Hardly, but if I had, youd owe me a blood debt.
Would I have to pay?
Of course. It would be a point of honor. Youd have to save me or be doomed to a cowards hell.
Lucky you just kept me from tripping, or Id be following you around for years waiting to repay the debt. She rubbed her arm where hed touched her. He was stronger than shed thought he would be. You lift weights?
The soft laughter came again. Yeah, its called work. Until I was sixteen, I spent the summers and every weekend working on Reids fathers ranch. Once I was old enough, I signed up at the Kirkland place to cowboy when they need extras. Every dime I make is going to college tuition in a year. Thats why I dont have a car yet. When I get to college, I wont need it, and the money will go toward books.
But youre just a junior. Youve still got a year and a half of high school.
Ive got it worked out so I can graduate early. High schools a waste of time. Ive got plans. I can make a hundred-fifty a day working, and my dad says he thinks Ill be able to cowboy every day Im not in school this spring and all summer.
She tripped again, and his hand steadied her once more. Maybe it was her imagination, but she swore he held on a little longer than necessary.
Youre an interesting guy, Lucas Reyes.
I will be, he said. Once Im in college, I can still come home and work breaks and weekends. Im thinking I can take a few online classes during the summer, live at home, and save enough to pay for the next year. Im going to Tech no matter what it takes.
You planning on getting through college in three years, too?
He shook his head. Dont know if I can. But Ill have the degree, whatever it is, before Im twenty-two.
No one her age had ever talked of the future like that. Like they were just passing through this time in their life, and something yet to come mattered far more. When you are somebody, I think Id like to be your friend.
I hope we will be more than that, Lauren. His words were so low, she wasnt sure she heard them.
Hey, you two deadbeats up there! Reid yelled. I got an idea.
Lauren didnt want the conversation with Lucas to end, but if she ignored Reid hed just get louder. What?
Reid ran up between them and put an arm over both her and Lucass shoulders. How about we break into the Gypsy House? I hear its haunted by Gypsies who died a hundred years ago.
Tim caught up to them. As always, he agreed with Reid. Look over there in the trees. The place is just waiting for us. Heard if you rattle a Gypsys bones, the dead will speak to you. Tims eyes glowed in the moonlight. I had a cousin once who said he heard voices in that old place, and no one was there but him.
This is not a good idea. Lauren tried to back away, but Reid held her shoulder tight.
Come on, Lauren, for once in your life, do something thats not safe. No ones lived in the old place for years. How much trouble can we get into?
Tims imagination had gone wild. According to him all kinds of things could happen. They might find a body. Ghosts could run them out, or the spirit of a Gypsy might take over their minds. Who knew, zombies might sleep in the rubble of old houses.
Lauren rolled her eyes. She didnt want to think of the zombies getting Tim. A walking dead with braces was too much.
Its just a rotting old house, Lucas said so low no one heard but Lauren. Theres probably rats or rotten floors. Its an accident waiting to happen. How about you come back in the daylight, Reid, if you really want to explore the place?
Were all going now, Reid announced, as he shoved Lauren off the road and into the trees that blocked the view of the old homestead from passing cars. Think of the story well have to tell everyone Monday. We will have explored a haunted house and lived to tell the tale.
Reason told her to protest more strongly, but at fifteen, reason wasnt as intense as the possibility of an adventure. Just once, shed have a story to tell. Just this once...her father wouldnt find out.
They rattled across the rotting porch steps fighting tumbleweeds that stood like flimsy guards around the place. The door was locked and boarded up. The smell of decay hung in the foggy air, and a tree branch scraped against one side of the house as if whispering for them to stay back.
The old place didnt look like much. It might have been the remains of an early settlement, built solid to face the winters with no style or charm. Odds were, Gypsies never even lived in it. It appeared to be a half dugout with a second floor built on years later. The first floor was planted down into the earth a few feet, so the second floor windows were just above their heads giving the place the look of a house that had been stepped on by a giant.
Everyone called it the Gypsy House because a group of hippies had squatted there in the 70s. Theyd painted a peace sign on one wall, but it had faded and been rained on until it almost looked like a witching sign. No one remembered when the hippies had moved on, or who owned the house now, but somewhere in its past a family named Stanley must have lived there because old-timers called it the Stanley house.
