The Curse (Seacliff High Mystery Book 2) (13 page)

“No, I’m fine, and I don’t want to go home until I know they’re going to be okay. Ask my mom to bring me something to change into.”

Devon called Alyson’s mom and explained what was going on, and she said she’d come over immediately.

“My brother spoke to Stretch,” Mac informed them. “His parents aren’t home, but he’s left messages for them. My mom is going to pick him up to bring him here, and bring me dry clothes. Do you want me to have her bring something for you?”

“No, my mom’s coming.” Alyson stared at the clock on the wall. She had no idea how long they’d been waiting. It seemed like forever.

“What about you guys?” Mac continued. “She could stop off at Trevor’s and pick up sweats you guys could change into.”

“That’d be great,” Trevor said. “We might be here a while. I’ll call my sister to dig out three pairs of sweats.”

“Why haven’t we heard anything?” Alyson asked Devon. “Shouldn’t we have heard something by now?”

“It’s only been a few minutes.”

“Seems longer.” Alyson continued to stare at the double doors through which the rescue team had wheeled Spyder and V, willing them to open with news of their condition.

“I’m going to get us some coffee,” Devon said, looking around for vending machines.

“I’ll come with you,” Eli offered. “We’ll get some for everyone.”

Trevor went in search of vending machines with Devon and Eli, and Mac sat down on a chair next to Alyson.

“Are you okay? You’re as white as a sheet and you haven’t stopped shaking since we’ve been here. Maybe I can find someone to lend us a blanket.”

“Not cold,” Alyson mumbled quietly.

“Then why are you shaking?”

Alyson stared at the double doors without answering.

“I think she’s in shock,” Devon said, handing each of the girls a cup of coffee. “She was really worked up about finding Spyder and V, and then she had this huge adrenaline rush when the tunnel caved in around her. I think her system’s crashed.”

Alyson didn’t even hear her friends talking. Her eyes were locked on a man who was staring at her. He seemed familiar and yet she was sure she’d never seen him before in her life. She could sense that he wanted something from her, but she had no idea what. His eyes narrowed, and suddenly she knew. The gold pendant still hung around her neck. That was what he was staring at. He started to move toward her, but an orderly stopped him to ask him a question. He shook his head, glared at her one last time, then walked through the hospital doors and into the night.

“Anyone hungry?” Trevor asked, rejoining them with his arms loaded with stuff from the vending machines.

“Who’s going to eat all that?” Mac asked, noticing Eli’s equally full arms.

“We couldn’t decide what to get. Sandwiches or candy? Chips or peanuts? I guess we panicked and got some of everything.”

“Looks like a lot of everything,” Mac observed. “But I’ll take a sandwich and a bag of chips. I’m starving.”

“Alyson?” Trevor asked.

“Not hungry.”

Devon reached for a tuna sandwich. “I’ll see if I can get her to eat it.”

Alyson’s mom walked in while the others were chowing down on their snacks. “Oh, baby.” She hugged her. “Are you okay?”

Alyson looked at her mother, and some of the color returned to her face. “I’m fine.” She managed a smile.

“I brought you a change of clothes. Go take it in the ladies’ room while I help Blake load Tucker into his car. He followed me over and volunteered to take him home so I could stay and wait with you.”

“I think he’s a little shook up. He doesn’t like seeing me upset. I don’t think he’ll want to go with him.”

“Then why don’t you come out to help us load him before you change so he’ll know everything’s okay?”

“I wonder what’s taking so long.” Mac looked at the clock on the far wall after Alyson returned.

“That looks like one of the guys who took Spyder and V in,” Trevor observed, nodded toward the double doors.

“Your friends are in critical but stable condition,” the paramedic said. “They’re severely dehydrated and suffering from moderate cases of hypothermia.”

“Are they going to be okay?” Alyson asked.

“It’s too early to be sure, but I think the guy will be fine. He was conscious and lucid before the sedatives kicked in. He’s the one who filled us in on what happened. The female patient has yet to regain consciousness. She was hit pretty hard on the head. We’ll have to do some tests to see if there was any brain damage.”

“Can we see them?” Alyson asked.

“They’re out for the rest of the night. I suggest you go on home and come back tomorrow. We really need to speak to their parents. Has anyone notified them?”

“Spyder’s brother has been contacted and he’s on his way. Their parents weren’t home. He left messages for them.”

“Is his brother over eighteen?”

“No, he’s in the seventh grade.”

“I see. Do you know if he has any other family we can contact? Grandparents? An aunt or uncle?”

