The Empath (The Above and Beyond Series Book 1) (14 page)
Read The Empath (The Above and Beyond Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Jody Klaire
I COULD SEE the trees, tall, high, the smell of pine around me. The ground was mulch and muck, my feet sliding on it. I could smell the rain of the storm, the oncoming storm. It would be big, nasty.
I opened my eyes. “Darcy’s.”
Her parents leaned in.
“Yes, do you know?” her mother asked.
Her father held her hand. “Can you see?”
I swallowed. No way could I tell them what their girl had been through. I closed my eyes instead. The pain of her injuries jabbing and stabbing at me.
“The lodge . . . a dirt bike. . . I hear . . . the river . . . the river!”
Renee pulled the map off the wall and spread it over the table. My father and the others got up and looked at it.
“Okay, the river stretches near the lodge,” Renee said as she marked the area.
The grandmother handed me a ring.
I saw a field and howled as my neck jarred from the impact of the rope. I rubbed at my throat. A dirt bike sound, just like before. I got a flash of the lodge, the smell of pine, and the glimpse of stained wood.
“A dirt bike . . . the lodge . . . pine trees . . . stained wood floor . . . old.”
My father marked the map. “We got about five cabins around the lodge. All near the river.”
The grandmother handed me another necklace with a heart on it and my breath caught. Chelsea’s, the emotion caught in my throat, the memory of her spirit sitting in the cabin.
Pine, stronger this time. Her feet got wet . . . the steepness. She couldn’t climb fast—
“It’s across the river . . . it’s . . . up the mountain?” I opened my eyes and placed my finger down on the exact spot. “The pump house.”
My father nodded and hurried from the room. The door opened seconds later and my father, with a hardened expression, walked back in with Mayor Casey behind him.
“I’m confining you all to this room,” Mayor Casey said, with a sly smile.
“You haven’t the authority,” my father said.
Mayor Casey laughed. “Meet Agent Frei.”
My heart dropped as Frei walked in with her team and closed the door behind them.
“We’re taking over,” Frei said.
I jumped to my feet.
“You’re under arrest. Please sit back down.” Frei’s voice was curt, cold, and cutting.
I shook my head. “We have to get to the girls.”
“She’s found them,” Jim Borland said. “What are you doing? Let them go.”
Frei narrowed her eyes at me. “It’s just part of your game. We found the evidence that you thought you’d gotten rid of.”
Not knowing what she was talking about, I looked at my father. “What evidence?”
“The hair,
your
hair. Darcy fought back, didn’t she?” Frei’s voice gained an edge that made my hackles rise.
I frowned. The flash of Darcy pushing out at the killer flickered in my mind.
Frei walked up to the table and leaned across it—her face close to mine, her eyes hard and narrowed. “Did you hope they’d let you go, so you and your partner could finish the job?”
“Partner?” I looked at Renee. “What is she talking about?”
Renee shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“As for you.” Frei glared at Renee. “I want to question you, alone. Your story about being on leave doesn’t seem to have worked out.”
Renee met my eyes, something flickering across her gray ones. “It’s okay. We can straighten this out.”
I stepped back. I had to trust her. The agents walked out of the room with Mayor Casey, who looked extremely pleased with himself.
I turned to the parents. “I swear to you, I did not harm your children. I swear it.”
“We know,” Maggie Toughton said. “You told us about Frank’s accident and Jim’s. We know you can see.”
I looked at the grandmother who smiled. “That was why you did it?”
She nodded at the small round windows in the doors. “Now, I’m figuring they’re going to be a while.”
I looked out a window and saw Renee follow Frei into the glass-walled office across the corridor. “The door is guarded. What do we do?”
“We’re on the second floor, it’s too much of a drop to get down.”
“Not if you got a ladder,” Jim said, looking at Kay.
Kay pulled out her cell phone and thumbed in a text. “Easy when you got friends,” she said and a second or two later she nodded.
I looked at my father. “You comin’?”
He stared long and hard through the window in the door at the mayor. “I’ve had about enough of that slimy bastard to last me a life time.”
I looked across the hall, Renee met my eyes. I wasn’t sure if she could read me, like I could read her but we needed a distraction and it would have to come from her.
Chapter 70
RENEE LOOKED INTO Aeron’s eyes and an odd flashed image hit her mind like a gunshot. She frowned.
A ladder up against the wall, a fire truck.
She smiled. Had Aeron shown her that? Aeron nodded as Renee lifted her eyebrows in question.
Freaky. That’s what you are, freaky
, she thought.
Aeron shrugged in response which almost made Renee laugh out loud.
Frei yanked the blind down and cut Renee’s connection to Aeron. Renee scowled at her and Frei gave her the “don’t even think about it” look. “The evidence is all there,
Doctor.”
She stepped between Renee and the glass wall. “You need to distance yourself, now, before she drags you down with her.”
Renee lifted her chin. “Are you that much of an idiot?” She turned to Mayor Casey and wanted to smack off his smug grin. “Are you all that blind that you can’t see she’s innocent?” She threw her hands in the air. “Why would the victims’ families be on her side?”
Mayor Casey’s thin lips twitched. “I couldn’t care less what a bunch of nobodies think. What I do care about is the image of this town.” He smiled, the kind of slimy politician’s smile that made Renee want to thump him. “It’s business.” His smirk vanished. “Do you have any idea how much revenue I’ll lose?”
Renee scowled, the idiot could cost lives with his greed. “You? As the mayor you mean? As the public servant who cares about the little people?”
Mayor Casey laughed. “As the owner of several lodges that won’t be full if there’s a freak on the loose.”
Renee got the strange feeling that Aeron was ready for her to do
something.
She grabbed Frei’s gun from her belt and pointed it at the mayor.
“I don’t like fat cats,” she said as loudly as possible, hoping like hell Aeron was listening.
“What the hell are you doing?” Frei sounded no more worried than if Renee was brandishing a rule.
Renee met her eyes. “Protecting my patient’s interests.” She made sure she was out of arm’s length. Frei was faster than she was, more deadly with or without weapons. There was no way that Renee wanted to pull the trigger on her, ever. She motioned with the pistol as she edged toward the door. “Get over by the mayor.”
Renee heard the commotion outside, then Fitzpatrick and Jo ran into the room.
Renee primed the pistol. Mayor Casey was not so smug now. “No one move.”
Frei grabbed her radio.
Renee shook her head. “Don’t think I won’t.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Frei was as deadpan as always. “You know they’ll shoot you the second you pull that trigger.”
Why was she so calm? Renee shook the thought away and nodded. “Yeah, but it’ll be too late for Mr. Mayor here.” She held out her hand. “Now hand over the radio.”
Frei held the radio out, her ice cold eyes devoid of reaction or emotion. Renee snatched up the radio and ducked backward, sure that Frei would try something. She didn’t. Renee tucked the radio onto her belt. “Now get over by the chair and tie him up.”
