Out of Mind

Chapter 32

Ben winced and sucked in a breath. As carefully as he pulled shut the gate leading to the Court of Angels, it still squeaked. In the quiet of early, early morning, the noise sounded like a small explosion.

They had given up on waiting to get back to the Court of Angels. Tired as they were, neither of them could sleep, and Willow insisted she had to see if she could find out what happened to Fabio.

The next sound Ben recognized was Willow’s giggling, and he caught her—and Mario—in a bear hug. “Quiet,” he whispered. “We don’t want anyone to wake up.”

“Me be quiet?” she whispered back and pressed her face into his chest.

“You’re hysterical,” he muttered, and gave a muted “Oof” when she poked his ribs.

Lightning flashed repeatedly, and thunder rumbled before the light show faded. In seconds, the sky lit up again.

The phone in his pocket vibrated. “That’ll be Sykes, so be really quiet or we’ll have him down here with us,” he said, and answered. “You got my message?”

He listened while Sykes, sounding a bit miffed, told him he still had the two keys they had found earlier. Ben and Willow had wondered if Mario somehow lifted one of them from Sykes and carried it in his mouth. Ridiculous as it seemed, it had been a possibility.

“Okay,” Ben said. “And now there are three. Any more ideas about them?”

“Several,” Sykes said. “You want to talk about it now?”

Ben considered the best way out. “It’s too late now. Long day coming up.”

Sykes cleared his throat. “Are you and Willow—Are you getting close again? I mean, really close.”

“Is that any of your business?” Ben smiled, though.

“Could be,” Sykes said. “If it has to be.”

Ben figured he’d wait to ask for a full explanation of what that meant. “We’re fine,” he said. “Great. Goodbye,” Ben said and hung up and gave Willow a long kiss.

“What was that for?” she said when she could.

He breathed in the scent of her. “Let’s do whatever we can out here and get up to your place…to sleep.”

“Sure.” Still carrying Mario, she held Ben’s hand and led him, walking as quietly as they could, into the courtyard. It was fortunate that the bedrooms were at the back of the flats.

“See how it glows?” Ben said in her ear. A luminous shimmer emanated from statue after statue, casting a frothy silver-green into the shrubs.

“No,” Willow said. She flinched at more lightning. “Now that glows.”

“Very clever.” He frowned and looked around. “Okay. I don’t know why I’m singled out for all the attention here, but I’ll take it. The inmates are muttering. They sound like water bubbling.” He paused, listening. “They are agitated and excited—and they’re welcoming us.”

“Okay.” Willow didn’t sound convinced. “If you say so.”

“Hey, aren’t you the one who came here and saw Chris in a bottle? How weird is that?”

She leaned on him. “Less weird all the time. I did see colors, but like watercolors. We can’t look for angel clues in the dark, but I can see if I can reach Fabio somehow.”

“Sykes told me Marley hears voices.”

“She does,” Willow said. “When she travels they guide her, but she hasn’t traveled since the Embran attack. I think Gray’s worried she’ll try to do something about the people who are missing now. It’s dangerous—she could die if she can’t get back to her body.”

Ben put an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t blame Gray for being nervous.”

“Particularly now,” Willow said. “She shouldn’t travel with the baby.”

He stood still. “Marley and Gray are having a baby? I didn’t know that.”

She gave a frustrated puff. “You make me too comfortable. I tell you things I shouldn’t. I don’t think they know it yet, either. It’s only been a couple of weeks. We shouldn’t say anything, okay?”

“Okay, Miss Normal. You get more interesting all the time.”

She shrugged. “I just know these things, is all. It’s to do with emotions. Marley’s are all over the place at the moment, but even more gentle than usual. There’s something different there.”

“But it doesn’t have to be a baby,” he pointed out.

“Yes, it does,” she said, and closed her mouth firmly.

“I’ll take your word for it.” He squeezed her tightly and kissed her temple.

“What?” she said. “What did I do to deserve that?”

“Nothing and everything. I just had a pleasant thought, but don’t try and get it out of me. You need to start concentrating.”

“Do you want children, Ben?” she said, her voice very quiet.

“Maybe.” He carried on, leading her deeper into the courtyard. Whispering in her ear again, he said, “Our children.” And the difficult thing for him to cope with was that he did want their children. He’d always been the lone one, the single actor with a single mind, but now Willow was his other half, almost the beat of his heart, and he longed for their official Bonding—and even the official ceremony they would go through.