“I’m not sure.” Alyson looked toward the hospital doors. “I’ll ask his brother when he gets here.”

“And the female patient: has anyone contacted her parents?”

“There’s just a dad,” Mac said. “Trevor called him. He said he sounded drunk. We’re not sure if he’s coming.”

“The police officer who followed us to the hospital said he’d be out to talk to you as soon as he finished calling in his report. I’ll see if he can follow up on your friend’s father,” the paramedic offered. “Let someone know when the brother gets here.” He left them to talk to a nurse.

“Go change.” Sarah Prescott pressed the pile of dry clothes into Alyson’s arms. “I’ll wait here with your friends.”

While Alyson was changing, Mac’s mom showed up with dry clothes for the others. Stretch informed the nurse on duty that he had no grandparents but that he thought he had an uncle back East but wasn’t sure where. When the police officer joined them he promised he’d make sure V’s dad made it in and would track down Spyder’s parents. They didn’t want Stretch going home alone, so Mac’s mom volunteered to look after him until his parents could be located.

The gang decided they might as well go home to get some rest. Trevor called Chelsea’s cell to fill her in on the day’s events. Caleb was thrilled to hear his friends had been found and volunteered to bring Chelsea home. Everyone agreed to meet up the next morning to check in at the hospital to see how the patients were doing.

Alyson threw an extra log on the fire in her room, stripped off her clothes, and fell, exhausted, into bed. Her hands had been cleaned and bandaged, but the pain that had been forgotten in all the excitement seemed to intensify as she tried to relax. She flicked on the bedside lamp, wrapped a silk robe around her body, and stumbled into the bathroom in search of aspirin.

In bed, she tried to relax but was unable to fall asleep despite her fatigue. Images from the tunnel played across her mind. She could have died. In her dream she
had
died. Tears of pent-up stress coursed down her cheeks. She called Tucker up onto the bed, snuggled against his warm fur, and cried herself to sleep. Maybe tonight, she thought to herself as she drifted into unconsciousness, she’d have her first dreamless sleep in a week.

Alyson woke to the sound of the surf crashing on the rocks outside her bedroom window. She groaned as the sunlight from the bedroom window fell across her face. She felt like she had been beaten and left for dead. Every muscle in her body hurt. She looked at her bandaged hands and remembered. Grasping the pendant she still wore around her neck, she closed her eyes. It had rained on and off all night, but the sky that greeted Alyson outside her bedroom window on Saturday morning was sunny and dry, promising a perfect fall morning. When she opened the window the air was cool and crisp and the hillsides leading up to the ocean beyond were bursting with fall color. She especially loved the reds and oranges of the maples that grew beneath the tall evergreens that dominated the hillside, but this morning their beauty was lost on her.

Her mom must have come in and thrown another log on the fire at the foot of her bed. The fire was usually burned out by the time she awoke in the morning, but today it was crackling merrily, adding much-needed warmth to the room. Tucker thumped his tail in greeting as she struggled to get out of bed. At some point he had left her side and curled up on the rug.

Digging through her closet for the thick terry robe she had bought only weeks before, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” her mom greeted her from in front of the stove. “I made some coffee and breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. Mac called earlier. She’s on her way over; should be here any minute.”

“I guess I should get dressed.” Alyson poured herself a cup of coffee and stood with her back to the kitchen fire.

“Have your breakfast first. Mac didn’t say anything about any of the guys coming along.”

Alyson sat down at the kitchen table and wrapped both her bandaged hands around her coffee cup. Staring down into the dark liquid, she tried to clear her mind. Everything felt cloudy. “Did she say if she’d called the hospital?”

“Yes. Stretch ended up spending the night at her house and they called first thing this morning. Spyder is awake and alert, so Mac’s mom is dropping Stretch off at the hospital. His parents showed up sometime last night and they’ve been at the hospital ever since.”

“What about V?”

“She’s still unconscious. They found her dad but ended up arresting him because he tried to punch one of the police officers who went to his house to get him. He was completely drunk.”

“Is the hospital allowing visitors? Can we go see them?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe Mac will know more about it. We’ll ask her when she gets here. In the meantime you need to eat.”

Alyson’s mom set a plate with thick golden brown waffles with fresh apple compote in front of her. The waffles looked delicious. They smelled of cinnamon and ginger. Alyson took a small bite and chewed slowly. She was sure the waffles were totally to die for, but this morning they tasted like cardboard to her. She needed to see Spyder, to talk to him to be sure he was really okay. She needed to hold his hand and apologize for not getting to him faster. And she needed for V to wake up. Oh, God, she just had to be okay.