Frei did as she was told. Renee glanced out of the door and hoped the great escape was in progress.
“Now you,” she said to Frei. She raised an eyebrow. “Do it.”
Frei rolled her eyes and did as she was told as Mayor Casey shunted about in his seat.
“You’ll regret this.” He glared at her. “I swear it.”
Renee looked out of the door as Fitzpatrick and Jo stood with their guns ready. “Unless you want me to shoot, hand them over and get in here.”
Fitzpatrick looked at Frei who muttered, “Just do it.” Jo followed Fitzpatrick into the office and they placed their guns on the table.
Renee heard Skip curse as the door across the hall slammed open and the families spilled out.
“In here!” Renee called.
Kay, Jim, and Maggie Toughton ran into the office, picked up the guns, and aimed them at the agents and Jo.
“Keep them here. No one moves.”
They nodded.
“Map,” Renee said as she ushered Skip back into the meeting room. The window was open, no sign of them. Hopefully they were on their way.
You can do it,
she thought.
You can find them.
Skip went over to the map on the table. “Are you all crazy?”
“Listen to me, Skip, Aeron and Eli, they’ve gone to the pump house.” She looked down at the map. “You saw Aeron in the street yourself. It wasn’t her. They need to get the girls out.”
Skip stared at her and then nodded. “You think . . . you think they can?”
Renee tied her hair back. “Skip, I know I’m asking a lot but you got to buy us time. How long will it take to get to the pump house?”
He looked blankly at her, rubbing his hand over his dimpled chin. “Hell, I don’t know, been there once up the Blackbear ridge.” He wheezed out a breath. “An hour, maybe two.”
Renee looked out the window. The sky was black, no stars now. The smell of a storm building. “I’m gonna go after them. I want you to wait one hour and call in the medic team. Do you understand?”
Skip rubbed his chin harder and glanced at the doorway. “Hell, what am I going to say. What if Sam comes in?”
That was a great question and one she couldn’t answer. “If he loves Aeron as much as he says he does, he’ll be on her side.”
Skip took a deep breath, still rubbing away at his stubble but at least he didn’t argue.
Renee looked at the map. “Now, I’ve got to find the co-ordinates.”
“I’ll help with that,” Kay said from the doorway. “And I’m coming with you. I know that mountain like my own face and I got the equipment ready.” She grinned. “Mountain rescue an’ all.”
Glad of the help, Renee smiled back. “We’ll need a truck, do you have Bill’s number?”
“Sure thing.” Kay pulled out her cell.
As Kay filled Bill in on the situation, Renee studied the map. Mountains were tricky to the people who knew them. She’d lost her father, her brother to the weather on them. The sky outside was rumbling. They’d at least have rain, maybe mist. Kay would no doubt have the best equipment for the job but still, Renee felt that swirling of fear wriggle its way up from inside her stomach.
“So what are we looking at here?” Kay asked.
There was no way to sugar-coat it. If Kay was going to put herself in danger, she needed to know. “Well, the killer has a gun, he has the advantage, and he has time.” She put her hands on her hips. “There are two girls so it could take longer.”
“Okay, do you have vests, Skip?” Kay was in rescue mode, her focus on the task. It shook Renee into doing the same. She needed to look at it like it was another rescue. She’d do Aeron no good getting emotional.
They followed Skip to the supply room. He opened a locker and handed them vests. “You’ll need these too.” He pulled out the rifles. “In for a dime an’ all that.”
Renee strapped her vest in place, took the rifle, and checked it over. “Thanks.”
With a shrug, Skip led the way back to the meeting room and stared into the room where Mayor Casey was being held. “Just go get ’em, girls.”
Kay looked out the window. “He’s outside. We’ll pick up my gear on the way. You ready?”
Renee glanced at Frei through the doorway and the usually stoic woman flickered a little with something, the corner of her mouth twitched.
“Ready.”
They hurried out of the room and down the stairs, the cool air thick with imminent precipitation. What was that in Frei’s eyes? Renee shook her head as she got into Bill’s truck. In all their time as colleagues she had never once got the switch on Frei. No one was as fast as her. Renee sat in the truck, staring out of the window. She’d never even gotten close to getting the switch on her. The realization made her laugh to herself. Maybe she hadn’t this time either.
Chapter 71
THE SKY WAS enveloped by clouds as we drove to the lodges. I stared at the plume of black blocking out the moon and stars. Was Mother Nature on the killer’s side? Was it angry?
It took us no time to reach the bottom of Blackbear but it would be a trek on foot from here on up. We didn’t have supplies. My father’s weapon was back in the station and neither of us had a phone or radio to make contact with the outside world. We were on our own.
I looked up at the trees swaying in the wind. I could just about make out the tops of them as they rustled warnings and my mind drifted back to Renee. I wasn’t sure what she had done to distract the officers but it had worked. Nevertheless, the rest of the force, the sheriff department, and anyone fit enough to lend a hand, including Sam, was out hunting for the girls.
Still, we wouldn’t have long before the alarm was raised. They thought I was the killer.
As we started our climb, a thick mist swept over the top of the mountain and I pulled my father to a halt. “No way we can navigate up there, not without help.”
He started to walk. “We can’t afford to wait.” He glanced at me over his shoulder. “There’s no time.”
I eyed the mist. “The killer could have laid out traps . . . anythin’. We don’t even have a flashlight and there’s no moon.”
My father looked up at the mist and then back to me. “What other ideas do we have?”
He would hate it but it was our best option. “Sam.”
My father shook his head.
I gripped hold of his shoulders. “Listen, I know you don’t like him but Sam knows this mountain better than anyone.” We needed Sam. “I can run down to his place and catch you up.”
My father sighed and took off his wide-brimmed hat. “What if he doesn’t believe you?”
That was the question. Did he? Did Sam trust me? Did that love he professed still burn in him enough to help me now? “If he doesn’t, then at least I can send help.”
My father met my eyes and ran his fingers over the hat’s brim. “You trust the boy that much?”
I wasn’t sure. Sam
the boy
would have been there like a shot. I would never have doubted him for a second but I didn’t know Sam
the man
. I didn’t know whether duty would override his loyalty or whether the fact I was on the run would matter to him. All I could do was try.
“What else do we have?”
My father nodded. “I’ll take the green route. No use trying to hurtle up the red in this.”
“I’ll catch you.” I gripped my father and hugged him. “I’ll be there.”
“You’d better,” my father mumbled, slamming his hat back on. “ ’Cause I don’t want to put my back out carrying them home.”
I squeezed my father’s shoulder and hurried off along the river to the Caseys’ place. They lived a little further downstream in a converted lodge the size of a hotel. I didn’t dare look back to my father, now trekking up the mountain blind. I couldn’t, I had to focus on getting to Sam.
Crunching and sliding through the mulch to the lodge, I ran through my plea to Sam. Although I wasn’t sure what the hell I was going to say when I got there. Back on Main Street, the last time I’d seen him, Sam was every bit as loyal as he had been before everything happened. Would he trust me after Jake?
