Glow (4 page)

Melody pulled the boy over to their station wagon and sat him down, leaning him up against the back of the car while she opened the passenger side door to the backseat. A blast of hot air rushed out. “I told her we should have parked under a tree for shade,” she muttered. Quickly, Melody rolled down the car window. “But no, ‘
This is fine Mel,’
she says. Sure! Parking in the middle of the effing blacktop when it’s eighty-five billion degrees outside is always a great idea!”

“If it’s any consolation, Christopher and I always liked you better,” the backpacker said, getting to his feet and coming around the side of the car. His legs were wobbly, but he was able to walk.

“Guess you’re Wes, then?” Melody asked, pitching the backpack onto the front passenger seat. “I don’t think grandmas are allowed to play favorites. It’s like a strict grandma rule or something.”

The boy shook his head like he was coming out of a deep sleep and gave her a weak grin. She crawled into the backseat and unlatched Wyatt’s car seat base, tossing it in the way back. Melody might not have changed any diapers, but she’d become an expert at car seat installation.
Such a handy thing for a 15-year-old to know.

She helped Wes into the car and pointed to a cooler on the floor. “There are an assload of cold bottled waters in there, just make sure you leave some for Zellie. Lie down on the seat and wait for us, I gotta go see if my sister can rewind a produce truck. She usually can’t do large vehicles unless Avery’s life is on the line.”

“Ouch! So cynical,” Wes’ grin widened.

“Whatevs.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m hot and pissy and I think some of your gross back skin rubbed off on my favorite tank top.” She slammed the door shut.

Melody checked the highway. It was still clear in both directions.
Excellent.
She ran to the diner and went in the front door.

Zellie was standing in the doorway between the dining area and the kitchen, propping the swinging door open with her butt. With one hand she’d rewound the cops and Amanda back to the cash register. With the other she was holding Daniel and the produce guy in place, both in a forward step pulling hand carts loaded down with boxes behind them. Ramon was passed out in front of the walk-in refrigerator.

Melody had to admit that Zellie was getting way better at controlling her powers. This
was
a lot of people to deal with at once.

Sweat ran down the sides of her sister’s face, but she held her concentration. “This is a bit of a cluster F, isn’t it?”

Melody surveyed the situation. “Yeah, but at least no one’s in any danger.”

“Ha. Except us. One of these people is sure to remember something.” Zellie licked her lips. “So, I take it the backpacker wasn’t Grandma or you would have told me first thing.”

Melody shook her head. “Nope. It’s Wes.”

“Awesome. Well, maybe I should just drop my hands and run because I don’t think I give a rat’s ass what happens to him.”

“He’s here for a reason. Let’s just get this sorted out.” Melody wedged in between the cops and the counter, standing in front of the cash register. “I’ll deal with these guys. Why don’t you rewind Daniel and the produce dude back outside? I don’t think you have to move the truck, just get the guy in there. And you can stick Ramon back in the fridge.”

“You think Daniel won’t remember?” Zellie asked.

“Daniel’s not the brightest guy. I don’t think he has enough brain cells to remember something that happened more than five minutes ago.”

Zellie raised her eyebrow. “I didn’t know you knew him so well.”

Melody sighed, resigned. “Fine, yes, I went out on a few dates with him around Christmas when everyone was ignoring me. I half-assedly rebelled. He’s a stoner with a hard-on for me and I was lonely enough to take the bait. If he remembers anything, which he won’t, I’ll use my feminine wiles to our advantage, all right?”

“All right.” Zellie seemed satisfied with this and slowly started backing through the doorway into the kitchen. “Meet you at the car a-sap.”

As soon as her sister disappeared into the kitchen, the cops and Amanda came to life, each in mid-sentence. Melody dug around in her purse until they all fell into a befuddled silence.

“Sorry! This bag is like a vortex, for serious!” Melody exclaimed. “Why don’t you get the cops their pops, ha ha that rhymed, while I dive in here and look for my wallet?” She turned to the cops, “A Sprite and a Diet Dr. Pepper, right?” She turned back to Amanda and gave her a wide smile. “I should totally work here, don’t you think? I can so remember other people’s orders. It’s kind of a gift, one of my many, really.”

