Dying Light (30 page)

“
Oh, did you think we were
just
sitting
here? Nope. We’d have been bashed against the rocks by now if
it wasn’t for
me
.”

It takes me a second to catch up.
She’s been moving the boat, or counter moving it amongst the
thrashing waves.

“
Can lower them down?” I
ask, unable to take my eyes off of Jess. “Or slow them
down?”

The words are barely out of my mouth
before Jesse jumps.

“
Shit.” Rachel screams and
jolts to her feet, arms out in front of her as if she could catch
them from here.

Gloria swears and tries to steady the
boat from the back.

“
Pull forward,” Rachel
shouts, chancing a half-glance over her shoulder at
Gloria.

The motor sputters to life and we
lurch forward.

The boat cuts through the waves more
violently than before, cold water sloshing over the edge and
freezing my bare hands. Already my hands are chilled to the bone, a
bluish-purple color settling into my fingers. I clutch the rim of
the boat harder.

“
Did they make it?” I
scream, unable to see around Rachel.

She doesn’t respond.

I try to look around her, but Gloria
yanks me down into my seat by the back of my coat.

“
Stay down,” she barks. “I
can barely see where we’re going as it is.”

“
Okay, stop. Now,
stop
,” Rachel
cries.

Gloria cuts the engine and the boat
bumps into something hard. I move my hand just in time, but not
quite fast enough. My knuckles scrape across a rock and blood
blooms from the torn flesh. Because my fingers are so cold, I
barely feel it. I press the bloody knuckles into my red coat and
find it damp from the spray coming off the waves.

I see Jesse. She is sitting on a big
rock. Her hair is wet and Winston is shivering against her chest.
Maisie too is soaked beside her, pushing damp hair out of her big
blue eyes with a quivering hand. They’re being pummeled by the
waves assaulting the rocks.

“
We’ve got to get them
into the boat,” I say.

“
No shit,” Rachel
hisses.

“
Why are we in such a
small boat?” I ask.

“
I needed something small
enough that I could control,” Rachel says. “Praise baby Jesus that
we didn’t have anything bigger.”

The boat slams against the side of the
rock a little hard, and I’m suddenly terrified that one more wave
will crush the boat altogether.

“
We have to get away from
the rocks.”

“
I’m trying,” Rachel says,
clenching her fists. “Do something other than critique
me.”

“
Pull forward,” I tell
Gloria. “And I’ll get them into the boat.”

After much difficulty, Gloria gets the
boat to inch forward enough that Jesse is in arm’s length. Her
teeth are chattering.

“
Come on.” I stretch my
arms out for her. “Get in the boat.”

She hands me Winston first and I put
him on the floor of the boat between my feet. He’s never looked
more pitiful, resembling a drowned shivering rat.

Then Jesse reaches behind her and
pulls Maisie forward. Maisie is shaking almost as bad as Winston.
Her hands feel like ice even to my own frozen hands as I pull her
into the boat. She curls up on the floor beside Winston, seemingly
oblivious to the inch or so of water that has accumulated
there.

I reach out for Jesse.

She grabs on to me and I yank her into
the boat, almost crushing Winston and Maisie. But it feels so good
to have her in my arms again, alive and breathing, and relatively
unharmed.

“
Fucking hell,” she says
through her chattering teeth. “Let’s never do that
again.”

Jesse

I
can’t feel my hands and my teeth are chattering so hard that
I’m giving myself a headache. Winston looks like the saddest dog in
the world, and I don’t have anything remotely dry to wrap him in.
My knee is skinned from where it scraped against the rock after I
dropped my shield because Maisie had let go of me and I was afraid
of knocking her into the water.

Maisie’s soaked all the way
through.

“
Are you okay?” I’m
looking her over for scrapes or any damage.

She nods her head but can’t
speak.

“
We don’t have anything
dry.” Ally reaches across the boat and places a hand on my wet
knee. “I’m so sorry I didn’t think to bring something
dry.”

I clasp her hand in mine. “I’m sorry
that I made you come get me.”

Gloria arches an eyebrow.
Is it because I said I was sorry? Is it that rare I actually
apologize for something I do wrong? Okay,
maybe
.

I squeeze her hand. “I won’t make you
chase after me ever again.”

A bizarre tingling in my knee makes me
look down. I spread open the rip in my jeans to inspect the scrape.
The skin is closing before my eyes.

“
Weird.”

Ally sees it too, her eyes widening.
“How are you?”

I remember the four dead bodies in the
hallway of the church. “I don’t know.”

“
Once we get you dry, we
should talk.” Ally cuts her eyes to Maisie. “Are you okay,
honey?”

Maisie nods for a second time. “Is
Winston okay?”

“
He’ll live.” I reach down
and place a hand on the wet, shivering pug. “Can pugs die of
hypothermia?”

“
We’ll get to shore soon,
Jessup.” Rachel lowers her hands from the Moses pose she’s been
holding this whole time.

I throw up my hands. “Where the hell
have you been?”

“
Oh, you know.” She sinks
down onto her little seat while Gloria starts the motor again and
shoots off in the direction of the aquarium on the far bank. “I
went to Bermuda and Tahiti for the sunshine. I had a scone in
Bruges.”

“
Really?” I
ask.

“
No,” she says with a
snort. “I’ve been
working
.”

She grins and I mirror it. It’s good
to see her. And it’s especially good to see her in non-asylum
clothes.

“
After this we’ll take a
vacation,” I tell her. “We deserve one.”

“
A little help,” Gloria
yells over the motor.

“
Right.” Rachel returns
her attention to the water. The boat’s horrible choppiness and
zig-zag approach straightens out a bit. The helicopter overhead
whizzes off, growing smaller.

“
Who was that?” I ask,
shielding my eyes so I can see the copter fly away.

