The Haunted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 5)

Chapter 5.3

The street was a busy one, so they'd had to land the capsule in an alley and walk several blocks, but Sabrina was grateful for the time to get her head together as Ford shuffled alongside her in weary silence. It was true that no place ever smelled quite like your home planet, she thought; the air, even faintly tinged with pollution, seemed to have a positive effect on her mental processes. She was tired, too, but her body relaxed a little under the influence of the gravity and atmosphere it was designed for. It gave her a feeling of homecoming, even though she'd never been to Boston before.

Getting the right coordinates set, walking a confused and frustrated Ford through the process of opening the Way, then convincing him to sleep until it was time to emerge and hide the ship on the dark side of the moon had been an exhausting challenge. It was daunting to think that the hard part might only be beginning.

She rehearsed her explanation one more time and tried to think of what she would do if this plan didn't work. Where else could she go? A hotel, she supposed, but that would take money, and that would mean finding a bank and establishing her identity, which would leave a blatant electronic trail for Praxatillus to follow. No, she had to put her faith in this.

She kept a close eye on the house numbers as she walked. They were mostly older townhouses, sandwiched together in a typical urban configuration, and some were divided into two dwellings, evidenced by separate mailboxes attached to them. The number Sabrina was looking for was not, she was relieved to note. She walked up the three steps to the front door and swallowed hard. Let me be right about this, she prayed desperately.

The doorbell echoed through the house, and Sabrina's heart raced with the terrifying knowledge that it was too late to reconsider now. Of course, it was possible no one was home—

The door swung open. Sabrina found herself almost as stunned by the reality of this reunion as the slender strawberry blonde who stared at her, momentarily frozen before coming back to life with a gasp, her hands flying up to her mouth. Sabrina tried to remember one of the pithy greetings she'd prepared, but before she could get anything out, Cynthia Grayson reached out and pulled her into a fierce hug.

"Oh my God. Oh my God, Sabrina. I'd given up—" Cynthia pulled back just enough to get a good look at her oldest friend. "Where the hell have you been?"

Tears glazed over Sabrina's vision as she met her friend's equally watery gaze. "Cynthia," she choked out. "I—I need your help."

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The next few minutes were a blur. Cynthia sized up her long-vanished friend with a doctor's eye and wasted no time bundling her into the house. Sabrina barely had time to reach for Ford and drag him along as Cynthia led them into the living room, seated them on a wonderfully enveloping sofa, and whisked herself into the kitchen. When she emerged, she held two steaming mugs smelling of peppermint.

"Tea," Cynthia announced, handing a mug to each of them. "Drink up. When was your last meal?"

Sabrina wasn't even going to try the temporal conversions. She shrugged.

"Right, that's next, then." Cynthia eyed the way Ford's hands shook around his mug. "Are you on any medications?"

Sabrina smiled into her tea mug. "Same old Cynthia. Took you all of three seconds to go straight into doctor mode. No. We're not sick, exactly. It's—it's a really long story. And I don't think you're going to believe much of it."

Cynthia fixed her with a stern gaze, which abruptly melted into a wistful one. "Nothing new there either. God, I've missed that. I've missed you. I ought to be reading you the riot act for vanishing without a trace for years on end."