Zain drove Ducky away from the police station in a rented Mazda 6. "I am so going to put all this into a movie." Zain gestured at the trees with one hand as he drove. "What do you say we do a thriller? And a horror flick."
"Without a camera?" asked Ducky.
"A minor setback. I kept all the recordings. We could tell one scary-assed story with what's already in the can. Plus, Loon Lake is trending. People are posting clips of to-the-death food fights and graveyard binges everywhere!"
"What do we do for a star?"
"You mean that crazy girl, wandering around in a yellow Hazmat suit, shouting into a megaphone?"
"Tonya?"
"I've seen how you two look at each other. Ask her nicely, and she'd probably do anything for you." Zain smirked.
Tonya... Ducky had been too caught up in his own problems. He rummaged through the bag of personal possessions the cops returned to him. When he found his phone he discovered her recent text message.
"Tonya's been taken by her Aunt and forced to drive to Toronto."
"Lucky her," said Zain. "If they get around the quarantine, they'll be safe."
"We have to find her! Tonya says Helene brainwashed her parents and sent them to Australia, and if her Aunt kills her, she wants me to contact them."
Zain shook his head. "You believe that?"
"She's in trouble." Ducky squared his shoulders.
"All right, we'll go, because if we don't, you'll be impossible to live with."
# # #
Tonya didn't send Ducky a message expecting rescue, but if she disappeared, somebody had to tell Mom not to trust her sister. Ducky might be able to follow her directions, but he couldn't find a moving target. A rendez-vous with him was impossible, unless her Aunt's car broke down. Should she sabotage it? Tonya remembered the extreme headache the last time she defied her Aunt's wards. That power to hurt made her so nervous, Tonya almost didn't puncture the tire as they got back into the car.
Later, standing beside the desolate road shivering, Tonya wondered if it had been a mistake. The sandwich shop was closed, and they stood staring at the flat tire while cold leached all warmth from her toes and fingers. If they stayed outside all night, would they die of hypothermia?
"Nonsense. You are perfectly dry and wearing a heavy coat," said Aunt Helene.
"You can read my thoughts?"
"Only when you move your lips."
Tonya looked at her Aunt to see if she were joking. If Aunt Helene could read her thoughts, why did she act surprised to discover the flat?
"What am I thinking now? Have I stopped moving my lips?"
"Barely, but it doesn't take a mind reader to know you had something to do with that puncture."
Tonya recognized her Aunt's concerned look from when she was a kid with skinned knees. "I don't want to go to Toronto."
"You could have just said something. You didn't have to slash my tire."
"Would you have listened?"
It was late afternoon but night was falling early. Long shadows obscured her Aunt's features. The way her Aunt had kidnapped her, and then killed that Doctor, made 'saying something,' seem futile.
"You're afraid of me."
"Should I be?" Tonya hoped her suspicions were wrong.
"You must have seen something at the farm."
"So, you admit it."
"What?"
"You killed that woman."
"Is that what you think?"
They stood opposed saying nothing. Not one vehicle passed. Sparse traffic was normal this time of year but Tonya would have felt safer with witnesses. At last she said: "I'm trying to understand why you need me in Toronto."
"For your protection. If you go back to campus, you'll get infected."
"How do you know I'm not already?"
"You didn't eat the sandwich."
"Sure I did."
"At the farm house."
"Why did you attack that woman?"
"I have enemies."
"You brought me into that lady's house and killed her while I was sitting in her living room!"
"Clearly not, if you were watching me."
"What if I do trust you had your reasons, and I agree to go with you?" Tonya watched her Aunt's face, but there was no reaction. "Use your magic to fix the tire and we can leave. It's freezing out here and I need to pee."
"You're not hungry anymore?"
"We ate lunch at 4:30."
"I'll call the Auto Club."
Tire rubber was a natural substance made from trees, thought Tonya. "Can't you cure it with a charm?"
Her Aunt shook her head.
"I thought healing was your specialty."
"I'm not a miracle worker."
Apparently she couldn't influence people over the phone either. Tonya overhead her Aunt reluctantly agree to an Auto Club membership before they would send a tow truck.
Her Aunt lay back on the hood of the car, staring up at the sky. The cold clear day was transforming into a frigid, starry night. Tonya joined her, partly to make sure the sick old lady didn't fall asleep.
"I'm really sorry about this," Tonya said for the fifth time. They were still lying side-by-side, talking about the rising moon, when the bright lights of a yellow sports car crested the road behind them. The hard top was down and the stereo blasted Edgar Winter's Frankenstein, theme song of the Digital Ninjas.
Tonya leaped to her feet. "Ducky!"
The Mazda blurred by so fast Zain had to screech the brakes, then reverse back. He squeaked it to a stop beside Tonya and her Aunt.
Ducky opened his door wide. "Get in!"
"I can't," said Tonya. "My Aunt's sick and alone out here."
Ducky stepped close and whispered in her ear: "You said she kidnapped you. Leave her and let's go."
"What if the tow truck takes another hour? It's getting dark. We're in the middle of nowhere."
Ducky shrugged. "I don't understand you."
"What if the tow truck driver got lost?"
Behind Ducky, Zain revved the engine. "Let's go!"
Tonya went back to her Aunt and touched her shoulder. "Wake up." She was slow to rouse, but didn't seem confused, so at least the old lady didn't have hypothermia. "I'm leaving with Zain and Ducky. Come with us," she told her Aunt.
"What?" Ducky's eyebrows reached for the stars, his jaw dropped, and his hands shot out in the starfish pose.
"I can't leave until the tow truck arrives," said Aunt Helene. "Why don't you kids wait with me? I love to meet my niece's friends."
Ducky crossed his arms. "We can't stay."
Tonya couldn't tell if Aunt Helene used her powers of persuasion but Zain got out of the car and whispered something in his friend's ear.
Ducky's arms relaxed and his head dropped to his chest. He strode to Aunt Helene and offered her his hand. "It's good to finally meet you." Ducky helped Aunt Helene off the car hood and said: "Can you believe that moon?
********
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