My heart soared as I saw the lights on. Hopefully, Sam had stopped for a break, or I could convince Mrs. Casey to somehow reach him. Hell, as long shots went, it was going to be a mammoth one.
I hurried up the wooden steps of the stilted residence and frowned. The door was a little open. I knocked. Nothing. “Mrs. Casey? Sam?”
I pushed open the door, something gloopy under my fingers. I looked at my hand. Blood. My heart tripled in rhythm. “Sam?”
I hurried into the house and skidded in the pool of blood. No, not Sam, please no. I searched, scrabbled through every room finding nothing, no one.
“Sam?”
Please, he had to be okay, he had to be. I headed to the back and saw the light on in the kitchen. I rounded the corner. I ejected the bile from my stomach. I sucked in the air. Tried not to heave again. My eyes watered. So much blood. Mrs. Casey, or at least it had been. I turned away. The bile rose up once more. Who could do that? Why would they do that?
Her spirit seemed to linger, the faint sound of unearthly sobbing echoed around me. I needed to find Sam, I needed to get back to my father. What the hell was I going to do?
Just touch her
, I told myself.
Reach out and touch her
.
There was blood everywhere. Where the hell did I put my hands? My stomach lurched and rolled. Breathe, slow, deep, just breathe. I glanced up and heaved at the sight. Slamming my eyes shut, I gulped in the air. Slow . . . deep . . . breathe. I opened them and retched again. There was no time for this. No time.
Just touch her!
I held my breath and held her hand. Nothing. I touched her watch. Nothing. I looked down at it. It was a fake watch. Mrs. Casey didn’t do replicas.
The thought made me shiver. Someone knew I’d be here. I’d touch—
I looked down at my hand, covered in Mrs. Casey—or Sam’s blood.
Sirens blared in the distance. No, no, I was being set up.
No, I needed to find the girls. I hurried to the kitchen units. “I need something to touch. I need to know. Come on.” Nothing in the cupboards. Plastic tubs fell out at me as I fumbled through the cupboard. Nothing in the drawers, the cutlery, the plates, the mugs, nothing. Nothing gave me a damn thing.
The sirens grew louder. I spun around. I needed something. Anything. I looked at the floor. What was it? Something, something was there. Yes, what was—?
“Sam!” Lying there covered in blood was Sam’s badge.
I dived for it and skidded in all the crimson goo. I picked it up and fell as the vision hit.
Waiting . . . yes . . . waiting for him to come . . . for her to come . . . I have set my little game in motion . . . come and get me . . . come and find me . . . what will you do to save those you love?
I heard the footsteps in the front of the house, threw the badge, and hurtled out through the back and down the steps. I stumbled at the bottom and tried to steady my breathing. The killer knew. The killer knew about me and I had to face them, whoever they were, I had to face them to save my father, my sisters, and Sam.
I looked to the left and saw the dirt bike. The killer wanted me to use it. Wanted me to go tearing from the house on it. The police could see me. What other choice was there? My father was climbing in pitch black. He was heading into the trap. I had to get to him, to them.
There was no other way.
I kicked the bike into gear. The wheels roared into motion. I sped off. Gun shots rang out. Dirt kicked up beside the bike and I swerved. I clung on, wobbling, the bike screaming underneath me. I slammed my foot down, stopping myself from flying off.
Chase me
, I thought.
Chase me, follow my lead . . . the girls, my father, Sam, they need your help
.
Chapter 72
RENEE ZIPPED UP her windbreaker as the rain started to fall—soft at first but the sky held an ominous bank of black which meant a cloud burst at any minute.
“Wind’s picking up,” Kay said. “Mist has dropped so visibility is poor. We’ll need to keep together.”
“Ties?” She looked at Kay and Bill who nodded at her.
“Kay, you lead. You know the mountain.” Bill stared up at the sky. “I’ll head up the rear, that way if anyone comes from behind, I can cut you girls loose.” Bill raised his hand before Renee could protest. “No arguing, ma’am. If the killer is up there. He’s waitin’ on us.” He puffed out his chest. “An’ I don’t know ’bout you but I don’t want to be on his list.”
Renee looked at Kay. “What routes do we have?” She tied the rope around her waist. “How much can we risk?”
“We can risk the yellow, just.” Kay fixed her helmet in place and twisted the light on. “But no way are we heading up the lee side. If there’s gonna be a slide, it’ll be there.”
Was that quick enough? Renee put her own helmet on. “How fast is yellow?”
Kay cocked her head. “We can make it in maybe forty minutes, to an hour.” Kay met Bill’s eyes, then Renee’s. “Anyone who ain’t fit needs to back out now.”
Renee knew that the question was directed at her.
“I didn’t serve in the marines to get beat by a mountain,” Bill said.
Renee flinched. Her father had been a hero, nature could be merciless. Kay and Bill looked at her. She had the choice, she could lie, she could protect herself but what was the point? They needed to trust her. In no uncertain terms should she tell them a thing. Ever. “Commander Renee Black, Agent for the CIG.” She smiled. “That and I grew up in the Rockies.”
Kay and Bill stared at her, eyes wide, then at each other, then back to her.
There was no need to be
that
dumbstruck. She was good, but surely the scene at city hall should have gone some way to making them think she wasn’t a doctor. “Don’t look so surprised.”
Bill pulled a confused face, his eyebrows tilting. “You’re kinda small for an agent.”
Renee put her hands on her hips. “Small?”
Kay nudged the big guy. “Petite, is what Bill means.”
Small, petite, seriously? She took a few steps up the steep slope. “Low center of gravity.” She stopped and folded her arms. “And I’m not small. I’m just not over six foot.”
They climbed as quickly as they could up the slope. The rain got heavier, the mist thicker, surrounding them like a cloak. Kay’s radio crackled. She picked it off her coat and listened to it, swearing.
“What’s wrong?” Renee held her hand over her eyes and peered through the rain.
“Aeron. She must have gone to get Sam.” She shook her head. “They think she’s killed Mrs. Casey.”
Renee sped up and reached Kay. The radio chatter crackled over the growing wind.
“Covered in blood . . . footprints . . . dirt bike . . . SOS.”
Renee knew the voice. Fitzpatrick. What the hell was Aeron thinking? Why go to Sam’s? Why get on a freakin’ dirt bike?
“SOS?” Kay asked.
Renee met her eyes, then Bill’s. Crap. “CIG code.” She sighed. “Shoot On Sight.”
“But they’re your people. Tell them she ain’t no killer,” Bill said.
Taking a breath, she tried not to let her panic show. “I can’t. They won’t listen to me now.”
Bill folded his arms. “Why?”
Renee continued to trudge up the slick path, the others following. “The Criminal Investigations Group has rules, regulations—”
“Yeah, you can’t so much as breathe without a command, I get that,” Bill answered.
