Miss Nobody Ch. 32

Chapter 32

BYE

Early Early Morning Day 16

The door flew open. Diego appeared briefly in his black tactical gear, face covered, gun drawn, before the rest of the candles were put out by the gust of wind.

The lights turned on quickly. The room filled with men.

Me hovering over an unconscious Maracella, a dead bodyguard inside the circle, his blood all over the floor, the other bodyguard rocking back and forth in a corner. Babbling incoherently. The frustration rose in my throat. Tears threatened again.

I wasn't sure if the bodyguard could be mentally recovered. If the spell even worked for Maracella. I knew one thing for sure about Demons. They lied.

I was furious and frustrated and my anger was hot and quick in my stomach. Jonny's lies, Demons showing up, and the man who made me forget, all swirled around in my head. I wiped the blood off my knife on the blanket of the bed and stuck it in my boot.

I watched as Diego looked at Maracella and nodded toward his colleagues. They picked her up gently and removed her from the room. Her bodyguard followed.

The other man, the one who volunteered for the ritual. His body was pale at the North of the circle.

Diego watched me, his eyes dark. He thought I did this. He believed I orchestrated this.

I looked around the room. These things always seemed to be caught on camera. There it was, a camera, not hidden very well, peaking between the leaves of a fake tree.

Diego noticed what I was looking at and walked over to it.

While his back was turned, I headed to the door. I spotted my suitcase and purse against the wall and picked them up, walking out as calmly as I could.

The taxi was quick to pick me up, down the street from the Lodge. About an hour later I was sitting on a bench at the small train station, waiting for my train to arrive. I held my ticket up and looked at it closely. A one-way ticket to Phoenix, Arizona.

Someone ran quickly past me grabbing the ticket from my hands, the young man was so fast I barely stood from the bench before he disappeared around a corner.

Fuck.

The two other people on the platform didn't seem to notice. I sighed and made my way back inside to buy another ticket. I was digging through my purse for my wallet when I ran into the Sheriff. "How are you everywhere?"

He chuckled. "That's kind of what being a Sheriff is." He shrugged and noticed my fat lip. He reached to touch me but stopped himself and noticed my suitcase. "You can't leave town yet, the case is still open."

I sighed. "Well, I can't stay at the Lodge anymore." I shrugged, all I wanted to do was cry and sleep and eat some carbs.

The Sheriff looked at me closely. "You think you're causing all this?"

"A lot has happened since I've been here."

He laughed. "A lot happens around here all the time. This town has been cursed." He pulled his Magic Detector from his pocket. Its red light blinked rapidly. "My sister would love to take you in. She hasn't stopped talking about you since dinner."

"I don't know about that. I can always get a hotel room for a night or two." My paychecks were pitiful and wouldn't leave me much room to buy another train ticket.

"Not really, the other hotel in town is being sprayed for roaches." He pointed across the street. The windows were boarded up and signs read closed all over the large building. A pest control van sat out front. "How's Cherry doing? Keiran says she's taking the break up pretty hard."

I swallowed the lump rising in my throat. "You've seen Keiran?"

He nodded. "My sister's dinner the other night."

Faint memories of Keiran swirled in my head. It was him that forced my car into the tree but how I knew him before that still eluded me. I needed some answers from him about my past. And if he doesn't tell you? I imagined taking my knife and stabbing him in the eye.

"You can always stay with me," the Sheriff said quietly. "Do you like the water?"

I nodded. I needed to get to Keiran and figure out a way to make him talk.

We walked to the Sheriff's jeep and he drove us down the highway before we reached a windy mountain road that overlooked a big lake. The sun setting on the glittering water and the boats bobbing lightly made for a whimsical sight.

"You live on a boat?" Even though I hadn't been sleepwalking, being so close to the water still made me nervous.

He shrugged. "It's like being rocked to sleep. You might like it." He parked in a lot close to the docks.

I followed him to his boat. "Oh wow, it looks like a pirate ship."

He laughed. "Yeah, my father was a little eccentric, rumor is he won it in a poker game from a movie producer." He helped me climb aboard. "I couldn't get rid of it after he passed." He shrugged.

"Is that where your sister gets it from? The eccentrics?"

He laughed again. "My sister and I share a mother. Different fathers. But I guess there has to be one in every family."

The boat swayed slightly under my feet and the Sheriff steadied me. "It takes some time to get used to." His voice was low and I paused in his arms. "I'll show you inside." He kept a hold of my hand and led me down a small stairway into a kitchen area. It was larger than I expected and looked very similar to a typical house kitchen.

"Kitchen, dining area." He pointed behind me. "Small bathroom." He walked through the kitchen to the other side of the boat and I followed him. "You can stay in here." He pushed open the door to a small bedroom. "As long as you need to." He opened the door next to it. "Captains Quarters."

"Maybe it'll get around anyway but do you mind not telling anyone I'm here?" I yawned.

He leaned against his door frame and nodded. "Yeah, of course." He nodded toward the room. "If you need anything let me know, walls are thin."

I smiled at him. "Thanks." I entered the small room. The bed looked cozy and the rocking of the boat was already lulling me to sleep.

The Sheriff shut my door and I was left alone staring at the bed.

It didn't take long before I was between the covers and snoring softly.

I woke to the pleasant morning sunlight peeking through the small window. My stomach rumbled with the smell of pancakes and eggs. I sleepily made my way to the kitchen.

The Sheriff was standing in front of the stove cooking breakfast. He was out of his uniform, wearing only a pair of swim trunks. He turned to me with a smile. "Morning. I like to drink my coffee on the deck." He went up the little stairway with some coffee cups and I followed him.

He sat on a small outdoor couch on a large deck open to the water and poured himself a cup of coffee. He held up the coffee pot in offering.

"No thanks, I don't drink coffee." I sat next to him and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful lake scenery.

We sat quietly next to each other while the Sheriff drank his coffee. My mind was blank, peaceful, tranquil.

The Sheriff suddenly jumped up from the couch and dove over the railing and into the water.

I rushed to the side of the boat looking for him.

His head popped up out of the water and he grinned at me. "Come in, the water is so nice."

I laughed. "I like looking at the water, not being in it." I shuddered thinking of the unknown under our feet.

His laugh was cut short as he quickly disappeared under the water.

"Sheriff?" I called after him. Fuck. I panicked. I looked around for a safety ring.

"BISHOP!" I screamed over the water as it got darker and darker.

"Hey." The Sheriff was holding my shoulders. "Hey."

I was in the small houseboat bed, rocking with the water.

The Sheriff looked at me. "You were calling my name."

"Sorry, I was having a nightmare. I thought something bad happened to you." I sat up.

"Was I drowning?"

I nodded.

He looked out the small window and over the water. "I did, when I was a kid. I drowned on this lake but I was brought back."

"You've had a near-death experience?"

He nodded. "That's when I took the books seriously. Magic seriously, after I had my experience. It just got weirder from there."

"I get that." I nodded. "What time is it?"

"You've been asleep for two days but it's almost time for dinner at my sister's if you're interested?"

My stomach growled in response. Two days. I fell back to the bed. "I guess I can't hide in here forever."