by Skye Malone
And like Chief Reynolds already had, with the way his blue, Santa Claus cop gaze just wouldn’t look away from me. Earl had attacked me, it was true. He’d left the bruises that were throbbing in time to my racing heartbeat right now.
But if I blamed him, the rest of it could come out. The part about his daughter dying. The reason he’d wanted to kill us in the first place. As a greliaran, he might believe he had as much to lose as anyone from letting that information out. But he might not. He might start raving about dehaians.
He might let the chief know what I really was. What Zeke was. And Noah.
And everything.
“I don’t remember,” I whispered.
Mom shifted in her seat. The chief’s gaze flicked to her before snapping back to me.
“That’s okay,” he assured me. “But I want you to know, I mean it when I say you’re safe. No one can hurt you anymore.”
I managed a jerky nod, even though the words were totally wrong.
“Where had you seen him?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about the ambulance? Was it there?”
“I don’t know.”
He paused. “Alright, we can get back to that. Let’s talk about the ambulance for a minute. Is that okay?”
I didn’t move. That was the last thing on earth I wanted to discuss, short of what I was or where I’d actually been for the past week.
“Chloe?”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“What do you remember? Anything the ones inside it said? Perhaps something strange about the way they spoke? Accents? Words they used? Names they might have mentioned?”
My heart felt like it would climb up my throat. Why did he want to know that? Did he know they were dehaian? Sylphaen?
I looked to my parents frantically. “W-why–”
“How is that relevant?” Dad interrupted.
The chief glanced between us. “Well, if the man today wasn’t connected to this, then we need any other leads we can get. Speech patterns could help us figure out where they were from. Narrow down the search. Names… well, that’s obvious, isn’t it, Bill?”
Clearly frustrated, Dad glanced to Mom, whose hands were white from clenching them so tightly. She gave him a helpless look.
“I don’t remember,” I said.
“The other EMTs on the scene said one of the men escorted you and Baylie back to the ambulance. What did the man say to you?”
“H-he just asked if he could help us.”
“What did his voice sound like? Midwestern? Southern?”
I shivered. “I don’t remember.”
He studied me for a moment.
“Did his voice remind you of anyone? Like an actor, or maybe someone from the radio?”
“I don’t remember.”
His mouth tightened again.
I trembled harder. I wanted to just say no one took me. I wanted to end this and get out of here. I knew that wouldn’t actually finish anything, but I almost didn’t care.
Helplessly, I looked to my parents.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Dad announced, putting a hand to the desk like he was going to turn off the recorder himself. “She doesn’t remember.”
The chief didn’t seem perturbed. “It’s important that she try, though.” He looked to me. “It’s okay, Chloe. You’re safe now. You–”
“I said she doesn’t remember.”
Chief Reynolds paused. His gaze flicked from my parents to me and back.
He reached out and turned off the recorder. Slowly, he drew a breath.
“Two teenage girls are dead, Bill,” he told Dad quietly. “Someone in California attacked your daughter in broad daylight, and then two more men tried to kidnap her and Baylie only days after that. Now those guys are dead too. I understand you want to protect Chloe. She…” He paused, his gaze returning to me briefly. “She could have been hurt just by going out west like that, even without everything else that came after. But we need her help now. If it wasn’t the man we have in custody, then whoever took her from the ambulance is presumably still out there. And she’s going to have to remember eventually.
“There’s a lot coming down on you folks,” the chief continued. “I know that. And I know it’s just going to increase. In the next few days, there’ll be a number of authorities who’ll need to speak with Chloe, and you both too. She’ll also have to be checked out medically to make sure she’s not injured and that nothing else bad happened to her. We’ll have a psychologist in from Kansas City to help you through all that, and – one neighbor to another – I’ll see what the town can do to help with any long-term needs in that regard as well. But we’re going to have to track down where Chloe was kept and what happened in the time she was gone. That’s important for us, but it’s important for her too, so she can get through this. And keeping Chloe from talking to us isn’t going to–”
Mom let out a desperate sound.
The chief glanced to her and then looked back to Dad. “I can help you all. I know there are… special considerations here. Things that might have made it hard for Chloe to feel quite up to thinking straight in a place like California, or for some time after. But to do that, I need you all to be honest with me. Let Chloe tell me what she really remembers, and where she’s been this past week.” He paused. “I want to do what I can to protect her too, Bill.”
Still trembling, I watched Dad. I needed a way out of here. My arms kept threatening to sting, and only by making myself keep breathing did I seem to be able to hold the spikes at bay.
But I should have gone on running. Stayed away from here and everywhere else.
Though really, that wouldn’t have kept some cop from stopping me on the street and making this all happen anyway.
My stomach wanted to twist into a pretzel at the thought.
“We don’t want any trouble here,” Dad said carefully. “We just want to go back to our lives like they were.”
The chief’s mouth tightened. “I understand. But that’s going to be mighty hard, Bill, just burying this. I know you could try. But the FBI, the sheriffs here and in California… they’re all going to–”
“But Chloe doesn’t remember anything,” Mom protested, still clenching her hands in her lap.