Renee frowned at him. “How do you?”
Bill shrugged. “Marine. We see a lot of people that don’t exist.”
That made sense. “Then you get that the SOS probably applies to me right now too.”
Kay spun around. “What do you mean?”
She fought every instinct that demanded she keep her identity, her duty from them. It was so ingrained that she swore CIG would appear from the undergrowth and riddle her with bullets. She’d broken so many damn rules, what the hell did secrecy matter now? “I disobeyed a direct order, I quit, and in their eyes I’m helping a killer get away.”
Kay and Bill exchanged glances.
“And are you?” Kay asked.
“No.” Renee heard her own curt tones and offered a smile to smooth it over. It wasn’t their fault. These people were risking their own lives now. They had the right to ask questions. “Aeron’s innocent, I promise you. She can find those girls, she will find them.”
“Good enough for me,” Bill said.
“Me too,” Kay added.
Good to know. Her “Thank you,” didn’t quite seem enough. The climb was starting to wind her. She just prayed she was right. What the hell was Aeron doing at Sam’s? Why had she taken the dirt bike? Why would she—?
The realization hit her like thunder through her soul. Adrenaline poured through her as she stormed ahead. They needed to get there,
she
needed to get there. Hell, Aeron wouldn’t see it coming. “We need to push the pace. There’s not much time.”
Chapter 73
ELI TRUDGED UP the slope, his boots sliding in the mud. He’d lost the green route twenty minutes ago but turning round wasn’t an option. He’d headed up, that was all he could do, but the ground was getting softer and the mud sucked at his legs as the rain pinged harder off his hat. His heart pounded in his ears but he hadn’t felt any pain. He supposed it was the adrenaline or maybe Aeron had really fixed him back in the river. He prayed it was. He didn’t have the time to have a heart attack now.
Eli focused, focused hard on the slope, his foe, his little girls were up there and he should be nearing the ridge by now. That’s if he was going the right way.
He’d have felt a damn sight better if he had his gun or maybe a flashlight. Scrambling through the foliage was slowing him down and sapping at his energy. The air was thinner up here too and the mist was pretty much like blinkers. Every step was perilous, the back of the ridge lay somewhere off the green route. That, and a hundred foot drop if he stumbled over the edge.
Eli felt he was climbing in a straight line but that didn’t mean a thing on the mountains. They were odd creatures, he’d always hated them. Always hated going anywhere near them. Beautiful to look at but more predatory than the mountain lions prowling them. How people did this for fun, he didn’t know. Dumbass people who wanted to get frozen to death or fall from great heights. Idiots who made other people hike up and risk their lives to get them.
Stupid dumb hikers, stupid mountain, stupid rain. Eli tightened his jaw. Yeah, yelling at hikers and mountains and idiots made him feel better.
And so he continued, scrabbling through the undergrowth, cussing at every fool he’d ever met, and trying not to think that some lunatic had murdered his wife and taken his girls.
ELI, ELI, ELI . . . dear, dear.
What shape are you in? What a way for the chief to make his entrance. I never knew how incapable you were, should I have left a trail of lights for you? Are you that stupid that you couldn’t stay on the path?
Never mind, Eli. It’s okay. I’ve left my little tricks out there, I saw you coming, I heard you coming. Does it make you feel less afraid to face me? Whining and complaining about your pathetic life?
I have always wondered just how you, ignorant, pathetic you, could possibly have Aeron for a daughter?
You, the man who lets women walk all over him. Oh dear, Eli, try not to fall to your death, won’t you? I am trying to make a masterpiece here and it won’t be half as much fun if you don’t attend.
That’s it, a little more . . . come on, old man . . . that’s it, just that little bit further
. . .
ELI YELLED OUT in agony as something sunk into his calf. He looked down, blood oozed out. A huge maw of metal grasped his leg, the flaps of his skin pulled back to reveal bone.
“Son of a—” He gripped the trap with trembling hands and hitched back the lever. It snapped open. He dragged his leg out just before it clamped shut again. His eyes watered as he lay on the ground whimpering. That was all he could do. Long . . . deep . . . breaths, the wooziness making stars pop in his vision. He rolled onto his side and glanced down at the wound. Hell, it was deep, real deep.
“I hate mountains.” He swore, tearing the sleeve of his shirt. “I hate rain.” He growled with the agony as he tied it above the wound. “I hate traps.” He yanked it tight, screaming through the agony.
Eli grabbed a nearby tree and hauled himself up. He tested the leg out. “Son of a—” He bit his knuckles, the tears streamed down his cheeks. It was at least broken. “Gotta keep moving. Gotta find them.” He sucked in more breaths, chanting it like a mantra to get through each excruciating step. “Gotta keep moving. I’m coming, girls.” He hobbled on, knowing he must be close. “Daddy’s coming, hold on.” He had to keep going, he had to.
THAT’S IT! I haven’t had so much fun in a while, Eli. Did it hurt? Oh I bet it did, didn’t it. How did it feel to have metal rip through your leg? I bet it was agony.
I’ve tears of joy in my eyes, Eli . . . especially now you’re still trying to win. What do you think is going to happen, Eli? That I’ll just let you walk away? That I’ll stand back and let you take them.
Now, don’t get me wrong, old man. I thought about rigging the place, so that when you opened the door, the whole thing would blow and Aeron would feel it, every second. It’s so beautiful how she feels it. Every murder, Eli . . . she’s felt it . . . felt my power.
I HOPPED THE bike over the dead tree on the track. I was nearly at the top. It had taken me too long. My father must be there by now and my skin prickled like I was being stung by hornets. I’d come off the bike a couple of minutes back and rolled around on the ground as white hot daggers dug through my leg. Lucky for me I’d only grazed up my arm and my hand when I’d jammed my hand out to stop myself hitting the ground head first. My hands were raw from the grazes, knees too but it was nothing like the pain that had ripped through my leg.
I didn’t know what the hell had happened but by the time I’d got back on the dirt bike I felt sick with fear. My skin was fine. I weren’t injured enough to account for the pain. That meant somebody else, somebody close had suffered the wound. A flash of anger shattered my thoughts into pieces and I slid the bike to a stop. I could feel the killer. I could feel their hate, I could feel the darkness in them radiating like molten lava.
I ditched the bike, stepped over the wire the killer had left trailing across the track, and closed my eyes. If I was going to survive, if any of us were, I needed to tap into them. I needed to connect.
ELI GOT TO the pump house but he was dragging his leg. He’d ripped off another piece from his shirt as a tourniquet. He may lose his leg but his girls, no, he’d find them. He’d get them out.
He opened the door to the old structure which had been used to control the man-made stream down the mountain. Inside smelled like rot and the unmistakable stench of death.
This was the place all right. Aeron was right. Why hadn’t he believed her all along? If he’d just listened to her, trusted her, maybe Jenny would have been alive, maybe his girls would be safe in bed.
