The Homing

by John Saul

  Kevin searched the hill opposite, then saw it.

  Low down, just above the valley floor, there seemed to be a cave. “You mean she’s in there?” he asked.

  Jeff nodded and started down the hillside. Kevin went after him, skidding and sliding as he tried to hold his footing. Finally they came to the bottom of the valley and headed toward the cave, stepping easily across the narrow ribbon of water that was the creek. At the mouth of the cave, Kevin paused.

  It didn’t look too big—the entrance appeared to be no more than ten or fifteen feet high, and maybe twelve wide.

  But how deep was it?

  From here, with the sun shining in his eyes, all Kevin could see was a black hole.

  “Julie’s really in there?” he asked, his voice reflecting his doubt. How the hell would she even have found this place, especially in the middle of the night?

  Jeff nodded.

  “Prove it,” Kevin challenged.

  “She’s there,” Jeff insisted. “Come on.”

  Jeff started up the slope toward the cave, and Kevin went after him, but when Jeff walked straight into the blackness that was the entrance to the cave without even pausing, Kevin hesitated.

  What the hell was going on? What were Jeff and Julie up to? Was this some kind of elaborate trick they were pulling on him?

  He stood at the entrance, staring into the darkness inside.

  Slowly, with the sun no longer shining in his eyes, he grew used to the gloom.

  Then he saw Julie.

  For a moment he froze, staring at his stepsister.

  She was crouched down at the side of the cave, only a few feet from the entrance.

  She was naked.

  And she was staring at him.

  But what made Kevin’s groin tingle and his stomach contract in sudden terror was the sight of what surrounded Julie.

  Insects.

  Thousands of them.

  Crawling on the walls.

  Hovering in the air.

  Not just bees.

  Gnats, hornets, even wasps.

  Creeping over Julie’s naked skin.

  He gazed at them, mesmerized, his heart pounding.

  Then Julie raised her arm and beckoned to him.

  “Come in,” he heard her say. “Come inside.”

  A strangled whimper of pure fear rising in his throat, Kevin lurched backward, then turned to run away from the horrifying sight.

  And found Jeff Larkin standing in front of him, his tall frame towering above him.

  The two boys gazed at each other, and Kevin’s barely controlled terror began to shatter into panic as he saw the look in his friend’s eyes. His heart pounding, he tried to step around Jeff, but Jeff’s arms snaked out and grasped his own in a far stronger grip than he’d ever remembered his friend possessing.

  “H-Hey, man, what’s going on?” Kevin managed to ask, his voice trembling.

  But Jeff made no answer. Instead he bent forward and his lips curled into a twisted smile.

  A smile that filled Kevin’s soul with numbing terror.

  As a scream rose in his throat and he opened his mouth to release it, Jeff’s smile broadened and his twisted lips parted.

  The scream died in Kevin’s throat as the dark cloud that streamed forth from Jeff’s mouth engulfed him.

  His skin stung; his mouth felt as if it was on fire.

  His throat and lungs burned.

  And then the nausea struck.

  Clutching his belly, Kevin sank to the floor of the cave.

  CHAPTER 19

  “Something really bad’s happened to Julie, hasn’t it, Mommy?”

  Molly’s voice quavered as she spoke, and Karen wished she knew how to answer the little girl.

  How long had it been since she and Molly had set out from the house? Thirty minutes? An hour? She had no way of knowing, for in her anxiety to find Julie, she’d forgotten to put on her watch.

  Over and over she’d told herself there was nothing to worry about, that Julie had simply gotten up early and taken off for a hike somewhere.

  But even as she’d tried to cling to the thought, tried to tell herself that any second Julie would answer their calls or they’d catch sight of her—maybe just around the next bend in the winding stream—an image of her older daughter had risen in her mind.

  An image that mocked her hopes.

  Before her floated Julie’s face as she’d seen it last night—the color washed from her skin, her eyes strangely flat and expressionless.