The cops seemed to take all of her ramblings at face value and strolled over to a booth against the wall, sitting down to wait for their beverages.

Amanda stared blankly at the cash register. “Uh, yeah, what did you have again?”

“Two chocolate shakes.” Melody flicked her head back toward the table she and Zellie had been sitting at. “Zel’s out in the car beautifying for Avery.”

Zellie walked by the front window, smiled and waved. Luckily Amanda was still staring at the register like it was an alien.

Melody quickly pulled her wallet from her bag. “Found it!” She took out a five and a one and slapped them down on the counter. “Check ya later, Amanda. Don’t forget the cop pops, a Sprite and a Diet Dr. Pepper.”

Amanda scowled and slid the money from the counter as Melody tried her hardest not to run out the front door.

Chapter Four

Pulling out onto the highway, I checked my rearview mirror and put my seat belt on. I drove at a leisurely pace until the See-Saw was nearly out of sight and then pushed the speed limit by 10 mph. I didn’t want to look suspicious, but we needed to vanish.

Melody and I took a collective breath when I made the exit that led to Avery’s house and we realized we hadn’t been followed.

“See, I told you it would work.” She looked into the vanity mirror, checking out the road behind us.

“Yeah, but by the hair of my chinny chin chin. We still have to hope they don’t remember anything.”

A groan came from the body lying in the backseat. He’d been passed out since I’d returned to the car.

“Are you okay back there?” I said, glancing over my shoulder.

“No. I’m not okay,” he said, struggling to sit up. He only made it halfway and then propped himself on his elbow. “I thought you guys had royally fucked me and that I was going to die in jail.”

“Definitely not Grandma,” Melody said.

“Nope.”

“It’s Wes. Melody, you didn’t tell her it was me?” He sounded hurt, like I was supposed to be ecstatic that the idiot who betrayed us all to Mildred in exchange for a new body was laying in the backseat of my car.

“Oh, she told me. How’s that new body workin’ out for ya?” I stole another quick glance over my shoulder unable to resist seeing his reaction.

“Obviously, it blows.” He lay back down.

Melody turned in her seat. “So--”

“Pull over! I’m going to hurl,” Wes said, gagging on the words.

I eased the car onto the shoulder. Melody hopped out and opened his door for him. Wes didn’t even bother getting out of the car, he just hung his head out of it and hurled onto the gravel.

“Ugh, gross. He’s barfing up coffee and water everywhere.” Melody stepped back from him as he continued to empty himself and put her forearm across her nose.

She really was the least maternal person on the planet. And that’s in a world where Aunt Hazel exists. I got out of the car and went around to him. I didn’t see what the big deal was, Wyatt spitting up sour milk reeked a lot worse.

I patted his back between his shoulder blades until I remembered that his skin was peeling off there, and then moved on to the safety zone of his upper arm. When he was done heaving, I helped him sit up and wiped his mouth off with the bottom edge of his t-shirt. I may have not liked Wes very much, but the poor body he was in was suffering badly.

“Better? We’ll be at Avery’s house in, like, five minutes. Think you can hold on that long? We kinda need to get off the road.”

He shook his head. “I can’t wait. There’s not much time.” Wes moved over and slumped against the other car door, motioning for me to get in the car with him. I did, shutting the door behind me. Melody got back in the car and cracked her window so we all wouldn’t suffocate in the heat.

“I have a message for you. Candace, your grandma’s friend, has infiltrated Mildred’s group,” Wes began, collecting himself.

“Wait. You know where she is?” Melody squeezed Wes’s knee hard. “Tell me. Now.”

“I don’t know where she is,” he shouted, pulling his leg away from Melody’s grasp. He looked at me. “Mildred locked me up in limbo with the rest of the spirits before she went to fight you guys and limbo is...wherever she is. But it’s not like we can see outside of it. She puts us in our own individual cell.”

“Do you know how she escaped from the coat room? We thought she was dead,” Melody prodded.

He nodded, continuing. “Mildred’s got a lot of Retros helping her out. Candace didn’t know the specifics, but she’s sure that’s how Mildred escaped. Apparently now she’s recuperated and stronger than ever.”

“You’re saying Retros helped her?” Melody scoffed. “I think not.”

