. I tried to gauge my memory of how many they’d started with against how many I’d just shoved in the trash, hoping I got most, if not all of them.
“I already did the shops down that way.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “I think we’ve papered the whole town.”
Liam cocked his head at me, and I tried to tone down my enthusiasm just a touch. I was overcompensating.
“That’s great.” Sabrina smiled, flashing white teeth behind red lipstick that stood out against pale, smooth skin. “On to the next town?”
I kept my smile in place. The next town. I’d have to chase after them all afternoon, pulling down posters when they weren’t looking.
I wondered if they knew what secrets Mom was so scared of being discovered. At least the drive gave me an excuse to poke for answers.
The car had heated up again in the sun, but I ignored the sweat beading under my hoodie as I leaned between the driver and passenger seat.
“Tell me about Keel Watch Harbor,” I said, straight to the point. I’d never been a tactful person.
Sabrina laughed.
“You know just about everything there is to know already,” she said. “And to be honest, after you ran out of dinner last night, I wasn’t left with the impression that Keel Watch is somewhere you care about that much. ”
She pulled back onto the two-lane highway. Liam kept his window up this time, sitting instead with his head turned precariously, so I knew he was watching me without looking at me straight on.
“I care.” I shrugged defensively. “If I get into Von Leer, I might live with Gams during the school breaks. It’s closer to campus and the train station connects directly to the university town.”
“I think Keel Watch would like that.” Sabrina smiled at me in the mirror. “Everyone loves Ethel, but we all worry about her living alone like she does.”
“She’s got Jonquil,” Liam reminded her.
“That old bag?” Sabrina snorted, and I cracked a tentative smile. I wasn’t Jonquil’s only enemy.
“She’s a precious baby.” Liamwouldbe Team Jonquil. “But, yes. Ethel needs more than a cat and ceramic chickens to keep her company.”
“Those chickens keep us all company.” The car swerved as Sabrina leaned over to pull open the glove compartment. A purple chicken fell out into Liam’s lap. “I think I’m nearing my tenth one.”
“Oof, she must not like you very much, then,” Liam retorted. “I’ve got twenty-two.”
I thought back to the cross-hatched chicken Gams had brought me earlier that day. It was the only chicken she’d given me, and suddenly I felt very much like Mom had robbed me of a happy, close-knit upbringing in Keel Watch Harbor.
I’d always thought her publishing career had been what dragged us away from her hometown and away from Gams, but after that phone call, I wondered if there was another reason.
“So everyone in Keel Watch is nice, then?” I pressed. “There’s no town weirdo lurking somewhere?”
Sabrina and Liam shared a bemused look.
“I guess Gladys is a bit overly enthusiastic about most things, and she likes to lurk in other people’s business,” Sabrina offered.
“But she’s not a weirdo,” Liam said with just a touch of defensiveness.
“No, the only weirdo in Keel Watch is that loser Liam Glass.” Sabrina laughed as Liam struck a face.
Maybe this was the wrong way to go about it. Sabrina and Liam loved Keel Watch Harbor as far as I could tell. They’d never air out its dirty laundry.
