“Yeah, I had the same thought, but didn't want to say anything,” Asher said. “I hate to say this, but I have a really long drive ahead of me and school in the morning.”
Somehow Cole had blocked out the possibility that Asher would have to leave before this was resolved, and the announcement came as a horrifying blow. “You can't leave yet. We have to find and fix Amy first. She basically threatened to come after me as soon as you left. If you go, I'm dead.”
“I can't stay here forever, and I really can't miss another day of school. You won't die. She's probably long gone by now.”
“Or she could be hiding next door to my house for all we know.”
“Here's an idea,” Asher said. “I'll teach you how to block the mental attack and then she can't harm you.”
Cole's eyes lit up. “Yes, that's genius! You think I can learn right now?”
“You're a quick learner. I'd be willing to bet on it. You know that mental barrier you can put up? Start with that. Concentrate on it.”
“Got it,” Cole said, closing his eyes and putting up a barricade.
“Okay, the next part is active. First, I'm going to do a very weak attack so you know what to prepare for. It won't hurt... that much.”
Cole braced himself. “Ready.” A brief flash of pain gripped his body, causing him to grimace. “That is not a pleasant feeling.”
“Yeah, I bet. All right, next, when you feel the attack starting, picture grabbing a hold of it and shoving it out. It's actually really similar to the extraction of voices we did earlier, except in reverse. That was why I was able to figure it out so quickly. Ready to try it?”
“Uh huh.” Cole tensed, anticipating the pain. As soon as it hit, he followed Asher's instructions to deflect. To his surprise, it hurt far less than last time. “I think it's working! Try it again.”
“Nice. Sure, here it comes.”
Now that he had done it, Cole was more prepared when it hit the next time, and acted to deflect it before it hurt. His face radiated with delight. “Yeah, yeah! That didn't hurt at all. Keep doing it but don't let me know it's coming.”
You think this will protect you? Meredith thought-said.
Of course. Why not? It's working, isn't it?
I suppose so, but still, be careful. Amy is very dangerous.
And that's why I need to practice more.
They continued practicing until Cole was confident that he would be safe, after which they drove back to Beth's house so Asher could gather his belongings. As Asher packed, Cole went to Beth's room to find her researching again, a book open on her lap as she browsed the internet.
She turned as she heard him enter. “Oh, I didn't expect you back so early.”
“Asher has to go back to school. I think we're giving up unless you want to go stake out the Williams' with me.”
“I could do that, but I think I'm making some progress. Here, take a look at this.” She pointed to the computer screen. “This is the oral history of a Germanic tribe in Europe, and it talks about a ritual to obtain immortality by passing on through the generations. Do you think this could be related?”
Cole peered at the screen, perusing through the paragraphs of text. “Holy crap, wow, yeah, that sounds really similar to what's happening. I wonder if it is...”
“I'll keep looking through it and see if I find any more,” Beth said.
Asher entered, holding his bag. “I'm heading out. It's been... it's been real.”
Cole laughed. “Yes, it has. I'll talk to you over the week and update you on any progress I make. Think you can come back anytime soon?”
“We'll see how I feel. It's a pretty far drive. If you really need me, I'll make an exception. Later.” And then to Beth, “Bye, thanks for having me.”
“Safe drive,” Beth said.
Asher left, and the house settled back into the calm after a storm. It looked and felt eerily normal, but there was a lingering sense of unease from the day's events.
Cole returned to Beth's room to find out more information about the article she had found. When he entered, she was hunched over the screen, reading intently.
“Hey Aunt Beth. Find anything else interesting?”
She waved him over and pointed. “Remember this is all a rough translated oral history so take it with a grain of salt, but according to this, the idea is that when a person dies, this ritual can transfer some of that person's energy to a host in the bloodline. They seemed to think that this energy was physical in a way.” She turned away from the monitor to face Cole. “If it's a physical energy, maybe it can be crushed or contained in some way. It's all very vague, but food for thought.”
“I'm not sure, I'll think about it.”
“I'm going to finish reading this and then we can go.”
“Okay.” Cole closed himself in the library to settle down and think. Before he could concentrate on what Beth had shown him, he had to figure out a way to get the voices out of Amy. He was convinced that he could find a solution through reasoning alone, but no matter which way he approached the problem, he found no new avenues of ideas.
What if you distracted her or disabled her in some way? Meredith suggested. We might be able to get her mental block lowered enough to get inside.
It's worth a shot. What do you think would work best?
I'm not positive. Perhaps if you caught her unaware. If she's not paying attention, she won't be on the defensive.
That's an awesome idea, Cole thought-said. Now I just have to find her.
I wish I could help you there. The Williams are still your best bet.
As if on cue, Beth interrupted his silent conversation. “I'm ready to go stake them out for a little while, if you still want to.”
“Yes, thanks, Aunt Beth.” Cole stood to leave, but Beth remained staring at him.
“What's new with your mother?”
Tell her I'm well and busy working to help you, Meredith thought-said. Oh, and add that I miss talking to her, and hope she knows not to be upset for me.
