“What’d your mom do?”West asked.
Skye stiffened.“She worked in the music industry.Did a little bit of everything.”
Ollie nodded.“So that’s where you learned all your skills?”
Skye smiled, but it was tight.“Yeah, she passed on the tricks of the trade.”
“What’s she doing now?”Liam asked.
“She’s dead,” Skye said, not looking up from the laptop.
“Oh, shit.I’m sorry,” Liam said.
Skye shrugged.“No problem.It was ten years ago.”
An awkward moment passed.Remi didn’t take his eyes off Skye.She played at nonchalance, but there was a tension in her voice when she spoke about her mom.Unless it was all part of her act.He couldn’t be sure how much of what she said was the truth and how much was a lie.
“Well, you’re the only one equipped to handle this heat.I’m fucking melting,” Liam said.
Remi squeezed his water bottle, squishing some of the water out of the opening.What if Skye was the only one not affected by the heat because she broke the air conditioning to make them suffer on purpose?
The bus hit a pothole, and he tripped over his feet as they all jostled.His water spilled down the front of his shirt.The bus kept bouncing as it slowed and then came to a stop.
Remi looked out the window.The cracked and desiccated dirt went on for as far as he could see.There were a few bushes on the side of the asphalt, only the barren skeletons left of them.
Their bus driver, Larry, rushed off the bus, and everyone followed behind him with a quiet dread lingering in the air.
If Remi thought the big metal box of the tour bus was sweltering, it was nothing like the blast of oppressive heat that hit him in the face as they got off the bus.
They formed a semicircle around the front of the bus, staring at the flat front right tire.
“Hey, mate,” Ollie said.“That ain’t looking good.”He pointed to the smoke curling from the end of the tour bus where the engine was located.
“Shit,” Larry said and hurried to open the rear panels.The faint twists of smoke became a plume.
“Is that from the air conditioning?”Liam asked.
Larry waved his hand through the smoke.“No.I have no idea what this is.The water pump or something.The transmission felt like it was starting to go while I was driving too.We need to call a tow.”
Remi pressed his tongue into his upper lip and slowly turned his head to Skye.
She startled when she noticed him looking at her.Her jaw dropped, and she flung out a hand.“What?You think I did this?”
“Well, if you were to fuck with the air conditioning and then make the bus break down in the middle of the desert during the hottest time of day, you would be the only one of us not affected by the heat,” Remi said, trying to keep his voice level, but heat-induced anger swirled through the words, adding a vicious, almost deranged bite to them.
“You can’t blame Skye for the air conditioning breaking!”Liam said.
“And ya think she sabotaged the transmission and the water pump?”Ollie asked.“That’s nuts.She’s stuck out here with us.”
“Yeah, but we’re the ones suffering.Don’t you see?”Remi asked.He raised his hands to the skies, shaking them as if he was some insane preacher who could exorcise this demon from his life.“She’s not breaking a sweat.She’s perfectly fine.”
“Remi,” Skye said.“I did not do this.That’s crazy.How would I have messed with the bus and made sure everything broke and the tire went all at once?How the hell would I have done that?I’m good at multitasking, but come on!”
“The same way you do everything!Magic!”Remi bellowed.
Skye just put her hand on her hip and gave him an incredulous look.
“Rem,” West said, his voice calm.“Skye didn’t do this.”
