The Holding Station (Rivercreek Crossing Book 2)

Chapter 5

Two hours later, Mr. Caldwell still had not arrived with a change of clothes for Reese. She was getting buggy and bored. Paul had left shortly after arriving and she had resumed the pacing. She was tempted a dozen times to peer into the velvet bag but just as her fingers wrapped around the drawstrings, she had shoved it back into the pillowcase. She felt as if she was holding on to Pandora’s Box and opening it would unleash the hounds of hell. She wanted to go for a walk in the hallways but feared leaving the amulet behind in case in fell into the wrong hands. How she wished she had a pocket to put it in when a stroke of genius graced her.

She pulled a second pair of hospital slipper socks on and tucked the small bag into the socks at her ankle. No one would notice the lump unless they were specifically looking for it. She walked by the nurse’s station and asked for another Johnny. As she put it on backwards so as not to have an embarrassing moment of exposure as she walked the halls, Demi materialized to her right and slipped an arm through Reese’s. She leaned close to Reese and whispered, “Come on. You’ve got to see this,” as she stirred her away from the desk and through a door to a staircase.

“Where are we going?” Reese whispered back.

“You’ll see.” Demi said bouncing down the stairs hurriedly with Reese barely able to keep up with the teenager’s agility. Reese might have been feeling great after her ordeal, but a forty something year old body was no match to that of a teen in obviously great shape.

“How long ago was your accident?” Reese asked, curious.

“Five days ago,” Demi called up from the next landing down.

“And you almost died?”

“I did die,” Demi answered in a springy voice, like she was proud of her accomplishment.

“Pretty energetic for someone who was just seriously injured,” Reese said as she turned a bend in the flight of stairs.

Suddenly Demi stopped and turned back to Reese. She looked up at her and Reese stopped as well. The girl’s eyes were so dark that Reese couldn’t discern her pupil from her iris.

“It’s like drinking from the fountain of youth. Every visit rejuvenates you.”

“Every visit? How many times have you been there?”

“More than once,” Demi said and smirked. “Oh I don’t have to die to go there. Other people do, but not me. It just so happens that I actually died the last time.”

“Does your brother go there too?”

“Who Jonah?”

“Yes. Do you have another brother?”

“Will.”

“Will. Okay. Yes, I was talking about Jonah.”

From above them a stairway door opened and slammed closed and the sounds of footsteps echoed. Demi placed a finger to her lips and she gestured for Reese to continue. They went down one more flight and them Demi steered them through a maze of corridors until they approached a pair of automatic swinging doors to the outside. Demi tugged at Reese’s arm and pulled her into a room ten feet away from the doors. Demi shut the door but peered through the elongated double-glass window.

“Are we escaping?” Reese asked, hoping they might be but at the same time knowing she would be the one to get into trouble for leading a minor out of the hospital.

“No,” Demi said and shook her head. “Just wait.”

Demi continued to monitor through the window and Reese looked around in the darkened room. It looked like a small janitor’s closet with bags of ice melt, caution tape, a mop and bucket, and bags of rags.