Dark Visions (27 page)

"Never mind," Rob said. "Keep walking and maybe it'll come to you. Is it a place you've seen before?"

Anna shook her head slowly. "I don't
think
I've seen it. And yet it's
familiar
—and it's north, I'm sure of that. North of California."

"So we look at all the beaches north of California?" Lewis muttered, with unaccustomed bleakness. He kicked at a rock pile.

"Don't!" Anna said quickly—with unaccustomed sharpness. Lewis ducked his head.

At the end of the peninsula Kait tilted her face to the wind. It felt good and it was exhilarating to have the ocean crashing around her on three sides, but they still weren't much closer to the white house.

"Who's giving us these dreams, anyway?" Lewis asked from a little way behind her. "I mean, do you think it's
them
, in that house? Do you think they're in there now?"

"Let's ask," Rob said, and without warning he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted across the water. "Hey, you! You out there! Who are you?"

Kaitlyn's heart jolted at the first bellow. But the shout had a
good
sound, a sound to combat the ghostly violet sky and the vast stretch of moving water. This was a big place, and big sounds fit here.

She cupped her own hands around her mouth. "Whooo are yoooou?" she shouted, sending her voice across the ocean as if she really expected someone in the white house to hear.

"That's it," Anna said, and she threw her head back and gave a long-drawn-out cry that sent gooseflesh up Kait's spine. "Whooo are yoooou? Where are weeee?"

Lewis joined in. "Thiiiis suuucks! Talk to us! Can't you be a little clearer?"

Kaitlyn choked on laughter, but kept calling. The racket caused a pair of gulls to soar upward, alarmed.

And then, amidst their own clamor, came an answer.

It was louder than their shouting voices, but it was a breathless whisper nevertheless. As if, Kaitlyn thought suddenly, a thousand people were whispering at once, almost in chorus but not quite. A thousand people crowded around you in a small, echoing room.

It shut them all up immediately. Kait stared wide-eyed at Rob, who had grasped her shoulder in an automatic impulse to protect her.

"Griffin's Pit! Griffin's Pit! Griffin's Pit!" the urgent whispers said.

Kaitlyn's lips formed the word "What?" but no sound came out. The cacophony of sound was beating at her from all sides. She could see Lewis grimace. Anna had her hands to her head.

"Griffin's Pit Griffin's Pit Griffin's Pit…"

She couldn't. But she could see that the pounding noise was hurting Rob, too. His face was tense, his golden eyes dark.

Kaitlyn gave a jerk and the peninsula disappeared,

She was staring into the night sky. A lopsided moon was dipping toward the horizon. A single airplane roared slowly among the stars, red lights winking.

Rob was stirring beside her, Anna and Lewis sitting up.

"Everybody all right?" Kaitlyn said anxiously.

Rob smiled. "You did it."

"I guess. And we got our answer—I guess." She rubbed at her forehead.

"Maybe that's why they didn't try to communicate in words before," Anna said. "Maybe they knew it would hurt us. And what they were saying wasn't too clear, anyway."

"Griffin's Pit," Kaitlyn said. "It sounds—ominous."

Lewis wrinkled his nose. "Griffin's—
what? Oh
, you mean Whippin' Bit."

"
I
heard something like 'Wyvern's Bit,'" Anna put in. "But that doesn't make much sense."

"Neither does Whiff and Spit," Rob said. "Unless it's some kind of combination perfume and tobacco factory…"

"C'mon down to the Whiff and Spit; snuff it up and cough it out," Lewis chanted, giving it a catchy rhythm. "But, look, if none of us heard the same thing, it means we're back where we started."

"Wrong," Rob said and twisted Lewis's cap down over his eyes. He grinned; Kaitlyn could tell he was in a good mood. "We know there's somebody out there, and they're trying to talk to us. Maybe they'll get better. Maybe we'll get lucky. Anyway, we have a direction to go—north. And we know what to look for—a beach like that. The search is on!"

His enthusiasm was infectious. His smile, the lights dancing in his golden eyes—all infectious, Kaitlyn thought.

