by Angela Hunt
I sat up and propped my elbows on the rolling bedside table. In the car, in that moment before I filled my lungs with water, I had called on God . . . and I was still alive. I wasn’t exactly sure how or if He worked things out, but I was still alive and I didn’t deserve to be.
I would never again let my heart overrule my head.
My friends showed up after breakfast. The professor greeted me with a vase of flowers and a printed sheet of paper. “The flowers are gorgeous,” I said, burying my face in the fragrant carnations. “And what’s that other thing?”
“Our next gig.” The professor handed me an itinerary. “Day after tomorrow we’re leaving for San Diego. So if you can refrain from getting into trouble—”
“Hush up, you ol’ curmudgeon.” Brenda sat on the edge of the bed, blocking my view of the professor. “Girlfriend, that one was too close for comfort. You gotta be more careful.”
“I know. And I’m sorry for getting us into this mess.”
Brenda patted my hand. “We’re all still here, ain’t we?”
“I’m still not sure what happened. I remember sitting in Dr. Drummond’s office and hearing that I was about to die. Next thing I knew, I was in the car hearing the Megadeath battle cry. I think—I know—that sound snapped me out of my trance. But I couldn’t get out in time.” Even now, the memory of that chilly black water made me shudder. “Can you fill in the gaps for me?”
Brenda glanced at Tank and the professor, then she draped her arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “Daniel, my man, why don’t you ask Tank to go get you some ice cream? I think there’s a little shop down in the lobby area.”
Tank stared at her. “Ice cream? In the morning?”
“Be a prince and take Daniel for a cone, okay?”
I watched silently as Daniel walked over to Tank, took his hand, and led the big guy through the doorway. When they were safely away, Brenda leaned forward. “I don’t want to embarrass the kid. But we wouldn’t have found you if not for him.”
“Daniel?”
“Quite right.” The professor leaned against the end of my hospital bed. “Once again I found myself grateful we had the boy along.”
Brenda tossed the professor a disdainful look, then patted my hand again. “You’d gone out that morning. I don’t think we even realized it, but suddenly Daniel had one of his episodes.” She gave me a pained smile. “He started screaming about the duchs and how they were all around you. We looked for you, of course, ’cause we wanted to show him that you were fine, then we saw your car was gone. I remembered you sayin’ something about going to see your grandparents, but as soon as I mentioned that, Daniel started screamin’ even worse, hollerin’ and hittin’ us if we got close. Then Tank opened the front door, and suddenly Daniel ran out and jumped in the rental car. Well, what else could we do? We got in, too, and then—” She paused to draw a deep breath. “You know how he has this invisible friend?”
I nodded.
“Since we didn’t have a clue where you were, we went wherever Daniel told us to go. When he took us to the interstate I was convinced we were on some kind of wild goose chase, and then suddenly he pulls out his phone and starts playing Battleship Megadeath—the game he’s got goin’ with you. Then we’re at the side of the road, and Daniel points to a pond. We’re staring at it, and we see this huge air bubble come to the surface. Daniel freaks out again, jumpin’ up and down, and Tank is ready to dive in, but before he can kick off his shoes Daniel reaches into my purse, pulls out that silly orange hammer, and hands it to Tank.”
Brenda paused and drew a deep breath. “About that time, I was putting pieces together, and I didn’t like what I was thinking. I had to take a CPR class to get my state license, and I know how fast a car can sink. Unless you can get your seat belt off and your window down before the power shorts out, you’re done for.”
“I did get my seatbelt off,” I said, shivering. “Barely.”
Brenda shook her head. “Man, I get wore out just thinkin’ about it. But I’m sure you can figure out the rest. Out in the pond, Tank sees your car, breaks the window with the hammer, and pulls you out. If the water had been a couple of feet deeper, or if you’d still been stuck in that seat belt, I don’t think Tank could have done it—the guy’s got a lot of heart, but he’s not what you’d call naturally buoyant. Anyway, Daniel stops screamin’ once he sees that Tank has you, and he’s as quiet as a mouse while Tank is givin’ you mouth to mouth.” She grinned. “Personally, I think Tank liked that even more than savin’ your life. So that’s what happened.”
I leaned against my pillows, exhausted and a little amazed. The story made sense, but if I hadn’t lived it, I wouldn’t believe it.
“What about Hamish?” I shifted my gaze to the professor. “Has anyone checked out Dr. Drummond?”
“A couple of detectives went to talk to him,” the professor said, “but he had vacated the premises—not a trace of him at the office, not even a fingerprint. But about an hour later the cops called me with news of a burning convertible on Interstate 275. The car sounded like Drummond’s, so I went to the scene. No body, just a crumpled convertible on its side, resting in the middle of the median. And this.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped the photo icon, and let me see the screen. In a patch of charred grass, I saw Hamish’s Gumby—twisted, melted, and an exact copy of Brenda’s sketch.
“What does it mean?” I asked, lifting my gaze to meet the professor’s. “Is he dead?”
The professor released a hollow laugh. “I wouldn’t think so. But that’s okay—neither are we.”
I leaned back against the pillows and sighed as Tank and Daniel came back in. Tank carried a tray of ice cream cones, and as he passed them out I remembered Drummond telling me that all of us but Daniel were supposed to die, one after the other. But if The Gate couldn’t manage to get rid of a defenseless girl like me, how powerful could they really be?
Maybe we’d soon find out.
“Thanks, Tank.” I accepted a cone and tasted the vanilla on my tongue. Delicious.
Selected Books by Angela Hunt
Roanoke
Jamestown
Hartford
Rehoboth
Charles Towne
Magdalene
The Novelist
Uncharted
The Awakening
The Debt
The Elevator
The Face
Let Darkness Come
Unspoken
The Justice
The Note
The Immortal
The Truth Teller
The Silver Sword
The Golden Cross
The Velvet Shadow
The Emerald Isle
Dreamers
Brothers
Journey
Doesn’t She Look Natural?
She Always Wore Red
She’s In a Better Place
Five Miles South of Peculiar
The Fine Art of Insincerity
The Offering
Esther: Royal Beauty
Bathsheba: Reluctant Beauty
Delilah: Treacherous Beauty
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