“Wait, I guess,” I replied. “It’s all we can do.”
“I’m having a hard time with that,” she said.
“I know, me too,” I agreed.
Ben had been gone for almost half an hour now. We had watched the goings on for a while but finally lost sight of him after he followed one of the detectives into the convenience store. Apparently Constance was already in there, because she had disappeared long before he did.
We waited expectantly, milling around in front of the van and watching for any sign of his return. However, when he didn’t come back out of the building for several minutes, it became obvious that his earlier assessment had been the correct one. We weren’t going anywhere for a while.
We eventually gave up the anxious vigil and climbed into the van to escape the chill of the night air. We were both pushing the limits of exhaustion, and it felt good to have someplace reasonably comfortable to sit. Had it not been for the emotional fuel we were both burning, I suspect we would have fallen asleep where we sat.
I yawned and then asked, “So how’s your head doing?”
“Killing me.”
“Yeah…” I murmured. “I know the feeling.”
“What about you?”
“Dull ache,” I answered. “But you seem to be taking the brunt of it.”
“Yes I am,” she muttered.
We fell quiet for a few moments, and I rested my eyes as I listened to her breathing. Her respirations seemed to cycle, coming shallow for a measure, then deepening, and even holding on occasion. She was obviously fighting with some pain, and she reminded me of myself when I was dealing with the lingering effects of channeling.
She suddenly drew in a deep breath, but instead of simply exhaling she spoke. Her words were offered as a matter-of-fact statement, devoid of emotion. “Kimberly is going to die.”
“You don’t know that,” I told her.
“Aye, I do. I can feel it. She can’t take much more.”
“She might have a better constitution than you give her credit for,” I offered. “You never know.”
My wife remained silent with the exception of repeating the series of panting breaths. I continued watching her as she worked through the pain and began to wonder about what she was experiencing. There was a very guarded feeling about her, but I’d paid little attention until now.
“Felicity, you aren’t still connected with her are you?” I finally asked, trying to keep the concern out of my voice.
She gave a slight nod of her head. “Yes.”
“Exactly how connected are you?”
“Enough to know. To feel.”
“So, what are you feeling?” I pressed.
“Pain” was her single word answer.
“You’re sure it’s not residual?” I mused. “From earlier?”
“No, it’s definitely new,” she replied, still not opening her eyes, then murmured in a disgusted tone, “He’s hurting her again, the braidean.”
I continued watching her, and for the first time noticed that she would occasionally twitch. “Have you stayed connected the entire time? I mean ever since the seizure earlier?”
“On and off,” she said. “More on than off, lately.”
“Are you having trouble grounding?”
“No.”
“Then why are you…” I let my voice trail off, falling silent for a moment, and then proceeded forward with a new question. “Are you doing this on purpose?”
“Aye.”
“Felicity, that’s dangerous.” This time I couldn’t hide the thick rush of anxiety that spread its cold fingers through my chest.
“You should know,” she chided.
“This isn’t the time for that,” I told her.
“She needs me, Row.”
I stared at her for a moment, furrowed my brow as what she said sank in, and then half-asked, half-stated in earnest, “Honey, tell me that you’re not trying to ground out her pain.”
She didn’t answer.
“Felicity, talk to me,” I insisted
She swallowed hard, then let out an involuntary whimper before sucking in a breath and letting it out slowly. Still, she refused to answer.
“You are, aren’t you?” I demanded.
“Aye,” she finally said.
“How bad is it?”
She winced, then rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes. They were moist with the tears she was barely holding at bay. “It’s not good.”
“Then you’re going to have to stop it,” I urged.
“I don’t know if I can anymore.”
“Gods, Felicity…” I muttered.
“I know…” she replied softly. She took another deep breath and then shuddered for a moment. “At least it’s not as bad as at the mall.”
“Maybe I did some decent magick for a change,” I offered.
“Aye, maybe so…” she said and then paused to swallow hard once again before adding, “I think maybe it helps being away from where it happened too.”
