“It’s Don.”
“Just take the call in here,” Roxy said.
Lynn walked out, hearing Roxy mutter something about already being in deep. She answered when she’d reached the kitchen. “Don?”
“Hello there, Miss Lynn.”
She couldn’t help but smile, thinking immediately of the first time she’d met him. Even in those terrible dark days in Argentum, desperate to find her grandson and knowing her deepest secrets had been exposed online, the smile and twinkling eyes of the proprietor of the town’s general store was a reminder that kindness could surface even in the bleakest of circumstances. Without Don Rush, none of them would be alive today.
“Thank you for calling me back so quickly,” she said.
“I would have done it sooner, except for our cell service out here is no good.”
She paused, closing her eyes, her stomach dropping. “So you’ve done it, then?”
“Successfully off the grid.”
“You felt it, then.”
“Yes ma’am. Woke up yesterday morning and thought for sure this was it. My whole body felt like I’d been rung like a bell, and that any minute it would start happening. I tried to sneak out, but you know I’m an old man, so I knocked over the dang cane just getting out of bed. Barbara came in to see what had happened. I guess the expression on my face, and the fact that I told her to run out of the house and not stop running, did not help matters.”
“Barbara is with you?”
“Right over there in the driver’s seat.” Lynn heard a soft voice speak in the background. “She says hello, Lynn.”
“Tell her…” Lynn stammered. Offer an apology? But, of course, it had been Barbara, all those decades ago, when they were both young women, who willingly entered this world of shadows and secrets to try and find her missing brother.
“She knows, Lynn. I tried to convince her that I needed to go off on my own for the time being, that the safest thing was for me to put as much distance between me and anyone with a heartbeat. But she’s stubborn, this sister of mine. So we’re out here in the middle of nowhere. Did you do the same?”
She exhaled. “I wanted to, but… circumstances have prevented me.”
Don chuckled. “I bet one circumstance is an ornery woman with a fondness for quilted vests and cuss words.”
“Roxy is part of it. But… I won’t burden you with the rest. If you’ve truly unplugged…”
“I haven’t read any news in days. Blissfully unaware, except for the fear that it’s finally happening, after all this time. But… your ears aren’t bleeding, are they? No headaches? And I assume no one is dying around you?”
Lynn shook her head. “No. Nothing. But…”
“I know. It’s there. No doubt about it. It’s back. That damn feeling that I could never understand before, like I was always being watched. Had it all my life, until the bastards took all the others away that night in Argentum. Then, it was gone, and I felt free, for the first time. Now that it’s back, boy do I hate it. Any word from William?”
Lynn swallowed. “No.”
“Well, I can tell in your voice that something’s up. I could usually find out on my own, but we’ve taken the camper and there’s zero internet access out where we’re going. I hate to not be of help to you, Miss Lynn. After everything you and Roxy and your husbands did for me.”
“Funny, I was just thinking of how indebted we are to you.”
“Please. You gave me back my life. Roxy and Ed opened up their home to me, until Barbara finally dragged me up north. I began to think maybe we’d just all die of old age and those fears we had were bunk. I had a flicker of it about a year ago, but it went away pretty quick. But now it’s here…”
“And it’s not going anywhere. I know.”
“It’s easy for me to skip town. No wife, no kids, just a very protective twin sister who refuses to let me go on my own.”
“Hush,” Lynn heard Barbara say.
“But I know it’s harder for you, Lynn. You can’t exactly run off can you? Not with all those daughters and grandsons and people so reliant on you. If Roxy knows something’s up, though, then I doubt she’s left your side.”
“She’s in the other room. I’m just trying… to protect her. Although I suppose it’s moot at this point.”
“And I know you’re worried about Will. If we’re feeling this…”
I’m more worried about him than anything else.
“Yes. I’m frankly terrified.”
Don sighed as the cell phone cut out briefly. “I think, my dear lady, we’re getting deep into no man’s land. I’m gonna lose you. I guess this is goodbye.”
The tears that sprang to Lynn’s eyes surprised her. She struggled to keep her voice from revealing the sudden wave of grief. “You take care of yourself, Don. And Barbara too.”
“I’m sorry that Tom is gone, that you’re facing this without him. But you’re not alone. Both my sister and your friend know what they’ve signed up for. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to explain this to them.”
“I just wish I could.”
“Lynn, you’re worlds smarter than me. Haven’t you realized it yet?”
Lynn blinked. “I honestly don’t know. I can’t describe it.”
She heard Don cut out, but then his voice returning with urgency. “… control.”
“You broke up, Don.”
“…I didn’t realize it… all those years… until it was gone. That’s why the last fifteen years… been so great… the weight lifted… now it’s back. What we’re feeling… control. Something’s controlling us.”
SIX
Once again, he was in the storm.
The wind struck with such force that it burned. William’s ears rang from the muscular howls, forcing him to want to cower. But his limbs refused to move, like the pole of a battered flag enduring the worst of a churning squall. He immediately regretted looking down, for among the choppy whitecaps, something slithered, spreading out like black veins in the deep.
In the far distance, as always, was the bracing city. And even from this distance he could see the hint of white, the eyes of someone watching the impending catastrophe.
He blinked, and was in flames. The hills upon which he stood were scorched of any life, blackened and beaten by the flames. A closer examination did reveal movement among the ashes. Something writhed and twisted, moving like moles beneath the ash, rushing towards two singular eyes that stood out like missing pieces in a puzzle of smoke that was void of any colors but black and gray.
He knew what came next. Brutal violence, the sound of gunshots, tears of pain and fear, around another set of eyes.
Then gurneys rushing with unmoving bodies, desperate pleas for help. Through the windows of the hospital he could see towering rocks on the horizon.
A moment later he was inside that stone, as scales slid across his arms and legs and around his neck, moving over his chin and nearing his lips. Barely, he could see the eyes, full of fear and horror, lost in the creeping, shining tendrils—
His own scream brought him from the dream, and to a frantic face looking down at him. Ash blond hair fell down shoulders to meet a bandana hanging around her neck. His last glimpse of the woman had been behind the wheel of a van, frantically driving through the predawn light.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded.
He tried to catch his breath. It always took him a few minutes to fully awaken after the dreams.
“Calm down.” She placed a firm hand on his chest, holding him down. “There’s nowhere for you to go at the moment.”
It all came back: the sharp pain in his arm, the collapse of Lily, and then Quincy fighting in the seat behind him.
“You drugged us,” he managed to say.