“Remember Uncle Adam, and his wife that nobody in Spirit met? Scarlett’s their daughter. She’s a Blackburn, and she’s got a nifty little gift just like Balthazar’s. She can influence people to do things they wouldn’t do. She’s responsible for the deaths. All to try and get our families feuding again.”
“I was trying to save our family! Don’t you see? If we don’t kill McKnights, they’ll kill us. Those dark things came to me. They told me a McKnight had killed my father. They said it was time to return to Spirit to save my family. That’s what I tried to do.”
The emotion drained from Scarlett’s face. She became calm and serene as she held up her hand. She was holding Balthazar’s cell phone. Her finger was right on the send button.
“Scarlett,” I said. I held up my hands and walked forward, slowly. “Setting off that bomb will just kill two innocent children—your own family. You don’t want to do this.”
Uncle Mark caught on, but there was very little he could do. He was across the room. His gun had been holstered so he could get Balthazar into cuffs. Payne and I were also too far away. All she needed was a moment to hit the send button. One moment to kill two innocent kids just to make me suffer.
Just one moment, I realized, could make all the difference.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked almost casually. “Their blood will be on your hands, all because you‘re friends with people like him.”
I turned to look into Payne’s eyes. Everything fell into place.
“Payne and I are more than just friends,” I said. “I love him.”
The room thundered with the roar of the Shadow Creatures. It sounded like it came from everywhere all at once. It wasn’t just me who heard them this time. Theirs hisses were amplified to shrieks that made my skin crawl. It seemed like the screeches were coming from all directions at once. They were in such a rage, and so completely out of control, that everyone could hear them.
Scarlett looked frightened. She scrambled back away from us. For a moment, I thought she might run, but instead, her eyes locked on mine. For a brief moment, she glanced down at the screen of her cell phone, which was still held in one hand.
A gunshot rang out from behind her. Scarlett’s eyes went wide in astonishment before she fell dead to the floor.
Varick McKnight, standing behind her dead body, was still gripping the smoking handgun with a scowl on his face.
“Thank you,” I said to him.
Balthazar moaned, becoming more coherent.
“Where are Simon and Skyler?” Uncle Mark demanded of Balthazar.
Balthazar just gave Uncle Mark a bloody grin.
“Where are they?” Uncle Mark repeated. He put his gun to Balthazar’s head. “I’m not asking as the sheriff. I will kill you.”
“Go ahead,” Balthazar said, jutting his bloody chin out, daring Uncle Mark to shoot him.
“Balthazar,” Varick snapped. “You have caused too much misery. You will tell him.”
Balthazar just laughed.
“Or what?” he asked, his voice rough. “What are you going to do? Watch as he shoots me? Your own son?”
“I will not stand by while he shoots you,” Varick took a step closer, raised the gun still in his hand, and aimed it at Balthazar’s heart. “I will assist him. I gave you everything. I bought every lie. No more.”
Balthazar simply looked defiant. He was going to call my uncle’s bluff, but I wasn’t sure if he was bluffing.
“Bristol.”
I turned around and saw Eric standing next to Balthazar.
“They’re at the storage place! They’re in the pod marked B-21.”
“They’re in the storage area,” I announced.
Balthazar looked surprised, but he shrugged it off.
“You’ll never search it all in time.”
“B-21,” I added. “I can take us there.”
I watched, with no small amount of satisfaction, as shock registered on Balthazar’s face.
“How the hell did you—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Uncle Mark told him as he strong-armed Balthazar to the stairs. “Let’s go.”
I hated to leave Dante’s body up here, but we didn’t have much time.
We rushed down the stairs, and heard an ambulance and several squad cars come to a screeching halt by the building’s entrance.
“It’s secure up there,” Uncle Mark said as he handed a protesting Balthazar off to one of the officers with Pinky. “But there are two bodies. Take him, I’ve got to get Simon.”
As the deputies stuffed Balthazar into the back of a nearby police cruiser, we rushed into Varick’s car. Varick was already behind the wheel.
“You need to hurry,” Eric said. “You’ve got seven minutes!”
“We need to move, Uncle Mark!”
“You and I are going to have to have a conversation about you going off on your own!” Uncle Mark shouted, as we sped to the storage unit with Payne and me in the back seat.
“Where are they? Are you sure we’re going to the right place?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “Eric told me where to find them, but we’ve got to move. We’ve only got five minutes!”
Uncle Mark used a crowbar to pry the lock off the unit door. We opened it and saw Simon and Skyler near the door, sitting on two chairs opposite each other. Duct tape bound their legs together; their arms were secured to their chairs, and their mouths were taped shut and their eyes were wide with panic. Simon had a bruise on his cheek from where Balthazar had hit him.
Uncle Mark raced to them. “Hang on son, we’re gonna get you out of here!”
Payne found the bomb on the desk behind the kids, and shouted out a warning.
“Less than two minutes!”
Uncle Mark used a knife to cut through the duct tape binding their arms and legs, freeing Simon and Skyler.
Quickly, we all ran out to Varick’s waiting car as the last few seconds started to tick away.
