His tummy gave another pathetic plea.
An ass who also happened to be the only family she had left.
The sign for a rest stop blurred as they cruised past. Nora clocked it and checked the time. They could afford a five-minute diversion. Plus, Nora really had to pee.
“I’ll get you a smoothie,” she said, and pulled off the highway.
Just past the turnoff sat two rest stops on opposite sides of an otherwise empty road. Nora pulled into the lot of a squat little building with a faded sign reading “Nutrition-2-Go” in a font that wasn’t quite, but was definitely a longtime friend of, Comic Sans. She parked the car directly out front, leaving the motor running to stave off the chill of the day, and swung off her seat belt.
“You stay here,” she said. “Don’t move. And for the love of god, do. Not. Eat. Anything. I’ll just be a sec.”
Charlie stared at the sign through doubtful eyes. “This place looks like it specializes in kale-flavored spinach.”
“Bird food,” Jessica added.
“Yeah, probably, but look.” Nora jabbed a finger towards the sun-bleached poster in the window displaying an assortment of green smoothies. “Those can’t be choked on, so they won’t kill you.”
“No, but they might make me want to kill myself,” Charlie muttered.
Nora’s bladder gave a twinge. “Give me two minutes, all right? Got any flavor requests? It looks like they’ve got avocado with peach and something called Magic-kale Spell.”
“Whichever one looks least like Linda Blair regurgitated it, please.”
Nora nodded and hustled out of the car, the warmth of the mechanically heated air quickly replaced by a sharp late-autumn chill, which somehow made her have to pee even more. She waddled through the door, a weathered bell above it ushering her in with a defeated sigh, and placed an order for two Divine Detox smoothies. It was getting close to lunchtime, and Nora could use some brain power to figure out the twins’ next steps. She shuffled to the bathroom as the blender started whirling and sat down, basking in the first moment of calm she’d experienced all morning. She’d take some relief wherever she could get it at this point.
Nora collected the smoothies in their cardboard holder, sneaking a sip from one of them and wincing as the tart, pulpy sludge settled on her tongue. She shouldered open the door and took a step towards the car before stopping abruptly. Her breath caught as she quickly scanned the lot. It was empty.
“Charlie?” she called into the nothingness around her. Without thinking she let the smoothies drop from her hands, desperately patting down her cargo pants and jacket in search of her phone, a puddle of green forming around her sneakers. Nothing. Her pockets were empty save for hand sanitizer and a stick of aspartame-free gum. She unzipped her purse and rifled through. No phone. She must have left it in the car. The car that was gone.Could S.C.Y.T.H.E. have caught up with them already? Her stomach sank to her knees at the thought. But what else could possibly have taken her car, and her brother, away? That was actually not a difficult question for Nora to answer. She knew Death, and by extension, in her own way, she knew life. And everything that threatened it. She could have forgotten to put the car in park somehow and left it to roll away. There could have been a carjacker in the area. But the lot was flat and there didn’t appear to be anyone around for miles. Nothing made sense. Which seemed very fitting for the day.
Nora’s panic flared. Her spindly legs took off at a run before her brain could catch up with them. In a blink, she was at the edge of the parking lot, staring out at a horizon bordered by fields and the odd dot of a farmhouse. She checked her watch. Eleven fifty-five. Five minutes until Charlie Bird was going to die. Was this how it happened? When you stopped someone from dying the way they’re supposed to, did they simply disappear?
“Charlie,” she shouted again, doubling over, a desperate sob lodging in her throat. “Charlie!”
“Yeah?” Charlie’s voice called back.
Nora stood upright, stifled the sob, and tracked the sound of the voice to its scruffy source across the street at the opposite rest stop, just outside a Wendy’s.
“You fucking asshole,” Nora shouted. She looked both ways and bolted across the empty street and through the Wendy’s parking lot, where her car was safely parked, landing a punch on her brother’s bare arm just as he took a scoop of the Frosty in his hand.
“Hey,” he whined, a lump of icy chocolate slipping from his spoon to land in a heap on the pavement.
“No. No way. You do not get to be the indignant one here. What the fuck were you thinking? I told you to stay put. Do you have any idea the kind of danger you’re in?”
“You can’t choke on a Frosty,” Charlie said, tapping his forehead proudly with the handle of his red plastic spoon.
“This isn’t about a stupid Frosty, Charlie,” said Nora. “This is about…look, the people I work for? They’re not going to be too thrilled that I have your file, much less you. I don’t know what they’re capable of, but I know they’re not just going to be okay with this situation. So we need to be careful, and smart, and stick together. Got it?”
“Yeah, right, got it.” Charlie scooped another spoonful, but before he could get it into his mouth, Nora grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the car.
Once again in the warmth and security of the little black Honda Civic, Nora let herself breathe. They were on the road again, and Charlie was too busy with his Frosty to annoy her. This was as close to contentment as she could ask for under the circumstances. She checked the time. Noon had come and gone with a buffer of eleven minutes, and Charlie was still alive. She almost allowed herself a smile. They’d done it. Charlie wouldn’t die today. Except…one thing nibbled at the corner of her brain like a mouse on a cracker.
“Charlie,” she said. “Grab the file.”
Charlie smeared a dab of chocolate from his cheek onto the sleeve of his T-shirt and leaned forward, popping open the glove compartment. He pulled the file free and looked expectantly at his sister, awaiting instruction.
“What’s up?”
“Cause of death,” said Nora. “What does it say?”
