I nodded. “Yeah, we're downtown, so why don't we stop at a few places before we go home?”
I could see that Nina wasn't eager to get back home just yet. She had a day out of the house, and she spent it with theCouncil. We were downtown where a lot of people were, so if the darkness came, we would hear about it.
I watched her eyes sparkle, and I knew I made the right call. We found a parking spot, and Nina stared at the flower shop with hope. I placed my hand on her back. “Do you want to look at the flowers? I think you still have some space in the greenhouse.”
She smiled with happiness, bouncing on her heels. “Really? You're okay if I buy more plants?”
“It makes you happy,” I offered as we started towards the flower shop. “Besides, I've come to really enjoy that space. It's warming.”
Nina looked at me, surprised. “Really!? Considering you didn't want me touching anything.”
I pulled the door open, and Nina stepped inside. She beamed with pride as she started walking towards the plants. I spotted Jillian near the front, and she smiled when she stood up. “Nina.”
The girls chatted for a while before they even started talking about plants. I pulled my phone out to see if Kerr had messaged me the report I wanted when an alarm outside went off, and I felt my entire body stiffen. Jillian looked out the window. “Is that a fire truck?”
We all moved to step outside when I noticed that a few people were pointing down the road. The word of darkness filled the air, and I felt the hair on my body rise. Something wasn't right.
“What's going on?” Jillian asked, covering her ears now.
“I don't know, but you two stay here.” I pointed to the shop and looked at Nina. “I need you to stay safe, so you stay here, and if anything dangerous happens, you run.”
Nina nodded, and I slipped down the road. I followed the noise towards where the fire truck was stationed. I found Kerr was also there, looking confused.
“What's going on?” I asked Kerr.
Kerr looked at me, confused. “How did you get here so quickly? Did they call you, too?”
“I was with Nina shopping. What's going on?” I waved towards the fire truck, and the alarm was finally turned off.
Kerr shrugged. “The fire station got a call about a fire here, but there isn’t one. So they called me. It seems weird.”
We both walked closer, finding that the building was an old one that had been empty for at least four years. “No one even owns this place,” I said as we stopped near the door.
“I'm thinking maybe it was a prank call.”
“Did they check for gas?”
Kerr nodded. “Yeah, they checked everything. It's clear.”
Chapter 23 - Nina
I stared out the window, worry building in my gut. I didn't know where Frank went or what was going on, but something in my gut wasn't sitting right.
“He's going to be okay,” Jillian said, patting my shoulder. “He's great at his job. It's probably just a small fire, and he will be back.”
I nodded, trying to agree with her, but my stomach disagreed. “I'm sure you're right.” I tried to shake the feeling off.
Jillian smiled. “He's good at his job, Nina. By the way, have you two been getting along? It seemed like it.”
I would have blushed if I weren't feeling off balance. “We are. We've actually been getting along really well.”
Jillian was the only one who knew part of what was really going on with Frank. But I still kept a lot of it myself. “We've been spending time together, and he's been around more.”
Jillian smiled sweetly at me. “That's great. I'm proud of you. I knew he would come around.”
I thought about the meeting with the Council and how safe I felt. He was clearly in my corner, and I couldn't deny how it made me feel.
We watched as some more people walked by, and I rubbed my hands together nervously. I looked towards the sky, searching for smoke, but didn't see anything.
