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“Okay, thank you,” she said. “I’ll text you my address.”
Then she hung up.
Jamie and I rushed downstairs to my kitchen where I kept my purse with the keys inside.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked. “Did someone tell you anything?”
“Yeah, someone told me something. I didn’t hear much. Just that she’s been hurt, and we should go,” he said as we headed out the doors and toward my car. “It doesn’t quite work the way you might think. I don’t just know everything in the universe. I’m not connected to her. I had to ask for the information. I had our guides to connect to her guides and then back to us…”
“Our guides?” I asked.
“Yeah.Ourteam. Everyone has a team watching out for them on the other side.”
Despite the circumstances, I couldn’t help but marvel at all of this as I hopped into my car. Jamie and I not only had guides. Our guides were the same.
“We’re soulmates, Jems,” he reminded me. “Of course we have the same team.”
Jamie’s eyes remained open as he guided me through SE Portland. I didn’t even bother looking at the address Holly had texted me. Jamie promised he’d be able to show me the way, and he seemed to know where to go. I guess they had their own GPS system in the afterlife, too.
Rain beat down on us, pellets crashing against the windshield as if the drops had a death wish. Jamie’s directions took us north to Powell Street, then we hung a right and continued westward.
All the way to Gresham. Not one of Portland’s finest neighborhoods, that was for sure.
“Turn right,” Jamie said.
As we continued, the area turned from city-suburban to more like an industrial park with buildings that had peeling paint and pavement that needed repaving. We made it through this section of town before entering into a more residential area. Primarily apartments. Though we also passed homes with busted fences and bars in the windows.
“Great place to have a home,” I said.
“You ain’t kidding.”
“She lives nearby?”
“Yeah. Hang one more right.”
Before I got a chance to follow Jamie’s guidance, I noticed a young woman walking toward us, on Jamie’s side of the car. I slowed my vehicle, attempting to catch a better look through the rain coming down on the outside window.
Holly dressed all in black—including a black hoodie—and waved her hand toward the car. I stopped completely on the side of the road, and she quickly approached.
As she neared, before she even got into the car, I noticed the abnormal darkness around both eyes. Unlike the last time at Pen & Dagger when there’d only been bruising around the one eye. I knew instantly that her DDR cover story was completely that. A cover.
I should have done something more.
“You didn’t know,” Jamie whispered, placing a hand over mine. “I didn’t know, either. Or I would’ve told you what was going on.”
“Maybe you should get into the back seat,” I said as Holly approached.
However, before Jamie had the chance to pop into the back, Holly glanced at the front, stopped, and then acknowledged someone almost as if she could actually see Jamie. Then, she moved to the back and opened the door behind him and jumped in.
“Hey Jemma,” Holly said, words heavy and drained. She didn’t even make eye contact with me.
“Hey Holly,” I said. “You can, uh, sit in the front.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to do that for me. I appreciate you coming to get me. I feel bad enough about that. I wouldn’t want to make anyone move to the back on account of me.”
I glanced over at Jamie who stared back at me, wide-eyed.
What the fuck?
