Out of the Ashes (15 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Logan

I’m up by six, eager to get to Cara’s. She fell asleep beside me last night, and while nothing happened, I haven’t felt that close to her in a long time. Maybe we’re making progress. She seems to think I’m the key to finding herself, and I’m okay with that. She helped me when I came to Ashlan Falls and was angry at the world. I owe it to her to help her through this. I’m not sure why I ever left. Anton was right. Running is for pussies.

I head to the living room and find the place a mess. With Linette unable to cook and clean, the house has gone to hell. I should really call someone in, but I’m worried Dad will replace Linette, and then if she does recover, she’ll be out of a job. I quickly grab a few things lying around and toss them in the laundry or garbage. I don’t have a clue where any cleaning products are, so I wet a paper towel and wipe things off. When I’m done, I step back and check out the place. It’s
guy
clean. Which means it’s dirty but livable. Hopefully Dad’s too busy avoiding me to notice. I’ve seen him exactly twice since Officer Monroe took me captive after Cara’s rebirth.

I grab a Power Bar from the cabinet and a bottle of water from the fridge and sit down at the kitchen table. There’s a note stuck to a placemat.

Going out of town.

That’s it. No mention of how long he’ll be gone, but it’s more than I expected. Him going away doesn’t really change my life at all since I don’t see him now, and at least I don’t have to worry about the house being messy for a little while.

I finish my breakfast, get dressed, and walk to Cara’s. The café has a sign out front advertising the half-price brunch, and then it hits me that Cara and I never called Rachel and Rob to tell them about it. Ugh! I smack my thigh and pull out my phone. I dial Cara, staring at the photo ID on my screen, the one I made her send me. I wonder how long it will be before she kisses me like that again.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Logan.”

“I know your voice.”

“Right. Look, I’m on my way to your place, but I just realized we never called Rob and Rachel last night.”

“I know. I called Rach this morning. She’s going, and get this. Jeremy is taking her.”

“I thought your mom didn’t want you and Jeremy hanging out with Rachel or Rob until we find out if…you know.”

“I guess Mom okayed it because Monique will be there and so will about half the town. She said people flock there when Monique runs a special like this.”

“Did you talk to Rob?” I hate the idea of Cara talking to him, even if he’s not a Hunter.

“Jeremy called him. Said he had some of Nick’s stuff that he thought Rob might want since they were friends.”

“All right. I’ll be there in a few.”

“Okay.” She pauses, like she wants to say more but doesn’t.

I linger on the line in case she works up the courage, but she just breathes on the other end. We stay like that until I’m in her driveway. “I’m here.”

“Oh.” Her voice is high-pitched like I startled her, making me wonder what she’s been thinking this whole time. “I’ll be right down.”

I hang up and wait on the front porch. Cara opens the door a minute later wearing a white sundress with orange flowers. I suck in a sharp breath at her appearance. This must be a cruel joke. The universe expects me to go on a stealth mission with Cara looking like that? The dress makes her legs look like they go on for miles, and her hair is cascading down her back like fire. I want to wrap my arms around her and take her upstairs to her room.

“Um, hi,” she says, because I’m staring with my mouth wide open.

“Sorry. You look incredible. I was thinking you’d be wearing something black and stealthy considering we’re about to break into Rob’s house, but this…wow.”

She blushes. “I didn’t even think to dress like that. I guess I’m not very good at this kind of stuff.”

“No, it’s good. I mean, we don’t want people to look at us and assume we’re going to sneak around in the dark.” But God would I love to be in the dark with her right now.

“I’m guessing you’re only saying that to make me feel better, but thank you anyway,” she says, and I can’t help noticing the flirty tone in her voice. She steps onto the porch and pulls the door closed behind her. “Shall we?”

I motion for her to go first and check her out from behind. Damn, that sundress highlights all her curves.

She eyes me over her shoulder. “Are you checking me out?”

“What if I say yes?”

She smiles, falling back in step with me. “Jeremy said Rachel is meeting him in about fifteen minutes and Rob should be there right after that.”

“What do we do in the meantime?”