“Gun it!” Uncle Mark commanded, as we got into Varick’s car.
He didn’t need to tell Varick twice. With a screech, we sped through the storage center. We raced past storage pods to the front gate.
The storage pod exploded. Pieces of it rained down in all directions, some falling on the car. The glass in the moon roof shattered as a flaming chunk of debris smashed into it.
We skidded to a stop at the threshold of the front gate and breathed a sigh of relief as the storage unit continued to burn.
Getting out of Varick’s car, we saw a parade of vehicles coming down the road. Fire trucks, police cruisers, and an ambulance led the way, followed by Grandpa’s old jalopy which was sputtering along as best it could, while Hunter was driving Payne’s car, doing her best not to speed past the lemon. Grandpa had Skyler’s mother with him. She bolted from the back seat as soon as the car stopped and ran to her daughter. Mother and child embraced, as Eric looked on.
“Eric’s here,” I whispered to Payne.
I slowly made my way over to my friend. Payne followed, needing no further explanation. As Mrs. Wilson led her daughter away, I turned to Eric and smiled.
“She’s safe. You helped me find them. Thank you.”
Eric returned the smile.
“You and Payne saved her, really,” he said. “Thank you. Thank you for everything. I’m so happy for you guys. You belong together.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “Eric, it’s time. You’ve done what you stayed to do.”
Slowly, Eric’s gaze moved from his family to me. “Time for what?”
“To move on,” I said.
Eric watched his mother and sister as they got into the back of a squad car and were driven away.
“No,” Eric said, turning back to me. “It’s not time. Not yet.”
Before I could say anything else, he faded away.
- nineteen -
Moving On
Journal of Bristol Blackburn
; Uncle Mark grounded me. He said he was beyond grateful that I helped save Simon and Skyler, but he wanted to make it crystal clear that putting myself in danger was not acceptable.
As soon as I had seen Payne and Hunter waiting for me outside my front door, I knew that everything was coming to a head. After all, I had seen the same scene before in my vision. So, I chose my words carefully, and prayed that Hunter’s powers had returned enough for her to know that I was lying when I told them to leave and not follow me. She got it.
Poor Payne didn’t realize I wanted them to follow me until they were in the car. Once she explained it to him, he realized that I was up to something dangerous. He decided to trust me and ride it out. They called my uncle as soon as they heard gunshots.
My biggest regret is what happened to Dante. I didn’t think he would die protecting me. I was so sure we’d all be all right, but I guess even psychics can’t be prepared for everything.
Meanwhile, it’s nice that Payne and I are back to being an “us.” especially now that the thought of saying I love you to him doesn’t frighten me like it used to. But we still need to spend some time and talk things over.
Right now, I’m not allowed to go out, except to school.
So this is what it’s like to be grounded. Can’t say I’m loving it.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Balthazar?” I asked Payne. He was allowed to come visit me, but we weren’t allowed to go out together. We were sitting on the back porch in the swing. Payne had one arm around me. “I mean, I knew a lot of the things that he did to you, but not that he used his power to force you to endure what he did. He took away your ability to leave, or to get help. It’s unspeakable.”
Payne just stared into the distance. He was never one to talk about his past. He’d told me before that he figured if there was anything in his past that I needed to know, I would probably have seen it in a vision.
Now, it was different. It seemed like whatever final hold Balthazar had on Payne was gone.
“You’re right,” Payne said. “For me, it was unspeakable. I just couldn’t talk about it. I want to say it was his power, but maybe it was more than that. I don’t know. I haven’t been around him for so long. I managed to leave because you wanted me to. I should have been able to tell you, but I just . . . couldn’t. I’m sorry.”
I didn’t know what to say. I just put my hand on his.
“Did you mean it?” Payne asked, after a minute or so of silence.
“Did I mean what?”
“What you said,” Payne continued. “When you told me how you felt about me. Was that for real, or did you do it to buy time?”
“I meant it. I love you. I think I just knew I had to wait for that moment in time to say it. But now that I have, I’m going to say it more often.” I grinned. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Payne shook his head and then kissed me. It was slow and firm, filled with need and want.
We were quickly interrupted. Simon came out onto the back porch, followed by Spock and Larry. The bruise on his face had faded, but it was still visible. He didn’t seem to notice us as the dogs scrambled down the back porch and started to chase a squirrel. He didn’t look happy.
“Hey, Simon,” I said, indicating he should look towards us. “What’s up?”
Simon didn’t even acknowledge me. Payne and I exchanged worried glances. I went over and stood next to my cousin. He was silent for a long moment. He wouldn’t look at me. He just stared at his own really big feet.
“Skyler’s mom wants them to move. She says her job isn’t going anywhere, and that after everything that’s happened, they can’t stay here. They’ll be gone by the end of the week, and I can’t do anything about it.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you like her a lot.”
Finally, Simon looked at me.
“I love her,” he said with conviction. “I love her, and she loves me, and now we can’t be together. What if someone told you that you and Payne couldn’t ever see each other again?”
I reached out to take his hand.
