Page 144 of Whispers and Wildfire

I’d gone to a lot of the games back in high school, but I’d never been much of a football fan. Now, the excitement was infectious. I didn’t have to understand everything that was happening on the field. I could tell when to cheer, and the Timberwolves gave us plenty of opportunities.

Especially Owen.

Every time the quarterback gave him the ball—which was often—we yelled and applauded. And when he scored a touchdown, we all surged to our feet and screamed our brains out.

I almost felt bad for the other team. Almost.

People made trips to the concession stand and passed out popcorn and hot dogs to everyone who wanted some. I passed on the hot dog, but happily shared a bag of popcorn with Nico and Zola and a lemonade with Luke. It was only mildly disappointing that the concession stand wasn’t selling pickles. I thought it was a missed opportunity. Luke didn’t agree.

By halftime, I was well on my way to losing my voice.

“I’m not going to be able to talk after this,” I said to Luke.

“Oh, no,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Mel without a voice? That’s terrible.”

I elbowed him. “Hey.”

He grinned. “Do you want some water?”

“Yeah, that would be good. And I need to use the restroom.”

“I’ll walk you over there.”

“Aren’t they inside the school?”

“No, they built new ones on the other side of the concession stand a few years ago.”

That was handy. When we were students, we had to go all the way inside the school building to use the restrooms on game nights. Luke took my hand, and we made our way down the bleachers and toward the concession stand. Sure enough, there was a gray stone building a short distance away.

Luke paused outside the entrance to the ladies’ room, eyeing the door like he wanted to go inside and inspect it. A mom with two young kids walked in ahead of me and an elderly woman walked out. The regular traffic of typical townspeople seemed to appease him.

“I’ll meet you right here,” he said.

I popped up on my tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. “I’ll only be a minute.”

Inside, there were two rows of stalls, and no line. That was nice, seeing as my bladder was increasingly giving me danger signals. That lemonade was going right through me.

I used the restroom and came out of the stall. It took me a second to find the sinks around the corner. I didn’t see the mom with her kids, but I could hear her talking softly to one of them while I washed my hands.

With that taken care of, I checked my teeth for bits of popcorn in the mirror, applied some lip gloss, and went out the exit.

Luke wasn’t there, which was odd. I took a few steps andglanced around the back of the building. He wasn’t there, either.

In fact, no one was there, and neither was the concession stand. I paused for a second, confused, and tried to get my bearings. Where the heck was I? It felt like I’d just been sucked through a space-time portal.

Turning around again, I realized the noise of the crowd was on the other side of the building. I must have gone out the wrong door. The interior of the restroom was a bit maze-like, with the rows of stalls and separate sink area. I tried the door, but it was locked from that side. That figured. I’d just have to go around.

Out of nowhere, an arm wound around my neck, cutting off my air. Terror exploded inside me, and I kicked and flailed, gripping at the arm, trying to break free. He was too strong. The edges of my vision went dark, the world closing around me rapidly.

The last thing I heard before my consciousness failed was a soft whisper in my ear. “Shh. Don’t struggle. There’s my good girl. Everything will be okay.”

CHAPTER 35

Luke

I hookedmy thumbs in the pockets of my jeans as I waited outside the women’s restroom. A knot of giggling teen girls went in and a mom with two little kids came out.

Melanie was taking her time, but I wouldn’t pretend I understood the inner workings of the female restroom experience. For all I knew, she’d run into someone she knew, and they’d be in there for a while chatting. That was a girl thing, right?

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