AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Whispering so that hopefully Diane couldn’t hear her, Lando asked, “Where is it?”
Violet shook her head but turned the screen so Lando could see better and pointed to something. “I think it’s this one.”
“Did you find it?” Diane voice filtered to them from the front of the car. “It’s not that far south of Dodge. We should be there in about an hour.”
“Right,” Violet murmured.
Lando was still lost, and she had a feeling that Violet was as well. They couldn’t figure out where Diane was trying to take them. The excitement Lando had been trying to find as soon as the word “storm” was out of Diane’s lips at the breakfast table completely dissipated. She was exhausted from the day before, but even then, from the night of hardly sleeping until Violet came back in. Then she’d slept like a rock, but certainly not long enough to be considered a good night’s rest.
Taking her phone out of her pocket, she typed a quick message to Violet.“Where is she taking us?”
Violet shook her head before taking the phone and typing back.“No clue.”
Lando wasn’t sure what else to say, so she kept her mouth shut and watched the shifting patterns in the weather on the satellites Violet was getting her information from. It took Violet another thirty minutes before she broke the silence.
“What images were you looking at when you found this storm?”
Diane clucked her tongue. “The ones on your computer, so whatever you had pulled up. I went to find you in your room and you weren’t there.”
Lando tensed at that. She didn’t like Diane just walking into their room unannounced and messing with the stuff in there.What else had she gone through?The thought must have occurred to Violet at the same time, because the line of muscle in her jaw was easily visible.
“What do you mean you went into our room?”
“I needed to talk to you.”
“And you just decided to get on my computer without asking or saying anything?” Violet’s gaze was locked on the front seat of the car, and Lando was glad she wasn’t at the other end of that glare.
Whatever Violet was thinking, Lando was pretty sure murder was top of the list. Lando sunk down into the seat, ready for the argument that was about to break out. She’d been waiting for it, honestly. Violet’s countenance had grown tenser by the moment the farther they got fromIndigo.
Taking the moment for what it was, Lando reached to the floor of the Hummer, grabbed the first Tupperware container Eli had handed her, and popped the lid. Lando popped a piece of sausage link between her lips and watched the argument that ensued.
“I did say something.”
“You told us there was a storm, and there is not storm, Diane.”
Lando nearly laughed at how Violet said Diane’s name, like she was going to rip each letter from it and crush it under her foot. Violet shot Lando a look, meaning she must have snorted too loud and disturbed the angry professor.
“Thereisa storm!” Diane whined. “It’s just south of Dodge.”
“You keep saying that, and yet nothing on the radar shows it.”
“I swear there is,” Diane murmured.
Lando finished off another piece of sausage, her stomach no longer protesting loudly at the lack of food. Violet clenched her fist, and Lando was sorely tempted to reach over and cover her hand to ease her anger. While it was somewhat amusing to watch this argument happen, she did not want to be stuck in the car for the hour drive back with it permeating every inch of the Hummer.
“There’s a storm, yes, but not one that is going to produce a tornado or even hail.” Violet said it so matter-of-factly, as though she had everything under control even though they all knew she didn’t. This was Violet unhinged, as Lando had come to figure out.
“It’s a promising cell.”
“It’s not,” Violet fired back.
Lando silently ate another sausage link, her gaze fixated on Violet, who barely budged from glaring at Diane.
“There is no storm. You went through my things. Why are we even here?”
“Thereisa storm!” Diane’s tone rose, as if getting louder was going to convince them she was right.
Lando looked at the computer. Diane wasn’t wrong or lying. There was storm activity south of Dodge where they were supposedly heading, but it didn’t look like there was going to be anything useful to them. And unlike earlier that week when they’d first gotten toIndigo, Lando was pretty sure neither she nor Violet wanted to sightsee. Not with as tired as they both were.
