The silence had made its way to the car. Naomi pretended not to notice the way Lyla kept sneaking glances at her from the driver's side. Had Lyla been trying to make a move? Was it possible her friend felt the same way she did? No, that couldn't be it. It was Lyla after all. She was probably just thinking about her dad again, which is exactly where Naomi's own thoughts should have been. If her dad was the killer then she needed to figure out a way to stop him. She could get back to making goo-goo eyes at Lyla after she saved her life.
The car slowed suddenly as they came to a red light. Lyla had her gaze fixed firmly on the road ahead of them. Naomi shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. She wondered if she should say something. She felt like she should. Truthfully though, she didn't know what to say. There was so much she wanted to tell Lyla, but right then she couldn't tell her any of it. Not even how she felt about her.
"Hey, uh, Nomes?" Lyla started. She let out a nervous cough. Naomi had never heard her so hesitant before.
"What's up?" Naomi prompted as the light turned green and Lyla still didn't continue.
"I…" Lyla stopped herself, a sigh passing through her lips. "I don't know anymore."
Naomi turned her body to face her. Confusion creased her brow as she regarded the girl sitting next to her. They passed through another light in silence. "What don't you know?" Naomi asked.
"Nothing," Lyla quickly replied.
Naomi shook her head. "Don't be scared," she told her, but in that moment she felt more like she was talking to herself. Her heart was pounding and her throat felt impossibly dry, meanwhile the palms of her hands had formed their own swamps. She swallowed, feeling like she was forcing down a mouthful of sand. "You can tell me anything."
Lyla smiled. She looked so shy as she did. Lyla was a lot of things, but never before would Naomi have thought to describe her as shy. "Naomi, I--"
"Look out!" someone shrieked from behind them.
Lyla jerked the wheel to the side just in time to avoid the large white truck barrelling towards them in the intersection. Naomi smacked her head against the window. She ran a hesitant hand through her hair as Lyla hit the gas pedal. Once she was clear of the light on the other side she pulled off on the side of the road and put the car in park.
Panting, Lyla glanced over at Naomi with wide eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice quivering.
Naomi grimaced as she gave Lyla a thumbs-up. "Never better," she told her. Somehow she'd forgotten this part of the day. It was hands down the worst, everytime, and it never got any easier.
"I'm so glad you were paying attention," Lyla gushed, giving her a side hug that was mostly restrained by her seatbelt. "If you hadn't said something, I probably would have crashed right into the front of that truck."
"What?" Naomi questioned. She scratched at the nape of her neck, trying to remember if she'd said anything.
The blaring of a horn drew their attention to the white truck that had almost hit them as it pulled over in front of them. The driver got out, clearly fuming, and he made a rude hand gesture at them. Though he was too far away to hear, it was clear he was yelling at them.
Lyla scoffed as she unclicked her seatbelt. "What does this idiot want?" she grumbled.
"Does it matter?" Naomi groaned, suffering an intense feeling of deja vu. She put a hand on Lyla's shoulder as the girl reached for her door handle. "Let's just go."
"Don't worry about it," Lyla soothed. She gently pushed Naomi's hand off and opened her door. "Stay here. Alright? I'll be right back."
"Lyla, wait!" Naomi called as her friend shut the door behind her. "No, not again."
A groan sounded from the backseat, making Naomi jump. "You know, you are really bad at this," DJ told her, sitting forward slightly so that Naomi noticed her. "I am starting to believe that I'm betting on the wrong horse."
Naomi glared at the demon. She angrily fished her phone out of her pocket, clicking it on as she faced the screen to DJ. "It's barely noon. I have eleven more hours, which is really good considering you only gave me sixteen in total to figure this all out and form a plan and stop a man from murdering from my friend."
"You two just almost died," DJ pointed out, crossing her arms across her chest.
"What, the truck?" Naomi questioned. "I called it out."
"Actually I called it out," DJ corrected her, her amber eyes blazing. "I just made my voice sound like yours so your friend wouldn't notice the fallen angel in her backseat."
"Well thank you," Naomi huffed, her tone betraying her frustration. "It's nice to know you're capable of helping."
"I'll help you out again," DJ decided, her voice dangerously even. "See that lever sticking out on the right of the driver's seat?"
Naomi had to search for a moment, but at last she saw the long black lever the demon was describing. She glanced back at the demon, narrowing her eyes at her in suspicion. "Yeah, I see it," she responded audibly.
"Good," DJ said as the car started rolling backwards. "Pull it. Now."
Naomi did as instructed, reaching over to grab hold of the lever and she gave it a good yank. The car jolted to a stop just as it reached the edge of the hill. Naomi looked out the back windshield at the steep drop behind them. Way at the bottom was the giant oak tree that had bested the Impala the past two times this scenario had played out. A relieved laugh forced its way out as Naomi turned to look back at the demon, but DJ was already gone.
The driver's side door flew open to reveal Lyla's worried face. Her cheeks were slightly red as though she had sprinted the several feet between her car and the side of the road where she'd stood arguing with the truck owner. Concern shone in her green eyes as she looked over both Naomi and the car. Her head tilted to the side when she returned her gaze to Naomi, a sure sign of her confusion.
"Is everything okay?" Lyla asked, clearly struggling to figure everything out.
"Yeah," Naomi shrugged. "We were a little close to the edge of the hill. The car started rolling, so I put the emergency brake on."
"Okay," Lyla said, still sounding confused. She leaned further inside the car, peering into the backseat. "Was, uh, someone in the car with you?"
