Alex Finch by Cate Dean

Author:Cate Dean [Dean, Cate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pentam Press
Published: 2013-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

~ ~ ~

Sam clutched the phone, and he looked panicked. “I—”

“Katie?” I leaned closer to the phone, so I wouldn’t have to shout. I was pretty sure I remembered that voice from one of the tiny dancers classes I taught.

“Yes.”

“It’s Alex, from the dance studio. Do you remember me?”

“Alex—yes, I remember. You’re the really pretty dancer.”

I blushed, glancing over at Sam, who studied me, eyebrows raised, like he was seeing a new side of me. Well, he was—no one at school knew about my dancing. Until now.

“Katie, are you safe right now? Can you stay where you are long enough for us to find you?”

“Yes.” She sniffed. “The devil’s gone. But Jake tried to stop it—he tried!” Panic had her voice escalating.

“I know he did, Katie. Is Jake still unconscious?”

There was silence after my question. I hoped it meant she was checking him, and not gone. “I can’t wake him up.”

“It’s okay—”

“Is he still breathing?” Sam practically shouted over me. I shook my head at him, frowning.

Katie answered before I told her she didn’t have to. “Yeah. But he’s bleeding a lot.”

I pulled the phone out of Sam’s hand, to keep him from interrupting again. “Can you tell where you are?”

“No. It’s dark—I don’t know, I can’t—” I heard her panicking, sobs choking her.

“Katie, it’s okay—”

“You have to get us out of here!”

Katie was losing it, fast. I drew on my experience of dealing with traumatized girls in dance class. “Focus on my voice, Katie. Just on my voice.” Her ragged breathing started to slow down. “Tell me everything you can see.”

“The devil came up from underground—” Katie started crying again.

“It's okay, sweetheart.” I motioned for Sam to start driving. “We're on our way. What can you see?”

“An open hole above me, like—in the street, what's it called—a manhole cover.”

I looked at Sam. “What else?”

“I can—I can hear water running!” She got excited. “It's right above us.”

“Keep talking to me, Katie, describe your surroundings.” I pulled out my phone and brought up the GPS tracking app. Lowering Sam's phone I whispered to him. “What's Jake's number?”

He told me and I punched it into the tracker.

“Alex?”

I brought Sam's phone closer. “Right here, Katie.”

“I think Jake's battery is dying. The phone keeps beeping . . .”

“It's okay, sweetheart. We're on our way to you right now.” I took in a shaky breath. “I need you to do something really hard and scary, but it will help me find you. I need you to turn Jake's phone off—”

“No!”

“Listen to me, Katie.” I talked over her hysterical crying, fear squeezing my heart. “We have to keep the battery running as long as possible. I'm tracking you right now.” I looked at the screen on my phone, watched the app I designed pick up Jake’s signal. “I just need a little more time, but the phone has to be active for me to find you.”

“Okay.” She sniffed. “I'm turning it off. Please hurry, Alex.”

That plea rang through my head as I punched commands in, trying to get the app to work faster.

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