Bonnie remembered the two men she had shot in her home, the young man Shep had hit with the car while purportedly rescuing her and Evan.
“Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”
“What’s done is done. The two you shot will heal. Shep killed eight of us, in all. But none are lost to us. Not entirely.”
Bonnie did not understand, and this was one area she did not yet feel comfortable exploring.
She looked hard at Constance. “What will you do to Shep? Will he be punished?”
“That’s not our way. He’s one of us now. He’ll be treated as one of us.” Then, Constance smiled. “Rest while you can. You have a long trip ahead of you.”
She led Harris away, leaving Bonnie alone, looking down at the water.
Bonnie spent the next hour answering questions from children. Mostly, they wanted to talk about movies and television. They seemed especially interested in Arnold Schwarzenegger, of whom Bonnie was particularly ignorant. Even some of the adults, the older people, wanted to talk.
One of these, a woman named Arba, who called herself the creche mother, put her arm around Bonnie’s shoulder and took her aside.
“Your boy did well,” she said.
Bonnie looked into the wizened, pale face. “Thank you.”
“If not for his love for you, he might have killed the man, and the protectors would have killed him.”
Bonnie walked down to the water’s edge, while the old woman watched her. Shortly afterward, Constance came to her side.
“I’m sorry, but if you don’t leave now, you’ll have to stay another night. Ron Risely and I will take you back to the farmhouse.”
“I want to see Evan.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I’m not leaving until I see him.”
Constance looked at Arba, and after a few moments the older woman nodded.
“Wait by the longhouse,” Constance said.
Bonnie climbed the incline and, after a final glance at the group gathered around the pond, walked back along the trail. Risely was at the longhouse. He nodded to her, but said nothing.
In a few minutes, Harris came along the trail, Constance beside him.
“Where’s Evan?”
Constance nodded to the trees behind the long-house. A pale, stooped figure moved behind the branches of bushes, never becoming fully visible. Bonnie stepped toward it.
“Evan?”
The figure froze, but did not answer.
“Evan, I have to go now. I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I love you very, very much.”
Constance touched her arm. “He knows that.”
“Can’t he come out?”
“He won’t.”
She turned to look at the pale shape. It might have been Evan, or anybody else. It might have been a cow. She could not tell.
When Harris came up beside her, she turned to him and leaned into him. She thought of the hospital steps, all those years ago, giving up her child.
“Harris, it’s worse than the first time. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You gave him up once, for his own good.”
“I abandoned him.”
He shook her hard. “Don’t ever believe that. Not ever!”
She pressed her face into his shoulder again, holding him tightly. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. What you’re doing, I couldn’t do, Bonnie. You’re stronger than I am.”
“I don’t know if it’s strength, Harris.”
“It is. Believe me. It is.”
“Will I ever see him again?”
He held her at arm’s length and looked solemnly into her face.
“I’ve talked to Arba. You’re welcome here whenever you want. Next time, when you visit, Evan will be more in control of himself. And after that, if all goes well, we might show up on your doorstep some day, looking for a place to stay.”
“I’d like that,” Bonnie said.
Risely coughed into his hand. “We have to go,” he said.
Bonnie nodded. She reached up and kissed Harris on the lips.
“Bye” she said.
“See you.”
She turned and followed Risely back along the path. Constance walked slightly ahead of them, leading the way.
The forest was full of sound, of life. Sunlight, dappled by the leaves above, warmed her shoulders. But she did not smile as she walked. She could hardly keep from hanging her head.
It was only as the trees began to thin again, and the farmhouse became visible ahead, that Bonnie realized they were being followed. The pale shape had shadowed them from the creche.
As they left the trees, Bonnie turned. For a moment she glimpsed the shape moving, flashing between the trunks with a speed that made her dizzy. A voice rose into the air, and Bonnie pressed a hand to her mouth to stop from crying out.
The word that echoed through the trees was “MOM!”
Other shapes converged on the first, and after a few moments they moved away, together.
She recalled a sudden memory of Evan, in the park across from her house, shunned by the other children, as he had been all his life, sickly and feeble. It made her heart ache to think of it.
Before her the new Evan was darting here and there, blinding in his speed, inhuman in his agility, in the company of those with whom he shared more than he had shared with any other living being, and the sound that pierced the August afternoon was a high, robust laugh, full of more joy and life than Bonnie had heard in a very long time.
