Dead Spots (42 page)

Mackenzie flicked her gaze toward the slinking shadows in the doorway of a hardware store and sighed. “That would be great. Thank you.”

“Johnny, how would you like to walk with me and Betsey back to my house?”

“Can I hold the leash?” Johnny asked excitedly.

Seth handed it over, smiling warmly. “Of course.”

Lucas rested his hand on Mackenzie's arm, preventing her from protesting. “Seth, that's kind of you. He couldn't be in better hands. Johnny, I'm going to drive Mac over to the house and meet you there, okay?”

Completely enthralled by the dog, Johnny said, “Okay!” and promptly turned all his attention to Betsey.

Seth gave the other two adults a knowing smile. “Kids and dogs. The attraction is instant.”

Panic rose inside of Mackenzie as she watched the older man and the little boy walk up the sidewalk with the dog trotting along before them. She took a step to follow, but Lucas caught her arm.

“You and I need to talk away from Johnny. This is our moment, okay?”

“But—”

“Johnny is safer with Seth than he is with us, Mac. I promise.”

Relenting, she turned to face Lucas. “You better be right.”

“I know I am. Trust me.” Lucas gave her arm a light squeeze, then opened the passenger door for her.

“For some stupid reason, I do,” Mackenzie grumbled, sliding into the car.

Once Lucas was inside the car he didn't start the engine, but twisted in his seat to look at her. “I wasn't planning for us to stay with Seth. In fact, I kind of thought he wouldn't take us in at all because you and Johnny are with me. I'm really surprised by his generosity, but glad at the same time. You need the rest and so do I. But there are a few things I feel I need to talk to you about when it comes to Seth.”

“Other than he lives with the apparition of his dead wife?”

“See? That condescending tone is what I'm worried about. Seth is a great guy. He really is.”

“Don't you think it's a little creepy?” Mackenzie lifted an eyebrow.

Lucas rubbed his face with frustration. “Mac…”

“What?”

“Grant taught you to mistrust people by terrorizing you and pulling hell down on you to keep you under his control. But not everything in this world is bad. Seth has made his own version of heaven. He really loved his wife and when he realized he could have her again—”

“That's the thing, Lucas!” Mackenzie felt tears suddenly spark in her eyes. “Ever since I found out that I can make my own dream palace, don't you think I've thought about making an apparition of my dead son? I never saw his eyes, Lucas. Never! I would love to hold him in my arms and see him breathing, smiling, and looking up at me! But every time my mind goes in that direction, I know insanity lies that way.” The words poured out of her mouth, giving voice to her darkest, most terrifying thoughts. “I could just lock myself away in a dream palace with Tanner and Joshua and make it all okay. Invest in the dream and live in my fucking insanity. I won't do it. I won't!”

Lucas regarded her solemnly, and then gave her the briefest nod of his head. “You have a legitimate point. I even agree with you. But Seth is not you, or me. He found his happiness here.”

A bitter laugh erupted from Mackenzie's lips. “I just poured out my deepest, darkest, craziest thought, and you just shrugged it off.”

“You're afraid that you're going to go crazy with grief, Mackenzie. That you're going to do something insane. That's fear talking. I'm not going to give power to it because the woman I see in front of me is far more than the sum total of her fears. Do you want my pity? Is that what you're asking for?”

Shocked by his words, Mackenzie lifted her face to stare at him. “No.”

“Good. Because I will give you my sympathy and my friendship. I will watch your back because I know you'll watch mine. I've watched you with Johnny, Mac. You have a tender, giving heart. I've also seen you fight against terrors that would reduce others to weeping heaps of crazy.” Lucas gave her a fierce look. “I won't say I'm sorry for your son's death because I didn't cause it, but I can tell you that I feel great sorrow at the thought of you losing a child. I wish it hadn't happened to you. I won't chastise you for being depressed or angry that he died, but I'm also not going to invest any energy in letting you flog yourself with senseless fears and regrets.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Mackenzie stared out the window at the long stretch of road and the silent town bordering it.

