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.Oddly enough it almost seemed like Alec had been there too.The person waiting outside wasn't anyone I recognized, but he had the cultured, high-brow appearance of someone who was either really rich, or who moved in the kind of circles where you didn't get seated unless you were properly attired."Why hello, you must be Adriana.Can I call you Adri?"I shook my head."I prefer my full name, Mr.""Wilkenson, Mayor Wilkenson.Is your mother home?"Suddenly struck by the fact that living in the country meant there wasn't anyone around to hear your screams, I almost lied, but for whatever reason I believed him.Maybe because he exuded the false, overabundant sincerity I'd come to associate with both the class presidents I'd known back in Minnesota."She's out photographing one of the parks.Is there a message you'd like me to pass on?"He looked surprisingly uncertain, almost like he was used to working from a script, and didn't know what to do when things didn't go as planned."Do you know when she'll be back?"My head shake seemed to unnerve him a little more.Presumably he was having a hard time believing in a world where people didn't have fixed schedules, where moms didn't let their daughters know when they'd be back from their outings."The message really is quite urgent.Are you positive you don't have a way to contact her? Well then, I suppose I've no choice."Most people say they don't have a choice rather flippantly, but he seemed rather more like he had his back against the wall than I expected."You know, I presume, that there was some confusion regarding the tourism project she bid out for the city? Well, I've managed to get to the bottom of the situation and it appears we did indeed award the contract to her."The news seemed too good to be true."You mean she's got the job?""Technically it isn't an employment offer.It's more in the way of a consulting project, but yes, she'll be in a sense working for the city.I've asked my staff to make sure that the confusion is cleared up with the bank as well so you shouldn't be in any kind of danger of losing your house anymore."I almost clapped for joy, only there was something off about it all.Since when did the mayor personally come to deliver a piece of relatively insignificant news? Not only that, why would he be so shaken up? He'd actually seemed to be trying to determine whether or not it would be ok to just leave a message.Like he was operating by a set of rules he didn't completely understand.Or maybe at the order of someone else?Normally I wouldn't have been brave enough to press, but the words were out of my mouth almost before I realized what I was doing."That's great sir.Do you often work so closely with the local bank? I mean when the loan officer talked to my mom he said that there was no way to keep us from losing our house.I think she said his exact words were that it would take an act of God to change things now."A tiny fragment of memory rose to the surface of my mind.A time when dad had been talking about negotiating with someone for work."Don't be afraid of silence, Adri.Especially not when you know you're right.Let the silence work on people for a little while and they'll usually start to crack."That was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but I kept my mouth shut anyways.It was almost like I could see the gray matter starting to heat up as the mayor tried to figure out exactly what I knew and how much I just suspected."Act of God indeed.Fancy that.Well, surprising as it may be, Fredrick doesn't know everything there is to know about the world."He was turning to leave, and most of me was screaming to just thank him and wave goodbye, but there had been something in his eyes that had me convinced he'd been lying."Thank you, sir.I guess I need to learn more about civic government.I can't wait to go into whatever records are public and learn about all of the ways the mayor works with the banks.I'll bet there are plenty of other people who'd be interested too.Maybe I can start a club at school."It was like someone else was doing the talking for me.I'd never been this bold, and to do so now with someone who could arrange for my mom's job to disappear again seemed like the worst kind of stupidity, but I couldn't fall apart now.I almost couldn't believe my eyes when his face turned red."Listen here, Missy.I've been in politics longer than you've been alive, and it takes a whole hell of a lot more than a precocious teenager to blackmail me.So, you can just drop your veiled threats and pretend like we never had this conversation, or I will see that your mom is once again unemployed, and we'll just see whether or not your protector is bluffing."Stepping out of my front door and being hit by a cement truck would have been less of a surprise.I'd thought something odd was happening, but the idea of someone protecting us was almost unbelievable.The mayor took my shock as a sign he once again had the upper hand.Smiling smugly, he turned to leave, but not before I could grab at the sleeve of his sport coat."Wait.Who is it? Who's helping us?"The smirk hadn't left."No, he was very clear on that point.You're not to know.That's the one thing guaranteed to make him go through with his threats.You'll just have to be satisfied with the fact that you'll both continue to be able to live in our fine city."Normally I would have just acquiesced, but I couldn't bear the thought of letting him leave, taking with him the identity of the only person besides my mom who really cared what happened to me.I tightened my grip in an attempt to stop him."Please, if you won't tell me who it is, let me write a thank you note.I have to do something.He's done so much for us."He stopped partway through shaking his head."I can't promise he'll even bother to read it, but I'll take it to him if you promise never to talk about this again.I don't want to hear even the slightest rumor anything unusual happened in association with this project."I nodded; relieved I'd have a chance to jot down a couple of lines, that I'd at least have that much of a link with our protector.Mayor Wilkenson waited at the door, almost the perfect picture of a gentleman at his leisure, but his desire to be done with this whole affair was almost palpable.I hurried back to the kitchen counter and tore a piece of paper off of the tablet I'd been drawing on.Whoever you are thank you so much for what you've done.Not just for the job, but for smoothing things over with the bank as well.I wish there was some way I could repay you for everything.--AdrianaChapter 7My alarm clock jerked me out of a thankfully dream-free slumber.Actually, as I pulled myself out of bed I realized I'd had a virtual torrent of dreams, but none of them had been possessed of the strange vividness that'd begun haunting my waking moments.I hadn't had one of the special dreams, ergo I hadn't had any dreams last night.I really needed to get out of this town before whatever was in the water drove me completely crazy.Actually, I probably didn't have much time in which to affect my escape.When it came to craziness I was already halfway there.After all, I'd already been diagnosed with the kind of clinical condition nobody with less than eight years of school could even pronounce.As amusing as my internal monologue was, I didn't let it slow my normal morning preparations.Almost before I knew it, I was downstairs and once again facing the dreaded decision of whether or not to eat breakfast
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