Still, as she followed Risely to his car, she could not keep the tears from her eyes.
Other eBooks by Stephen R. George
Beasts
A FEVER IN THE BLOOD
The origin of the virus was unknown. The first symptom was a pang of unbearable sensitivity to light, followed by pain shooting through the hip. Then came fever. And finally, the hunger for blood. Uncontrollable, insatiable, it drove the infected to hunt … to strike … to feed. Now, Sondra could feel the heat within her, rising violently. And she was consumed with bloodlust as never before.
A VIRUS IN THE SOUL
Michael Smith came to the small Minnesota town to build a new life … and to fight to contain the virus that raged within him. But then the bodies were discovered. Bodies of young men, shredded and disgorged. And Michael knew he was not alone. He knew who had followed him. And what she wanted. And the very thought of the blood taste made him drool … with hunger.
Bloody Valentine
They called it the Profile Experiment.
It started ten years ago when five randomly chosen college students drew on their darkest imaginings to help the F.B.I. construct the ultimate serial killer. It became far more than a harmless exercise in terror when a little girl ended up dead … just the way they’d pictured it.
The experiment has long since been disbanded; the files closed. But the horror lives on. His name is Joshua Valentine. And he’s calling his creators back to where it all began. Joshua is ready to kill again. And this time, he’s got an agenda that will make the Valentine’s Day Massacre look like a picnic in the park …
Deadly Vengeance
A RESCUED DOG
Alan’s father and mother hoped that looking after Cobalt, a rescued Husky cross, would bring ten-year-old Alan out of himself, help him to overcome his grief at the death of his brother Will a year earlier. But Alan is hiding a terrible secret about Will’s death. It was no accident. Those responsible have bullied and terrorized him for a year. Alan has had nowhere to turn, nowhere to run. Until now.
VENGEANCE UNLEASHED
Cobalt is no ordinary dog. He seems to reflect and channel the emotions of those around him. When Alan is afraid the dog becomes aggressive. When Alan is angry the dog seems larger. And when Alan is bullied to the point of breaking, Cobalt becomes something else. No longer just a dog, he is the embodiment of his master’s anger, hatred, and fear. He knows Alan’s secrets. He knows Alan’s pain. And he knows what to do, and who
to hurt … to make it stop.
Mirror, Mirror
LOOKS CAN KILL …
They have the perfect marriage, and he is the perfect husband--in and out of bed. Tender and seductive, James is a man who knows how to satisfy a woman's deepest desires. Amanda trusts him with her body and her life. Until she discovers his devastating betrayal. The other woman's name is Lydia—and she's gorgeous.
Now Amanda wants everything Lydia's got—her stunning face, her sexy body—and James. And she's going to get it …
But the truth is more horrifying than anyone can imagine. For Lydia isn't what—or who—she seems. Yet even Amanda can't begin to guess just how sick, twisted and deadly her rival really is …
Torment
Twelve-year-old April Kostanuik despises her run-down house and working-class parents. She can’t belong to them. Someday, her real parents will find her and take her away to a magical new place where she can spend her days playing the piano, lost in the music she loves. Even on the day of the terrible accident, she is still full of hatred and fury … and not at all ready to die.
John and Kathleen Woodrow have the picture-perfect family. Until their daughter starts changing. Never good at math, twelve-year-old Melissa is suddenly getting straight A’s. Without a single piano lesson she has become an overnight prodigy. Then there are the weird pictures she doesn’t remember drawing … pictures she signs A.K. …
Pretty soon, she won’t be their Melissa at all …
Other eBooks by Stephen R. George now available or coming soon
Brain Child
Dark Miracle
Dark Reunion
Grandma’s Little Darling
Near Dead
Nightlife (as Jack Ellis)
Seeing Eye (as Jack Ellis)
The Forgotten
Table of Contents
Title Page
LICENSE NOTES
Meet the Author
Visit us online
To Kaitlin, for giving me time to write.
NIGHTSCAPE
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Other eBooks by Stephen R. George
Beasts
Bloody Valentine
Deadly Vengeance
Mirror, Mirror
Torment
Other eBooks by Stephen R. George now available or coming soon
Nightscape Page 30