Towering - By Alex Flinn Page 0,51

eighty. At the last minute, I swerved left, taking the northbound entrance.

The Taurus missed it and soared into the southbound lane. I headed north.

I’d lost him. But it didn’t explain why he’d been following me in the first place.

The distance between exits around here might be ten miles or more. I had lost him in a real way. Still, I would keep one eye on the rearview.

To further evade the guy, I got off at a later exit, then drove back. No one was on the road but the snowplows. I followed them until I got to the back road I’d taken to the cabin, then realized it hadn’t been cleared. Fortunately, the trees protected it a great deal, so the snow coating was light. Still, I pulled over earlier than before and began to slog through the snow. It was even harder than the first time, but now, I had a goal. Rachel. Beautiful Rachel, Rachel who knew better than me or anyone what it was to be all alone.

My legs ached, and it was hard to lift them in and out of the soft snow. Still, I did. The pain felt good. It made me feel alive and like my life had purpose.

I knew what that purpose was too, to persuade Rachel to come with me, to run away with me. It was the only safe way. I was certain the guy who had followed me was really after her. He knew about her, somehow. She had told me about her mother’s killer. He wanted to find her. Maybe I had tipped him off. If she came with me, we could find someone, the police, the FBI. Someone who wasn’t me to get to the bottom of this. After all, what reason did she have to stay, other than some woman who was holding her captive?

And suddenly, I heard a voice in the distance, singing something. But it couldn’t be. The tower was tall, and surely, the window was closed against the cold and snow. Was I delirious from the frigid weather? Or was some supernatural force calling me toward her?

29

Rachel

He would come today. I was certain of it. I sensed him. And, more than that, I sensed that he was struggling to get to me.

I loved him. Though we had barely met, there was some power greater than me, greater than all, that bound me to him.

I looked out the window, certain I would see him in the distance. Nothing. Yet I knew he was coming.

For every reason and no reason, I began to sing. Even though the tower was high and the weather was windy, I knew he would hear me. I knew it would urge him on toward me.

30

Wyatt

Finally, I could see the tower in the distance. The voice, Rachel’s voice, grew louder in my head, and though my legs were numb with the walking and my body was near freezing, I kept going, pushing through trees and obstacles in my way.

Then, suddenly, I was there before the tower. It looked older than I remembered, maybe because of the freshness of the white snow. It looked so dilapidated I might be able to bring it down with the slightest push and rescue her that way.

No, not that way. I could see the rope, her strange, magical hair, hanging to the ground. Above it, I saw her face. She was waiting for me.

I waved to her.

She waved back.

I looked behind me one last time, to assure myself no one had followed me. Nothing. I waved again and yelled, “Hello!”

The sound carried. She jumped up and down, yelling, “Hello! I’m so glad you’re here!”

“It’s nice out! Can you come down?”

“You’ll help me back up?”

“Yes!” I didn’t want to. I wanted her to come with me. But that conversation could wait for later. I wanted her to come down now.

She had gone back inside to get something. She threw it down, and I saw it was a braid, shorter than the one that hung from the tower. I looked up. She was already climbing down.

As she made her way down the rope, I tried to think about how dangerous this was, how crazy, freaky dangerous. I’d done rock climbing at a gym at home, fake rocks, tons of safety equipment. I was good at it, but here—people got killed falling from lesser heights.

And yet, we had done it before. I was willing to risk it to see her.

Finally, she dropped down beside me, and I took her in