by Tom Deady
Susan’s words were starting to sound thick, and Hannah realized the pill was taking effect. Susan’s eyes were a little glassy and when she blinked, they stayed closed longer than they should. Hannah shivered, remembering Ash’s eyes looking that way when she pulled her off the altar.
“I do remember one thing. I was looking for somewhere to rest and I thought I found the same rock formation that I did before.” A sleepy smile touched her face. “I crawled in and tried to get comfortable. I dreamed that I wasn’t alone, that there were two other people there with me. When I woke up, I was alone and just sleeping up against a tree trunk. Isn’t that strange?”
Her voice trailed off and her eyes remained closed. Hannah glanced at Ashley and knew they were thinking the same thing—they had slept in that rock formation. Hannah knew it because that’s where she had found the locket.
They moved into the kitchen to let Susan sleep. Hannah was shaken about the weird coincidence of Susan’s dream. She glanced outside and her spirits buoyed at the swath of blue cutting through the gray sky.
“Benson, we need a plan. Our little commune here is not really sustainable, you know?”
Benson smiled at Dad. “I know. I’m just not quite sure what to do. Until I can establish if anyone on the force besides Dietrich is part of this, I can’t involve them. I mean, it was the captain that pulled me off the case. Did he do that because he’s one of the followers? What if there’s someone at the hospital involved?”
Hannah studied them both. Benson was starting to look a little frazzled. Dad was watching him, his expression one of concern, and something else. She filed the thought away for later consideration. She had a growing list of thoughts about Dad filed away. A whole filing cabinet’s worth.
“Well, we can’t hole up here for the rest of our lives. Quite frankly, I’m not planning on looking over my shoulder, seeing followers that aren’t there, everywhere I go.”
Benson narrowed his eyes, and his lips formed a tight line. Hannah knew he was frustrated. Before she spoke up to try to diffuse things, Ashley stood. She’d been quiet, listening intently but not offering her usual wisecracks.
“What is it about adults that make you like this?” Her eyes moved back and forth between Dad and Benson, her expression fierce. “Think about what Susan, Hannah and I have been through for a minute.” She spun to face Dad. “You’re worried about, what, a couple of extra houseguests when your own daughter was put in harm’s way?” She wheeled on Benson. “You! You don’t know what to do. You’re supposed to be a cop, but it’s been Hannah and I that have done all the work in figuring this thing out. I think you both need to get your sh—act together.”
She stalked over to the back door and stood there looking out. Hannah wanted to go to her but was curious to see how the men would react to Ashley’s outburst. They both remained silent for a long moment. Benson still looked mad; Dad looked sheepish. It was a word Hannah had read in books all the time but never really experienced. She almost laughed.
“Well, Rick, I guess we’ve been put in our place.”
Dad walked over to Hannah and gave her a hug.
“I’m sorry. Ashley is right—you’ve all been through the wringer while Brian and I weren’t much more than spectators. We’ll get through this and our house can be home base for as long as we need it. One thing, though, we’re not getting robes and hoods.”
“Too soon, Mr. G,” Ashley said quietly. She faced Benson. As if feeling her gaze on him, he turned to her, then put his hands up defensively. The anger had seeped from his face and he just looked tired.
“Wow. Ashley, Hannah...” He glanced toward Susan to include her, but she was sound asleep on the living room couch. “I’m sorry. You have been through a lot and you’re still willing to fight. I haven’t been doing my job.” He laughed humorlessly. “If I even have a job.”
Benson stood and paced between the kitchen and living room, pausing to look at Susan. Hannah saw his lips moving and he occasionally rubbed his buzz cut. Dad got up and fixed a cup of coffee, apparently not as intrigued with Benson’s animated style of thinking. Or his getting his act together, as Ashley had put it.
The phone rang, startling everyone. Benson reached for his gun and Dad splashed his coffee all over the place. Hannah laughed and ran to grab it.
“Hello?” Her voice was tentative; the thought that it could be one of them crossed her mind just as she put the phone to my ear.
