Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two (23 page)

“I’m
almost
happy, too,” she said, “but for a different reason than Joey. Once we’re back home with our sweet Daphne and our sweet Joey, then I think I’ll be
completely
happy, too.”

Daphne covered her face with her hands and wept. Her stomach balled into a giant knot. Brock put an arm around her and caressed her back. She leaned into him.

Her sweet Mama! Daphne had poured all of her guilt over Kara’s death into hating her. For two years, Daphne had been cold and rude and had tried everything she could to kill herself. Her mother hadn’t deserved that. Daphne shuddered.

“We’ll see,” Joey said. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“He must be the doubting Thomas of the family,” Dave said.

Daphne didn’t reply, but watched on as her family finished their s’mores. They talked about the stars—Joey knew every constellation, so he pointed to all the ones visible that night. A rush of childhood memories swept over Daphne, and she longed to be with her brother. She was glad he didn’t mention his good friend Judge William Clark or
the CIA again. And seeing him like his old self made her wish she had gone to Houston to visit him more often. She missed her big brother.

After some time, her father put a screen over the fire pit and hobbled after the others into the cabin.

“Now look at the monitor above that one,” Stan said.

It showed the inside of the cabin, illuminated by their lantern. Her parents and Joey were arranging their bedding and taking turns using the restroom, which, thankfully, was not on a screen. Her mother helped her father climb onto his cot.

“The cabin doesn’t have electricity,” Stan explained. “And the only running water comes from a spigot outside. There’s a toilet with a deep sewer, but that’s it. It would cost us way too much to rebuild more than a crude cabin.”

“Then how can it have a sprinkler system?” Daphne asked suspiciously.

“It’s built into the slab,” Dave explained. “The water shoots up from beneath. We
do
have running water down here.”

“And obviously electricity,” Vince added.

As she fluffed her pillow, her mother said, “Your doctor in Houston told me you destroyed all of your drawings and paintings. I meant to ask you about that earlier.”

“Ask me what?”

“Why did you destroy them?” her mother clarified as she slipped off her shoes.

“Because creating them was a meaningless waste of time,” he said, sitting down on his cot. “All art is.”

“Art isn’t a waste, son,” her father said from his cot. “It brings a lot of joy to a lot of people.”

“Like the books I read,” Sharon added. “The stories help me deal with life.”

“Art helps people escape their problems,” Joe said.

“Not when it’s stuck in an institution where no one ever sees it,” Joey said.

“Then we need to do something about that.” Sharon sat down on her cot and faced Joey. “We need to find you a gallery where you can exhibit your art.”

“I don’t know,” Joey said. But then a few seconds later he asked, “Really?”

“Of course,” Sharon said. “I have a cousin at Fort Davies with her own gallery. Maybe she would show your artwork there.”

Joey sat up a little taller, and even in the dim light of the lantern, Daphne could see he looked happier.

Her mother put out the lantern and climbed beneath her blanket. Daphne could barely see her in the darkness.

After a few more minutes, they all said their goodnights, and the cabin grew quiet.

“How does the fire start?” Daphne asked.

“We control it from down here,” Stan replied.

“We’ll let them get settled first,” Dave said.

“Just don’t wait till they’re
sound asleep,” Brock said. “Unless there’s a smoke alarm in that cabin.”

Neither Stan nor Dave answered. Daphne gnawed on the inside of her bottom lip, trying not to let the nausea overwhelm her. What if one of them got hurt? What if something went wrong? Dr. Gray and her staff couldn’t control everything on this island, no matter how much they pretended otherwise. Just look what had happened on the helicopter.

Brock rubbed her back as she leaned against him watching the monitor.

“My parents do know about the fire, right?” Daphne asked.

“They were told that they were entering an exercise,” Stan said. “I don’t think they were given any details—just that Joey should save your dad.”

Daphne sprang to her feet. “So they have no idea that their cabin is going to burn to the ground?”

“How fast can you access the cabin from down here?’ Brock asked.

“This was a mistake,” Dave said.

“Dr. Gray doesn’t make mistakes,” Stan said.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Daphne said. “You need to stop worshipping her like she’s some kind of god.
My dad and I almost died on that helicopter, and I’m not about to sit here and…I thought my parents knew about the fire. What if they fall asleep? Are you going to save them if Joey can’t?”

“We’re right below them,” Stan said again. “Just sit down and watch. They’re going to bed. It won’t be long now.”

Daphne crossed the room and tried to open the hatch door but found it locked. “You can’t keep me in here. It’s wrong. It’s kidnapping. You’re breaking the law. Let me out, Stan.”

Brock joined her and tried to use brute force to open the hatch. “You know I can take you, man,” Brock said. “At least let us be on standby, just in case.”

“You
are
on standby,” Dave said.

“Then show me the secret entrance,” Brock demanded. “Show me or I’ll…”

“Watch the screen,” Stan said as he pushed a button on the control system on his desk. “The smoke is already visible, even in the dark.”

Daphne bit down on her fingers, feeling utterly helpless.

Brock rushed at Stan and grabbed him by the shirt. “Tell me where the secret entrance is.”

“I’ve already started the fire,” Stan said. “If you hurt me, we won’t be able to put it out.
So back off.”

Daphne returned to the desk and, with shaky hands, returned the headphones to her ears. “Will a smoke alarm go off in case they’re already asleep?”

“No,” Stan said. “No alarm.”

“How can you do this?” Brock asked. “How can you lock us up and make us watch this?”

