Darkest Day (22 page)

“What do you smell?”

“A rat.” Mac jerked free of my arms and ran back toward the table where we’d sat.

I raced after her, bumping into a few slow-dancing couples and apologizing on my way. She kept going, past the table, around toward the food and to the punch bowl.

She wobbled, the cup in her hand sloshing liquid and steaming on contact with her skin. “Whoa.”

I grabbed her by the waist and held tight as her eyes closed for a moment.

“Mac—”

She spun from my hold and swayed, one hand on the table. “It’s …” Her eyes focused and unfocused, blinking over and over. She waved at me before her entire body slumped forward in my arms.

Oh. God.

Across the room, Maddie smiled and gave me a little wave.

No, this is just coincidence. Maddie didn’t do this. Mac didn’t smell anything!

Call for Suze.
I’d been given permission to call him, and he to pop in, but that would bring a three-hundred pound demon into a room full of gyrating, probably horny, and very interested teenagers. Instead, I dragged Mac through the closest door and right into the convention center’s kitchen.

“Whoa, kid, you gotta—” One of the guys in a white coat held up a hand. “She okay?”

“No. I just need a chair or a couch, or something.”

“We got nothin’ in here.”

“Floor it is, then. Sorry, Mac.” I laid her down and knelt, keeping her head in my lap. Slipping a hand into my jacket pocket, I found my cell phone and pressed ‘1’.

“Hello?” Alina answered on the first ring.

“Hi.” Music poured in from the door as it opened and closed with crew bringing out food and more punch. “Mac’s been … um … Mac’s …”
How do I say it without all the people in the kitchen wondering more than they already do?
“Alina, just get Suze here without an explosion of light. Far back corner of the room. Kitchen door.”

“I’m on my way.” She clicked off as the door opened yet again.

“Everything alright?” Maddie asked, her bag clutched between two fingers. “I saw you guys going this way, and it looked like Mac was sick.”

“Does it look like it’s all right?” I asked.
And how did she see Mac from the front of the room?

She leaned down toward Mac, her chest and cleavage positioned so my eyes could do nothing but look. “Did she drink something? Eat something? Is she … dying?”

I narrowed my eyes.
Why would she ask if Mac is dying?
“I don’t know. I think she just fainted. Her mom’s on the way—”

“No! I mean, I can get a teacher … or something.”

Maddie never played dumb well, and at that moment, Mac’s incessant belief that Maddie had planned something wormed its way into my head.

“It’s okay, really,” I said. “She’s still breathing.”

The door swung open again, Suze ducking his head through. At least, dressed in a tux, his massiveness didn’t stand out as much as usual. “What happened?” He leaned down, picking up Mac in both hands.

“Not sure. She drank something and passed out,” I said as I stood.

Maddie turned from me to Suze and back again.

“I’m going to take her out the back door and … out.” Suze gave me a wink when Maddie turned back to me. “Meet me at … the doc’s.”

I wanted to ask ‘and by doc you mean Alina’s’? but with Maddie there, I couldn’t give anything away, so I went with, “Okay.”

Suze carried Mac’s draped form on his arms through the kitchen. I assumed, once he found a safe, private spot, he’d do his magic-flash and be gone with her.

“You want to dance, Winn?” Maddie asked.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you kidding? My girlfriend just passed out.”
And I want to take a sample of that drink to Alina.
“I’m going with her.”

Maddie grabbed my wrist as I pushed through the doors into the overwhelmingly noisy dance hall. “Please, Winn? Just one? I’m sure she’ll be okay.”

“How, Maddie? How can you be sure? Don’t you know I just lost my sister? Do you really think I’m going to stay here and dance with you when, for all I know, something really bad is happening?”

She didn’t let go. “What if I could promise you she’d be fine?”

Geez. Mac was right.
“What do you mean?” I made sure to give her my mad-angry-confused face complete with eyebrows drawn together, but I wanted to know more about what she meant to do and I knew Mac would want me to find out.

“I just mean … well … can you keep a secret?” She pressed in closer to me.

You have no idea.
“Yes,” I said.

