Watchers

Wind Tunnel

I ran the entire way to Troy's house. It wasn't that far, really, but it seemed to feel really far away. When I got there, I banged on the door until my fists turned red, but nobody answered. I looked in the windows and went around to the back door, but no one was there. I peeked in through the garage window and saw that Troy's car was missing, too. That really sunk my hopes of talking to him. Had he run off? Did he know something about Adam and decide to skip town? Could he be the one responsible for Adam's disappearance? Troy didn't seem like the violent sort; he acted too dumb to be a criminal. But maybe some of his friends weren't . . . if they'd done anything to Adam, I'd spend the rest of my life plotting revenge.

While my thoughts were pretty heroic, I really was feeling like a big loser. The first actual tip I'd gotten and I couldn't do anything about it. Briefly, I thought about going back to Adam's house and telling those front-porch cops about what Elaine had told me. Then I rethought that idea. If Troy was involved, he'd probably hush up quick if cops started asking him questions. It was better if I did it myself. At least Troy knew who I was, even though I never talked to him much. Adam had always been the one to arrange our rides to Sloppy Soldiers.

Sloppy Soldiers! That had to be it. Troy was probably just at work. When he got home, I'd talk to him. He hadn't skipped town. What a stupid idea that was. I was actually thinking he might have gone to Mexico or something. I considered sitting on his doorstep until he returned, but the longer I thought about that, the more I just wanted to go to my own house until he got back. The weather was looking pretty weird, to be honest. It was starting to creep me out: charcoal-colored skies, rumbly clouds, strong winds picking up. I didn't like the looks of it, so back home I went.

Before I even reached my house, the weather sirens started going off. They were loud and squealing and could be heard all over town. Usually they only went off in the spring, because that was when tornadoes were a real problem. In our area, tornadoes came often. But this was the dead-end of summer, so to hear the sirens was weird. Just being outside, though, I knew that this weather – off-season or not – was definitely something to be worried about.

Bursting through the front door of my house, I hurried down the hall into the kitchen. My mom and dad and Corey were sitting at the table, and all of them jumped up when they saw me. "Oh Cole!" said my mom. "Thank goodness you're here."

"Good," said my dad, pulling a backpack onto his shoulders and grabbing the car keys off the counter. "Now we can head over to the high school."

I knew why. Whenever there was a weather warning, people without basements or tornado shelters went to the high school. The gymnasium there was built half underground, so it was the safest place to be in Goldenrock. Safer even than a basement, so a lot of times practically the whole town went to the school.

"What is it?" I asked breathlessly. "A tornado?"

"Yeah!" cried Corey almost excitedly. "Isn't that weird? It's headed this way! Who heard of tornadoes in the summer time?"

I was angry. "This is the worst time in the world for this to happen!" I snarled at no one in particular. "It's the stupidest thing I ever heard of."

Thunder rolled across the house and rain started peltling against the windows. "Well, Cole, we can't really help the weather, can we?" My mom was a little irritated with my small outburst. I could tell. "Now hurry up. Let's get in the car and go before the rain gets harder. Corey, get a flashlight from the cabinet just in case. You never know what problems can pop up. And Cole, put your rain jacket on. You don't want to be soaked to the bone by the time we get to the school, do you?"

Personally, I didn't care if I got soaked. But I didn't say that. I got the coat just so she wouldn't yell at me. The only thing on my mind was the fact that I needed to talk to Troy McDermott. If Adam was somewhere outside in this coming storm, he'd be in some trouble. Nobody could search for him during a tornado. It would be a night of absolutely no progress . . . unless I could find Troy!