Page 60 of Until Now
“No. They said we’d see each other at the dance.”
I can’t stop looking at Trevor’s expression. He knows something, but doesn’t want to say it in front of the two girls for some reason.
“Trevor, can you help me? I need to bring something in from the car.”
Dominique watches but doesn’t stop me from taking Trevor to the side. She stays talking with the girls while keeping an eye on us. Walking toward the doors, I get right to the point.
“What do you know?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “They went up to the caves. Bing is trying to find a certain flower for Frankie. He said the name, but I forget.”
“Why the caves?”
“That’s the only place it grows. Oh! It looks like a fan. That’s all he told me.”
“Thanks, man,” I say, patting him on the shoulder as I wave Dominique over.
When she arrives, I start walking. “Come on. I know where they are.”
* * *
An hour later, we are with two park Rangers on the mountain. Scaling the steep terrain, Dominique is not happy. In fact, I’ve never seen her so disturbed. There are tears in her eyes, and every so often, I catch her wiping them away. I get it. Not sure what we’ll find.
They could have been bitten by bats or tripped and sprained an ankle. I don’t want to think about the inhaler issue. I didn’t want to bring it up. Hopefully, he brought it. Fucking boys.
“How often are you required to kick kids out of here?”
“More often than you’d think. But this will be a first for flower picking. They’re usually messing with the bats, which are protected. Hopefully, that’s not the case here.”
“There’s only a few more caves they could get access to. The others are too far away,” Ranger two adds.
“The problem is we don’t know where they entered.” Fuck.
We hear it first. The sound of something approaching at a fast clip. Animal? Person?
“Stop!” Ranger one says, listening.
We follow suit, and the noise grows. Then I see her.Cali.
“That’s my dog!”
Dominique begins to cry in earnest. Not sure if it’s relief or fear.
“Cali! Come here, girl!”
She runs up to me, and by the breathing, I know she’s aggravated and tired. But telling us something is more important.
“She must have heard us coming,” the Ranger says.
As soon as she gets acknowledgment from me, she turns and takes off, back into the trees.
The four of us rev up our steps and follow Cali’s lead through the thick brush. Everyone is silent, except for our heavy breathing. I’m sure Dominique and I are thinking the same thing. What are we going to find? The dog makes a sharp turn to the right and under a fallen tree.
“Give me your hand,” I say, helping Dominique over.
Cali runs ahead, and I hear a voice.
“Over here! We’re over here! Good girl, Cali!”