“Ridge knows a guy who can do magic, and he slipped some into Mac’s drink because he wanted her to go out with him. I guess it backfired … you know, she fell asleep instead of went crawling all over him.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at the absurdity. “That’s ridiculous, Maddie.”

“No, it’s true! I promise.”

“Then, why isn’t everyone else falling all over themselves or onto Ridge? And your boyfriend is out there dancing with Kellie Monroe.”

Maddie spun, her fists clenched at her side. “I don’t know, Winn,” she said, facing me again. “And he’s not my boyfriend. I’ve just been doing what you all told me to do and making the best of my situation. Have since the moment we got paired up for that stupid project.” Tears welled in her eyes. “That’s just what he told me. He’s made me do all these things for him. Like lie and cheat, and stuff I don’t want to do. He’s horrible, Winn. Evil.”

My heart softened. “Then, why didn’t you say something? To me? To Caroline? To a teacher? Your mom? God, Maddie, your Mom’s—”
a goblin and known to play tricks.
“I gotta go.”

“One dance, Winn. Please!”

With a shake of my head, I raced for the exit.

• • •

Cool night air hit my cheeks as I pressed to unlock my car that my dad had brought and left for us in the parking garage.

I never saw the hand that wrapped around my mouth or pulled me backward away from the door, but as my legs went numb and my head loopy, everything else around me went black.

Mac

The throbbing in my head didn’t stop as I rolled over. With a push up, nausea roiled my stomach. My head lurched as my body pitched forward and everything that had once been in my stomach hurled its way to the floor—or somewhere outside of me—to some location I couldn’t see.

“Oh, darling. Let it out.” Alina’s soft voice crooned.

I swiped a hand across my lips, something sticky and solid running across it. The idea that I’d just rubbed vomit on my own skin made me spew more.

“Oh, god. I am so gonna die.”

“No, you aren’t. But this was the safest way to ensure that.”

Shaking my head produced a nausea-inducing tilt to my body and yet another purging of my stomach contents. “Please just let me die.”

Winn

Several rapid blinks left me dazed and confused. A turn to my right and the rubber and wheel of a car didn’t help me understand. Shifting to my left, another round black tire came into view.
Am I on the ground?
I reached forward, my hands dropping to a cold cement floor.
How did I get on the ground?
With a push up, I sat.

Between two cars.

Shaking my head to get the hamster wheel going again produced only a vague memory.
Did I head out to a car to get something? Did I mean to drive? If so, where are my keys?
Clenching my hand produced nothing. It didn’t make sense. A glance down and I realized I wore a tux.

A tux!

A tux.

A tux?

With a check over my shoulder, mostly to see if I had an audience, I stood. Cars filled the parking lot. I recognized none of them, not even the two next to me.

What is going on?

I rubbed at the side of my head as if that would help, but it brought no new information.

The click of heels made me turn. A girl raced from a door through the parking lot, her silver dress glittering under the few lights, blonde hair bobbing as she half-ran, half-walked in blue shoes.

Pretty. Definitely pretty.

“Winn!” she called out as she neared where I stood.

Winn. Yes, that’s me. Good, I can remember something.
With a cough into my fist, I said, “Hey,” not remembering her name.

She made it all the way to me and wrapped her arms around me. “Someone said you were attacked.”

Attacked? Then, why aren’t a bunch of people out here? Why don’t I look or feel attacked?
“I’m fine.”

The girl pulled back and ran her palms along my cheeks, my arms and connected her hand with mine. “I’m so glad. You know how rumors get started. One person sees something and—” Her hand waved in the air near my face, the scent of lavender wafting under my nose. “I think we should just go home.”

Home? I remember home. I think. How do I get there?

Not wanting to feel foolish, I said, “Okay, but I’ve got a headache. Maybe you should drive?”

She smiled. “No problem. You just let Maddie take care of everything.” She directed me to the car to my right where a set of keys dangled from the door.

“Who would leave—” I started.

“Oh, you know, people do that all the time.”

I had to be looking at her like some confused lunatic. Even I knew my forehead creased and un-creased over and over. “Maybe we should …”
Should what? Get help? For what?

She opened the door and said, “Get in Winn,” in a forceful tone yet with a smile on her face.

