And considering it’s still the same girl who was here when we arrived, I’m sure she’s dying for some kind of juicy gossip.
Once I’m outside, I raise a hand to shield my eyes from the sun. I have no idea how I’m going to get to Ashford Falls from here, but I’ll walk if I have to.
Kora has followed me this far, so I know she’ll continue her pursuit until she has me right where she wants me.
Back home where it all happened.
Chapter Twelve
I blow out my breath as I head toward the city line. I’m tired, thirsty, and a little hungry, but I don’t have time to waste. Feels like old times, I think ruefully as I place one hand on my growling stomach and rub my throat with the other.
When Kora was going through the horrifying attempt to save her from whatever they all thought was inside of her, we were all instructed to fast.
No one involved was allowed to eat or drink anything other than water, but I was a young girl then. Whenever I was sure they were preoccupied with her violent spasms and physical assaults, I would sneak as many snacks as I could.
Mom caught on eventually when she noticed I didn’t look as ragged as the rest of them, and she got so damn mad.
I was forced to stay in the room with Kora from then on out, and I think that’s why I still have nightmares. It’s why I wish Kora had stayed where they left her and that maybe things could have turned out differently than they did.
I walk up to the intersection and wait as patiently as I can for the flow of cars to allow me an opportunity to cross the street.
I begin to tap my foot impatiently when I realize that I may end up standing here a little longer than I care to, but my impatience gives way to disbelief when one of the oncoming cars pulls over across the street.
Father Whittaker steps out of the vehicle with a determined look on his ruggedly handsome face, his hazel-green eyes looking darker than usual. When he finally manages to cross the street, he’s already gripped me by the elbow before it even dawns on me to try and run away. I let out a heavy sigh and allow Father Whittaker to drag me back toward the idling vehicle parked across the way.
∞
My arms are folded tightly over my chest, my chin is resting angrily against my sternum, and Father Whittaker is tapping his fingers along the steering wheel to the song on the radio.
“Have you ever been to Rhode Island before, Lily?” he asks me cheerfully as the state’s welcome sign greets us.
“No,” I snarl as I shuffle a little farther away from him. He lets out a good-natured laugh as he reaches over and ruffles my hair.
“I know you’re upset with me for not letting you run off, Lily, but you have to understand something. I made a promise to myself the first day I met you and realized who you were, that I wouldn’t let you wander through the rest of your life alone and being tormented by the past. I’m just trying to keep my word, is all.”
I roll my eyes as I steal a glance at him. “And you didn’t think letting me in on that would have been conducive?”
“Would you have accepted it?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. Father Whittaker glances at me and I turn my eyes away immediately.
If he really wanted to help me let go of the past, he would have stayed in Kennebunk where he belongs.
“What will happen if she does something to you? She’s so strong when she’s having those fits, Father. Mom and two priests weren’t able to stop her. She… you didn’t see what she did to Mom,” I finish quietly.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I begin to chew the inside of my mouth nervously.
On one hand, he has a right to know what he’s walking into, but on the other, had he stayed at his goddamn church, he wouldn’t have to worry about it—or me.
“I really do,” I finally say softly.
Father nods as he turns his full attention back to the road. I know he’s expecting me to share all of the gory details, but there was so much blasphemy in the things she said and did that I wouldn’t feel right talking about the particulars.
“Wait,” he suddenly says, his tone dipping slightly. I glance over at him curiously and find his eyes firmly planted on the rear-view mirror.
I turn slightly and glance over at my shoulder, then quickly turn back around.
The flashing lights of a police car behind us, damn near on top of the bumper, can’t be anything good.
She’s trying so damn hard to stop us.
No.
Not Kora.
Them.
Chapter Thirteen
Father Whittaker is standing outside of the car, leaning casually against the door while he chats with the officer who’s pulled us over.
He made sure to close the window before he got out, so I couldn’t hear their conversation.
I’m starting to worry a little bit, though.
After what happened to Dad, I’m wondering if maybe there was some kind of be on the lookout alert put out for me.
I don’t want Father Whittaker to get in trouble for something he didn’t do. Hell, for something I didn’t do, but trying to explain something like monsters to the law didn’t work back home in Ashford Falls, so I doubt it will work a few hundred miles away from there.
Another five tense minutes of muffled voices outside the car passes before I hear Father let out a laugh, then open the car door.
As he settles back into the driver’s seat, he shakes his head and he rolls his eyes, then turns the engine back on.
“Is everything okay?” I ask him cautiously.
“Fine, Lily. He’s going to follow us to the state line then hand us over to another state trooper who will pave the way to your mother’s house.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, but it’s not one of sadness. It’s fear, plain and simple, and knowing that I have no choice but to go back to a place I had hoped I would never see again.
It’s from knowing that Kora is waiting there, hiding, and biding her time… she wants me dead. It’s all she screamed about when she was having her violent fits, and I don’t know how to tell Father without upsetting him.