Her words rang like a bell inside my skull, awakening my grey matter from its tired slumber. Muddy thoughts parted, allowing a clear and frightening idea to advance forward. I dwelled on the sudden revelation for several minutes as we sat in near silence, the only sounds being those of Felicity’s labored breathing.
I finally interrupted the quiet atmosphere with the calm statement of two simple words, “Stay here.”
I turned in my seat and jerked the side door of the van open, then climbed out onto the lot.
“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice cracking with the next wave of pain she was channeling.
“To get you out of here,” I replied.
With that, I shut the door then set off for the convenience store.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Ben said to me, waving his hand in front of me. “Tell me again, she’s doin’ what?”
“Channeling Kimberly Forest’s pain,” I repeated.
I had made it almost three-quarters of the way across the lot before I was stopped. Not that I hadn’t fully expected it. In fact, I was surprised I had made it as far as I had. It took some finesse, but I managed to convince the uniformed officer that it was imperative that I speak with Ben, sooner and not later. He called over to another officer, who then went to deliver the message. A moment later, my friend came out the front door and looked over in our direction with an air of annoyance.
We were now standing on the lot where the officer had stopped me, a light wind rising and falling around us.
“So if she’s all Twilight Zone again, what are you doin’ talkin’ ta’ me?” he asked, concern welling in his eyes as he started to take a step toward the van.
“It’s not exactly like that,” I said, holding out a hand to stop him.
He halted and looked at me with his head cocked to the side. “Well then, what ‘exactly’ is it like?”
“She’s purposely channeling Kimberly on a limited level in order to help her cope with the pain that’s being inflicted.” I explained.
“So she is kinda la-la then?” he asked.
“Somewhat, yes.” I nodded.
“And she’s doin’ it on purpose?”
“Exactly, but that’s not the point. She’s telling me that Kimberly can’t take it much longer, and that means she won’t be able to either.”
“You’re not tryin’ ta’ say…”
“Yes,” I exclaimed. “I’m trying to say she’s going to end up killing herself.”
“Well fuckin’ tell ‘er to stop.”
“She’s beyond listening, Ben.”
“Well explain it to ‘er,” he replied.
“Understanding isn’t the problem,” I told him. “She’s connected and that’s that.”
“You mean she can’t stop?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. The connection between them is too strong. When she more or less hijacked it earlier, she made it a part of herself. Combine that with the fact that she knows Kimberly… She’s just not letting go.”
“Felicity?”
“Either of them.”
“Well, then, what about some hocus-pocus,” he pressed. “Like ya’ did earlier.”
“I could try, and I will, but I doubt it’s going to do any good. I probably just got lucky earlier,” I said and then looked away for a moment before adding, “Besides, that won’t help Kimberly Forest.”
“Well whadda we do?”
“We have to make it stop.”
“Okay, how?”
“By finding Kimberly and ending the torture.”
He shook his head and reached up to smooth his hair. “Rowan, even if I walk in there and tell ‘em to fuck off, we’re leavin’, we still got no idea where she is.”
“That might not be a problem.”
“Come again?”
“Felicity showed you something on the map, right?”
“Yeah, the other fuckin’ side of the river,” he answered in conjunction with an animated nod. “Like I said earlier. Not much help.”
“Well…” I started and then looked away, ashamed of what I was about to say.
“Well what? Did she remember somethin’ else?”
The thought I was about to voice was the one that had struck me when I was back at the van. The very notion that I had considered it then, made me ill. The fact that I was now about to verbally suggest it, made me want to vomit.
“Right now Felicity is totally connected with her. She’s more or less like an ethereal metal detector,” I replied. “Only instead of metal, she’s tuned in to Kimberly Forest. If I’m right, the closer she gets to her physically, the…” I stopped and swallowed hard, mutely damning myself for the words that were coming out of my mouth.
“What, Row?” Ben urged.
I took a quick breath and blurted the offending sentence, “The closer she gets to her physically, the more intense the pain will become.”