For once, Tod nodded without arguing. Then he gave me an unexpected kiss on the cheek and disappeared with Nash's phone before I could recover from the surprise.
"I take it that's a thank-you," I mumbled, rubbing the spot on my cheek where the reaper's lips had touched me. They were warmer than I'd expected from a dead man.
Nash huffed, but he didn't really look mad. His brother's kiss spoke more of gratitude than anything else.
While he watched out for our exit, squinting beneath streetlights at regular intervals, I pulled my phone from my pocket. But before I could scroll through the call history for Addy's number, a small message at the bottom of the display popped up to tell me I'd missed five calls.
Crap. My dad had discovered my empty bed.
Please tell me he didn't call the police!
Three messages were from him, as expected. The first two had come in less than an hour after I'd left the house, while we were in the Netherworld bargaining with the fiend the first time. They were virtually identical—my father's angry voice demanding to know where I was, and what the hell I was doing. My dad didn't cuss much. Only when he was really, really mad. Or scared.
The third call was from Emma, warning me that my father had called her house at one o'clock in the morning. Which woke her mother up and led to all kinds of questions Emma'd had to dance around.
Oops. I made a mental note to bake a pan of brownies for Emma, too, to try to make up for the trouble I was getting her into.
Fortunately, her mother hadn't noticed the missing car, and it hadn't occurred to my father—yet, anyway—to ask if I'd borrowed it.
The fourth call was from Harmony, who was worried, and even sounded a little angry. She said my dad was "beside himself" and about two seconds from driving the streets in search of me. Then she wanted to know if I'd seen Nash, who wasn't answering his phone, either. Which meant he would have messages, too.
That was her way of warning us that she knew we were in this together—whatever this was—and that we'd better have a good explanation when we finally turned ourselves in.
I liked Harmony, and I was afraid that once she found out what we were doing, she'd shorten the long leash Nash had enjoyed since way before I'd met him. And that would be my fault, too.
The fifth call was from my dad again, saying he was going to drive around town looking for me, and if he hadn't heard from me by three, he'd go to the police.
Wonderful.
A quick glance at the clock on my phone display said it was two fifty-four in the morning. "I gotta call my dad," I said, glancing at Nash in dread. He nodded grimly, having obviously heard at least part of the messages.
As my dad's phone rang in my ear, I tugged my pants leg down and set my foot on the floor, gasping when even that slight movement made the accumulated fluid slosh.
"Kaylee?" my dad barked into my ear. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm fine," I added before he could ask. And that was true, relatively speaking. I hadn't been mugged, or kidnapped, or turned out on the streets. "Look, I don't have much time to talk, but the bottom line is that I'm sorry I snuck out, but I had to. I have to finish something important, then I'll be home. A couple of hours, at most."
"Is Nash with you?"
I sighed, and let my head fall back against the headrest, watching as the highway lights passed over us in a steady, hypnotic rhythm. "This isn't his fault," I insisted. "I asked him to help. I'll explain everything when I get home."
"Kaylee—"
"I gotta go, Dad. I just wanted to tell you I'm okay. And please don't go to the police. They won't understand." With that, I slid my phone closed and pressed the button to ignore the incoming call when it began to ring an instant later. Instead of answering, I called Addison. She answered on the first ring and assured me that Regan was up, if not exactly perky.
I told her to funnel another Jolt down her sister's throat and get her dressed. We'd be there in ten minutes.
Again, Addy met us at the door, but this time Regan sat on the couch in designer jeans and a couple of snug, layered, long-sleeved tees. She stared across the room with those weird, solid-white eyes until our arrival caught her attention and she smiled blankly at me, her lips barely curling up enough to qualify as an actual expression.
"She's gonna have to put her contacts in," I said, forcing myself to look somewhere other than Regan's eyes. Anywhere else. "She can't go out like that."
Addison crossed the room toward her sister, a brown leather jacket folded over one arm. "I don't think I can get them in her eyes, and she's not up to it yet. Can't she just wear sunglasses?"
"It's the middle of the night." I picked up one of Regan's listless arms and slid it through the jacket sleeve her sister held.
"We're not trying to make a fashion statement, Kaylee." Addy stuffed her sister's remaining hand through its sleeve. "We're just trying to avoid notice."
"Will we have to worry about paparazzi at three in the morning?" I asked as Addison knelt to slide a pair of glittery canvas shoes on her sister's bare feet. Not exactly winter attire, but it would work in a pinch. As would the sunglasses.
"Not in your car," the pop princess said, and I didn't bother to tell her it wasn't my car. She would have been much more embarrassed to appear in mine than in Emma's. "Not unless someone tipped them off. And if that's the case, we have bigger things to worry about." She rose and pulled her sister up by both hands.
Regan just stood there.
"How much did you give her?" Nash stepped closer to the youngest Page with his arms out, as if to catch her. Because she looked pretty wobbly.
"You mean Jolt or pills?"
"Pills."
"Two. But I think part of this is shock."
Nash exhaled deeply, frowning. "Grab another Jolt for the road." He wrapped one arm around Regan's shoulders and led her toward the door. Addy ducked into the kitchen while I snatched a pair of oversize, super-dark sunglasses from the bar between the living room and kitchen, sliding them in place over Regan's ears right before Nash pushed her gently over the threshold and onto the porch.
Addy sat by her sister in the back, and I slid into the passenger seat, buckling my seat belt as Nash started the engine. I resisted the urge to take another look at my ankle because I didn't want Addy or Regan to see it.
I didn't really want to see it, either.
"Regan, can you hear me?" Nash asked, as we took the on-ramp back onto the highway.
"Yeah…" Regan said, frowning slightly.
"Here, drink this." Addison popped the top on the drink can and held it to her sister's lips.
"No…" Regan pushed sluggishly at the can, and Addy pulled it back to keep from spilling.
"We need you coherent, Regan," I said, wishing I had Nash's Influence rather than my own much harsher abilities. "Don't you want to get your soul back?"
Regan shrugged, and I couldn't even tell if she was looking at me from behind those huge sunglasses.
"Keep making her drink." I settled into my seat, concentrating on the pain in my leg to keep from falling asleep.
My eyes were just starting to close when my phone buzzed in my pocket. My dad had called me twice more on the way to Addy's house, but I checked the display just in case. It was Tod, calling on Nash's phone.
"Hello?" I jabbed Nash's arm as I answered, then mouthed his brother's name.
"Kaylee? I found him. If you guys get here before he leaves, this might just work." Tod sucked in a tense, worried breath. "But, Kay, this place isn't like the stadium. It's…busy. You'll have to cross over in the parking lot, then bring everyone in through the side door, because the building's still closed in the human world. And be careful. Don't touch anything—"