Alex Finch

by Cate Dean

  “Sorry.” Candace didn't sound the least bit sorry. “I'm going to rewrap it, and when we're done, we have a date with the x-ray tech. Got it?”

  I nodded, afraid of what might come out of my mouth if I opened it.

  “Hold still. This is going to hurt.”

  “Candace?”

  “What is it, Finch?”

  I swallowed, finally saying it out loud. “I'm scared.”

  She stopped, laid her hand on my calf. Her touch was warm, and more reassuring than I expected. “If you weren't, Alex, I'd be checking you to see if you lacked a brain. We're all in different stages of terrified, but we'll get through it, because we have each other to depend on.”

  “Impressive bedside manner, Corwin.” Jake's voice broke the silence. Both he and Dad watched us, twisted around in their seats. “You practice that in the mirror?”

  “Bite me, Jake.”

  He grinned. “My pleasure.”

  Candace snorted, but as she continued wrapping my ankle, I saw the smile hidden by her hair. She finished, and pulled an instant cold pack out of the kit, activating it before she set it on my ankle.

  “That stays until we get there. I'll help you with your poor choice of shoe wear,” she said, stopping my protest. “I'm trying to undo damage and a short arrival time with everything I've got.” She slapped a protein bar in my hand. “Eat that, while you can.”

  I looked up, my heart skipping when I saw the familiar shops of downtown.

  We were almost there.

  19

  At night, the McGinty house looked like a haunted house—spooky, crumbling, and creaking in every breeze off the nearby ocean. Thank goodness the entrance was outside. I didn’t think I could go in there again, at night, with Jake behind me.

  Sam kept driving, parking in a public lot down the street. The others unloaded while Candace helped me on with my boot. Not surprisingly, my foot swelled during its freedom, and getting it back in the heavy, inflexible leather boot proved to be a painful exercise. The tighter wrapping made it throb more, but I could walk on it without feeling like it was about to give way.

  I pushed it to the back of my mind and joined everyone in front of the SUV. Dad studied us while Sam passed out duffle bags, fighting a smile. “Try not to look like you’re going into battle. It’s Friday night, before Halloween.”

  He didn’t need to say any more. When Halloween fell on a weekend, the town partied. I always wondered about the seriously odd attachment to this holiday; some years it was bigger than Christmas. What hid under our feet made me think there was more to it than the fun of dressing up.

  Just how many people knew what happened ten years ago? I felt like I’d been walking around blind.

  I had to stop, before this gave me a headache. There was plenty of time to ask the big questions. After. And I really wanted there to be an after. For all of us.

  Dad seemed to sense me falling deeper into the murk of my thoughts. He slipped his arm around my waist and started moving, slow enough for me to keep pace. “How’s my favorite girl?”

  “Terrified.” Okay—didn’t mean for that to pop out.

  “You’re not alone this time, Alex. Remember that.” He squeezed me, tight, then let go, moving to the head of our little pack. Too little to be facing the green-eyed Devil we were about to face.

  Dad’s prediction wasn’t far off. We ran into at least three parties along the street, and we were the ones who stood out, for our lack of costume.

  “Hey!” A seriously drunk pirate, who looked like one of the local surfers, with his sun-bleached hair and dark tan, stumbled over to Candace and tried to hug her. She sidestepped with a speed and efficiency that told me she’d had plenty of practice. My guess was she got that practice in college, dodging male med students. Tall blonde goddess equals hard to resist.

  Dad stepped in front of Jake before he could do something stupid. Jake looked furious, and more wolfish than usual. “We’re late for our own party,” Dad said.

  “Yeah? What’re you going as—losers?”

  Dad grinned at him, tapping the shotgun pressed against his leg. “Monster hunters.”

  “Whoa—dude.” The surfer swayed forward. I waited for him to keep going, all the way to the sidewalk. He managed to catch his balance at the last second. “Is that thing real?”

  Dad winked at him, and started walking. “Halloween, my man,” he said over his shoulder. “Time to believe in magic.”