“We met at the falls, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I haven’t been there much, yet Mom and Jeremy say that I practically lived there before…” She lowers her gaze to the sidewalk. “I thought I should probably spend more time there if I really want to tap into my memories. Jeremy said he tried to do things the way he did before his rebirth at first but he gave up on it and told people his interests changed. I don’t want to do that. I want to remember why I loved the things I did back then. You know?” She looks up at me, and I can’t help wondering if she’s including me in that list of things.

“I think it’s a good plan, but honestly, I don’t want to take you there now. I don’t want to rush our time together. We used to stay there for hours at a time, getting lost in…” I still don’t know how much I should tell her. I want her to figure some of this out for herself.

“I think I understand what you mean. Maybe we could go later, once we’re finished checking Rob’s house.”

“Sounds good.” It takes all my might not to kiss her.

We take the long way to Rob’s house, both to kill time so we’re sure he’s not home and to avoid going by Monique’s. I can’t help thinking back to when Cara showed me around town. Everything about this place is tied to my memories of Cara. When we reach the place where I was hit by a car, Cara comes to a sudden stop and grabs my arm.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” She looks around, her eyes going from the sidewalk in front of us to the road. Then her head lowers, and she jerks her hand away from my arm. “Where’s your jacket?”

“What?” My voice rises an octave. “What did you just say?”

She presses her hand to her forehead. “I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m saying or why this place is bothering me. I’m sorry.”

I take her by her shoulders and look into her eyes. “Cara, I used to wear a leather jacket all the time. My mom gave it to me, and after she died it was all I had left of her. The only time I didn’t have it on was when I gave it to you.”

She searches my eyes as if she’s going to see the memories in them. Then she squints and tries to turn away, but I hold her tightly.

“And right here, in this spot, a dog tried to attack us and I got hit by a car.”

“Oh my God!” She places her hand on my chest.

“I wasn’t hurt because you scared the dog away and made the windshield of the car shatter.”

She looks up at me. “How many times did you get hurt being around me?”

“I’m fine. I was never really hurt around you because you saved me. You healed my head when I cracked it open at the falls. I probably would’ve died if not for you, so before you talk yourself into believing it’s dangerous for me to be around you, understand that I’m alive because of you.”

She’s breathing heavily. “What happened to your jacket?”

“It burned.”

“That’s the jacket you mentioned at the falls. It burned with me?”

“Not exactly. I tried to put out the fire with it.”

“Why would you do that if it meant so much to you?” She’s on the verge of tears now.

I stare into her eyes, trying to convey everything I’m feeling inside. “Because you mean more to me.”

She crumples into me, and I hold her against my chest. The memories are supposed to make things better, not worse. I hate that I’m hurting her by telling her all these things.

She tilts her head back and looks at me again. “I had a dream about you last night. I didn’t tell anyone because I wasn’t sure how they’d react.”

“What happened in the dream?”

“It wasn’t just a dream. It was a premonition, only it was from my past.”

“You saw something from your past?”

She nods and looks around. The streets are empty, most likely because everyone is at Monique’s. “We have premonitions of our rebirths. That’s what I saw.”

“What if you were remembering your rebirth instead of seeing the premonition?”

“Either way, it means I’m remembering.”

I wasn’t sure she ever would recover her memories. I’ve just been hoping she’d fall in love with me again. This is good. This means we might get back what we lost.

She wipes her eyes. “We need to get to Rob’s. We’re wasting time.”

“Are you okay?”

“This is what I wanted, right?” She backs away from me and forces a smile.

We start walking again and reach Rob’s house. There are no cars in the driveway, which means Rob’s parents must be at work. We go around back, and I hope that Rob’s left the house unlocked again.

“What are you doing?” Cara asks as I reach for the doorknob.

“When I came here with Rob yesterday, he just went inside. It wasn’t locked.”

“Really?” She narrows her eyes. “If he was a Hunter, I’d think he’d lock his house tight to keep anyone from finding out.”

“Or he’s confident no one will suspect him.” I turn the doorknob, and the door opens with ease. “We’re in.”

Cara stays close to me and shuts the door behind us. We head upstairs and start in the bathroom, the room Rob didn’t want me snooping around in. Cara checks the vanity while I search the closet. There’s a stack of magazines in a basket at the bottom of the closet, but it’s not porn or anything like that. They’re cooking magazines. Why anyone would read a cooking magazine while sitting on the toilet is beyond me.