I heard devil worshippers lived here years ago. Tim began making scary movie soundtrack noises. Body parts are probably scattered in the basement. They say once Satan moves in, only the blood of a virgin will wash the place clean.
Reids laughter sounded nervous. That leaves me out.
Tim jabbed his friend. You wish. I say youll be the first to scream when a dead hand, not connected to a body, touches you.
Shut up, Tim, Reids uneasy voice echoed in the night. Youre freaking me out. Besides, there is no basement. Its just a half dugout built into the ground, so well find no buried bodies.
Lauren screamed as Reid kicked a low window in, and all the guys laughed.
You go first, Lucas, Reid ordered. Ill stand guard.
To Laurens surprise, Lucas slipped into the space. His feet hit the ground with a thud somewhere in the blackness.
You next, Tim, Reid announced as if he were the commander.
Nope. Ill go after you. All Tims laughter had disappeared. Apparently hed frightened himself.
Ill go. Lauren suddenly wanted this entire adventure to be over with. With her luck, animals were wintering in the old place.
Ill help you down. Reid lowered her into the window space.
As she moved through total darkness, her feet wouldnt quite touch the bottom. For a moment she just hung, afraid to tell Reid to drop her.
Then, she felt Lucass hands at her waist. Slowly he took her weight.
Im in, she called back to Reid. He let her hands go, and she dropped against Lucas.
You all right? Lucas whispered near her hair.
This was a dumb idea.
She felt him laugh more than she heard it. That you talking or the Gypsys advice? Of all the brains dropping in here tonight, yours would probably be the most interesting to take over, so watch out. A ghost might just climb in your head and let free all the secret thoughts you keep inside, Lauren.
He pulled her a foot into the blackness as a letter jacket dropped through the window. His hands circled her waist. She could feel him breathing as Reid finally landed, cussing the darkness. For a moment it seemed all right for Lucas to stay close; then in a blink, he was gone from her side.
Now the tiny flashlight offered Lauren some much-needed light. The house was empty except for an old wire bed frame and a few broken stools. With Reid in the lead, they moved up rickety stairs to the second floor, where shadowy light came from big dirty windows.
Tim hesitated when the floors boards began to rock as if the entire second story were on some kind of seesaw. He backed down the steps a few feet, letting the others go first. I dont know if this second story will hold us all. Fear rattled in his voice.
Reid laughed and teased Tim as he stomped across the second floor, making the entire room buck and pitch. Come on up, Tim. This place is better than a fun house.
Stepping hesitantly on the upstairs floor, Lauren felt Lucas just behind her and knew he was watching over her.
Tim dropped down a few more steps, not wanting to even try.
Lucas backed against the wall between the windows, his hand still brushing Laurens waist to keep her steady as Reid jumped to make the floor shake. The whole house seemed to moan in pain, like a hundred-year-old man standing up one arthritic joint at a time.
When Reid yelled for Tim to join them, Tim started back up the broken stairs, just before the second floor buckled and crumbled. Tim dropped out of sight as rotten lumber pinned him halfway between floors.
His scream of pain ended Reids laugher.
In a blink, dust and boards flew as pieces of the roof rained down on them and the second floor vanished below them, board by rotting board.
Lucas reached for Lauren as she felt the floor beneath her feet crack and split. Her legs slid down, scraping against the sharp teeth of decaying wood.
The moment before she disappeared amid the tumbling lumber, Lucass hand grabbed her arm just above her wrist and jerked hard. She rocked like some kind of human bell as boards continued to fall, hitting her in the face and knocking the air from her lungs.
But Lucas held on. He didnt let her disappear into the rubble. Hed braced his feet wide on the few inches of floor remaining near the wall and leaned back.
When the dust settled, she looked up. Hed wrapped his free arm around a beam that braced a window. His face was bloody. The sleeve had pulled from his shirt, and she saw a shard of wood like a stake sticking out of his arm, but he hadnt let her go. His grip was solid.
Tim was crying now, but in the darkness no one could see where he was. He was somewhere below. He had to be hurting, but he was alive. The others had been above when the second floor crumbled, but Tim had still been below.