“Are you all right?” Alyson’s mom asked, concerned about her daughter’s blank stare.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for breakfast. I think I’ll go get dressed.”

Alyson got up from the table and headed up the stairs without taking another bite of her waffle. She unwrapped the bandages from her hands and gently washed up. It would take a while for the wounds to heal, but other than desperately needing a manicure, her hands would be fine. She pulled on some old jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a dark gold sweatshirt. She heard Mac’s car pull up outside, so she hurriedly pulled her hair into a ponytail, brushed her teeth, and smeared on a light coat of lip gloss. Rummaging through her drawer, she found a heavy pair of socks and a matching wool scarf. She’d tossed her sneakers haphazardly by her bed, so she pulled those on over her socks and walked carefully down the stairs.

Mac hugged her friend when she reached the foot of the stairs. “How are you doing today?”

“Okay. A little stiff this morning, but I’ll be fine.”

“You had me a little scared last night. You seemed really out of it.”

“I’m okay. Really.” Alyson hugged Mac again and led her friend into the kitchen. “Do you want some coffee or a waffle?”

“I’ve eaten, but coffee would be great.”

“So, my mom said your mom called the hospital?”

“Yeah. Spyder’s fine. V is still unconscious. Her dad was arrested after trying to hit a cop.”

“What do you think will happen to her? V, I mean, after she wakes up. You don’t think they’ll send her home with her idiot of a father?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone’s sure at this point.”

“Can we see them?”

“I know we can go by to see Spyder any time after ten o’clock. I’m not sure about V.”

Alyson looked at the clock on the wall. It was just before nine. “I want to go to the hospital to see both of them if I can. Do you want to come?”

“Sure. Maybe we should call Trevor. He might want to come along. Eli called this morning to say he and Devon were going into Portland to pick their dad up at the airport. They’ll be home in time for the hayride tonight, though.”

“Maybe I’ll call Caleb to see if he wants to meet us.” Alyson picked up the phone and began dialing his home phone number. After ten rings she hung up. “No one’s home. He must have stayed out at the barn last night as originally planned. If he had a cell phone I’d give him a call.”

“Chelsea has one,” Mac pointed out. “Maybe she stayed with him.”

“You think?” Alyson tilted her head to the side, as if pondering the possibility. “I don’t see Chelsea staying out there alone with Caleb. When we were all there that was one thing, but I don’t know. . . . ”

“I have her cell number if you want to call her to find out.”

“Sure, why not? It’s worth a try.” Alyson dialed the number Mac gave her. “Chelsea? Hi, it’s Alyson. I was just calling to see if you happened to still be with Caleb. We’re trying to get hold of him.” Alyson gave Mac a thumbs-up as she listened to her reply. “Really? What’d he bribe them with?” Alyson leaned against the counter behind her. “You’re kidding; that’s too bad. Yeah, I’ll hang on.”

Alyson put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “I guess Caleb bribed a couple of his drama buddies with the newest video game system if they’d stay out at the barn with him last night. Chelsea went home, but she’s already back out there this morning. She went to find Caleb.

“Caleb? Hi, I hear you had quite an interesting night.” Alyson picked off a corner of the waffle she had left uneaten earlier and popped it in her mouth. “Where did you see them? Really, that’s so odd. . . . How many? You’re kidding. Is she okay?” She stopped chewing the piece of waffle and frowned. “We’re going to the hospital to see if we can visit Spyder. We’ll look in on her.” Alyson looked toward Mac with concern on her face. “Sure, we’d be happy to help,” she agreed distractedly. “I hope everyone’s going to be okay.” Alyson glanced at the clock on the wall. “Yeah, that should be fine.” She stood up straight and walked toward the center of the room. “Okay, we’ll see you then. Let us know if anything else happens, or if there’s anything else we can do.”

Alyson hung up the phone and turned to Mac. “Caleb said they had some strange things happen last night. There were these weird noises coming from outside, so they went to check things out and saw lights over the hillside. He said they looked like ghosts flying around. He knows there must be some more earthly explanation, but he said there were these streaks of light kind of twisting and turning through the sky.”

“Wow, I feel like I’m in an episode of
The Twilight Zone
or something. Did they go over to check things out?”

“No. I guess his helpers were pretty freaked out by everything that was happening, so they all decided to leave. Caleb went back early this morning with Chelsea, but he said the other guys who were with him last night are all sick this morning, with headaches and high fevers.”

