CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
FREAK OUT
It smelled like life had stopped and all that remained were cold sterile instruments. Bright lights. Chemical solutions. Glass. Metal. Rubber surgical gloves. And something else Frankie couldn’t quite place… She tried to open her eyes, but her lids seemed locked. Her limbs, shackled. Her voice, muted. They say dogs can smell fear, so it must have an odor. Maybe that was it, then. She was smelling fear.
Voices expressed it all around her. It spilled from their mouths like a sponge being squeezed.
“It’s a witch hunt out there.”
“I had two cops nosing around my attic for the last hour.”
“Our lives are ruined.”
“I don’t understand. How can you not notice your own daughter sneaking out of the house?”
“You call that good parenting?”
“I call it a danger to society, especially our society.”
“And what about the normie boy? If he doesn’t recover, this will make national news.”
“If it hasn’t already.”
“I assure you,” Viveka said with a sniff, “we are devastated about this. And have just as much to lose as you do. Viktor and I will do everything we can to see that this never happens again.”
“Never happens again? We have bigger problems. How do we deal with what is happening now? My Lala will need to have her fangs removed if this keeps up. Her fangs!”
“Clawdeen and her brothers will need laser hair removal. Their pride will be shot. And with winter coming… they’ll freeze!”
“At least you know where your kids are. Jackson hasn’t come home yet. Every time I hear a police siren, I have to breathe into a bag. What if they start rounding up suspects? What if they—” Ms. J burst into tears.
“Everyone, please.” Viktor’s tone was low and weary. “While we accept full responsibility for tonight’s… mishap, keep in mind that we have more at stake than any of you.” He sniffed, and then blew his nose. “This is our daughter they’re looking for. Our daughter. And, yes, she did something irreparable, but she is the one being hunted. My baby. Not yours!”
“Not yet.”
“They’re looking for a green headless girl from a monster costume party,” Viktor said. “We can say it was a prank.”
“Some prank.”
“Viveka and I will do whatever it takes to make this go away. And we’re starting by pulling Frankie out of Merston. She’s going to be home schooled and forbidden to leave the house.”
“I think you should leave Salem.”
“Agreed.”
“Leave Salem?” Viktor boomed. “I thought this was a community! How dare you turn your backs on us after all we’ve—”
“I think we’ve all had a long night,” Viveka jumped in. “How about we reconvene in the morning.”
“But—”
“Good night,” Viveka said.
The computer hummed a final note and then shut down.
“I can’t believe this is happening!” Viveka wept. “We can’t move. What about our jobs? Your research grant? Our home? Where will we go?”
Viktor sighed. “I have no idea.” He taped the last piece of gauze to Frankie’s stitches, and then he dimmed the lights. “The good news is we have nothing left to fear.”
“Why?”
“Our worst nightmare just came true.”
Frankie’s Fab door clicked shut behind them.
Alone and semiconscious, she dipped in and out of sleep. But no matter what state she was in, she could not escape her overwhelming guilt for destroying so many people’s lives. In her dreams, the guilt presented itself in many forms. She was causing deadly avalanches, steering sinking ships, terrifying orphans, pushing her parents off a cliff, and kissing Brett with deadly scissor-lips.
After each dream, Frankie woke with a start, soaked in tears. But she found no relief in the peaceful silence of her room, because there everything was real. And the guilt was too immense to bear. Each time she opened her eyes, she’d quickly shut them. And wish that she had woken for the very last time.