by S D Wasley
“Alby. Get Ness and Uncle Max and get out of here, right now.”
“What? Dad left ages ago.” He stared, focusing drunkenly on my face, and then frowned. “What the hell happened to you?” His eyes slid sideways to Cain and I gave him a shove.
“It wasn’t him, you idiot. Listen to me, Albion. You’ve got to get out of here. There’s going to be an accident.”
“Accident?”
“Francesca,” Cain murmured in my ear. “Leave him. He’s not listening. What do we need to do?”
He was right. I pushed past Albion and made it to the front door, Cain close behind me. Outside, the parking lot and adjacent construction site were bathed in the light that spilled from the café, the construction site fence partly obscured by a large banner bearing Grace Creek Property Company’s orange horseshoe logo. The reporter, Piper, was still here sitting on the brick steps, fidgeting with her phone.
“Frankie?” she said in surprise.
“Frankie!” came Albion’s indignant voice behind me.
I gazed at a shed in the near distance, half hidden by trees and surrounded by ring-lock fencing. Nobody appeared to be anywhere near it. Then a movement caught my eye. A little body slithered underneath the gap at the bottom of the fence and headed for the shed. Caitlin appeared from behind a tree in her red velvet dress.
“We’ve got to stop them.”
I ran. It all seemed to happen in super slow motion: me running toward the kids, the two small figures reaching the drums and the boy starting his percussive performance. Me scrambling over the wobbly fence as fast as I could, taking far too long to negotiate my toes into footholds, Caitlin finding her drumsticks and joining her brother in his game. Me crossing the patch of sand and grass to the shed, Caitlin raising her sticks above her head and pausing.
“Drum solo!”
Her hands came down with full force but flailed partway, finding themselves empty. She looked up in astonishment and discovered me above and behind her, holding her drumsticks in the air.
“No drum solo,” I told her.
****
Startled, the two children scampered away, slinking beneath the fence and heading for the playground without a backward glance. Cain dropped over the fence and met me, gazing at the drums with a frown.
“What was going to happen?”
“There’s something in them. Something that’s dangerous, sensitive to shock.”
He nodded and looked down at me. “Let’s get everyone out of here.”
He gave me a boost back over the fence and swung himself after me. Albion was standing stock still at the bottom of the steps, surrounded by broken glass, having dropped his wineglass on the pavement. Next to him, Piper looked similarly thunderstruck but was quick to find her voice.
“How did you do that?”
I glanced at Cain as we drew nearer. “Do what?”
“Like, move so fast?”
Albion found his voice. “And climb the fence like ... like some kind of fucking spider!”
“No, I didn’t,” I told them, completely calm.
“Yeah, you did!” Albion snapped. “I saw you!”
“You’re drunk.”
“Not that drunk.” But a flicker of doubt crossed his face.
“I’m not drunk,” Piper added.
I ignored them both, looking in through the café door where crowds of people still chattered and socialised. We had so many people to evacuate. If only Jude and Liz were with us, and even Owen … assuming he wasn’t in on Léon’s plans.
“Albion, help me find Ethan,” I commanded.
He frowned but complied, Piper scrambling up the steps after us. Albion pulled Ethan, still in his black chef shirt, away from the circle of people he was chatting with. He grabbed another wineglass on the way and slurped vigorously, nodding at Cain and me to say, go ahead.
“I’m really sorry to spoil your night, Ethan,” I said, “but there’s a problem. Down on the building site there are hundreds of drums of toxic waste from the old tannery. The construction company has kept it a secret. But they’re there. The drums have become pressurised and they’re about to blow. We need to get everyone out.”
Ethan stared in shock for a few moments but didn’t seem to doubt me. “Get them out ...” He trailed off, glancing around himself at the partygoers. “But how do you know?”
“Because she’s some kind of frickin’ supernatural spiderwoman,” Albion said with a nervous laugh, taking another gulp of wine.
