Touching Darkness (24 page)

V
oices and people touching her pulled Olivia from her sleep.

Sleep?

She opened her eyes, the pieces coming together. Three faces hovered over her. Fanny was waving a pillow in front of her, Lulu was admiring her emerald ring, and Tommy returned to the room with a blanket.

Olivia tried to sit up, but her head spun. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

“Get the bucket!” Lulu hollered.

Olivia sat very still and quieted her stomach's heaving.

Fanny's hand went to her mouth. “Did you give her some of the lemonade from the yellow pitcher?” She took a sip of her own glass. “Oh, no. That one's loaded with vodka. I spiked it last night.”

“Mama, you're supposed to put the liquor in the clear pitcher!”

Olivia could barely swing her eyes toward the woman. “There's liquor in it?”

“'Fraid so. I didn't even think about it.” Fanny gave her a sheepish smile. “It blends in with the lemonade, so I didn't notice. Lulu, get her some crackers.”

“I probably should go back to the motel.” Olivia tried to push up from the couch.

Tommy put his hand on her shoulder. “You can't drive like this.”

Panic curled around her throat. He was right; she couldn't drive. Couldn't escape. Trapped.

Lulu returned with a box of saltines.

Olivia tried to focus in on them. “But I don't want to get crumbs on the couch.”

Fanny waved that concern away with a laugh. “God knows what's living in the cracks of this thing. A few crumbs sure won't hurt.”

Olivia wanted to pop off the couch, but her body wouldn't move.

Fanny studied her. “Not much of a drinker, are you?”

Olivia began to shake her head but stopped when the whole room rocked. “I haven't eaten much today.” She started nibbling on the crackers, watching to see if anything crawled out of the cracks to grab the crumbs.

Lulu tucked a blanket around her. “You'll be back to your old self in no time. We'll get out the photo albums, and when you're feeling better, you can tell us all about yourself.”

“And your daddy,” Tommy added.

Fanny returned a few minutes later and settled in next to Olivia with the album. Lulu pressed up against her on the other side, making Olivia feel like the filling of a sandwich.

For the next hour and a half, she nibbled crackers and listened to story after story about her mother. More than she wanted to know, like how she'd gotten stabbed in the butt by a pitchfork's tine while fooling around in the hay. Bobby Jr. wandered into the kitchen, taking a few moments to stare at her on the way. They kept asking her if she was ready to eat, but her stomach rebelled at the thought.

Everyone looked up when someone knocked on the door.

“Don't know who that could be.” Fanny sprang up and opened it.

The sight of Nicholas injected Olivia with relief and longing and such a mix of emotions, her eyes welled up. Concern and determination filled his brown eyes, as though he'd come to rescue her. His hair looked messier than ever, like he'd been worrying it on the way there.

She smiled. “Nicholas.”

He came in without invitation and walked over to her. “Are you all right? You look…not well.”

“We got her drunk, by accident,” Lulu offered, taking in the stranger with interest. “Who are you?”

Olivia waved toward him with a floppy arm. “This is my”—what was he?—“friend, Nicholas. And this is my mother's family.”

Lulu tugged her T-shirt down over her jeans. “You didn't tell us you had a friend coming.” She held out her hand. “I'm Lulu, Olivia's aunt.”

He shook her hand but his gaze was on Olivia. She gave him a subtle nod as he turned to meet the others. “I'm taking Olivia back to her motel.”

Fanny said, “But we still got a lot of catching up to do. Join us.”

Nicholas was already holding out his hand to her, and Olivia clutched it. He pulled her to her feet, even as the three of them pushed in closer and objected. She had been listening to them for hours, and their voices, their stories, and their accusations about her father pounded into her head as hard as the headache. Even now the women held on to her arms as though they were going to engage in a tug-of-war with Nicholas.

“We've hardly gotten a chance to get to know her yet,” Fanny said.

Nicholas pulled her out of their grasp and against his chest, his arm around her collarbone. “She's had enough for now.” His voice, deep and strong, carried authority. “She'll come back when she's ready.” He steered her to the door.

She waved. “I'll be in touch.”

“Wait,” he said. “Can I see a picture of your mother?”

Olivia led him to a shelving unit and pointed to several of the pictures.

“Yes, you definitely look like her.” He nodded and led her out the front door.

