Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

6 ∞ awakening

Day One ∞ Friday afternoon

GINA SCRUBBED THE DIRT off her hands in the laundry room, then washed her face. She found Danny in the kitchen drying dishes, and she passed behind him with her head turned away. She didn't want him to see her puffy eyes.

"Hey, where were you?" Danny threw over his shoulder.

She stopped in her tracks for a moment, "I was talking to Zorro," and continued to the table to gather her prints.

He dried his hands and came over. "Well... Your boyfriend said that there's nothing seriously wrong with our guest. It's basically letting her rest and keeping her warm and giving her lots of sweetened fluid and light food. But..."—he shook his head slowly—"the amount of bruises she has. You didn't tell me about the big ones: on her arm and hip and the long scratches."

"What?" Gina looked up at him. "What scratches?"

"Right across her chest and arm. You"—he hesitated when he saw the redness in his sister's eyes but decided to ignore it—"you didn't see them when you took care of her last night?"

She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about, Dan; you'll have to show me."

The girl was still asleep when they reached the guest room. Gina sat on the edge of the bed, carefully pulled up a sleeve and inhaled sharply. Danny turned away to look out through the window as he listened to her reaction. "I don't get it," she said. "There's no way I would've missed these... I changed her clothes. Cleaned the cuts and scrapes... Dan?"

He turned around at his sister's strange tone of voice. The girl looked at her, then at him before she closed her eyes again.

Gina stood up with furrowed brows, then she backed away to the door and left the room. Danny followed her, pulling the door shut behind him.

She leaned against the railing, pressing her palms against her forehead. "Was I dreaming or something?"

"What do you mean?"

"She didn't have those big bruises last night, I'm sure of it. And she certainly didn't have green eyes either. She doesn't look blind now." Gina shook her head. "I feel like someone's trying to make a fool out of me," she mumbled.

"Hey." Danny put a hand on her shoulder. "Sis—"

She straightened herself abruptly. "I have to get away for a couple of days, Dan. I can't think, I can't write, and I need to focus on my column."

"Huh? Right now?"

"No. After dinner."

"You're leaving me all alone here with her?" He snapped his mouth shut. That didn't come out quite the way he meant it to.

Gina looked at her brother with a mischievous glint in her eye. "What? I don't think she bites. Besides, you can handle it; I trust you. You're not going to do anything stupid."

"Yeah, well, thanks for the vote of confidence," he muttered. "And... where would you be going?"

"To Aunt Gloria's for a couple of days. And see how she's doing. I'll come back on Monday. If Mom's ready to come home then she'll have a ride. Otherwise one of us will drive up there to pick her up when she's ready." Gina looked thoughtfully at her brother, then shook her head. "I can't imagine what must've happened to that girl." She paused a while. "You know what? I'll cook soup for dinner. Perfect weather for it."

∞

Well, Danny thought, wiping grease and dirt off his hands with an old rag. He'd cleaned out the passenger seat from last night. There was no damage to the bumper from running into the dike. The lights were not short-circuiting, the starter was pretty much in the same condition it was when he overhauled the truck six months ago, and the battery was charging perfectly. As expected. Which meant the temperamental behavior was probably caused by the same thing that caused the blackout last night. That was the only thing he could come up with