Authors: Marissa Farrar
Glancing at the screen, I didn’t recognize the number.
I hit the answer button. “Hello?”
“Ms. Bandores?”
“Yes?”
“This is the garage working on your car. I’m calling to let you know it will be ready for collection this afternoon.”
“Already? I thought it would be at least another few days?”
I could almost hear the shrug. “Well, it’s ready now. Parts came in early. So are you going to come collect it, or not?”
“Yes, of course I am. I’ll be there this afternoon.”
I hung up and reached out to pat the dashboard of the old SUV. I’d grown fond of the old car, and didn’t want the conspicuousness of my brand new Audi. I was having a hard enough time not getting myself noticed around here, and my L.A. wheels wouldn’t help any.
Leaving the car, I slunk back to class. I was massively late, and attracted the glare of my lecturer as I slipped into a seat near the back and fired up my laptop.
Suddenly, my hearing went strange, as if I’d been submerged under water. I reached out and grabbed the edges of my laptop, as if that would somehow secure me to reality. But the machine felt slippery beneath my touch, and I couldn’t get a proper hold on it. I groaned, knowing something was coming that I didn’t want to see. On stage, my professor continued his talk, pointing to things on the interactive white board, but I couldn’t focus on what he was saying. I could barely hear him. A rushing sound raced past my ears, like waves or the wind. Before my eyes, a liquid black began to steal in from all sides of the white board, rapidly creeping and crawling down until all of the writing was gone, and I stared only at a black square. It spilled from the wall and flooded across the stage, slipping up the professor’s legs. He looked down, as if only just noticing what was happening, and began to scream. It crept up his body, crawling over him like a living thing. More of the darkness slid down toward the students sitting in the front rows. Their screams filled the lecture hall, as they turned in their seats to climb over one another to try to get away. The wave of students clambered in panic toward where I still sat, frozen, at the back.
It would claim them, this darkness. I knew it. Whatever was beneath the water in the pools was powerful, and it would take their souls as its own.
My ears popped, and I found myself back in the normal lecture hall. I must have made a noise, as a couple of students turned their heads toward me. I ducked down, hiding behind the screen of my laptop.
Danger felt so close this time. The premonitions were getting stronger, and I could only assume that was because the event itself was also getting closer. Laurel had said this aligning of the planets—what had she called it, a Disruptive Convergence—would happen in a matter of hours, not days.
My thoughts went back to the dreams I’d had, of the people of Sage Springs empty and lost, of the town in darkness. I didn’t think the darkness I’d just seen was a literal interpretation of what was going to happen, and neither was the stream of empty people heading into the woods. My foresight gave me interpretations of what was going to happen. It wasn’t like watching the actual event on a television screen, unless it was connected to an actual person, and then it tended to be more accurate. But I’d never seen something this big before. I wasn’t someone who predicted airline disasters, or train wrecks. If I was, perhaps I’d have been able to make a difference to this god-forsaken world a little sooner. All I could interpret was that something dark was coming to Sage Springs, and I had a theory that it would feed on the souls of the inhabitants.
I couldn’t believe that this happening was a natural occurrence. Something other than the Convergence was at play here. I just had to figure out what and who.
The carnival people. It had to be them.
But did that mean Riley was involved as well?
I
went to collect my car with dread in my heart.
Something terrible was going to happen in Sage Springs, and I had no idea how to stop it.
The garage was located a couple of miles from the outskirts of town. The rental company was there to meet me, and quickly checked off the SUV. I handed over the keys and gave the old girl a hearty slap, like a faithful horse, as I did so. My scribble on a piece of paper completed the receipt.
I walked into the garage. My car waited for me at the front, but no one else seemed to be around. Heading deeper into the cave of the garage, a set of feet protruded from beneath a station wagon that had been raised from the floor using a couple of jacks. I wondered why they’d not used the raising platform fixed to the interior of the garage to check beneath the car. Perhaps it was broken.
“Hello?” I called again.
A grunt responded, and the feet began to move with a shuffle and a scrape. Had he been sleeping under there?
The mechanic hauled himself out from beneath the car. Dark patches of sweat stains, yellow and old, marked beneath the arms of his t-shirt and around his neck. He was at least a hundred pounds overweight. I was surprised he hadn’t gotten himself wedged under the vehicle.
“Hi. I’m here to collect the Audi.”
He looked me up and down. I could sense the sneer on his face, though he managed to repress it. I didn’t need to be psychic to know exactly what he was thinking—spoilt little rich girl come to collect the big car mommy and daddy paid for. The worst thing was that he wasn’t far wrong.
“I got a call this morning to say it was ready.”
He snorted and wiped the back of his hand beneath his nose. I tried not to grimace. “That’s right.” His eyes narrowed at me. “Need you to sign some paperwork and then car’s all yours.”