I put my hand on Ethan’s arm and gazed into his face. “Ethan. You need to do as I say. All these people could get hurt, even die.”
Ethan had the look of a small animal caught in the headlights. He stared at me, mesmerised for a few moments, before nodding obediently. Turning, he waved his arms above his head.
“Excuse me, everyone,” he shouted and waited for the buzz of voices to die down. “We have an evacuation situation. I need you to collect your families and leave the area as soon as possible. There’s no need to panic but you have to move out of here in an orderly manner without delay.” The buzz rose again immediately but people complied, gathering their things and heading for the door. The wait staff assembled around Ethan while he gave them evacuation directions.
Albion pushed his empty glass onto a shelf and glared at me. “I’ll see you at home, spiderwoman, and I want an explanation.”
“You’re being ridiculous, Alby.”
Again, he got that look of doubt. I might still be able to convince him he hadn’t seen what he thought he had. He and Piper headed for the door and beyond him Liz, Owen, and Jude came into the room. I sagged with relief.
“What’s going on?” Liz asked. “We went to Gaunt House and found all these big blocks of stone piled on top of the trapdoor. We unloaded them and went down there but no one was inside.”
“Léon had us locked in there,” Cain told them. “There was nearly an accident here at the construction site, but Francesca got us out in time to stop it.”
They all stared at me now, as though seeing me for the first time.
“Oh, wow,” Jude said. “You’re … different.”
“Did you call us here, Frankie?” Owen fished in his pocket and looked at his phone as though expecting to see a message from me. “We just knew we had to come here all of a sudden.”
“I think she did, but not with her phone,” Jude said with a laugh.
“She did it again,” said Liz, staring at me.
The moment I focused on it I recognised the connections I had with them all. I saw the pathways in my mind’s eye, like cables connected to their consciousness, me at the centre. I sensed the connections they had with Cain, too, and the great, strong channel between him and me. Helen and Léon were mapped there as well, and Nadine, tangled and distant.
“We’ve got to get everyone out,” Cain said. “There’s still a risk those drums of chemicals could blow. Help us evacuate the café and see if anyone needs transport into town.”
They went straight into action like experienced emergency service officers, ushering people from the building and helping anyone who looked confused or likely to freak out.
“I’ll check the playground,” Cain said, heading for the exit.
I went out into the parking lot where I could see Owen and Liz helping people without transport organise their rides back to town and Jude stopping people from going back into the café to retrieve forgotten coats or bags. In the distance I caught sight of Vanessa climbing into Ethan’s car. Rapidly the parking lot emptied.
“Meet at my place,” I called to Owen, who nodded and passed the instruction on to Jude before joining Liz in her car.
Then it was only my pink car and Ethan’s sedan remaining in the parking lot. I turned back to seek out Cain, who must still be checking the scrubby area and playground behind the café, when Ethan’s voice called my name. He was hurrying toward me.
“Everyone’s out,” I called. “Go, Ethan, please. Take Alby and my sister home.
Cain and I will check for stragglers.”
“I can’t find Alby,” he said, his face frantic.
“What? But I saw him come outside. Could he have left with someone else?”
He gave a helpless shrug and I swore.
“Take Vanessa home for me, please,” I said. “I’ll check again but I think he must have got a ride with someone else. I promise I’ll look everywhere before I leave.”
He hesitated for a moment but then nodded and jogged back to his car. I headed up the steps to the door to do a final sweep of the café, cursing Albion. That drunk dumbass. He could have stuck with Ethan, or at least told us he was going with someone else. Cain appeared around the side of the building.
“Cain, Ethan lost sight of Alby and we don’t know if he caught a lift back to town or not. I’m going to do a final check inside. Will you go around the outside, all the way around the café, one more time?” He took off and I hurried back through the café door. “Alby! Are you here?”
A moment’s silence and then, to my shock, Albion answered from the kitchen.
“In here!”