It was Marcus, calling to make sure they were still on for the concert. He told Hannah he’d been watching the Weather Channel all day to see if it was going to clear, and it was. He started to drop some meteorological lingo, but Hannah cut him off with a laugh, asking him to hold on.
“Dad, it’s Marcus.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ashley making kissy faces at her. “He wants to know if I can still go to the concert tonight.”
Dad looked torn. There was really no way he could say no after his “I’m not looking over my shoulder speech.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
“I’ll drive you there and pick you up. You all stay together the entire time. Got it?”
Hannah blew him a kiss and mouthed “thank you” before getting back to Marcus. She told him she would meet him at the basketball courts at seven. They chatted for a few minutes before saying goodbye. Hannah hung up and turned to find everyone staring at her.
Dad and Benson wore twin masks of concern while Ashley looked kind of smug.
“What?” Hannah asked innocently.
“Your dad is right, Hannah,” Benson finally said. “I don’t want to scare you, but you will be vulnerable there. Sure, you’ll be out in the open in a crowded place, but we don’t know who in that crowd is a follower. You have to stay together. There’s no way they can make a move if you do that.”
“So, your plan to sneak off with Marcus is off the table.”
Hannah gave Ashley her best withering look while Benson cracked up. Dad had that “my baby is growing up way too fast” look again. It made Hannah sad a little, like she was trading her time with him to spend it with Marcus.
“Don’t worry, Dad, I’m not really interested in another night in the woods trying to save Ashley’s sorry butt. Mama Bayole’s little house of horrors is just a pile of ashes, so I think we’re good.”
She did her best to sound nonchalant, but she was afraid. Even in a crowd, there were ways Mama Bayole’s followers could get to them. Hannah pushed the thought away, musing about when followers had become the word to describe Mama Bayole’s people. They had all, at some point, just fallen into the habit of using it.
“Okay, girlfriend, let’s go find you a sexy outfit for the concert.” Ashley grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the bedroom, leaving Dad and Benson shaking their heads.
The blue sky had been a cruel tease. The clouds moved back in with a vengeance as the afternoon wore on. Getting out of the house for the concert was an absolute disaster. Dad nixed the first outfit Hannah put on, complaining that she “was going to Champlain Park, not Bourbon Street.” Hannah wasn’t even sure what that meant, other than she had to put on more clothes. She ended up in white shorts that highlighted what little tan she had but made her legs look long and coltish. Her top was a simple blue off-the-shoulder blouse that almost made her look like she had a figure. It definitely brought out her eyes—she and Ashley agreed on that.
Benson and Dad debated on what to do with Susan, who was still sleeping. Benson thought he should take the girls to Champlain and keep an eye on them because it was the more likely place for Mama Bayole to try something. Dad, of course, wouldn’t let that happen.
Then the phone rang, and Ashley’s parents were freaking out about all the urgent messages they’d received. A storm on the island had taken the phones down for almost twenty-four hours. Dad talked for a long time—between loud, panicked interruptions from the Wallaces—bringing them up to date on everything that had transpired since they left. Finally, Ashley got on the phone and told t
hem she was fine. The Wallaces insisted on cutting their vacation short in spite of Ashley’s insistence not to. More fallout from her bad decisions, Hannah thought glumly.
Susan woke up just as they were ready to go. Benson suggested they all attend the concert. Strength in numbers, he said, and Hannah agreed, as long as they didn’t hover. She would have agreed to just about anything, the excitement for the date had taken hold of her.
Hannah and Ashley met up with Marcus and Ken as planned, after promising Dad for the hundredth time they wouldn’t sneak off anywhere or split up.
The four of them sat together on a big blanket listening to a local band massacre a Beatles song. Hannah felt the watchful eyes of Dad and Benson at all times, and found herself scanning the crowd for them. Ashley nudged her and made a face, and Hannah tried to focus on the bad music.