Eli fumbled through the dark, not sure if he should risk calling out the girls’ names or to wait until he knew the coast was clear. A whimper reached his ears.
“Ruth, Lou, you there?”
“Daddy!” Ruth’s voice. Thank God.
He strained to listen, to hear any movement. “Ruth . . . baby, where are you? Where’s Lou?”
Eli felt for the walls and guided himself through the pitch black, his leg dragging loudly behind him. He swallowed and fought down the wooziness, fought down the pain.
“Daddy, Lou ain’t waking up.” Ruth’s sobs filled the air. “I can’t get her to wake up.”
He limped toward Ruth’s voice, sending something crashing to the floor as he collided with it. “Keep talking, Ruth. Keep talking.” He focused everything he had on listening for her voice.
Up ahead, he saw the faint glow of a gas light, Ruth and Lou lay strapped to an iron bed.
“Daddy, I can’t wake her.”
He went to Ruth. She looked unharmed at first glance. He moved around to Lou. She was breathing, shallow breathing. “It’s okay, I’m here, sweetheart.” He smiled down at her, trying not to show he was hurt. “What happened?”
“I did.”
Something hard hit the back of his head. He knew that voice. “You?” He dropped to his knees and the room faded out.
Chapter 74
I CROUCHED DOWN as I approached the pump house. It was in darkness, quiet, nothing moving. I gripped my head and dropped to my knees as white hot pain ripped through my skull. I bent over, catching my breath. Someone was hurt, badly. Where? There was nothing but bleak wilderness, the mist cutting us off from the world. The killer could be anywhere. Were they in the pump house? Were they lurking in wait for me?
As I approached the building, the desolation flowed off it like dry ice, stretched out, and tainted the land around it. I could hear the screams of past victims, the crying, the wailing. The big black cloud sucked at the shack like a colossal parasitic beast. Its power throbbed toward me like fiery claws, daring me to enter, daring me to walk into its jaws.
Come, come closer, you’ll never win, you’ll never get them back, you’ll fail, you are nothing but a failure
.
It hit me like a wall, a wall I couldn’t walk through. It was too hard, too much.
The claws shot out at me. I grabbed my side as it stung my ribs. I ripped at the clothes but my skin was fine. Another strike. Another stinging, burning, ripple in my shoulder.
You will never save them. You’re no one, nothing, you don’t exist
.
It would not win. “I do exist.” I hurled myself through the doorway.
The darkness, so black, was thicker than the mountain fog, the desperation coated the walls, the blood, the pain, the hopelessness.
You are nothing, you will fail, you are the one causing this, it’s you. Do everyone a favor and end it. You’re nothing.
Never give up. Never let it win. “No.” I forced myself to shut down. To visualize the armor. Baby steps. One. At. A. Time.
The belt—
Truth
—I was different. I could sense in more ways than I knew, different for a reason. One step forward—
Different
enough to get here, to see.
The breastplate—
Righteousness
—I had seen it, so I could stop it. Another step—I could heal whoever was hurt.
The boots—
Peace
—I could bring peace. I needed to tread, soft, steady, one step at a time. I could bring peace to the victims, to the town. I could do this.
The shield—
Faith
—Renee, Nan, my father. They’d had faith in me. I needed to believe in myself. I could stop the killer, I could free the town from the cloud.
The helmet—
Salvation
—I was the only one who could save my family now. Another step forward. I was here for a reason. I saw for a reason. I could pierce the clouds, sever the dark tentacles.
The sword—
Spirit
—I had gifts, gifts no one else had. Gifts I could use to help and stop anyone getting hurt again. It was in my hands now, this was my fight. And I could bring light back to my world.
“And I will.”
I swore to whoever was up there that I would. I was gonna take down that cloud once and for all.
I recited the passage from scripture and I repeated it, over and over and over until the madness calmed.
“I can do this.”
The whispering, the pains still jibed at me but distantly. I moved further in. What was that sound? I stopped and listened, listened hard. Whimpering? Yes, it was. I could feel my father and my sisters. I opened my mouth to call but scuffling and crashing echoed out.
“No . . .” My father’s voice. Crash, slam, where were they? “No . . .” My father was wounded. His voice faint. That’s what I’d felt on the roadside. The cloud was trying to stop me getting to him.
Silence.
My pulse thudded in my ears. Whimpers, sobs, my sisters’ energies, my father’s energy but there was no one else. Maybe they’d run?
“Dad? Are you there?”
I heard a spluttered reply, moved to it, and saw him in the dim light up ahead.
“Dad . . . Oh, God . . .”
He was on top of a table, his neck tied up with a rope, his injured leg limp and his good leg slipping on the wood. His blood dribbled down his face, his side burned.
“Aeron . . . Run . . .” No one else was here. No one but my father and the girls.
“They’ve escaped. There’s no one here. I need to get you free.”
“No.” My father shook his head. “Run!”
I felt the cloud overhead pulse like it had erupted. I took a step toward him and froze as I heard a crack next to my ear and felt a cold hard muzzle touch my cheek.
MY HEART CRUMBLED like sand. The last person on earth I’d expected it to be. “I couldn’t feel you . . . How? Why?”
All I got in return was laughter, soft, inhumane laughter. The cloud pulsed with it.
“I trusted you, I cared about you, why?”
My father slipped a little further and I went to help him only for the killer to tut. “We don’t need the old man. He’s not good for you.”
“What?” My father needed my help. He needed me to stay calm.
“He’s been holding you back. The coward left you to go to prison,” the killer whispered in my ear and stroked my cheek with a warm hand. I’d trusted—how had I not seen, not known? It was right in front of me.
The voice whispered into my ear again, the familiar voice, the trusted voice, the breath tickling my neck. “I’ll make him pay though. Just for you. It’s all for you.” A soft kiss touched my cheek. “He left you to rot. He abandoned you.”
I tried to pull myself free. “And you didn’t?”
A hand gripped my bicep and spun me around to face the daggers of truth. Sam stood in front of me and laughed, his manic eyes twinkled. “No. I know you saw, you saw my work and you took the blame.” He opened his arms to me and beckoned me forward. “You gave me the time to get it right.”
I shook my head. “I . . . what?” No, no that wasn’t true.
Sam took me into his arms and forced my head to his chest. “You saw how much my brother got in the way. I was gonna make you special but he didn’t like it. I know you saw.”
“Sam, I was there,” I said. “I tried to stop him.”
Sam ran his fingers through my hair. Fear made my limbs spasm, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t take it in. No, I had tried to help Jake. “There’s no need for lies now. I made a mistake with Jake but you helped me.” He kissed my neck. “Helped me to learn.”
The nausea rolled upward from my stomach, burning its way through me. Helped him? But I’d been there? I’d killed Jake? I’d tried to stop him falling into the train. Hadn’t I? Sam trailed his hand over my shoulder—
Such a pest of a brother, always hanging around. She puts up with him, why, I don’t know and he thinks he has a chance with her. If only she knew about his little crush, as if she’d look at him when she was blind to me? Oh no . . .
