“Petals is not creepy,” she said as she went outside. Brent saw her draw something in the dirt that looked like a star and wave her hands around before she came back in with a tiny field mouse in her hands. “I can see through her eyes and she can see for me so I don’t have to go there.”
“How is she going to know that it’s from us?”
“I’ll put your voice in it. She’ll only hear it, and if she puts two and two together, she’ll know it can get me a message.” She went back outside and came in with some type of flower. She held it up to his mouth. “Say Chloe, it’s me, tell the mouse what’s happening.”
“Chloe, tell this rat what’s happening, it’s Brent,” he said.
“Close enough, she’s a mouse, not a rat,” Regina said and sat the mouse on the ground in front of her. “Go, little Petals, see what I see.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I can see through her eyes and she can see through mine. I just pictured where she should go in my mind and she’ll go there. It will take her a bit to get there, but I’ll be able to see when she reaches her destination.”
“What if a cat or an owl gets her?” Brent asked and got a horrible look from his grandmother. “What I’m saying, it’s just a mouse.”
“That won’t happen,” she said, but Brent could see she never thought of that before and it made him a little nervous about her plight.
“Come in here and sit while I watch where she’s going. You’ll see a mouse is a lot more resilient than you think, young man.” Brent followed her inside.
“I feel like I should be there for her, Grandmother. I don’t want to let that crazy man hurt her.”
“I know that, son, but you can’t help her if you are taken out the minute you go into the house.”
She had a point, but it wasn’t in his nature to wait while his Chloe was possibly in serious danger. They sat for a long time while Regina seemed to just be staring into space. Finally, she sat up a little straighter and seemed to see something. He was scared to say anything because he didn’t want to miss anything important.
“Oh, my darling, they’ve been tortured rather badly, I’m afraid,” she said.
“Tortured?” His heart started to beat faster. He’d been sitting there waiting for a mouse to get to her and she was being tortured? It was hard for him to sit still. “What’s going on? Tell her to tell me.”
“Okay, she just heard your voice. I hope she has the strength to tell us what’s going on.”
Brent leaned forward and waited to hear that she was okay, his chest getting tighter by the minute as his grandmother stared into space once again.
* * *
Chloe heard Brent’s voice and thought she was hallucinating. She looked over to see a small white mouse in the window. It said it was him, but that couldn’t be, could it? Sarmia didn’t see it nor did she seem to hear the voice, so she looked over and watched as the mouse stood on its hind legs and then sat back down, waiting for her to say something to it. It nodded its head at her and she realized it could get information back to him and maybe she could stop Ash.
She wasn’t sure her voice would work after the extreme pain that still radiated through her body. Sarmia had finally taken some time off burning Zazie, but she was breathing shallowly and Chloe was worried about her.
“So Sarmia, when your brother goes to the festival and starts shooting people any minute now, why do you think he’s not going to immediately be taken down?”
“You’re stupid, girl, He’s not going to be taken down. He’s going to shoot quickly and get out of there as soon as he’s seen that the people have changed. That’s all he cares about, the change. I personally would kill as many people as possible, but he doesn’t share my passion for death.”
“Clearly, he just killed Layla by accident or something.”
She laughed long and loud, so long it was awkward. Chloe didn’t know why she was laughing. She looked over at the mouse and mouthed to it. “Go to the festival, we’ll be fine.”
Sarmia continued to laugh and Chloe wondered how her hand wasn’t tired as she’d been holding it pointed at Zazie the whole time. The mouse was still there, so she wasn’t sure that it had actually heard what she’d said.
“So when your brother goes to the festival and starts shooting people, probably already there by now, what if no one shifts when he shoots people?” She said loudly and saw the mouse stand again on its hind legs and then run away.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you repeating stuff over and over? Is someone listening?” she asked. Man, Sarmia was smarter than she thought she was. Holding the gun where it still pointed at Zazie, she walked across the room and looked out the window.
Chloe had a feeling if she saw the mouse, she would know exactly what was going on, but hopefully it was out of sight. She watched her look out the window and didn’t see any indication that she’d heard or seen anything out of the ordinary.
“Okay, now we’ll switch the fire and the bugs. Sounds fun?” Sarmia laughed and bounced on her feet, switching the gun to the other hand. Chloe had been working on the ropes that tied her legs since the bugs had stopped biting and she’d almost gotten them free. The moment Sarmia switched the gun would have been the perfect moment to attack her, but they weren’t free yet.
She tried to measure the amount of time it would take her to shift out of the ropes and back into herself in front of her to take her out, but it was too risky. Her finger was on the trigger and Chloe had a pretty good idea she was itching to use it. She’d have to endure the burning and Zazie would have to endure the bugs and then she would try again.