“Leave my brother out of this!”
“I’m not talking about your brother, I’m talking about mine. They think I’m running the company into the ground. They want Kaitlyn out. Idiots. You can’t get her out.”
“Who is Kaitlyn, the witch?”
“Witch?” He let out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, maybe. Or a devil. Once she gets inside you, you can’t get rid of her. You don’t understand, do you?”
Eric shook his head. He kept himself between Meggie and the man in the corner.
“I didn’t mean to turn out like this, you’ve got to believe me. I’m a good person who sometimes does stupid things. Like that time in college. I never would have slept with her if I’d been sober. And then there were those government contracts in Guatemala. I wasn’t going to pay the bribe. Somehow I did. And this poor idiot who stumbled in here tonight. She knifed him and made me help her throw the body down.” His voice caught and he cleared his throat, like he had something stuck in it. “Then there was Meggie and the cave.”
“What cave?”
“The thing is,” the man went on, sounding shaky, “every single time I get in trouble Kaitlyn has something to do with it. If she hadn’t been there, it never would have happened.”
“So why don’t you go somewhere else?”
“How do I do that? She knows everything I’ve done. One word and I’m ruined. Prison, or worse. That’s why I have to do what she tells me.”
“Did she tell you to kill the pretty lady?”
The man frowned. “What do you know about that? Yeah, that’s what she wants. And she’ll be back in a few minutes. She’ll want to know what happened, why I didn’t do it. What do I tell her? I have to do it or she’ll destroy me. But I can’t.” He cocked his head. “Maybe you could help me.”
“I’m not going to help you. I’m going to rescue her!”
“That’s what I mean,” he said hurriedly. “You came in and stopped me. I couldn’t do it. Then she’ll have to do it herself.”
Eric stared. This man was even stupider than he was. And what would the witch do to Eric when she found out that he’d got in the way? Kill him, too, that’s what. Stab him dead like she did to Diego. That’s what they called MEDDLING. And bad people took care of meddlers.
“Hey!” a woman’s voice called from below, like someone trying to be loud and quiet at the same time. It was her. It was the bad lady.
The man froze and his eyes widened.
“Benjamin!”
He inched to the open doorway and poked his head out.
“Where the hell is she?” A blue light flashed up from the ground, cutting through the rain and flashing on the ceiling of Meggie’s room. “Throw her down, quick!”
It made Eric furious. That was Diego’s flashlight. They killed him. That woman took a knife and stabbed Eric’s friend dead. Then they stole his light.
Kaitlyn. That was her name. And his was Benjamin. Stabbers and murderers. He looked at the back of the man’s head with rage building inside. His hands formed fists.
“There’s someone here,” Benjamin called down.
“Who?”
“A resident. I think he heard the noise and came to investigate.”
“What?” Kaitlyn said. She sounded outraged.
“Don’t worry about it. Just some retarded guy. But he interrupted me. You’ll have to come up and help me deal with it.”
Some retarded guy. Some retarded guy.
Eric snapped.
He bellowed in rage and charged. Head lowered, he slammed into Benjamin’s back. The man flew forward. The two of them staggered onto the porch and slipped on something wet.
Eric wasn’t a good puncher. Wesley told him to never get in fights, to control his temper. So he didn’t hit people. But he couldn’t control anything now and when he came up he found that he was sitting on the man’s chest. His fists were like hammers and he slammed blows down on the man’s face.
“Get off of me. Kait!”
He was crying for help and Eric remembered the nasty woman down below. She would be coming up. And she had a knife, which she’d already used to murder one person. Eric had to get out of here or he would be the second person.
He climbed to his feet and staggered backward. Blood streamed from Benjamin’s nose, which looked funny, like a Mr. Potato Head with the wrong body part stuck into the middle of his face. It dawned on Eric that he’d been the one to do that. He didn’t feel bad. His hands hurt from punching. He didn’t feel bad about that, either.
