Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Ru climbed into Cutter’s truck, wishing they could’ve taken any other vehicle, and Lyric, who was already in the driver’s seat, started it. Ru clicked her seatbelt and crossed her arms, hoping some distance and deep breaths would clear her mind, thought she didn’t feel any calmer now that she was outside.

Lyric turned the truck around and headed back down the winding, nearly invisible lane. She pulled out onto the country road that snaked through the forest and eventually caught the highway that headed to Reaper’s Hollow. She didn’t say a word until they were nearly to town. “I like your bracelets,” she said quietly. “You’re a lot edgier than I would have thought, considering you’re a teacher.”

Ru glanced down at her bangles. “Thanks. I guess.”

Lyric snickered. “What do you listen to?”

Ru glanced at her for the first time, realizing that, with a name like Lyric, she must like music. “Uh, mostly punk. Some grunge.”

“Cool. I like all music, but I listen to a lot of punk. I really love “Happy Being Miserable” by New Found Glory. Have you heard it?”

“Yeah, of course,” Ru said. “It’s one of my favorites right now. I like “Get By” by Real Friends, too.”

“Oh, yeah. The lyrics to that one are awesome. And I should know,” she joked, leaning over toward Ru just a bit, as if she were telling an inside joke.

Despite her foul mood, Ru couldn’t help but giggle. Lyric seemed like the kind of girl Ru could hang out with, under other circumstances. She was funny, had good taste in music, and she seemed pretty laid back, compared to everyone else. But she couldn’t let herself think about that just now. “Turn here,” she said as they approached the first of a few turns that would take them to her house. Ru waited for her to say something about Cutter’s farce, but she was quiet again, running her free hand through her hair so that some of it was practically standing up straight.

Ru turned her attention out the window. It was dark and gloomy out, as it usually was this time of year. She couldn’t help but feel the same way on the inside. “It’s the next left, and then my house is the third one on the right,” she said as Lyric flipped her turn signal on.

A few moments later, they pulled to a stop in front of her small, white house. “Thanks for the ride,” Ru said, turning to face her.

“Sure thing,” Lyric replied, smiling.

Waiting to see if she’d say more, something about Cutter being nuts—or not—Ru continued to stare at her. “Will you please tell Ivy I’m sorry I was so rude.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell her. But I’m sure she understands. You’ve had quite the night. Sorry it didn’t go better for you.”

Ru raised an eyebrow, surprised at those words. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she only muttered, “Thanks.”

“Take care, Ru,” Lyric said.

“Yeah, you, too,” Ru replied, pushing the truck door open and hopping out. She wasn’t sure whether or not Lyric was implying something with those words, but the tone seemed ominous.

Ru grabbed her keys out of her purse and headed for the door. She noticed Lyric didn’t pull away until after she had the door open and was standing inside. She gave the girl a small wave and watched her pull away. Once inside, she scooped up Piper, who was clearly happy to see her, and shut the door behind her, flipping the lock for good measure. “We don’t need any more craziness tonight,” she mumbled as she headed for the sofa.

Checking her phone, she saw that she had several more texts from Candice. She sent her a quick message to let her know she was home and there was nothing to report; she definitely wasn’t going to tell her what Cutter had talked about all night. There was no reason for both of them to avoid him at work, though she was quite certain she’d have to find a way to do just that.

“See, this is why you don’t date coworkers,” she said to Piper as she stroked her head. “They might turn out to be crazy people who think they’re angels and that you’re the half-angel, half-demon daughter of a Ninja Turtle.” Piper only purred in response.

Ru’s phone buzzed again, and she assumed it was Candice telling her goodnight, but when she looked down, she saw it was from Cutter. “Sorry tonight was so awful for you. Everything went wrong. Anyway, whatever you do, Ru, don’t go with Thanatos, no matter what he says to you. He’s dangerous. Even if you think you’re dreaming.”

With a sigh, Ru set her phone down on her lap. Even when she was home, she couldn’t fully escape his crazy. She couldn’t decide whether or not to acknowledge she’d received the text or ignore him, but remembering that she had experience with crazy in the form of Liddy Brown, she picked up the phone and typed, “Okay. I won’t. Now leave me the hell alone.” She would’ve never tacked on that part at the end if she were sending it to Liddy, but this was different. She didn’t have to live with Cutter for the rest of her life.

“But I do have to work with him,” she remembered. “Ugh.” Things would be so awkward on Monday. Hopefully, he would just leave her alone.

She thought about grabbing her laptop and Googling that light trick he’d done with his hands. There had to be some sort of a device that made a hologram like that. But she was too tired to look it up now. “Come on, Piper, let’s go to bed,” she said. Piper answered with a meow, and Ru headed toward the bedroom, hopeful that she wouldn’t have any dreams at all that night.

Cutter sat on the porch reflecting on what he’d done wrong. Clearly, it had been nearly everything, but he had no idea what he could’ve done differently. He had tried being direct, being completely honest, even letting her see for herself what they were capable of, but none of that seemed to matter. Now, she was out there alone, and he knew Nat had to have found her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have dreamt of him. Whether Ru realized it or not, that dream wasn’t what she thought it was. He hoped his text was warning enough to keep her safe, but somehow, he didn’t think so.