“I thought the repairs would take longer than it did.”
“Parts came through fast, that’s all,” he snapped.
“Right.”
Jeez, I hope he didn’t treat every customer with such disdain, or I figured he’d go out of business pretty quick. He seemed like one of those guys who would never take anyone of the female persuasion seriously.
He pushed a couple of forms under my nose, which I signed, and then he slid my keys across the counter. I snatched them up, grateful to be out of there. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the guy’s presence.
I climbed inside my car, sliding into the soft leather. The familiar scent and feel of the vehicle caused a wave of homesickness to sweep over me. I bit my lower lip, glancing down to stare at the steering wheel to compose myself. I couldn’t run off home. Not now. I hadn’t been raised to be a coward, and how could I go back to Los Angeles, abandoning everyone in Sage Springs to face whatever horror was coming?
I reached down to the ignition and turned the key, the car purring to life around me. A sigh issued from deep within my lungs. I would meet with Laurel’s circle tonight and see what happened. Maybe everything would change after that meeting. Still, my stomach churned with nerves. I had no way of predicting how that meeting would go.
It was only a couple of miles’ drive back into town, heading down the windy road through the forest. A quick fiddle with the radio found a local station, and a pop song blasted out. Far too chirpy, bouncy, and generally enthusiastic for me. I reached out and flicked the radio off, the interior of the car falling back into silence, except for the purr of the engine.
The road curved around a bend. I put my foot on the brake to slow, but nothing happened. Alarm spiked through me. I jammed my foot down harder—a movement that should have thrown the car into an emergency stop. Nothing happened.
“Shit!”
The curve approached, and I had no choice but to handle the vehicle so it hugged the road. My heart thumped hard and fast, climbing up into my throat, my breath shallow. I forced myself to focus, to not panic, but my mind blurred with fear. How would I stop with no brakes? A thousand pieces of advice I’d picked up on subconsciously over the last year ran through my mind: turn into a skid, stay calm if you get stranded, try to minimize impact. I had no idea which piece of this information was any use to me now. I could hardly minimize impact, could I?
The Audi gathered momentum created by the downward incline of the road.
Another car headed toward me in the opposite lane. I caught sight of the family inside, the father’s brow furrowed as he passed, clearly thinking I was going too fast, but with no idea why. I stared back at him in fear, wanting to shout for help but knowing it would do no good. How could anyone help me?
I was thankful I’d managed to keep control so far, but the closer to town I got, the more vehicles and people would be around. I couldn’t risk getting that close. I healed quickly, but a regular person wouldn’t. Though this wasn’t my fault, if I mowed down a family, I would never forgive myself.
I needed to stop the car.
I cast a quick glance at the handbrake. What would happen if I pulled it on? I worried it would make a bad situation worse, and throw the car into an uncontrollable skid, but I didn’t know what else to do, and I didn’t have the luxury of time to ponder on it. The road tore by, my fingers wrapped tight around the steering wheel, my knuckles white. I needed to do something right now or I would be risking other lives as well as my own.
The ignition, I suddenly thought. If I turned off the ignition, and then pulled on the handbrake, surely the car would have to slow down? A bank of trees and bushes ran alongside me. While I didn’t want to wrap my car around a tree, I needed to bring it to a halt.
“Oh, hell.” My voice was a whine of despair.
Gritting my teeth, I took one hand off the wheel and turned off the ignition. Power died from the car. Then I yanked up the handbrake.
The powerful car’s back wheels locked. I heard the screeching of rubber on asphalt, and the stench of chemicals burning filled the interior. Smoke poured from the back. The steering wheel wrenched from my grip as the car skidded to one side, and I fought to keep it under control. The front end swung toward the undergrowth.
The hood buffeted through the bushes, leaves and twigs smashing and flying into the windshield.
Instinctively, I threw up my arms to protect my face.
The car bumped and jerked and bounced, my teeth snapping together, bones jarring. It hit something, and my body snapped forward, the seat belt slamming across my chest. My head flew forward, though I’d managed to tuck my chin to my chest, so my forehead hit the steering column, rather than breaking my nose or teeth, before the belt snapped me back again. Even so, pain shattered through my head and across my chest. I had a moment of consciousness to wonder if either my ribs or skull had been broken, and why my airbags didn’t deploy. Had someone at the garage deactivated them?
But the car had come to a standstill. I drifted into a welcome black for the briefest of moments, but shook myself out of it. I couldn’t lose consciousness. There might be a fuel leak, and I didn’t want to end up burning to death while I was unconscious. I didn’t think even a half-vampire could come back from that.
With a groan, my fingers scrambled to unclick my seat belt. I tried to open my door, but metal banged against wood. The door was jammed against a tree trunk on the other side. Wearily, I turned my sore head to the passenger door. The distance between here and there felt like a chasm.
