Auracle. Part 14

Rei looks about ready to burst into flames. He yanks a duffel bag off his closet shelf, shoves a change of clothes into the bag, and goes off in search of stuff from the bathroom. Once he's packed, he reads my message and nods once, deletes the message, and shuts the computer down.

At the bottom of the stairs, he stops and looks Yumi straight in the eyes. "I'm taking the car," he says calmly. "If you want to call the police and report it stolen, then do it. I have my phone, and I should be back early tomorrow." Rei opens the screen door and steps out into the night.

Now it's Yumi who looks ready to explode. "Robert Reiki Ellis! You get back here this instant!"

Rei keeps on walking across the yard through the darkness, opens the car door, and tosses his duffel bag into the back. "Bye, Mom. I love you," he calls just before he shuts the door. I slide in through the pa.s.senger door and watch him back out of the driveway.

During the first half hour, I swear he looks in the rearview mirror at least a hundred times. By the time we cross over the bridge at Chimney Point, I think he realizes Yumi didn't call the police, but he doesn't turn on music, and he doesn't speak, except when he stops to gas up the car and ask the man at the register for the key to the restroom.

He's getting tired. Before he leaves the convenience store, he gets himself a cup of black coffee, and he makes a face when he sips it.

It started to rain while Rei was inside, the type of heavy, sheeting rain that comes down sideways. Rei makes a run for the car and I'm waiting for him when he gets in.

"Coffee sucks," he informs me.

I agree. Unless it has a generous amount of cream and five packs of sugar, I really have no use for it.

"We should be there in another hour or so, although this rain might slow us down." He frowns out the window. "Like Seth needs this on top of everything else. Can you check on him for me?"

I nod and I'm gone before he can turn the key in the ignition.

I've lost Seth. Seriously, I can't find him. I focused on that staccato rhythm I've memorized as Seth's energy pattern and followed it to a set of electrical power lines running up and down a weedy hill on an open slice of land between two pine forests. From here, his signal jumbles with other signals into an indistinguishable static which blends in with the faint buzz of power surging through the thick wires and the hiss of the light drizzle still falling here.

As soon as I get back to the car, there's a thin layer of fog building on the windshield. I could use the fog to write with and tell him the truth, or I could just placate Rei and try again before we get there.

"Is he okay?"

I nod without looking at him. Sometimes I really hate myself.

Rei turns the radio on now, and the cla.s.sic rock station Robert loves has been reduced to static. Rei fiddles with the k.n.o.bs until something halfway decent comes on, but he turns the volume down low so he can hear his cell phone if it rings.

"Three more exits," Rei's mood is getting lighter. "He should be calling anytime." I motion to him that I'm leaving and wave.

Once again, his signal ends at the power lines, but at least it's stopped raining. I look to my left and right, into the pitch-blackness of the forest on this starless, moonless night, and try to imagine being in there all alone with something as vulnerable as a human body. Even without a body, I get that p.r.i.c.kly feeling of fear just thinking about what might lurk in those woods. I skirt the perimeter of the forest, and find something even more frightening than a black bear or a full-grown bull moose.

A police car cruises slowly down the adjoining road, and the officer in the pa.s.senger side shines a floodlight into the woods.

Rei pulls the car in through the campus gates and parks in the first parking lot he sees. He pushes a b.u.t.ton on his speed dial and waits.

"Matt!" he says finally. "It's Rei Ellis." He presses the phone closer to his ear and talks louder. "REI ELLIS. YEAH! HEY, HAVE YOU HEARD FROM SETH?" I hear a party in Rei's phone. There's a long pause while Rei watches the beads of drizzle gather into streams of water that trickle down the windshield. "NO, oh, okay, that's better. No, I'm on campus right now. What dorm are you in?" Rei cranes his neck, looking around until he locates whatever it is he's looking for. "Okay, I see it. I'll meet you by the door."

Matt looks like Seth, only with shorter hair and that persistent five o'clock shadow that some girls find ruggedly s.e.xy. I think it looks like he forgot to shave.

"Rei!" Matt throws his arm around his shoulder and gives him an affectionate squeeze. "I haven't seen you in forever. Good to see you, kid!"

"Hey, you too, Matt."

"Sorry about the noise. It gets a little crazy here on Sat.u.r.day night. Come on up."

"Have you heard from Seth?" Rei asks on their way up the stairs before the music amplifies out of control and makes conversation impossible.