“I wish you could talk directly to her,” Cole said, and then repeated what his mother had told him.
Beth nodded. “Miss you too, Mere. Glad you're doing well, though probably not your favorite choice of lifestyle.”
Meredith chuckled. Tell her there's nothing better than being close to your child all the time.
I'm not telling her that. “She agrees, but she does like it in there.”
“Thanks for that,” Beth said. “Anyway, let's get going.”
They drove to the Williams' house where they found not a single light on in the house, despite the fact that night had settled. “That place is creepy now,” Beth said.
“Very. I wonder if Amy ever returned.” He sat up suddenly. “Wait a second. Their car is gone. They must have left while we weren't here.”
“Maybe they went to pick up Amy?” Beth said.
“Hopefully. Let's wait and find out.”
They waited there, late into the night, but there was no sign of activity. As it neared midnight, Beth said, “I'm calling it a night. We can check again tomorrow after school.”
“After school? How can I go to school at a time like this? Every second we waste, this only gets worse.”
“That's true, but after all the school you missed I don't think it's a good idea for you to miss more. I'll tell you what, I'll stake out the house after I drop you off and if anyone comes home, I'll come get you out of school right away. Deal?”
Cole sighed. “I guess there's not much else we can do now anyway. Deal.”
They drove back home where Cole lay in bed for hours pondering over scenarios to drive Amy out of hiding. It was not a comforting thought that the best chance he had to find her was to hope that she attacked him. If that were the case, he may as well go to school, since there was nothing else to be done. He knew there was no chance she would come to school, so all he could do was sit around and hope she miraculously appeared.
Before he fell asleep, he d
ecided to try one last thing. It was a long shot. He retrieved the phone and dialed Amy's cellphone. It rang and rang, and went to voicemail as expected. “Hi, you've reached Amy. Leave a message and I'll call you back!” Upon hearing her voice, he froze, treasuring the sound of the normal Amy who had recorded it. Without even realizing, the message had ended, and the beep indicating the beginning of the recording had played. He licked his lips, wondering if he should hang up, and feeling each second tick away.
“Amy, if you get this, please call me back. Give me a chance to talk to you. That's all I ask. Hear me out. Please.” He paused. “I love you.” He hung up, and closed his eyes, his breathing shallow and ragged. He had no idea what he would say if she did call back. It had all come out automatically without any planning.
Depressed again, he trudged back to bed, willing himself to lose consciousness so that this miserable day would be over and he could escape from his thoughts into a dream world. Everything will be okay, he repeated to himself, but Amy's haunting words about Dr. Stern came drifting back to him. She is right in a way. You did kill Dr. Stern and nothing you do can bring her back. You could have prevented Travis' death too. If you had been less stubborn and closed-minded, you could have been friends. Instead, he's dead.
Cole was clenching his fists, wondering how he lived with himself sometimes, when a new rage swelled up inside him. No! Don't let those voices get to you. I didn't know who Travis was. I was doing the best I could with the information I had and when I found out he was friendly, I was willing to work together. I didn't kill him. As for Dr. Stern, it was her or Amy and I chose Amy. I do not regret my decision. And the good I do now is not canceled out by my past. The voices can never make me do any horrific acts again. Their reign of terror will end.
Despite the reassuring thoughts, he remained conflicted, the day still weighing heavily on his mind. Tomorrow will be better, he said to himself as he faded from consciousness.
Meredith had gathered a group of voices together, all of whom either had grudges against the ones who abandoned them, or agreed that they must be stopped. The group had been brainstorming ideas of what to do about the rogue voices, but had come up with nothing so far. The only suggestion of a straightforward assault was vetoed as they were far outnumbered.
They've been around for a very long time, one of the voices said. They cannot be destroyed just like that.
There has to be a way, Meredith said. Maybe we're thinking along the wrong lines. Maybe we don't necessarily need to destroy them. Is there some way to prevent them from doing any more harm?
Silence met her question. Great, she thought. Big help these guys are. Come on, think. Don't let their pessimism get to you. She looked toward James, the voice she had tortured, but who had since become her greatest supporter. As she remembered all their previous interactions, they combined with something that Beth had recently mentioned, and an idea struck her.
This might sound a little crazy, but hear me out, she said.
19
The following day, Cole was slow to rise and was late for his first period. Despite his best hopes, he had not felt any more optimistic in the morning and he had not come up with any new brilliant ideas. Everything seemed just as bleak as it had been the day before.
Meredith contacted him on the way to school. Something to keep your hopes up while we try to find Amy. The voices and I have come up with an idea to get rid of the voices once they're back inside you.
Yeah? Cole was intrigued but would not let himself get carried away on false hope. But that's IF we find Amy and IF we figure out a way to extract the voices. Those are two enormous ifs.
I won't argue that, but still, this the biggest breakthrough. We'll figure out the rest.
I guess you're right. What's the plan? After Meredith explained it to him, he said, Cool, that's an interesting idea.
I would have thought you'd be more excited.
Will I lose my abilities if we do this?
