by Adam Dark
He couldn’t tell which one of them was speaking to him, so he just kind of centered his focus somewhere between the two paramedics. “Uh, I’m—”
“Ben?”
Well, he definitely recognized that voice. And what the heck was Chase doing here?
“You know this guy?” paramedic number whatever asked.
Ben let out some totally brainless, wordless sound and looked up to see that yes, it actually was Chase. But why wasn’t his stupid mouth working?
“Yeah, he does,” Chase said, hunkering down next to the paramedics so they made a cozy little huddle of four on the freezing sidewalk. “We were supposed to meet at his apartment, but he never called.” The guy waved his phone at the paramedics with a sheepish smile, like that explained everything. “I don’t think he’s eaten very much recently.” How the heck did he know that? Chase leaned toward the closest paramedic and offered the guy a sympathetic nod. “You know, his mom passed last week.”
Oh, there was the punchline. Apparently, Chase had arrived at the perfect time, out of nowhere, to con Ben out of being sent to the hospital. Maybe even back to the looney bin. Who knew? Ben didn’t have any clue what had just happened to him or how he’d ended up on the sidewalk. Who’d called an ambulance?
“Your name’s Ben?” one of the paramedics asked.
Nodding, Ben found his eyes returning to their preferred method of seeing only one of everything. “Yeah. I’m fine. Really. I just… I think I slipped on the ice, maybe…”
“That happens. Must have been bad enough for someone to call us. We’re just gonna check you out, okay, Ben? Make sure you didn’t hit your head too hard.”
He was even more surprised now to find that he actually looked up at Chase’s face in response to this. Like Chase had answers for whatever was happening right now. Apparently, Ben must have looked like he wanted some reassurance; Chase stuck out his lip and shook his head, as if saying everything would be fine and Ben should just let these nice medical professionals do their job.
So Ben rocked back off his knees and let himself sit there on the sidewalk while the two professionals in dark-blue uniforms dragged their red and blue bags out of the ambulance and did whatever they had to do. Another light shined in his eyes, and Ben’s forehead erupted in sharp agony before he quickly managed to blink that away, too. Something was strapped to his arm with a little pressure, then the Velcro holding it there whispered apart again. It was just a constant blur of movement and things pressed against his body before leaving again and questions he didn’t think were directed at him. The only thing that didn’t move around him was Chase.
The guy just watched Ben with the smallest hint of a smile—not like he was laughing but like he really was trying to give Ben something to look at that wasn’t either all business from the paramedics or incredible concern from whoever else had gathered around to watch the spectacle. Ben couldn’t even bring himself to look at anything else. He felt like he’d just woken up after the worst night of sleep in his life.
Finally, the paramedics pulled away and studied his face again, both of them sporting what looked like smiles of pity. “Well, you don’t have a concussion. Everything else looks okay. When’d you get those skin grafts?”
Ben glanced down briefly at his hands. “Oh. Like… November.”
“Okay,” the other paramedic said. “Just keep an eye on those hands. Keep ‘em clean, right? And maybe your friend here can help you get some food.” He nodded toward Chase, who just closed his eyes and returned the gesture, as if he was fighting not to say, ‘That’s what I’ve been telling him all along.’
The paramedics gathered up their stuff, stood, and headed back to their ambulance. Ben thought he could feel them watching him as Chase helped him to stand, but maybe that was everyone else watching him. Maybe he’d just imagined the whole thing. Maybe he was in serious trouble and didn’t know how the heck to get out of it this time.
Yep, his legs were still a little wobbly, but the next step he took with Chase’s hand on his back steadied out a little. The next and the next after that seemed to help shake out his unsteadiness, and then Chase removed his hand and shoved it into his jacket pocket. The guy pulled out his vape and took a long, hissing pull on it. At least he turned his head to blow the not-smoke away from Ben, then they stopped in front of what had to be Chase’s car. Ben still couldn’t even think straight enough to register what kind of car it was or whether or not he’d seen it the one time he’d been to Chase’s incredibly nice house in a ridiculously nice part of town.