“Do you want to escape this world?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Then we'll keep going until we find a way out. But tonight we're going to stay with a really nice guy who chose to stay here because this is the only way he can hold on to the only person he ever loved. I won't judge him for that.” The keys jingled in his hand and he turned the car on. “I'm just asking you to do the same.”

“You don't pull punches, do you?” Mackenzie felt a little battered by his lecture, but also knew he was right. He had reached through most of the white noise that always seemed to be buzzing in her head to make a very valid point.

“No, not really. I just think Grant did a good job manipulating you into a state of constant fear and anxiety, and you need to shake it off.”

Reflecting on all that had occurred since she had entered the dead spot, Mackenzie could now clearly see everything Grant had done to make her leery of everyone but him. It must have been a huge shock for him to find her with Johnny after he had carefully orchestrated her death to make her even more dependent on him.

“What do incubus wraiths do? The full story. Seth seemed surprised I escaped Grant.” Mackenzie wiped away the last of her tears and tried to focus on gaining clarity on what had happened.

Lucas shifted gears and the car rolled away from the curb. “Seth told me that the wraiths find someone to latch on to. They manipulate the person into falling in love with them and make their victim completely dependent on them. The wraith then has the person create a dream palace for just the two of them. Then the wraith basically keeps the person trapped by having constant attacks on the haven from the outside. They feast off their victim through fear and love. Eventually, their victim just … fades away.”

“They become a wraith?”

“Seth told me that they sometimes become wraiths, but other times they're so consumed they become ghosts. Just memories of the people they once were.”

“Oh, my God!” Mackenzie gasped.

Lucas drove carefully through the town streets, slowly doubling back to Seth's home. “What is it?”

“I've been seeing ghostly women all day today. At first it was just quick glimpses, but one of them lingered much longer than the rest. I saw her before when Grant told me about his dead wife.”

“Shit.” Lucas looked grim, but not afraid. “We'll talk to Seth then. Find out what he knows. I don't like the sound of that.”

“Grant can find me because of the mark, can't he?”

“Yeah, but we're far from where he is, and I'm hoping his abilities are limited.”

Mackenzie tugged on the end of her braided hair nervously. “I hate this.”

“We'll figure something out,” Lucas assured her.

“I hope so. I have a bad feeling Grant is coming for me.”

 

CHAPTER 28

There were a few pleasant surprises for Mackenzie that evening when they arrived at the house to find Seth and Johnny just reaching the front gate.

First, the house was a beautiful old Queen Anne Victorian with a wraparound porch, stained-glassed windows, and high peaked roofs painted in pale gray with red trim.

Second, Seth appeared as a young man in his dream palace. The years peeled off him once he stepped onto the property, much to Mackenzie's surprise. It was an impressive display of his ability to manipulate the dead spot he controlled.

And finally, when they entered the house and Seth introduced them to his wife, Rosita was not the strange apparition Mackenzie had feared she would be. Much like Loretta, Rosita seemed like an actual person. Unlike Loretta, Rosetta was not the memory of a dead spot, but an apparition created by a man who had worshiped his wife. She was a lovely, petite woman with dark hair and eyes, though she was almost too unrealistically pretty since she had been constructed from the loving memories. Though she was charming and kind, there was something eerily too perfect about Rosita. She supposed Seth had created a new idealized wife for himself and wondered what the real Rosita had been like.

“That's our wedding day,” Seth pointed out when they entered the parlor during the tour through the house. The wedding portrait hung above the fireplace. The young couple was dressed in the attire of the roaring twenties and the black-and-white photo had been hand painted, giving it a strangely surreal look.

“You look very happy,” Mackenzie said truthfully. She marveled at the heavy lace veil and stylish bob that Rosita wore. She wanted to ask when his bride had died, but refrained. Obviously, the real Rosita had died relatively young if they had married in the twenties and Seth had entered the dead spot a widower in the fifties.

“We are,” Seth said with a blissful look on his face. “We are.”

