Page 1 of Take a Hike
Prologue
Even though Charlie was finally lying in her own bed after spending the majority of the last five weeks fruitlessly chasing after their mom, she couldn’t sleep. She frowned at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling Molly had given her and Cara on their tenth birthday. On her twin’s side of the room, the stars were placed neatly, spaced so evenly it was obvious Cara had used a ruler. On her side, Charlie had stuck them on haphazardly, so there were bunches separated by long stretches of plain ceiling.
“It’s more astronomically accurate,” Charlie muttered out loud. “Nature loves chaos.” There was no chance of her words waking Cara, since her sister was spending the night at Henry’s. Charlie was happy for her, and she already adored her sister’s boyfriend, but after a lifetime of sharing a room with one sister and a house with four, it was just…different.
And the difference made it hard to sleep.
With a huff, Charlie gave up on getting any rest. Flingingher covers to the side, she slid out of bed. Once in the hallway, she stopped abruptly, realizing she didn’t know where she was headed. She wasn’t hungry or thirsty, so the kitchen was out. She didn’t want to sit in the dark, silent living room either, alone with her thoughts. She was bored.
She eyed the closed door to what had been her mom’s room. Now, Fifi and her new husband, Bennett, were using it. A few weeks earlier, their mom had broken in, and Fifi had caught her searching for something in her closet. Norah and Cara had turned the closet inside out after their mom had run again, but they hadn’t found anything. Even though she trusted her sisters and knew they were more methodical than Charlie was, she was still tempted to try her luck.
The only problem was that the bedroom was occupied.
Charlie paused, debating whether she should risk going in or if she should play it safe and go back to bed to stare at the ceiling, bored out of her mind.
The answer was easy—Charlie had never played it safe in her life.
Pressing her ear to the door, she heard her sister’s deep breathing that meant she was sleeping. Bennett wasn’t making a peep, so he was either snoozing uncharacteristically quietly or was awake. Satisfied they weren’t in the middle of sexy times—Charlie had interrupted those a few times when the three of them had been on the road, and one time was too many—she eased the door open and peeked inside.
Bennett was indeed awake, watching her with a cocked eyebrow as he held her sleeping sister tenderly against him.Although Charlie couldn’t read his expressions as well as Fifi could, she did know that look—wary curiosity with a touch of humor.
Charlie pointed to the closet, as if that explained her presence—and crept through the shadowed room to the goal. Without moving anything except his eyes, Bennett kept his gaze on her. Easing the door open, she slipped into the closet and closed the door behind her. Once she was shut into the tiny space, she turned on the light.
She knew Norah and Cara had gone over all the walls, ceiling, and floor with a fine-tooth comb, searching for secret cubbies or hidden hiding spaces. Still, she did all of it again, tapping ever so lightly to check for hollow-sounding spots as she ran her fingers over the smooth, painted drywall. As expected, she didn’t find anything. The closet was strictly what it was built to be—a small space to hold clothes.
Frowning, Charlie checked everything again. She even unscrewed the light fixture and examined the inside of the wooden door, but still found nothing. Her sisters had cleared out all their mom’s clothes and shoes, so there wasn’t anythingelse to search.
Hands on her hips, she glared at the white space. The only reason their mom would’ve taken the risk of breaking in would be if there was something she needed desperately. There was a slim—very slim—chance that Jane had managed to grab whatever it was between Zach Fridley knocking Fifi unconscious—Charlie silently snarled in fury at that memory—and the rest of the family returning to the house. But it was unlikely. There just wouldn’t have been time for Jane to get whatever she needed and also make it over to Mr. Villaneau’sandconvince him to smuggle her out in that minute or two window of opportunity. Charlie was certain whatever it was her mom was after was still there.
Think, think, think.She checked for vents and outlets, but there weren’t any. Just blank walls, ceiling, floor, door, rod to hang clothes on… Her gaze snagged on the thick wooden dowel that stretched the length of the closet, and a smile touched her lips. Examining the spot where the rod met the wall, her grin grew. The screws at the top of the mounting were tarnished and old, matching the age of the house…or were they? Charlie knew all of Jane’s tricks, including how to make something new look like it’d always been there. She ran the edge of her nail over one of the screw heads. Sure enough, a flake of dull paint peeled off, revealing the shiny silver of a brand-new screw.
She reached for her pocket, but her fingers slid over silky, pocket-less material.
Right, she remembered.Pajamas.
Turning off the closet light, she waited a few seconds for hervision to adjust and then stuck her head out the door. Bennett’s eyes were still open, so she whispered, “Flathead screwdriver?”
Carefully moving his arm off Fifi, he reached for the bedside table and pulled a multi-tool from the top drawer. In the same motion, he tossed it to Charlie and then immediately resumed cuddling his wife.
She grinned as she caught it. After spending time with Bennett chasing Jane, Charlie knew he was never far from his multi-tool—or an impressively wide array of weapons. Not only did he worship her sister, but he was also a very handy guy to chase skips with. “Thank you,” she mouthed before retreating back into the closet.
After turning the light back on, she made quick work of unscrewing the brackets holding the clothes rod in place. It fell toward the floor, but Charlie caught it before it could land with a Fifi-waking clatter. Her heart thumping with excitement, she checked one end—solid—before flipping it around to look at the other side. At first, it looked just like the first end, and her breath left in a huff of disappointment. Upon closer inspection, however, the wood grain didn’t quite line up about an inch from the end.
Her triumphant grin returned as she pulled off the cap over the end, revealing a hole drilled into the rod. The opening was a good inch and a half in diameter and two inches deep, the hiding spot just deep enough for the key placed inside.
Feeling like the winner of a treasure hunt, Charlie fished out the key and held it up. It didn’t have any identifying marks on it, meaning it could fit in any lock in any building in any town inthe country, but she was still optimistic. Their mom had risked coming back to the house, even though she knew her daughters were searching for her. That meant this key was important.
“I’m sick of chasing you, Mom,” Charlie whispered, closing her fingers over the very ordinary, yet extremely precious key. “Your turn to come to us.”
Anticipation bubbled inside her, and she knew she couldn’t keep it to herself. Holding back an excited giggle, she slipped out of the closet. Bennett’s eyes narrowed immediately, and he gave her a warning glare promising death if she woke up Fifi.
Giving him her most innocent look, she moved toward the door, reversing at the last second and sprinting toward the bed.
“Charlotte Calamity Pax!” he whisper-yelled, but she just grinned as she pounced, landing on the bed next to her sister.
“Wha?” Fifi’s eyes flew open, and she tried to sit up, but Bennett’s hold kept her in place long enough for her to realize Charlie had woken her. Relaxing back against him, Fifi gave her sister a glare that matched the one Bennett was giving her. “Charlie, what are you doing? It’s the middle of the night! This better be good, or you’re going to be doing twice as many burpees as everyone else.”
“It’s good,” Charlie promised, holding up the key.