“Nothing,” Cara says with a sigh.

“Let’s check his room. It’s possible he moved whatever it is he’s hiding.” I follow Cara to Rob’s room. The walls are a faded blue, and the carpet is stained so badly I can’t tell what color it once was. The bed is unmade, and there are empty beer bottles on the floor.

“Whoa,” Cara says.

“Yeah, he’s an interesting guy.”

“He’s a
drunk
guy.” Cara walks around the room, stepping over bottles and various stains. “What does Rachel see in him?”

“Beyond the fact that he’s a warm body, I couldn’t tell you.” I head for the bed first and lift up the sheets hanging onto the floor so I can see underneath. Magazines, and these definitely are porn. I push them aside, making sure Rob isn’t hiding anything behind them. “Nothing here.”

Cara is searching the desk, pulling out drawer after drawer to reveal they’re all empty except for a hacky sack in one. “Nothing here either.”

We both move toward the closet when we hear noises downstairs. Crap! Rob must have come home early. Footsteps sound on the stairs, so I grab Cara and pull her into the closet with me, closing the doors behind us.

Through the slats in the doors, I see Rob walk into the room with his phone in his hand. “Yeah, I know.” He sounds pissed. “You interrupted my breakfast, and now you’re really pissing me off. As soon as I get her away from him everything will be fine. I know what I’m doing.”

Rob hangs up the phone and tosses it on the bed. Then he pulls his shirt up over his head and walks toward the closet.

We are so fucked.

Chapter Twenty

Cara

A squeak slips through my lips, and Logan covers my mouth. Rob is going to find us, and after what he just said on the phone, I have no doubt he’s a Hunter. He wants to get me away from Logan, and then I’m sure he’s planning to kill me.

My mind searches for a way out of this situation. I have firepower, but that’s not going to save us from being caught. My only hope is to let Rob find us and then chuck a fireball at his head.

Logan opens my purse and takes out my phone. He scrolls through my contacts to find Rob and hits send. Just as Rob’s hand clamps down on the closet door, his cell rings.

“What now?” He turns in a huff and grabs his phone from the bed. When he sees the display he smiles. “Well, well, maybe Tillman came to her senses after all.” He answers the call. “Hey, good looking.”

Logan ends the call and starts texting. I read the screen as he types.

Cara:
Sorry, bad reception. Can you meet me at the falls?

Rob reads his screen and laughs. “About time, Tillman.” He pulls his shirt back over his head and leaves.

I exhale the breath I’ve been holding. “Oh my God.”

“I know. That was way too close.” Logan puts my cell back in my purse.

“We need to get out of here.”

We wait until we hear the front door close, and then we come out of our hiding spot. Logan rifles through the clothes and shoeboxes, but doesn’t find anything to prove Rob is a Hunter. This trip hasn’t told us anything concrete. Yes, Rob wants to get me away from Logan, but the more I think about it, that might not mean anything, not in a Hunter sense.

“Let’s go. You need to get to the falls.” Logan pulls me from the room and down the stairs.

“Why did you ask him to meet me there?”

“I don’t know.” He lets go of me as we reach the bottom of the stairs. “I panicked, I guess. Now we’re going to have to come up with a reason for meeting him there.”

“I’m going to tell him to stay away from Rachel. Tell him that she’s with Jeremy now and I don’t want my brother getting hurt.”

“You know that’s only going to fuel his ego. He’ll assume you want him to stay away because you think Rachel would choose him over Jeremy.”

I shrug. “What else can I do? We don’t know any more than we did yesterday, and we have to get out of this mess.”

We sneak out the back door, making sure none of the neighbors sees us. My cell vibrates with a text from Monique.

Monique: This place is clearing out.

Cara: I know. Rob almost caught us a minute ago.

Her response is immediate, which means she’s panicking.

Monique: Are you okay?

Cara: Fine. No worries.

We run to the falls because Rob already has a head start. Before we go through the entrance, I stop and tug Logan’s arm. “I should do this alone.”

“No way.” Logan’s breathing normally even though I’m panting. “We don’t know if we can trust him, so I’m not going anywhere.”

