The Dark Divine(38)

What if Daniel decided to disappear again?

But I knew James had to come first, so I swallowed my questions and followed Daniel through the woods until we came to the fence behind my house. I climbed through the gap.





BACK IN THE YARD




Blue and red lights flickered from the street, illuminating the patched roof of the house. Beeping and shouting and a lot of movement filled the shadows cast by the light. It seemed like half of Rose Crest, including the sheriff and deputy, had converged on the neighborhood.

“Looks like they organized a search party anyway,” I said.

Daniel stiffened as he came through the fence. “I should go. Take James. Tell them you found him yourself.”

“No way.” I grabbed his hand. “You’re the hero here. I’m not taking credit.” I dragged Daniel toward the front yard. “Mom, Dad!” I shouted. “We’re here. We’ve got James.”

“James!” Mom pounded down the porch steps.

“How did you …? Where did you …? My baby.” She tried to take James from Daniel.

James squealed and locked his little arms around Daniel’s neck. Daniel went pink. But that might have just been the glow from the flashing police lights.

“Daniel saved him, Mom.” I touched Daniel’s elbow. “I think Baby James is a bit attached to his hero.”

“Okay, little guy. Let me breathe.” Daniel pulled James from his throat. “I bet you’re hungry. You want some turkey and a piece of pie?”

James nodded.

Daniel passed James to my mom. She hugged him so tight he whined, and she kissed him all over his face. “James?” Dad came up the driveway. The sheriff followed. Daniel moved slightly behind me.

The deputy tried to bar our neighbors from entering the yard, but he let Dad and the sheriff pass.

Dad grabbed James and swung him around. He looked at Daniel. “Well done,” he said, and wrapped his arm around Daniel’s shoulder. “Well done, my son.”

“I don’t mean to bust up this little reunion,” the sheriff said, “but I’ll need to get your statement.” He looked at Daniel.

“There’s not much to state.” Daniel shrugged. “I found him wandering in the woods, and I brought him home. He must have knocked over his playpen and decided to go on a little adventure.”

I stared at him. That’s it? I guess I didn’t expect him to tell the truth—he followed the baby’s scent through the forest, caught James midair when he fell off a thirty-foot cliff, and then used his very own superhuman powers to get us out of the ravine—but he sounded so nonchalant. No drama at all.

“That’s not all that happened!” I practically shouted. Daniel shot me a wide-eyed look, like he was afraid that I’d tell everyone his secrets—which I totally wouldn’t. My mind latched on to the first plausible, but furthest from the real scenario, lie I could think of. “He stopped James from falling in the creek!”

Mom cried and pulled James out of Dad’s arms.

I was glad it was too dark for anyone to see the “lie marks” spreading up my cheeks. “Daniel’s a hero. He saved James’s life.” I wanted people to know that truth, even if Daniel didn’t want them to hear the real story.

“And the baby was alone? Uninjured?” The sheriff raised his eyebrows and motioned to the bloody tear in Daniel’s makeshift shirt-sling. Daniel and I nodded.

“So how do you explain the blood on the porch?” Daniel’s face went blank.

“That’s not his job to explain,” said Dad. “It could have been anything—probably one of the neighborhood cats. Don’t you have a forensics lab to tell you for sure?”

The sheriff snorted. “The Rose Crest Sheriff’s Department is a trailer behind the Gas ‘n’ Go. I’ll have Deputy Marsh take a sample and send it to a lab in the city. It’ll take a while before we hear anything.” He looked at me. “And there’s nothing more you’d like to add? Nothing else you can remember?”

“Daniel saved my brother’s life,” I said. “That’s all there is to it.”

A car whipped into the driveway, scattering a gaggle of spectators onto the lawn.

“Mom. Dad.” Jude jumped out of the minivan and pushed through the crowd. Not even the deputy could stop him. “I’ve brought the cavalry! I’ve got half the volunteers from the shelter coming to help us—” He stopped. The look of triumph on his face shifted into stony nothingness. I followed his hardened glare from James in my mother’s arms to the sight of Dad holding Daniel in a fatherly embrace.

“James is safe,” Mom said.

“Thanks to Daniel.” Dad squeezed Daniel’s shoulder. “James would have been lost without him.”

The sheriff extended his hand toward Daniel. Daniel flinched—then stared back in disbelief as the sheriff gave him a hearty handshake.

“Well done,” the sheriff said. He shined his flashlight along the back fence. “You should get that fixed,” he said to Dad. “You’re lucky this case turned out for the best. If it hadn’t been for your son here …” At first I thought he was talking about Jude, but then I realized he was smiling at Daniel.