  No matter what Julie—or Ellen Filmore—said, Karen had seen that something was clearly wrong with the girl.

  Now, in the bright morning sunlight, she chastised herself for not keeping a more careful eye on Julie last night.

  What if she’d awakened in the night, delirious?

  She could have wandered away from the house, become lost in the darkness.

  No! That was ridiculous—if she’d been that sick, she would have been too weak to go very far, and they’d have found her by now. Then where was she?

  Runaway? The word echoed in her mind, and she thought of all the girls she’d seen on the streets of L.A., their faces haggard, their eyes older than their years, supporting themselves and their drug habits by selling their bodies.

  No, not Julie! she told herself. She’s out here somewhere, and we’ll find her. But even as she repeated the words to herself one more time, a great wave of hopelessness washed over her and she sank down onto a large, flat rock that edged the pool into which a stream was tumbling from a narrow gorge above.

  On any other morning Karen would have found the spot beautiful, but today she barely noticed it.

  Now, though, Molly was gazing up at the cleft from which the stream emerged.

  “What if she’s up there?” the little girl asked.

  “I don’t see how she could be, sweetheart,” Karen said. “It’s so narrow, I don’t think I could even get into it, and I’m not sure how she’d have climbed up, even if it was wide enough.”

  “Over there,” Molly promptly replied, pointing to the other side of the pool. “See? It’s almost like there’s steps in the rocks.” Kicking off her shoes, then dropping her socks on top of them, Molly waded into the water. “Look!” she cried. “It’s not deep at all. I can wade right across!”

  As the little girl waded farther into the pool, Karen scrambled back to her feet. “Honey, be careful,” she fretted. Then she gasped as Molly slipped, lost her footing and flopped into the water.

  “Molly!” Karen shrieked, instantly wading in after her daughter and plucking the little girl out of the chilly water.

  “I just slipped,” Molly complained, struggling to free herself from her mother’s clutching hands. “The rocks are just real slickery!”

  “Which means you’re staying out of the water,” Karen declared. “The last thing I need right now is for you to hurt yourself!”

  “But Mom,” Molly protested as Karen carried her back to the shore, “what if Julie’s really up there?”

  Karen looked once more at the cleft fifteen feet above the pool and shook her head. “She’s not,” she replied. “She couldn’t possibly be.” After pulling her soggy shoes off, Karen stripped her socks from her feet and wrung them out. “Let’s just go back to the house, where at least we can put on dry clothes. And maybe Julie will be back. Okay?”

  Five minutes later, abandoning the meandering stream-bed in favor of cutting through the trees, they emerged from the grove of oaks. Half a mile away they could see the house. They started across the field toward it, Molly dashing ahead of Karen, Julie forgotten for a moment as she chased a monarch butterfly as it flitted from blossom to blossom.

  And for a moment, as Karen watched her younger daughter pursue the fluttering creature, her own worry about Julie eased. But as they drew closer to the house, she began to feel a new sense of trepidation.

  She paused, gazing at the house, now only a hundred or so yards away.

  Where was Kevin?
>
  Surely he would have seen them coming across the field and come out to meet them?

  Unless someone else had already come back to the house.

  Hope surged in her heart. That must be it! Julie must have come home!

  “Molly!” she called, breaking into a run. “Molly, come on!”

  Molly streaked off toward the house, and Karen chased after her, her lungs quickly beginning to protest against the unusual strain. When she finally came to the front porch, Molly still ahead of her, she paused to catch her breath.

  She pushed the front door open, about to call out to Julie. But her daughter’s name died on her lips as soon as she stepped into the house and felt its emptiness.

  Without even exploring it, Karen knew that not only had Julie not come home, but now Kevin was no longer there, either.

  She moved inside, uncertain what to do. Finally, more for the sake of doing something—anything—she called out Kevin’s name.

  No reply.

  “Mom?” Molly said. “Where’s Kevin?”

  “I-I’m not sure,” Karen replied. “Maybe he went out looking for Julie.”

