“We’re so stupid,” Sofia says. “We forgot the first fucking Dirty Ones rule. Buddy system. Why did we let Connor go home alone?”
“Because he needed to talk to his father and make him think all those fucking plans he has are still on track.”
“I think he failed,” I whisper. “I don’t know what you’re doing, Hayes, but it didn’t work. He’s in trouble. We need to go back to the city and find out where he is and what’s happening.”
“No,” Hayes breathes out. And yup. That’s defeat in his voice. It scares me because Hayes isn’t the kind of guy who gets defeated. “We can’t go back now. We’re here.” He looks at me from across the sitting area. I’m in a chair, legs tucked up to my chest. “We need to just… do this without him.”
“Do what?” Sofia asks. “Why are you being so cagey? Just tell us why we’re out here in the middle of buttfuck Vermont when we need to be in the city tomorrow.”
Hayes stands, buttons his suit coat, and extends his hand to her. She takes it without comment and lets him pull her up.
They make a beautiful couple. Hayes and his dark, mysterious good looks. Sofia in her equally dark, mysterious beauty. And I wonder why they haven’t gotten together like this before now?
He smiles at her. Trying to make everything OK, I think. But she only gives him half a smile back. I just sit in my chair frowning, unable to force even a quarter smile.
Hayes turns to me. “Come on, Kiera. We gotta go see something.”
“See what?” I ask. He extends his hand for me too and I take it, reluctantly getting to my feet.
“You’ll see.”
“Why can’t you just tell us?” Sofia asks.
We’ve both been asking this question the entire evening but Hayes just says, “You need to see it. Dress warm, we gotta go into the woods.”
“We’re going to the tower, aren’t we?” Sofia asks. “I don’t want to go.”
“Me either,” I say. “I’ve lived across the lake from it for ten years and never had an urge to go see it again.”
“We have to,” Hayes says. “I have to show you something.”
“Hayes—” Sofia starts.
But he cuts her off. “Believe me. You want to see this. It’s not a bad thing, I promise.”
Both of us sigh with frustration and defeat.
“Go put on something warm. Kiera, do you have extra boots for Sofia? And a pair of pants she can wear? Because we have to walk through the snow.”
“Sure,” I say. “One sec.”
I go into my bedroom and start looking for some warmer clothes for Sofia to change into. But the whole time I’m picturing the tower. That walk into the woods. The gate, the thick underbrush we’ll have to fight our way through.
It’s probably worse now. A decade of new growth is a lot of wild brambles to deal with.
I find some warm clothes for Sofia and go back into the living room, then feel awkward because they’re in the middle of an embrace. “Um,” I say. “Here you go.”
Sofia breaks away from Hayes, focuses her sad eyes on my handful of clothes, then takes a deep breath and nods. Disappears down the hall to change.
Hayes puts on his coat, then holds mine out to me. Helps me into it.
I want to ask him all the questions but we’ve tried. This whole time we’ve been waiting for Connor Sofia and I have been on repeat and Hayes just finds a new way to say, “You’ll see.”
So I don’t say anything. I just put on my gloves and scarf and stand in front of the door, sweating like crazy until Sofia appears.
We leave the house and get into the car Hayes had waiting for us at the local airstrip when we landed. It takes almost an hour to get across the lake and the only thing interesting that happens is Hayes produces a pair of boots and a thick winter coat from the trunk and puts all that on. We’re the only ones on the ferry. And how Hayes managed to get a late evening crossing is something I don’t even bother thinking about. His kind of money can buy almost everything.
When we reach New York on the other side we drive south to the Essex College campus. Which is quiet and mostly dark because almost everyone is on winter break. You’re not allowed to stay in the dorms over break so all those buildings look lifeless. Only the theater building has any lights on tonight. Probably a Christmas play. They do those every year for the local townspeople.
But our car takes us past the theatre building to the very south edge of campus. I get a sick, sick feeling in my stomach as we grow closer to the woods and when we stop in an empty, snow-covered parking lot it’s all I can do to stop myself from hurling.