Naomi faked a cough, giving herself an excuse to cover her shocked face. Had Lyla seen DJ? What would it mean if she had? Would things be easier or become much, much worse? Naomi couldn't tell. She didn't know if she wanted to find out, either. She was too scared to risk it. "Nobody was in the car," she lied. She faked a worried look of her own, an act that wasn't too difficult to pull off just then. "Are you feeling okay?"
Lyla laughed outright at that. "As okay as I can be, I guess," she said. She lowered herself down into the car.
"Hey!" the angry trucker roared from beside his vehicle. "Get back over here! I'm not done with you!"
Lyla shot Naomi an exacerbated look before turning to roll her eyes at the man. "Yes, you are," she told him and she shut her door.
"He didn't like that," Naomi observed as the red faced man actually shook his fist at them.
"Who cares?" Lyla scoffed in response. She put the car in drive and stomped her foot down on the gas. Naomi couldn't help but chuckle at the helplessly stunned look on the truck driver's face as they sped past him.
"You have nerves of steel," Naomi whispered, feeling a little awestruck.
"Thank you," Lyla replied with a wink. "I'm flattered."
Naomi shook her head, thinking about what had happened to Lyla the last two nights. "I'm not so sure that's a good thing."
Lyla shrugged. "It's better than being some lame pushover," she said.
'At least the pushovers are kept alive,' Naomi thought. She didn't say it out loud though. It's not as though Lyla would have understood where she was coming from with a comment like that anyway.
"Here," Lyla said and she shoved her phone into Naomi's hand. "Can you hook it up to the stereo? Mama needs some Ariana Grande."
Naomi cringed. "Fine, but only if you never call yourself 'Mama' ever again."
"Uh, Mama's not agreeing to that," Lyla argued. A smirk tugged up the corners of her lips as she chanced a look over at Naomi.
"Gross," Naomi informed her, sticking a finger in her mouth as she pretended to gag.
"That's it," Lyla huffed. "I'm taking you home."
"That was always the plan," Naomi protested with a laugh.
"No," Lyla argued. She flicked on her blinker as she steered the car into a turn. "The plan was to stop and get some ice cream first. Now I'm not taking you anywhere except straight home."
"Aww, you mean you're doing exactly what I asked you to and you're not keeping me out against my will?" Naomi clarified, poking out her bottom lip in a fake pout. "Bummer."
Lyla took a hand off the wheel to swat at Naomi's arm. "Easy there, Green," Lyla warned. "Remember, I'm the one with the driver's license. That means I technically have the power to ground you."
"Whatever," Naomi said with a laugh. Lyla was so ridiculous sometimes.
The redhead pulled the car over and put it in park. She matched Naomi's confused expression with an expectant look of her own. "Alright traitor," she said airily. "Get out."
"You know you love me," Naomi responded, leaning across the console to give the girl an awkward side hug.
"I do," Lyla admitted, leaning into Naomi's arms. "Now seriously, get out. We're at your house."
Naomi pulled back to look out the window. 'Huh.' Lyla was telling the truth. Somehow Naomi hadn't even realized that they'd made it to her street. She looked back over at Lyla. "How fast were you driving?"
She received another swat on the arm in response. "Shut up and get out of my car," Lyla commanded with a scowl.
Naomi chuckled and did as she was told. Lyla blew her a kiss as she steered the car back onto the road. The younger girl watched as her friend drove down her street, turning the corner at the end to disappear from view.
"Interesting," DJ murmured, standing beside her suddenly as though she'd been there the whole time. "Your last strategy was basically just to keep her in your sights at all times."
"Yeah, and look how that turned out," Naomi huffed. "She still ended up dead."
Naomi didn't stop to see if DJ would follow her when she walked up the steps to her front door. The demon did. DJ was right behind her when she crossed the threshold, obnoxiously close as Naomi trailed through her house and plopped herself down at the kitchen table in front of her father's laptop. She opened it up and then pulled out her phone.
DJ snorted at that. "Not sure which piece of technology to use? You might actually lose your mind if I showed you Universe Quo."
Naomi sighed. "I'm calling a friend who can guide me through how to use the laptop the way I want to right now," she explained to the demon. She stopped, backtracking to something the demon had mentioned. "What on earth is Universe Quo?"
DJ paled, as much as a demon could possibly pale. "Let's pretend I didn't say that," she mumbled.
"Are we living in a multiverse?" Naomi pressed, her eyes widening. "Are parallel universes a thing? Does that mean the Mandela Effect is accurate?"
"Kid, your friend's life is on the line!" DJ snapped. "Let's focus on that."
As much as Naomi hated to drop it, DJ did have a point. She could pester the demon with questions about the multiverse later, after she saved the Murphys. For now she needed to focus. She went ahead and pulled up the search bar before dialing Eli's number.
DJ leaned closer to try to see the contact name. "Who are you calling?" she questioned.
"Someone who can help," Naomi answered. She frowned, bringing up her hands to shove the demon off of her shoulder. "Do you mind backing up a little?"
"Right," DJ sighed, rolling her eyes. "I forgot about how much you humans value your 'personal space.' It's a totally made-up concept by the way and it makes absolutely no sense."
Naomi opened her mouth to argue, but stopped as the phone clicked and Eli's voice came through. "Hello?" he greeted, sounding surprised.
"Hey!" Naomi replied, overly enthusiastic in her response. "I know this is random and a little weird, but you know how to find out where people are based on their social media feeds, right?"
The line went silent for a minute. "To an extent," Eli finally answered. He sounded very wary, not that Naomi could blame him. "Who are we looking for?"
Naomi chewed her bottom lip. She knew how this might sound, but she really needed his help if she was going to keep Lyla and Mrs. Murphy alive. It was the only plan she had.
"I need you to help me track down Kurt Murphy," she confessed. "He's in town, and I need to talk to him."