Kaitlyn had a feeling—wild, inappropriate, but consuming—of hope. All her life she'd wanted to belong somewhere, wanted it with a deep-down, gut-wrenching ache. And she'd always had the strange conviction that she
did
belong somewhere. That there was a place where she fit in perfectly—if only she could find it.

Since Gabriel had locked them into the web, she'd found
people
to belong to. Whether she wanted it or not, she was bonded for life to her four mind-mates. And now—well, maybe the dream was calling them to
a place
to belong. The place she'd sensed in the back of her mind all along, the place where all her questions would be answered and she would understand who she really was and what she was supposed to do with her life.

She smiled at Rob. "The search is on." She scooted closer to him, knee to knee, and added in a private message,
And I love you
.

Strange coincidence
, Rob's voice said in her mind.

Amazing how he could make her feel. Safe in a vacant lot, warm in the middle of the night. Just being this close to him, being able to touch his thoughts and feel his presence, was comforting—and dizzying.

I like being close to you, too
, he said.
The closer I get, the closer I want to get
.

Kaitlyn was floating, drowning in the gold of Rob's eyes. She began,
I wish we could be like this
forever
—

She was cut off. Anna, who had been sitting with her chin on her knees, now suddenly raised her head.

"Wait a minute—where's Gabriel?"

Kait had forgotten about him. Now she realized that the rampart of earth across from them was deserted.

"He must have gone to check on something," Lewis said hopefully.

"Or maybe he's gone for good," Rob said—and there was a sort of grim hope in his voice, too.

"Sorry. No deal." A shower of earth fell from the dirt wall, and Gabriel appeared, wearing a rather chilling smile.

And he looked—well. Refreshed. Not tired anymore.

Kaitlyn felt the shadow of alarm. She brushed it away before anyone else could notice it. Of
course
Gabriel was all right. There was nothing wrong with him looking so… rejuvenated. He'd had a chance to rest, that was all.

"It's getting light," Gabriel was saying. "I checked around; there's no activity out there: no cops, nothing.

If we're going to get out, now's the time."

"Okay," Rob said. "But first, sit down a minute. We have to figure out what the plan is, what we're doing next. And we have to tell you what happened to us tonight."

"Something happened?" Gabriel looked around sharply. "I was—only gone for a few minutes."

"It wasn't anything real; it was a dream," Kaitlyn said, and she tried to quash her alarm again. That hesitation between "I was" and "only gone for a few minutes"—Gabriel was lying. She couldn't feel it in the web, but she knew.

Where had he been?

Rob was telling him about the dream. Gabriel listened to the whole story, looking amused and slightly contemptuous.

"If that's where you really think you're going, I don't care," he said when Rob finished. His handsome lip was curled. "All I care about is getting away from the California Youth Authority."

"Okay," said Rob. "Now, we ought to take stock—what have we got with us here? What're our assets?" He gave a rueful grin. " 'Fraid I don't have anything but my wallet and these files."

For the first time Kait consciously realized that neither Rob nor Gabriel had their duffel bags with them.

Lost in the fight with Mr. Zetes, she guessed.

"I've got my bag," she said. "And a hundred dollars in my pocket"—she checked to make sure—"and maybe fifteen in my purse."

"I've got
my
bag," Lewis said. "But I don't think any of my clothes are going to fit either of you guys." He eyed Rob and Gabriel doubtfully—they were both several inches taller than he was. "And about forty dollars."

"I've only got a few dollars in change," Anna said. "And my bag of clothes."

"And I've got—oh, twelve-fifty," Rob said, flipping through his wallet.

"Jeez, only a hundred and fifty-something—remind me never to run away with you guys again," Lewis said.

"It's not even enough to buy bus tickets—and then we have to eat," Rob said. "And it's not as if we have just one destination—we've got to
look
for the place, so we don't really know where we're going.

Gabriel, how much—"

Gabriel had been shifting where he sat, noticeably impatient. "I've got about ninety dollars," he said shortly—without, Kait noticed, mentioning that he'd gotten it from Joyce's purse. "But we don't need bus tickets," he added. "I've taken care of it. We've got transportation."

