Page 30 of Violet Spark
For some reason, his phrasing sent a twinge through me. “My EldWitch died,” I corrected.
“Whatever. Anyway, Brayden and SunSummoner both went dark. Totally. No tower pings to either phone, nothing. Who does that? Maybe he felt bad about getting you killed.”
“He didn’t get me—” I stopped myself. “So he hasn’t been online anywhere? How about in real life?”
“What?”
“In. Real. Life. IRL. Face time. Meatspace. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
“Sounds shitty.” More tapping. “I’ve never met him outside the game or chat.” More tapping. “How do you know he’s missing? Maybe he just ditchedyouin real life too.”
I snapped. “Why are you being such an asshole about this? He’s our friend.”
“I don’t have friends. And if I did, it wouldn’t be some… Wait a second.”
“Oh, I’m totally waiting to see where you were going with that,” I muttered.
“His burner phone did ping. Three times, looks like, same location. I missed it cuz I had the map zoomed in too close on you.”
I straightened in my cramped seat. “Where was he? When was that?”
“Yesterday. Looks like…” He laughed. “Lost Dutchman State Park? That’s funny.”
I was so done with people’s crappy takes on what qualified as funny. “Hysterical,” I said flatly. “Send me the GPS.”
“See? Boring. He’s just camping, or some shit. I hear people do that in real life.” Jacksalot laughed again, a jangling echo of my phone chime as the coordinates came through. “Just because he’s not with you doesn’t mean he’s missing.”
I slumped back. Camping? Brayden was way too geeky—not to mention pale—to be the type to camp in Arizona, wasn’t he? Did I not know him at all?
Obviously not.
But even as I sat there kicking myself, something chewed at the edges of my brain. I might’ve only kissed him once, so I couldn’t claim to know him well, but no way had Brayden left BantaMatrix to go camping without telling Daddy Alling.
I should tell Alling, or the police or someone—anyone—else about Brayden’s possible location. He probably had family, other friends, maybe even a real girlfriend who would be missing him.
But he’d come tomewith his secrets. I wasn’t special to him, really, just a stop on the way between Phoenix and the mountains, but for some reason he’d chosen me.
No one had ever chosen me before.
“Thanks for finding that,” I murmured.
“Hey, you owe me now—”
I disconnected the call, which left me staring at GPS coordinates in the Superstition Mountains. I found a map of the cell tower’s coverage zone, and yeah, there was the campground. I’d been by it before lots of times heading into the mountains to go to the lake.
If Brayden was hanging out there, chilling with beer and buddies—or even if he’d had a surprise romantic getaway—at least I’d be able to get some answers from him. What had he left at the Freeze for me? Why were his boss and some guy in a black suit so hot for him? And um…was he up for getting a cup of coffee when I wasn’t splattered in freezie mix?
Unless hewaswith another girl, in which case, WTF dude?
I slammed the Fiesta into gear with probably more vigor than necessary and left the strip mall behind me. I only had a few hours before sunset, but as Mom’s PT said, move it or lose it.
Redlining the wimpy engine, I headed east toward the Superstitions. Low clouds flattened the light—as if the surrounding land wasn’t flat enough—and made the huge rectangular hunk of rock darker. When I left the grid of residential streets behind, the rocks looked even more ominous.
Or maybe that was just me.
Jacksalot hadn’t tried to call back. What exactly did he think he’d get from me in return for his help? Great, another worry to add to my ever-lengthening list.
If Brayden had come up here, he’d definitely had a car, so it wasn’t like I’d be searching the saguaro and cholla on foot. But if he was in someone else’s car… Ugh. I couldn’t think about all the ways this search was bound to fail.