“
Gideon,” Ally says.
“Someone Brinkley sent to help.”

“
Brinkley is dead. How can
he send help?”

“
It’s a long story.” Ally
tries to burrow into her coat.

“
Is it part of the same
story where you knew I had a sister before I did?” I
ask.

Maisie looks up from her fetal
position in the floor, giving Ally a wary once-over.

“
Yes.” Ally forces a
smile. “I’ll catch you up after we get you dry and warm. I
promise.”

“
Almost there,” Rachel
shouts, turning back to flash us a grin.

I want a latte. “After I dig my wet
underwear out of my ass, can I have a coffee?”

Ally smiles. “I think a second hot
chocolate would be good.”

“
I’ve been locked in a
tower and you’ve been having hot chocolate?” I pretend to be angry.
“You must’ve been
real
worried.”

Her brow furrows, her mouth falling
open in indignation.

“
I’m kidding,” I’m quick
to add. “Relax. I’m so freaking happy to be away from the
psycho.”

Ally closes her mouth, swallowing
whatever she intended to say.

“
Shit.” Rachel shifts her
weight in the front of the boat. “We have a problem.”

All of our heads snap forward.
Caldwell stands on the shore. The planetarium’s large golden dome
behind him is a majestic backdrop.

“
Can we drive the boat
somewhere else?” Ally asks.

“
Wherever we go, he’ll be
there,” Maisie says.

“
We can’t stay on the
lake,” Rachel adds. “I’m getting tired.”

Unfortunately, they’re both
right.

“
Grab on to me,” I shout.
“I’ll try to make my shield big enough.”

Rachel, Ally, and Maisie huddle close,
Winston safe between our feet. My shield goes up and covers Ally
and Maisie, but not Rachel. I can’t make it any bigger.

“
Get in here,” I yell to
Gloria.

“
I won’t fit,” she
says.

“
Damnit, Gloria. I will
climb in your lap if I have to,” I yell.

“
I have to drive the
boat,” she says. “Focus on the girls.”

“
Rachel—”

“
I’m fine,” she says. “I’d
like to see the asshole try me today.”

Gloria drives the boat right to shore,
and Caldwell companionably reaches down and yanks the boat onto the
embankment.

“
Hello, Ms. Wright,”
Caldwell says with a grin. “Where have you been hiding?”

“
Up your ass,” she
hisses.

“
Ah,” he says, as if this
is the most normal response ever. “I didn’t think to look
there.”

“
I’m surprised,” she
quips. “Your head is up there most of the time.”

He regards her for a second longer,
and Rachel holds his gaze.

“
Get out of the boat,
Maisie,” he says.

“
No,” I say and grab onto
her arm.

“
Get out of the
boat,
Maisie
,” he
says again.

Maisie starts to rise but I hold on to
her tighter.

“
No,” I say. “You
shouldn’t be with a person who locks you in a tower.”

Caldwell makes no defense. Instead, he
says, “Your mother will be upset if you don’t come home. Look at
the city. It isn’t safe out there for you.”

He motions over his shoulder at the
burning city. Pillars of black smoke funnel up into the sky. Too
many to count. In the distance, sirens wail.

“
You know why it isn’t
safe,” he says, his gaze never leaving Maisie’s. “Do you think
it’ll be safe for you with
them
? They’ll kill you as soon as
they know what you are.”

Caldwell cuts his eyes to
Rachel.

“
I do not abuse children,
you homicidal maniac.” I think she’s going to jump up and attack
him. Every muscle in my body tenses. If she fights, I’ll have to
fight too and I can’t firebomb with everyone here.

“
What you are?” Ally asks
Maisie.

In my momentary distraction, Maisie
wrenches herself from my grip.

“
Hey—” I lurch forward
trying to grab hold of her. “Don’t be stupid. We wouldn’t hurt
you.”

Maisie slips right out of my shield.
Caldwell reaches down and pulls her onto the sand.

“
It’s okay,” Maisie says,
as Caldwell wraps his arms around her. “My mom needs
me.”

Her words hang in the air as Caldwell
takes a step back, and they are gone.

Jesse

“W
ell, you win some, you lose some,” Rachel says, jumping out
of the boat onto shore.

“
Don’t say that,” Ally
snaps. “She’s a little girl. God knows what he’ll do with
her.”

I give Rachel a harsh look. “He’s
hardly father of the year.”

“
Tell me something I don’t
know,” Rachel says, rolling her eyes. “No, I’ll tell you. She’s
partis.”

“
What?” Ally and I say in
unison.

“
She’s partis.”

“
She’s a kid,” Ally
argues. “She isn’t some murderer seeking world
domination.”

She’s partis. I try to
absorb this information but I can’t quite wrap my mind around
it.
You have superpowers. Do
something?
Was she just trying to trick me
into thinking she was weak? Or does she have a power that isn’t
much good for jumping out of buildings?

“
Did you see her do
anything?” Ally asks.

“
No. If she’s partis, she
didn’t give any sign.”

“
Maybe you’re wrong,” I
tell Rachel.

Rachel rolls her eyes. “You’re smarter
than that Jessup. Don’t let the kid googly-eye you.”

I remember Gabriel’s
warning about Maisie.
Be careful with that
one. She’s different than the others.

“
We need to get out of
here,” Rachel says, holding her hair back from her face and
surveying the museum campus.

“
How?” Ally stands on the
shore, reaching out to help Gloria from the boat. Gloria takes her
hand, more to pacify Ally than anything else, I’m sure. The shore
is nearly empty in this freezing weather, but a couple of bundled
onlookers stare at the city like we do. Many more stand in clusters
on the steps of the
museum,
planetarium
, and aquarium, as if waiting
for the next explosion to come.