“What are you doing, Sam?”
“None of your business, you runt.”
His weasel twitching, eyes trailing over my plan. “What you doing with that rope? Where’s Aeron?”
Oh wouldn’t he like to know. He will, just like everyone else, she’ll know. If I can’t have her, I’ll collect her.
“Why do you have Papa’s gun? I’m telling . . .”
So easy to catch, ain’t you, you little runt. Why the squirming? Oh dear . . . what’s that? The signal box is out? Oh dear . . . so the high-speed train will just whip on through?
“What are you doing? Let me go?”
So easy, this is too easy. Why haven’t I done this before? “You like trains, don’t you?”
“Sam . . . no . . .please . . . let me go!”
“Why don’t you take a closer look.”
One push, so easy, the little runt is gone.
Tears streamed down my face. Sam held me to him, his gun in his hand. He’d let me believe I killed Jake or he thought I knew. My heart tore in two as I realized. He thought I had taken the fall for him, that I must be on his side. He’d killed Jake. He’d killed his own brother.
“See, baby.” The cocky tone, once so comforting, shot ice right through me. “You and me, we played a little game. I know you enjoyed seeing them didn’t you?” He kissed my neck again. I tensed. How could he do that? How could he think that? “Enjoyed how I outfoxed the others? Did you feel it? Did you feel all the pain?”
I closed my eyes. My whole body trembled and shook. Enjoyment? He really was crazy. How had I not seen? How didn’t I know? Where was the cloud over his head? Why was there only one over the town? Was it using him? Where were the tentacles now?
He kissed my forehead, his hands in my hair. “I’ll show you, can you see?”
Mother, oh how useless you are. You just sit around and let that arrogant fool use you. Surely you see his affairs, the way he fritters away your money and you say nothing.
You even know about me, don’t you? So you’ll understand why I’m going to collect you too, don’t you?
“There are many things I’ve regretted, but none as much as giving birth to you.”
“Well, how ungrateful. Mom of the year. Why don’t we take a walk.”
“I don’t care what you do to me—”
“Good. I like a choice.”
My knees buckled as I relived her final moments. Sam forced me to stand and take it. Every slash, every blow, I gripped his shoulders, the pain unbearable.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?”
I could hear my father slipping, Sam laughing, the whimper of my sisters and somewhere in the distance the cloud rejoiced in my agony.
Never. Give. Up. “I won’t let you win.” I grabbed for his gun.
Chapter 75
RENEE SUMMONED UP the last of her energy to haul herself over the crest. They had spent most of the time sliding and slipping as the rain battered their faces. Renee dropped to her knees, gulping in breaths.
“How far?” she asked.
“Up ahead,” Kay said between gasps of air.
Renee heard voices, from her left, lots of voices. “Must be CIG. You need to stay out of sight or surrender.” She fixed them both with a stare. “No heroics. Do not try and stop them.”
“Why? Where are you going?” Bill asked.
Renee got to her feet. “I’ve got to do this alone. Neither of you needs to be harmed.”
“I can’t let you go in there alone.” Bill pulled the rope from his waist.
Renee slipped off the rope. “You’ve helped me get here. When it’s safe, you can help me get the girls down the mountain.” She wobbled from exhaustion and shook it off, willing her focus to come back. “Stay here, please.”
Kay and Bill hurried into some undergrowth as Renee crouched low. She saw the dirt bike next to a tree and the trip wire in front of it. It was almost as if Aeron had known it would be there.
Cut it out
, she told herself. Doubting Aeron was the last thing she needed to do. But what if? What if she had been like Yannick? What if Aeron had fooled her?
She’d been so sure about him. She had banked everything on his innocence and she had been wrong. He’d nearly killed her in the process.
Renee blinked back the memories and glared at the pump house. No, Aeron wasn’t Yannick. Aeron was a hero, Aeron was good and right and wouldn’t harm anyone.
Renee believed in her with every part of her soul, and right now Aeron needed her.
She took the rifle off her back and loaded it. The pump house was silent as she approached. Then shouting and clattering filled the air.
“Aeron!”
Renee bolted toward the pump house and hoped like hell she’d make it in time.
AS I TOOK hold of the gun, the visions of Jenny howled through my mind. I kept hold and hit Sam in the side with my elbow. He grabbed my hair as he fell. We clattered down, my grazed palms scraped on the wood floor, the gun slid away. He laughed and slapped me across the face with the back of his hand. Stars flashed in my vision.
“You have to try harder than that, come on.”
I brought my knee up sharp, caught him in the stomach, and ripped myself from his grasp. I dived for the gun, Sam’s hands dug into my waist. He rolled me away.
“That’s it. I love it when you fight. Let’s have some fun.”
I snapped my elbow back and hit him in the stomach again. My father struggled on the edge of the table. I scrabbled to my feet and pushed his foot back onto the flat. A hand on my shoulder, I turned and caught a fist in my jaw.
I cradled my head with my hands to stop from cracking it on the wood. Blood oozed from my lip, my jaw was on fire. Sam laughed, so devoid of soul, so lost. It tore at my heart, burning like a wound. How could he do it? Why? I flicked my foot out and caught him in the ankle. He went to raise the pistol. My father swung out and kicked the gun with his free leg.
Sam turned, eyes blazing, and shunted the table away.
“No!”
I dove into Sam and rammed him into the wall. The place shook from the impact. I staggered to my feet and dragged the table back to my father.
Sam clamped his hands over my mouth and my neck, his breath hard and fast in my ear. “See, ain’t this fun, love.”
I tried to break his grip but his arm pulled tighter, the blood squealed in my ears, the panic thumped in my chest.
“Watch him hang there, sweetheart.” He yanked my chin up to force me. “Watch him, the life fading from him, same as you. Shush now.”
I lunged forward, bent over, and threw him over my shoulder. Sam slammed onto the floor with a groan. Where was the gun? Where the hell was the gun? I looked at my father. The table. I hauled it back. A small foothold.
My father’s eyes widened. “Watch—”
Sam clattered into my side, my ribs crunching with the contact from his shoulder. The wind ripped out of me as I thudded to the floor. I couldn’t breathe. I gasped for air but Sam pulled me onto my back and gripped my neck with his hands.
“So you choose him? After all I’ve done for you?”
I kicked out but he trapped my legs with his own. I clawed at his face but he squeezed tighter.
“I made it perfect for you, can’t you see?” His eyes bulged. Manic. “It’s all for you!”
The room swayed violently as my lungs tried to contract. I hit out, flailed, but the oxygen was leaving me. The life being squeezed from me.
“I’m gonna make it look like you, Al.” His spit hit my face as he ranted. “I’m gonna make it all your fault.”
No. I reached out my hand and ripped at his shirt. He laughed. I hit his chest with everything I had.