She saw his car parked behind hers in the drive. “I can drive back to the motel. I'm not woozy anymore, just tired. Overwhelmed. Brain boggled. But not drunk. I think I ate a whole package of crackers.”

He studied her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Besides, if I leave my car here, I'll have to come back for it.”

“Understood. I'll follow you.”

The dim coolness of the motel room was welcoming, though she could still smell the smoke on her. She turned to him. “Thank you for coming. But how did you know I needed—you remote-viewed me, didn't you?”

He nodded, no regret on his face. “I saw you lying on the couch looking as though you'd passed out.”

“I fell asleep.” She covered her mouth. “At least I didn't get sick. They were happy to see me but unloaded years of both anger at my father and history on me at once. They think my father killed my mother. And the worst part is, I couldn't say he wasn't that kind of person.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

She said, “I think they're good people who have had all these emotions and questions stuffed inside for so long. But I need a breather before I go back.” She gave him a wry smile. “You were right; it was too much.” Fatigue permeated her voice. “I'm not ready to rush out to California and see my cousin.”

Nicholas led her to the bed, then curled up behind her spoon style. Just comfort. “Sleep for a while. Then you're coming with me for a few days.”

She nodded, too tired even to be annoyed that he was
taking control. For the moment, that was okay. She had nowhere to go.

Just before she drifted off to sleep, he said, “I hope you like camping in the woods.”

 

Richard Wallace grabbed hold of the black mouse with his gloved hand. He tried to be gentle…as gentle as one could be whilst inserting a needle into its body. He set the mouse down, and it scrambled toward its den.

“Sorry, fellow.”

He froze as a spidery sensation crawled over him. He looked around the white glare of his lab but saw nothing. He knew better than to discount it.

He picked up his satellite phone and made a call. “I need you here. We may have trouble.”

G
erard Darkwell stepped out of the hotel where Nicholas Braden had spent the night and slid on his sunglasses. The room was empty, but he was getting closer to finding him, and with him, Olivia. Though Sayre hadn't seen a woman with Nicholas last night when he'd possessed him in his sleep, Gerard knew she must be with him.

The small town wasn't far from Spartan, West Virginia. He had an idea why they were in the area. He drove to the horrid place where his wife had come from, the past she had hidden from him until it was too late. He hoped to catch Olivia there, and he hoped she'd never go there. When he got out, he leveled a hard glare at the children to keep them away from his car. The alarm chirped.

He knocked on the door, and the woman he remembered being Mary's sister answered. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped open. The stench of bacon and cigarettes assailed him.

“I want to know if you've had any visitors lately.” No need for pleasantries. These people disgusted him, and they weren't fond of him, either.

“Did Olivia come ba—?” Mary's mother came out of the hallway and stopped dead when she saw him.

“That answers my question, thank you. How long ago did she leave?”

Both sister and mother clamped their mouths shut. He glanced at his watch. It couldn't have been very long. That Olivia had come here boded very badly for her state of mind. He had to get her back into his hold. These women were standing in his way.

He gripped the sister's bony shoulder. “How long?”

She buckled, but he kept a hold on her. “'Bout an hour ago.”

“Was she with a young man with dark hair?”

“Get your hand off her! Tommy!” The mother tried to pry his hand away.

“Answer the question, and I'll let go.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” the sister said, hatred in her eyes.

He let go and gave her his most pleasant smile. “Thank you for your assistance.”

The father came barreling out of the house a minute later, but Gerard was already locked in his car. His crazy accusations were lost as Gerard turned up the opera music and backed out of the drive.

He made a call to Fonda. “Find Olivia.”

 

Amy gave the excuse of doing some girl shopping to head out by herself. She knew Lucas would be furious when she returned, and she wasn't about to do so until she had something of value.

Not that he hasn't hidden things from me.

Her chest was tight as she continued her drive. Galesville, where Wallace's supposed research facility was located, was about thirty minutes from the tomb.

She called Nicholas. “It's Amy. Everything all right?”

“So far. But I'm glad you called. We figured out what Fonda's ability is. She can project her consciousness to other places. She looks like a ghost.”

“Astral projection?”

“I guess. So if you see a young woman who's there but not there, you're busted.”

“Good to know. I need to tell you something, too. When
Sayre is coming in, you'll feel a cold prick at the back of your neck. At least that's what Lucas felt when he came in the night we were with Robbins. I'm not sure if you'll feel it when he comes in while you're asleep, though.”