  The drunk surfer stared at us as we walked past him, then raised his glass, spilling beer down the front of his blousy white shirt. “Waste ’em, dudes!”

  Misty clapped one hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. Dad let his laughter float into the night. It lightened my fear, and seemed to have the same effect on everyone else. Except Sam.

  “Hey.” Jake moved to him, bumped his shoulder. “Stop with the grim face, cousin. We know what we’re walking into, and we have the advantage—she doesn’t know we’re coming. It’s not all on you—”

  “It should be.” Sam sounded angry. He stopped in front of the rusted wrought iron fence surrounding the McGinty house, and turned to face us. “This is my fight. My family made this bargain a long time ago, and you shouldn’t be—”

  “Stop,” I said. Before I could second guess myself, I moved to Sam. “This is about all of us now. The monster’s out of the closet, and we have to shove it back in and lock the door. Us, Sam. All our families are at risk, and as scared as I am,” I swallowed, kept going. “I can’t walk away. I won’t walk away.”

  Misty stepped up next to me, draped her arm across my shoulders. “We’re here because we want to be. Because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t get the chance to be a heroine every day, so I’m taking it. Now let’s go find those kids.”

  She took me with her as she headed for the gate. It was still open; from our last visit? Not many people hung out here, even around Halloween. “Hey, Alex?” I looked up at her, not surprised to see my own fear in her blue eyes. “Are we totally crazy to be doing this?”

  I nodded. “Totally.”

  She swallowed, freeing her arm. “Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one on the crazy train.” With her shoulders squared, she walked through the open gate and across the yard.

  I had to admire her, since I figured she had the same memories of our last time here racing through her mind. And the source was right behind us, joking with her sister. For at least the hundredth time, I forced myself not to think about what might happen if Jake changed.

  Dad caught up with me on the side of the house, and for the thousandth time I wished he wasn’t part of this. Why did I pull him in? I could have found those plans on my own, found the sewers, the town, discovered the secrets of this place without him . . .

  The memory of his truck screaming around the corner filled my mind, him leaping out with his shotgun to fight off my stalker. I let out a shaky breath. I may not even be here without him. That still didn’t make me any happier that he was here.

  He stopped all of us when we reached the entrance to the town below. “No heroics. We stick together. Our goal is to find those kids and get them out.” He glanced at each one of us, pausing on Sam until he nodded. “Good. Now let’s go get them.”

  20

  We lowered the duffle bags into the dark, narrow hole first. Dad figured if something waited for us it would attack the first thing that appeared.

  When nothing happened, Dad went down, his flashlight beam a beacon, and a guide for each of us as we climbed the metal ladder. Jake insisted on going last, to cover our backs. Not exactly someone I wanted behind me, where I couldn’t see him if he—

  I stopped that thought before it finished. There was no point. Not now, when we needed him to find our way to the nest.

  We agreed before we got here to talk as little as possible once underground, since our voices would carry, and take away the one advantage we had—surprise.

  I managed to get down the ladder without taking a heade
r, my ankle screaming at me by the time I got to the bottom. Misty touched my hand, pressing the straps of my duffle against my fingers. I slung it over my shoulder, waited in the darkness, every nerve twitching.

  The main valve for the gaslights didn’t work. Dad pulled me in, whispered against my ear. “I’m going next door. It’s the mayor’s office, and there should be a secondary, at least for this street. Pass the message.”

  I didn’t want him going anywhere alone, but I wanted to walk down here in complete darkness even less. Nodding, I stepped back, whispered to Misty. She nodded against my lips, and I felt her move away from me.

  Relief flooded out the rising panic when a low, flickering glow spread across the main street. Dad came back, gestured to Sam to put his hand on Dad’s shoulder. I got what he wanted, and had Misty move in front of me, since she could see more than short me. The single line chain kept us together, and left one hand free for—whatever. Another thought I didn’t want to finish.

  Because I was looking down, to keep from tripping on anything, I was the first person to see the lump in the middle of the main street. A lump that looked human.