"No, I've been waiting for him to call since I heard from you." Matt stops halfway up. "What the h.e.l.l is going on with him? My dad called me earlier this week and told me Seth left him a note saying he was in some kind of trouble so he was heading to Canada. Then my dad called to tell me they found his car at the border. All week, there've been cops trolling the campus, and not the campus security. Some of them were plainclothes cops in unmarked cars, but I didn't put two and two together until you called this morning. Then they pulled me in and asked me a million questions about Seth." Matt starts up the stairs again, slowly. "So what the h.e.l.l happened to that girl? They seriously think Seth pushed her into the falls?"

"I guess so. He didn't, though."

"That's unfrickin' believable!" Matt looks even more like Seth when he scowls. As they make their way down the hallway, the smell of beer and its aftermath becomes increasingly potent. The party is in full swing when Matt and Rei walk through the door and the room is covered in wall-to-wall people. Someone is blasting loud music, techno mostly, or as Rei calls it, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d child of disco. Some people are dancing. Others are standing around shouting at each other in order to be heard over the music, or swilling beer from plastic cups, or making out in the dark corners of the room. Rei shakes his head no when someone offers him a beer.

"I'll see if I can find a bottle of water for you," Matt shouts and disappears into the crowd.

Rei looks around impatiently, and I figure n.o.body will notice if I surge into view in front of him.

"Anna!" He sounds somewhere between relieved and shocked to see me. "What are you doing? Someone might see you!"

I shrug. Half of these people look too tanked to know the difference between a real person and me. He looks around to see if anyone is looking at us funny, but n.o.body cares.

"Where's Seth?"

I point to his phone, which he has been holding tight to for the past several minutes, waiting for Seth to call him.

He's in some woods near power lines. It'll be hard to find him in the dark.

The energy in this room is cla.s.sic chaos, and it's easy to suck up enough to type effortlessly on his phone.

"I thought you knew where he was," Rei challenges me.

I roll my eyes. I know the general vicinity, but the power lines make it hard to pinpoint exactly where he is. And once I find him, I have to bring you there in the dark. Not impossible, but not safe.

"I'll worry about safe. You worry about finding him. Let's go."

Matt makes his way back across the room with a bottle of water for Rei, so I shake off the extra energy and disappear. Matt motions for Rei to follow him to the quieter hallway.

"Sorry that took so long. I had to go back to my room. Hey, I didn't know you brought Anna with you."

"Anna?" Rei looks like he's been caught cheating on a quiz. "I didn't bring Anna."

"Oh. I thought I saw her standing in there with you." He shrugs. "It must have been someone who looks like her."

"Yeah, I guess. You know, I was thinking I'd go look around, see if I can find him."

"I'll go with you," Matt offers.

"You don't have to," Rei says quickly. "I was just going to drive around town while I wait for his call. How late will you be up tonight?"

"Who can sleep with all this noise? Things don't usually settle down until around five."

Ha! Rei's going to love college. Five o'clock in the morning is when he usually gets up to work out and meditate.

Rei nods. "I'll be back long before then. I'll call you when I find him. I'm sure I'll need you to help me talk him into turning himself in."

I materialize beside him as he's walking through the parking lot.

"So, other people can see you."

I shrug and nod. But just because someone can see me doesn't mean they will admit they saw me.

"So you should be careful. Matt thought I brought you with me."

I shrug again. Matt didn't push it, so I'm not worried about it.

"Did you find his exact location yet?" he presses.

I point to his phone. Not yet. And I already told you, I don't want to take you in the woods when it's dark.

"Why? Isn't Seth in the woods when it's dark?"

I nod. I get the feeling Rei's going to get all macho about this.

"So what's the difference? If Seth is in there, it's no more dangerous for me."

There he goes. Frustration fuels me as I type. You can't see to walk. If you fall and break your ankle, I can't get you out of there.

"I have my phone."

If the power lines are interfering with Seth's vibration, they may interfere with your phone signal, too. The phone does you no good if there's no reception.

Rei ends up driving around, and I leave the car a few times to see if I can pick up Seth's energy pattern. It stays consistent, leading me back to the power lines, time and time again.

"Then just take me to the general location and I'll find him myself," Rei insists.

That's not happening. He could be anywhere within a square mile of where I lose his vibration. You need sleep. I'll wake you up when I find him.

"Anna, what if he's not hiding in the woods? What if you can't find him because he's dead?"

CHAPTER 20.

It took me over an hour to convince Rei that Seth couldn't possibly be dead, and that he was only thinking these bad things because he was exhausted. Even his aura is a tired shade of beige. Matt offered Rei his roommate's bed for the night but since the sheets looked like they hadn't been washed since school started last September, Rei made a diplomatic excuse and spent the night in the car. It's now after five o'clock in the morning, and he looks painfully uncomfortable, but his internal alarm clock hasn't kicked in yet to wake him up. Good. I need more time anyway.

