Voices (Whisper Trilogy Book 3) (27 page)

“We don’t have time for this. We need to move.”

“This won’t take a second.” Petrov opened the back door to his car. “In you go.”

Now they were closer, they could see it was a standard police vehicle, boasting the same wire divider between back seats and driver, and doors which could only be opened from outside. Isaac climbed in first, shuffling across the seat, followed by Emma. Petrov didn’t close the door, instead he leaned in.

“I appreciate the cooperation. Now let me give you something to think about before I go and speak to your friends. I don’t know what the hell is going on here and that isn’t something I like. You say you were helping the kid and maybe that’s the case. But until I’m satisfied with your story, you’re going nowhere. What I want you two to do is just sit tight and wait here until I speak to your friends over there and see where they fit into this whole damn mess.” He closed the door and strode across the street to the other vehicle.

“What are we going to do now?” Isaac said, staring at Emma whilst keeping a close eye on the shadowy figure of Petrov.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to think.”

“Are we in trouble?”

Emma shook her head. “It’s me who’s in trouble, not you. Don’t worry, okay?”

“They won’t stop talking,” he sighed, then looked out of the window at Kimmel, who was pacing by the verge.

“I had no idea. You should have said something.”

“I was scared,” he mumbled. He could see her ghostly figure reflected in the glass behind him.

“We’re all scared. You know how important this is though, don’t you?”

He nodded.

“And you know we have to get to that place you told us about under the house?”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, seeing the image of what was down there; the thing he hadn’t told them about because he didn’t know how to. “I don’t think we need to go there now.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s not there.”

“Who, Isaac?”

“The bad man. We have to go to him.”

“No, Isaac. That’s not what Mrs. Alma said.”

“It’s what they say,” the boy whispered, looking across at Emma. “He has my mother.”

“Your mother is far away from here. I know you’re scared, but this isn’t right.”

“Yes it is,” he said, staring past Emma to Petrov, who was leaning into the other car and questioning Truman and Mrs. Alma. It was then the door opened. They assumed it was Kimmel, but both Emma and Isaac glanced at each other in shock as a man, dressed in a dark blue hoodie, peered up at them, the shadows thrown from his gaunt face. Kimmel lay on the ground, moaning and clutching the back of his head where the man had hit him.

“Be quiet and follow me,” Dane Marshall said.

Too shocked to argue, Isaac and Emma climbed out of the car and followed Dane off the road and into the forest.

CHAPTER 34

Melody recognized the tree she was tied to. It was the same one she’d almost hanged herself from in her old life, shortly before she wrongly believed her nightmare was at an end. He’d restrained her there, telling her he had preparations to make, a greeting for those who were on their way, then left her alone in the place where she intended never to return to. He’d been gone for some time, and she could only speculate at what he might be doing. She was tied with her head and shoulders in the deep hollow in which she and Steve had first found the protective charm placed there by Mrs. Briggs. Her arms were wrapped half around the immense tree trunk and tied at the wrists. There was no escape from her damp confines. She could hear Henry moving around and muttering to himself, but couldn’t see him. She wondered, as she stared into the black, if that’s what death would be like when it found her. When she’d last thought about it, the idea had terrified her. Now, however, when faced with the alternative of existing as another trapped soul in the forest, an eternity of nothing seemed like a good deal. She realized just how tired she’d become; how weak. The cancer seemed to have redoubled its efforts in recent weeks, and she wasn’t sure quite how much longer she would last. Her shoulders burned and her legs trembled. She needed to sit down, or do anything in order to rest.

“It’s time.”

She yelped, his voice hot in her ear.

“What are you going to do to me?” she whispered.

“Nothing. Not yet at least. First, you need to witness.”

“Witness what?”

“I need you to bring them to me. I need you to draw them in so this can be ended.”

“I won’t do anything to help you.”

He moved closer, beard tickling her cheek, his body pressed against hers, foul breath pungent as he grunted in her ear. “You have no choice in this. They are in control now.”

“Not of me.”

“No, not of you. But they do have your son. Right now, he’s on his way here. We need to make sure he finds you.”

“Please, don’t do this. You can be saved. You can fight this.”

“Why would I want to?”

“You’re not Donovan. You’re Henry Marshall. You have to try and fight them.”

“I know who I am. I’m more than he ever was,” he said, words slurred and strange sounding.

“He was a monster. You don’t have to be that same thing.”

“I know what he was. He was flawed. He didn’t give himself fully to them.”

“He was an animal,” Melody whispered.

“You were no better.”

“What do you mean?” she said.

“They told me what you did. How you flirted with him and drew him in, then rejected his advances. That hurt him. He didn’t like that.”

“He tried to rape me!”

“No, that’s not how it was. You were the one being provocative. You answered the door to him half undressed. How else do you think something like that would be perceived?”

“Are you trying to justify it?”

“You led him on.”

“You’re insane.”

“You offered yourself then rejected him when he tried to take it. That drove him mad. Clouded his judgement. They couldn’t use him anymore after that. They were just waiting for a new vessel to do their work.”

“You?” she said.

