Keeper(49)

My phone started ringing again. This time it was Maggie. I almost didn’t answer it, but on the very last ring, I slid my finger quickly over the screen. “Hey, Mags.”

“Where the hell are you?” she breathed into the phone. “Your uncle just called me. He’s freaking out. He said ya’ll had some kind of fight and you ran out, said you’d been gone for hours.”

I snorted. “A fight? Yeah, I guess you could count me calling him out for lying to me my entire life as a fight. Oh, and by the way, he’s not really my uncle.”

Maggie sucked in a quick breath of air. “Wait, what?”

Sighing, I quickly recapped the afternoon, from finding the hidden passageway and room to Gareth being a Faerie.

“Holy cra—holy shitkittens, Styles!” Maggie said, when I was finished. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Tell me about it,” I said. “I just feel kind of blindsided. I don’t know really how to process all of this. I’m a facts girl. And these are the facts, but I cannot seem to reconcile them in my mind. I’m trying, but . . .” I trailed off.

“God, Styles, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now.”

I could only respond with a choked sigh.

“Oh, Lainey.” Maggie’s voice was soft and full of sympathy. “Where are you? Why don’t you come over? We’ll stuff ourselves with mint chocolate chip ice cream and watch movies until you feel less crappy, okay?”

I sighed again. Maggie’s offer was incredibly tempting, but what I needed was a distraction, a way to completely shut off my brain. As much as I loved her, spending hours talking and analyzing the situation wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

“Thanks, Mags. But I just need to clear my head for a little bit. I’ll come over tomorrow, okay? I gotta go for now.” I opened the car door. The loud music from the party echoed across the trees that surrounded the clearing.

“Okay,” Maggie replied hesitantly. “Wait, what’s that noise? Lainey, where are you?”

“I’m . . .” I figured I might as well tell someone just in case. “I’m at the tracks.”

“What!” Maggie demanded. “What are you doing there?”

“I drove by and saw a party, so I stopped.”

“And you’re just gonna go? All kinds of crazy stuff happen at those parties.”

“I’ll be fine, Maggie.”

“I’m serious, Styles. This is not a good idea!”

“I’ll be fine,” I repeated, already stepping out of the car. “Don’t worry about me.”

Maggie continued to yell, but I’d already made up my mind. “I’ll call you later!” I yelled over her tirade and ended the call. I knew I’d have to deal with her wrath later, but I figured I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.

Shoving my phone in my back pocket, I shut and locked the car door and headed toward the party.

There were about twenty or so people sitting near the bonfire, drinking beer and laughing loudly. There was another group a few feet away dancing next to an iPhone that had been rigged to play through a large set of speakers.

I recognized some of the people from school, but the rest were strangers. A few gave me curious looks as I walked by, but didn’t bother to stop and make conversation.

Plopping myself down next to the bonfire, I stared into the flames and tried to think about nothing except the way the colors moved and danced together. Beside me, a boy with stringy blond hair and pasty skin popped the top of a beer can and alternated between swigs of beer and taking drags from the lit cigarette in his hand. I shook my head when he offered me the can. He shrugged and turned his attention back to his cigarette.

A few minutes later, an excited squeal rose over the music playing from the iPhone. “It’s almost time!” a voice called out.

All at once, the partygoers around the fire and those dancing began to move toward the tracks.

I looked around. “What’s going on?” I asked the blond boy. He took a quick drag of his cigarette before responding.

“It’s almost eleven,” he said, blowing smoke in my face.

Wrinkling my nose, I fanned the smoke from my eyes. “Yeah, so?”

The boy shakily got to his feet, squeezing the beer can tightly in his hand. “The freighters,” he said, stumbling toward the tracks. “They’re always right on time.”

I watched him walk away, feeling more than a little confused. In the distance, a shrill whistle cut through the darkness, eliciting cheers from the group by the tracks. What’s the big deal? It’s just a couple of trains.

I was trying to decide whether to go down to the tracks and see what all the fuss was about or just go home when a familiar voice whispered in my ear.

Lainey.

Josephine was standing a few feet away, underneath the canopy of the tree line, the orange glow from the bonfire lighting her face.

I leapt to my feet. “Go away,” I said, glaring at Josephine. I clenched my fists at my sides as hot anger ignited inside me.

Huffing, I stalked toward the group gathered by the tracks. A small orb of light was bouncing along the darkness—the headlight of the freight train coming closer.

“So what’s the big deal with the train?” I asked a girl with long braids and a nose ring.