The static by the power lines is still buzzing, but not nearly as strong as it was last night. Maybe because it's daylight now and not as much electricity is needed. I don't know and I don't care. I allow myself the luxury of hope.

The forest extends about a mile on either side of the power lines. Light filters through the tall pines casting soft shadows and morning brings birdsong and the scuttlings of squirrels and chipmunks as they start their day. Every tree, every bush, every blade of gra.s.s and patch of moss is alive, surrounded by shades of soft, serene blue. It's the aura of peace, like everything in nature is attuned to each other in perfect harmony.

Even me. Even though I am without a body, without a plan, I allow myself this one perfect moment to be without a care, to feel like I'm part of something bigger than bodies and plans, something eternal and omnipresent and hopeful. Something positive. The trees nod their branches even though there is no wind.

And then the blues shimmer into silver and from somewhere above me, the colors gather together into this brilliant beam of light that reaches down to me.

My first reaction is to bolt, but I'm too mesmerized. Is this the light? THE light? The same one I saw in the nursing home, the one that comes for the dead? Why is it here, then, in the forest? Is it here for me? Is this some sort of cosmic hint that because I have no body, I am now invited to the big heavenly party?

I don't have time for a party. I need to find Seth.

I feel like I'm spitting in the face of G.o.d. "Thank you," I tell the light because there is obviously some divine connection here and I don't want to seem ungrateful, "but I need to find Seth before I can go anywhere."

The light seems to have no hard feelings. It shimmers with tiny shards of color, like glitter is swirling around inside it, and disappears in an upward motion as if vacuumed up into the sky. The stillness that follows is absolute, except for one lone vibration....

That convoluted buzz I know as Seth is as clear as an arrow pointing me in the direction I need to go, and I know this is no coincidence. I whisper more thanks and follow the vibration to this ma.s.sive pine tree that had fallen, roots and all, what must be years ago. Seth is sleeping on the muddy ground, almost completely hidden under a blanket of brittle brown pine needles. He's soaked to the skin, filthy, and he smells like boiled cabbage, but he's very much alive.

CHAPTER 21.

Yesssss! I do my little invisible midair spiral of happiness! I am so freakin' happy I finally found Seth and I can't wait to tell Rei! I get a fix on Rei's calm, steady vibration, which I know so well, and swoop down to it, realizing too late that Rei is wet and soapy and ... oh G.o.d!!

I hear him mutter a j.a.panese swear followed by my name as I retreat into the hallway. I didn't see any of his boy parts, I swear, but Rei doesn't know that. All he knows is Hurricane Anna blew into the shower while he was in there wearing nothing but bubbles. Rawr! I should have known better. I mean, this is Rei we're talking about-a nuclear warhead could be heading straight for Vermont and he'd want a quick shower before it hits. I wait outside the room marked SHOWER, and the hallway is quiet now that almost everyone is asleep after their wild night.

I know Rei must be annoyed, but honestly, I didn't see anything lower than his chest. Besides, he knows I wouldn't intentionally peek in on him while he's showering. I imagine how I would feel if the situation was reversed ... mortified, for sure. He's a guy, though. Don't guys all shower together? And it's not like Rei and I haven't seen each other naked. The first time I tasted honey was at Rei's house and we made such a sticky mess that Yumi stuck us in the tub together and hosed us off. Okay, so we couldn't have been more than three years old at the time. Obviously, a lot has changed since then.

The door opens and out walks Rei, clean but very fl.u.s.tered.

"Next time, knock first!" he growls quietly at me. I mouth my most sincere apologies to him and motion for him to follow me into the shower room, where I hope there are no more naked people and the mirrors will still have a layer of fog on them. By the time Rei walks through the door, I've already written on the mirror.

I found him!

Matt catches Rei on the way out of the shower room. He looks like he's pulled an all-nighter; his eyes are bloodshot and his five o'clock shadow has morphed into something a little more grizzly.

"Hey, how 'bout some breakfast?"

Rei looks like he's about to say no, but then he changes his mind. "That sounds great. Do you mind if I get something to go, though? I want to get an early start."

Rei carries his duffel bag over his shoulder as they make their way through the quiet cafeteria line with their trays. Matt eats just like Seth, and his tray is piled with sausage patties, scrambled eggs, some white toast smeared with margarine that refuses to melt, and a foam cup filled with black coffee and four packets of sugar. Rei has his usual: fiber, pota.s.sium, vitamin C, and plenty of it.

Matt surveys Rei's tray. "Stocking up?"

"I thought I'd bring some food with me just in case I find him."