“Your stepdad Ray, right?”
Josh nodded. “And Mark was my friend at the time—I guess even my best friend, even though he wasn’t all that nice to me—and he knew I that I didn’t really like Ray. But it wasn’t even that I didn’t like him, I guess, it was just that I wanted my dad and mom to get back together. And then...”
At this pause, the tears seemed destined to fall again, and Ramon had to keep from showing his frustration, the burn in his face and grit of his teeth.
Josh rallied though and continued the tale, moving forward to the point. “He said his mom had a really expensive necklace. It was worth like a thousand dollars.”
The white South Sea pearl necklace had been appraised conservatively at $64,550 and was a nearly-century-old heirloom that had been passed on to Janet Yun by her mother and her mother’s mother before. The family’s history of the keepsake was a relevant point in Ray Bronigan’s plea deal; if the case had gone to trial and he lost, he was looking at six years minimum.
“He knew where she kept it. Even though she didn’t know he knew. And Mark knew that Ray was coming over that day to fix a pipe or something, and he...we planned that he would get the necklace from his mom’s room and then he’d give it to me, and then I would take it and put it in one of Ray’s pockets or a drawer or something.”
“Jesus, Josh.”
Having no other explanation than the presence of Ray Bronigan for her missing necklace—as he had been the only person outside of her family who had been in the Yun household for several days during the stretch when the item disappeared—a search warrant was issued of the Carter residence. Ramon had found the stunning item in less than three minutes, tucked neatly at the bottom of Ray’s sock drawer, a place even at the time Ramon thought a bit convenient and obvious. Ray hadn’t been home at the time of the search, and the look of shock on DeeDee’s face had always stuck with Ramon, and it was matched only by the expression on Ray’s face when told he was under arrest for burglary.
The evidence had been overwhelming and a plea was entered within a day or two. Ray was sentenced a few days after that and sent off to prison for the next twenty-two months.
“I said we should tell what happened! I told Mark that! But he said he would...he said that his father would kill him. That his father would kill us both. And not like in a kidding way.”
Ramon felt little sympathy for Josh Carter at that moment, especially considering Ramon’s own involvement in the incident that had robbed Ray Bronigan of two years of his freedom. His life.
But that was years ago now—Josh couldn’t have been older than seven at the time—and Ramon and the rest of this town had much bigger obstacles to clear today. If life ever returned to normal again, and Ray Bronigan was still alive in that world, Ramon would do everything he could to make sure the ex-felon’s record and reputation were returned to clean.
To make that happen, though, he had to stop whatever was killing the citizens of Garmella.
“That was a bad thing you did, Josh, I’m not going to say it wasn’t. I know you know that now, but your stepfather lost a piece of his life because of what you and your friend did.”
Josh’s eyes welled up once more.
“But you were also very young when that happened, unaware of how severe the consequences of your actions would be. It doesn’t excuse what you did, but don’t ever think you’re a bad person because of it. You’re not bad, and you’re certainly not evil.”
Josh stared at Ramon now, considering his words. Finally, he shrugged and wiped his eyes. “Not anymore. I got it out.”
Ramon narrowed his eyes, feeling compelled to ask the meaning of the boy’s words, but instead he kept the story moving. “What happened next? With that thing? After you told it the story about the necklace?”
Josh’s breathing became short and accelerated as he prepared to relive the event. “It...it held onto me for a little bit longer. And the whole time the burning inside me was getting worse. In my neck and throat and chest. I thought I was going to die. Or catch on fire. But then...” Josh closed his eyes and a single tear streamed down his cheek. “I could feel this...I don’t know...calmness come over me, like a tingling inside. It was like the fire inside...it didn’t go out, but it had been turned down until it was at the perfect temperature. It was still warm, but, like, in nice way.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s hard to tell it in words. But I...I knew I was going to be okay then. I knew I wasn’t going to die.”
Ramon swallowed, riveted by the boy’s account. “How did you know that?”
Josh shook his head and frowned. “I don’t know. I just did.”
Ramon let these final words settle for a moment and then, despite the optics of panic it was likely to cause in the boy, he put his hand to his forehead and stared down at his desk, trying helplessly to wrap his mind around all that was happening this morning. It was all impossible. And yet he believed every word Josh Carter had said. Ramon had watched Riley in the grasp of the creature and had heard him cry out, and now he wondered if Riley too had been asked about the worst of his sins. He would never know now, but he believed it to be the case.
“Are you okay, Sheriff?”
Ramon looked up and nodded, smiling. “I’m fine.”
“Sheriff!”
The door to the station burst open and Allie Nyler rushed in, turning first toward her own desk and then back to Ramon’s office. Behind her was Maria Suarez.
Ramon met her at the threshold of his office. “Is everyone okay?”
Allie scoffed. “No, Sheriff, not quite.” The deputy was calm in her speech, but her face was pale, and Ramon could see the fear in Maria’s face behind her.
“Hi, Maria,” he said, forcing a smile. The girl only stared back.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Allie nodded toward the far end of the station, near the rear exit, and she led the sheriff in that direction until they were outside of Maria’s earshot.