My body moved to the other side as if compelled to go there. The scent of brown sugar and honey crossed through my sinuses; it drew me forward, but in a way that made me wary. I’d breathed that in before. Somewhere, at some time,

I know that smell.

I stood back up, my hands perched on the roof. “Maddie—”

“Get in the car, Winn.” Again the command came with a wide grin.

Doctor. Doctor. Why does that sound so important but not for me?

If my inner mind-struggle showed, she didn’t mention it.

“Winn!” Maddie’s biting tone brought me out of my thoughts. “Get. In. The. Car.” She tapped on the roof, her fingernail clicking against the steel.

Go? Don’t go? Go? Don’t go?
The metaphoric angel and devil sat on my shoulders yelling into my ears.
Why am I even questioning myself?

Nothing made sense.

“Winn! Get in the damn car!”

Despite the inner nagging, I complied.

21

Winn

Maddie navigated the car over a long driveway, all the way to a house that held a bizarre familiarity; it sat in the middle of a landscaped field, the surrounding grass and closing-in trees giving it a lot of privacy.

She drove straight into a garage and parked. “We’re here. Come on.”

I nodded and stepped from the car. Around two other vehicles, I followed her up a few steps and into a comfortable wood-panelled foyer. We continued through to a living room with leather couches, a vaulted ceiling and huge fireplace with stone surround. Again, a familiarity hit me, but I couldn’t place it.

An image on the TV had been frozen with a man and woman in mid-conversation as a woman walked in the room from a kitchen, a bowl in hand. “Oh! Maddie, you’re home—and … you brought Winn?” The woman cocked her head.

“Yeah, Mom.” Maddie dropped her purse to a side table. “Dance was over.”

She knows me. Why can’t I remember her? Maybe she just saw me at school?
The mom didn’t walk any farther in, but stood there, still holding the bowl, eyes darting back and forth between Maddie and me.

“Winn?” the mom asked. “Would you have a seat for a moment?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thank you. Madeline … please come in here.”

I moved to the couch. The two women disappeared through an open archway. Hushed voices and sounds carried through the space, but I couldn’t make out any of the words.

Sitting there with nothing to do, I pulled on my tie until it fell around my neck. With a yank, I eliminated the two top buttons that dug into my Adam’s apple.

The sounds from the other room ratcheted up to a higher pitch but still unclear.

A moment later, Maddie walked out, a smile on her face. She slid onto the couch next to me and fingered the bowtie. “Sorry about that. My mom’s a little weird about visitors.”

I scooted an inch away.

“Want to come upstairs? We have some extra clothes if you want to change.”

“Um …” Something inside tugged at my brain, yelling at me not to go. “Yeah, sure.” She stood, and I followed.

Maddie leaned back over her shoulder and said, “I’m going to show Winn to the bonus room.” Up a set of stairs and around a curve, she led me to a space with pink and white striped walls, a white bed with a pale girly-color bedspread and matching desk, wardrobe and bookshelf.

I stuffed my hands into my pants pocket and leaned against the frame of the door.

She walked to the window, undoing the blue bow around her waist and dropping it onto the top of a chair. “You can come all the way in.” Her body pirouetted toward me, her skirt flowing outward as she reached up and released the ringlets of curls that had been tucked up on top, and turned her back to me as I approached. “Unzip me?”

I reached out but immediately pulled my hand back.

“Really, Winn. I don’t bite.”

For some reason, I didn’t believe her. No matter how my mind argued with my subconscious, my body reacted in exactly the opposite way. That, too, sent a tingle of nerves through me as my hand moved to the top of the zipper.

Mac

Deep rubs of my upper back continued through each upheaval of whatever I’d downed hours before. Maybe days had passed. I couldn’t even tell, only that every muscle in my body hurt—especially those in my mid section.

With intense effort, I peeled open my eyelids. Splatters rained on my dress, and my eyes squeezed closed again as another heave threw me forward. “Oh, my god, Alina. What did you do to me?”

The surface where I sat shifted, probably Alina adjusting something. “Nothing more than an antidote.” The pressure on my back disappeared. “And it’s only been two hours.”