Charlie smiled at her. “Yeah, you do.”
Nora nodded. “We’ll go to Charles’s. He’s the one who brought us here, the least he can do is give us a ride out.”
“And then we call the Ghostbusters?”
Nora just rolled her eyes, but her insides twisted slightly at the thought of that call. Not only was she about to destroy the one place she knew Death couldn’t touch, she had to call her old workplace to do it. The same workplace she’d been in hiding from for days. The same one that would be only too happy to punish her for taking Charlie’s file. It was like sending yourself to detention, only much, much worse.
“God. It’s all too much,” she said. “I just want to scream.”
“Okay,” said Charlie. “Go for it.”
“What?”
“Scream.”
Nora looked around at the desolate beach, the rolling ocean merging into the heavy sky.
“Charlie, I’m not going to scream.”
“Suit yourself,” said Charlie. Then he turned to face the sea, took an exaggerated inhale, and shouted, “FUCK!”
“Charlie!” Nora shushed.
Charlie gave her a look that said, “What?”
Nora let the rain pummel her cheeks, blending with her tears. She faced the endless gray and squared her shoulders. “FUCK!” The sensation of such complete, feral abandon made her giggle. It shouldn’t have, but the laughter bubbled up her throat, completely unbidden, and erupted in a girlish squeal, catching both of them off guard.
Charlie laughed right back. “What the hell was that? Did you snort?”
“Maybe,” said Nora. She turned back to the sea and shouted again. “FUUUUCK!”
“FUCK!” Charlie joined.
“Fuck!” Jessica squawked.
This sent Nora into hysterics. She doubled over, her tears now exclusively from the laughter pouring out of her. “Fuck,” she wheezed. She gathered herself enough to stand upright and undid her jacket so it flapped out behind her like a cape. A gust whipped at her, ready to carry her away, and she was almost willing to let it. She felt so light she was fairly certain she could fly. Her arms opened to the wind. “I AM NORA BIRD AND I’M SICK OF THIS SHIT,” she screamed. Jessica flapped over and perchedon her shoulder as Charlie stepped beside her. She could feel their warmth against the cold of the infant day, of loneliness, of life. An army of three against the world. Nora staggered through another gust. “I AM NORA BIRD AND I DON’T WANT TO BE AFRAID!” Jessica hopped up and down on her shoulder now, spurring her on. “I AM NORA BIRD AND I WANT TO LIVE!”
“I’m afraid you’re making that very difficult for yourself, dear,” said a sharp voice from just behind her. Nora whipped around to find Ruby and Richard standing there, faces pulled into caricatures of themselves. Her heart shot into rapid motion between her ribs.
“They’ve got Silver,” Richard mumbled, tipping his head at Jessica. “Which means…”
“We’d wondered where she’d gotten off to,” said Ruby. “You’d best give her here.”
Nora pulled the parrot off her shoulder and instinctively clutched her tightly to her chest.
“You went out in the woods again last night,” Ruby said. “After we warned you not to.”
“They know too much,” Richard said to Ruby as though the twins weren’t there.
“We have to do something about them,” said Ruby.
Nora’s muscles were rigid. She had saved her brother from fires, lawn mowers, car accidents, and knives. Her gut was primed for tracking his safety, and right now it was signaling to her like a fire alarm.
“You took Mom and Dad away from me. I won’t let you take Charlie too.” She looked over at her brother and shouted, “Run.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, they took off down the beach and onto the grass, stumbling over their own harried feet as theyraced. Nora led them onto the dirt path and into the heart of the strange little town, already out of breath but unwilling to break stride. Charlie, for his part, kept a few paces behind, his own breathing even more labored.
Behind them, Richard and Ruby maintained a pace no octogenarian had the right to keep, but still they lagged behind enough for the twins to gain a growing distance from them. As they turned the corner towards the town center, Richard and Ruby disappeared from sight.