“Damn, this stuff is crazy.”

“I know. But there are only two Offspring on their side now. Dangerous ones, perhaps, but only two.”

“Amy, what's going on with this Wallace thing?”

“I'm going to find out what's in our bodies. I'm sorry I lied to you, but I didn't want to put you in the middle. I've got to go. Be careful.”

“You, too.”

She signed off, made a quick call to Petra's phone to pass on Nicholas's information, and concentrated on her driving as she reached Galesville. The roads Nicholas had seen were in the rural area, and she nearly missed the turnoff. Several minutes later she came up on a gravel road leading into the woods with no signs or mailbox.

Once she pulled down the drive she saw the
NO TRESPASSING
sign hanging from the chain going across the road. Posted to a nearby tree was the sign
BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AREA, PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING.
She got out and walked up to the chain. It was triple locked, with a ditch cut down the sides of the road to discourage anyone from driving around it.

Something in the thick pine forest caught her eye. It was shiny, about three feet high, but she couldn't tell what it was. She stepped over the chain. The woods were filled with sound: birds, the rustle of a breeze through the trees, and the crunch of gravel as she walked down the road. Oh, and her heartbeat crashing against her ribs.

Down the rabbit hole I go…again.

And again, for Lucas. For all of them.

Scattered all over the property were more of those shiny things. She walked through the grass to inspect one. It looked like a yard ornament, made of copper and crystals,
in the shape of a butterfly. A man who had pretty ornaments all over couldn't be so bad. Right?

A scream made her jerk her head around. It sounded like a woman, but not quite. She shivered. She'd come to a stop, and every muscle in her body strained to turn around and run back to her car.

Keep going.

She heard another sound: footsteps. She swiveled around. Nothing.

An arm jerked her against a hard, male body. Where had he come from? She'd just checked all around and seen no one. But he was real. She struggled to see her captor, but he wasn't budging.

From behind and above her, he said, “Gotcha, mate.”

 

“Did you say something about camping in the woods, or was I dreaming?”

Olivia threw her toiletries into the little bag and walked to the door of the motel room. She felt wretched, even with a shower and the two bottles of water Nicholas had forced her to drink when she'd woken up. No matter what, she felt better now that she was with him.

“You weren't dreaming,” he said, hoisting her bag. “You can't take all this stuff into the woods. Just the basics.”

“How long are we going to stay there?”

He opened the door and nodded for her to precede him. “Maybe a night or two. If Fonda or Sayre sees us, there won't be any landmarks for them to find us by when we're in the woods. I don't know exactly what Sayre can do, but Darkwell said I was the only one who could pinpoint a location without using a landmark.”

Just as she was about to step outside, she caught sight of her father's car. She pushed back, knocking into Nicholas and closing the door. “My father's here!” She stepped to the curtain and peered out. “His car is slowing down. Do you think he saw me?”

He came up behind her. “No. He'd be slamming into the parking lot. He's curious about something.”

“My grandfather's car. You don't see a lot of Cadillacs around here.”

The black Mercedes cruised into the parking lot, and the driver's window slid down as it pulled up behind the Cadillac. His eyebrows furrowed as he no doubt saw the distinctive MRS. MAJOR plate. He pulled into the parking space next to it and hurried to the office, cell phone to his ear.

“He's alone,” she said. “But probably calling for backup.”

“We've got to make a run for it.”

“My father's inside. Let's go!”

They slid out and, ducking down, ran toward the Camry. She got into the passenger side and lay down.

Nicholas pulled out of the lot, watching the rearview mirror. “He's walking out of the office with a short guy, heading to our room.”

Tremors shook her body. “We almost got caught. What would he have done?”

He looked over at her. “He would have taken you back to the estate. Once he has you back, he'll keep you there.”

“He wouldn't do that.”

He flashed her a doubtful look.

“And what about you?” she asked.

“He would have killed me.”

He stomped on the gas pedal as soon as they were out of sight of the motel.

She sat up and put her hand on his arm. “If I'm going to put you in danger, please don't take me along.”

He glanced at her. “Livvie, if he gets the chance, he'll kill me either way. You being with me, well, that only pisses him off more.”

His words sent a chill spiking through her. “I think I know what the Rogues feel like. Maybe a little, anyway. Being chased, hiding…hunted. So in a way, I am one of them. Whether I like it or not.”