What the hell? “Get your ass out here!” I hollered.
“I can’t. I’m hurt.”
Shit. I ran for the kitchen and burst through the serving door to find him on the ground, wrists wrapped in what seemed to be a dishtowel. Had he cut himself? He didn’t look the least bit drunk anymore.
“Run!” he hissed.
“What?”
I realised we weren’t alone. Léon was here. He’d moved in behind me, hovering between me and the swinging doors.
“I’m sorry, Frankie,” Albion gasped, his cheeks wet with tears. “He made me call you in here. He said if he can’t talk to you now he’ll hunt you down.” He lifted his hands. They were tied together with the dishtowel, not wrapped.
Léon gave me a warning look. He was sweating again, his eyes jumping from me to the window, Albion and then back to me. He was a panicky mess.
“Do not call out for Cain, Francesca. I would not like to hurt anyone, but if I found myself under attack, I would be obliged to defend myself.” He came closer, frowning as he examined my face in the harsh kitchen light. His eyes brightened. “Francesca! You have transformed!”
I gave him a cold glare. “Not because of you. Our visions came to fruition tonight, Léon. You locking me and Cain up could have caused a lot of people’s deaths.”
He didn’t like that. That same look crossed his face as when I’d mentioned the boy who got hurt at Market Lake. But he shook it off.
“This,” he said, reaching out to touch my cheek. “This is the face I saw.”
A hollowness opened up inside me. Nothing could change the fact that Léon was my protector and knew me, but what he’d done was unforgivable.
“I can’t even help you with Henri now, Léon. You’ve messed things up too badly.”
Rage came into his eyes, a flash of green fury. “You will come with me and we will save Henri. Nadine has everything arranged for us. She is waiting. Come now, Francesca. Do not make me force you.”
“No.”
“Who’s Henri?” Albion asked. An odd time to be curious. Was Albion stalling him in the hope that help might arrive?
“His son,” I told him.
“Shut up,” Léon hissed at me.
“Son!” Albion stared. “Where is he?”
“Back in Québec,” I said. “He’s in danger. He’s going to get hold of matches and start a fire in a church. Many people will die, including Henri.”
Léon’s face crumbled in grief. He put his fists over his eyes and a low roar of utter desolation ripped from his throat, making us both jump. “No, he cannot die! You must come with me and help.”
“I can’t,” I said, although I ached with sympathy for him. “I can’t trust you. You’re deranged. You only care about yourself and Henri. You’d throw me to the wolves as soon as look at me if it meant you could save him.”
“That’s not true!” he cried. “I would not hurt you. I could not! Francesca, I love you.”
I twisted my face away. “You don’t love me. You already tried to hurt me. You don’t know how to love.”
“I love you more than Cain ever could.”
“That’s not true. You may be my protector but you don’t love me and I could never love you. I don’t want you ... I renounce you.”
I had no idea where that choice of word came from but the instant I said it, the channel between Léon and me severed. He felt it, too. The word seemed to cut deep into his heart, making his face fold with agony and his body reel like he’d experienced a physical blow.
“No!” he snarled. He lunged at me and grabbed my arms as if he could somehow reconnect us. When that didn’t happen he bellowed in anger and gave me a shake. Albion cried out in helpless fear but to my amazement, the shake barely moved me. “You cannot renounce me.”
“It’s done,” I said.
Now he broke down and cried, covering his eyes. Albion stared as Léon dropped to his knees and clutched my jeans, burying his face against my stomach and sobbing with total abandon.
“Francesca,” he attempted through his tears, “please, I beg you. Help me save him.”
“I will do whatever I can to help Henri,” I said, my tears spilling as well, “but I won’t come with you. I can’t trust you. You’ll have to ask for the help of your group, regain their trust. I don’t know what you did to them but you need to try to mend it. You can’t do this, Léon. You can’t go around forcing people to do what you want, manipulating them and dragging them along with you to your destination. That’s not how this is supposed to work.”