He’s right. It’s too risky to be alone with Rob. I try to catch my breath so Rob doesn’t know I rushed here. He looks up when he hears us approaching, and his brows pull together.

“I didn’t know
he
was coming,” Rob says, eying Logan.

“Why wouldn’t he? He’s my boyfriend.”

“Right. I just thought—”

“You thought what?” Logan asks. “That Cara ditched me to meet you? Man, we hung out yesterday and already you’re willing to stab me in the back.” Logan emphasizes the word “stab,” but Rob doesn’t flinch.

Rob holds his arms out at his sides. “What can I say? I barely know you, and she’s hot.”

Is he using the word “hot” on purpose? Playing around with double-meanings the way Logan did?

“Rob, I asked you to meet me because I want you to stop getting in the way of Rachel and Jeremy. They like each other. I know you were with them at Monique’s.”

“Hey, Jeremy called me. Said he had some of Nick’s stuff for me. Turns out it was a stupid flash drive with songs on it. I couldn’t care less. As for Rachel, she’s going to do whatever and
who
ever she wants. Maybe you forgot that.”

“I forgot a lot of things, but I know she likes Jeremy and he likes her. I don’t want to see either one of them get hurt. Keep your distance, okay? I’m asking you as a friend.” I step toward him, trying to act like I’m doing nothing more than asking for a favor.

Rob’s mouth curves up on one side. “Right, and this has nothing to do with making sure I stay available for when you get tired of this guy.” He motions to Logan.

I reach for Logan, knowing he won’t let Rob talk like that about him. “Don’t hold your breath. Or on second thought, do hold your breath. Let’s see how that goes.”

I turn around and walk out of the falls, holding hands with Logan.

“Wow,” Logan says. “I’m impressed.”

“Why? The guy’s a major douche.”

He laughs. “I know, but you handled him well, and I saw a little of the old Cara fire.”

“That’s probably what he was hoping for. To get me worked up so I’d do something stupid.” I shake my head, unable to believe how bad I am at being a Phoenix. Screwing up before was one thing because I didn’t have control over my abilities. I should be better at this now.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Logan assures me. “You put him in his place. That’s all. No worries, okay?”

“We should get back to my house and fill Linette and Jeremy in on what we found out, not that it’s much of anything.”

“How’s Linette doing?”

My stomach churns with worry. “I don’t think the others believe she’s going to get better. She may stay like this until her next rebirth.”

“How long will that be?”

“I’m not sure.” We each have a predetermined age when we’re reborn—after the first time at seventeen for girls, sixteen for guys—but we don’t know what it is until it happens, and I’ve never asked Linette about hers.

“We should do something fun today,” Logan says. “I think we deserve it after the morning we’ve been having.” His face lights up. “You’re remembering things. Let’s go back to the falls for a swim and see if we can jog anything else inside that pretty head of yours.”

“I don’t think Mom’s going to let me hang out at the falls with everything that’s going on. We didn’t exactly find out anything about Rob, so we’re no better off than we were before.”

“Your mom is at work, right?” A devilish smile creeps across his lips.

“Let me guess, I snuck out to be with you before.”

“Too often, but that was because your mom was trying to keep you away from me. I definitely don’t want a repeat of that. I’m just thinking that we could go for a little while. I’ll have you home before she gets off work, and I’m sure Linette will be resting so she won’t even notice we’re gone.”

“That leaves Jeremy.” I turn up my driveway where Jeremy is shooting hoops.

He sinks a basket and turns toward us. “Find anything?” He’s breathing heavily, and I can’t help thinking this is his way of burning off energy while he waited for us.

“Not really. Rob came home early and almost caught us.” I take the ball from Jeremy because I’m feeling the need to blow off a little steam too. “He was talking on the phone to someone though and he mentioned getting
her
away from
him
. It’s possible he was talking about Logan and me, but there’s no way to know for sure.” I chuck the ball at the net, and it bounces off the backboard.

Jeremy catches my rebound. He holds the ball in front of him and scrunches his face in thought. “So, that could mean that he doesn’t want you around Logan for a reason.”

I didn’t think of it like that, but he might be right. “That could mean that Logan’s offering some sort of protection.” I look at Logan, trying to see if I missed a clue about him. Maybe he’s not a regular human after all. Maybe he’s different too.

