“Mr. Slider.” Jennifer saw Skip and the teacher exchange glances. “You should probably get everyone out of here.”
The geometry teacher turned his chair back and forth to look at the two of them, and the rest of his students, and the adults. Finally, the chair moved past them. “Class, let’s move on. I’m afraid I don’t have a phone with me—something about this chair seems to disagree with the reception—so perhaps one of the chaperones would be so kind as to…Mr. Stowe? Hello, Mr. Stowe?”
…no daughter…no daughter…no daughter…
What Jennifer saw confused her. Most of the class and adults had moved along with the teacher. Gerry and his grandfather, however, stayed between Jennifer and Rune Whisper. Two more people Jennifer couldn’t quite make out were right behind them.
“Rune Whisper went to the Stowes’ house a lot,” Skip was explaining quietly. “And to the school, and the hospital, and the building site there. I think he was a messenger or scout of sorts, running between the rest of them. But he went to their apartment the most, right in the same building as his own at Oak Valley. It was like a headquarters.”
With those words he pointed at the last two emerging figures—Mr. Cheron and his wife. Standing tall in a sharp gray suit with a dark T-shirt, Angus kept a muscled arm around Delores. Just like at the beaststalker trial, she was in flowing robes of soft green, with her face hidden behind a thick veil.
Jennifer tore her glance away from Rune long enough to focus on her. What could she make out through that veil? There was something about her…
No daughter! No daughter! NO DAUGHTER!
The intensity behind the words shocked her. It wasn’t quite anger, she realized. The rage was there, but something deeper fueled it.
It was sorrow.
Yes, that was it. There was so much sadness behind the words, so much misery and wretchedness that Jennifer herself could not help but feel deep grief for this woman.
The words were coming from Delores Cheron! She was the source! This was Evangelos!
…no daughter…no daughter…no daughter…
The stench of woe filled the air. Jennifer stumbled back into the cement fixture that overlooked the street four stories below. Gritting her teeth at her foolish assumptions about her sibling, she reached for Skip’s hand to help steady herself.
“Skip…it’s not Rune…it’s her…it’s Delores Cheron!”
He squeezed her arm back as he lifted her up. “Yes. And no. It’s pretty clear to me now that your father made a mistaken assumption about Evangelos. A big one.”
Rune Whisper and the two Stowes closed in around the Cheron couple.
The full truth hit her right before he told her. She gasped.
“Evangelos isn’t exactly what you’d call an only child.”
“There are five of them!”
“Yes, five. And yet one. Best I can tell, my mother had quintuplets. Maybe more, before they died in that other dimension. Werachnids, like most spiders, often have multiple births.”
She didn’t know what else to say, not one clue. How had this happened? How had she never thought of this possibility? You have to know what you don’t know, Mr. Slider’s voice chided her. Otherwise, you can’t solve the puzzle.
Skip went on. He had figured it out, she thought with a shot of envy. “Lost and on their own in another world, the surviving children must have learned to work together. They hid together, hunted together, even thought and moved together. After a while, Delores must have taken charge, and taught her brothers to be together. And when it suited her, the one could become two, or three…or five. Apart, each child could learn something unique about the hell they lived in, maybe specialize and learn a particular skill. Together, they formed a whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
The people around the Cherons were now incredibly close, Jennifer saw—so close that it was hard to tell where one person ended and another began. In fact, Angus and Delores themselves seemed more like a single entity than a couple. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Were there still even five people?
No, she didn’t think so. And they certainly weren’t people anymore.
Each part was a black twist of scales, wings, and legs—clearly miniature versions of what Jennifer had fought in Grandpa Crawford’s cabin. As one merged with another, the resulting beast became larger and larger.
The soul—where Delores had stood—was shuddering as Angus added his muscle. Not far away, Jennifer guessed, the elder Stowe was blending his knowledge and wisdom with Gerry Stowe’s youth and energy.
“Once she came to our world,” Skip mused, “she adapted, just like she did before. She followed trails of memories and learned to mimic people’s faces, clothes, even their accents. The people we’ve seen here tonight probably still exist somewhere else in the world. She just borrowed their images and voices as disguises.”
“So Evangelos is all of these people.”
“Evangelina, I’m guessing. Yeah, in a way she’s all those people—as many at any time as she wants to be. What attacked your grandfather could have been one of them, or two, or all five together. While I was watching Martin and Angus working at the hospital the other day, the other three parts were probably with you, scaring Susan and attacking Eddie’s mom. That was Delores’s own first real look at her father.”
“They’ve been everywhere,” Jennifer whispered. “Gerry’s been at school to keep an eye on you and me, his grandfather’s been at the hospital to watch mom, Angus has been near my father, and Rune’s been running between them all.”
“Only Delores has been hidden in the apartment,” Skip finished. “She uses her brothers to learn and adapt. But she’s the center. She drives them all. She’s amazing!”
He could not hide the admiration in his voice, but he kept a protective hold on Jennifer’s arm.
The last part, what they had known as Rune Whisper, was different from the others. Barely visible under the bright lights of the parking garage, the new form had no definable shape. Instead, it was the murky suggestion of a child of a dragon and a spider. Surely, this was the part of Evangelina that had learned to hide as prey…and then to hunt as a predator.