“How strange. If something made everyone sick I wonder why Caleb wasn’t affected. I hope everyone’s going to be okay.”

“Even worse, one of his helpers, a girl named Andrea, was assaulted on her way home. Someone jumped her at a stoplight.”

“Oh, God. Is she okay?”

“He said she is, but she’s in the hospital for observation. I told him we’d look in on her.”

“There is something really strange going on here. I hope the police find out what’s going on, and soon. I’m starting to think we should cancel the hayride.”

“Me too, but for now things are progressing as planned. Caleb is really shorthanded today, so he asked if we could go pick up some pumpkins at a farm called Dooley’s and carve them for tonight’s party. I told him we would. Someone will be by to pick them up at three o’clock. I was kind of assuming you’d help me with them. And Trevor too, if he can.”

“Sure, Dooley’s Farm is a great place. It’ll be fun. They have fruit in the summer, pumpkins in the fall, and cut-your-own Christmas trees in December. I’d love to go. I’m sure Trevor would too. I’ll call him to see if he wants to go to the hospital with us. He can meet us there.”

The hospital reception area was crowded that morning. Most of the plastic chairs in the waiting area were full and there was a steady stream of visitors armed with flowers and balloons entering all of the three wings. Trevor said he’d meet them later after he finished helping his mom move some furniture.

”Do you know what room Spyder’s in?” Alyson asked.

“I guess we should just ask at the desk.” Mac went to the half moon–shaped counter where a harried volunteer was looking up room numbers and giving directions.

“Spyder’s in room 203 and Andrea’s in 206,” Mac informed her.

“Let’s check in with Andrea first,” Alyson suggested.

After getting directions they went through the doors all the way to the left, then down the wide hall to the second right.

“It should be the third door on the left,” Mac informed Alyson.

The door was open. A thin girl with long blond hair and a huge bruise on her face was staring at the blank screen of the TV when they knocked.

“Come in.”

“Hi. We’re friends of Caleb’s. We told him we’d look in on you while we were here visiting Spyder. My name’s Alyson and this is Mac.”

The girl tried to smile. “I guess Caleb’s busy with the final preparations for tonight.”

“Yeah. He wanted to come see you himself, but I think he’s a little frantic at the moment.” Alyson sat down on the chair next to the bed. “Do you feel like telling us what happened?”

“I was driving home after all the strange stuff that happened. I was stopped at a light and this guy got out of the car behind me, opened the door, and pulled me out. At first I thought it was a carjacking, but all he seemed to want was something he referred to as ‘the key.’ He demanded that I give him the key, and when I told him I had no idea what he was talking about he ripped open the front of my shirt, then slugged me in the face and took off.”

“Do you remember what kind of car he was driving?” Alyson asked.

“I didn’t really see it. I think it was a dark color, like blue or black.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

“Sort of tall. Dark hair. I was really scared and it was dark, so I didn’t see much.”

“Do you remember what he was wearing?”

Andrea closed her eyes and concentrated. “A dark shirt. And a hat. A baseball hat. The Yankees, I think.”

Alyson gasped and paled.

Mac looked from her to the puzzled-looking Andrea.

“Thanks for talking to us. I’m glad you’re going to be okay,” Mac said.

“Say hi to Spyder for me,” Andrea said as Mac grabbed Alyson’s arm and pulled her out the door.

“Are you okay?” Mac asked when they were in the hallway.

“Yeah. It’s just that I saw the guy. The guy who attacked Andrea. He was here in the hospital last night.”

“Are you sure?”

“There was this guy staring at me when we were sitting in the emergency room waiting area. He really creeped me out. He had dark hair and was wearing a baseball cap.”

“Lots of people have dark hair and wear baseball caps. How can you be sure it’s the same guy?”

“There was something about the way he was looking at me. He seemed to want something from me.”

“That’s really strange. You know, Andrea does look a little like you. Thin, long blond hair. Maybe he thought you were her.”

“Or maybe he thought she was me. Maybe the only reason she was attacked is because he thought she was me.”

“But why? Why would he want to attack you?”

“I don’t know. I just have this strange feeling.”

“Let’s go see Spyder. It’s getting late and we still need to get Caleb’s pumpkins. We can talk about this more later.”

The door to his room was open and Spyder was propped up in bed, watching a western on a small TV suspended from the ceiling. Trevor was sitting in the chair next to the bed, so he must have shown up while Alyson and Mac were visiting Andrea.