The Calling dr-2

by Kelley Armstrong

  As we searched for food, I found the file the woman had been reading. It was tucked in a cupboard. When I picked it up, Daniel shook his head.

  “We can’t take anything like that. Risky enough stealing food. They’ll definitely notice if their papers are missing.” He walked over. “Are they … about us?”

  I showed him the top one, a topographical map of the island. Beneath it was a list with all our names on it.

  “Okay, read fast,” he said. “I’ll find food.”

  I skimmed the document. More than once I had to slow down, not sure I was understanding. I forced myself to keep going, assimilating as much as I could while jotting down names and phrases on a pad of paper left on the table.

  Daniel came back. “Got nuts and granola bars, drink boxes, and two bottles of water. We can refill the bottles at streams. I could take more, but then it’d definitely be noticed.”

  “That’s good. Just give me a sec to finish—”

  Footsteps thumped on the front porch. Daniel grabbed the papers from my hand. As he put them back, I dashed into the bedroom. There wasn’t a closet. I dove under the bed.

  I doubt anyone had cleaned under there since it was moved into the room, and maybe not even before that. The inch-thick dust I could live with. It was the mouse droppings and used tissues that would have sent me scurrying for another place. But there wasn’t time. Daniel dove in behind me, and we lay with our heads near the foot of the bed, so we could peer out the doorway.

  I watched boots walk in—expensive hiking boots and a few inches of denim pant legs. One person. Male. He let the door swing shut behind him, and headed straight for the cooler. He popped open what sounded like a beer bottle, and chugged the contents.

  As he drank, he wandered, the thump of his boots punctuated by the tap-tap of texting. Then he grunted.

  “Damned hellhole,” he muttered. “Oh, sure, there’ll be cell service. Right. The only thing this island has is mosquitoes.”

  Our mosquitoes weren’t bad at all—I only had a bite or two after a day in the woods. He was just being cranky. It sounded like the same man who’d hit the deer, and obviously, his mood hadn’t improved. He muttered some more as he tried to text again, then picked up the radio, hit a button, and complained to someone on the other end.

  “If it’s an urgent message, I can relay it to headquarters,” said the man on the other end. “But I have a feeling it’s not urgent, Moreno.”

  “No? You don’t know Sheila. If I don’t call her by tonight, she’ll be throwing my things out of the apartment window, sure I’m shacking up with some girl in Vancouver.”

  “I’ll let you call her on the satellite phone later, okay? If you get your ass back out here.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I was just grabbing some water.”

  He disconnected. We waited for him to go. And waited. Apparently, he wasn’t done drinking his “water.” At least five minutes passed before he finally made his way toward the door.

  He got the door open, then came back and rustled around in the pantry. A pause. Then “huh.” I knew Daniel had been careful about putting everything back the way he found it. Daniel was always careful.

  The guy grabbed a granola bar, wrapper crinkling as he ripped it open. He munched it on the way to the door. We watched his boots as he hesitated. He turned, as if looking around the cottage. Then he took another bite, and chewing loudly, headed out.

  “He made us,” Daniel whispered as he shot from under the bed.

  I scrambled after him. “What?”

  “He knows we’re here.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Daniel was already at the door, throwing it open and charging through.

  TWELVE

  BY THE TIME I caught up, the man was facedown with Daniel on his back, as if he’d knocked him flying clear off the porch. Knocked the radio from his hand, too. It lay a few feet from the man’s outstretched fingers.

  “Moreno?” The other man’s voice came over the radio. “What’s up now?”

  The man—Moreno—lifted his head to answer. Daniel slammed his face into the ground so hard I winced.

  A moment of silence, then the other man sighed and disconnected.

  “Guess you made one too many unnecessary calls,” Daniel said.

  “No,” Moreno said. “He realized I’m in trouble. He’s coming.”

  I glanced at Daniel, but he shook his head. The man was bluffing. He motioned for me to stand watch, though, just in case.

  “We need to get him away from here,” I said, “so we can interrogate him.”