Stop saying it’s Kora. It was never her; it was them, I mentally scold myself.
“Are they looking for me?” I ask him quietly.
“Why on Earth would anyone be looking for you, Lily?” Father asks with a chuckle.
“Because of what happened to Dad.”
He inhales a deep breath then lets it out. “I don’t want to know what you think happened until we get you back home, okay? I know this may seem harsh, but I want you to tell me the truth about it, and that won’t happen until you’re under the roof of your childhood home.”
“Oh? Why is that?” I press him, feeling a twinge of annoyance starting to prick at me.
“Because you won’t be able to lie to me there,” he replies evenly as he glances in the side-view mirror, then pulls the car back onto the highway. “Lying is something I don’t tolerate, Lily. You know that.”
“But I’ve never lied to you,” I protest, falling back into the same stubborn child pose I assumed when he first put me in the car.
“I guess we’ll see,” Father replies tiredly while he adjusts the rear-view mirror. He reaches a hand over and presses the volume button a few times until I have no choice but to sit in silence all the way to the next state line.
∞
“Kora, stop!” I scream as she reaches for Mom.
She laughs the entire time. She makes it seem like it’s all a game, but I can see the pain and fear in her eyes. They’re reflected in the shattered, wall mirror she looks at me through.
I feel so fucking helpless not being able to take those things out of her, and she knows it. I think it’s why the tears start to stream down her flushed cheeks. She’s so damn skinny, so tired, her throat is raw from everything she’s screaming and sputtering, but they won’t let her go.
She keeps trying her best to stay human while s
he’s being ravaged from the inside out.
I know that I will always fear her, but faulting her will never be in the cards, because none of this is her fault.
“Kora, please!” I screech as I throw myself in between her and Mom. The holy men in the room begin to frantically yell at me to move away from her. Telling me that I’m not supposed to be interfering; but I have to try to help one way or another.
“If you leave, I can get her to stop,” I shout at them as I lose my footing and fall onto my back.
A rapid fire shower of consecrated water assaults us almost instantly.
I understand that they are trying to keep me safe, but what about Mom? What about Kora? Why would they waste such a precious thing in their fight for Kora’s soul on both of us?
“More, Priest,” the things inside of Kora snarl at him as she holds me down against the floor by my shoulders. “You’ll never win this fight if you don’t make me as wet as I know you wish you could.”
I close my eyes tightly as she puts a hand around my throat and begins to apply pressure. A warm stream and the smell of ammonia begins to run from her and down the sides of my body, and I start to cry.
There’s no way to save her that I can think of, because in a weird way, I don’t think she wants to be saved.
∞
“Fuck. Sorry,” I mutter groggily as I sit up.
Father Whittaker doesn’t reply right away.
The road isn’t moving either.
Reaching up, I rub the back of my neck and close my eyes tightly before I open them and glance at Father.
He’s sitting with his back against the door, the sound of the blinkers gently clicking is the only other sound besides his heavy breathing and mine.
“Are you okay?” I ask him curiously as I rub my eyes, then drop my hands into my lap.
Father Whittaker turns his face quickly away and shakes his head, then turns his attention back to me.
“We’re almost there, Lily. Fifty miles or so to go,” he says quietly as he straightens himself back in the seat and runs a hand back through his hair.
With a shrug, I readjust the seat belt strap across my body, then glance in the side-view mirror. I arch an eyebrow when I see the state trooper with his weapon drawn and aiming it at my reflection.
“Father—”
“Let’s keep going,” he says softly, cutting me off and putting the car in drive once the officer moves away from the trunk.
Like the night before, I can see that he’s sweating and is so damn tense that he almost looks like he’s about ready to pass out.
I turn my attention back to the side-view mirror and watch as the state trooper continues to trail behind us from a safe distance. I can’t help but wonder if he feels relieved that once we get to the state line, he’ll be able to pass us off, and everything will go back to normal for him.
I wonder what that feels like, I think glumly as I lean the side of my face against the window and watch the world go by.
I thought I knew normality once, when I sat in Devyn’s company and talked about everything but my sister—yet now, I don’t know anymore.
Chapter Fourteen
“Lily, I want you to tell me about your sister,” Father Whittaker says as we see the dark blue and banal Connecticut Welcomes You sign. “We have some time until the next trooper shows up to escort us to Ashford Falls. Might as well use it,” he reasons with a nervous laugh.
“Father? Why do you think she’s following me now? How could she have gotten out of the institution? Would it be possible that they’ve let her out?”
I know I’ve asked questions that he can’t possibly know the answer to, but I’m hoping that he’ll be willing to lie to me, if only to help calm my nerves.
“And what about Devyn? Do you think he knows that I didn’t leave without saying good-bye because I couldn’t? Did you tell him for me, Father?” I continue frantically.
