The Graves of Plague Canyon (The Downwinders Book 3) (15 page)

David put down the burger and stared back at Deem. “What?”

Deem didn’t answer right away. She seemed to be re-ordering
words in her head.

“Tell me,” David said. “What?”

“There are reports of a husband and a wife being killed in
the desert on Highway 91, on the way to Littlefield,” Deem said. “A gifted
husband and wife. They were buried out there.”

Deem watched David’s face, hoping he’d be OK, but knowing he
wouldn’t. Tears started to form in his eyes.

“It could have been someone else,” David said. “We don’t know
for sure.”

“Yes, it could be,” Deem said. “But they lived in Ivins. How
many other gifted husband and wife teams live in Ivins and have gone missing?
The odds seem…” She drifted off, unsure how to finish.

“You think they’re buried out on Highway 91?” David asked,
his voice beginning to falter.

“I think it’s very likely,” Deem said. “I talked to someone
today who’s been tracking their killer. She thinks the same person who killed
your parents has killed others in the area. Other gifteds, like us.”

David turned to look at Winn. Deem was surprised to see Winn
tearing up as well. “You have the gift?” David asked him.

“Yes,” Winn replied. “I do.”

David turned back to Deem. He seemed ready to ask another
question, but nothing came out. She could tell he was sorting things out in his
mind, trying to come to terms with the news.

“I can’t just go with this,” David said, his voice breaking
again. “I have to know. I can’t just assume this is true.”

“You’re right,” Deem said. “If it were my parents, I’d be in
the desert, finding out.”

“Do you know where?” David asked.

She handed him a piece of paper. “GPS coordinates, given to
me by the woman who saw it happen. If you can wait until later tonight, I’ll go
with you. If you’d rather go now, Winn can take you.”

“I’m going now,” David said.

“Do you have a car here?” Winn asked David.

“No, I rode in with a friend,” David replied.

“We’ll take my Jeep,” Winn said. “I’ve got the tools we
need.”

“Call me after, OK?” Deem asked.

“I will,” David said, rising from the bench, abandoning his
burger.

She watched the two of them walk to Winn’s jeep. A slight
breeze blew through the trees overhead, cooling things down for a brief moment,
then the heat of the day returned.

There’s a chance it won’t be them,
she thought.
But it’s a long shot.

She watched as they drove down Tabernacle, heading west. Then
she gathered up the food and dumped it all in a nearby waste bin.

▪ ▪ ▪

“You saw me?” Deem said, her heart rate quickening. She
looked down at her drink.

“Yeah,” Warren said. “Once I saw the tent, I just camped out
and watched. Eventually you and your friend broke camp, scaled the side, and
went in.”

“Did you watch until we came out?”

“Nah,” Warren said. “I waited a little while, but I had other
areas to check, so I came back later and you were gone.”

“You were on the other side of the canyon, on the rim,
weren’t you?” Deem asked.

“I was,” Warren replied. “How’d you know?”

“I felt you watching,” Deem said. “Or, someone watching. I
didn’t know it was you.”

“I ride the northern rim every morning,” Warren said. “Guess
I didn’t tell you about that part. Told you everything else you needed to
know.”

She looked up at him, trying to gauge how angry he was. She
couldn’t read him.

“Did you steal anything from the ruin?” Warren asked. “’Cause
if you did, I have to have it back.”

“We didn’t take anything,” Deem said. “Well, anything you can
touch.”

“What does that mean?”

Deem wracked her brain for an explanation she could give
without lying. “We collected some air samples from the caves inside the
mountain,” she said. “That’s all, we didn’t take bones or artifacts or
anything.”

“Air samples?”

“Yes, air samples.”

“I don’t believe you,” Warren said.

The waitress approached. “Are you ready to order?” she asked.

“We’re…” Warren started, but Deem cut him off.

“No, we’re not ready, we need more time,” she said, and the
waitress turned and walked off.

“You don’t believe me?” Deem asked.

“Why should I? You were just using me to find out how to get
into the canyon. Right?”

“No,” Deem replied. “I mean, yes, you told me the shifts and
all, but that wasn’t why I’m dating you.”

“I halfway expected you to not show today,” Warren said.
“After all, you got what you wanted. Why pretend anymore?”

“I’m not pretending, Warren,” she said. “I wanted to come to
lunch with you today. Trust me, it’s been a hard morning for me…”

“It’s been a hard morning for me, too,” he said, cutting her
off. “Feeling like a chump all day yesterday, then wondering all day today if
you’d even show.”

Deem wasn’t sure what to say. Today was knocking her on her
ass, leaving her speechless.

“Why air samples?” Warren asked.

“Winn studies them,” Deem lied. “At the college.”

“He couldn’t get them himself?” Warren asked. “You had to go
along?”

“I’ve been helping him with his project, it was a kind of
commitment.”

“What kind of an idiot do you think I am?” Warren said. She
looked up at him, expecting to see anger and knowing he was within his rights
to be angry; she was lying to him, keeping things from him. Instead she saw
kindness, the same kindness she’d seen in Lyman’s face the night before. She
could tell he was frustrated, but he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t going to storm out
of the café. He just wanted to understand.

Best to get it over with,
she thought.
You’ll have to tell him at some
point. If he can’t handle it now, he won’t handle it later, when it’ll be
harder. If he decides I’m a freak and he dumps me, well, what else is new.

“Alright,” Deem said, and let out a long sigh. “I’ll tell
you.”