Eric ran for the door, then stopped. Meggie lay on her back, still facing toward the ceiling. But her eyes rolled as far to the side in their sockets as they could move, watching him.
“I need to help you,” he said. “But she’s coming. What do I do?”
Benjamin struggled to his knees on the porch. Blood streamed down his face and then Eric saw there was already blood all over the decking. Diego’s blood. It must have run out when they were throwing his body over the edge. That made him angry all over again.
“No,” he told himself, only just stopping himself from attacking the man again. “Help the pretty lady.”
Eric grabbed Meggie under the armpits. He heaved, struggled to get her up over the bed railing, then slung her over his shoulder. He thought she would be heavier. Maybe it was like in the movies, where people got agitated and then lifted up cars and pried open elevator doors. They called that adrenaline.
Whatever it was, Eric had plenty of it. He burst into the darkened hallway and let Meggie’s door swing closed behind him. He turned right. No, that was wrong. Left was back toward his room—that’s where he wanted to go.
He stopped again. “That’s the first place they’ll look.”
But if he ran toward the main building, the nurses station and all the rest, he’d see Kaitlyn, coming back from outside. And that was very bad.
A door slammed down the hall. Eric stood frozen, Meggie over his shoulder. She wasn’t moving. Why not? Was she … no, she couldn’t move. Duh!
And then, because Eric couldn’t think of anything, and because he certainly wasn’t going to wait for Kaitlyn to catch him and stab him to death, he did the first thing that popped into his mind.
He stepped across the hall to the opposite room, opened the door, and slipped inside.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eric found himself back in An-hela’s room. What a funny name.
“Angela,” he whispered. “That’s how they say it in English.”
She was a teenager with shiny black hair and a round, smooth face that looked peaceful as she slept beneath the soft glow of a nightlight. Looking at her, you wouldn’t know she was mentally handicapped like Eric, plus she had to use a wheelchair. Someone said she had spinal beef … .something like that. Beefeater? Spinal beefeater?
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he whispered.
Then he shut his mouth and froze. Two voices spoke rapidly in the hallway outside. Eric was behind the door and could pick out their words.
“I don’t know where he went,” Benjamin said. He sounded funny and gurgly. “I didn’t see.”
“Well he didn’t go back my way or I would have seen him.”
“Forget about him. He’s a resident.”
“He’s got Meggie, you moron. Was it the blond kid?”
“That’s right. About my height. Really strong arms.”
“Stop making excuses.”
“I’m not. He broke my nose.”
“His name is Eric,” Kaitlyn said. “Not very bright. I’ll bet he took her back to his room. That’s this way.”
Whew, that was close. Good thing he wasn’t in his room. They’d catch him. Then they’d take out the knife. But when they didn’t find him in his room, what then? They’d keep looking, so what should he do? He could carry Meggie out the other way. Go to the nurses station and ask for help. Hopefully, she wasn’t working with these two bad people.
“Can I trust you here by yourself?” Kaitlyn said
in the hallway.
“Why don’t I come with you?”
“What if he’s in the bathroom or hiding out somewhere? We can’t let him get out of the residence halls. Here, take this. If you see him, cut his throat. Meggie’s, too. Don’t give me that look. I’m sure he’s gone back to his room. He’s not smart enough to think of anything else.”
“How will you take care of him without the knife? He’s strong. Look what he did to me.”
“With this,” she said.
“Oh.”
With what? Eric almost forgot everything and looked into the hall to see. Just in time, he remembered. Footsteps thumped down the hallway.
Again, he almost threw the door open. Then he remembered that the man was supposed to stay behind and watch for him. Sure enough, footsteps creaked outside. Benjamin sniffled. Muttered some bad words.
Eric was getting tired. He sat in the chair with Meggie in his arms, like she was a big baby. Her hair smelled like peaches.
