“Perry, why are you talking about that?” I hear Dex say, knowing they’re going to have a nice little fight after this. I smile to myself. Good.
“Sure, Perry, you keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, I’m helping my friend here with something important.”
She clears her throat. “Yeah. Dad told me. You have to get some important documents in New Orleans. Ada, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but why is Dad totally fine with this? It’s like he was happy to see you go off with him and miss school!”
I feel a pang of guilt, but I’m not about to tell her the truth. There’s no doubt she’d then tell our dad about the Jedi mind tricks and I’d be in big shit. “I don’t know, but he is. He trusts me. Maybe you should too.”
“You’re already sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
“Oh my god, I’m going to hang up on you if you don’t stop with this. Give me some credit here.”
“I’m just looking out for you, Ada. You’re vulnerable right now. You’re in a bad place.”
“I was in a bad place. I’m in a better place now. And Max needs me.”
“Oh, I bet he does.”
“No, I mean it. Talk to Jacob about it if you don’t believe me, but he really does. If I wasn’t with him, he’d disappear.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s almost a ghost, Perry. We didn’t know what we were doing when we pulled him out, that there would be consequences. I used my energy to get him out of the Veil, to bring him back to life, and it’s only my energy that’s keeping him here, alive. If we’re apart, he turns into a ghost. He…fades away.”
Silence. Finally I hear Dex say, “What, what is it?”
“That’s fucked up, Ada,” she says in a small voice.
“But it’s true. And you know it’s true. You can feel it.”
“Jesus,” she swears. “What the hell are you going to do?”
“I’m doing it,” I remind her. “Hence why I’m going with him to New Orleans.”
“Dad didn’t mention that part.”
“And do you think I’d mention that to him? Good lord, he can only take so much. This is a lot for everyone to handle.”
“Poor Max,” she says softly.
“Oh, now he’s poor Max?” Dex says.
Perry ignores him. “So you’re stuck with him.”
“I was stuck with him anyway since he was teaching me.”
“There has to be a way to fix this. Have you tried? Does Max have any ideas? You can’t be, like, bound to him forever.”
“He doesn’t know. I suppose we’ll just figure it out.”
“This is heavy shit, Ada.”
“I know it is. I’ve been trying not to think about it. He’s been trying not to think about it too. It’s…a lot.”
Outside the car, Max exits the gas station store with a bag full of stuff, which I’m hoping is junk food since the apples suck. “Listen, I better go. He was just paying for gas.”
“Where are you?”
“Eureka, California.”
“Oh god, that shithole? Why?”
I laugh. “Just passing through. Look, I’ll text you later, okay? I promise everything is fine.”
“Okay…”
I tell her goodbye and hang up just as Max slides into the front seat. “Bought us provisions,” he says and then eyes the phone. “Who was that? Your father?”
“Perry,” I tell him with a sigh, taking the bag and putting it at my feet.
“What did your sister have to say?” he asks, starting the car. “Guessing from your energy it didn’t go all that well.”
“She’s worried about me.”
“Of course.”
“Thinks I’m a little too vulnerable at the moment.”
He gives me a thoughtful look before he pulls back onto the highway. “Well, you are.” He pauses. “So am I.”
I open the bag between my legs, rifling through the stuff. There’s a bottle of Dr. Pepper, some bottles of water, some chocolate bars and Red Vines, a bag of BBQ chips. So much wonderful junk food. The Big Ginger and I are definitely on the same level.
I open the bag of chips while Max says, “Next time, let me talk to her. I’ll let her know you’re in good hands.”
“The problem is that they’re your hands,” I tell him, popping a chip in my mouth.
“Figures.” He gives me the once over, a wry tilt to his mouth. “Did you tell your sister that you were the one getting handsy with me this morning?”
I nearly choke on the chip. I smack him across the arm. “I was not getting handsy.”
He flinches. “Well, there I was, fresh out of the shower, half-naked and vulnerable as a lamb, and you were the one who kept on touching me. Hate to think what you’d say if the situation was reversed.”
“Whatever, you can touch me anytime.”
And the words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.
Max bursts out laughing. “If this is your idea of trying to lure me with extra-nice Ada, I’m not falling for it. I reckon you’d have my head on a pike within seconds.”