The rain held off, but the evening remained cloudy and humid. The band continued its assault on songs Hannah loved, and as hard as she tried not to, her attention kept drifting to the other concertgoers. It was getting difficult to make out people’s features in the dimming light. Dusk came early with the sun nonexistent, buried behind thick clouds. The park lights were already on, a light fog or mist drifting by them. The band mercifully took a break and the crowd stirred, stretching and beginning to mill about.
Hannah stood, cramped from sitting, and began alternately bending her knees. She turned her head from side to side to relieve a crick in her neck and glimpsed a figure in the distance staring at them. She froze and squinted, trying to get a better look. The person was tall and wore a windbreaker and jeans, with a baseball cap pulled low. Hannah couldn’t distinguish if it was a male or female.
The person must have noticed Hannah staring back, because they lowered their head and ducked into the crowd, disappearing. Hannah’s breath came in short gasps and beads of sweat formed on her face. Ashley and the boys were engaged in a conversation about how bad the band was and not paying her any attention. She scanned the crowd again, now wishing Dad and Benson were hovering, but couldn’t spot them.
The darkness was thicker, nearly complete. Lights lined the perimeter of the park, closer to the basketball courts and playgrounds. They didn’t illuminate the middle of the field—in fact, they caused so much glare they did more harm than good. The way the light filtered through the mist gave everything a dreamy, surreal quality. Soon Hannah wouldn’t be able to see the person standing a few feet away from her. The thought terrified her.
“Hannah, are you okay?” Ashley had noticed something was off.
“Uh, yeah, I think so. Do you think we have time to go to the restroom?”
“I’ll walk you over. Ashley and Ken can save our spot,” Marcus volunteered. “It’s not like we’ll miss anything if they do come back while we’re gone,” he added with a grin.
Ashley grabbed her arm as she turned to go.
“We’re supposed to stay together,” she hissed. “Your dad will flip if you go off alone.”
Hannah blinked at her friend. Ash was usually the one to ignore rules, even ignore common sense at times.
“It’s okay, Ash, Marcus will be with me. Besides, if we all go, we’ll lose our spot.”
Ashley looked over to the restrooms, then back at Hannah, and grudgingly agreed.
Hannah half-smiled and nodded to Marcus, and they weaved their way through the crowd toward the brick building that housed the snack bar and the restrooms. Off in the distance, thunder rumbled like a faraway freight train. Part of Hannah hoped for the rain to come and send everyone home.
Am I really any safer there?
Anger bubbled up, pushing back her fear. She should be enjoying this night, enjoying her first date, not looking for witches or cult members or whatever they were. Followers.
A hand touched Hannah’s shoulder and she jumped. “Hey, are you okay?”
She looked over at Marcus and he pulled his hand away. She wondered what her expression was to give him that reaction.
“I’m sorry. I’m still jumpy from... everything that’s been going on.”
For the first time, she realized she might be putting Marcus in danger, too, and the thought both sickened and depressed her.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
His voice was low, almost shy, but the tenderness in it touched Hannah. They were almost through the crowd to the concession stand that housed the restrooms. Marcus was a nice kid, and the truth was she did want to tell him what was going on. Partially so he wouldn’t think she was a total nut job based on her behavior, but also because she thought she’d feel better talking with someone that wasn’t right in the middle of the whole mess.
Both of those reasons seemed selfish, and she might be putting him at more risk by telling him. Why does this have to be so hard?
“I’d like that, Marcus. Just not tonight, okay?” Hannah hoped it didn’t sound harsh but by his expression she guessed it did. She reached out and put a hand on his arm. “I mean it. I just want tonight to be special.”
His face lit up and Hannah immediately felt better. Then he started leaning toward her.
Oh, my. He’s going to kiss me. She’d imagined her first kiss a million times in a million different places. At that moment, under the misty sky at Champlain Park with Marcus, made all those fantasies seem bland. This was going to be perfect. She couldn’t move, had no idea what she was supposed to do.
Then the lights went out.
