I manage to get a cup and a half down me and feed Oscar three scrambled eggs and two slices of toast when mom walks in, freshly showered, looking like a beauty queen.
“Why are you still here?” she says to me, then turns to Oscar. “I wish you could stay longer because it’s so nice to have you around, but Selkie has decided to return you and get Henri back.”
Throwing me under the bus is an Olympic sport for her.
Oscar shrugs as he stuffs the last of his toast in his mouth. “Fine by me.”
Once we’re on the road, I say to Oscar, “You’re gonna have to point the way to your house.”
“No kidding,” Oscar mutters. It’s like all the shared camaraderie we had yesterday has disappeared over night.
“I don’t get why you want to go home,” I say, feeling hurt. “I thought we had fun yesterday.”
He shrugs as he looks out the side window. “It was okay.”
“We haven’t solved the problem between you and Henri.”
He rolls his eyes. “When you make the exchange with dad, I’ll convince Henri to call a truce. Okay?”
“Sure,” I reply, thinking that’ll be easier said than done.
As I follow Oscar’s directions, I glance at a side street, then brake so hard, Oscar has to grab the dashboard. “Holy shit!” I exclaim. “It’s Sadie.”
A car beeps loudly behind me. I wave as I pull into a tow away zone.
“I thought you got Sadie,” Oscar says as we watch the Blackbeard strolling along.
I scramble to take off my seat belt. “I did, then I didn’t. Long story. No time to explain. This is my second chance.”
My luck really is changing.
I shove open the car door. “Stay here and lock the doors.”
Oscar huffs. “You’re in a tow away zone and you don’t got Brambles.”
Good grief. “Move the car and don’t worry about Brambles. I’ll think of something.”
“I’m 12. I can’t drive yet.” He opens his door and gets out.
“Stay put,” I tell him.
He crosses his arms and leans against the car. “Staying put,” he replies dryly.
I take off after Sadie, making sure my gun’s where it needs to be.
Chapter Sixteen
Oscar
I wait until Selkie is out of sight then quietly follow her. I know who Sadie is. I know what he is. And dad was horrified when he saw the Blackbeard in the backseat of Selkie’s car at the school.
No wonder Henri’s like she is with her crazy mother.
I make sure there’s a half-block space between me and Selkie, keeping as quiet as I can, but it doesn’t really matter, because Selkie hasn’t looked back once. She’s not actually very good at her job, I decide.
She stops dead at the end of a street, peaks around the corner of a building, hesitates, then disappears.
When I finally catch up with her, I catch a glimpse of her running down an alley. God, she’s crazy. I think of Henri without her mother and feel sorry for her. I got a dad and usually that’s good enough, but I wouldn’t mind having a mother. If Selkie died, Henri wouldn’t have anyone but her grandma.