  “Interrogate me?” Moreno sputtered a laugh. “You kids are cute, you know that? You escape from a helicopter crash and suddenly you’re outlaws. Let me tell you how this is going to work—”

  Daniel heaved Moreno to his feet. The man swung at him, but Daniel ducked easily and returned a one-two punch that left Moreno reeling.

  “Island wrestling champ,” I said. “Only third place in boxing, though, so you’re getting off easy.”

  Moreno steadied himself, then charged. I stuck out my foot and tripped him.

  “Ouch,” I said as he hit the ground. “That’s kind of embarrassing.”

  Daniel hauled him up again and led him toward the forest. I ran back inside and grabbed rope and a towel to gag him if we needed to. But Moreno didn’t try to scream for help. He just let Daniel lead him along, smirking, as if humoring us.

  “You taking me to the other kids?” he asked.

  “There aren’t any others,” Daniel said. “We’re the only ones who made it.”

  Moreno laughed. “Right. That’s sweet, protecting your buddies. Did you forget we have a source now? Little Nicky?”

  “Ni-Nicole?” I said.

  Daniel glanced back at me, his look warning me not to fall for it so fast.

  “We saw her get shot,” I said.

  “Um, yeah, tranquilizer dart. I’d have thought you would know about those, Miss Maya the animal doctor.”

  “You expect us to believe you?”

  “Ah, getting cynical. Can’t blame you, under the circumstances, finding out your entire life is a lie. Not going to trust anyone now, are you? Nicole is fine. She told us what happened on the helicopter. How things went wrong. You thought the mayor had been sedated. Daniel sent the pilot flying and knocked him out. Samantha tried to fly the bird, but Rafe fell out. Then it crashed and now the pilot and the mayor are dead.” He paused. “I can’t imagine how bad you must feel, Maya. All those people dead because you made a mistake about the mayor.”

  Daniel clenched his free hand, as if he was going to deck the guy. When I shook my head, he shoved Moreno hard and said, “She didn’t make a mistake. The pilot dosed Mr. Tillson before we got on that helicopter. I saw it happen and I saw the injection spot.”

  Moreno shrugged. “If he did, it was to prevent exactly that sort of scenario. Panic and tragedy.”

  Daniel kept pushing him forward until we were deep in the woods. Then he kicked him in the back of the legs, knocking him to his knees.

  “Tough guy, huh?” Moreno said. “I’m not the one you’re supposed to be using those skills on.”

  “Oh, I think you are … demon.”

  Daniel’s voice was steady, but I saw the hesitation in his eyes as he said the word. Moreno didn’t and, for the first time, he looked genuinely surprised. With that, Daniel knew Sam had been telling the truth, and his chin dipped.

  “Yes, Daniel knows he’s a benandanti,” I said.

  “Suppose the Russo girl told him. We thought she might know.” He looked at me. “And what about you? Figured out your superpowers yet?”

  Daniel looked over at me, but there was no shock in his eyes. Just the same look as when Moreno confirmed he was part-demon, one that said he’d already suspected as much.

  “I know something’s happening to me,” I said.

  “Already? Calvin will be pleased. So, Maya, do you want to know the big secret? What you really are?”

&
nbsp; “Of course she does,” Daniel said.

  “Good.” Moreno flashed a smile. “Then this is where we begin negotiations. You two lead me back to that cabin and let me call my associates. We’ll take you someplace safe and tell you everything you need to know.”

  “Um, right,” I said. “We’ve escaped a helicopter crash, trekked through the forest all night, and captured you. But that was just for fun. Time to stop goofing off and turn ourselves in.”

  “Do your parents let you get away with talking to adults like that?”

  “Only when those adults treat me like an idiot.”

  “We have the upper hand here,” Daniel said. “If you’re going to give us some crap about turning ourselves in because we’re a danger to society? Don’t bother.”

  “Danger to society?” Moreno pursed his lips as if considering it. “Not really. A danger to yourselves? Absolutely. You’re going through a lot right now, but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming. You need help.” He looked at me. “Have you met Annie?”

  My mouth went dry and my heart started to thud.

