Twenty Six
The rain continued to come down in buckets as they stared in horror at the grinning face of Yurkemi, leering at them through the windshield. "Lock the doors!" Sarah commanded, as she slapped down the lock on her side. Cate reached around and locked her own door, never taking her eyes off the specter on the other side of the windshield. His face, streaming with rain, looked strained and slightly mad--before he had only seemed vaguely menacing, like a comic book villain, now he looked like her worst nightmare, and Sarah was terrified.
Yurkemi slowly slid down the windshield and over the hood like a lizard, face first, then did a flip that would have been impossible for a human being, and wound up standing directly in front of the car. He made a little bow with his arms outstretched. They couldn't hear him over the noise of the storm, but they could read his lips as he straightened up and called, "Taa daa!"
The car had stalled when they went off the road, and now Sarah, eyes still on Yurkemi, took a deep breath and turned the key. The engine started up immediately. Thank goodness for German engineering, she thought. She put the car in reverse and started to back up slowly, but the wheels just spun on the sodden sand, and she knew she wouldn't be able to make any progress, she would just dig herself in deeper. "Shit!" She hit the steering wheel with her palm. Now what? she said, half to herself. Yurkemi was still standing in front of the car, arms now crossed on his chest, water falling all around him.
He sloshed through the wet sand to stand outside Sarah's window. She kept her face firmly toward the front of the car; when she refused to turn and look at him, he tapped on the window. "How do you like my storm, ladies?" he asked. Sarah's head whipped around and she hissed, "You did this?" She couldn't imagine how he could hear her, with the sound of the wind and the rain, but he must have, because he answered her:
"I'm the angel of hail, aren't I? That's what they say! It's just a short ride from hail to a tropical storm. Maybe I'll make it a hurricane! I'm just sorry they didn't name it after me. 'Genevieve.' What a wimpy name for a storm. 'Tropical Storm Yurkemi!' Now there's a name for a storm!" He spun around in the rain, his head back and his arms outstretched again, and he laughed, and then he swept his arms up above his head and his wings opened up. He shook them and water flew, and he laughed again.
He bent to the window. "And by the way, do you really imagine that your flimsy car locks are any match for me?" On the last word, the locks flew up on both sides of the car with a sharp snap.
Cate gasped and clutched Sophie's carrier tighter, as if it offered some sort of protection.
"You don't still have your gun, do you?" Sarah asked Cate out of the side of her mouth.
"No! I did what you told me and left it at home."
Fine time to do what I tell you, Sarah thought. "Okay. That's okay. We'll think of something," she said out loud.
She closed her eyes and sat clutching the steering wheel. Zach, she prayed, we really need you right now. If you can hear me, would you please, please come?
Sarah felt Cate reach other and grasp her hand, squeezing it. She opened her eyes to see Yurkemi lounging on the hood of the car, his chin propped in one hand, his face inches from the windshield. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he crooned. "Oh! There you are!" He pulled back his fist and acted as if he was going to punch a hole in the windshield, and Cate screamed. "Oh, please!" he said. "You girls are just too much fun!" He laid back on the hood of the car as if he was lying in the sun, and the rain pounded down on him. He seemed not to notice, just closed his eyes and folded his hands on his chest.
Zach, please, please come.
As if he had heard her, Yurkemi suddenly jumped off the hood of the car and said, "Zachriel won't be coming to help you this time. And this time, I don't need to ask you where he is, because I know!"
Sarah's heart sank. What could he mean? She could hardly stop herself from asking, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Cate squeezed her hand harder.
"Then why are you here?" she shouted at him. "What do you want with us?" She was shaking, and Cate was practically breaking her fingers with her grip.
"Like I said, you girls are just so much fun!" He seemed to notice the rain for the first time, and shook himself. "But I'm getting wet. I think I'll go somewhere and dry off. You take care now, okay?" And he was gone.
Sarah had been so frightened, and so focused on what was happening, that she had almost forgotten about the storm. The rain continued to fall, although "fall" was a misnomer--it was driven in an almost horizontal direction, and much of it, she knew, was salt water being blown from the ocean over the beach. A palm tree near where the car had come to rest was bent almost double, and she knew it would only be a matter of time before something--something else fell on the car.
