The Thrashers(77)

Jodi pushed it from her mind and refocused on Lucy running across the park with the bag, Paige following, and Zack taking Kiera’s wrist to stumble after them. She was tugged. She looked down.

Julian had her hand in his, taking her toward the cars on the other side of the park. She couldn’t feel it.

“My—my hand is numb. My whole arm.” Her voice shook.

He stopped and looked down. He pinched her forearm and she felt it like a caress. But her hand was still like a dead fish, flopping in his grip.

Red and blue lights flared from H Street. She saw Julian’s face—blue, then red—for only a second before he took her other hand and ran.

She stumbled to keep pace with him, darting around the play ground. Shadows moved in the darkness, sleeping people waking and packing before the cops came.

Lucy’s car was starting on the opposite street. Zack’s was nowhere to be found.

Paige spotted them first, gesturing to them from the passenger seat of Lucy’s car to run faster. Julian threw open the back door, Jodi crawled inside, and Julian’s feet had barely cleared the cement before the car jerked forward, driving like a getaway car.

“What happened?” Paige and Jodi said at the same time.

Paige continued, “What was she saying to you? You looked horrified.”

“She—she…” Jodi took a deep breath. A laugh barked out of her. “She claims she’s talking to my mom.” She laughed again, the sound breaking off as tears sprung behind her eyes.

It was silent for a moment, and then she realized she was shaking—being shaken. She looked down and Julian was rolling her arm between his hands like kindling ready to catch fire against flint.

“She can’t feel her arm,” he explained.

“What?” Lucy looked at them in the rearview. Paige twisted in her seat.

Jodi tasted the vomit in the back of her mouth still. “What happened back there?”

There was a pause. “Those were her eyes,” Lucy said. “You know they were.”

They were quiet except for the sound of Julian’s palms sliding up and down Jodi’s sleeve. Her fingers pricked to life.

When they got to the Thrashers’ house and Zack’s car wasn’t there, Julian started calling him.

Jodi slid her phone from her pocket.

Twenty-three texts. Seventeen missed calls.

Her eyes scanned for anything from Zack, finding nothing. But her dad, Rosa, even Oliver Burns had called and texted.

Jodi’s pulse raced. Paige and Lucy were talking to her but she couldn’t focus as she picked one of the numbers and dialed them back.

“Jo, where are you?” Her dad’s voice was tight. People were speaking in the background.

“What’s wrong?”

“Where are you? Are you safe?”

“Yeah, I’m—I’m safe. What happened?”

“It was an accident, Jo. I tried to cook up some dinner and—” His voice cut off. She heard sirens in the background. “And I must have fallen asleep while waiting.”

There were three working burners on the stove. She checked all four every night before bed.

“What happened, Dad?”

“It was an accident, Jodi, I swear.” His voice was slurring, thick and heavy.

She wanted to stamp her foot. She needed answers, not apologies.

Julian was watching her as Lucy and Paige paced, dialing Zack and Kiera over and over.

A voice through her phone: “Sir, I need you to come back to the ambulance. We need to continue checking your vitals.”

“This is my fucking daughter, alright?!” said her dad.

Jodi hung up, dialing Oliver. He picked up before the first ring was over.

“Are you alright? Where are you?” he asked.

“Oliver, what’s going on? What happened?”

A breathy laugh rumbled into her ear, quickly turning into a cough. “Your dad burned down half your house. It jumped over to mine just before the fire trucks arrived.”

Jodi couldn’t breathe. She sat down in the middle of the Thrashers’ driveway. “Is anyone hurt?”

“No. It’s just like … smoke in our lungs and stuff. Jo, your dad is … I’m surprised he can even stand up straight right now.”

She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her, and squeezed her eyes shut. She thanked him and called Rosa back, letting her rant to her as tears fell down her cheeks.

She wants you to go to Rosa’s.

It felt like admitting defeat. Like saying, I couldn’t hack it on my own. But she sniffed back her tears and said, “Rosa, can I move in with you and Grandma?”

She didn’t say “until the house is repaired” or “until the end of the school year.” She just let it hang on a string, a note played in a different key.

“Of course. Where are you? I’ll pick you up.”

Jodi reminded her where Zack lived and hung up. Paige was explaining that Zack took Kiera home and made sure she was okay. Lucy reached to help her stand up from the driveway, and Jodi let her. She couldn’t meet Julian’s eye when she said there was a fire on her street, and her aunt was on the way to pick her up.

“Oh, my god, Jodi!” Paige gasped. “Is your dad okay?”

“Yeah,” was all she said.