I know I’m rambling at this point, but I’m running out of time now that we’re back in the state where this all happened, and I’m feeling the familiar sense of fear starting to grab hold of me all over again.
Not the kind I’ve been feeling since she found me—the one I felt when I was in the room, watching.
There was no such thing as hope, nothing except horrible, guttural screams, violent spasms, and mocking laughter.
Where one good man died, the other was terribly maimed, and Mom …
I put my face in my hands and lean forward in my seat. I can’t stop the tears from falling anymore, and I’m not sure I want them to at this point.
Walking back into Hell isn’t going to be easy, even with a man like Father Whittaker by my side.
He promised he wouldn’t leave me, and I have a feeling his word is going to be tested in ways neither of us could have ever dreamed of.
But these aren’t dreams; they’re nightmares.
It’s a place where blood is shed by those attempting to be heroes, at the hands of the one afflicted.
I just don’t know if I can stand idly by for as long as I did the last time and simply watch what she does to him.
No, it wasn’t her, I correct myself earnestly. It was them.
“Lily?”
Father Whittaker’s tone is as gentle as the hand he rests on my arm.
It makes me feel a little safer, however, I know that his resolve to help me isn’t going to be something he can manage, and I feel like I’m leading him to certain death.
There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
It was the sermon he preached the Sunday before he found me sitting in his beautiful, stone chapel by the chaotic sea, wondering how I had managed to get so far away from home.
How I was able to keep so many damn secrets from everybody around me—except for Dad.
It’s the reason he hated me as much as he did. Because Dad knew the truth while I was content with telling lies to everyone else.
And Father Whittaker has made the point of reminding me that he won’t tolerate lies. It’s almost like he’s trying to test me before he tries to save Kora from the things squatting inside of her.
“Why do you think I’m lying to you?” I ask him as I glance up and wipe the tears from my cheeks. My chest is heaving from the shuddering breaths I’m taking, and my words sound a little jumbled, but I know I’m speaking clearly enough for him to understand me.
“I never indicated that you were, Lily,” he says, giving my arm a gentle squeeze before he pulls his hand away.
“But, didn’t you say—?”
“Sit tight. It looks like our new escort is here, I’ll be right back,” he states as he turns off the engine and steps out of the car.
I let out a sigh of frustration as Father Whittaker closes the door behind him, leaving me alone again.
I can’t shake the feeling that he knows more than he’s letting on.
He’s scared.
I can see it in his sudden shifts in demeanor, in the tense tone his voice takes on, and in the way he looks at me.
But he shouldn’t be afraid of me.
Father Whittaker is my friend.
Isn’t he?
Chapter Fifteen
“Where was your home, Lily?” Father Whittaker asks about twenty minutes later. I keep glancing in the side-view mirror, watching the patrol car that’s following at a slow pace behind us.
I didn’t do what Father asked.
I stepped out of the car while I was waiting for the officers to exchange information, and this new one… he saw my face.
He looked right into my eyes.
Now he’s scared too.
I’m surprised he’s still following us instead of tucking tail and running like I expected him to.
“Um, in the middle of town,” I mumble as I rest the side of my head against the window.
I don’t know why he’s insisting on going back to my home. I don’t want to go t
here; not with all of the terrible things that I saw. Not with all of the people I watched die… all because of her.
Them, I correct myself evenly.
“Are you okay, Lily?” Father Whittaker asks me nervously.
“As okay as I can be. Why?”
My tone is as stoic as I’m feeling since I know there’s no getting out of this. I just wish that it would have been anyone else besides him.
I wouldn’t have cared so goddamn much then.
“It almost sounded like you …” his voice trails off and I turn my eyes curiously toward him.
“Like I what?” I press, pushing my hair out of my eyes.
“Nothing,” he replies with a nervous smile. “What’s the name of the street?”
With an eye roll, I give him the information for what seems like the hundredth time. Once I can tell that he’s finally committed it to memory, I pull the reclining handle on the side of the seat and lean back.
Lying with my arms over my eyes, I blow out my breath and start counting to ten.
Mom always said anything that bothered you would be gone by the count of ten, and if it wasn’t, then the only reasonable thing to do would be to stand your ground and fight it until it does.
The problem is, Mom wasn’t prepared for the this she was referring to.
None of us were.
And you sure as hell aren’t either, I think glumly as I steal a quick glance at Father Whittaker.
“Lily?”
“Huh?” I ask, glancing over at him again.
“I was asking you if you could please sit up and tell me if we’re getting close,” Father Whittaker replies with a kind smile.
I swallow another sigh as I reach for the recliner lever, and raise the seat to an upright position.
Glancing past him and outside his window, I feel a bead of sweat start to trickle down the back of my neck.
“Two more blocks. On the left at the end of the street,” I tell him softly.
I watch as his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. His knuckles turn a startling shade of white, making them stand out against his naturally tan skin.
The Salvation of Kora Page 5