Angela hadn’t awakened in her bed, but kept sleeping with a peaceful expression, her face lit by the nightlight above her bed. It was the shape of a clown. Eric didn’t like clowns. Their smiling faces looked like they were hiding something. Like they were UP TO NO GOOD. He struggled back to his feet, still holding Meggie, then reached over Angela’s bed and flipped off her nightlight. There, now he didn’t have to look at the clown.
But the dark scared him, too. He kept seeing Diego slumped over Meggie’s bed while the mean woman shoved a knife up under his ribs.
The rain was letting up outside. Moonlight broke through the clouds and filtered into the room. He carried Meggie out to Angela’s porch where he could see better. There, he made an important discovery. It took a minute before he understood what it meant.
This side of the habitat didn’t face the woods. Instead, it looked up the hill toward the outdoor dining area, the butterfly garden, and the hydrotherapy building. There were no stilts outside Angela’s room, because the building was built right into the hill on this side. There were only stilts on the other side. And that meant her room was only six or seven feet above the ground.
Footsteps and voices sounded in the hall again. There was a hammock on the deck that they must have lifted Angela into from time to time, and Eric lowered Meggie in and whispered in her ear that he’d be right back. He crept to the door to listen.
“Then where did they go?” Benjamin asked.
“Got to be in one of these rooms. Probably close. Wait down by the door. I’m going to search the rooms one by one until I find them. Start in this building and work my way down to the other habitats.”
Eric’s throat tightened. If they started in this building, that meant right here. This room. It would be the first they’d check. He backed toward the deck where he’d left Meggie. This was it. This was how they would catch him and kill him like they did Diego. And they’d murder Meggie, too. What had she ever done?
He pulled shut the doors onto the balcony and stood trembling.
“Maybe they won’t look,” he whispered. “But if they do, I’ll fight for your life. I promise.”
He didn’t know if Meggie could hear, but that was okay. He was mostly talking to himself, trying to be brave. The witch had a knife. Or had she given it to the man? He couldn’t remember.
And then he glanced over the balcony. It wasn’t that far. He could jump over the edge and land on the grass easily enough. Wesley would say, “Be careful, Ruk, you might break your leg,” but he could do it. What he couldn’t do was leave Meggie lying here in the hammock, hoping they wouldn’t find her.
Eric heaved her out. Holding her in his arms, he swung his leg over the railing. The door to the hallway swung open. Footsteps sounded in the room. Eric got his other leg over and jumped.
Leaping down by himself would have been easy. With Meggie, it almost ended in disaster. First, he had to twist hard to keep from landing on her. Then, he landed awkwardly on one ankle. It buckled painfully beneath him and he tried not to cry out. But the ground was wet and kind of muddy and his foot slipped across the grass instead of bending back the wrong way.
He rose to his feet. His ankle hurt, but not too much. NOT BROKEN, they would say. He struggled to get Meggie back in his arms, checking as he did to make sure she was okay. She seemed to be, though she still wasn’t talking. She stared into his eyes until he had to look away.
She was so pretty, and also very smart inside her mind prison. She probably thought he was dumb, and if she could talk, she’d tell him a million better things to try.
Eric limped across the grass. At first he started toward the main buildings, and the lights that welcomed him, promising help. He didn’t know who was working with the bad people, but he had to try someone. The rain soaked his clothing and he blinked to get it out of his eyes.
A shout sounded at his back. He turned. Benjamin stood on Angela’s covered porch, calling for help. He hadn’t yet jumped over to give chase.
It was a long way to the main buildings, and all of it across grass. Eric wasn’t good at figuring out distances, but he could see at once that he’d never make it. Not carrying Meggie. And he wasn’t going to put her down.
“We’ll never make it.”
But the woods were closer, only a few feet away, down that wet, grassy slope. It was dark in there, with trees and branches, and so many vines and ferns, and plants growing on top of other plants, that if he stayed quiet, he might be able to get in there and hide. After that, he didn’t know what to do.