  “I take it that’s a yes. I don’t know how much you know about your ‘condition,’ Maya, but unless you want to end up like Annie, I’d suggest you take me back to that cabin. Turn yourselves in. Get the help you need. The kind of help the St. Clouds and the Edison Group can’t provide.”

  “Edison Group?” Daniel said.

  “Don’t know as much as you think, do you? I’m betting, in the larger scheme of things, you barely know anything.”

  “Tell us, then,” I said. “Otherwise, how can we understand how much danger we’re in?”

  “You’re a clever one, aren’t you? Nope. Sorry. You want more, you need to take me back to the cabin and call the others—your friends and mine.”

  He wasn’t budging. Although we could pretend we held the power here, he knew better because he knew we weren’t going to hurt him. He’d laughed at the thought of us interrogating him, and as much as that pissed me off, he had a point.

  We were teenagers who’d grown up in a tiny town where we’d been treated like precious gems, which I guess, in a way, we were. We’d had an easy life. While we were tough enough to survive in the woods, we wouldn’t hurt Moreno in order to make him talk. It went against every value that had been instilled in us. Daniel’s power of persuasion was apparently on the fritz, so we were stuck.

  For a moment during our attempted interrogation, I considered getting Sam. I suspected she could have handled this. But I honestly didn’t think it would do any good. Moreno wasn’t telling us anything else.

  We patted him down and confiscated his cell phone. It needed a code, and he wasn’t giving it up.

  Finally, we did the closest thing to torturing him we could come up with. We gagged him with the towel and tied him to a tree a couple hundred meters from the cabin.

  “Your friends aren’t going to find you,” Daniel said. “And the nights are getting cold. It’ll be a race between hypothermia and dehydration, see which kills you first.”

  We paused a moment, letting that sink in, then I said, “Are you sure you don’t want to talk to us?”

  Moreno rolled his eyes, still looking amused.

  “He’ll think it’s a lot less funny by morning,” I said to Daniel. “We’ll come back then, see if he’s changed his mind.”

  We’d hoped that threat would be enough to get him talking. It wasn’t. As we walked away, we looked back a couple of times to see if he was straining at his bonds, wildly trying to tell us he’d talk. He just sat there. Which meant we were screwed. No way we were hanging around until morning and then coming back. I suppose he knew that. Maybe he also knew we wouldn’t really walk away and leave him to die—that his bonds weren’t tight enough to bind him there forever. Just long enough to let us get far away as his friends searched for him.

  THIRTEEN

  “WE DIDN’T GET MUCH out of him,” Daniel said when we were away from Moreno.

  “It fit with what I read in the cabin, though. It’s starting to come together but—”

  Barking erupted in the forest. A very deep, very familiar, very loud bark.

  “Kenjii!” Daniel said.

  I broke into a run. Daniel kept pace behind me. As I ran, I mentally cursed the others for not quieting my dog. That bark would carry for miles.

  When I was close enough for Kenjii to hear me, I gave a soft whistle. She came crashing through the bushes.

  “No!” Hayley yelled. “Kenjii!”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s me.”

  Kenjii barreled into me. I managed to avoid being bowled over, but when I tried to get past her, she bumped my legs, prodding me back the way I’d come.

  “Maya?” Hayley called, loud enough to make me wince. “Daniel?”

  I pushed Kenjii aside. She growled and leaped into my path, then bumped me with her head. Telling me to stay back. Don’t come this way. When Daniel tried to pass her, she blocked him, too.

  I shoved her aside with a firm “no.” I saw Hayley and Sam, standing near the abandoned ATV and dead deer. I tried to brush past Daniel. His arm shot out to stop me. And then I saw why. Corey was crouched beside the ATV, as if he’d been working on it. On the other side of the dead deer was a snarling, spitting cougar.

  “She came for the deer,” I whispered. Seeing the cougar from another angle, I noticed her hanging teats. “She’s lactating, which means she has cubs close by. The ATVs have probably been scaring away the game. She’s getting desperate.”

  “I appreciate the Nature Channel commentary,” Corey said. “But it’s really not helping, Maya.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Think you could use some of that animal whisperer mojo? Tell her the deer looks tasty, but she can have it. In fact, I insist.”

