Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 99 - Blankets of Pain

Tanner

Aunt Beth's car and the Dragon Wagon finally left the parking lot, and I can see Ronan walking towards where I'm hiding, but he has Maddison with him.

I was hoping that he'd come here to the back of the building, where I could intercept him, but the last thing I want to deal with right now is Maddie. I just watch them divert from the path to go down the steps back to the beach. 

Okay then... plan B.

I figured that if I enter Swift Building here from the back, I'm not all that visible and if someone is following me, they might not realise where I'd gone. Besides, the apartment complex's entrances have security doors, and once I'm in there, I could be in any of the apartments. I've been sitting here in the bushes like a bloody stalker, making sure that there's nobody lurking around looking for me.

Is this going to be my new normal now?

The area is deserted. Everybody is having fun on the beach; there aren't any people on the walkway running behind Swift Building, so I slip out of the bushes, across the path and into the shelter of the trees without being noticed.

There is still no sign of anybody, and I move along the base of the building, behind the trees past the complex's back entrance, sticking to the shadows until I find the trellis at the back of the convenience store. It is a sturdy structure, hidden in the pink flowers and green leaves of Beach Morning Glory and spans the breadth of the store, from where it breaks up, running between the windows and balconies of the apartments stacked above it. 

I've often used it in the past. I look up into the darkness. There is very little light out here. Candy keeps on breaking this specific security light's globes, and her father eventually gave up on replacing them. Where we usually think of it as an advantage for coming and going unobserved, the security risk is now freaking me out.

Tonight, I am the cat burglar scaling the wall, but what if actual criminals find out about this weakness? I've never felt that there was any real danger of that. Briar Cove is a cosy, safe seaside town... until it's not...

Climbing hurts like hell.

Usually, I do it quite easily, but tonight, my injured ribs and my muscles are screaming in complaint at every strained movement I make. The trellis is convenient, but it's not a ladder; I have to work for it. All I want to do is take two of the strong pain tablets I have in the pocket of my jeans and go to sleep, and this is the only place I can think of where I could do that without anybody seeing me come and go and without potentially putting people in danger.

I'm level with Candice's window, suddenly worried that she might not be home and that I might not be able to get the window open by myself, when the light on the neighbouring balcony, right next to where I am, turns on. I nearly lose my grip on the iron lattice when Molly appears in the light. She'd come out to drag the blanket she'd hung out earlier off the railing. She sees me and freezes with a soft gasp.

We stare at each other for what feels like ages but can only be a few seconds.

There is so much I want to say to her, but I don't have words. My brain stopped working when she appeared, and I lost my breath. I want to tell her how sorry I am for not meeting her at the fire as promised, for inviting her to a dance I cannot take her to, for not telling her how cool I think the recipe is that she sent me. So many things. She is not saying anything either, her face frozen in shock.

Willow informed me earlier that I might be in love with Molly, and looking at the girl in her shroud of dark red flames, I realise that she was right, I am. Seeing Mol this close to me in this nasty situation is making it hard to think.