  My fingers dug into Misty’s shoulder. Dad halted, obviously seeing it now. He whispered to Sam, flashed me a smile, and headed for the lump. My heart jumped when he started running. He dropped to his knees, lowered both the shotgun and his duffle, and carefully turned the lump over.

  “Oh, God,” Candace whispered. She pushed past me and ran to Dad, the first aid kit in her hand.

  When he reached up to take it from her, I saw what Candace must have guessed. The lump was a little boy.

  We all moved forward, crowding around the still figure. I covered my mouth when I recognized the blood splattered face. It was the boy from the photo on Mrs. Swiller’s computer.

  Candace worked over him, revealing a series of long gashes on his chest. “They’re shallow,” she whispered, taking the gauze Dad held out for her.

  Dad laid a hand on her shoulder. “How long before we have to move him?”

  She checked his pulse, then the wounds again, her hands skimming over him, probably to see if there were other injuries. “He’s good for the next few minutes. But not any longer than that.” She looked at Dad, waited until he nodded. “I’ll stay with him.”

  “I’m staying, too.” Jake crouched down next to her. She started to object, and he just pressed his finger against her lips. “You need someone to watch your back while you take care of him.” He pulled the sewer map out of his pocket, handed it to Dad. “The nest is big enough that you’ll trip on it. I have to stay.”

  Dad met Jake’s eyes, and nodded. “We’ll be as fast as we can. Give us ten minutes, then get the boy out of here.”

  The whispered conversation took about a minute, but it felt like ten times that, out here in the middle of a ghost town, with no idea where the monster was.

  Dad stood, taking my hand. Misty latched on to my free arm, and I saw Sam do the same to her. We moved to the edge of the boardwalk, staying in the dirt street. I remembered how much those old boards creaked from our last time down here.

  We had to go around the next building, and into the dark alley to get to the sewer entrance. Dad turned on his flashlight, tightened his grip on my hand, and moved into the alley. The entrance to the sewer finally appeared in the single beam, like a gaping mouth in the ground.

  Letting me go, Dad turned around, leaned in to whisper against Misty’s ear. I was next. “Give me your duffle. You’ll go after Misty. Nod.” I did, feeling him take the heavy bag. He reached for Sam.

  We moved to the edge, and Dad knelt, tying our duffles together. He attached the other end of the rope to his belt, and pointed to his flashlight, motioning that he was going to turn it off. Misty grabbed my hand again, and I saw her take Sam’s just before Dad switched off the light. It snapped in the silence, seemed to echo off the low ceiling, and the dark surrounded us.

  With my ability to see gone, every noise around us felt like an approaching threat. Misty’s fingers tightened around mine, let me know I wasn’t alone. I identified the quiet shuffling as Dad, making his way to the sewer entrance, dragging the duffle bags after him. I remembered the ugly yellow glow coming off the monster; going in dark would make it easier to spot. Dad would fire up the flashlight again once he checked around the bottom of the ladder.

  Until then, I had to stomp down my fear and deal.

  His shoes tapped against the steel rungs, getting quieter as he climbed down. Misty squeezed my hand and let go. I felt more than heard her move to the entrance. For someone so tall she could be mighty quiet. Her shoes sounded different on the rungs—a soft scrape, like she was feeling her way along each one.

  I was next.

  Swallowing, I got down on my hands and knees, half afraid I’d trip and fling myself head first into the hole. My fingers found the edge, and I carefully turned around, easing my right leg back until my foot found the rung.

  I shifted my weight to that foot, slid my left hand along the ground, and brailled my way to the side of the ladder. Closing my fingers around it, I took in a breath, gripped the ladder, and put all my weight on my right side. My left foot had trouble finding the next rung—my ankle throbbed so much I couldn’t feel anything beyond that. When I was pretty sure I had my foot on the next rung down, I shifted my weight.

  And met with air.

  I scrambled to hold on to the ladder, breath lodged in my throat, when strong fingers caught my left wrist. Warm breath brushed over my skin, and when I lifted my head, loose strands of hair tickled my cheek.