Was he gone? Was he truly gone, or just hiding somewhere, ready to pounce on them if they left the car? They couldn't see ten feet in front of them, the rain was so heavy. Well, there was nothing for it, they had to get to shelter. She watched as the palm tree, with its shallow roots, broke free of the sand and fell with a crash.
She pried her hands off the steering wheel, dislodging Cate's grip. "We've got to get to the house," she said. She reached around into the back seat and found an old sweater she kept there. "Put this over Sophie's carrier. We're going to have to run for it."
Cate wrapped the sweater around the carrier, and braced herself to get out of the car. They both opened their doors at the same time and started running down the street toward Sarah's house. They didn't make very good progress, because the wind was so strong, and Cate wished they could have just stayed in the car and taken their chances. But they didn't have any choice. The car could just as easily been flattened by a tree or overturned and blown into the ocean. They had at least as good a chance on foot.
She bent over Sophie's carrier, now wrapped in the wet sweater, and pushed head first into the storm.
It was less than a block to Sarah's house, but it seemed like miles. By the time they reached the porch and Sarah had unlocked the door, all she wanted to do was fall on the floor and rest. But as soon as she had deposited Sophie's carrier on the kitchen table, Sarah said, "We've got to get the shutters closed! Come on!" and she raced back outside.
Cate heaved a deep sigh and followed her. Well, I can't get any wetter, she thought. That was some consolation, she supposed.
They ran around the house, unhooking the shutters that lay flat against the house, and closing them over the windows, then re-hooking them. At least it was a small house, and only one story--Cate had no idea what they would have done if they had had to do it on a second story, there was no way they could have climbed a ladder in this storm.
It didn't take them long to fasten all the shutters--from the battering they were taking from the wind and rain, it only seemed like forever. Finally, finally, they were standing, gasping and dripping, in the kitchen, the windows safely shuttered. Dinah was on the kitchen table sniffing at Sophie's carrier; Sophie, inside, was huddled in misery. "Okay," Sarah said. "We've got to get into dry clothes, but first we've got to get Sophie dry. Come on, old girl." She picked up the carrier and took it into the bathroom, where she shut the door before letting the poor, bedraggled cat out.
Poor Sophie looked like she'd been through a war. Her fur, usually long and sleek, was matted to her body, and she'd soiled herself from fear and stress. "Poor Sophie," Sarah said. "Let's get you cleaned up." She moistened a washcloth in warm water and cleaned Sophie's soiled fur, then wrapped her in a towel and soaked up most of the rainwater. "I don't suppose you want a bath, do you?" Sophie meowed miserably in response. "No, I didn't think so. Well, why don't you stay in here and stay warm while I have one, then?"
But she reconsidered. While a bath did sound wonderful, she thought of Cate out in the kitchen, soaking wet and probably shivering, and she decided to take a quick shower instead. When she got out of the shower, Sophie had curled up on the bathmat and gone to sleep, and Sarah decided she might as well leave her there. She came out of the bathroom and carefully closed the door, both so that Sophie couldn't get out and that Dinah couldn't get in. No sense in stressing either of them more than they had to.
She put on an old terrycloth robe and walked through the house rubbing her hair with a towel. "Next!" she called out to Cate, who was still standing in the kitchen, dripping, unwilling to sit down for fear of ruining a chair. "Oh, wait a second," Sarah said, and went back through to her bedroom, where she found a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt for Cate. She put them on the bathroom counter along with a couple of clean towels and said, "It's all yours. Just don't let Sophie out. I think we'll keep her in there tonight."
While Cate was in the shower, Sarah made a pot of tea and carried it to the table in the front corner of the living room. She would have liked to have looked out the window, but with the shutters closed, all she could do was sit on the couch and listen to the wind howl. It felt odd not being able to see out the windows, even though it was dark. She hoped the shutters would hold. She hoped the roof would hold.
She sat on the couch with the mug of tea warming her hands, and thought about Zach. What had Yurkemi meant, that he wouldn't be back to save her? Had he managed to kill Zach? Or do something to him that prevented him from leaving Heaven? She knew that Zach wouldn't willingly abandon her, but there were so many things she didn't understand. She knew he would come back if he could, but if he couldn't . . . well, there wasn't anything she could do about it. Dinah jumped up on her lap, startling her. "Hey there, kid," she said. "You won't leave me, will you?" She didn't get an answer, but then, she didn't expect one.
© 2002 Willa G. Cline