  “You’ve forgotten everything my dad taught us all about dealing with big cats, haven’t you?”

  “Oddly, it’s slipped my mind. Something to do with seeing six-inch fangs a foot from my throat.”

  “They’re two inches, tops, and she’s a meter away.”

  “Maya…”

  “Step one, maintain eye contact. Step two, stand up. Never crouch around a cat—it makes you look like prey.”

  He shot to his feet so fast the cougar started, then snarled.

  “Um, move slowly,” I said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t worry. She wants the deer, not you. Dead prey is easier to catch. Let her know you’re surrendering it by backing away, slowly, while keeping eye contact.”

  He did that. The cat stood her ground, crouched, but her ears were forward, head raised, rear legs still. In other words, considering attack, but not yet sure it was necessary.

  Once Corey had retreated a few meters, the cougar slunk forward, going for the deer. She grabbed it by the neck. Then, hauling it with her, she swung around, her back to the ATV as she looked over at us, checking out the remaining competition.

  I tightened my grip on Kenjii’s collar, but she was staying calm.

  “Don’t move,” I murmured to the others. “Keep eye contact, but don’t move.”

  As I spoke, the cat met my gaze. Her eyes widened and her rounded pupils dilated. She lifted her head and sampled the air. Then she growled.

  I tried to step back. I knew I should, but my legs wouldn’t obey. I stood my ground and I held her gaze, and when I did, everything else seemed to disappear. I felt the rush of wind. Heard my feet pounding against the earth. Smelled grass and pine needles and blood. Smelled the blood of the deer and felt the birthmark on my hip begin to throb. The throbbing pulsed outward, an ache that ran down my legs and up into my arms and—

  A wrench on my arm yanked me back to reality as I saw the cougar leap. Saw her fangs flash in a snarl, gaze still locked on mine. Saw Kenjii running at her.

  I screamed and lurched forward. Beside me, I dimly heard Daniel yell. Felt his fingers brush my arm. Heard my father’s voice. If Kenjii ever goes after a bear or a cat, y
ou can’t interfere, Maya. No matter how hard it is to stand there and let her protect you, you cannot interfere.

  He was right. I knew he was right. And it didn’t matter. I looked into that cat’s eyes, and saw her change target, hitting my dog instead, and rage filled me, an indescribable primal rage, like when a cougar had attacked Daniel. There was no way in hell I was letting her hurt Kenjii.

  The cat took my dog down and they rolled, snarling and hissing. I kicked the cat. Kicked her with everything I had, and she fell to the side. I kicked her again, aiming for her wide skull. My foot made contact. The cougar went down hard. Kenjii leaped on her and pinned her by the throat.

  “No,” I said before Kenjii could bite down. “No.”

  The word sounded strange, harsh and guttural, but it stopped Kenjii and she settled for pinning the cat.

  Daniel caught my arm. I shook him off and walked over until I was right in front of the cat. Then I bent by her head and looked into her panic-filled, rolling eyes.

  Go. Take the deer and go. I don’t want to hurt you.

  I meant to say the words aloud. I didn’t hear them, though. Not outside my head. I looked the cat in the eyes and I thought them again, and she went still, gaze fixed on mine as her eyes stopped rolling.

  Go on. Take the deer. Feed your cubs. Leave us alone.

  She snorted as if she understood. I caught Kenjii by the collar and gently pulled her back. When Daniel moved up behind me, I reached back and took his hand. He hesitated for a second, then squeezed it, and stood beside me as the cougar picked up the deer by the throat again and dragged it off into the woods.

  “Situation averted,” I said. My voice still sounded strange.

  Daniel squeezed my hand again, reassuring me. But the others said nothing. I looked back to tell them it was okay, she was gone, and we were safe, only they weren’t staring after the cougar. They were staring at me.

  I released Kenjii and started to speak, then coughed to clear away whatever was making my voice sound so odd. I reached up to rub my throat. When my fingers brushed my skin, they felt strange, rough.