Is that what you're worried about? Meredith thought-said. There's a good chance that yes, you will lose your abilities, but that's a price you have to pay. I doubt we'll ever have a better chance than this.
We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Can we focus on the other problems first?
Sure, Cole. Meredith was less than satisfied with his answer, but decided to drop it for the time being and let him chew it over.
As anticipated, Amy was not in school that day. Cole could not stop staring at her empty seat, remembering when they had chosen seats together; when they were happy together and always wanted to be near each other.
After their first period, Michelle came up to Cole, startling him out of his self-pity. “You look like hell,” she said. “Had a rough weekend too?”
Cole debated telling her about what had happened, but resolved to a simple, “Yeah.”
“Asher went back home?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
“Good. Well, I promised to let you know before I did anything so all I want to say is that I'm going to turn him in today after school. I think you will look more innocent if you come with me.” She spoke matter-of-factly as if she had rehearsed the lines.
That shocked Cole out of his endless thought loops. “You what? No, don't do that. I already told you why that was a bad idea.”
“I don't care. All I wanted was to wait until he was too far away to make good on his threat, and now he is. He killed someone and he deserves consequences. I don't even care if there's consequences for me anymore. I can't keep this inside or it's going to kill me.”
Cole was panicking. “You say that now, but when there are consequences, real consequences for you, you will change your mind. And what about me? You don't care if there are consequences for me?”
She continued in a flat tone. “Like I said, if you come with me, I think the two of us against him will look good for us. And think about it this way. Do you want to wait until the police find something and he blames us? It will look far worse if we cover it up.”
“Maybe...”
“Look, I'm going no matter what, so the choice is to come with me or not. That's up to you. I will put in a good word for you either way.”
Cole rubbed his hand across his face, struggling to get a handle on the combined pressures of everything happening in his life. “I'll think about it and let you know later.”
“Okay, and hey.” Her voice became soft for the first time and she touched his arm lightly. “I really don't want anything to happen to you. I'm sorry I have to do this, but I will do everything in my power to prevent you from getting in trouble. And I do hope you come with me.”
“Thank you, Michelle,” Cole said, touched by her words.
As the day wore on, Cole wrapped his mind around this new development. Despite his friendship with Asher, he knew Michelle was doing the right thing, and, in either case, he was not going to persuade her otherwise. He decided that he would go with her to the police, which effectively meant the end of his friendship with Asher.
A tight fist clenched around his heart at the thought of screwing over his mentor, the first person with whom he was able to share his abilities. What was he going to say when Asher called? That he turned his back on him and ratted him out? That was a conversation that was too painful to imagine. On a more practical level, he was also worried about losing Asher in his quest to save Amy. Now he would have to do it with the help of Beth alone.
The weight of these thoughts crushed his spirit throughout the day, and a number of times he changed his mind, and instead turned to thoughts of how to stop Michelle from coming forward. Then he would internally battle between the two options, feeling hopelessly trapped by an impossible situation with no good outcome.
What do you think I should do, Mom?
I wish there was an easy answer to this. I think you know what I would say, but you should do whatever you believe is right. I trust you, and I am going to stop telling you what to do.
In the end, as the school day nea
red its close, he settled on his initial decision. No matter what it meant, he was going to stand there next to Michelle at the police station and corroborate her story.
Cole rushed outside after his last class to tell Michelle the news before he could change his mind again. He scanned the student body, and spotted Michelle, searching the crowd too. She located him and came forward.
“Hey, so what did you decide?” she said.
“I'm coming with you.”
She broke out into the first smile he had seen all day. “I'm glad. I had hoped you'd come around. This is for the best, I promise.” She glanced behind her at her mother's waiting car. “Unfortunately, I haven't told my family yet. I've been trying to figure out how. It's not an easy thing to say. I don't think I've ever even been in serious trouble and now I'm part of a murder case. Hard to believe. Did you tell your aunt yet?”
Cole shook his head.
“I don't blame you. Well, I'm going to tell my parents as soon as I get home. You tell your aunt, and then, if all goes according to plan, we meet at the police station in a couple hours? I'll give you a call later to let you know what's happening. Good luck telling your aunt.” She glanced back again, and bit her lip. “And wish me luck too.”
“Good luck. You'll be all right.” He embraced her in a tight hug, pulled back and looked into her eyes. “You're doing the right thing. I'm behind you completely. Let's get this out of the way and move past it.”
“Yes, I want nothing more,” she said, wringing her hands. “Okay, no more procrastination. Bye.” She gave him another hug and ran off to her car.
Cole found Beth's waiting car and jumped in. “Nothing to report, I take it?” he said.
“Nope, never came home. Must have left the area and checked in to a hotel or something.”
“Great, I was afraid of that. I have absolutely no idea what to do anymore.”
“Me neither.”
Cole opened his mouth to say more, but decided it would be best to wait until they arrived home. Once they were back, though, Cole procrastinated, finding it impossible to bring it up. He opened his mouth a number of times but nothing came out. As Beth was walking away, he took a deep breath and said to himself, You can do this. You have to do this.
Voices in the Night (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 3) Page 19