Inbetween

Chapter 35

Emma Two days.

It had been two whole days since Finn had kissed the breath out of me and started to tell me he loved me. That kiss…that moment…it had been earth-shattering. Reckless. Perfect. How could he stay away that long after what happened between us?

I pulled the milk out of the fridge and set it on the counter next to the flour, sugar, and bag of chocolate chips. After crossing that line, feeling him touch me, he was all I could think about. All I could dream about. Without him…I felt like I was in the dark. Like I couldn’t see what was coming, and I hated it. What if something happened to him? He’d touched me and he wasn’t supposed to. What did they do to souls who broke the rules?

I stared at the ingredients in front of me, not really seeing them. Seeing Finn’s face instead. Why did I let him touch me? Why did I touch him back? If he was okay, he would have come back by now.

My mind wouldn’t stop. It was out of control, thinking about what could have happened to Finn, not to mention the fact that a soul could even possess a body like that. Could Maeve do it, too?

I grabbed the phone off of the wall and called Cash, needing to hear someone’s voice. Needing to not be alone right now. If I was alone, my thoughts were going to eat me alive.

It rang and rang. When it went to voice mail I hung up. Crap. He was probably still freaked out about our “kiss.” I slid down the kitchen wall, careful not to mess with my stitches, and buried my face in my hands, trying to make sense of the screwed-up mess that my life had become. It felt like a tangled, silver web I couldn’t escape, and the fact that Maeve was still out there was the spider coming to finish me off.

“Emma, I’m home!”

I jerked, startled, when Mom stumbled into the kitchen laughing, Parker on her heels. A gust of cold air swirled into the house, stirring the edge of Mom’s red dress, as he closed the front door shut behind him.

“Hey. You’re home early.” It was only eight, far earlier than they typically came home, but I wasn’t complaining. At least I wouldn’t be alone. I hopped up, wincing when I tweaked the stitches in my neck and leg a bit too far, and headed for the refrigerator. “Did you guys get a chance to eat? I can make something if you want.”

“We had dinner,” Mom practically purred. She grabbed Parker’s shirt and hauled him closer, kissing him like she wanted to taste his tonsils, then broke away and ran her fingers through his hair.

“I think we’re more interested in dessert.”

My mouth fell open. “Mom, gross!”

Parker held her at arm’s length, his eyes wide. “Okay, sweetheart. I think you had a little too much wine.” He smoothed a hand down her arm and gave me an apologetic smile. “Looks like I should have cut her off earlier.”

You think? I wanted to ask, but I forced myself to focus on the ingredients on the counter. Milk, flour, sugar, chocolate chips. For the first time, I wasn’t sure baking would occupy my mind enough to calm down.

“How are you doing, by the way?” Parker continued. “I want you to know we’re not going to stop until we catch that guy. Everyone in the department is putting in their time on this one. We’ll catch him soon, Emma. I promise.”

Mom snorted and muttered something under her breath, and both Parker and I frowned. I’d seen Mom tipsy before, but never rude like this. Parker helped Mom slide onto a barstool and kept his hand on her shoulder to keep her from tumbling off the side. She leaned into his chest and nuzzled into his neck, breathing deeply.

“Um,” I began, not quite sure what to say. “I was going to bed anyway, so you two have fun.”

Abandoning my cookie ingredients, I fled to my room. Watching Mom date was one thing. Seeing her shove her tongue down some guy’s throat was another. I’d never even seen her act like that with Dad.

Not in front of me anyway, thank God.

I heard the static and hiss of radio followed by a dispatcher’s voice out in the living room. A few seconds later, Parker said something about having to leave for work. I sagged against the door in relief. At least I wouldn’t have to hear their fun through the wall.

Safe in the confines of my room, I crawled into bed and buried my nose in the bedspread. I breathed in the last of Finn’s scent as if I could hold it in me forever. “Please come back,” I whispered into the blankets.

Mom opened my door, a lazy smile spread across her face. I peeled myself away from my memories of Finn and sat up, knowing I was probably going to be forced to listen to her gush over Parker. Her arm slid up the doorframe and she sagged against the doorway, sighing. “I almost forgot what that was like.”

I rolled my eyes. “I really don’t want to hear this.”

She stepped in and shut the door behind her, then pressed her back against it. “You know, I almost bailed on my plans for you so I could take that man to bed. He was delicious.”

“Mom…” I carefully slid off the bed, my stomach twisting into uncomfortable knots. I wished she’d just pass out already and stop acting like a lovesick college girl. “Maybe you should go to bed.

Come on. I’ll help you.”

She threw back her head and laughed, dancing past me. “Oh, Emma. This is going to be more fun than I thought.”

She twirled some kind of tool in her hand. Just the sight of her holding a simple screwdriver was cause for concern. Mom plus tools equaled broken things; lots and lots of broken things.

“What are you doing?”

One by one, she jammed the screwdriver into the screws beside the lock on my window and twisted until they were half way up, then wacked the screws to bend them over. “There. I don’t think you’ll be unlocking that window any time soon.”

I gaped at her. “Have you lost your mind? Mom, seriously, I think you’ve had too much to drink.”

Mom sauntered back to the door and tossed the screwdriver across the room. “What a sad, sorry excuse for a girl you are,” she said. “You should be thanking me for putting you out of your misery.

Pining away for a boy you can’t have, not willing to trust anyone but your best friend and mother.