The waitress approached again, and this time they placed an
order. Once the waitress left, Warren turned his attention to Deem. “I’m
waiting,” he said.

“OK, so, you asked about Winn the other night,” Deem said.
“He and I share an ability, a sort of skill. We can sense things, things most
people can’t. That’s why we work together.”

She glanced up at him, to see his face and gauge his
reaction. He was impossible to read. His blue eyes distracted her, and it
reminded her of how much she’d grown to like him.

“A friend of a friend had become ill and needed something
that we could only get in the cave behind those cliff dwellings. Winn and I
went in there, collected some of it, and it saved her. Only, it turns out, she
wasn’t worth saving, and it was all a big mistake. Does that make any sense?”

“My father always told me that relationships are based on
trust,” Warren said. “You must think I’m a complete idiot.”

“Why would I make that up?” Deem said.

“You’ve been making things up from the beginning,” Warren
said. “You’ve lied to me from the start.”

“I’m not lying to you, Warren,” Deem said. “I know it sounds
odd, but it’s the truth. The woman’s name is Lizzy Tait, and she lives in
Fredonia if you want to check on it. And we learned about the substance that
would save her, and that it was in your canyon, from a woman who lives in New
Harmony named Sister Batchelder. No lie.”

“What could possibly be in a cave that you would need?”
Warren asked. “Medicine comes from doctors, from the hospital. Why would you
need to be collecting something from a cave?”

“Because she wasn’t sick with her physical body,” Deem said,
cringing a little as she said it, aware of how crazy it must sound to someone
who had no experience with the River.

“What was she sick with?”

“Some kind of poisoning that attacks the part of her that can
see what others can’t see.”

“Oh,” Warren replied. “Like the part of you that can see what
others can’t see.”

“Right,” Deem said.

“Look, I like you,” Warren said. “I really do. But how can
you expect me to believe this load of horseshit?”

“Give me a second,” Deem said, and closed her eyes. She let
herself drift into the River, searching for anything she could use to prove
herself to Warren. She drifted back to the kitchen, where she saw them
preparing their plates. Then she dropped out of the River, and opened her eyes.

“You ordered chips with your sandwich instead of fries,
right?” Deem asked.

“Yes,” Warren answered.

“When they bring it, it’ll have fries,” Deem said. “They
forgot to swap chips.”

The waitress approached the table with their plates, and set
them down. “Everything look OK?” she asked.

“I believe he ordered chips instead of fries,” Deem offered
quickly.

“Oh, that’s right,” the waitress said, grabbing the plate to
take it away. “I’ll fix that.”

Warren stopped her. “It’s OK, I’ll take the fries.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “It’ll only take a second to fix
it.”

“No, I’m fine with the fries,” he said. “Thanks.”

“Alright, I’ll check back in a bit,” the waitress said, and
wandered to the next table.

Deem could feel the broadness of her smile stretch her face as
she looked at Warren expectantly.

“They forget the chips all the time here,” Warren said. “Was
that supposed to prove something?”

“Urgh!” Deem exclaimed, frustrated.

“What, you saw what they were doing in the kitchen? You
expect me to believe that?”

“Turn around and watch out the front window,” Deem said.
Warren just stared back at her. “Please, just do it!” she asked.

He turned around to look out the large glass windows that
faced Main Street. Deem closed her eyes, dropped into the River, and came back
out within a few seconds.

“OK, keep watching,” she said. “A woman wearing a blue
sweater will appear from the left. After that, a man with two kids from the
right, one of them he’s carrying on his shoulder.”

The woman appeared from the left and walked across the
windows. They waited for the man with the kids, but he didn’t show.

“One for two,” Warren said.

“Hold on,” Deem replied, dropping back into the River. She
saw that the man with the kids had stopped at the window of the store next
door. She dropped back out.

“They got stalled next door,” Deem said. “A man wearing a
Hawaiian shirt is coming from the left.”

They watched as the man with the Hawaiian shirt appeared and
walked into the café. Then the father with his two children passed from the
right. He still had one of them on his shoulders.

“There!” she said.

Warren turned back, still looking skeptical. He placed his
hand under the table. “How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked.

Deem closed her eyes and came back within a second. “Two,”
she said.

“Now?” he asked.

She closed her eyes again. “Four,” she replied.

“Now?” he asked.

“None,” she said. “You’ve got your hand in a fist.”

Warren leaned back in his chair, staring at her. “That’s
creepy,” he said. “How do you do that?”

“I can close my eyes and enter a place called the River,” she
said. “There’s all this movement going on there, things normal people can’t
see. I can leave my body a little, and view things. When I predicted who would
walk by, I just drifted up above the building, and saw them coming.”

“And you drifted under the table, to see my fingers?”

“Exactly.”

“Can you predict the future?” he asked.

“No,” she replied. “Only what’s going on now.”

“Can you read my mind?”

“I wish.”

Warren closed his eyes. She was worried he wasn’t taking it
well. When he finally opened them again, he looked right at her. “So tell me
again why you were in the cliff dwellings.”

“A friend of a friend had been poisoned, the kind of
poisoning that affects your mind while in the River. It caused her physical
body to fall into a coma. We discovered that it could be cured by a substance
called callum, and that callum could be harvested off the gypsum inside the
caves at the cliff dwellings.”

“There are caves there?” Warren asked.

“Massive caves,” Deem replied. “And a room full of buried
Native Americans, a necropolis. We collected the callum, and I took it to the
sick woman in Fredonia. She recovered.”

“Callum? What’s that?” Warren asked.