I had to do it. I couldn’t stay trapped inside the car in the hope someone came along. I checked for my purse, thinking I could get my phone and call for help, but it was nowhere to be seen. The bag had probably been flung to the back of the car, or was wedged under the seat. If I struggled to believe I could make it across one seat, there was no way I could search the inside of the vehicle.
Digging deep, I searched for my inner strength.
You heal quickly,
I told myself.
You’ll start feeling stronger really soon.
As if my reassurance had a physical effect, the pain in my head and ribs began to lessen. I’d not been able to take a deep breath due to the pain, but was now able to, the inrush of oxygen helping to clear my head.
Okay, I could do this. It was only a matter of a couple of feet, and then I would be out of here.
Carefully, I reached over to hook my fingers around the dashboard. Using the strength in my legs, I lifted myself up to scoot over the handbrake and stick shift. Legs trembling, the stick shift jabbing me in the back of my thighs, I plopped into the passenger seat. I sat, panting, while I got my strength back again. Such a simple movement had drained every ounce out of me.
A sudden wind buffeted the car, sending it rocking. I let out a scream, clinging to the sides of my seat. The idea that I’d somehow found myself on the edge of a cliff, and that the wind would tip the car over, sprang into my head, but my overactive imagination was working, rather than a premonition of any kind. I rarely saw anything about myself directly. For once, I hated that fact. Perhaps if I had, I would have known something was wrong with the car and refused to take it. One thing I was certain of was that the car had been tampered with on purpose. Someone wanted me dead, and I thought Bulldog Mackenzie and his crew were the most likely cause. They knew what I’d done to Jordy and had taken their revenge. I had no idea if the unpleasant guy at the garage knew what was wrong with the car, if he’d been in on it. Then I got a flash of a young man tied up out back, rocking in a wooden chair he was bound to, yelling against the gag wrapped around his mouth.
Damn it. The horrible guy hadn’t even been a mechanic. He was one of the carny guys.
That explained why he hadn’t been using the proper equipment in the garage when I’d arrived. He’d just been playing the part. How did they think they’d get away with this?
But I knew how. I wouldn’t be able to report them without coming up with a reason why they’d want me dead, and that I’d killed one of their own was hardly something I would ever go to the cops about. They’d keep the young garage attendee quiet with a few simple threats of bodily harm.
A hand slammed against the outside of the passenger widow, and I let out a scream, my heart rate jumping, my hand clutched to my chest.
A face lowered down to the glass, and I sighed with relief and sagged back into my seat.
Riley!
He cracked open the door. “What the hell, Icy? What happened?”
I stifled a sob and fell into his arms, my arms wrapping around the back of his neck, my face pressing against the side of his throat.
“Hey,” he said, stroking my hair. “You’re okay now. Everything is okay.”
I allowed myself the luxury of him holding me for a few moments while I got myself together. I had to admit, the feel of his skin beneath my nose and mouth brought me a comfort I could never have even imagined before I met him. I wanted to close my eyes and lose myself in his skin, forget about the hellish event due to happen only hours from now, and that someone wanted me dead.
Sitting back up, I sniffed and brushed my hair from my face. He reached out and gently touched the wound on my forehead. I winced at the contact.
“Sorry,” he said. “Did you just do that? It looks like it’s healing already.”
“Yeah, I heal fast.” I didn’t know a lie that would work.
He cocked his eyebrows in surprise. “You sure do.” He pressed his lips together. “So what the hell happened, Icy? You in a habit of getting yourself into dangerous situations?”
I gave a cold laugh. “Yeah. I guess I am. Something went wrong with the brakes on my car. I had to stop it so I switched off the engine, pulled on the handbrake, and rammed the car into a bush.”
“Jesus!”
I hesitated, wanting to tell him I thought Bulldog Mackenzie and the others were involved, but I kept my mouth shut. I wanted to trust Riley. After all, he’d helped me hide a body, but I struggled to trust anyone fully. Life had already taught me trust shouldn’t be given away lightly.
“I guess the lightning strike fried more than the electronics.”
“Sure did.” His beautiful face contorted with anger. “The damn mechanic should have checked the whole car over!”
I put a hand on his arm. “It’s fine, Riley. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. I should get you to a hospital.”
“Honestly, it looks worse than it is. It’s the shock, that’s all.” I could feel the skin on my forehead, tightening, itching, as it healed. Within a few days, the cut would be almost invisible, just the white line of a scar remaining. I wasn’t sure how I would explain that to Riley, but if the whole hell cycle thing happened, I imagined it would be the least of my worries.
“Please, Riley. I don’t want to go to the police, hospital, or anywhere else that involves the authorities. No one was hurt, thank God. Can we just go home?”
Except, I didn’t know where home was for me. Not anymore.