Really, I couldn’t have planned this better if I’d tried.” She gave me a wicked grin. “Time to hand over that body, Emma.”

The fear that been building in my chest exploded and I stumbled back, catching myself on the edge of my bed. My stitched leg slammed into my mattress. Her eyes. Tonight, they were hazel green with flecks of gold. Nothing like the jewel-tone blue eyes that had watched me grow up for the past seventeen years. She’d done what Finn had done to Cash. Maeve was in there, and Mom… Oh my God. “What did you do to her?”

“What dumb luck that your mom chose tonight of all nights to get sloshed!” Maeve laughed. “It was easy. Too easy really. Just a bump on the head in the restaurant bathroom. And the fact that your mom likes her wine definitely helped things along.”

She inspected Mom’s nails. “I apologize for dragging this out. I really do. I’d planned to get this out of the way at the theater, but there were…technical difficulties.” She grinned and dropped her hand to her side. “See, you weren’t dead enough. But I’ll fix that tonight.”

My breath hitched in my throat and I started for the door, but Maeve stepped in front of it again and shook her head. “Do you actually believe I’d let you out of here?”

I balled my hands into fists at my side, trying to think. I didn’t know what to do. Where to go. Yeah, she was in a body…but it was my mom’s body. I couldn’t hurt my mom. And she knew it.

Something thick and heated tainted the air and I scrunched my nose. The dark smoke billowing under the crack of my door drew my attention to the floor.

“Y-you started a fire?”

She sighed. “Well, yeah. But I’m not going to burn you to death. I’m aiming for the smoke to do the trick.”

I shook my head furiously. It was all I could do, because the words wouldn’t come. I didn’t want to die. Not yet. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell Finn I loved him, or to make up for what I’d done to Cash.

“Just think of how close you are to going to Heaven!” Maeve leaned against the door. “You’ll get to be with your dad. Oh wait… That’s right. He’s not up there.”

My breathing hitched, then stopped altogether. My dad was in Heaven. Finn told me he was. He’d watched him go.

“Oh, Finn didn’t tell you?” She touched her mouth in mock surprise. “Finn always was good at keeping secrets. And lying. But you already knew that.”

“No…” I gripped the bedpost to support myself. Blood rushed to my head, making me dizzy. She was lying. She had to be.

“Poor Daddy,” Maeve said. “How many times do you think he’s burned over the last two years? It’s got to be thousands. Maybe that’s why Finn lied. He wanted to spare you the pain.”

“You’re lying.” I slid along my mattress until my hip hit my nightstand. The smoke was so thick my eyes watered. My lungs burned.

“Am I?” She raised a brow. “Or is Finn? He’s lied to you before.”

I coughed and sucked in another lungful of smoke, feeling dizzy and off-balance. My hand curled around the lamp. I had to get Mom out of here. Even if that meant hurting her.

“What’s the matter, Emma? You look a little pale.” Maeve giggled, and it sounded so wrong coming out Mom’s mouth that it made my stomach turn.

“I don’t blame you for being mad,” I said to her. I stood up and dragged the lamp off the nightstand with me. Maeve’s eyes darted to the lamp and back to my face. “I’d be pissed, too. But I didn’t choose this. I wouldn’t have taken this from you. I never would have chosen myself over you.”

I took a shaky step closer, the lamp cord dragging behind me, and Maeve tensed. “And now?”

“Now…” I stopped to cough again. The room was starting to fade around the edges. “Now you’ve involved my mother, and I won’t let her die for this. Not for you. Not for me.”

I didn’t wait for her to answer. I lunged forward with as much force as my stitched leg would let me, the lamp raised above my head.

Mom’s body collapsed.

The lamp clattered to the floor, forgotten. Coughing and sputtering from the smoke, I knelt down and pressed my fingers to Mom’s throat. She was alive. Thank God.

Something fell to the floor and shattered behind me, and my hand froze against Mom’s neck. Her pulse beat against my fingertips. Fear as thick as the smoke choking me swirled inside my chest.

Maeve. She was still here.

We weren’t safe yet.

Slowly, I stood and something brushed the stitches on my neck, feather soft. Cold crept along my skin even after the touch was gone. And then…pain.

The stitches along my neck ripped open in one swift tug. My knees buckled and the side of my face hit the hardwood floor with a sickening thud. Pain spread across the right side of my face, and tiny incandescent lights floated at the edges of my vision. I ran my tongue along the sides of my teeth to make sure they were still there and tasted blood.

The room was a nightmare around me. Glass shattered. It sounded like the walls were splintering, tearing in two. Or maybe that was just in my head. I reached out and dug my fingers into the floor, crawling forward until I reached Mom’s leg. Her limp body was blocking our only escape. I had to get her out.

“Mom…” I croaked, grabbing onto the edge of her dress to pull myself forward. “Please wake up.

Please.”

She didn’t move, so I forced myself up onto my knees, vaguely realizing the pain was starting to fade, and reached for the doorknob. My fingers were wet with blood and slipped on the knob, but it opened an inch. Smoke and heat spilled into the room. My lungs burned and my chest tightened. My head felt fuzzy and my insides tingled. I gasped for oxygen that wasn’t there and collapsed next to Mom.

I blinked against a darkness that had nothing to do with the smoke-filled room and everything to do with the fact that the life was bleeding out of me. I could feel it. Cold. Final. My eyes fluttered closed and hopelessness swept through me. I was going to die.