Chapter Nine
May 24th, 12:15 AM
Laying on the couch in the relative comfort of her and Erin's small apartment, Margot set her book down on the coffee table and looked at her phone again. The red dot on her tracker had stalled.
"What the hell is going on?" she said out loud, sitting up and staring at the dot, trying to probe into its secrets. Erin's progress tonight had been bizarre. Margot had watched her move into position near the Prickly Pear Hotel, then saw the dot rapidly dart around during what Margot could only assume was a skirmish. It had took a disturbing halt, then moved again, and then stopped again. Just when Margot considered getting into costume to investigate, the dot took off, again zipping around in a contained area, before once again coming to a complete stop. This pause only lasted a few minutes before the dot quickly sped away, several blocks away from where Erin had started, finally coming to a rest at a point not far away from their apartment.
She could make sense of the previous movement: Erin had probably been incapacitated at some point, probably been knocked out and/or tied up. This was not an uncommon situation for the Blue Lynx, though it never failed to freak out Margot. Still, Erin had obviously escaped, as she typically did, only to... What? Get knocked out again? Why the sudden trip away from the hotel? Was she being transported by the Rattlesnakes?
"I've got to go get her," Margot said. But the moment she stood from the couch, she heard the sound of the front door. Into the apartment walked Erin, dressed in the tight jeans, T-shirt, and boots she had been wearing some four hours earlier, when she had left for the hotel.
"Erin!" she shouted, running to meet her friend. "What the hell happened?"
"Nothing," Erin said, refusing to look Margot in the eye. She left the door open and beckoned at Margot with an open palm. "I need to borrow your phone."
"What?" Margot said. "Why?" But she was quickly putting things together. If Erin was here, and the Blue Lynx's red dot was across town...
"You lost your tracker, didn't you?" Margot said.
Erin turned to face Margot. "I didn't lose it," she said, with a touch of anger. "It was taken from me."
Margot noticed Erin's hair was badly mussed up, that her face was red, that she had a few bruises on her arms.
"Taken from you? By who?"
Erin shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it, Margot. Just give me your phone."
Margot stuffed her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. "No, Erin. You need to sleep. You've obviously had a bad night. You need to rest."
"Margot, listen," Erin said. "If I don't get my belt back, my whole career could be in jeopardy."
"Your belt?" Margot said. "You mean, someone stole your whole belt?"
Erin blushed. "Yes. Someone stole my belt. I've got to go get it back."
Margot went to close the door. "I'm not giving you my phone, Erin. Not until you tell me what's going--"
Suddenly, Erin had her arm, was twisting it behind her, was pushing Margot up against the wall.
"Oww!" she cried. "Stop! That hurts!"
She felt Erin grabbing at her phone, sliding it out of her back pocket.
"Thanks, Margot," she said, releasing her friend. Margot collapsed against the wall.
"You bitch," Margot spat. "You better know what you're doing, Erin. Because if you get in trouble and I'm not tracking you, well, that's it for the Blue Lynx."
"We'll talk later," Erin said, stepping back out of the door, slamming it behind her.
Margot held her twisted wrist with her hand, making small sounds of pain.
Erin was doing okay, for now. But her anger, her need to get at Margot's phone, her willingness to even hurt Margot to get what she wanted: they didn't bode well for the rest of the night.
Margot sat back on the couch, looked at her book, and sighed.
On to Chapter Ten
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