Page 46 of Circle of Death
Maddy’s out of patience. She wants an answer. And she knows just how to get it.
Chuanghu.She sits up straight, closes her eyes, and gets ready to look into the past, just like Dache taught her. She doesn’t care how dangerous it is. She just needs to go back about twelve hours. To wherever Deva was last night.
Maddy folds her hands in her lap and shuts down all nonessential parts of her awareness. She blocks out the warmth of the sun on her cheek, the sounds of cars moving through the parking lot, the smell of the lawn behind her. She breathes deep into her belly. Suddenly, the vision fires up, like her own private movie.
She’s walking through a ribbon of lights. The image is blurry. She feels heavy, not herself. She’s surrounded by people. Men, women, children. But she doesn’t recognize any of them. Then a figure blows past her, black hair waving.
Maddy follows, but not too close. She’s weaving through crowds and past flashing lights, like a nightclub. But outdoors. Maddy feels her pulse thumping.
The vision is like a dream, foggy and imperfect, like her visit to Lamont and Margo’s party. Maddy knows she’s not in her body. She’s trapped in somebody else’s memory. That person now doesn’t know Deva, but follows her anyway. Drawn to her. Excited by her.
Deva walks through an entryway. Maddy is a few yards behind, seeing through the follower’s eyes. The space inside is dark. Maddy blinks. Deva’s body is gone. Only her skeleton remains. But the skeleton is upright. Still walking! Another pulse of light. Then total darkness again.
Maddy hears footsteps. Her own. Running. Chasing. There’s a flash in her brain. Then the sound of a scream.
Light returns in a series of flashes. Deva is directly beneath her now—on the ground and still. The flesh is back on her bones, but there’s no breath inside her body. Her skull is crushed. Her features are contorted and coated in fresh green paint. Like the face of a grisly, broken doll.
Maddy gasps and falls forward. Her knees hit the hard pavement of the parking lot. She gags but nothing comes up. A tingle shoots through her. She’s fully back in the present—and someone is watching her.
She looks up and sees Dache standing on the other side of the parking lot, his hands folded in front of him. His face is impassive, his body relaxed.
Maddy struggles to her feet and jabs her finger at him, shouting furiously across the space between them. “You!You see everything! You know everything! You could have stopped it!”
“Not my place,” says Dache calmly. “I observe. I don’t control.”
“The hell you don’t! You controlme!”
“No. I teach you to control yourself. At least I try.”
Maddy is frantic with fear and anger. The vision felt like a nightmare, but she knows it was real. Deva is dead. Murdered. Mutilated. And she wasn’t the first.
“Get out!” shouts Maddy. “Go!”
“Go where, Madeline?” asks Dache calmly.
“The past! The future! Or tohell! I don’t care! Just…leave me alone!”
Maddy thrusts her hand forward. A fireball blasts from her palm. It shoots across the parking lot and explodes into a pillar of flame, engulfing Dache. The blast knocks Maddy back onto the grass. When she looks up, Dache is gone.
Maddy pounds her fists against her forehead, not sure what’s real anymore.
Was he ever really there?
CHAPTER 56
“FAIR WARNING. THE coffee is pretty strong.”
Margo carries a huge carafe over to the table as the team settles in for breakfast—Jericho, Burbank, and our two latest arrivals. Margo made scrambled eggs. I fried the bacon. Enough for a small army. Which is what we are, I guess. I’m just hoping that what we lack in numbers, we make up for in determination.
Tapper and Hawkeye grab for the platters and start piling food onto their plates. Jericho and Burbank sit back politely and wait their turn. I can tell they’re not entirely sold on the new members of the team. I can’t blame them for being a little wary. I am, too. But the proof will come soon enough.
I hear panting and scratching from outside. When the back door opens, Jessica breezes in with Bando. She stops short when she sees the two muscular strangers.
“More company, Lamont? I didn’t realize we were running a barracks.”
I lift partway out of my chair to make the introductions. “Jessica, this is Tapper, and this is Hawkeye, two more associates of mine.”
“The two we’ve been waiting for,” adds Margo.