Reid jumped into the window frame that now leaned out over the remains of the porch. The entire structure looked as if it were about to crash like a hundred deformed pickup sticks dumped from a can.
Reid didnt look hurt, but with the moon on his face, Lauren had no trouble seeing the terror. He was frozen, afraid to move for fear something else might tumble.
Call for help. Lucass voice sounded calm amid the echoes of destruction. Reid! Reach in your pocket. Get your phone. Just hit Redial and tell whoever answers that we need help.
Reid nodded, but his hand was shaking so badly Lauren feared hed drop the phone. He finally gripped it in one hand and jumped carefully from the window to the ground below. He yelped a moment after he hit the dirt and complained that hed twisted his ankle. Then he was yelling into his cell for help. They were still close enough to town to see a few lights in the distance. It wouldnt be long before someone arrived.
Lucas looked down at Lauren. Hang on, he whispered.
She crossed her free hand over where his grip still held her arm. Dont worry. Im not letting go.
Slowly, he pulled her up until she was close enough to transfer her free hand to around his neck. Her body swung against his and remained there. Nothing had ever felt so good as the solid wall of Lucas to hang on to.
Can you walk?
I think so. Dont turn loose of me, Lucas. Please, dont turn loose.
She felt laughter in his chest. Dont worry, I wont. I got you, mi cielo.
They inched along the edge of the wall where pieces of what had once been the floor were holding. Tim? she called. She tried to shine her light down to see Tim, but there was too much debris below. His crying began to echo through the night, as did Reid talking to Mrs. Patterson on the phone.
She must have been the last person he called, Lucas whispered near Laurens ear. So when he hit Redial, he got her.
Lauren brushed her cheek against his. Shes the last person Id turn to for help.
I agree, Lucas answered.
Their private conversation amid the chaos helped her relax a bit.
Send everybody! Reid kept yelling. We need help, Mrs. Patterson. When he hung up he must have dialed his brother because all at once Reid was cussing, blaming the mess they were in on whoever answered.
Hang on, Lauren, Lucas whispered against her hair. Ill try to reach the window.
Im scared. Dont let me fall.
He bumped the top of her head with his chin. So am I, but I promise Im not letting you go.
Finally Lucas reached the window that Reid had dropped from, and he lowered Lauren slowly to the ground outside.
I got her, Reid shouted just as car lights began to shine through the trees. Emergency vehicles turned off the main road and headed toward the Gypsy Houseone volunteer ambulance, a small fire truck, along with one sheriffs cruiser and Mrs. Pattersons old gray Buick tailing the parade.
Lauren watched Reid move toward the men storming through brush.
Were all right, he shouted. I got Lauren out, but Lucas and Tim are still in the house. I was going in after them next. When he spotted the sheriff in the half dozen flashlights surrounding him, he added, I tried to tell them this was a bad idea, sir, but thank God I went in to help Lauren, just in case she got into trouble.
The first men hurried past Reid, ignoring him, but finally Sheriff Brigman and an EMT stopped.
Men with bright flashlights moved into the house with ropes and a portable stretcher. She could hear Lucas yelling for them to be careful and guiding their steps. Tim was somewhere below, still crying.
Her father shone his light along her body. She could feel warm blood trickling down her face, and more blood dripped down from a gash on her thigh. Ill take her from here, son, he said to Reid as if she were a puppy found in the road. You all right to walk, Reid?
I can make it, sir. Reid limped, making a show of soldiering through great pain.
Weve got the boy, someone yelled from inside the house. Hes breathing, but well need the stretcher to get him out. Looks like his leg is broken in more than one place.
Her father never let go his hold of her as they watched Tim being lifted out of the house. One of the EMTs said that, besides the broken leg, the boy probably had broken ribs. The sound of Tims crying was shrill now, like that of a wounded animal.
She listened as her father instructed the ambulance driver to take Reid and Tim. They needed care on the way to the hospital. He picked up Lauren and carried her to his car as if she were still his little girl. Ill transport her to the emergency room. Shes got wounds, but shes not losing much blood.
Lucas is hurt, too, she said as the boy whod saved her life was helped down from the second floor window. Lucas was the last to leave the haunted house. Hed made sure everyone got out first.