By the time he realized he’d been staring at the handle of the passenger-side door, Chase was already in the driver’s seat with the door closed and the engine started. He stared at Ben through the window, his eyes widening in invitation to get in already. Ben’s fingers were still mostly numb, so it took him a few fumbling pulls before he could open the door, which felt heavier than it should have, even when he shut it again behind him.
Then they just sat there in Chase’s car, the heat blasting in their faces. Ben’s cheeks started to burn all over again.
“You okay?” Chase asked, turning slowly to look at Ben. The guy had been all smooth sailing and ‘I got this’ in front of the paramedics, but he definitely looked a little freaked out now. Like any sudden movement from Ben would make his entirely unexplained episode contagious or something.
Ben just eyed him sideways and swallowed. “I have no idea.”
“Okay…” Chase folded his arms, which right now looked a lot more like his way of trying to hold himself together than his normal ‘I really don’t care’ use of that pose. “How ‘bout I ask you what happened instead?”
Blinking, Ben rubbed his cheek and thought he felt some kind of feeling in it again. It wasn’t the good kind. “Uh… I’d probably give you the same answer.”
Chase puffed a sigh out through his lips, gripped the steering wheel, then dropped his hands into his lap again. “Was it a demon?”
“I think so?” Ben couldn’t even be entirely sure about that, though what else could it have possibly been? Something else had clawed its way into his head, both in the middle of the night and right there on the street. He’d felt it.
‘Yeah, I felt it too,’ Ian said.
And none of it made sense.
“So.” Chase raised his eyebrows and looked Ben up and down. “Ian still in there?”
‘I think he’s starting to like me.’
“Yeah,” Ben said, even though for some reason he was shaking his head. “He doesn’t know what happened either. It’s been a… weird day.” And he hadn’t been that crazy guy walking down the street in years. Then his brain finally started to work like normal, if just a little bit, and he frowned at the guy. “How did you know where I was?”
Chase tried to chuckle, but he really didn’t sound very amused at all. “You know there are tons of police scanner apps, right?”
Oh, of course. Yeah, Ben spent all his time listening to 9-1-1 calls and dispatch and police radios all the time. Not. He just shrugged.
“Well, somebody said something that sounded interesting, and I drove by to check it out. Then I found you. Star of the show.”
“So you took a drive specifically… what? To check out a 9-1-1 call about some dude falling over on the sidewalk?” Ben pressed his lips together; maybe he was starting to feel them again but in more of a dry, chapped, still-not-sure-this-is-real kind of way.
“Not really,” Chase said. “I mean, April texted me first.”
“What?”
“She said you weren’t picking up your phone, man. She sounded kinda freaked out.” Chase took a deep breath. “Do I sound kinda freaked out?”
Ben shifted in the passenger seat to pull his phone from his back pocket, ignoring Chase’s question because no, it didn’t matter at all what Chase sounded like. He wasn’t the one getting his brain picked apart by demons. Ben’s stomach clenched when he found that his trusty smartphone hadn’t been smart enough to tell him t
hat the battery was low, and now it was completely dead.
‘That’s not really how smartphones work, right?’
If Ian was going to tell him Ben was responsible for watching his phone’s battery, he’d better shut it right now. “You got a phone charger in here?” he asked Chase.
“Glovebox.”
Ben fumbled with the handle, whipped out the cord, and handed Chase one end to plug into wherever it needed to be while he stuck the other end in his phone. That was one of the more awkward minutes of waiting for his phone to turn on. When it did, it pretty much exploded with texts from April and two voicemails. “Crap.” Ben sifted through her texts first; he didn’t think he could handle listening to her voice on a recorded message right now. Not after having seen her face flashing through his head while whatever the heck that demon was flipped through his memories like a photo album.