“Close your eyes,” Dave said.

Brock turned and punched Dave in the face.

“Enough!” Stan said. “This part is critical.”

“Are you okay?” Vince asked Dave.

“Yeah. It was nothing.”

Daphne glanced back and saw Dave’s cheek was flaming red and beginning to swell. But her eyes didn’t stay on him long. The smoke thickened in the cabin, yet no one inside had moved.

“Why aren’t they waking up?” Daphne asked.

“Give them time,” Stan said.

“They don’t have time!” Daphne objected.

Then, miracle of miracles, someone coughed.

“Joey?” came her mother’s voice in the dark. “Joe! Joey! Wake up!”

“What?” Joey said.

Daphne could just make out his silhouette in the darkness. He stood up. An actual flame hopped like a red bird onto the curtain behind him.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said.

“Help me with your father,” Sharon said.

The flames from the curtain ran up to the rafters and along one side of the wall. Then they caught onto her father’s bedding.

“Oh my God!” Daphne cried. It was all happening so fast.
Too
fast!

Her mother and brother lifted her father from the cot and rushed to the door.

“It won’t open,” Sharon cried, pounding on the door in the frenzy of panic.

Daphne turned sharply toward Stan. “Why won’t it open?”

“Just watch,” he said.

“Open the door, Stan!” Daphne cried.

The flames had engulfed the inside of the cabin. All three of her family members were coughing and hacking.

“Come on, Joey,” Stan murmured. “Think.”

Joey grabbed one of their father’s crutches and slammed it against the front window, breaking it. Then he and his mother helped her father out.

The monitor below saw them stumbling across the broken glass on the patio and into the side of the hill, away from the now blazing fire. The camera showed their three faces watching with looks of terror and awe as the flames shot up into the night sky, illuminating the mountainside.

Daphne sighed with relief and was overcome with tears. She just wanted this to all be over. She dropped her head down on the desk, racked with sobs. Just let it be over.

Brock patted and caressed her back, kissed the side of her head. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay. They’re all safe.”

“Now comes the part I haven’t told you about,” Stan said.

Daphne’s head jerked up. “What?”

“Once they get in the jeep and head back to the resort, we’re going to follow them,” Dave explained.

“And?”
Brock sneered.

“We’re going to capture them,” Stan said.

“What for?” Daphne asked.

“The
Limuw ceremony,” Stan replied.

Daphne stood up. “There’s no way Joey can take that. He’s too sick.”

“Not Joey,” Dave said.

“What?” Daphne glanced at all of their faces.

Stan stood up and removed his headphones. “Your mom. Let’s go.”

Chapter Nineteen: Preparations

Was it bad that Daphne actually liked the idea of her mother playing
Limuw? In spite of her reservations over Dr. Gray’s dangerous and eccentric methods, Daphne still felt anger over the words her mother had said the morning they had found Kara, and she wanted to punish her mother.

“You mean you heard and did nothing?”

Her mother had also known to bring a scarf. Daphne kept telling herself that maybe her mother didn’t know why she should bring it, but the resentment was there regardless.

Yet she and her mother had been through so much together on the island, and the healing process had begun. Her mother had proved that she loved Daphne and would do anything for her children. Wasn’t that enough?

She followed Stan up the steel ladder from the tunnel in the side of Sierra Blanca and was glad when she was finally standing out in the open beneath the dark sky. The moon and stars shone brightly, and the air was fresh and cool, except for the ribbons of smoke from the burning cabin as they curled to the west of them. Although the wind chilled her, she was glad it carried the smoke away from them. Brock took her good hand, and they followed Stan down the trail and around the base of Sierra Blanca to a jeep hidden in the tall grass.

She squeezed in the backseat between Brock and Vince as Stan drove them around Central Valley and up the canyon ridge at a fast pace.

Daphne already knew the plan, but she was nevertheless anxious and scared.

They met up with the other jeep at the three-pronged fork in the road. Stan blew his horn and hollered out. Sharon pulled over near a bush of purple mountain glory and waited for Daphne to catch up to them.

“I’m awake!” Daphne shouted. “I’ve been looking for you!”

“Oh, sweetheart!” her mother cried.

“There was a fire,” her father said from the passenger seat.

“I saw. I was worried sick.
Hi, Joey!”

“Hi Daphne,” Joey said. “My good friend Judge William Clark told me he likes your hair best long, but I think it looks good.”

“Thanks.” She gave him a hug.

Although he didn’t hug her back, she was glad he didn’t turn away from her like he often did. He let her hug him, and it felt great.

“Everybody okay?” Brock asked, approaching the jeep.

“Joey saved the day,” Sharon said. “We were trapped in the burning cabin, and he thought of breaking us out through the window.”

“You’re probably still in shock,” Brock said. “Why don’t you guys climb in with Stan, and I’ll drive Joey and Daphne.”

“I’m okay to drive,” Sharon said.

“No, Mama,” Daphne insisted. “Please. I’m scared for you.”

She and Brock helped her father from the jeep. Her mother grabbed the crutches from the back and transferred them to the other jeep. Vince jumped out to make more room for Daphne’s parents in the backseat. Then he climbed into the passenger’s side beside Brock. Daphne introduced him to Joey.

“We’ve met,” Joey said.

Daphne had forgotten that a lot had happened in the two weeks she’d been out. As Brock drove the rest of the way to the resort, Daphne couldn’t stop staring at her brother sitting beside her.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said.

“It’s good to see you,” he echoed.