Just before Rune’s shadow passed into the whole and clouded the head and torso, Jennifer caught a glimpse of Evangelina in her full glory. To her amazement, it was like looking into a dark mirror. There were three horns pulling back from a crest, and a nose horn in front of cloudy eyes.
“Sister…” The word escaped her without thought.
No!
Jennifer could make out the surprise and horror in the silent reply. Tendrils of darkness covered the head and splayed out over the pavement. The next words were calmer, but still steeped in rage and melancholy.
There is no sister. There is no daughter…
“I can hear her, too,” Skip said with excitement. He stepped between Jennifer and Evangelina. “You know who we both are, don’t you? She’s your sister. I’m your brother. We don’t want to hurt you. We—”
NO!
Faster than anything Jennifer had ever seen, a dark tail whipped around from behind the cloud and slammed into Skip’s head. He crumpled to the ground.
“Skip!” She caught his limp body and dragged him back a few feet. Blood seeped slowly down his neck.
No brother! No sister! No daughter!
Just Father. Father will pay!
“Back off!” Jennifer burst out. “Get away from us!”
The shadow advanced as Jennifer kept backing away with Skip.
No brother. No sister.
Jennifer couldn’t even describe what she felt. Perhaps it was the same sort of senseless, crazy courage that had consumed her at Grandpa Crawford’s cabin. Maybe it was her desire to defend Skip and Eddie. Or maybe it was something deeper. Whatever it was, it commanded that she drop Skip, slip one dagger out, and throw it with all her might into the middle of the dark cloud.
She couldn’t see where it landed, but she heard the blade plunge int
o flesh. The resulting shriek pierced both ears and mind.
A thrill went through her. Hey, Mom, I got the distance right!
By the time Evangelina was done screaming, Jennifer had checked Skip for a steady pulse and determined he was indeed all right, if firmly unconscious. She quickly readied her second dagger.
Evangelina did not return the attack. Instead, she reached up with a claw into her dark corona, gasped with pain, tore her foe’s blade from wherever it had pierced, and tossed it back. It skimmed across the pavement, skittered through the shards of the Blacktooth blade, and slid to a stop right before Jennifer’s feet.
The next thoughts Jennifer heard were far more complex than anything this thing had offered before. There was still overwhelming sorrow and rage, yes. But there was also curiosity, and a grim sort of humor…and perhaps doubt?
Like your mother. And yet different.
“Don’t you talk about my mother, you bitch!”
For a brief moment, she felt a door open—a sort of empathy, she was sure. Evangelina had a mother, too, didn’t she? Didn’t she understand what having one meant? Was that why she had spared Wendy Blacktooth, and Jennifer’s own mother?
Just like that, the door closed. The empathy and the doubt disappeared. Only the wrath and sorrow, and a last vestige of curiosity, remained.
I will enjoy hunting you tonight. What is it you beaststalkers like to say? “Ready yourself, or ready your soul.” Sister.
Irony dripped from the last word. Before the thought was even complete, Evangelina had turned and vanished into shadow.
Jennifer was alone.
CHAPTER 16
Sibling Rivalry
Damn these boys anyway! It was not a charitable thought, Jennifer admitted as she pulled Eddie’s unconscious body close to Skip’s, all the while keeping an eye out for another sign of her sister. But she was dismayed neither had been exactly helpful this evening. If I survive this, I’m beating them both into body casts.
She had barely taken a step away from the two of them when the first missile came whooshing down the parking aisle. A viscous, dark green blob spat from the maw of Evangelina exploded ten feet away.
In an instant, Jennifer had changed into dragon form and curled over the boys to protect them. The acid struck her armored wings and trickled away harmlessly.
Why do you protect them?
She felt her sister’s curiosity and disdain crawl down her skin with the venom.
I hear your memories. These two boys have given you nothing but grief since you’ve learned what you are. Since they’ve learned what you are.
“It’s what friends do,” Jennifer retorted. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
She felt the waves of displeasure, even though she still couldn’t see her sister.
Friends are a luxury you can afford in this world. I could not, in mine.
“Well, now that you’re here, have you thought about trying?” Jennifer felt self-conscious about her voice echoing through the mall parking lot, but they were alone. “I mean, all we hear from you is ‘no friends, no family, no love’…have you ever considered you might get those things, if you stopped acting like a psychotic?”
Jennifer could briefly feel her sister’s doubt again—was that one of the parts arguing with the others?—and then she felt the surge of rage return as Evangelina sprang from the darkness and bore down like the predator she was.
She had no time to react. The collision was fierce. As they rolled over each other on the pavement, Jennifer felt blood trickling from her temple. Dark legs, wings, and claws wrapped themselves securely around her. Even before they stopped rolling, Jennifer could feel the probing mouth brushing against her scaled wing and shoulder. Whatever came out of her sister’s jaws did not feel like a forked tongue or anything else she knew dragons to possess. Now it was at her neck, and her snout…soon it would be at her bloody temple, and the draining would begin…
In a flash she was back to her smaller, human shape. Before Evangelina could adjust, Jennifer had slid out of her sister’s grasp and hacked at the flickering tail.
