Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (34 page)

I looked around the room and let out a gasp.

He was standing at the window, his back to me, dressed in black, a shirt tucked in with a thin belt around his waist. His hair was pulled back neatly into a ponytail that fell just below his collar.

He leaned forward and then suddenly brought his heels down on the wood floor. I jumped up, pushing my back into the headboard.

“Hello, Abby,” he said, without turning around. His voice was soft, almost gentle.

I tried to control my wobbly stomach, tried to remain calm. I didn’t want to give off any signs of weakness. I didn’t want to throw up or show fear in front of him.

I didn’t say anything and let the silence hang between us. He stood there a moment longer, as if admiring the view for the very first time before turning around.

“I hope you enjoyed your rest,” he said.

As always, Nathaniel took my breath away. I couldn’t help but be afraid. I stared at those sharp features, the thin nose, the intense eyes, lips that looked like lines in a math problem. Serious. Arrogant.

His energy, dark and still, stretched out around him.

He crossed his arms and looked at me. I knew I wasn’t doing a good job of hiding anything. I was sure he could see my terror and that it had to be written all over my face.

“Please, Abby, there is no need to be so afraid,” he said. “You are perfectly safe here with me. You must let go of any preconceived notions. I will not harm you.”

His eyes, almond-shaped and catlike, hid a million thoughts. As I tried to pull away from his gaze, I realized that I had no idea how to read him. A killer was standing just a few feet away and I had no clue what he was thinking or what he was feeling.

“I do apologize for these rather extreme measures we were forced to take to get you here. Believe me, I wish there had been another way. But it’s not like I could have sent along an invitation. There really was no choice.”

As he walked toward me, I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

“Please, Abby, don’t look so frightened. I’ve come to greet you, to welcome you here. I think you will agree that these accommodations are more than acceptable.”

He looked nearly the same as when I saw him the last time, in his brother’s house, after he admitted killing all those people back home and then escaped into the snowy night. The only difference now was that he had a deep tan.

My heart thundered as I stared out the window past him.

“I want to go home,” I said.

“You will have that opportunity, I assure you. But not yet.”

I sighed heavily.

“I need you, Abby. You knew I was coming back for you. I said as much that night at Benjamin’s. Remember?”

I forced myself to hold his stare, fighting the nausea.

“Where are we?” I said.

“We’re on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest. But I think you knew that. You don’t have to hide your intelligence from me. Not ever. I know who you are. Perhaps even better than you do.”

“How long have I been here?”

“Three days,” he said.

“And what did you do to me in those three days?” I asked, my voice cracking and going higher than I would have liked. “I was in a lot of pain.”

“I am sorry. That was unexpected. You had a bad reaction to the sedative. It won’t happen again.”

I inhaled slowly and unevenly.

“What did you do to me? I remember needles.”

“We began our research. We are trying to determine how the serum I injected into you after you drowned is performing in your body, how it is interacting with your system. We were able to complete the first round of testing.”

The hatred inside threatened to overpower my fear.

“You’re a very sick man, Nathaniel.”

He smiled, not at all affected by my words or the anger behind them.

“Someday soon, you will come to appreciate all this,” he said. “I know it. I realize you need some time, and you will have it. We will leave you alone in these next few days. No tests, just time to relax and think about things.”

I shook my head.

“I need to call my sister.”

“I will let you do that,” he said. “But not just yet. You need time to adjust. But I want you to know that if you need something please let either myself or the staff know. We are all here for the same purpose. And while I know you probably won’t believe me just yet, I want you to know that your comfort is a primary concern.”

He walked past me, heading toward the door.

“One more thing, Abby,” he said, stopping and turning back around. “I wish to invite you to dinner tonight. You must be hungry for something other than crackers. I would be honored if you accept. We can go over things. I can tell you all about our plans.”

I looked out the window. The sunlight was getting weaker already. Somehow, I had lost another day.

“Dinner?” I said.

“Abigail,” he said. “My intentions are pure. And I am hoping that you will learn to trust me.”

“Just let me go home. I want to go home.”

His face was still, without expression.

“Join me tonight,” he said. “I will make it worth your while. Dinner is at seven. You will find all the appropriate clothes in the closet and I’ll send someone up to escort you down to the dining room. I hope to see you later.”

He then quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

CHAPTER 4

Dinner with Nathaniel. I couldn’t think of anything worse.

I held up my wrists and looked at them. They were still a little tender and there was some bruising from where I had been tied down in the back seat of Jack’s truck. The pain was still there, but it wasn’t as intense as I remembered in the dreams.

I breathed in, trying to go slow, holding each breath and then releasing it as I forced my legs over the edge of the bed. I was sore and stiff, but I wanted to get up and walk around, wanted to see where I was. I took a few steps, shuffling up to the window, and looked outside.

We were right on the water and there was a small beach down below with a short dock nearby. Pine trees swayed in the wind and large black rocks dotted the shore. A translucent, misty fog was rolling in. There was an island off in the distance, but it looked like just a speck in the ocean.

I sighed. That was clever. How would anyone ever find me in the middle of all this water?

I moved slowly over to the desk and searched through the drawers. I found an iPod that was loaded with a lot of my favorite music. There were energy bars and small packages of almonds, the kind of snacks I usually took to soccer games. I opened the small refrigerator and saw that it was stocked with bottled water, sports drinks, and Cokes.

I went into the bathroom. There were stacks of thick towels next to a huge soaker tub that was surrounded by candles. A bathrobe was hanging on the back of the door. Various scented soaps, lotions, and shampoos lined the sink and tub.

After I washed my face, I noticed a small dark mark on the inside of my right arm. It still hurt. A bump was in the center of a small bruise. I wondered about the tests they had done on me.

