"Is Rhona really part of all that?" I asked.
"She's associated with them and certainly involved to some extent. My guess is she'll get frightened enough to turn on them. It usually happens. Her mother is not going to be there for her this time. I'm sure."
"Nevertheless. I'm sure Mrs. Westington would have preferred to have been able to be there for her," I said.
"Yes. I suppose so. Any mother would rather that. Get some rest. We'll be talking to you again over the next few days,"
She and Lieutenant Hampton left and I suddenly felt like I would keel over if I didn't get some rest. I told Echo, who was just as tired as I was. She was still frightened and insecure. I ended up sleeping in her room beside her on her bed with Mr. Panda between the both of us. Just for a few seconds. I hesitated. remembering Rhona's accusations. but I wouldn't let her twisted, dirty mind stop me from giving Echo comfort. The truth was I didn't mind her being beside me. We were comforting each other.
"Wait," she signed just as I started to close my eyes. I watched her get out of bed. She turned and smiled back at me at her closet door.
Of course. I thought.
She opened the door and I joined her quickly to bring Destiny out. Echo wanted her watching over us as much as I did. I set her in the chair to the right of us. Echo then crawled into bed.
"Thank you. Destiny," I said.
I didn't have to throw my voice through her. I heard her in my mind.
"You're welcome."
I got into the bed and then Echo said. "Wait," again.
What was it this time? She rose quickly and went out of the bedroom. When she returned, she had the dream catcher we had put in Rhona's room.
"Very good," I said, attaching it above us. If there was ever a night we needed it, it was this night, I thought..
Echo smiled again and finally closed her eyes. I brushed some hair back off her eyes just the way my mother would brush mine. And then I lay back on the pillow. I fell asleep so quickly,
I don't think I turned over once after I closed my eves.
When I woke, it was dark outside and Echo was not beside me. For a few moments. I was terribly confused, but it all quickly came back and with it, a new panic. Where was she?
I sat up. It was so quiet in the house. Then I heard what I was positive was someone talking. I heard a laugh and my heart nearly bounced into my throat.
I slipped off the bed, put on my shoes, and scrubbed the fatigue out of my cheeks. Incredibly. I gazed at myself in the mirror and fidgeted with my hair. Female vanity, I thought. There was no way to get away from it.
I descended the stairway and walked to the living room. Sitting beside Echo was Tyler Monahan. He looked up quickly when I appeared in the doorway. To me he looked like a frightened puppy cowering with its tail between its legs.
"Hi, how are you?" he asked quickly. "I'm all right," I said.
"Everyone is talking about what happened up here. People came into our store to tell us because they knew I had been tutoring Echo."
I nodded and folded my arms under my breasts. I saw he was uncomfortable, but I wasn't about to be so forgiving so quickly.
"You know why Rhona was able to threaten me and blackmail me, don't you?"
"I figured that out after my mother told me what she had told her. I'm sorry about... about what I did. I didn't know Rhona would use it against you like that. I let my mother know she had done a bad thing, too."
"Uh-huh."
"No, really. I did."
I stared at him. He looked at Echo, who was smiling with such admiration at him.
"You should have. I'm glad."
"I made a decision," he said. "I've decided I shouldn't waste my education and my skills."