Ghost Perfume | ✔

Chapter 11: Take Care of Me (Part 1)

Jane popped in while I showered, hot water pounding the surreal day into my skin.

We're always on your side.

"Your brother's back,'' she said. The water spraying through her form had an interesting visual effect. "He's kind of hot. I didn't notice before.''

"Eugh, Jane.''

She laughed as I reached for a towel and scurried to my room.

Tommy'd been gone the morning after the party and hadn't been in touch. Since he was usually gone for longer than a day, I'd assumed I had more time without him ... I wallowed for a moment in anxiety for the danger that had scraped me by a hair; Alexander had left me at my door not ten minutes ago.

I didn't know what Tommy would have done had he found me missing at midnight.

I blinked at the faded pajama top in my hands. I dripped water in my old pink towel, and I was so wrung out from the day that thinking felt like trying to turn an omelet back into an egg.

Only the moon shone into my dark room, turning the familiar furniture strange and shadowed. Melancholy. Bare.

One thought I couldn't stop if I tried: I wished I could go back to the Alistairs.

But Tommy knocked on my door. "Open up!''

I finished getting dressed and opened the door.

He was fresh from one of his lone trips to the mountains. His hair was unwashed. His beard was coming back in. A healthy, tired ruddiness suffused his face, as if the cold outdoors had carved away the misery that lived perpetually like bad fat on the surface.

He eyed me as I eyed him. I straightened and put on my calm face.

"Did you go camping?'' I asked.

"Yep,'' he said. He came in and fell back on my bed.

"I'm never able to reach you,'' I said after a while, as I towel-dried my hair.

Make yourself predictable to me, I wanted to say.

"I've gone under the radar,'' he confided. "I leave my phone in the house, so no one can track me. I only use cash. Shit, I cover the car with tree branches when I park it.''

"He's lost it,'' Jane said. "Who's tracking him?''

I bit my lip. Tommy often had strong ideas. They came and passed.

"Nothing ever changes over there,'' he said dreamily. "I mean, the little things are turning over all the time, living and dying and competing and replacing. But everything together - it's the same since we were kids.''

I perched on the edge of my chair, closer to the door than he was, in case he leapt up. "Yeah.''

He put his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

"Tommy, I really don't like Colin,'' I whispered.

"You don't like him? I hate that guy,'' Tommy snarled, losing the dreamy look. "Believe me -'' he took a deep breath. "We're just going to have to suck up for a while longer. But not much longer. Don't worry, psycho. I've got big plans for us.''

"What?'' I asked, feeling some of Jane's evident alarm.

"I'm going on a treasure hunt,'' he said, a note of grandness creeping into his voice. He glared up at the ceiling. "Don't worry your little psycho head. And if he comes by when I'm not here, don't tell him anything.''

"What, he's hunting for something in the mountains?'' Jane asked. She threw up her hands. "Can't he get a normal job?''

"I won't,'' I said. "I'm on our side.''