Free The Fallout by S.A. Bodeen Page B

there. Lucas is gone.”

 
    CHAPTER TEN
    Lucas couldn’t be gone. Eddy was wrong. I lowered my voice and spoke slowly. “He’s in one of the stalls.”
    Eddy grabbed my arm. “No, he’s not. He wasn’t in there. I checked everywhere.”
    Lee was already pulling on my arm. “There’s only one exit. I’ll go there, you check at the front desk.”
    Eddy took the handle of the stroller, and I said, “I’m checking the bathroom. He has to be there.” I ran there, nearly smashing into a kid coming out. “Crap.” Inside, I slammed open each of the stall doors. No Lucas. I whirled around, trying to get a grip. “Lucas!”
    I ran back out and headed toward the front entrance of the aquarium. Eddy was at the front desk. He’d gotten rid of the stroller and was holding Cara. “Did they find him?”
    Eddy shook his head.
    Outside, rain was pouring down, and Lee stood at the door, looking outside. I joined him. “Lucas has to be in here. He wouldn’t go out there. Not when it’s pouring.”
    Eddy came out. “No one there has seen a lost kid.”
    I covered my face with my hands. “It’s my fault. I should have waited for him.”
    Eddy touched my shoulder. “No, I should have just cleaned it all up myself.”
    Lee didn’t say anything, but from the look on his face, it was clear he considered himself at fault. Then he pointed outside, shoved the door open, and stormed through it.
    We crowded under the overhang as a soaking wet Lucas came toward us, holding the hand of a boy who looked about my age. He wore a black knit cap pulled down over his ears, a dark green hoodie with frayed cuffs, and faded jeans with holes in the knees. His sneakers were black and beaten up, but his skateboard was nice. Like he only had so much money and the skateboard was way more important than clothes. Rain dripped down his face as he walked my little brother over to us and then dropped his hand.
    I scooped up Lucas. “What were you thinking?”
    He wiped some rain off his face. “I got lost and went out the door.”
    The boy pointed to his left. “I found him around the side by an emergency door. He must have gone outside and gotten locked out.”
    The beeping I’d heard while I was cleaning Cara up must have been the alarm on the door.
    “Thank you so much,” I told the boy. “We were freaking out.”
    Lee said, “Stay here. I’ll go get the car.”
    Eddy told the boy, “Yeah, thanks a lot.” He glanced at the board under his arm. “That a Plan B?”
    The boy nodded, and some rain fell off the end of his nose. “Planned to meet some friends.” He looked skyward. “Day turned to crap, though.”
    “Lucky for us,” said Eddy.
    Just then, Lee pulled up. Eddy said, “You need a ride or something?”
    The boy shook his head, shedding more water. “The bus stop is close.”
    I breathed a sigh of relief. There had been too many strangers lately. I already had the phone number of one. I didn’t want to meet any more, especially not one in our car.
    Lee came around and opened up the back door. “Let’s get them in.”
    The running and rain and getting lost seemed to have taken the piss and vinegar out of Lucas, who meekly climbed into his car seat. Cara, who obviously wasn’t feeling any better, zonked out completely as soon as I strapped her in. I took my spot in the backseat. Eddy and the boy were still standing outside the car, rain soaking them even more as they talked.
    Finally Eddy backed toward the car and held up his hand and the boy turned around and walked away.
    Eddy was grinning as he got in the front. Lee sped out of the parking lot, probably way faster than he should have. But I think we were all happy to put the aquarium behind us.
    I wondered how we were going to tell Mom about what happened, because I knew it would be the first thing out of Lucas’s mouth.
    As we neared home, we had to wait to enter the gate because a FedEx truck pulled away. Joe was holding a box, and just as Lee turned into the circle