He staggered toward the hillside. As he reached the edge, his foot stepped in an open drainage pipe that he hadn’t seen in the dark, which channeled water off the lawn and down into the woods. He lost his balance, landed on top of Meggie, and slid down the hillside, unable to stop himself. It was like a terrifying water slide, straight toward the black row of trees. He gripped her pajamas, unwilling to let go and lose her in the dark. They crashed into the bushes and came to a stop.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
He dragged her out of the bushes, then cradled her in his arms, afraid that he’d hurt her and with no way to know for sure in the dark. He took off his shirt and used it to wipe mud from her face. He was careful around her eyes, mouth, and nose.
Wes’s voice sounded in his head. Make sure she’s not hurt, Ruk.
“Are you hurt?”
No, not like that. He started at her feet and worked his way up her ankles, trying not to poke or pinch her too hard. As he did, he muttered an explanation, so she wouldn’t be mad that he was touching her like that. She seemed to be okay.
Diego’s penlight flashed on the hillside. Eric pulled Meggie deeper into the bushes. It was so dark in here, and he was afraid. But at least it was drier beneath the canopy. He held her close and didn’t move. The light followed the row of trees, then came several feet in. Twice, they walked past his position. The second time, they stopped not ten feet away, on the edge of the grass.
“He’s got to be right here, under our noses,” Kaitlyn said. “Like up in the rooms. I’ll bet he came right in and hid close by.”
Eric drew in his breath. She was right. That was dumb. He should have kept going. But he was tired and needed to rest. And he made noise when he moved. What choice did he have?
“Look what I found in the aide’s pocket,” she said.
“A phone?”
“And look what I found in the address book.”
“Pilson?” Benjamin asked.
“That’s Eric’s last name. And look at this.”
Eric’s heart pounded. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but if they’d found his phone that was bad.
“Think he made a call?” Benjamin asked.
“There’s no coverage up here. So no, we dodged a bullet. But now we know, don’t we. They’re working together. Come on.”
At last, they moved along, retreating, he thought, toward the main buildings.
“They must be very angry,” Eric told Meggie when he wa
s sure they were safe, at least for the moment. “Furious. We can’t let them catch us. But what should I do? I wish you could tell me. Or my brother was here. He’s so smart, he’d come up with an idea. And Becca, too. She’d stop Kaitlyn and Benjamin, just you see. Becca has a baby growing in her belly.”
Wes and Becca were somewhere close, weren’t they? That’s right, they told him that when he saw them at Devil’s Cauldron. If only he could remember. He tugged at the roots of his hair in frustration.
“There’s another trail,” he said with a burst of excitement. “It goes past the hot springs down to the lake. That’s how they got up. That’s where we’ll go.”
It took a lot of effort to lift her again. His ankle still hurt, and he’d twisted a muscle in his back when he fell down the grassy slope. But he had to get moving. He was sure that if he kept going around the buildings, staying in the trees and fighting through the underbrush, he would come across the trail up to the hot springs.
“I won’t let you down,” he told her. “You’ll see. I can do it.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Meggie’s emotions were as volatile as the water boiling up from the dormant volcano beneath their feet. First terror, then hope, followed by a fresh wave of fear. Diego’s murder. Benjamin starting to suffocate her two different times. The first time Diego had interrupted them, and the second time Benjamin couldn’t go through with it. Once Kaitlyn rushed off to deal with the body, his spine had dissolved like a hunk of ice tossed into the hot springs.
Then Eric came. She’d have rather had his brother and his wife. The woman may have been pregnant, but she’d carried a determined glint in her eyes when she came search for Meggie among the hummingbird feeders. Those two would be a match for Benjamin and Kaitlyn.
But Eric was brave and determined, she had to give him that. He knocked Benjamin to the ground, then carried her off. He could have left her in the hammock and run for his life, but he didn’t. And when he hauled her into the woods, he’d even taken the time to clean her off and check her tenderly for injuries. Benjamin had dismissed him as “some retarded guy.”
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