"Huh?"

Gabriel shrugged and stood, brushing crumbs of dirt off his clothes. "I've got us a car. I hotwired it and it's ready. So if you're finished talking…"

Kaitlyn leaned her head into her hands. "Oh, God."

She could
feel
the golden-white blaze of anger beside her. And now Rob was standing, moving up to get right in Gabriel's face. He was absolutely furious.

"You did
what
?" he said.

"What about it? It's
wrong
, that's what. We are not going around stealing people's cars."

"We stole Joyce's," Gabriel said musically and mockingly.

"Joyce was trying to
kill
us. That makes it—not right, maybe, but justifiable." He got even closer to Gabriel and said with deadly anger, emphasizing each word, "There is
no
justification for stealing things from innocent people."

Gabriel was clearly enjoying himself, relaxed but ready for action any minute. He wanted to fight, Kaitlyn realized—he was dying for it. Almost as if he were feeding off the blazing energy Rob radiated. "What's
your
idea, country boy? How do we get out of here?" he said.

"I don't know, but we don't steal. It's wrong. That's all." And for Rob, it
was
all, Kaitlyn knew. It was that simple for him.

She was chewing her lips, uneasily aware that it wasn't so simple for her. Half of her was impressed that Gabriel had gotten a car, and she had a sneaking feeling she'd be happy to ride away in it if she weren't nervous that they'd get caught. A car would be something to hold on to, an anchor against the uprooted, drifting feeling of being homeless.

But Rob would never go for it. Dear Rob. Dear honorable Rob, who was completely and utterly pigheaded and who could be the most exasperating boy on earth. Who was now glaring at Gabriel challengingly.

Gabriel bared his teeth in response. "And what about the old man? You don't think he's going to give up, do you? He'll have the police after us—and maybe other people. He has a lot of friends, a lot of connections."

It was true. Kaitlyn remembered the papers she had seen in Mr. Z's hidden room. There had been letters from judges, CEOs of big companies, people in the government. Lists of names of important people.

"We need to get out of here—
now
," Gabriel said. "And that means we need transportation." His eyes were locked on Rob's. Neither of them willing to give in.

They're going to fight, Kaitlyn thought, and she looked at Anna in despair. Anna had paused in the middle of brushing the dark and shining raven wing of her hair. She looked back worriedly at Kait.

We've got to stop them
, she said.

I know
, Kait thought back.
But how
?

Kaitlyn couldn't think of another solution—and then it came to her.

Marisol
, she thought.

Marisol. The research assistant back at the Institute. She'd been with Mr. Zetes even before Joyce, and she'd known about his plans. She'd tried to warn Kaitlyn—and Mr. Z had put her in a coma for it.

Kait said it aloud, with mounting excitement. "Marisol!"

It broke into Rob and Gabriel's stareout. "What?" Rob said.

Kaitlyn scrambled to her feet. "Don't you see—if anybody would help us, if anybody would believe us—and we're in
Oakland
. I'm sure Joyce said she was from Oakland."

"Kait, calm down. What are you—"

"I'm saying we should go to Marisol's
family
. They live here in Oakland. We could probably walk. And they might help us, Rob. They might understand this whole horrible thing."

The others were staring at Kait—but it was a good staring, full of dawning wonder.

"You know, they might, at that," Rob said.

"Marisol may even have told them something about it—maybe not in detail, but she might have given hints. She liked to give hints," Kait said, remembering. "And they've got to be upset over what happened.

Their daughter's fine, a little moody but perfectly healthy—and then one day she falls down in a coma.

Don't you think they'd have their suspicions?"

"It depends," Gabriel said. He looked dark and cold—cheated of his confrontation. "If she was taking drugs—"

"
Joyce
said she was taking drugs. And personally, I'm not inclined to trust anything Joyce said—are you?" Kaitlyn tilted her chin at him and to her surprise got a flash of amusement from the gray, chill eyes.