Sam screamed and rolled onto the floor, writhing. I scrabbled away, gasping for air as he convulsed on the floor.
Sam opened his eyes. He kicked out at the table, the leg snapped. My father dropped on the end of the rope. I crawled to him. A boot hit me in the side. Wheezing, I glanced up. Sam was on his feet. His face red, the vein in his forehead prominent. He was in agony, writhing agony but his madness overrode it. He raised the pistol in his trembling hand and laughed. “I win.”
Chapter 76
I LOOKED INTO Sam’s eyes. My father wriggled helplessly, twitched, the girls screamed and cried somewhere nearby. Sam, the boy I had trusted, the boy who I had gone to prison for, stood grinning at me like it was all a game.
The rumble of thunder made me realize. It was not the cloud controlling him. No, Sam
was
the darkness, the cloud. There was nothing malfunctioning like the girls back in the institution. There was nothing to blame. Sam was evil. He was just evil.
“They’ll know it was you.” I needed to help my father. I needed to stop Sam hurting my sisters.
“No, they won’t. It’s all in your prints, your DNA. I’m the hero.” His hyena-like giggle burst from his lips. “The one who killed the freak.”
His words stung more deeply than all I had discovered. He’d been playing me all along, he’d bided his time. Jake had died because of me. All those girls had died as if I had killed them myself. Sam was soulless and always had been.
“Hey, Al. Maybe they’ll give me a medal.”
It had all been a show, a face, I couldn’t read him or sense him because there was no feeling to sense. He was hollow, an evil hollow shell, and I’d helped him stay free. Helped him kill others by lying.
“I don’t care,” I told him. “I don’t care no more.”
“Yes, you do.” He sneered, spit flying from his lips. His hair wild. “You care. You feel.”
I glanced at my father. He was fighting. His foot had found the leg of the table. He was trying to push himself up. I needed to draw Sam from him. “Not anymore.” I edged away from my father and Sam followed me. “Kill everyone for all I care. I’ve been inside, I’d rather you pull the trigger.”
Sam hesitated. He narrowed his eyes.
I stepped back as I glanced at the pistol aimed at my head. “Anythin’ is better than that place.”
Sam waved the gun around. “You’re lying!”
The grandmother’s words came back to me in that moment. I’d know, I’d know when I held the killer’s heart in the palm of my hand. I knew what I had to do. Sam was the killer, the beast, the cloud. It was up to me. I had to finish it.
“Am I?” I shrugged. My father pushed himself up if only a bit. “Tell me, how well do you really know me?”
Sam’s eyes flickered as he processed my words. “What?”
“You think you know me?” I asked. “You think I got four more years for being a good girl?”
Sam twitched. “No . . . you . . . no!”
I smiled the slyest smile I could conjure. “Yes, we’re similar, so similar.” I nodded. “You may have won the game but I’ll always beat you. Always.”
Sam growled. “You won’t. I win! I win!”
He sounded like a petulant child. How had I not seen it? How? I shook my head. “No matter what you do to me. I never wanted you. I never cared about you. You are nothing.” I forced a cocky grin to my face. “That’s how I feel, Sam-O.” I spat at his feet. “You’re a nobody. Do you know that?”
The gun swayed a little as Sam shook his head. “No. I am better than you!”
My father opened his eyes. He was holding on. I had to keep going. “You know, I laughed at you for being such a fool. A pathetic fool. Every single day.”
I kept my gaze locked with his. The tears poured from his eyes. Renee was close. I could feel her. I had to keep him there. I had to squeeze, squeeze that bitter heart.
“I mean, you just let your daddy beat you. What a loser.”
“No,” Sam spluttered through his tears. The gun swayed. He swayed.
“You let him bully you. You watched him beat your mom.” I snorted my disgust. “What a coward.”
“She deserved it!” Sam rubbed at his tears with one hand. “You’re a freak! A witch!”
I took a deep breath. There was one more thing, one more declaration that would break him. I had to. There was no other way.
“Maybe, but you know why I’m better than you?”
“It was for you. It was all for you.” The vein in his forehead bulged as he screamed.
I had to. There was no other choice. I never wanted to hurt nobody, Sam least of all. I took a deep breath. “It was for nothing.” I focused every ounce of energy I had and locked eyes with him. “I’ll never
ever
love you.”
His eyes flickered. His shoulders slumped. He lifted the gun. The door slammed open and he pulled the trigger.
KAY BORLAND LOOKED down the road as the flashlights came into view and glanced at Bill. “If we don’t do somethin’, Aeron’s gonna get flayed for somethin’ she didn’t do.”
Bill nodded. “So what do we do? The lady said to keep our heads down.”
Kay waved it off and stood up. She was sick of crouching anyhow. “When did you start listenin’ to advice?”
Bill got to his feet. “Since I married Mary when my ma told me to stay the hell away.”
Kay smiled. Bill deserved better, everyone knew that but the daft tool adored that messed-up Mary like no other. “I don’t know ’bout you but whoever’s in that pump house killed my girl.” She straightened her shoulders. “Like hell is he gettin’ away.”
She could hear him mutter behind her as she marched down the path toward the sounds. This was for Chelsea. Her little sweet Chelsea.
“Drop your weapon!” a voice called out.
Kay dropped her rifle. “I don’t want to argue, but Aeron ain’t your killer.” She thumbed in the direction of the pump house. “An’ they got the son-of-a-bitch cornered.”
The agent, the blonde woman from the police station, stormed into view. “We know.”
Two men hurried forward and took the surrendered weapons.
Kay frowned, surprised. “You do?”
The agent nodded. “Where’s the pump house?”
“This way.” Kay started up the path.
Shots rang out.
One.
Two. Three.
Silence.
The agent tore up the path past a stunned Kay.
RENEE DUCKED AS the bullet splintered the wood next to her head. She shot twice. Sam Casey dropped to his torn-up knees and gripped them, his gun clattered to the floor. Aeron scrambled across the floor and kicked it toward Renee. She launched herself to her feet and shoved her weight under her father. Eli was hanging there. He looked limp.
“I can try shooting.”
“No,” Aeron said. “The girls, they’re in the back somewhere.”
Aeron was covered in blood and bruises. Her neck red raw, her face swollen. Renee hurried over to her, took one of Eli’s legs, and helped to support him. Sam was still whimpering and wailing on the floor.
“Don’t give up on me. Come on,” Aeron muttered to her father.
She was slurring, she looked so pale, her eyelids drooping. Renee could see her knees trembling even in the dim light. “You okay? You hurt?”
Aeron shook her head. Her sole focus on her father. Renee heard voices and tensed. The unmistakable bark of Frei.
“Unarmed!” Renee called.
“Coming in!” Frei called back.
CIG burst through the doorway. Lasers zipping through the dark. Frei stormed in, the CIG team moving past them, clearing the building. Renee breathed out in relief as Bill and Jo hurried over and took Eli’s weight off her.