He paused. “That might be true, Linda. And maybe she will.”
His gaze returned to me and I couldn’t look away from his eyes. He knew I was lying. I was sure of it.
“I want to help you, Chloe,” he said. “I–”
The door swung open behind us.
I jumped a mile.
Spikes rushed out of my forearms.
Mom and Dad both moved to block any view of me, trying not to get cut in the process. Frantically, I tucked my arms to my sides and fought to draw the spikes back as fast as I could.
Chief Reynolds surged to his feet angrily as his nephew came in holding a clipboard. “Aaron, what the hell are you–”
The chief caught sight of my arms just before the spikes disappeared again.
“Sorry, Chief, I had the paperwork–”
“Get out, Aaron,” he ordered, not taking his eyes from me.
“I-I didn’t mean–”
“Get out, Aaron!”
The door shut as Aaron retreated. Shaking hard, I didn’t look away from Chief Reynolds.
He sank back into his chair, still watching me. “Now that’s, um… not something I expected.”
I swallowed hard.
The chief glanced from me to my parents. “Anyone want to explain what I just saw here?”
Dad’s mouth tightened. “Chloe…” He seemed to struggle to make himself say the words. “Her mother was my sister, and her biological father… he was…”
He trailed off with a grimace.
The chief read between the lines anyway. “And I’m going to guess that’s involved in what happened last week?” He paused. “What actually happened?”
Exasperation flickered across his face. “Bill. Linda. Please. I… I realize why you probably hid this. It’s not exactly something you can discuss on tape. And besides that, you’ve heard the same stories I have, yeah? What some folks might do to a child in Chloe’s position. But I can assure you, that’s not a concern here.” He paused again. “Unless that’s why people have been after you?”
He directed the last question to me.
I hesitated.
“You’re safe, Chloe,” he repeated. “So please, is this why people have tried to hurt you?”
I swallowed, wishing I knew whether I could trust the words. “Not exactly.”
His brow drew down. I shifted uncomfortably in the seat.
“There’s this, um, cult. Of dehaians. They,” I glanced to Mom and Dad, “they think I’m some kind of monster. They were trying to kill me. S-sacrifice me, actually.”
His brow rose again. “Sacrifice.”
I nodded. “They came after us at the cabin. Shot Dad.” I twitched my head toward the sling on his arm. “And then some others pretended to be EMTs. They took me and Baylie. Knocked her out, held a knife to her to keep me quiet, and then… and then injected me with a drug. Made me change like one of them, so I… I had to get, you know, underwater or I’d…”
Fidgeting, I trailed off. It felt weird to tell someone what’d happened. Someone who was only slightly less than a stranger, anyway.
“That’s where I was this week,” I finished uncomfortably.
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “And so the one with the odd stab wounds…”
Blinking, I dropped my gaze to my lap. “It was an accident. He had the needle. He was trying to stick it in my neck.”
The chief drew a breath and then let it out slowly. “Okay.” He glanced to my parents. “But this cult, they’re not going to be coming to Reidsburg. They’ll stay in California?”
I nodded.
“So we’ll just focus on keeping you safe around here. If that man today wasn’t related to this, then we just need to make sure–”
He cut off when I made a small noise. “What?”
“There… there is one other problem.”
He waited.
I shifted in the chair, trying to figure out what to say since I didn’t want to bring up Noah, what he was, or risk my parents letting slip anything about the same. “Earl is connected to this. He’s part of a… a group. They hunt dehaians. To, you know, kill them. On the way home, I ran into him. But there are others who followed me back here too.”
“Chloe, you didn’t tell us this,” Mom protested.
I hesitated. “Sorry.”
The chief watched me. “Do you know where these others are?”
I shook my head. “They were in a maroon SUV, though. There’s five of them. They were at Baylie’s house yesterday.”
The chief’s brow rose. “Them?”
I nodded.
“And the man who broke into the Mitchell’s today was with them?”
I hesitated. “I think they know each other.”
“Have those other guys tried to hurt you? Threatened you? Baylie’s family is pressing charges after how those boys roughed her up, but if there’s something they’ve done to you that we could use to be rid of them even faster…”
He left the idea hanging. I shook my head.
“But your–” Mom started, her gaze going to my scarf.
“That was Earl.”
An incredulous gasp escaped her as she looked away.
The chief’s gaze went between us. “What are we talking about here?”
I grimaced. My fingers pulled down the edge of the scarf.
His brow rose again.
“He tried to strangle me.”
The chief regarded me for a moment, his gaze going between my face and my neck, and then he appeared to push aside whatever had gone through his mind.
“Why don’t you go back down the hall to your friends, Chloe?” he suggested. “Your parents and I… we need to talk.”
I hesitated, glancing to Mom and Dad. “Um, okay…”
Dad gave me a small nod. Tugging the scarf back into place, I rose to my feet.
“Chloe,” the chief added when I reached the door.
I looked back.
“Really glad you’re home.”
I managed a smile. Nervousness still twisting my stomach, I left the office.
