All That She Can See(46)

‘Anyone would be,’ Chase said. ‘My aunt can be… quite intimidating when she wants to be.’

‘So I begged her not to say anything,’ Sally said in a small voice. ‘I told her I’d do anything as long as she kept my secret.’

‘And what did Danior do?’ Cherry asked, but she already knew the answer.

‘She took advantage of the situation,’ Sally said.

‘Of course she did,’ Chase almost spat the words out.

‘And now she’s taking advantage of everyone else too. Because of me and what I’ve told her and Velina.’ Chase and Cherry shared a look.

‘What do you mean?’ Chase asked, leaning his elbows on his knees.

‘This town may not be huge, but its secrets? It has so many, and I’ve uncovered many of them over the years. Especially recently.’ Sally’s eyes flickered towards Cherry but she quickly took another sip from her mug. ‘I’ve told them everything I found out and they used that information when customers would come in for genuine readings. But they’ve been up to something else the last couple of times I’ve been in there, scheming secretly, and it got me worried. I told them yesterday that I wouldn’t do it any more. I said enough is enough and it had all gone too far and now this! Now they’re holding this stupid event and I know they’re going to tell everyone my secret. They’re going to use what I’ve told them against everyone too and it’s all my fault!’

‘No, they won’t,’ Cherry said determinedly. ‘It’s going to be okay.’

‘Cherry…’ Chase warned, thinking of Happy and the Guild. ‘You need to be careful.’

‘It’ll be fine,’ Cherry said. ‘We’ll figure it out.’

Chase shook his head. ‘There’s no stopping those two. They’re villains, cold-hearted villains.’

‘Villains are always defeated,’ Cherry countered.

Chase stretched out his hand, taking Cherry’s hand, her palms slippery against his, cold and dry. ‘But this isn’t a story and in the real world, the wicked usually win.’ He squeezed her fingers to try to make her understand, but she pulled away.

‘I refuse to accept that,’ she said.

‘Chase is right,’ Sally sniffed.

‘No, he’s not.’ Cherry said and then after a moment added, ‘He’s only right if we do nothing. If we give up, Velina and Danior win by default. We don’t have to make it easy for them and we won’t ever win if we don’t even try.’

Chase couldn’t help but smile at Cherry’s conviction. ‘Okay,’ Chase said. ‘What do you propose exactly?’

‘The event is tomorrow,’ Sally said. ‘We won’t be able to stop it in time.’

‘I’m not saying we stop it,’ Cherry said quickly, sharing a look with Chase. They still needed the townspeople to take the Normality pills, after all. ‘It will look too suspicious if it’s called off so quickly. We’ll need to think of something else to make sure Velina and Danior don’t hurt anyone.’

‘We have less than twenty-four hours,’ Chase pointed out.

‘Jack Bauer only had twenty-four hours. The crew of the Protector only had thirteen seconds when the Omega 13 was activated.’

‘That’s Galaxy Quest!’ Chase said.

‘So?’

‘It’s fiction. This isn’t.’

‘It’s stranger than,’ Cherry said.

‘That doesn’t matter! This is real! These are real people with real lives and…’ Chase caught Sally’s head bowing further towards the ground and he realised she was accepting her fate. A fate he was condemning her to with absolute certainty by refusing his help. ‘And… and… we’d be fools not to try,’ he sighed. Sally sobbed softly and Cherry clapped her hands together.

‘GREAT!’ She grinned.

‘But how?’ Chase asked. ‘What are we going to do?’

Cherry started to pace. ‘Tell me about your mum and aunt. Be specific. I need details.’

Chase groaned and swept his hands through his hair. ‘They’re awful, awful people.’

‘Tell us something we don’t already know,’ Sally said, trying to push herself up onto the nearest bench.

Chase moved behind her to take hold of her under her arms and hoist her up. ‘Dani is more blatant about her wrongdoing…’ He struggled with Sally’s weight, ‘but Velina is quiet yet calculating.’ He exhaled. ‘It makes her more dangerous somehow.’

‘It’s always the quiet ones. Thank you, dear,’ Sally said now that she was settled and patting Chase’s hands resting on her shoulders. ‘They lie and lie and lie and lie. It’s all they’ve ever done and all they’ll ever do. They don’t need humble pie. They need honest pie.’ Sally chuckled to herself. ‘Then again, I reckon they could do with a lot of humble pie too, y’know. I’ve never met anyone else with so little human decency in my entire life and do y’know what else? I think they’ve never in a million…’ Sally’s voice drifted up and away, almost colliding with the lightbulbs above, making them flicker. Cherry was lost in her own thoughts and Chase looked at her, hard. He had a horrible feeling he knew exactly what she was thinking.