People screamed but mostly out of surprise or just to be funny. To them, the lights going out was nothing more than a power glitch. A reason to be silly and playful. To Hannah, it meant Mama Bayole. Her hand was still on Marcus’s arm and she clung to it like a lifeline. She reached for her cell phone, but she’d left it back at the blanket.
“Marcus, we have to go back. We have to find my dad.” Her throat was closing, an ugly panic rising inside her.
“Um, okay. I’m sure the lights will be back in a minute.”
Hannah’s eyes began to adjust, but it wasn’t much of a help. That part of the park was surrounded by trees on all sides and the night was cloudy. The darkness was eternal. Suffocating.
“You don’t understand.” Hannah choked, barely resisting the urge to bolt.
A commotion in the crown nearby caught her attention. People were yelling at someone about pushing or something. Every instinct in Hannah screamed at her to run but she didn’t know where. The angry shouts were getting closer. She knew whoever was being shouted at was coming for her.
She yanked on Marcus’s arm, pulling him toward where she thought they’d find Ashley and Ken. Staying mixed up in the crowd was a better way to hide than running out in the open.
Marcus grabbed her hand, and they ran together. You wanted to know what it would feel like, right? Not the romantic handholding she’d fantasized about.
She mumbled “excuse me” and “sorry” as she bumped into people. The two kept moving forward through the sea of bodies, though it was too dark to tell if they were going the right way. Hannah had no idea how she’d even spot Ken and Ash and the blanket, unless they tripped over them, but moving felt safer than standing still.
“Hey, watch it.”
“What the...?”
The angry shouts were not directed at them but someone—one of them—was getting closer. Someone was chasing her. Maybe it’s Dad or Officer Benson. Hannah dismissed the thought; they would be calling out her name.
Hannah saw a light waving up ahead and she realized it was someone holding their phone over their head as a signal.
Ashley. She knew it was Ashley. Mind meld.
“Marcus, I see Ashley, this way.” She pulled him in the direction of the light.
When his hand slipped from hers, Hannah thought somebody in the crowd had bumped him and he’d lost his grip. She didn’t stop but turned to make sure he was keeping up. He was gone. Lost in the churning bodies.
Hannah had to get to Ashley to call Dad, then they would all find Marcus. She began pushing throu
gh the crowd in the direction she’d seen Ashley waving the light. She bumped into someone and mumbled an apology as she tried to sidestep him. He moved to the same side she did. In another situation, Hannah might have laughed. It was one of those awkward let’s dance moments that sometimes happened. She tried again to slide by but this time a strong hand grabbed her arm. The rat-tat-tat explosion of firecrackers from the far side of the field got everyone screaming in mock horror and turning in that direction.
Hannah tried to pull away from her assailant, but the grip was unrelenting. About to let out a scream, she looked up and saw nothing but a flash of white cloth. She gasped and inhaled the sickly-sweet odor of whatever the cloth had been soaked in. Her hands and feet went numb. The sound of the crowd began to dim, then darkness.
Ashley and I are huddled under a blanket, giggling. It’s a reaction to the movie we’re watching. It’s not a silly giggle, it’s a defense mechanism. We’re scared out of our wits and trying to cover it up. On the television, a diminutive old woman with a weird voice is saying to go to the light. There is peace and serenity in the light.
“She’s coming around.”
“Good, we don’t have much time.”
“Is everything ready?”
“Of course.”
Pain exploded in Hannah’s skull when she opened her eyes. There is no peace and serenity in this light. She was chilly and reached for the blanket, Ashley must be hogging again. But there was no blanket. No Ashley.
As her head cleared, she saw the shadowed faces staring at her. She blinked. Then she recognized them, and her heart rate doubled, tripled, each beat sending fresh throbbing pain to her head. Her muscles went limp. Before her stood Mama Bayole, flanked by Officer Dietrich and the librarian.
“There you are, child. Mama’s been waiting.”
The old woman’s face was lust and hunger and menace. Something else, too. She looked older, frailer than before, if that was possible.