Chapter Nine
Zeke
The clock on the wall was the loudest thing in the room.
On the chairs beside the front door, Chloe’s friend Baylie sat next to her stepbrother, Noah, while on the sole other chair in the room, his mother read a magazine. Behind a window to the next room, Gladys, the middle-aged woman who’d offered us all sodas and candy from her office, now studied something on her computer screen. Meanwhile, I leaned against the wall nearby, too edgy to sit down even if there had been a seat to take and struggling to keep myself from pacing.
Chloe hadn’t had the chance to tell the others that the older policeman and his nephew were landwalkers. Or that, if they found out what she was, they might try to hurt her.
Like almost everyone else.
It was infuriating. My ‘get Chloe to safety’ plan wasn’t exactly going according to plan. In fact, it’d gone merrily to hell at every turn. From bringing her to Nyciena to getting her home now, there always seemed to be somebody waiting for their chance at her.
I was beginning to think taking her to the Arctic Circle was the only solution. At least it’d get her away from everyone who wanted her dead.
Among other things.
My gaze flicked to Noah. I pulled it away again. He didn’t matter. Not where anything besides Chloe’s safety was concerned.
Though in my book, there was a good chance that meant safety from him.
I shifted position on the wall. He’d helped us escape from Earl. I appreciated that. But his kind had been created to kill us, and most of them seemed pretty damn obsessed with it. Even if he claimed not to be like them, I wasn’t sure I cared. It still didn’t exactly make him the type of person you wanted to keep around.
And I was really tired of Chloe having people who might decide they wanted her dead around.
A click came from the handle of the hallway door. I shrugged away from the wall while Noah and Baylie both straightened.
Chloe came out.
She looked pale. Shaken. With a tight smile to Gladys, she let the door shut behind her.
But as she started across the room, she suddenly paused. Her gaze twitched from me to Noah, an uncomfortable look flickering over her face.
“Hey there,” Noah’s mom said encouragingly as she set her magazine aside. She rose and motioned for Chloe to take her seat.
Chloe crossed the small space quickly and sank into the chair. “Thanks,” she murmured.
“What happened?” Baylie asked nervously.
Chloe glanced to Noah’s mother and the woman behind the window. “It… it was fine.”
Her voice sounded like it’d been anything but.
I studied her as she sat there, not quite looking at any of us while obviously uneasy thoughts made her brow twitch down. I wanted to press for more, to find out if he knew about her, if she thought he was dangerous, or more specifically if we should be getting the hell out of here right now, but there wasn’t a way. Noah’s mom hovered nearby, while through the window, Gladys was watching us all with an expression of equally maternal concern.
We couldn’t exactly bring up dehaians and landwalkers.
“You okay?” Noah’s mom asked. “Can I get you anything?”
Chloe hesitated. “A pop would be nice.”
The woman nodded. She headed for Gladys.
Chloe watched her go, and then looked to me. “He knows,” she whispered.
A breath pressed from my chest. “Do we need
to leave?” I responded, my voice equally low.
She gave a tiny, helpless shrug. “I’m not sure. He said he understood why Mom and Dad, you know, let him believe the other thing. And he doesn’t seem like he–”
Chloe cut off as Noah’s mom came back. Taking the can, she managed another tight smile. “Thanks, Sandra.”
“Of course.”
Opening the can, Chloe didn’t say anything else. She sat there, not taking a drink, with her fingers wrapped around the metal.
I drew a breath and looked back to the hallway door. She might be right, but I wasn’t happy taking chances like this.
In her chair, Baylie shifted position and my gaze flicked to her. On the opposite side of the small room, she and Noah were both watching us, wary curiosity on their faces.
“So Chloe, I was thinking,” Sandra said into the quiet. Chloe glanced up at her. “If it works for your parents, I’d like to have you and your family over for dinner tonight. Maybe just some pizza, salad, that sort of thing? Or we could come to your house, if that’d be more comfortable for you?”
Chloe gave a small nod. “Dinner would be great. Thanks.”
Sandra smiled.
Silence fell over the room again. The clock kept ticking on the wall.
The hallway door opened. Chloe’s parents came out, the older policeman behind them.
They looked tense.
But then, for them, I was starting to suspect that was normal.
While the cop stopped by the window to talk to Gladys, Chloe’s parents headed for the exit as though they couldn’t get out of the station fast enough.
“Chloe, come on,” Bill called.
Eyeing them warily, she set the can aside and rose to her feet.
Bill and Linda were already on their way out the door.
“Bye, folks,” the cop said as we followed them. “I’ll be in touch soon.”
Linda paused and looked back. “Goodbye,” she replied, an anxious smile hovering around her tight mouth. “And thank you.”
He nodded.
My brow drew down warily, but with that, she just hurried outside.
Sunlight glared in our eyes after the artificial light of the station. In a silent group, we walked around the corner to the cars, with Sandra the only one of us who didn’t look distracted or anxious as hell. Noah and Baylie were scanning the area around us, presumably keeping an eye out for his cousins, while Bill and Linda just seemed on a mission to get us out of there sooner than yesterday.
