Under the Altswood Sky (The Altswood Saga #2)

Chapter 27 - Spring

Chapter 27 - Spring

Two weeks later

I pulled open the newly repaired kitchen window, inhaling the warm, ocean breeze that swirled in. 

Spring was arriving at last, starting with the evergreen trees. Their leaves shed the dry, thin appearance that I had gotten used to, and almost overnight, I was seeing plump, glistening blooms spread through the forests instead. The new greenery consumed the areas that had once been blown into blackened clusters, at last starting the process of re-growth.

The island was finally returning to how it once was.

The only thing we needed now was for that damn lighthouse to get renovated.

"Dad?" I called. I rummaged around the cupboards absently. "I'm about to head out!"

I grabbed the packet of bread that I was after, then paused, my hand hovering over my meds.

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since I had last taken them. At first, in the chaos of what was happening, I had legitimately forgotten. Once I realised, however, I had decided to continue with the dry spell, just to see what would happen. So far, I didn't feel any different, but I was playing a dangerous game.

"Do you want me to drive you?" Dad bellowed back, the loud noise startling me into slamming the cupboard door closed.

If Dad noticed, there was no doubt that he would freak out, but nothing had brought his attention to my constantly half-filled medication bottles. In our newfound calm life, my mind was constantly calm too, and the only time I experienced fright was, ironically, when I thought about getting back on the meds.

I remembered what Joshua had said about the pills' effect on my brain. The police had found his so-called concoction of chemicals in his basement hide-out after he was arrested. One spray on my skin and that was all: enough to control what I remembered and didn't. They were all ordinary acids and fluids that could have been found in Altswood High's chemistry lab.

I didn't want to become vulnerable again.

"I can walk," I replied, wandering over to the staircase. As I climbed with my bare feet, I could feel hardened mud pressed into the steps. No doubt that they were from Officer Louws and his chase effort through my house the night I escaped through the back door. We needed to get the inside of the house professionally cleaned; while the blood in the kitchen had been scrubbed away, if I inhaled deeply, I swore I could still smell it.

Dad looked up when I appeared in his office. He wasn't too busy these days, but he did have a lot of paperwork to fill out.

"Why are you so dressed up?" he asked.

I patted my dark wig, securing the fit so it was a proper bob and not the haircut of a soccer mom. I peered at my clothes next, frowning.

"I'm not that dressed up."

"It's very dressed up. Where are you going?"

It was a layered dress and a wig that mixed goth with hipster. Out of all my outfits, I wouldn't rate this very high on the dressed up scale.

I waved the picnic basket. "Jules' house. He's still bedridden so we're bringing the good weather to him."

"We?"

With the picnic basket still hanging on my arm, I put my hands on my hips. "What is this, a police interrogation?"

"Just friendly information extraction," Dad replied, feigning casual. "Who else is going to be there?"