  Molly’s brows knit into a deep frown. “But he was supposed to wait for her,” Molly began. “He was supposed to—”

  “I know what he was supposed to do!” Karen cut in, her mind spinning. Where would Kevin have gone? Surely he wouldn’t have just taken off by himself?

  A note!

  If he’d gone somewhere, he would have left a note stuck to the metal door of the refrigerator with a magnet.

  Relief flooding through her, Karen strode to the kitchen.

  No note.

  She went to the back door, her eyes darting around, searching for any sign of Kevin, but the yard was as empty on this side of the house as it had been in front. She was about to go back inside when her glance fell on the triangle. Seizing the rod that hung next to it, she banged on the metal as hard as she could, shattering the quiet of the morning with a dissonant clangor. She paused for a moment, then struck the bell again. Finally, in the far distance across the road, she saw a figure moving toward the house.

  Five minutes later, panting from the run, Russell arrived on the back porch. “Where is she?” he gasped. “Is she all right?”

  Karen gazed at him bleakly. “She’s not back,” she said.

  “But the bell—” Russell began.

  “It’s Kevin,” Karen interrupted. “Now he’s gone, too.”

  “We have to call the police.” Karen was sitting at the kitchen table, struggling not to lose her composure.

  Russell, still trying to digest the news that Kevin was also missing, shook his head numbly.

  “Why not?” Karen demanded. “They can put together a search party or—or something!” Didn’t Russell care that both their children were missing? “We can’t just—”

  “They won’t start a search party until the kids have been gone at least overnight,” Russell interrupted, his voice bleak. He could imagine what Mark Shannon would say if he called the deputy so soon after the kids had left: “ ‘Kids take off all the time, Russell. Chances are they’ll be back before the day is over, but even if they aren’t, my hands are tied until tomorrow, at least. Department policy, no exceptions. Otherwise we’d all be out chasing kids twenty-four hours a day.’ ” But Karen was right—they had to do something, or they’d both go crazy. “Maybe I could take Bailey out—”

  “Bailey!” Karen exclaimed, nervously getting up from the table to go stare out the window. “Bailey can barely find his own shadow!” Her words died away as she saw something moving in the distance, far up in the foothills.

  “Karen?” Russell asked. “What is it?”

  But Karen was already through the back door and moving out into the yard. Russell went after her, and in a moment saw the figure, too.

  “Who is it?” he asked. “Can you see?”

  Karen shook her head, then called out. “Julie? Kevin?”

  Russell dashed into the house, reappearing a moment later with a battered pair of binoculars. He held them to his eyes, worked his thumb at the knob between the two lenses, then handed them to Karen. “I think it’s Kevin,” he said. “But I can’t quite—”

  Karen tried to quell the surge of disappointment that went through her. At least one of the kids was back, and maybe—just maybe—he’d found some trace of Julie. Maybe she was hurt and Kevin had come back to get help! Once again hope rose in her, and she ran forward, Molly chasing after her.

  “Kevin?” she called again. “Kevin!”

  She stopped abruptly.

  Why didn’t he answer her?

  Surely Kevin could hear her—he wasn’t more than a couple hundred yards away.

  Then she knew! Julie!

  Kevin had found Julie, but she was—

  She banished the thought from her mind the instant it formed.

  If Kevin had found Julie—even if she was only hurt—he wouldn’t be walking along the trail as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

  He would be running, coming to get help.

  She began running toward him, but long before she got to Kevin, Molly was already there, throwing her arms around her stepbrother, tugging at his arms.

  Karen paused again, watching, barely conscious that Russell was now beside her, his arm around her, watching his son with the same strange misgivings that Karen was feeling.

  Kevin knelt down, hugged Molly, and said something to her.

  Then, holding Molly’s hand in his own, he once more started toward the house.

  Now Russell, his arm dropping away from Karen’s waist, strode toward his son, the worry he’d felt only a minute ago giving way to anger that Kevin had taken off against his orders, and hadn’t even left a note.