In the cabinet under the flat screen was a large collection of movies, many which I used to watch late at night on Turner Classics. Robert Mitchum, William Holden, Orson Welles. All of my favorites.

I went over to the closet and opened it. It was filled with clothes and shoes, all in my size, in brands that I usually wore. Jeans and shirts folded neatly on the shelves. Dresses and jackets hanging. Running shoes, river sandals, a pair of cleats still in the Nike box. In the dresser, there were even more clothes. T-shirts, pajamas, several Barcelona soccer sweatshirts, a Messi jersey.

“Damn,” I whispered.

Jack had been watching more than my soccer moves.

I went over to the fire and stood for a minute, warming my hands and thinking. Then I sat back down on the edge of the bed.

My throat was dry and it hurt to swallow. And I had that crazy thirst again, like I had been crawling through Death Valley in August.

It was suddenly all too much and I rushed over to the toilet and threw up. It was mostly bile, but I felt better afterwards.

I stepped into the shower. The cool water felt good. I would have liked to have lingered, but I didn’t trust being alone in the bathroom. I jumped out, toweled off, and put on the robe.

As I ran the towel through my hair, I thought about Nathaniel. Why had he bothered setting up this bedroom like it was my room at home? It seemed like he was planning on keeping me here a long time. But even so, why hadn’t he just chained me in the basement and done his experiments?  It just didn’t make sense.

I wiped down the mirror and took a look at myself for the first time in a while.

I didn’t look so great. My face looked thin and pale, with a few dark blotches splattered here and there. I put on a little makeup that I found in the drawer. I didn’t want to see that reflection every time I went in the bathroom.

I stared at myself, wondering how all this had happened.

It was nearly two years ago when I had drowned in a lake and had gone over to the other side. I was dead for 44 minutes.

And since then, no matter how hard I tried, I hadn’t been able to put it behind me.

It took me several months to recover, both physically and mentally. Some things returned slowly, others never did. It took a long time to get my legs working right. I still couldn’t see colors. And then there was Jesse. At first I thought he had survived the accident. I saw him and talked to him like he was there, like he was real. It was only much later that I realized that Jesse had died and that what I was seeing was a ghost.

And then there were others. Like the ghost of a woman named Annabelle Harrison. I tried to help her, letting her family finally learn what had happened to her.

I did my best to get on with my life. Working as a river guide during the summer. Playing soccer again. Dating Ty.

But it didn’t matter what I did. There was a shadow running through my days, a shadow I didn’t always see. But it was there just the same.

Something was always pulling me back, back into that world of death that Jesse and I had touched one wintery day driving back from the mountain.

I knew now that I would never be able to leave it behind. That, in fact, it would always be there, waiting.

Standing in the bathroom and looking at my face, I knew beyond all doubt that I would never get away from the dark waters of that mountain lake.

CHAPTER 5

I resigned myself to the fact that even though Nathaniel had invited me to dinner, it wasn’t really an invitation. He was expecting me and was even sending one of his goons up to make sure that I would attend.

There was nothing to do but go.

I put in a movie and waited for someone to come and get me. About halfway through, I heard a faint knock on the door.

“Miss Craig?” a soft voice said.

I was glad it wasn’t Nathaniel and I opened the door slowly.

A man with light hair and friendly eyes was standing in the hallway. He looked to be in his early 30s and greeted me with a smile. I watched the gray energy circle around him quickly and I knew that he was nervous.

“I’m Simon,” he said. “I have been sent to escort you to dinner.”

No matter how repulsive the idea of having dinner with Nathaniel was, I had decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I had to learn everything I could about where I was being held. Plus, maybe he would let something slip during dinner. 

“Thanks, but no need,” I said. My voice cracked as I tried to shake off my nerves. “If you just point me in the direction I’ll be fine.”

“Well, that’s just it,” he said, turning and looking behind him. “It’s a rather large house and I fear that pointing it out won’t do. If you let me escort you, just this once, I’d be grateful. Actually, Dr. Mortimer insisted.”

It was strange hearing him call Nathaniel
Dr. Mortimer
. I usually had a good association with that name.

“Okay, I just need a minute.”

“I’ll be right here,” he said.

I closed the door over and thought about how ridiculous all the formality and politeness was. No one was going to let me wander around the house by myself, just like Nathaniel was not going to let me sit in the room and reject his invitation.

I went to the bathroom and threw water on my face. I could do this, I told myself, looking in the mirror. I took in a deep breath and headed back over to Simon, hoping to find an escape route out of this place.

“Well, okay,” I said.

I closed the door behind me, although I knew it probably wouldn’t do any good. They seemed to come and go any time they pleased.

I followed him down a long hallway to a railing and peeked over the edge as we walked alongside it. Down below was a large living room, with wood floors and rugs and expensive art. Huge glass windows made up most of the walls. Although it was dark again outside, I imagined it was an incredible view in the daylight.  

I saw the front door and made a mental note of where it was. Maybe in the morning I could make a run for it, find some neighbors, and get help.

As we walked through the downstairs area, I tried to pay attention to everything. The house was big and there were many windows and quite a few doors. I looked for phones, but didn’t see any. The people here probably just stuck to cells. I didn’t see any computers or tablets or anything that could be useful to get a message to Kate.

We walked down another long corridor before reaching the dining room. Simon had been right. It would have taken me a while to find it.

My heart pounded in my chest when I walked in and saw Nathaniel seated at a long table. He stood up quickly as I approached.

“Abby,” he said. “Nice of you to come.”

I didn’t look at him directly. Simon pulled out the chair and as I sat down, he grabbed my napkin, flung it open, and handed it to me.

I looked around. The table was made of cherry and was very ornate and situated in the center of the large room. Although there were eight chairs, the table was set for only two. Nathaniel was seated at the far end and I was at the other, with a lot of lit candles between us.