“Why?” Wes shook his head. “As far as I can tell, all of you have questionable morals. And coming from me, that’s saying something. You bet I believe that other members of The Society would be on Mildred’s side.” He slumped forward and launched into a prolonged coughing spell.

I waited not so patiently for him to stop. I didn’t really care what had happened to Mildred; I just needed to know where she was now. “The message, Wes,” I said, taking him by the shoulders and making eye contact.

He took a deep breath. He was looking a little green again. “Mildred’s concentrating on Ben and Hazel’s groups. She doesn’t really consider you two to be threats.” He turned to me. “Apparently, your special power is pretty lame compared to Ben’s and Christopher’s. Sucks to be you.”

I wasn’t going to disagree. Melody moved her hand toward Wes’ knee again. He flinched.

“Anyway, Candace saw this as an opening to take the old bat by surprise. She convinced one of Mildred’s spirit minions to help her sneak me, your grandma, Ben’s mom and Christopher’s mom out of limbo over the next three days.” He cleared his throat. “Then she’ll steer them in the direction of a body to inhabit.”

“Just anyone?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Whichever body’s the most convenient, I guess? Someone close to death?” He pointed to himself. “I ended up with this sad bastard because he was nearly dead from dehydration in a dried-up riverbank on the mountain. He’s was in such bad shape that the decay that usually takes longer to set in after a body has been inhabited has really accelerated. The way I see it, I’m doing him a favor. He’s holding on in here, but I keep telling him that his body is falling apart and he should just give up and go to the light.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you,” Melody deadpanned.

“I thought it
was
.” He shrugged.

“What happens after they inhabit a body?” I asked.

“Next, they’ll have to plan to put someone else’s life in danger, like I did, or put their new body in danger so that you’ll have a vision or glimpse of the event and make contact with them. Similar to what went down today.” Wes grinned. “Although, now maybe you’ll be a little quicker to pick up on what’s happening. I mean, I threatened that diner chick with
scissors
when I had a whole tub of steak knives at my disposal. Duh.”

I wanted to punch him, but was afraid more of his skin might slide off. Yuck. I settled for extreme glaring.

He got the point. “Mildred has other Retros glimpsing for her, but like I said, they’re concentrating on what Ben and Hazel’s groups are doing. Still, to be safe, Candace thought that using rewinds as a cover was necessary.”

“A cover for what?”

“She’s transferring a short piece of a glimpse to each Retroact spirit, who’ll in turn transfer it to you. Combined, these mini-glimpses will give Camp Mildred’s location away.”

“So, in a few days’ time I’ll know where to find her?”

“Exactly.”

Melody pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll give Ben a call and let him know that he’s being watched.”

Wes sprang forward and slapped the phone from her hand. “No! The others can’t be involved. Weren’t you listening? Don’t tell anybody, not even your friends or family. It has to be you two only. Mildred’s not expecting an attack to come from you.”

“But I need them!” I said. “I can’t defeat her alone. I’m not strong enough without Ben and Christopher.”

Wes patted me on the knee condescendingly. “That’s what I said, but Candace seems to think otherwise.” He stretched his arms above his head. “I’ve got to bug out. We spirits are supposed to report back immediately after our task is complete so that there’s less chance of Mildred realizing we’ve been gone.” Wes closed his eyes and then opened them up again.

Oh goody, more parting words.

“My advice would be to take this body up into the woods and let it die.” He grinned. “I’m too much man for some people.”

Chapter Five

Antoine opened his bedroom door. His parents were standing in the hallway. Antoine Sr. looked mildly pissed off at the conversation he’d overheard, but Ant’s mom was all smiles for Ben.

“Thank you for visiting with our boy, Ben,” Willamina whispered even though it wasn’t like Grandma could hear her. “You know, I knew your mom a little bit back in the day. Nice lady. It’s because of her and your dad and how brave they were that I chose to stay with my trigger.”

“You knew my dad?” Ben whispered back, his knees going weak. All his mom had ever said about his father was that he was a very handsome sperm donor who was out of the picture the second she got pregnant. She’d never said anything about him being her
trigger.

Antoine’s dad grinned. “We ran around with Brandon and Laura one summer. Your parents were bound and determined to find a way to stay together.” He shook his head, remembering, and actually
giggled
. “Your dad was pretty funny for a white dude.”