Dream

Chapter 26

When Lucy awoke the house was dark, the only light she saw was coming from Zeb's computer screen. The wind was howling, and she could hear the rain as it drove sideways into the house, and she shivered at the sound of it.

Zeb had put on reading glasses and they made him look more approachable, but he was frowning at something on the screen in front of him which made him look very unapproachable.

"I didn't know you wore glasses," Lucy said in a voice rough from sleep as she sat up. "How long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"A little over four hours," he said, leaning back in his chair as his eyes looked at her searchingly.

"I'm guessing I didn't miss very much." She stretched, if she had been asleep for four hours that should make it about three in the morning, and the storm should be almost on top of them.

"I wouldn't say that." Zeb took his glasses off and threw them on the desk, and Lucy heard something in his voice that made her tense.

"What happened?" she asked, moving to the end of the bed.

"Your mother has arrived." He was watching her closely, but she hardly noticed as she closed her eyes in dread then let loose with a few words that would have made a sailor blush. Normally she didn't cuss, but her mother was definitely worth a stress relieving word or two.

"How did she find us?" Lucy asked, looking around for her shoes. "Where is she?"

"I had hoped you would be able to answer the question of how she found you. I put her in with your grandmother since you were staying here." He stood up and came around the desk, walking towards her. "I take it you're not pleased that she's here?"

Lucy snorted at the ridiculousness of his statement. "No, but I'm sure Etta was pleased to see her."

"She was," Zeb confirmed.

"Who else knows she's here?" Lucy asked. "And why didn't you wake me?" Lucy knew she would have to keep a close eye on the woman while she was here or else she would rob everyone blind. "Has she been on her own this entire time?" The idea made Lucy nervous.

"She's been with Etta." Zeb was watching he closely.

Lucy shook her head. "I'll go talk to her." Lucy jumped up from the bed and left the room before Zeb could ask any more questions. If the fact that she wasn't a social outcast wasn't enough to deter his interest, her mother would be.

She didn't bother to knock as she entered the bedroom she and Etta had been given. Etta sat propped up against the head board with a battery-operated lantern next to her, and her mother, Faith Monroe, was pacing the room like a caged animal. Lucy guessed it was because she was itching for another fix of whatever drug she was currently into.

Faith Monroe had been a beautiful young woman, she had black hair and deep brown eyes and she was small which played into her helpless routine that she usually laid on thick to get what she wanted. However, Lucy would bet that her long sleeves covered track marks and her skinniness was due to the drugs.

"What are you doing here? I told you I had no interest in seeing you the last time we spoke." She must be pretty desperate for money if she had tracked them down in a hurricane. "How did you find us, and how did you get past the road blocks?" Lucy hissed. She was unaware that she had left the door ajar or that Zeb stood outside of it watching and listening to conversation.

"Mother told me where you were, she insisted I come, I'm better now Lucy, I don't do the hard stuff anymore," Faith tried to assure her.

"Then prove it, show me your arms." Lucy waited and when Faith burst into tears and a long tirade about how Lucy didn't trust her own mother, Lucy rolled her eyes. But Lucy didn't need to see her arms to know that she was still using because she twitched and scratched, a sure sign that she was having withdrawals. She had seen it too many times as a kid not to recognize it.