Exchanging looks with Lucas, Mackenzie was glad they'd spoken earlier about the situation. Though the house was beautiful, Rosita pleasant, and the atmosphere quite homey and peaceful, it gave Mackenzie the impression of being a set for a film or a play. There was a falseness to it that was a little unnerving.

Later, after Seth was finished showing them through his impressive dream palace, Johnny played happily in the backyard, while Seth, Lucas, and Mackenzie sat on the porch examining Lucas's maps and discussing his notes. Mackenzie had offered to assist Rosita with dinner, but she had waved Mackenzie and Lucas away when they had ventured into the kitchen to help.

The sun's trek across the sky was coming to an end and the pecan trees that bordered the backyard of the big house were silhouetted against a vibrant sky of purple, orange, and red. It was beautiful to behold and a comforting end to a long day.

Exhausted, the little boy and dog lay side by side on the green lawn sharing the sort of moment only children and their furry companions seem to be able to enjoy. It had been very pleasant to see Johnny happy.

The wicker chair Mackenzie was curled up in was quite comfortable and she soon found herself dozing off. Forcing herself awake, she returned her attention to the conversation at hand and reclaimed her beer from the table beside her.

“If the wraith is after her, you will need to avoid the areas with high activity. It's much easier for wraiths to track their prey in those places,” Seth was saying.

Mackenzie almost wished she had kept dozing.

“Then we'll keep to the route we planned out,” Lucas decided.

“I did meet a few people a week or so ago that came through a new dead spot near Laredo. I wrote down their information for you. I can get that for you later,” Seth said, sipping a cold beer.

“I'd appreciate that. Mackenzie and I want to keep moving to prevent Grant from catching up to us.”

“Grant?” Seth raised his eyebrows. “The wraith's name is Grant?”

Mackenzie felt her blood chill in her veins. “You know him?”

“The name definitely rings a bell. Let me check my journals.” Seth slid out of his chair and entered the house, the screen door snapping shut behind him.

“See, not so bad, huh?” Lucas winked at her and propped his feet up on the porch rail, tilting his chair back.

“Is this the ‘I told you so' moment?” Mackenzie rolled her eyes.

“It's not all death and mayhem all the time,” Lucas continued, ignoring her sarcasm. “It can be nice moments just like this. A cold beer, a beautiful sunset, and a kid and a dog passed out on the lawn.”

“Your point is made,” Mackenzie said, raising her beer. She had to admit Lucas had been right about them staying with Seth. It was a respite from all they'd gone through. Maybe she was being too judgmental, a trait learned from her mother. In the end, who was she to judge Seth, if he was happy?

Lucas tapped his beer against hers. “I live for moments like these. The quiet, peaceful times when the monsters aren't visible and I can just pretend that it's all okay.”

“Are all the dream palaces like this? This peaceful?”

“I've only been in a few, but yeah. They're whatever the person wills it to be. So it consists of whatever it takes to make them feel safe and secure. Of course, their idea of an ideal life may not be yours or mine. I personally don't want to live in a pink castle with unicorns.”

Mackenzie giggled. “That dream palace seems to be famous.”

“It's pretty epic.”

“So what would your dream palace be like? If you made one?”

“Probably like this. A nice house, a big yard. I'd need a mechanic shop to tinker around in.”

“Even though you could just shape things into being?”

“Eh, being a shaper is such a cheat. There's no joy in the creation.” Gazing out at the vast backyard, Lucas said, “I don't think I could be happy creating a dream palace. I want the real thing. The reality of a life lived fully. The whole shebang. Wife, kids, work, barbecues on the weekends, a dog.…”

Mackenzie understood exactly what he was saying. “It feels like we're in a dream.”

“His dream,” Lucas agreed. “One that doesn't fit us just right.”

The screen door creaked open and the youthful version of Seth appeared with a black journal in his hands. Sweeping his cowlick back from his face, he returned to his chair and settled onto it. “So, I checked one of my old journals. I keep track of everyone I meet, pretty much like you do, Lucas.”

Mackenzie leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her beer dangling from her fingers. “And you found Grant?”