Dead Spots

by Rhiannon Frater

  “Wow. A kid who likes onions. I didn’t think those existed.” Mackenzie snagged a piece of pizza and bit off the end.

  Johnny giggled and made a mess eating the hot dog, smearing chili all over his face, much to her amusement. Though she’d just met the little boy, he had a firm hold of her heartstrings. A bit of guilt niggled at her, but she didn’t allow it to take root. Johnny needed her, and taking care of him fulfilled a yearning inside her.

  The conversation while they ate was lighthearted and steered away from the earlier traumatic events. Lucas and Johnny discussed the Lone Ranger and comic book heroes. Mackenzie ate heartily enjoying the banter and feeling more relaxed than she had in ages. The illusion of a happy family meal was both painful and consoling. She would never experience it with Joshua and Tanner, but she recognized that the future had yet to be written. Once she escaped the dead spots, there was still hope for a better life. She wouldn’t even allow herself to consider not escaping, or despair would drown her again.

  Later, after Johnny took a bath, he sat on one of the beds wearing pajamas and a robe that Lucas created watching the old black-and-white episodes of The Lone Ranger. While Johnny was occupied with his favorite television show, Mackenzie and Lucas sat side by side to review the maps Lucas had collected and discuss his observations.

  “So each time I run into a real person, I try to talk to them about the dead spot they entered and get the details. Not everyone wants to talk to me, but they often do. Especially if I help them out in some way.”

  “With your magic powers,” Mackenzie said with a slight smile.

  Lucas chuckled. “Something like that.”

  “You stopped on a country road yesterday looking for someone, didn’t you?” It had been a question that was on the tip of her tongue for the last hour. She needed to know the truth.

  Regarding her solemnly, he nodded. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes. I heard the car and Grant pushed me into the ditch.”

  “And covered you with his body?”

  Mackenzie found it difficult to answer, her throat suddenly constricting with emotion.

  “Johnny and I were cruising through the area when I saw the brightness of a living person. We pulled over, but I couldn’t find it. It had just vanished. There was a lot of activity in the area, so it was hard to see clearly. I must have missed Grant’s form in all the muck.”

  “He said you were a killer.”

  Lucas snorted. “Yeah. Right. He would.”

  If she hadn’t listened to Grant, what would have happened? Would Grant have revealed himself earlier?

  “Mac … you okay?”

  “I just wonder what would have happened if I’d pushed him off me. Would I still have died?” Though her death had been terrible, her thoughts drifted to the dream. Had Grant seduced her in her sleep because he was afraid of someone else taking her away?

  “It’s always dangerous here.”

  “Grant let people into our haven last night. One of them was a wraith. He would have known that, right?”

  Lucas nodded.

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Well, I can only guess, but I suppose so you’d be so traumatized by what went down that you’d be afraid of others and stick with only him.”

  “He let me die,” Mackenzie muttered, anger burning in her gut.

  Lucas leaned toward her, his gaze filled with compassion. “Yeah. He was at the graveyard waiting for you.”

  “But I wasn’t alone. I had Johnny with me. That must have really fucked up his plans.”

  “And so he brought the shark.”

  Sorting through all she’d suffered since entering the dead spot, Mackenzie could see now how much Grant had been manipulating the world around her to keep her afraid. Maybe he’d even clouded her mind. Away from him, her thoughts felt much clearer and she finally felt able to obtain an emotional balance she couldn’t before.

  Tapping the maps with a fingertip, Mackenzie decided to change the subject. “Are there a lot of us?”

  “Well, yes and no. We don’t age in here, so there are people from centuries ago wandering about. But a lot of us also end up wraiths. Also, the conditions have to be just right for someone to enter the dead spots, so we’re not as numerous as you’d think.”

  “Grant said the door has to be open in both worlds.”

  “There’s more to it, or otherwise people would be stumbling in here more often. Maybe it’s an emotional thing, or being a certain frame of mind that allows you to slip through.” Lucas lifted a shoulder. “Or none of the above. I don’t know. Most likely no one knows.”