Marley and Gray had a real wedding, too. Gray’s dad, Gus, was blamed for that by Gray who insisted it was only to please his old man, but Ben had heard all about the excitement over the event.

He took Mario from Willow. The dog struggled and he put him down. Immediately, the animal scuffled off into the closest undergrowth.

Willow went to the fountain and stood in the light spray beating up. “Do you wish it would rain—really hard? I do.” She raised her face to the sky. “Everything’s so tense. I just want it to break loose.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Please go on up. I need to concentrate.”

He understood how she felt, but he wasn’t leaving her here alone. “I’ll go keep an eye on Mario. Then I want to check the locks on the shop doors.”

Fortunately, Willow was already thinking of other things or the pathetic excuses wouldn’t have flown with her.

Ben knew where to find Mario. He sat among the bamboo that hid his favorite stone griffon. Actually leaning against the statue, the dog looked up at Ben as if he was trying to telegraph some wisdom.

Ben crouched to scratch rough, red fur, but he listened hard for any sound from Willow. He couldn’t see her from here. He stood and crept far enough through the bamboo to part the canes and peer out.

She wasn’t by the fountain.

Panicked, he stepped out and started forward. Willow stood beside what must once have been the doorway to a storeroom. Concreted shut, Ben never remembered it any other way.

With her face pointed skyward again, her arms were outstretched. When he crept closer behind her, he heard her say, “Can you hear me?” and he kept still.

Willow’s eyes closed. She listened to air rushing and touched her face. A warm current blew on her skin. The heavy scent of flowers and rich earth settled around her. A tropical place. That’s where she was—not the courtyard with its flashes and the rumblings of a storm—but a tropical garden.

“Fabio?” she said. “Chris? Are you there?”

He hadn’t heard her when she saw him before. Once more she was looking at glass, thick and wavy, shiny on the outside, but difficult to see through. She concentrated hard.

Not sand, but pink granules rose several inches inside a bottle.

“You gotta stay with me, man.”

Willow’s eyes opened. That was Chris’s voice again, but this time she didn’t see him. The bottle wasn’t his.

“Fabio—this is gonna get worse. They’re planning something—they gotta be.”

“Leave me alone.”

This time she recognized Fabio’s voice, then she saw the pink granules churn, and a tiny, almost transparent creature emerged. It pushed to the top of the grains and seemed to flop out flat.

“Fabio,” she said. “It’s me, Willow. Tell me where you are.”

“It’s got to happen soon, man,” Chris said. “I don’t even know how many of us there are. I sleep and when I wake up, there’s someone else. They’re gathering us all up, I tell you. They’re clearing N’awlins. They’re taking over.”

“That’s fucking ridiculous,” Fabio said. “I had this sex. It was, it was—”

“Frickin’ amazing? Yeah, I know. That’s how they’re getting their victims.”

“So why don’t they just kill us?” Fabio said.

“I told you. They want us for something, and we’re not goin’ to like it.”

“So how do we get out?”

“That’s the rub,” Chris said. “Even if we make it to the top of these bottles, we can’t just break out. I heard two of them talking. We’re dehydrated. Dried like pieces of fruit leather. But if we let air in we start going back to normal size. If our hands are outside the bottle necks hanging on, they’ll swell till they’re so big they break the glass. We could lose our hands. Put our heads out and—”

“I get the picture,” Fabio said fast. “So what do we do? Lie down and wait to die?”

“We’ve got to come up with a plan, but timing will be everything. We all gotta do the thing together. So far I can’t get the rest of them to shut up long enough to make sure they’re with us.”

“What if they’re not? Or they’re too scared?”

Chris made a frustrated noise. “Caroline’s in. The three of us will go it alone—I think we’ve got some time. I think they’ll be bringing bunches more of us before anything changes.”

“Chris,” Willow cried, “Fabio. Please. Where are you?”

The bottles shivered. Water sprayed them and ran down in rivulets. The scent of flowers grew heavier. She could distinguish gardenias, then jasmine.

First the vision disappeared. The floral scents lingered. She dropped her arms and stepped backward. Rain started to fall, and she welcomed it on her hot face and body. Her own tears joined the rain, and she couldn’t hold back her sobs.

“It’s okay,” Ben said, holding her. His touch was gentle.

“It’s not okay.” She turned in his arms. “Ben, you and Nat, Sykes and everyone, you’re right. New Orleans is being attacked.”