She felt his sharp smile by her cheek.

“Why are you doing this? Why can’t you just leave us alone?”

“You started this. Before you came to Hope House, no child had been conceived on these lands. You changed that. Everything that’s happened since is your doing.”

“And you don’t think I’ve suffered enough? I lost my husband. My son. My life.”

“It’s still not enough.”

“What more do the Gogoku want?”

“Is that what you think?” Henry said. She could hear the amusement in his voice, which triggered a fresh surge of fear.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“This is bigger than them.”

“What does that mean?”

He didn’t answer. They wouldn’t let him. The secret must remain. Instead, he pulled away from her and walked around the back of the tree, out of view. She felt him manipulating the rope holding her in place, freeing her. She staggered away from the trunk and fell to the ground. Marshall appeared next to her, filthy and wild-eyed.

“Come on,” he said, holding a grubby hand out to her.

“Where are we going?”

“You know where.”

Melody nodded and got to her feet, letting Marshall lead her, knowing that one way or the other, it was about to end. He led her to the clearing, which was bathed in pale moonlight. She paused at the edge, too afraid to commit to stepping inside its boundaries. Memories long repressed reawakened. She remembered Donovan, stalking like a caged beast on its perimeter when she’d escaped his rape attempt. Even now, she could feel the malevolence emanating from the area. It almost seemed to hum with a power far more amplified than when she’d last been here. Marshall shoved her forward, sending her stumbling into the clearing. Immediately, the trees on the edges began to sway and hiss, the wind building, further reminding her of the horrors of the past.

“Do you feel them?” Henry asked as he stood in the center of the clearing.

Melody nodded. It was true. She could sense them probing at her; dark, formless things. Gooseflesh raised on her arms.

“They want to know if you can feel how strong they’ve become.”

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked, doing all she could to ignore the supercharged energy surrounding them.

“You need to see. To appreciate how many there are, you need to see like I saw.”

She shook her head, eyes flicking between Marshall and the trees. “I don’t want to see.”

Henry grinned, his mouth a sharp, bloody, hellish thing.

A shark’s grin,
she thought, and a wave of nausea surged through her.

“They want me to show you. They want me to show you what will happen to your son.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. There was no way to stop the images being fired into her brain. Sent by the dark things that surrounded her and channeled by Henry Marshall, they were incredibly graphic. Nothing could stop the scream ejecting itself from the pit of her stomach. Fed by her terror, the trees swayed in appreciation.

II

Petrov heard the scream rolling to him through the trees. He glanced in the direction from where it came, then to his car, noticing the rear door was open and Emma and Isaac missing.

“You two stay here. Don’t move!” he grunted.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Truman called to him through the window.

“Stay there!” Petrov snapped as he sprinted toward his car. Kimmel was on his knees, the back of his head bloody.

“What happened? Where the hell are they?” Petrov said as he helped the General to his feet.

“How the hell would I know? Someone hit me on the back of the head. When I came to, they were gone.”

“Goddamn it! Get in the car!” Petrov snapped, running to the driver’s side. Kimmel climbed in beside him, pausing to close the rear door.

“You know he’s going to be waiting for us up there, don’t you?” Kimmel said as he carefully touched his wound then examined his bloody fingers.

“I know. That’s why we need to find the kid first.” Petrov gunned the engine, flooring the accelerator and snaking away down the dirt road toward town.

Truman and Mrs. Alma sat and watched as the twin red taillights disappeared around the bend.

“Screw this,” Truman said, climbing out of the back and into the driver’s side.

“The officer took the keys.”

“Don’t worry about that, Mrs. A. It’s covered.” He flipped open the glove box and pulled off the spare key taped to the underside of the door. Starting the engine, he set off after Petrov.

CHAPTER 35

Emma and Isaac plunged through the trees, quite unable to believe that Dane Marshall was with them. He’d said little as they made their way through the underbrush.

“Why are you here? Why did you help us?” Emma asked as the ground started to slope upwards, slowing their progress.

“I have my reasons,” he replied, looking over his shoulder.

“That’s not good enough.”

“This isn’t the time to talk about it.”

“They know we’re here,” Isaac said, feeling a rush of nausea.

Whispered voices, disjointed snatches of words surrounded them, calling to them.

Emma yelped and stopped.

“What is it?” Dane said, pulling his hood back and turning toward her.

“My arm.” She rolled up her sleeve to show four scratches welling up on her forearm, one already seeping blood.

“What the fuck?” Dane said, nervously glancing around him.

“They’re trying to scare us,” Isaac said, subconsciously reaching out to hold Emma’s hand.

“I’d say it’s working.” Dane fell back in line with the others. “We have to get out of the trees.”

“Agreed. This is taking way too long,” Emma said.

“We should meet the road somewhere up ahead.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know this area. I was going to shoot my show here, remember?”

“Yeah, I see that worked out well for you,” Emma snapped.

He stopped and faced her. “Look, let me get something straight. What happened then, back at the hotel, wasn’t my fault. I was as much a victim as you were.”

“Don’t give me that shit. You think you can buy forgiveness by helping us?”