  “All right, young man,” he said as he approached Kevin and Molly. “I hope you have a good explanation for this one, because if you don’t …” His furious words died away when Kevin finally looked up and Russell saw the look on his face.

  His son’s face was ashen, and his eyes had a strange look to them, almost as if he were in shock. Then, from beside him, Russell heard his wife’s voice.

  “Kevin?” Karen asked. “Kevin, what is it? Are you all right?”

  Kevin hesitated, almost as if he hadn’t heard the words, but then nodded. “I—”

  But the words he’d intended to say refused to come out of his mouth.

  What was happening to him?

  He wasn’t sure how long he’d been walking back down to the house, moving steadily along the trail, not really watching where he was going, but retracing the route he and Jeff had been using. All he knew was that at each branch in the trail, every fork, he’d known which way to go. In fact, as he thought about it now, Kevin realized he had no memory at all of any of those forks in the trail.

  For as he’d walked, his whole mind had been consumed with trying to make sense of what he’d seen in the cave, trying to figure out how to tell his stepmother what he’d seen.

  But now that he was home, and Karen was looking anxiously at him, waiting for him to say something about Julie, the words wouldn’t come.

  “I—I went looking for Julie,” he said, thoughts and words suddenly coming unbidden into his mind. He gestured vaguely back the way he’d come. “J-Jeff came over, and we went up into the hills.”

  Karen’s breath caught in her throat.

  They’d found Julie.

  They’d found her, and something terrible had happened to her.

  She could tell by the tone of Kevin’s voice.

  Jeff was still up there, staying with Julie, and Kevin had come back to get help. “Where?” she finally managed to ask. “Where is she?”

  Kevin only looked at her as he struggled against the irresistible urge to speak the lies that suddenly seemed to flow so easily out of his mind and off his tongue. What was happening to him? Was he going crazy? What had Jeff done to him up there?

  “You found her, didn’t you?” Karen pressed. Her voice ros
e, tinged with panic. “Didn’t you find Julie?”

  The image of his stepsister clear in his mind, Kevin opened his mouth to speak once again, determined that this time he would tell Karen the truth.

  But again the power within him overcame his own will. “No,” he heard himself say. “We looked, but we didn’t find her.”

  Wanting to scream—not merely from frustration, but from the sheer terror of what had happened to him—Kevin struggled against the new will that had invaded his mind and body.

  Struggled to scream, to speak—anything!

  Struggled, and failed.

  CHAPTER 20

  “I’m telling you for the last time,” Marian Bennett said, exasperation etched in her voice. “I’m already late for my hair appointment, and if Jolene gives my time to somebody else, you’re going to be a very sorry young man!”

  “So go get your hair done,” Andy replied, barely even looking up from the copy of Field & Stream his father had left on the kitchen table that morning. “I already told you I don’t need to go to the doctor.”

  Marian’s level of exasperation escalated another notch, and she knew she was on the verge of getting really angry, which she hated to do. She had read an article in one of the tabloids last year—or maybe the year before—that said anger was very hard on the skin, and ever since then she’d been determined she would not let her temper age her prematurely. She simply wouldn’t do it! But sometimes—and this was one of those times—Andy’s attitude just annoyed her beyond human endurance! She could see that something was wrong with him—anybody could! But he just kept insisting that he was fine.

  Just fine!

  Well, she knew better, and whether he liked it or not, he was going to the doctor! Marian’s lips pursed tightly for a moment before she remembered the tiny crease lines that were beginning to form around her mouth. “Do you want me to call your father? Is that what you want?”

  His eyes still on the magazine, Andy tried to figure out what to do. The truth was, he didn’t feel well at all, despite what he kept telling his mother. And he didn’t dislike Dr. Filmore—in fact, for someone who was always telling you about how bad for you all your favorite foods were, she was pretty nice. At least she didn’t really expect you to quit eating hamburgers and french fries at the A&W every afternoon. So why was he refusing to go see her?