I was vaguely aware of footsteps in the café heralding Cain’s arrival. Oddly, it didn’t give me any sense of being saved. I was handling this. Léon didn’t have control of me. He pulled himself to his feet and gave me a look that combined all his helpless fury and hollow despair.
“I will never forgive you for this.” His voice was full of venom. “I will never forget that you won’t save my son.”
He headed for the door and shoved it open at the precise moment Cain arrived at the entry to the kitchen. Léon turned the cold hatred in his eyes onto Cain, whose anger also fired into life at the sight of Léon. He lunged and the impact threw Léon back against a stainless steel bench. A moment later I was in between them, pushing Cain back.
“Léon. Leave,” I snapped.
Léon looked like he wanted to beat the hell out of Cain and I had no doubt he’d do some damage in his furious state. But for some reason he did as I said. He took off, running toward the café’s front door while I held Cain in place.
“I want him to go,” I said, putting my hand on his cheek and forcing him to look at me. “I sent him away. This is my choice.”
Cain and I exchanged a long glance. He got it. I went to Albion and untied his wrists. His eyes were full of tears.
“Frankie,” he said in a half-whimper, “what’s going on?”
“Come on, Alby. It’s okay. Come with me, I’ll take you home.”
I took his hand and he allowed me to lead him out to the parking lot in bewildered silence. Outside there was no sign of Léon.
“Do you think he will come back?” Albion asked, clutching my hand.
“I don’t think so. I made it clear enough. He didn’t like it but he listened.”
Albion didn’t seem terribly reassured. “How do we stop him if he wasn’t listening?”
Neither Cain nor I spoke. I guess we were both thinking the same thing. How do you stop a super-strong being with uncanny knowledge and the power of rapid healing? Whatever we did to stop him would have to be fast and decisive. And final.
Another shock awaited me when we reached the little pink car, sitting by itself in the middle of the empty parking lot: Piper Pavlich. She appeared out of nowhere, her blue eyes wide. Had she been hiding behind my car?
“Give me a lift to town?”
“Get in,” I told her, resigned.
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“She saw,” Cain muttered into my ear, pulling me close for a moment. “And she’s not at all suggestible. You need to talk to her.”
I nodded, glad of the comfort that came from his touch. He examined my face.
“Something’s changed. It’s not like our transformations but something’s changed in you.”
I felt it, too. A new power lay deep and calm in my soul. We climbed into the car with Piper and Albion sitting in the back, both uncharacteristically tongue-tied, and headed back to town.
“Piper,” I said after giving it a little thought, “do you work for Grace Creek, the construction company?”
“God, no. I work for Revel City Review, like I told you.”
I believed her. “But Grace Creek has ties with the newspaper, yeah?”
It was odd, how this all seemed so clear now. It was like I could see through layers of obfuscating bullshit, corporate spin and decades-old cover ups.
Piper hesitated. “Not officially, but they sure spend a lot of advertising dollars with the Review. When they have a news story for us we tend to cover it for them.”
“You look after them?”
“I don’t look after them!” She sounded disgusted. “I hate that sort of shit. I’m covering this story because no one else could come to Augur’s Well for the weekend, that’s all. I’m the most junior team member so I got the short straw.”
“I see.” I paused. “Piper, I’ve got a story about Grace Creek that could lose you your job but kick-start your career. I’ll tell you everything I know about it.”
“Yeah?” She sounded suspicious. Smart girl.
“Seriously. This will blow Grace Creek Property Company sky high.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Frankie, how did you ... do that? What you did. How did you move so fast? And how did you know you had to evacuate everyone?”
“That’s the story I’m talking about, the reason for the evacuation. And it’s yours, Piper, but on one condition.”
“What condition?” There it was, the hunger in her voice I’d been hoping to hear.
“You don’t talk about what you saw me do. You don’t mention my name, ever. In connection with this, or in any of your stories.”