—Hey, call me.—
—Everything good? Just checking.—
—Just let me know you’re okay, yeah?—
—Ben, I had a dream. Call me back.—
—For real. If you don’t answer in 20, I’m calling Chase.—
That last one made him snort. She’d probably picked the best way to threaten him without sounding angry about it, and it would have worked if he’d seen it. Now, though, he was both super frustrated with himself and actually kind of glad Chase had picked him up when he did. Right now, with whatever creepy thing had gotten inside his head, the last thing he needed was to hit up another hospital with more tests and more people likely to think he’d lost his mind again.
With a deep breath, he pulled up April’s number and called her back.
“Ben.”
It was amazing how well she managed to say just his name and make it sound like an accusation. “Hey, I’m so sorry,” Ben said. “My phone was dead.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yep. Yeah. I’m just… uh… I’m with Chase.” Not that that really meant one thing or the other, did it?
A loud sigh came from the other end of the line, and Ben didn’t know if it was in relief or aggravation. “Did something happen?” April asked. “Anything weird?”
Ben swallowed. “Like what?” It felt like quite the eager move to just voluntarily give up what little information he had. And he didn’t know if April was actually not pissed at him or just trying to keep the peace. For whatever that was worth right now.
“Ben, I had a dream,” she said slowly, then sighed again. “Um… that you were abducted…”
‘I’ve always said she was good,’ Ian offered.
Yeah, and Ben didn’t need to be told that. He knew April had dreams about the future, though she’d only told him about a few—namely the ones that involved him. None of them were ever good, and therein lay one of the biggest reasons April had been so helpful with their demon-hunting. She’d apparently spent a really long time learning how to decipher or at least recognize the parts of her dreams that needed to be acted on in real life. That was Ben’s best guess, anyway.
“So, yeah,” he replied, feeling pretty seriously dumb. “That might have happened.” He glanced at Chase, who just sat in his parked car and stared out the windshield. “What exactly did you see in your dream?” That made Chase turn his way.
“Enough to make me call you three times and text you like a grandma using a smartphone for the first time,” she said. Ben choked out a laugh. “Are you home?”
“No. Chase… found me. I’m in his car.” He wanted to give her a sarcastic ‘Thanks for releasing the hound,’ Chase having proven his skills in showing up in the right place at the right time without any logical explanation for it beyond his own curiosity. But that would have taken it too far. April still didn’t sound completely calm again, even after hearing he was okay. Ben didn’t feel completely calm again, either.
“Can we meet up somewhere?” she asked. “I do want to tell you what I saw, but I’d rather do it in person.”
Ben turned toward Chase. “You up for a stop at Speedy Joe’s?” Chase and April both said yes at the same time, which felt an awful lot like every simultaneous conversation he’d ever had with Ian and a person with a body standing in front of him. “Cool.” He tried not to look or sound creeped out by that. “We’ll head there right now.”
Chase nodded and shifted into drive, and April just said, “Okay. See you in a bit.”
“Okay.”
“Wait, wait. Ben.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m really glad you’re okay.”
“Yeah. Me too.” He couldn’t tell her that he wasn’t even mostly sure she’d gotten that one right.
13
‘You ever wonder if that guy’s running away from something?’ Ian asked. ‘Like, yeah, he looks jacked on caffeine. Or he could just be terrified of whatever’s making him run so freakin’ fast.’
Ben looked up briefly at the cartoon logo of a goofy-looking guy running across the marquee sign over Speedy Joe’s front door. Leave it to Ian to ignore Ben’s issues—which seemed like they applied to Ian too—in favor of pondering a totally insignificant, not-real dude’s backstory.
‘Jeeze, I’m just sayin’. It kinda creeps me out.’