  “So once the people you meet give you their information, you just keep going?” Mackenzie couldn’t resist asking. She’d been wondering what Lucas intended to do with her and Johnny. He was a man on a mission and she wasn’t sure he’d want to be bogged down.

  “I’ve traveled with a few people, but they often get tired of the quest and bail. It can get really disheartening when you keep coming up empty. People want immediate results. When that doesn’t happen, they move on. A lot of times they often decide just to go home.”

  “Go home?”

  “Ever wonder about ghosts? They’re trapped people like us haunting their old homes, hoping to somehow reach the real world.”

  “That’s a creepy thought.”

  “But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “Sadly, yeah.” Mackenzie pointed to a bright pink spot on one of the maps. “So what’s that?”

  “A dream palace. I mark those in pink. That particular dream palace belongs to a teenage girl with a princess obsession. At some point, someone coined the name dream palace for impenetrable havens, and everyone stuck in here learns it eventually just like they do the other terms.”

  “‘Wraiths,’ ‘shadows,’ ‘dead spots,’ ‘shapers,’ ‘seers,’ ‘havens’…”

  “Exactly. Kinda like learning a new language, huh? Did Grant tell you about the dream palaces?” Lucas cocked his head, staring at her curiously.

  “No. Not deliberately. A woman I met mentioned the dream palaces before she … died.” Mackenzie hesitated. It hurt to think of Tildy. “Last night Ted also said something about them before the wraith that was traveling with his group tore off his head.”

  “Tore off his head?”

  Mackenzie slightly shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “And you’ve only been in here three days?” Lucas raised both his eyebrows.

  “Have I had it easy? Or really rough?” She almost dreaded the answer.

  “I’d say you’ve had a very intense induction. Then again, a wraith found you right away. He got really lucky. You, on the other hand, not so lucky.”

  Mackenzie crossed her legs, uncomfortable with the sting between her thighs at the thought of Grant. Lucas’s speculative gaze made her uneasy. She felt as though he could peer into her thoughts and see her discomfort. Returning his attention to the maps, he pointed at one pink circle.

  “Anyway, this dream palace is where my friend Seth lives quite happily with the apparition of his dead wife that he created. They’re a really sweet couple.”

  “Dead wife?”

  “Yeah. He created an apparition of Rosita. He missed her.”

  Mackenzie could understand how terrible loss could be. Immediately she thought of how wonderful it would be to hold a living Joshua in her arms while Tanner doted on both of them. Uneasy, she pushed the thought away. It felt like madness.

  “Seth lets me stay there when I pass by. He doesn’t often let people in, but he knows about me.”

  “That you’re a seer?”

  “That and also the fact that I’m pretty much immune to this world.”

  “Why is that?”

  With a grin that flashed his perfectly white teeth, Lucas said, “Because I’m not afraid of anything.”

  “I call bullshit.” Mackenzie gave him a doubtful look.

  “No, honestly. My whole life I’ve not been afraid of anything. Ins
tead, I get curious. I want to know what’s the truth of the situation.”

  “So you weren’t afraid of the giant shark?”

  “That giant shark was the manifestation of a wraith.” Lucas gave her a jaunty smirk.

  “It still could eat you,” Mackenzie pointed out.

  “True. But I would rather figure out how to make sure it doesn’t.”

  “You’re weird.” The teasing words slipped out easily. The peaceful aura of the motel room was soothing and she was more relaxed than she’d been in months.

  “I’m from Austin. What can I say?”

  “‘Keep Austin Weird,’ huh?”

  “I had that bumper sticker and the T-shirt.” He winked at her.

  “If you’re from Austin, I guess that explains all the ink.” Mackenzie had noted the ornate tattoos covering both of his arms and peeking out from beneath the collar of his black T-shirt when he had taken off his leather jacket. “So were you a tattoo artist or something?”

  “I was the owner of a mechanic shop,” Lucas answered.

  “That explains the car.”

  “The car is awesome, isn’t it?”

