Runaways (Orphans 5)

"Fine. I'll just go to the Web and get into the Automobile Club. They provide routes and maps. Where are we going in California?" she asked, taking out her pen and notepad.

"Let's think about Los Angeles, first."

"Okay." She thought a moment. "It's almost summer. We can take a middle route or even a northern route. I'll get a few and we'll think about the pros and cons of each."

"That's exactly what I'd like to do, think about the pros and cons," I said. She gazed at me and smirked.

"I'm not going to do this if you make fun of me, Brooke."

"I'm not," I swore, but I couldn't help smiling at her. Finally, I just hugged her. "Do it. I'll take care of all the rest," I said.

"This still sounds like a pipe dream, Brooke. I'm doing it more as an intellectual exercise than anything else. I don't see how it will be possible," she said, as she gathered up her book bag and headed for the library.

I knew I still had a lot of convincing to do when it came to Crystal. She would have a hundred good and logical reasons why my plan was full of holes, but neither of us could know that just that very evening, Gordon would push her so far over the edge that I could have come up with a plan to ride a magic carpet, and she would have gone along.

Just before ten o'clock, Crystal went into the bathroom to take a bath and relax. Besides researching our travel route, she had been studying all day. Tomorrow was her last final and she was determined to get all A's.

About fifteen minutes after Crystal had gone to take her bath, Raven slammed her book closed, swearing never to look at another notebook or textbook again.

"I don't care if I fail everything," she declared. Raven was a good student, but we'd all had our fill of studying by now.

I was about to agree when we heard Crystal's scream. It was so loud it came right through the closed bathroom door and our closed bedroom door as well. I charged out and saw Gordon lumbering away, a tool box in his hand. He gazed back guiltily and then headed down the stairs. Raven looked at me and then at the bathroom door, her eyes full of Wonder and fear. Butterfly came to her doorway.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," I said, slowly approaching the bathroom. "Crystal?" I heard a sob and then we all entered the bathroom.

Crystal was sitting on the edge of the tub, a towel wrapped around her body, her arms around herself, shuddering. She was still soaked, the soap dripping from her hair

"What happened?" I asked. Raven closed the door behind us.

"He . . . he ... just came in here and . . ." "Gordon? While you were bathing?" Raven asked quickly.

Crystal gazed up at us, her eyes filled with tears. She nodded.

"I didn't hear him open the door. I was practically asleep in the tub."

"Didn't you lock it?" Raven asked.

"Yes, of course. He must have unlocked it," she said. "He didn't knock or anything. Next thing I knew, he was standing right here, looking down at me. I had my head back and my eyes closed. I was resting and suddenly, I felt his presence and looked up. His face. . . it was . . . so red and he had this mad grin. For a moment I couldn't speak."

"What did he do?" I asked, my own breathing quickened.

"He started to touch me," she said.

"I knew it," Raven muttered.

"He touched you?" I asked.

"He reached down and said . . ."

"What?" Butterfly asked.

"'Let's see how ripe those apples are.' That's when I screamed and he pulled his hand away. 'I'm just here to fix a leak in the sink,' he claimed. 'Don't get yourself in an uproar.' I screamed again and he turned and left."

"Leak in the sink? No one said there's any leak in that sink," I declared, inspecting the pipes quickly. "He didn't come in to fix any leak."

"We should tell Louise," Butterfly said.