***

Logan and I decide to skip the falls until we know more. I don’t want to mess things up by pissing off Mom. I spend the day helping Linette, who is determined to get her strength back. She leans on me as we walk the length of the living room over and over again. I pretend she’s making progress, but I think we both know I’m supporting most of her weight.

At six Mom comes home. She kicks off her shoes, flops onto the couch, and leans her head back.

“That was a long day. There’s nothing worse than healing someone and having them complain about it. I swear the guy stabbed himself with a screwdriver on purpose just so he could get some prescription drugs.”

“You aren’t healing people too well, are you, Elisa?” Linette says, sitting herself up more in the armchair.

Mom rubs her temples. “I’ve been so on edge lately. My emotions were running high, and I might have overdone it with healing him.”

“You need to be more careful,” Linette says, though her tone is nowhere near as reprimanding as Garret’s would be if he were here.

“I know. I’m thinking of calling in sick tomorrow so I can gather my thoughts and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

If she calls in sick, I’ll never get to go to the falls with Logan, not without a chaperone.

“I’m not sure any of us should do anything out of the ordinary right now,” I say. “Logan and I didn’t find anything out about Rob.”

“That’s not true.” Jeremy shakes his head at me before turning to Mom. “Rob doesn’t seem to want Cara with Logan. Don’t you think that might mean something? He was there during her rebirth, and instead of Nick killing Cara, she was able to kill Nick. Logan might have had something to do with that. He might not be just a human after all.”

Mom sits up and looks at me. “Are you implying Logan is something else?
Super
human?”

“Maybe he’s a Phoenix but doesn’t know it. Is that possible?” I ask.

Mom leans forward and squeezes her knees in her hands. “You’ve known what you are since you were four, because your father and I were upfront with you about being a Phoenix. I guess it’s possible that Logan’s family wasn’t honest with him. He could have been reborn and not even know it.”

Garret walks in and shakes his head, dismissing the idea with the wave of his hand. I didn’t even hear him come in, and I’m not sure I like the idea of him coming and going like he lives here.

“Then his parents would be Phoenixes,” Garret says.

“No one has ever seen Logan’s dad, right?” I look to Linette, who furrows her brow. “Have you met him?”

“We’ve only spoken on the phone.”

Garret’s eyes widen in disbelief. “How is that possible? You’re living in his house.” Garret gestures to Linette’s chest, which is still bandaged even though she’s trying to hide that fact from the rest of us by wearing baggy clothes. “Or you were before this happened.”

“Logan never told his father that I’d be staying with them.” She shrugs, which makes her wince. “I didn’t want to risk him saying I couldn’t live there, so I made sure he didn’t know.”

I’m not surprised Logan didn’t tell his father. From what he told me, his dad isn’t the most understanding person. None of us has ever met Mr. Schmidt. That could be because he doesn’t want anyone to figure out what he is.

“Maybe he keeps so busy because he’s not good at hiding his Phoenix abilities. Logan makes it seem like his dad is always angry, and anger makes it difficult to control our scent and body heat, not to mention setting things on fire.”

They all give me the “we know how it works” look, and I roll my eyes. If they know so well, why aren’t they seeing what I’m seeing?

“Are we really going from thinking Schmidt could be a Hunter to thinking he might be a Phoenix?” Garret rakes his fingers through his hair. “We must all be losing our minds.”

Jeremy stands up, looking much more authoritative than I’ve seen him appear before. “Someone has to meet this guy. Find out if it’s true.”

Linette reaches for his arm, wincing at the movement. “It should be me. I’d be the least suspicious choice. I have to get over there and clean anyway. I’m sure the place is a mess by now.”

Mom puts her teacup on the coffee table and goes to Linette. “You aren’t ready to be picking up after anyone.”

She doesn’t want to say it, but we all know that Linette may never be ready again. We have no idea if she’ll ever recover from the Phoenix dagger. It may have missed her heart, but it did a lot of damage to her body that Mom couldn’t heal.

“Monique and I can take turns going over there and cleaning for you.”

“No. I won’t lie around here useless, as nothing more than a liability to the rest of you.”