  Mackenzie chuckled while nodding her head. “Yes, it is. It suits your whole bad-boy look.”

  “I’m so not a bad boy,” Lucas assured her. “I’m one of the good guys. I just look bad.”

  “So, bad boy, how did you end up here? In this world?”

  “Want the full story? Or the short one?”

  Craving to know Lucas a bit better since her life was now entangled with his, Mackenzie said, “The full story.”

  “Well, I opened my own business in Austin after I graduated from the University of Texas and did what I loved most, which is work on cars. I also competed in the amateur dirt bike circuit, drank way too much beer on weekends, dated lots of awesome women, took my mom to church on Sundays, and baked really good macaroni and cheese from scratch. Then the woman I thought I was going to marry broke up with me, told me she was pregnant with someone else’s kid, and moved in with my best friend. So I left my business in the care of my office manager and hit the road as a roadie for an up-and-coming Austin rock band.”

  “That sounds incredibly dramatic.”

  “It really was. I figured I was unmarried, in my early thirties, reasonably good-looking, so why not?” Lucas spread out his arms dramatically.

  Mackenzie laughed despite the seriousness of his story.

  “You don’t think I’m good-looking?” Lucas feigned hurt.

  “You’re okay,” she said, feeling a bit shy all at once.

  “Nah. I’m good-looking. Right, Johnny?”

  Johnny shrugged. “You look like James Dean. Mom says James Dean was handsome before he died.”

  “See? I’m good-looking.”

  “I think you’re full of yourself.” Mackenzie was beginning to like Lucas and not just for how he was with Johnny. He was imposing at first, but his manner was very warm and light. Feeling at ease in his presence was surprising, but also welcome. It was nice not to feel tied up in knots.

  “That’s true, too.” Lucas flipped a map over and pointed to a big red mark. “I entered there.”

  “New Orleans?”

  “I was pretty drunk, looking for a place to pee, and I stepped into the doorway of an abandoned building.”

  “That simple, huh?”

  “Yeah. Where did you enter?” Lucas picked up a pen and pulled the map of Texas toward him.

  It was unexpectedly easy to share her story with Lucas. She even backtracked enough to explain the death of Joshua and Tanner leaving. When tears sprang into her eyes, Lucas lightly pressed her hand with his, but almost immediately withdrew it. She tried to keep her tone low to keep the more gruesome details from Johnny, but the little boy was completely engrossed in his television show. He obviously didn’t care about the adult conversation.

  “So Grant ran for the door of the café the moment he saw you?”

  “Yeah. He said not to let it shut.” Combing her fingers through her drying hair, she replayed the scene in her head. She remembered how Grant had slammed his hands against the door in anguish. “He was very upset when he found it was closed. He banged on it.”

  “Are you sure he didn’t actually close it to trap you?”

  Mackenzie licked her lips. Doubt ate at her, and she squirmed in her chair. “He seemed genuinely upset.”

  “Then what happened?”

  The more details she related to Lucas, the more difficult it became to believe that so much had happened in such a short period of time. It felt like an eternity since she had entered the dead spot and found herself trapped, yet it was only three full days.

  “So when you were heading back to the café, you thought you got some cell phone reception?” Lucas gazed at her steadily, his expression unreadable.

  Mackenzie nodded. “Yes. I thought it was my mother telling me the police were at the café. But I never found out because of the attack.”

  “Shit,” Lucas grunted, shaking his head. “That fucker.”

  “What is it?”

  “I think you’re right. You did get reception because the damn door was open! The police probably really were looking for you right then. If you’d made it to the café there’s a good chance you would’ve gotten out, but he stopped you.”

  It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room, and Mackenzie pressed her hand to her brow. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  She expected Lucas to protest, but instead he nodded. “Yeah, we should all get some sleep. We can continue tomorrow before we get on the road to the next dead spot.”

  “Do you still want us with you?”

  With a shrug, Lucas said, “Sure. Why not? The kid’s cool. You’re pretty smart and tough. You want out of here, too, right?”

  “Absolutely!”