“Cut him down,” Kay said, passing Bill a switchblade.
Eli fell forward, Bill careful as he lowered him down. Renee took Aeron’s arm and pulled her away as Kay knelt beside Eli.
“He’s breathing.” Kay drew the med kit to her. “Gonna need to stabilize him before we move him.”
“Is he . . . ?” Aeron shivered. “Will he . . . ?”
“Let her work.” Renee took her hand. “Give her space, okay?”
“In here!” Frei’s voice echoed out from the back.
Fitzpatrick, Bill, and several officers, trampled over Sam. Frei appeared a second later with one of the girls in her arms, Bill had the other.
Aeron stumbled to them. “Are they okay?”
“Thanks to you.” Frei’s voice was gentle. The most gentle Renee had ever heard it.
Aeron nodded, then she wheezed out a breath as her shoulders slumped. Her eyelids drooped as she tried to talk. Her eyes on Sam. “He wanted to kill me all along.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “He even killed Jake.”
Frei met Renee’s eyes. “Get her out of here. Away from him.” She snapped back to the action. “Get the girls out. Now.”
Renee took Aeron’s hand and led her to the doorway. She glanced behind. Frei had given the girl to Fitzpatrick and was shoving the uniformed officers toward the door.
“We don’t need an army. Unless you have medical training, get out.” Frei scowled at the wailing Sam. “And someone . . . shut him the hell up.”
The freezing air made Renee shiver. Aeron needed warmth. Renee led them to a patch of grass.
“You got foil?” Renee asked Fitzpatrick.
He took the pack off his back and pulled one out before leaving them alone.
“I thought you’d kill him,” Aeron said as Renee wrapped the foil around her shoulders. “I thought.” Her words shuddered from her, slurred, heavy. “I thought he’d kill me.”
Renee pulled Aeron to her. She held on as sobs wracked through Aeron’s body. The eruption built and built, the sobs louder and louder. Aeron dropped to her knees, Renee with her.
“You saved my life,” Aeron whispered into her ear. “You saved us all.” She clutched at Renee’s shoulders. “I knew you’d come. I just knew.”
Renee’s heart thudded with the whispered words. She held Aeron’s head in her hands and swept the hair from her bloodied face.
“I’ll always be there,” she said, wanting so much to tell her the truth.
The chaos of the police, the CIG, and Sam’s wails carried on all around them but they were cocooned in a protective bubble as though her arms could keep out the world.
“You’re safe now,” she said, kissing Aeron’s forehead, wanting to take her pain away. “I’ve got you.”
Aeron buried her head into Renee’s shoulder. Renee looked up to the sky. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Relief that Aeron was safe, that she’d gotten there in time, that she had her safe and sound in her arms, cooled her frazzled senses. In her mind she said the words she couldn’t say out loud, knowing that Aeron was too distraught to read her.
I love you. I love you so much.
Chapter 77
I DON’T KNOW how long it took to get down the mountain, I was so disconnected from everything. I saw my father carried down on a stretcher, I saw the two girls being carried by Bill and one of the other officers. Renee held my hand the whole way down, murmuring gentle words, soft words to console me.
Bill even suggested to the others that they tie Sam to the dirt bike and haul him down the mountain. The locals were on his side but Kay told them no, that they were better than him. So Sam was stretchered by the Feds as none of the locals would look at him. He wailed the whole way down, his cries like a siren ringing in my ears.
When we finally got to the bottom, it seemed like the whole world had come out to see the commotion. Mary ran to Bill, Jenny’s parents took the girls and went in the ambulance with them. Jim was there waiting for Kay, tears in his eyes. My father was taken in another ambulance. I stared at him. I wanted to go with him but before I could ask, the doors slammed and it screeched off.
“You can see him later, I promise.” Renee squeezed my hand. I didn’t have no energy left to argue. As I looked up, I noticed a sea of faces looking at me.
“Good for you, girl,” someone shouted.
“Hero, that’s what you are,” another added.
“Saved the girls, she did!”
“Hero!”
“Savior!”
I wanted to hide behind Renee, I wanted to bury my head. My aching, splitting head.
“ ’Bout freaking time,” Renee muttered under her breath.
My Uncle Abe stepped forward and grabbed me into a hug as if he’d loved me all his life.
“My niece!” he said to the crowd.
I pulled away. Abe had his nose bandaged. Renee had told me why.
“Just milk it,” he snapped.
I shook my head. “You’re no family of mine. You or Sara.”
Abe gripped me into a hug once more and my body tensed—
Get rid of the little witch, that’s what we need to do. Yes, get rid of some of the dead rot in this town. Help out the boy, that will be for the best. Yes, the boy needn’t do it alone.
I dropped to the ground with the vision. The realization hit me, sucking the breath right out of me.
Abe scowled at me. “Cut it out. Stand up. What the hell are you doing now?”
Frei and Renee were at my side, placed their hands on my arms, and helped me back to my feet.
“What is it?” Renee asked.
Focus on Frei. Focus. You need to tell her
. I blinked a few times, waggling my finger in my ear. The nauseating high-pitched sound made her face swim in front of mine. “You said he couldn’t do it alone.”
She frowned. “I did but we have—”
“It’s Sara.”
Everyone turned to look at Sara. Gasps and muttering rippled through the crowd.
Sara stared at them and put her hands out. “Oh come on, you all know she’s a freak. As if I would—”
Summoning every ounce of energy I had left, I stormed forward and slapped her clean across the face. “You did that to your own family.”
Abe grabbed my arm but I shook him off and threw myself onto Sara. We slammed to the ground. I didn’t care. The puddles, the mud, the crowd. I didn’t care. I gripped hold of her shoulders and rammed her down. I wanted to grip her neck and squeeze the life out of her. I wanted her to know what she’d done. What pain she’d caused so many other families.
“What did he promise you? Huh?”
Sara kicked, squealed, her nails digging into my hands as I pinned her in place. “Freak!”
“What did he tell you? Did he tell you he loved you? Did he bat those eyes? Was it worth it?” I shook her with every word. “Was. It. Worth. It?”
“Yes!” she screamed out, her eyes glinting.
The crowd gasped. Hands hauled me off her before I did wring her neck. She lay panting on the ground. “You should have seen you all.” She roared with laughter. “So easy. It was so easy.”
Kay charged forward.
Frei put a hand on her arm. “Get her out of here.”
Sara giggled manically as she was hoisted off the ground and thrown, head first, into the back of a police car.
Abe shook his head. “Tramp.”
Was that it? Was that all he had to say?
“Aeron, leave it.” Renee dragged me away before I could say anything and took me to another police car.
“We need to get you checked out,” she said, wiping the rain-sodden hair from my eyes.
Not paying her much attention, I fixed my glare on Abe. He was being consoled by someone. He lapped up the attention.
“Nothing the river won’t fix.” Maybe I could “heal” him too.