  “Hold still,” Sam whispered, his voice more breath than sound. “I’m going to help you down.”

  I felt him slide down the side of the ladder, his bare arm pressed against my ribs, his muscles quivering with the effort. I heard his foot on the rung below mine, and felt him swing around until he was right behind me. If I weren’t so scared I would have been breathless.

  Then he wrapped his arm around my waist. I jerked, stilled when I felt my fingers slip. “One rung at a time,” he whispered, his lips against my ear. “I won’t let you fall.”

  I nodded, trying not to hyperventilate. My left foot finally connected, and we both eased down to the next rung. After a couple more, I started to actually enjoy having him hold me like this. I felt safe, for the first time in a while, and the trust I thought I had lost came roaring back.

  By the time we reached the bottom I was more sure of my footing, and Sam let me go, only to grab me around the waist with both hands and guide me to the ground.

  “Good job.” His low voice sent a shiver through me. Then he let me go, for good this time. We turned around, bright yellow light greeting us from the bare bulbs strung along the curving wall of the tunnel.

  Dad gathered us into a huddle, handing out the duffle bags. “I found the nest. No sign of it, or the other two kids. I did find blood. Not a lot,” he reached out to Misty when she gasped. “But enough to make me think one of the kids might be injured. Follow me—I think I know where they went.”

  He refused to elaborate, hushing me before I could ask. We headed into a tunnel on the left, like a black hole compared to the lit one we stood in. Dad switched on his flashlight and led the way. I smelled the nest before his beam caught it. And it didn’t reek, like I expected. Instead, it smelled—sweet, with another scent underneath, one I recognized, but couldn’t identify. A few yards past the nest we hit water. Stagnant, algae covered water.

  So much for a quiet approach.

  Dad consulted the map, pointing out the two tunnels just ahead. “The one to the right curves back around. The left tunnel runs parallel to the town, and dead ends at another exit leading to the surface.”

  “Where?” Sam’s choked whisper had me looking at him.

  “The basement under the school. That’s where I think they grabbed the kids. There was a Halloween party today for the elementary schools.”

  Sam swallowed, didn’t say anymore. We kept moving for
ward, and Misty took my hand again. I wanted the connection as much as she did.

  I thanked myself for wearing my stomping motorcycle boots—until the floor sloped down and the water hit my knees. That slimy, cold water poured inside my boots and soaked me from the knees down. Which felt good on my throbbing ankle, but not so much for walking.

  Sam came forward and grabbed my duffle, taking my free arm when I started to struggle against the water. Between my saturated boots and my ankle, I was making far too much noise. Dad turned around, heading for me. And I saw the yellow glow splash across the water next to him.

  “Dad! Behind you!” My shout bounced off the tunnel walls. I yanked free and lurched forward just as the monster peeled itself off the wall and launched itself at him. “Dad!”

  He whirled, ducking under the slashing claws. The creature came after him again and he used the shotgun as a club, bashing the heavy stock into the evil teddy bear face.

  A horrible scream threatened to pierce my eardrums. Sam jerked me backward, stepping between me and the recovering monster. The fast recovering monster.

  “Dad—no!” I pushed past Sam as Dad stood. Right in the path of the sweeping claws. He jumped sideways. The claws slashed his left leg. “No!”

  His raw cry echoed mine and he went down. I probably would have joined him, but Misty appeared out of the darkness, waving a flare. The monster shrieked, and splashed out of sight.

  She kept going, helped Dad stand, holding the flare up. I slogged over to them, covered my mouth. The sparking light revealed the ugly gashes on Dad’s left leg. Gashes that ran all the way down his thigh.

  Sam turned on his flashlight, took Dad from Misty and leaned him against the wall. “How bad?”

  Dad tried to smile, failed miserably. “Bad enough. You need to go after—” He let out a gasp, clutching his thigh.

  “Dad—”

  “I want you to—go back, Alex. Wait with Candace and Jake.” He lowered his head, water dripping off his hair. “Misty goes as well.”