  “Then I say we keep going as a team. If you want to come along, that is.”

  Scooting her chair from the table, Mackenzie said, “I want out of here. I’ll come with you. I’m sure Johnny will, too. He loves the car.”

  “The car is cool,” Johnny agreed with a grin.

  Lucas looked prideful and satisfied with this assessment of his vehicle. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Can you make me Silver?” Johnny pointed at the show.

  Lucas slid to his feet and yawned. “Why would you want a horse when you can ride in my car?”

  “Can I drive your car?”

  “When you’re sixteen.”

  Johnny frowned. “I never get to do the cool stuff.”

  Mackenzie was tempted to point out that Johnny was technically older than both of the adults in the room, but realized it might upset the little boy. Johnny reluctantly turned off The Lone Ranger and crawled onto the rollaway bed Lucas had found in another unit and restored earlier. Mackenzie tucked him in and lightly drew her fingers over the covers. She hadn’t been consciously thinking about Joshua’s blanket, but the comforter transformed into a larger version of it, complete with the embroidered “J” in one corner.

  Johnny ran his hand over the softness. “I like this.”

  Tears in her eyes, but a refreshing happiness in her heart, Mackenzie said, “I’m glad. I made one for my little boy, too.”

  “The one that died?”

  She should have known he was listening to her conversation with Lucas. Kids were good eavesdroppers. “Yes, the one that died.”

  Tracing a flower, Johnny looked somber. “I died.”

  “I know, but you’re back now.”

  “Can your baby come back, too?”

  The question was too close for comfort. “No. No. He died in the other world.”

  “So he’s in heaven.”

  “I think so.”

  “Then I can have his blanket and it’s okay.”

  Mackenzie dragged one finger over some of the embroidery. The flowers transformed into horseshoes and cactuses. “It’s your blanket now, Johnny.”

  With a smile, John
ny said, “Thanks, Macky.”

  Hugging the child and kissing his cheek, Mackenzie fought to keep her tears contained. She’d never tuck Joshua into bed at night, but she could make sure Johnny was safe in this bizarre world. “Goodnight, Johnny.”

  Once she retired to her bed, Lucas spent a few minutes with the boy, talking in a voice too low for Mackenzie to make out words. She could hear Johnny giggling and it was a comforting sound.

  Settled under the covers, Mackenzie couldn’t help but reflect on how much had changed since the night before. Instead of sharing quiet moments with Grant, she was with a strange man with tattoos and a little boy with a Lone Ranger obsession.

  Despite her best efforts, her mind drifted back to the dream she had experienced before the world had gone to hell. Had it been just a dream? Or something much more insidious?

  Sleep eventually claimed her, but until she finally drifted off, Mackenzie wept in silence.

  CHAPTER 25

  “Mackenzie.”

  Drawn from her hazy dreams, Mackenzie gradually opened her eyes. A halo of blue light seeped around the edges of the curtains covering the motel windows. The eerie illumination gave the room a hazy, surreal atmosphere.

  “Mackenzie!” a voice called out again, hushed, yet urgent.

  Flipping off the covers, Mackenzie sat up in bed and blinked the sleep from her eyes. On the rollaway bed, Johnny slept on his stomach, the yellow blanket bunched at his feet, his mouth open and slightly drooling. Across from her Lucas was spread-eagled on the other bed, fully clothed and snoring.

  If neither one of them was awake and calling her …

  Mackenzie pivoted toward the window. Cautiously, she tip-toed to the front of the room and peeled back the edge of the curtain.

  Outside, Grant stood away from the edge of the bungalow’s small porch. His dark curly hair looked glossy and very black in the moonlight and his gray suit was immaculate on his tall, muscular frame. In his hands he clutched her purse. Spotting her in the window, he called out to her again, a smile upon his lips.

  Nervous flutters in her tummy and the anxious trembling of her hands said it all. She was afraid of Grant now. Though a small piece of her still clung to the hope that he was not the incubus wraith Lucas had described, she felt fear crawling out of her soul to strangle her.