Page 49 of Circle of Death
I drop to my knees on the hard rock and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get more detail. Then, suddenly, I’m seeing myself from above. My heart freezes.
I’m being watched.
I open my eyes and spin around. But when I look up, all I see are stars. The imaginary asteroid is moving through a multicolored aura, like passing through the middle of a kaleidoscope.
The exhibit goes dark.
And then it’s over.
A wall lifts at the far end. Soft blue lights guide us through a passageway to the exit. My ears pop as I pass through a final electronic curtain and back into the noise and chaos of the midway. Back to Earth. My head is pounding.
I see Maddy and Margo walking toward me. I run over to grab them.
“I just saw him! The killer!”
Margo looks over my shoulder at the exhibit I just came out of. “In there? In fake outer space?”
“It was in my mind. But Isawhim. And he saw me.”
Maddy grabs my arm. “Who was it? What did he look like?”
I rack my brain for a description, but only four words come out. “Dark. Powerful. Not human.”
I can read the frustration on Margo’s face. “You and Maddy should have come by yourselves,” she says. “You should have turned invisible. Or shape-shifted into… whatever. You could have covered more ground. Gotten into more places.”
I rub sweat from my forehead and lean forward to catch my breath. I feel totally drained, as if someone had just sucked the life out of me. “Wouldn’t matter. Whatever the killer is, he’s onto us. He sees everything we do. Whatever form we’re in.”
When I look up again, Maddy is walking away from us—heading toward the huge Ferris wheel in the distance. I can see from her body language that she’s frustrated and angry.
“Maddy!” shouts Margo. “Where are you going?”
Maddy turns and jerks her thumb toward the main attraction. “We’re getting nowhere down here,” she calls out. “If the killer wants to see us, let’s give him a real good look!”
I straighten up. Margo takes my hand. We follow Maddy toward the giant gleaming circle across the fairgrounds. No question, there’s something irresistible about it. I felt it the first time I saw it.
Maybe Maddy just wants to go for a ride.
Or really wants to be bait.
CHAPTER 59
A FEW MINUTES later, we’re all on a single invisible bench suspended eighty feet in the air, Maddy’s in the middle, leaning against me so tight I can feel her heart pounding. I know how brave and strong she is, but right now she feels small and vulnerable, almost like a little girl. I think deep down, she knows how much she needs our help and protection—even if she won’t admit it.
“Lamont, look!” says Margo, pointing down to the right.
Far below and a few miles away, a huge section of Brooklyn just lit up, finally back on the grid. Street by street, block by block, the electricity is being switched back on. It’s about time.
From where we’re sitting, the whole city shimmers like a field of bright candles. But I know there’s a murderous monster somewhere under our feet. Maybe looking at us right now. Or waiting to follow another victim into the dark.
When I look out over Long Island toward the ocean, another chill runs through me. Because in a stately villa a few thousand miles across the Atlantic, there’s an even bigger threat—and we have to face it tomorrow. I wrap my arm tighter around Maddy, and around my wife.
“It’s a beautiful world from up here,” says Margo softly.
I agree. It is. So why would anybody want to destroy it?
CHAPTER 60
MADDY WALKS SLOWLY up the uneven stone pathway to Deva’s front door. Even in broad daylight, the neighborhood feels menacing. A few houses down, a pair of fierce-looking dogs growl and strain against their chains. Across the street, three shirtless teenage boys lounge against a loose metal fence. Maddy can feel their eyes on her the whole way.