The doorbell jingled on the handle when Ben stepped into the coffee shop—their apparent go-to place for meeting up at the last minute. Or when nobody was home. Yeah, there’d been some tension between him, Peter, April, and Chase in the past. Mostly brought on by Chase joining their little team with something like blackmail. Almost. A few weeks ago, nobody had wanted the guy over at their place. They might have all gotten past that part, except for maybe Peter, who hadn’t once replied to Ben’s texts. Speedy Joe’s was a pretty neutral place, right? Public coffee shop, open long hours, plenty of potential witnesses to keep things from really going south. But now, just the act of stepping through the glass door brought Ben a physical sensation of expecting something to go wrong. So instead of Pavlov’s dog, he’d become Speedy Joe’s.
‘The random comparisons you make constantly amaze me.’
“Yeah, you’re super clever, too,” Ben muttered through his teeth.
“What’s up?” Chase said, turning to face him just inside the door.
“Nothing. You getting anything?” Ben nodded toward the order counter.
“Eh, how’s their latte?”
Ben blinked at the guy. “Dude, it’s a latte.” He shrugged. “I like it.”
“Cool. You want one?”
For a minute, he thought Chase was joking, but the guy’s honest, eager offer wasn’t retracted with any backhanded comment or jab at Ben’s … whatever. The guy joked about everything. Ben slowly shook his head. “I’ll just get some water.”
Chase lifted one shoulder and stepped up to the counter.
‘Did he just try to do something nice for you?’
Definitely a little weird. Chase had been doing that all day, starting with his pretty immediate response to Ben’s text earlier that morning asking about Gorafrim. It could have been that the guy just took longer than normal to warm up to anybody, but part of Ben couldn’t help thinking there was something else going on. Not that it mattered. He didn’t have the energy to try to figure Chase out right now. Or ever, really.
He went to the little table beside the counter with the cream and sugar and stirring straws to pour himself a tiny plastic cup of ice water. That was so stupid. If people wanted water at a coffee shop, one would think those people were pretty freakin’ thirsty, right? He took a few huge gulps from the too-small cup and almost sprayed it all out against the back wall when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Sputtering and forcing himself to swallow, Ben whirled around. April blinked and took a step back, her hand still hovering above his shoulder. The way she studied his eyes, without a frown or surprise or anger, completely convinced him of just how worried she’d actually been. “Hey,” he croaked.
She threw her arms around his neck and nearly knocked him into the condiment table. Ben awkwardl
y lifted the half-empty cup away from her and hugged her back with his other arm. “I’m not gonna tell you to never let your phone die again,” April said, her chin hooked over his shoulder, “but maybe just consider it.” Man, she was really hugging him tightly. When she finally pulled away, Ben could only nod at her.
“You guys wanna find a table?” Chase asked, pointing with his coffee toward the open seating.
Perfect timing, as always.
“Yeah,” Ben said. “I’m just getting more water. I’ll be right there.”
Chase and April took off toward the other side of the coffee shop, Ben finished the water in his cup, and then he filled it again. He also filled two more of the ridiculous tiny things and carried them together toward the chosen table.
When he sat down, he felt Chase and April eyeing him, but it still took him a minute to feel like he could look at anybody while having this conversation. He nodded sideways at Chase. “You find anything about that word?”
The guy clicked his tongue. “Nope. Absolutely nothing. Pretty infuriating, actually, ‘cause I pretty much always find what I’m looking for.”
‘Unless it’s any information on Richard Monday’s house,’ Ian offered.
Or some of the other minor details they’d all missed. Yes, Ben was referring to the Forwaithe Cemetery demon again.
“Probably doesn’t mean anything,” Chase added.
“It definitely means something.” April said it so quickly, it did actually sound like she knew what this was. Which would make this a whole different conversation. She took in a sharp breath, and Ben had to look up at her now.
“You know what it is?” he asked slowly.
She blinked, then glanced down at the table with a small shake of her head. “No. But I heard it too.”
That had to mean she’d dreamt about it. Otherwise, Ben really had to find out how she managed to look so calm and normal if she’d been abducted in the middle of the night by another rag-demon too.
‘We don’t know that’s actually what happened.’
Fine. It could have been a hijacked dream. Still.