Standing up, she pulled both daggers up, kissed them, and began to battle shout before Evangelina was even up. Light shone. Sound echoed. The entire parking garage became a cavern of beaststalker fury. At least ten car alarms went off simultaneously.
And in the midst of it all, Evangelina stood up, regained her composure…and smacked Jennifer across the head with her tail.
I’m sorry, sister…did you say something? I’m afraid I can’t hear you very well.
The realization hit Jennifer almost as hard as the tail had. Evangelina was blind. And deaf. Martin Stowe’s vision problems were obvious, of course; and Angus Cheron had “explained” the deafness of Delores at the beaststalker trial. Those “weaknesses” combined to make Evangelina invulnerable to the beaststalker’s shout. That’s why my mother had such a hard time with her!
Correct
came her sister’s voice.
I do not need to see or hear what I can feel. I felt our grandfather’s excitement the last night he was with you, and your own mother’s fear when she realized her first weapon was useless against me. And now, I can feel your despair. Your hopelessness. You’re going to die tonight, Jennifer. You’ll fail, like your mother before you, and your father after you. And then…
“And then what?” Jennifer knew now her voice wasn’t necessary, but shouting felt better. Plus, it was easier to hear herself over the wail of the car alarms. “You’ll go back to your old dimension, since it was such a fabulous place? Or you’ll stick around in our world, killing people when you feel like it and hiding when you don’t?”
I’ll worry about the future once I settle the past.
“Sis, you don’t have a future.”
She ran straight at Evangelina, counting on the element of surprise. But her opponent stepped to one side, taking only a small swipe of one blade to the ribs.
Surprise won’t work anymore, Jennifer. Tonight you’re not the unexpected distraction. You’re the prey. Your thoughts are your scent. I will read and track them.
An idea came to Jennifer like a lightning bolt—and it did not bother her one bit that her sister could hear it as well. Holding her blades high, she swung around, traced a circle in the air, and then brought them down to strike the cement surface of the parking lot.
What came out astonished her. It was her mother’s twin golden eagles. Like feathered bullets, they dove straight for Evangelina and dug at her face with razor claws.
“Read their thoughts!” Jennifer dared. She switched into dragon form, stomped the ground, and brought a stream of serpents to her aid. “And read theirs!”
Evangelina teetered back, flailing at the enormous raptors and obviously wary of the slithering mass approaching her feet. She had only one escape. The shadow around her extended…and then she was gone, the shadow retreating quickly after her.
Jennifer gritted her teeth and flexed back to human form. Her animal friends clustered around her protectively. The cars stopped wailing, perhaps silenced by the unnatural scene before them. Eagle eyes and snake tongues were all around her, but she knew none of them could tell where Evangelina had fled.
“Stay close. She’s around here somewhere.”
With the birds gliding ahead and the serpents wriggling on either flank, Jennifer made her way up each aisle of the parking ramp. Back and forth through the massive levels they went, named after states, themes, and colors for parkers’ convenience: Arizona’s green cactus, blue dice for Nevada, and the purple mountains of Colorado.
As they came within sight of the first few white Alaskan husky signs on the ramp to the top level, Jennifer wondered if Evangelina hadn’t just fled altogether. Maybe summoning animals was something new to her, like beaststalkers had been.
The piercing cry of one of the eagles answered her question. It circled above something crawling down the ramp toward them. Jennifer couldn’t make it out, but it was smal
l and moved slowly.
The other eagle gave a cry as well. It had spotted another one. The small, shadowy shape struggled to catch up with the first.
Another cry—another one.
Still another cry.
Soon, the eagles were calling out repeatedly, and a small army of indiscernible shapes was making its way down the ramp. Some of the creatures were clinging to the walls and restraining wires between levels.
There were hundreds of them. But what were they?
I can summon an army as well, sister.
The mob sped up a bit. Suddenly, instead of crawling, some of them were jumping. One latched onto the talon of an eagle. A few others launched themselves into the bed of snakes Jennifer had arranged around her. The mambas hissed at the unearthly creatures and struck, as she finally got a good look at them.
They were spiders…almost. Black and hairy, with gray bellies, they had ten or so legs, several bright blue eyes, and short tails that suggested slugs more than anything else. One opened its mouth, revealing a set of clicking mandibles, and screamed.
Creatures from my own dimension…
Jennifer backed up in a hurry. These things were already swarming over serpents, paying little heed to the small fraction that got devoured. Poison seemed to have no effect on them. The eagles had shaken off the more aggressive jumpers, but were sailing back to her. They could not hold this ground.
Recalling the oreams of Crescent Valley, she raised her daggers and let out a battle shout. The nova of light and sound knocked back the advancing swarm, curling their legs into hundreds of miniature death spasms.
Out of this maelstrom, the invincible shadow of Evangelina swooped. Jennifer ducked just quickly enough to get nothing more than a claw to the head, which was still enough to send her reeling. She somersaulted backward until her shoulders slammed into a parked sedan. The impact knocked her breath away. She felt the metal dent beneath her.
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