“It’s not a gig. I do freelance photography. Sell pictures to magazines. I’ve done one spread and have another coming in the summer forWeather.”
“Weathermagazine?” Lex asked, glancing in the rearview mirror. “For real?”
“Yes.”
“Dude, impressive.” Vern nodded his approval.
The longer the focus remained on me, the sicker I felt. They asked me about the article. I gave a short summary. When interest in my photojournalistic career waned, I was exhausted from the stress of not cracking under the pressure of so much attention. I wasn’t used to talking this much.
Then, Ozrik dropped the ball. “I heard you got kicked out of the seminary? What’s up with that?”
My ears rang. Silence filled the car. All eyes were focused on me. It took two tries to make my voice work. “N-no. I left of my own volition.”
“How come?” Vern asked. It was the natural follow-up question, but not one I was willing or prepared to talk about.
My lips formed around many unspoken words as I tried to find a polite way to decline answering. When several minutes ticked by, Vern muttered, “Okay then. Never mind.”
The others chuckled, and I closed my eyes, wishing I could disappear.
We landed in Elk City shortly before eight. The sun had gone down an hour ago, and the streets shimmered with puddles from a recent rain. Lex dropped off Elliott and Noah before glancing into the rearview mirror. “I don’t know where you live, Windrow. Is it close?”
I told him, but it was out in the county, a good two miles from the edge of town.
“Shit. Okay.”
“I can walk from here.”
“You’re not walking,” Ozrik said.
“It’s fine.” The rain had ended, and it was a balmy night. I could do with some air.
“What about you, Oz?” Lex asked. “Are you camping in my garage, or do you have to check in with mother dearest?”
Something crossed Ozrik’s face and tightened the skin around his eyes. “Drop me at home. I need to get my car.”
“Are you crashing at mine again?”
“I’ll go to Noah’s. I want to check out what he recorded today.” He paused, flashed his gaze to me, then added, “I can take Gale home too. Save you the trip. It gives me an excuse to leave the house right away. I won’t get roped into staying.”
Lex laughed.
I wasn’t sure what that meant, and although I would have much preferred walking to spending time alone with Ozrik, I didn’t know how to open my mouth and object. Speaking up for myself was not something I’d ever been good at. It was how I’d gotten roped into this stupid show in the first place. It was how I’d ended up spending the past three hours with Ozrik and his team.
I should have given Lex Olivia’s address, but I didn’t think of it until it was far too late. Besides, she had left me behind, and I wasn’t sure I felt like seeing her yet.
In no time, I was alone with Ozrik, standing in the yellow pool of a streetlight, outside a quaint bungalow-style house as Lex drove away.
12
Ozrik
Gale hugged the camera to his chest, every muscle in his body stiff and unyielding. He couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable if he tried. I’d seen similar anxiety in the bathroom at CineVision.
Every time I made eye contact, he looked away, and I sensed he would have preferred if Lex had left him by the side of the road.
The rescue might have appeared self-serving, a means of boosting Twisted Fates in the eyes of the viewers, but that hadn’t been my intent. Olivia’s sheer disregard for his safety had pissed me the fuck off. He could have been seriously hurt or killed had the funnel decided to touch down.
I wanted to believe she’d taken off after seeing that Gale was safely with us, but I couldn’t help wondering if they’d even noticed he was missing until after they’d driven off.
