At the Hand of Fate

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I cut Dessi's laugh off and hang up the phone. I look at the location stamp on it, and what it tells me is enough. She's still in Virginia. I set the phone down on the table with all the call information still on the screen. I hold my hand over the screen, the whole phone glowing with a sage green light. A mini map of Virginia projects out of the screen, the same color as the glow around the phone.

The state glows with a golden light, the light shrinking into one dot a little ways away from where I know my house to be. She's near the high school. Derek looks around the map as it dissipates. "Did you find her?" I nod curtly, turning on my heel and heading for the front door. Derek jumps out of his chair and follows me, my peacoat materializing around me as I grab my keys. I turn to face him. "Stay here. Make sure the radiators don't cut out. If they do, the number for Highview Gas is on the notepad by the phone in the kitchen. Call them and tell them the radiator lines at Gramercy Manor are blocked again." Derek stutters as he tries to cut in. I grab a scarf out of the closet as I continue. "If you get hungry, we have Chinese. I don't know how long this may take me, it could be five minutes, I might not be back for a couple days. I don't know." Derek stutters as I unlock my car. He slaps his hand over my mouth. I arch an eyebrow at him.

"Blake, shut up for a god damn second." He sighs as he takes his hand off my mouth. "I really don't want you to do this. I'm afraid." I give him a plaintive smile. "I'm gonna be fine, Derek. I promise. If you want to worry about anyone, worry about Dessi." I open the front door, the biting wind hitting me square in the face. I wince away from it as I get used to it, heading outside. "I'm gonna rip her to pieces."

The front door closes behind me, and I see Derek looking out the bay window at me as I get in the car. He blows me a kiss as I back out, headed for the school. I'll start my search there and radiate out. I turn onto the back roads, and my mind starts to wander.

How the hell did I end up at this point in my life? How the hell did I go from coexisting to having my best friend attack me, one best friend die, my closest friend be put in danger, my family be put in danger, and all for what? What was the purpose of all of this? I sigh as I slam around a turn, the engine of my car roaring as I gun it. I look around at the darkness of the road, my high beams the only lights.

How did I end up having my life turned this upside down? This isn't even upside down; I feel like my life's in a washing machine. It's turning upside down as quickly as I can get it right side up again. If everything in the world does happen for a reason, then what was the reason behind all this? I pound around a turn, and I come across a huge wall of fog. I stop the car, trying to figure out how to get around this. I don't even think my headlights are going through it at all.

I bite my lip as I lean back in the seat. How am I going to do this? I jump as I feel a hand on my shoulder, the weight and warmth telling me exactly who's in the car with me before I even have to sense it. "Rhys?" I whisper. He materializes in the passenger seat, his hand squeezing my shoulder. His voice has a slight echo to it as he speaks. "Blake, you've made it this far with no direction in your life, so why are you questioning it now?" I set my hand on his, and I'm shocked at the corporeality of it. "I know, I just can't help but think about it. Why did all of this have to happen?" He laughs, and I realize just how much I miss him.

"Blake, you can't go through life asking 'what if'." He chuckles. "Nothing will ever get done." He looks out at the wall of fog. "You need to take this problem head on and find your solution to it." He takes my hands in his. "You know what you need to do. You've known since you were born, no matter how much Dessi tried to hide it from you." I see tears shining in his eyes as he smiles at me. "You've had it in you all along." He fades out of existence as he finishes his sentence, leaving my hands cold. What is he talking about?

I turn to face the wall of fog, rolling my window down. I snap my wrist toward it, a razor-sharp, concentrated blast of air hurtling towards it. It rips through the fog, the fog dissipating as the air hits it. I floor the car as I roll the window up, following the blast as the fog slowly fades from existence. At the end of the wall, I see the school road. I turn down it, letting the parking lot be my epicenter. I coast down the school road, and something feels off about the whole situation. I conjure the map back from Carissa's phone as I stop in my parking spot.

The same dot glows back at me from before, but now I don't trust it so much. I look over at the door I've walked through every morning and afternoon for two years so far, and something in my gut tells me I need to go in the school. I turn my car off, and when I get out, the air here is colder and more biting than it was at the house. I tentatively walk over to the door, looking in through the windows. The hallway is dark and lifeless, absolutely no one in the building at this hour.

I hold my hand in front of the knob, twisting my hand in the air. I hear the tumblers in the lock clicking as they move, and the door pops open. The alarm pad near the door starts beeping at the out-of-hours entrance, and I place my fingertips on it around the keypad, and the screen glows green as the code is automatically inputted to allow the entrance. I turn to face down the hallway. I walk down it, the click of my boots the only sound in the whole building. I hit the head of the arts department hallway, and I'm faced with the entire main hallway. Left towards the cafeteria and gyms, right towards the administration wing, or straight forward into the math wing?

I feel the bubble of anxiety building in my gut again, and I close my eyes, letting my gut guide me. My brain's saying gym, but my gut's saying history wing. I cut through the math wing, taking the stairs in its corner up to the history wing. I blast open every door I pass, trying to find where Dessi has my family.

The history wing turns up empty, so I head on into the science wing. Mrs. Kim's room is the first one I come up on, and the first one I deem empty. I sigh dejectedly. I pull Carissa's phone out. I have an idea. I hold it flat in my palm, screen up. It glows green, a map of the school showing up on the screen.

Wait.

This map was wrong before, maybe.

But I can't rule out my possibilities.

It has the dot in McSeddon's office. I turn around tentatively, and make my way back downstairs.

Can we just talk about how fucking sketchy a school is when there's no one in it?

I shake my head as I reach the foot of the stairs, turning down the hallway to get to McSeddon's office. I hear footsteps behind me, and turn around just in time to fling a corrupted deity into the lockers. It dissipates on impact. How long was that thing following me? I shudder as I turn back to my objective. I open the door to the office, navigating the way to his office. I open the door slowly. . .

Nothing. Dammit.

I listen to my gut again, and it's telling me to look in the school store. No one goes in there . Ever. I turn out of McSeddon's office, and there's a huge crack running down the entire main office wall. I frown as I run my hand over it, and it hits me in an instant.

I've been in an illusion this whole time.

I scan the crack, trying to find the one spot that will break the illusion. I find the weak spot near the window facing out into the administrative parking lot, and drive my foot through it.