Page 24 of Fire
“Better not. You need your beauty sleep if you’re gonna shake that cold.”
Tobias took in a shaky breath, feeling it rasp in his lungs and throat. “I can sleep during the day, like you are. Like we had been.” Maybe that would be easier, if he didn’t have to be awake when it was light enough to see how empty the room was of Jake’s things.
“Thanks, Toby. But even a ghost’s got ears. I better keep both hands free.”
“Okay.” Tobias swallowed again. “You’ll call me in the morning, when you get back to the motel?”
“Sure thing, Toby. Should be around eight. You just plug the phone in and get some sleep.”
Without warning, tears stung Tobias’s eyes. Hearing those words without Jake’s presence beside him, ready to pull him close, felt unbearable. He missed Jake now as much as he ever had, even inside the walls of Freak Camp. “It’ll be hard,” he choked out. “Without you.”
“Aw, Toby.” Jake’s voice was rough and smothered too. “Don’t do that. This was your idea.”
“It’s the best solution,” Tobias said, fighting for conviction. “But I still miss you.”
“Yeah. Me too. These spooks better show their ugly faces so I can get back there to my hero’s welcome.”
Tobias huffed a laugh. “I hope they do.”
For a minute, the only sound on the line was breathing and the occasional rustle as Jake shifted. Tobias gripped the phone hard enough for his knuckles to ache and tried to will himself to end the call. He couldn’t.
“Hey, Toby?”
“Yeah, Jake?”
“Nothin’. Just. Don’t go just yet, okay?”
“Okay.”
* * *
The second daywent much the same as the first. Apart from meals, Tobias kept out of sight and didn’t make a peep. Part of that, Roger figured, was shyness or nerves, but it was also clear that any effort to talk triggered a fit of coughing that left Tobias worn out and wincing. Roger tried to keep his attempts at conversation to yes-or-no questions geared at figuring out what Tobias wanted to eat.
Just past two a.m., the proximity alarm went off. The high-pitched, obnoxious beeping meant that a car or something larger (he had different alarms for folks trying to make it over the fence) had crossed into his driveway. Roger swung himself out of bed, grabbed the shotgun he kept strapped to the bedframe, and stepped to his window while maintaining cover. From there he could see the headlights stop and then slowly back out of the driveway before swinging away down the road, presumably the way they had come.
Swearing softly to himself, but without much heat, about wannabe outdoorsmen getting lost inhisdamn backyard, Roger replaced the gun (though he kept a knife on him just in case) before shuffling down the hall.
He shut off the alarm before starting down his stairs. He needed a glass of water, and if Tobias were up, Roger would let him know it had been a false alarm.
He flicked on the kitchen light, filled a water glass, and took a long swig. When he turned to the guest bedroom, a jolt went through him when he saw the door ajar. Except for when Tobias came out for meals, or when Roger checked on him, Tobias had kept it closed.
More cautious now, Roger rapped on the door with his knuckles. “You up, Tobias?”
No answer.
One hand on his knife, Roger pushed the door open a few more inches, enough to glance inside. The bedcovers were thrown back, but there was no sign of the kid.
Frowning, Roger moved back into the living room. “Tobias?” Still no answer. With a few quick strides, he confirmed that the office was also empty.
He hadn’t heard Tobias come upstairs. Could he have gone outside? Was that car—no. Hell no, it couldn’t have.
Roger did another sweep of the first floor, checking the corners and bathroom. “Tobias?” All was silent and still.
Roger tried to imagine explaining to Jake that he’d lost Tobias.Balls.
“Tobias?” Louder now, he moved to one of the last shut doors on the ground floor, his hall closet. He pulled it open, and there, huddled on the floor between his boots and a box of scarves and mittens that Roger never seemed to get to his storage room, was Tobias.
He blinked up at him. The light was dim, but Roger thought his eyes looked fever-bright. “Hi, Roger. This is a nice closet. It’s comfortable.”