“It would truly suck,” Payne said as he came over to join us. “But at your age, you have to do what your parents want. It’s the twenty first century. You’ll call each other. Or text, email, Skype, Facebook—whatever else they come up with. If you two are meant to be together, you will be.”
Simon nodded. I leaned in and hugged him.
After a moment, he went inside.
“Poor guy,” Payne said. “It’s got to be tough. He’s a good guy. He’ll meet someone else.”
I thought about Simon and Skyler. I remembered how he tried to take care of her after they were rescued, and the adoring way she had looked at him.
“He really loves her.”
Payne looked skeptical. “They’re thirteen. I’d never say this to him, but at their age—”
“No,” I said. “Don’t you remember what Ian said? Once a Blackburn or McKnight says they love someone and truly means it, it’s over. Neither Simon nor Skyler will be able to love someone else. It’s part of this damn curse.”
Payne started to pace. I could see him thinking it through.
“Maybe they’re too young?”
“No,” I said. “Uncle Mark once told me that he fell for my Aunt Eve when he was six. He never looked at anyone else, and he’s never looked at anyone since she died. Simon is really in love; he won’t be able to look at another girl. He won’t date. He’ll be miserable without her.”
I could see Payne looking for a loophole, but there was none. If Ian was right, Simon was about to lose the love of his life at only thirteen years old.
“It’ll be Skyler, too.”
Eric had appeared out of nowhere and was sitting in the bench against the house.
“Will it? I think it works both ways, but I can’t be sure. She’s not part of the families, anyway.”
“Huh?” Payne said. He looked at me, saw how I wasn’t looking at him and put two and two together. “Oh. Is it crazy for me to say I missed that?”
I ignored him.
“Eric,” I said. “It’ll work itself out.”
But Eric didn’t answer. He just faded away.
Very few people came to the funeral for the Underhills. My uncle, grandpa and I were the only Blackburns present. Varick arrived at the last minute with Hunter and Payne. By this point, most people knew that Scarlett and her father had worked with Balthazar to kidnap Simon and Skyler. There were many details that they didn’t know or understand, but nobody questioned the basic story.
I wondered if this mutual understanding had to do with the curse as well. This town allowed for things that made no sense. Tragedies that should be unacceptable were accepted. For whatever reason, nobody questioned that a young teenage girl would team up with the town drunk, and could somehow be responsible for so much death and destruction.
So I suppose it was also understandable that most people wouldn’t come out to mourn the loss of nearly an entire family.
I did.
I thought about Scarlett.
She had been born and raised outside of Spirit. Both Ian and Grandpa said that if you left Spirit, it changed you. It was almost like you died inside. What did leaving do to her parents, or even to her? Was Scarlett so twisted because she had grown up outside of Spirit? Could the same thing be wrong with me, too, and I just didn’t know?
I also thought about Mr. Underhill, Scarlett’s stepfather. Did he know what he had done, in the end? He may have been completely controlled by his stepdaughter.
I kept this last thought to myself. While Payne would never be sorry for doing what he had to do to save me, he’d hate the idea that he’d killed someone who may have been nothing more than a pawn in someone else’s game.
I also wondered about my poor, sweet Dante.
If this had been another life, if I had never met Payne, I might have fallen in love with Dante. He was brave, and sweet, and he loved me, crazy
ghosts and visions and all. So much so that he sacrificed himself for me.
All he wanted was for me to love him back. Payne told me the other day that hearing those words from me meant more to him than he could ever say. I understood, because hearing it warmed my heart. It was all Dante had wanted as well.
As I thought about this, my breath hitched in my throat. Payne looked over to see if I was okay. I nodded quickly.
After the service, I went over to Uncle Mark, who was talking with his cousin, the pastor of the church.
“Am I still grounded?” I asked.
My uncle regarded me carefully.
“Yes,” he answered. “I think I’m being very reasonable, all things considered.”
“So do I,” I said. “But I need you to trust me. I have to go with Payne to do something. It’s not dangerous, I swear, but it’s important. I’ll come home right afterwards. I promise.”
Uncle Mark looked at Payne first.
“You have any idea what this is about?”
“Nope,” Payne answered. “I’m just paid to look pretty.”
“Right,” Uncle Mark said.
I started to leave, but Uncle Mark signaled me to hold back.
“Before you go,” he said, “have a word with Varick. He’s got something to tell you that you’ll want to hear.”
I felt like I didn’t have much time, but I went to see Varick, who was standing in the corner of the church talking to Grandpa.
“Bristol,” he said as I came over, and greeted me with a warm smile. “I was just telling your grandfather once again about how sorry I am for the way I behaved.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “It wasn’t your fault. You were being pushed.”
“Yes,” Varick looked towards the caskets in the front. “However, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I have been wondering: now that your senior year has arrived, do you have plans for what you would like to do after graduation? Any particular career you would like to pursue?”
I shrugged, not understanding why we were talking about my life plans. I hadn’t bothered to make any since I had been convinced I was going to die before I finished high school.
Vision of Serpents Page 24