“What the hell did I see today, Sheriff?” she asked, her voice cracking slightly, trying to maintain control. “What the hell was that thing I saw today?” She put her hands to her face, covering her nose and mouth, and then took a deep breath. “And Luke and Randy are...Jesus God it was like a scene from Pompeii.” Allie staggered, as if ready to faint, and Ramon moved quickly toward her, easing her down into Gloria’s desk chair.
“Easy, Allie. Easy. I know, I know. Just take a second. Sit here and focus on your breathing. Have you eaten anything today?”
Allie shook her head. “Not really.”
“Alright, I’ve got stuff for sandwiches and a couple of cans of soup. Let’s get some food in everyone first. No matter what’s happening, we won’t be able to face it without fuel.”
“What was it, Sheriff?”
Ramon stared his deputy down, his face stern, controlling. “Food first.”
Allie nodded and headed back to Gloria’s desk, while Ramon walked to the kitchenette and found a half-loaf of bread and a jar of Peter Pan. He quickly began slapping slices of bread down on the counter and spreading peanut butter.
“What’s going on, Sheriff?” Allie asked, her voice containing a tiny lilt of hope, as if they were the butts of some practical joke that she’d yet to uncover. She waved Maria toward her, patting the desktop, encouraging her to sit there beside her. She attempted a smile, but it fell flat.
“I don’t know. Nothing I’ve ever seen before, that I know.” Ramon brought the first sandwich over to Allie, who handed it to Maria, and then he walked back to the kitchenette. “But it is happening, and the sooner we accept that the better off we’ll be.”
Allie gave the answer a moment to sink in, and then she answered, “So, we need to get out of Garmella, right? We need to get in the car and just go.”
“We can’t just leave, Allie. Not yet. We have to see who needs help first. We have to canvass the town.”
Allie narrowed her gaze, confused. “Canvass the town? You and me? We nee
d help from State, Sheriff. We need—”
“Allie!” Ramon snapped, turning toward his deputy. He lowered his voice. “We can’t just leave.”
Allie shook her head in denial. “You didn’t see it, Sheriff. You didn’t see—”
“I did see it. In broad daylight, just like you. I saw it fold a grown man like an omelet and then burn him to a crisp.” Ramon glanced to Maria and then dropped his eyes shamefully. “I don’t know what it is, Allie, but I know what it’s capable of. And we can’t just run away.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s my job, Allie. And it’s your job too. I don’t know what’s happening, but I know there are people who may need help still.”
“But you did call State, right. You told them what happened?”
Ramon frowned and looked away.
“What’s wrong?”
“I tried calling out but there’s no line.”
“What?”
Ramon shrugged and shook his head, signaling he understood the likely connection, but he didn’t know what it was. “And even if we wanted to, we couldn’t leave anyway. You saw the sinkhole. Until that’s fixed, there’s no driving out. And no one is coming in. So until we figure that part out, we need to keep those things away from whoever is still...from the rest of the town.”
Allie’s eyes flashed wide. “Those things? Plural?”
Ramon shrugged. “Well, there have to be at least two of them. The one you saw at Maria’s house can’t be the same one I saw at the Grieg. The time and distance don’t work.”
“Jesus.”
Ramon took a deep breath, nodding. “I know, but...we may have learned something. Something about why they’re here.”
“We?”
Ramon carried a plate of sandwiches back to Gloria’s desk, giving a nod toward his office entrance along the way. Josh stood at the threshold, and the boy lifted a hand in a meek wave.
“Hi, Josh. Sheriff told me he found you. You okay?”
Josh nodded.
Allie turned to Ramon. “So, what did you learn? What are they?”
Ramon frowned and quivered his head. “I don’t know that part exactly—the what part—but we might have figured out why.
“What? What does that mean?”
“Why they’re here. What they want.”
“What they want? Really? I figured that was the one part we already knew. There are what, eight people dead from those things now. And God knows how many more. Based on the number of people I’ve seen in this town today, I’d say it’s probably a whole lot more than that.”
Ramon looked to Josh now, trying to gauge his reaction to Allie’s dramatic report about the number of killings; but the boy seemed unaffected by this new body count, and Ramon assumed it was because he already suspected there were more deaths than just Riley Tackard. Ramon, himself, knew about his other deputies and their father, and he had told Allie about Riley, so she would have included him in the count as well. And then there was Derrick Zamora and Amber Godwin. All those numbers came to six dead, not eight.
“Eight?”
Allie tilted her head slightly back to Maria, who had taken a seat behind her at one of the desks. She then gave a quick tremor of her head and frowned. “Maria’s parents. I didn’t...see them, but she said it was...just like Luke and Randy.”
Ramon gave a somber nod and then bowed his head respectfully for a few beats. “I see. I’m so sorry Maria.”
Maria closed her eyes and matched Ramon’s head bow.
“What in God’s name is going on here?”
Allie let the question hang for a moment, allowing it its proper gravity, but then she returned quickly to the matter at hand. “So, what does it want?”
“Well, we don’t know for sure, of course, but it...this...creature...” Ramon paused after uttering the word and then looked to Allie for agreement on the term. She nodded.
