Free The Sight by Judy Blundell

big-brother act he’s putting on?
    “Thanks, anyway,” he says to Zed. “I guess we found her without looking.”
    Zed’s eyes are the color of the moon, and just as remote. “See you, then.”
    “See ya,” Diego calls, already walking without waiting for me to catch up. Which I do. I run. I’m glad of the company, even if it’s Diego.
    For a while I just hear the soft slap of the water and the scrunch of our footsteps in the damp sand.
    Then Diego explodes. His voice hisses like the waves. “Are you nuts? Who do you think you are, Nancy Drew?”
    “I don’t know what you’re…”
    “I saw you come out of Zed’s shack, Gracie, okay? I had a feeling that’s where you were heading. If you want to be a detective, get a new face. I saw how you were looking at Zed at Rocky’s studio. At first, I thought you were into him, but then I realized you were after him. It’s insane to investigate on your own. Whoever took Emily…she could… anything could have happened, okay?”
    It’s the longest speech Diego has ever given. He’s really steamed.
    We’re under the piers now. It’s a creepy place to be, in the dark. I look over my shoulder. The beach is deserted. No one is behind us. But the pillars make me nervous. There are so many places to hide.
    “Could we just get to the sidewalk, please?” I ask.
    He shoots me a look. Then he does a nice thing. He takes my hand and helps me up the slope of sand. He practically hauls me up onto the sidewalk.
    “Explain,” he says. “Here. Now. Shay can’t see us. We have about thirty seconds before she freaks.”
    I hand him the note. He reads it.
    “I found it in one of Zed’s books,” I say. “In the shack. Eminel is Emily’s screen name.”
    Diego still stares at the note.
    “When I was at Rocky’s, I had a vision,” I add. “I saw the light from a lighthouse sweeping over a bed. Emily was in the bed.”
    Diego looks up, out to the bay.
    “The lighthouse,” I say, even though I know he gets it. “And I saw oyster shells, lots of them. Shay said Zed was the champion oyster shucker. And I remembered something Emily said about weekends at Rocky’s. I think she had a crush on Zed, and that note proves there was something between them.”
    “What else?” Diego asks.
    I shake my head and turn away.
    “Something spooked you, and it wasn’t this note,” Diego says. “You’ve got to trust someone, Gracie. Don’t you see that this is too big for you to handle alone?”
    Fury balls up like a fist inside my throat. Who does he think he is? I’ve handled the biggest thing in the world all alone. “I am alone,” I say coldly.
    “You’re not alone,” Diego says.
    I don’t say anything, I just look out at the water.
    “When you first came to live with us, I was scared of you,” Diego says. “Shay told me that you had some psychic experiences. I was scared that having some spook-doozy living with me would invade my privacy or something. Or that you’d see things about me, and they’d be all bad.”
    “It doesn’t work that way,” I say defensively. “I’m not an X-ray machine.”
    “I’m just saying, that’s one reason why I didn’t talk to you much.”
    “That’s really stupid.”
    “Yeah, well, the other reason is that you’re really a pain.”
    I laugh. I can’t help it. Diego calling me spook-doozy helps somehow.
    “So I just wanted to say that,” he says.
    “Okay.”
    “So tell me what else you saw.”
    I look at him and I see kindness in his face. He wants to help, and at least he doesn’t think I’m crazy. “I saw a vision when Zed was crossing the beach,” I tell him. “He was carrying a girl. A dead body. In the rain.”
    Diego sucks in his breath. “Was it Emily?”
    “I assumed it was,” I admit. “But I don’t know for sure. I didn’t see her face. I’m not even sure I saw his face.”
    “You know what we have to do, don’t you?” Diego says.
    I am already shaking my head, but I know I’ll lose.
    “The