Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
When it shuts, the room falls silent. Even emotionally, it’s as if everyone has shut off, relieved somehow at his departure, Kyle picking up everything with his Reach.
Kyle glances at Elias. “Happy now?”
He frowns back. “Do I look happy?”
Just then, they hear voices outside, startling them all. Kyle senses someone else, and their emotional landscape—red hot and vibrating—is familiar enough to recognize at once. Kyle hurries to the door and slips outside. The police car is by the curb, and standing at the front step of the porch is the rigid shape of Chief Juan Rojas, appearing to be facing off with Drake. The chief sees Kyle, lifts his flashlight up.
Kyle shields his eyes and squints. “Chief?”
“Who’s this guy? Why’s he in my town?”
Kyle already gets the fast impression that the chief knows something is up. “Just a visitor, sir, on his way out.”
“What was all of that yelling inside your house? Is it your birthday? Having a party in there?”
Drake glances back at Kyle, appearing to stifle a smirk.
Kyle shakes his head. “No, it’s—”
“I know you’re not having a damned party,” snaps the chief with eyes narrowed. “Something’s going on. Spit it out, Kyle.”
It’s then that Cade appears at the door. “Juan.”
The chief straightens up, his voice softening. It always does when it comes to her. “Cadence? You’re here?”
“You don’t have to worry, Juan. I’m sorry for acting funny, for being so secretive lately, making you worry. It’s just that …” She glances back into the house, wringing her hands.
“What is it? Tell me.”
She frowns, then turns back to the chief. “It’s my daughter. She’s … going through something.”
“So why are you here?” presses the chief, still trying as best as he can to maintain his calm. “At Kyle’s house, of all places?”
“Because it’s something I thought Kyle could help me with. Something …” She finishes in a whisper: “… unusual.”
Somehow, the chief seems to understand her. He stiffens up, his harsh eyes on the front window, his lips pulling into a straight line. “This where my son is, too?” he asks. Cade nods. “And this is why Leland and Becks are running the bar all by themselves tonight? You and this thing with your daughter?”
“Yes.”
After eyeing the others, the chief comes even closer, right up next to her. “Are you in danger, Cade? Tell me straight.”
“Quiet,” hisses Drake at once.
Everyone turns to him.
He rushes off the porch, goes to the curb, stares down the street one way, then the other. As Kyle watches, he picks up a burst of panic snaking uncomfortably through his body. Drake peers up at the sky for some reason, then off in the direction of the open desert, as if he can hear something. He squints, leans forward, straining.
“Drake?” Kyle calls out cautiously. “What’s going on?”
Drake comes to, looks at Kyle. “We … We need to go.” His eyes turn blank, detaching, a dark cloud of worry covering his face. No one moves, waiting for more. He says nothing else.
Kyle takes a step toward him, impatient. “What is it? Is it your brother? Are you sensing him?”
Drake snaps out of it again, then hurries back to the porch, appearing uncharacteristically flustered. “Yeah, uh … maybe I should’ve … maybe it’s better if we …”
“Pick a sentence and go with it,” snaps the chief.
Drake’s eyes light up. “Do you have a church somewhere in this town? Preferably one with a nice, snug basement?”
“The hell you need a church for?” asks the chief.
“For us to hide in,” answers Drake, like it’s so obvious. “A safe place that can protect us from superstitious vampires with too much time on their hands.” He swallows hard, glances into the distance again. “I’m pretty sure they’re coming.”
It’s now that Kyle feels the chief’s emotions shift from red hot to ice cold. “They?” he barks. “Who the fuck are ‘they’?”
Kyle wastes no time, rushing back to the front door. Elias stands there, having heard everything. “Babe, you remember all that stuff I told you to store away in the closet for me? The box in the back? I need you to get it.”
“Box …?”
“Silver,” emphasizes Kyle. “It’s why you had to handle it yourself. We need it.” Elias catches on, mutters something to himself, heads off. “Jeremy, Layna,” Kyle calls into the house. “I need you two to grab everything—the book, the candles, whatever you need. Fast. Mikey, you, too.”
The house becomes a mess of everyone rushing around as fast as they can, gathering things. Cade helps her daughter at the table, filling bags with their items. When the chief pushes past Kyle into the house, he goes straight to his son, asks him what’s going on, softly at first, then again with more urgency, and finally: “Why isn’t my son talking??” Cade tucks the spell book under her arm and pulls a linen bag of tins and jars over her shoulder. “I’ll explain everything on the way, Juan, you’ll be totally caught up. Be a doll and pack those other candles, will you? Hurry.”