“It spoke to Josh.” Ramon paused and then flipped his hands up and frowned in a believe-it-or-not gesture. “Or maybe ‘communicated’ is the better word, I guess.”
Allie stared at Ramon for several beats, waiting for the catch. “What?” She turned in full to Josh, her face creased with questions.
“But not with its voice,” Josh added. “It was more like with its...thoughts.”
Allie snickered and a wry smile replaced the quizzical look that had been draped across her face for the last few minutes. She then spun back toward Ramon, seeking clarification, and when Ramon only nodded back, asserting what Josh had said, she started to laugh.
“I believe him, Allie.”
Ramon’s words were drowned out by Allie’s laughter, a cynical eruption which came from deep in her belly, one obviously born out of hysterics, lacking any humor at all.
“Allie!”
Allie let the last of the chuckling die naturally, and when her chest was finally empty of any more sound, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding me, Sheriff. Telepathy? Is that what you’re saying? You don’t believe that, right? That these things are what...aliens? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know, Allie. I just know what I saw. The same thing you and Josh and Allie saw. And even if it was some new species of animal, something that’s been here all along, hiding or hibernating or something, there were things it did that were not of this world.”
Allie shook her head and whispered, “No.”
“Do you have an answer? You must have given it some thought. What have you come up with?” And then he added, “Did something happen to you out there? Did it get into your mind?”
Allie looked away quickly as if she’d been slapped, and then she straightened her expression and looked back to Ramon, her look now stern and focused. “No, Sheriff, nothing happened. And just because I don’t accept that these things are some kind of poisonous Martians, that doesn’t exactly make me the crazy one here?”
“I never said—”
“It’s true.”
The chirp came from Maria, her words barely audible even to Allie who was sitting not four feet away.
All eyes turned to the girl.
“It talked to me too.”
Josh exited the office and walked to the desk, and then he hopped up and sat next to Maria. He pressed his hands on the edge of the desk and stretched his arms straight, matching the pose of his peer, and both children sat that way, legs dangling as if they were sitting on the pier of a country lake on a summer afternoon.
“Hey, Maria.”
“Hi, Josh.”
“I’m really sorry about your parents.”
She dropped her eyes and stared at the floor. “Thanks.” She looked at Josh now and asked, “Do you know where yours are?”
Josh shook his head. “Did you...see it happen?”
Ramon thought it a bold question, one only a child could ask another.
Maria shook her head. “But I know why it happened. I know what it wanted.”
A silence fell across the room, and Ramon had to bite his bottom lip to keep from breaking it. He was a cop, used to asking questions and following up quickly on the responses, trying to find the lie if one existed. But Josh was doing great, and any input from Ramon was likely to kill the momentum.
Finally, when Ramon was on the verge of bursting, Josh asked, “Why?”
CHAPTER TEN
Six months before the rain
“JUST AFTER THE TURN of the last century, and for many decades forward, they all but disappeared from the earth.”
Winston now lay on a long divan that backed to the fireplace, a wet cloth folded atop his forehead. The fatigue of his condition had forced him to this supine position, his breathing labored as he listened to the young visitor who stood somewhere above him, only a few feet away. Winston had no recollection of how he’d come to be on the sofa or who had placed the towel on his brow, but the position felt soothing, and he made no question of the new arrangement.
The other two guests, the older man and woman who had led off t
his discussion but had said little else since, were now gathered closely around Winston, each sitting in a separate chair as they listened to their leader recall the history of this netherworld, a world in which Winston was still reluctant to believe.
“But before 1900, the stories of them are abundant. In North America and throughout the world.”
Even in his groggy state, Winston noted the soberness of Zander’s speech, the measurement and focus of each word of the tale that, presumably, was leading to the reason for their presence in Garmella. But there was something more in the man’s voice, something other than just an earnestness of purpose and drive. Beneath the surface of his words, Winston could detect a thrill.
“What stories?” Winston asked, repositioning the cloth across his eyes, the words coming languorously, as if he were a child on the verge of sleep, dreamily following up on some detail of a bedtime story.
“Stories of the Arali.”
“Arali,” Winston repeated, liking the breathy sound of the word in his ears. “What is an Arali?”
“They,” the man corrected. “They are the reason why we have come to this place.”
Winston nodded once, his head barely moving on the pillow. He yearned to speak, to object and question all that he was hearing, but he was drifting now, and Zander’s words now floated into his mind as if he were in a delusion. But he fought through the fog, managing to get his senses beneath him for a moment longer. “What are they? Arali? What are they exactly?”
There was a lengthy pause, and Winston could imagine Zander collecting his thoughts, trying to arrange his explanation properly.
“I suppose they are what you would think of as demons, though it is not a precisely apt definition.”
Winston removed the cloth now, feeling a rush in his chest at the mention of this evil of biblical scripture. He shook the cobwebs of sleep from his head and sat up slowly, though with a movement suggesting purpose. He was an old man, sick and dying, and his energy wasn’t half what it was even a year ago when the illness began to take a steady hold; but his mind was still a razor, functioning every bit as well as it did when he was forty.
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