Towering - By Alex Flinn Page 0,69
But Wyatt?”
“Yes?” I was whispering.
“Something has happened. Two things, actually. I’ve been waiting for you to call so I could tell you.”
“Me too. I mean, I’ve been waiting to hear your voice.” I sounded like a girl, but she had that effect on me.
“I know. I mean, me too, but I have to tell you what happened.”
“What happened?” I hadn’t really taken her that seriously when she said something had happened. I mean, what can happen when you’re stuck in a tower all day? And yet, her voice sounded strident with urgency. “Is it Mama?”
That would be urgent. If something happened to Mama, what would happen to Rachel? She would be all alone in a world she knew nothing about.
No, she would have me.
But she said, “Nothing like that, but right before you called, someone else did.”
“Who?” I hadn’t thought about it, obviously, in my excitement to talk to her. The phone had barely rung since I’d been here, but that was because of not having service. With service, other people—Mom, people from school, Astrid—might call and talk to her. I should have told her not to answer other calls. Wait, I did.
“Oh, Rachel, you shouldn’t answer unless it’s this number.” I hoped it hadn’t been Astrid. She would have gotten an earful for sure. “I’m sorry if anyone said anything—”
“Listen! Wyatt, it’s important. A man called, and he said he might have information about Zach.”
“Zach?” For a moment, I couldn’t remember who Zach was.
“About Zach,” she insisted. “About my father.”
“Rachel, you didn’t tell anyone where you were, did you? Or who you are?”
“Of course not! I just said I was your sister. And that’s when he said he had news about Zach. Here, wait. I wrote it all down: His name was Carl. You spoke with his brother, Henry. He wanted you to meet him at the Red Fox Inn tomorrow. He left his number.” She recited a number which I scrambled to write down. News! This was awesome! If it wasn’t creepy.
“But wait, if the guy didn’t tell you Zach was your father, how did you know?” I twisted around to make sure Mrs. Greenwood wasn’t there. I could still just barely hear the television upstairs.
“That’s the other thing that happened—the other amazing thing I had to tell you. I found a letter.”
“A letter? Like in the tower? From Mama?”
“No, from a girl. Emily Hill. Do you know her?”
“Um, yeah. Emily Hill is my mother. There was a letter from her?”
She nodded. “It was in the coat, the pocket of the coat you gave me.”
“The coat?” Danielle’s coat? Was it possible the letter had been waiting there all along? “What did it say?”
“It was from your mother to mine. My mother was pregnant, and your mother was worried about her.”
“Why?” In retrospect, it made sense, but I was surprised to hear my mother had been worried all along. Then again, she was probably worried about normal stuff, like whether Danielle’s mom would throw her out of the house or if Danielle would go to college.
“She said Danielle was talking crazy, about hallucinogens.”
The rhapsody!
“Danielle said it was destiny.”
“What was?” Had my mother known about Danielle? About everything before she sent me here? No, it was crazy.
“Emily didn’t say. She was trying to get Danielle to calm down, saying it would be okay, but . . .”
She broke off.
“But what?”
“I have to go.” Her voice was a whisper.
“What? Wait, Rachel. You have to tell me more.”
“It’s Mama. She’s early.”
“Okay. I’ll come tomorrow morning, early.”
And then, the line went dead.
I stood there, holding the phone, wondering if it had malfunctioned somehow. No, it hadn’t. Rachel had hung up on me. Then, I wondered if I should call my own mother, should see what she knew. She definitely knew about the baby. Had she sent me here on purpose to make me part of this?
I dialed her cell phone, but it rang and rang. No surprise. She was probably working late. Without my cell phone, I couldn’t text her. I’d call tomorrow.
Instead, I dialed the number Rachel had just given me.
Someone answered immediately.
“Is this Mr. Fox?” I said.
“Not the Mr. Fox you met,” a smooth voice said. “This is Carl, his brother. I assume this is Wyatt?”
“Yes.” I glanced out the window. It was snowing again. “Did you have something to tell me?” I didn’t want to give too much away. This might have been the guy who’d followed me. I wanted to ask him.
But he said, “I talked to your sister