Juliet Immortal

listen to her footsteps fade away and hear her calling for Ben again at a distance. Once, twice, three times, her cries getting higher and more panicked with every shout. I know something’s wrong even before she comes back on the line.
    “I’m sorry, Ariel,” she says. “I’ve got to go. Ben’s left the house.”
    Left the house. With Gemma. Oh god, oh no.
    “I’m going to have to call his brother.” She sighs. “I’m sorry. But call back later. Don’t give up on Ben. He’s got such a good heart.”
    “I know,” I whisper. “I won’t give up.”
Not ever
, I add silently. I’ll find him. I’ll keep Gemma from hurting him, and do whatever it takes to keep him safe.
    I hang up and run for Ariel’s window but freeze with my fingers on the pane. I can’t do this. I can’t sneak out of the house. It would destroy the fragile new beginning betweenMelanie and Ariel, betray the trust Melanie has obviously worked hard to give me. To give her daughter, the one who’ll be reclaiming this body—maybe very,
very
soon if Gemma is intending to sacrifice Ben today.
    Sacrifice. Ben. There’s no time to waste caring about Ariel Dragland.
    Still, for some reason my feet carry me away from the window, back down the hall into the kitchen, where Melanie is putting away the bread. She turns to smile at me, but the smile fades when she sees my face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
    “Ben needs me. I have to go to him, Mom.”
    Melanie shakes her head. “Ariel, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You two have already had a traumatic day. I think you should give him some time and—”
    “There isn’t any time. I have to see him. Please, Mom,” I beg. “Let me take the car. Please.”
    She hesitates only a second. “No, Ariel. You need to stay home. You’re stressed and exhausted and—”
    “I love him, Mom,” I say, the words catching in my throat, so true it hurts to speak them. “And he loves me. He told me he loved me, but I was too scared to say it back. And now I’m afraid I won’t get the chance. I think he might be …” What lie to tell, what cover story to explain how desperately I need to go to Ben? “I think he might be running away. I need to stop him, and let him know we can get through the thing at school tomorrow. That we can get through anything.”
    Melanie stares at me for a long moment before she speaks. “Go change into some dry clothes.” Hope dies inside me. I’m going to have to sneak out the window. I have no other choice. “And then you can have the keys.”
    “I can?” I ask, shocked.
    “Yes, you can. But you’re going to take my cell phone and answer the second I call and wear your rain clothes and not drive too fast or do anything stupid with this boy.”
    “I won’t. I won’t!” I dash across the kitchen and give Melanie a quick hug. “Thank you, Mom.”
    “You’re welcome,” she says. “He’s lucky to have you.”
    I look up at her, wishing I could tell her how much her words mean to me. Instead, I hug her one last time and run from the room, determined to change clothes faster than anyone has ever changed before.
    Hold on, Ben. I’m coming
.

EIGHTEEN
    W here are they? Where has she taken him? Where would I go if I were Gemma and wanted a nice, private place for a murder?
    Murder. Ben’s blood on the floor, Ben’s sightless eyes staring up at—
    I swallow and grip the wheel tighter. Maybe they’re just talking. Maybe things aren’t as dire as I fear. Surely Gemma can’t have been turned completely. Just yesterday, she seemed to care for Ben. Just this morning, she warned me away from him. No matter what Romeo promised her, no matter what Ben might have said this afternoon, surely she isn’t ready to take his life. At least, not yet.
    I cling to that hope as I steer through the streets of Solvang, searching for any sign of Gemma’s or Ben’s car. The rain pounds so hard the windshield wipers can’t keep up, barely swiping away one sheet of rain before another riot of wet takes its place. I have to lean forward, strain to see the flooding streets.
    School hasn’t let out yet, and half the businesses have closed early. The usual tourists have been scared away by the crazy weather, and the town feels eerily deserted. The emptiness makes my anxiety spike higher and higher.
    Where are they? Where have they gone?
    I paw through Ariel’s memories, searching for any clue as to where Gemma might go, but I can’t find anything solid to hold on