CHAPTER 25
Absolute magnitude (part 1)
My heart in my throat, I kept running and didn't stop until I was in front of the house next door to ours. Then, glancing back again to make sure he hadn't followed, I forced myself to a walk, taking deep breaths and doing my best to slow my racing heart. I did not want to have to explain to Aunt Theresa why I was so out of breath.
I could definitely explain to Rigel, though. Pulling his phone out of my pocket, I went around to the side of our house--the side away from the kitchen--and pushed the button for his dad's number, like he'd told me to do yesterday. To my relief, Rigel answered instead of his dad.
"M? What's up?" He sounded more curious than worried.
"Hey. I, um, don't think the bad guys are, ah, quite taken care of after all." I was still panting a little.
He picked up on that immediately. "What happened?" he demanded. "Are you okay? I'm coming to get you. Let me--"
"Rigel, wait! Listen first." I quickly told him what had just happened, including the fact that my attacker had something silver--a needle or device?--that he'd tried to hit me with. I finished with the words he'd yelled after me. "So . . . it doesn't sound like we're quite out of the woods yet," I added unnecessarily.
"No, it doesn't," he agreed grimly. "Are you at home?"
"Yeah. I ran."
"Okay, stay put. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Um, do I have time to take a shower? I kind of need one." It had been a vigorous class, not to mention the run home.
I could hear him talking to someone else, presumably his parents or Shim. Then, to me, "If it's a quick one."
"Thanks. Oh, and hey, can you maybe call on the regular phone before you come, so I can make up something to tell my aunt for why you're picking me up?"
There was another brief conference I couldn't quite hear. "My mom will call and talk to her. You go ahead and get your shower. See you soon."
When I went inside a moment later, I was no longer panting. "I'm home--taking a shower," I called out, heading straight for the stairs.
But my aunt intercepted me, coming out of the kitchen with a vegetable peeler in her hand. "Louise Batten just called. She said you got into some kind of scuffle with a vagrant outside her shop?"
Louise Batten owned and ran Quilt World. Unfortunately, she was also one of Jewel's premier gossips.
"Um, not a scuffle, exactly, but he did try to grab me. I kicked at him and ran, though, and he didn't come after me. He was probably drunk or high or something."
"That's what Louise thought, so she called the police. But by the time they arrived, he'd run off."
I swallowed, glad that Rigel was coming to get me. "No one saw which way he went?"
"Louise didn't. I don't know what any other witnesses might have told the police. But if he doesn't cause any more trouble, I doubt they'll pursue it. You weren't hurt?" She actually looked mildly concerned.
"No, he didn't . . . didn't really touch me, just grabbed at my sleeve. I'm fine."
Her concern turned to disapproval. "Well, you keep your distance from strangers in the future. A girl can't be too careful."
I wanted to tell her it wasn't my fault, that I'd done everything right, but instead I just nodded and hurried upstairs to shower.
"Oh, good, you're decently dressed," Aunt Theresa greeted me ten minutes later when I entered the kitchen, where she was cutting up mounds of peeled apples for applesauce. "Run upstairs and get that dress you're wearing to the dance tonight. The Stuarts will be here soon to take you and Rigel for ice cream, then they'll drop you at Brianna's house to get ready for the dance. You did say you and your friends planned to do your primping there, didn't you?"
I nodded, slightly surprised at her cordial tone. Maybe she was just looking forward to having me out of the house for the rest of the day.
"I'll go grab my stuff." I didn't mention that Bri hadn't yet told me what time to come over. I texted her from Rigel's phone the minute I got to my room, saying I might not be able to come over after all, but that I'd call later and let her know for sure. That should keep her from calling the house and messing up my cover story--if it was a cover story.
While I gathered up my (borrowed) dress, shoes, lip gloss and other paraphernalia, I kept glancing out my window to the street below, watching for the Stuarts' car. On my second or third glance, I saw a silver car with dark-tinted windows slow in front of our house.
Assuming it must be the car Shim had rented, I shoved my dressy underthings into the bottom of the bag with my shoes and stuff, ready to hurry downstairs--but then the car sped up again and went on. Frowning, I tossed my glittery barrette, the last thing I needed, into the bag and went back to the window.
A moment later, the same car came back from the opposite direction and again cruised very slowly past before speeding up and moving on. And then, maybe half a minute after that, a metallic green compact did the exact same thing. This car's windows didn't appear to be tinted, but from my angle above the street I couldn't see inside. What was going on?
Before I'd decided whether to be scared or not, the Stuarts' dark blue SUV pulled into the driveway. Exhaling with relief, I grabbed up my bag and my dress and ran down to the front door.
"Bye, Aunt Theresa!" I called toward the kitchen. "I'll see you after the dance tonight." I sure hoped that would be true.
"Be good--and don't be too late," she called back.
"Okay," I called over my shoulder, already heading out the door. I wanted to get safely into the Stuarts' car before either of those other cars came back.
Rigel was already out of the SUV and halfway up the walk when I came outside. "Hey, I didn't expect you to be ready yet," he said, taking my bag with one hand and my now-free hand with the other. "I figured I'd have to come in and wait."
That reminded me that he'd never actually been inside my house. But now was definitely not the time, with those mysterious cars cruising by and Aunt Theresa up to her elbows in applesauce.
"My hair's still damp, but, well, let's get in the car and then talk," I said, stumbling over my words the way I had when we'd first met--only this time I was nervous for a totally different reason.
Rigel opened the car door for me and I clambered in, dragging my dress on its hanger behind me, then saw that both of Rigel's parents, as well as Shim, were in the car.
"Uh, thanks for this," I said to all of them. "I . . . I guess Rigel told you what happened?"
Dr. Stuart, who was sitting in one of the middle seats, took the seafoam-green dress from me and hung it on a hook over the window. "Why don't you and Rigel sit in the back? Yes, he told us. I'm sorry--that must have been very frightening for you."
"Can you describe the man?" Shim asked, twisting around from the front passenger seat. Mr. Stuart was driving.
"Sure. He was sloppily dressed, almost in rags, like he was homeless or something, but I think that was just a disguise. He had . . . let's see, he had light brown hair and kind of bluish eyes, I think--I didn't really look at his eyes. He was taller than me, but not real tall. His hair was stringy and about shoulder-length, but I guess it could have been a wig or something."
Shim nodded as I spoke, as though ticking things off a mental list. "And he tried to touch you or stick you with something metallic?"
"That's what it seemed like to me. It was little, and I think it broke when I knocked it out of his hand, but I didn't get a good look at it."
"You knocked it out of his hand?" Dr. Stuart said in obvious surprise. "That was very-- Well, what's important is that you're safe now."
"For the moment." Mr. Stuart, Rigel and I all said it together.
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