Locke 2 (Blackwater Boys #4)

Forty-Three

Kali

M inutes passed slowly. I was on edge the entire time. I grabbed for the potato phone and turned it on. It had climbed up to fifteen percent before we had to shut the car off. Jem didn’t want to draw any attention to the truck, especially if it was going to get dark soon.

It was nearly mid-afternoon, and the light was dimming. The wind picked up, along with the rain. Unsure of what to do, I checked the reception on the phone, but there was none. I turned it off, in case I needed it for later.

“You mean in case something goes wrong,” Aurora said from next to me, kicking her legs back and forth. “Are you hungry? We should have cake at the party.”

I looked at her. She was all shadowy because there wasn’t a lot of light left. “I like cake.”

“What flavour?”

My heart picked up when I thought of our tea party. On her damn birthday no less. “A pink one. In the shape of a unicorn.”

She looked at me, smiling. “Was that what you picked out for me that day?”

I nodded, swallowing. “It was.”

She clapped her hands. “I can’t wait.”

I looked away and buried my face in my hands. I took deep breaths because everything hurt more all of a sudden. With Locke, everything had broken. All the dull emotions from before were more vibrant and it was both blissful and cruel.

I leaned back in my seat, attempting to get comfortable as I waited for Jem.

I waited and waited.

He said he wouldn’t take long.

◆◆◆

CRACK!

I’d dozed off in a ball, with my knees pressed to my chest when the sound burst in the air, jolting me awake.

I gasped and sat up. Blood roared in my ears as I glanced around the truck, attempting to figure out where the sound came from.

Was that a gunshot?

It was.

Trembling, I grabbed the phone and turned it on.

No reception.

I climbed out of the car and moved along the road, aiming it high in the sky.

Still, no reception.

Frozen from the cold already, I returned to the car and slipped inside. I continued to stare out the windows, waiting for Jem. Something had gone wrong. I just knew it. Maybe Nick found him.

But what if he was still scoping the place out? Maybe because it was getting dark, he was taking longer.

“None of that explains the gunshot,” Aurora said. She was seated behind me now. Her voice was quiet. “What if Jem got shot?”

My mind raced. “Or that was a warning shot because he was caught on the property. People do that, right?”

“If you say so.”

I shook my head, already spiralling. “This was stupid.”

She didn’t answer. Minutes continued to bleed by. I knew this because I was obsessively checking the time on the phone. He’d been gone for over an hour. But he promised he’d come back. Maybe an hour wasn’t long for him, and I was just anxious.

The darkness crept in. The blackness in the wild magnified my senses. I tensed, barely moving, attempting to hear every sound. My skin prickled. I could see only in front of me. The breaths coming out of me. The windows fogging up. Fear crept over me like a cold, wet blanket.

“Aurora?” I whispered.

“Do you sense it?” Aurora whispered back, “There’s someone at your window.”

Rap, rap, rap!

I jumped, catching a figure at my window. The doors were locked, but I still jumped away from the door, like it might rip open any second.

The knock came again, and then a light shined through. My eyes squinted as I brought my hand up to shield myself from it.

“Hello?”

Shit.

I recognized the voice.

Nick had found me.