She didn’t leave right away. Her eyebrows creased very slowly. She looked worried, not angry, and the way she stood made her seem tired. She wasn’t freaking out, though, which I took to mean the firestarter hadn’t made a reappearance at the mine.
“You’re not a bad kid, Zora,” she said, “but you do make bad decisions. I’m sure the reasons sound good or feel right, but it has to stop before you do something you end up regretting. I don’t want to see you waste years of your life in prison.”
“Like my dad, right?”
She shook her head. “Lazarus Novak isn’t a bad guy, either, but like you, he tends to let his emotions get the better of him. I’ve known him for a long time, and after your mom died, he wasn’t the same—”
He wouldn’t have left us alone if he wasn’t a bad guy,I thought, but said, “My mom’s not dead.”
Rivera tilted her head. “She’s not?”
“No one ever found her body,” I pointed out. “I get it—lost in the woods, never came back, been five years—she’s probably dead. But she’s notfor suredead. People go missing in the woods all the time. Sometreeswouldn’t be enough to kill my mom. She knows how to survive out there.”
The Chief’s frown deepened. “Zora, I investigated your mother’s disappearance myself. If she wanted to leave town, she could have taken Valleywine to the interstate. She wouldn’t stage a disappearance in the woods.”
I didn’t say anything.
“All right, well—after your mom went missing, your dad didn’t deal with it in the most constructive ways. I can’t say I blame him. Grief does things to you, especially when you don’thave the resources to deal with it. All I wanted to say was that I think you’re a smart girl and that you could make something of yourself, despite what everyone else thinks or says. If you’re up for it, in the future, if you’re thinking about doing something that might get you in trouble, you can come tell me about it, and we’ll decide together if you should do it or not. You don’thaveto, but it’s an option if you want it.”
Unfortunately a lot of things relating to firestarters could get me into trouble, and I couldn’t mention any of them to Rivera. “Sure.”
“Get some sleep, Zora.”
She left. A heater kicked on behind the walls. I stretched my legs across the muddy mess of the sheets. I kicked the boots off so hard they clanged against the cell bars. There was no fire here. I took a deep breath and repeated it several times in my head, once out loud for good measure.
We’d found the firestarter standing in front of its entrance. That round black nothingness past the wooden bridge was its gateway from wherever it had come, and I had to get it back through. Mom would have already had it done by now. It may not have even killed Masrell; she would have found it before that. She never stopped hunting. She was never scared of anything. Not firestarters. Not the town. She’d spent thirteen years teaching me everything she knew, but she’d never taught me how not to be scared.
I curled my right hand tight to my chest, the prosthetics stiff against my sternum, and turned on my side to draw my knees up. I had until morning to get myself back in order and figure out what to do about this firestarter. I knew where its entrance was, but it wouldn’t stick around the mines now that we’d seen it.
I had time. Time to think. Time to breathe.
There was no fire here.
12
Ididn’t sleep. I couldn’t. After the lights went out, I stayed awake, listening to all the little creaks and groans in the building and staring at the dark corner of the hallway. No matter how many times I told myself the mine firestarter wasn’t coming after me, I waited for those eyes to appear in the shadows. If I hadn’t been stuck in a cell, I could have at least run from it; Rivera had given me ice for my ankle, and it felt well enough now for me to flee, at least.
I spent all night worrying about the firestarter when I should have worried about Sadie.
I had thought Greta’s fury would be worse than Sadie’s. I had forgotten my sister’s long-standing, if partially buried, reputation. I had forgotten she had once sent half theAddamsville High baseball team running after a pop fly dented the roof of her car, and the bat she’d stolen to chase them with that day was the one that later became her weapon of choice.
Lividwas too soft a word for her face. Her hair was up in a ratty bun, and she wore a bright pink sweatshirt with the wordsLIVIN’ LIFEacross her chest in bubble letters.
“What the fuck,”she hissed, which was impressive for a sentence with no sibilant sounds.
Chief Rivera opened the cell door. “There’ll be a ticket to pay,” she said, “but it’s better than what could have happened. Make sure she gets to school, too.”
Sadie didn’t say anything. By the muscle jumping in her jaw, I wasn’t sure she was capable of speech. The chief spared me any more lectures and let me leave with Sadie, and only once we were heading home did I open my mouth.
“You can’t tell Dad about this.”
Sadie’s grip made the leather on the steering wheel creak.
“Oh no,” she said, voice much softer than I anticipated. “I won’t tell him anything.Youwill.”
“It was—”
“Chief Rivera told me what happened,” Sadie snapped. “Trying to stop tourists from ruining the town? I hate to tell you, but we’re already there! It’s done! No ghost-hunting crew is going to make it worse than it already is. What did you think was going to happen? You’d make them look likeassholes? Good job, you did that to yourself.”
