Endless (Shadowlands 3)

“He’s still out,” she concluded, shrugging at us.

Liam’s skin had gone waxy and pale. “I think we should go.” He darted for the door like the room was on fire.

“Shouldn’t we stay in case he wakes up?” I said.

Liam paused with one hand on the doorknob. “Why? She said it could be days. I say we go up to the mayor’s and find out if the Tses are talking.”

It was tempting. At least I knew the twins were conscious. I glanced back at Pete, whose eyes stayed stubbornly closed, his chest rising and falling at a normal, calm rhythm.

“I can radio you when he wakes up,” Teresa said, laying a comforting hand on my arm. “Go ahead. Neither one of you should be going anyplace alone.”

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “Thank you.”

Liam shoved through the door. I listened as his footsteps retreated down the long hallway, but I didn’t follow. Instead, I waited until Teresa left the cell and closed the door behind her. Pete had ushered my father and my sister and Aaron and Jennifer and all the other innocent people to the Shadowlands. I wasn’t going anywhere until I knew for certain that he was locked up good and tight.

Teresa pulled out a big, old-fashioned key and placed it inside the lock. When she turned it and the catch slid into place, it let out a loud, satisfying clunk.

“Where does that go now?” I asked, eyeing the key.

“Back to Chief Grantz,” she said. “His is the only key.” She smiled in a friendly, knowing way. “You can come with me if you like.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just—”

“Honey, if I were you right now, I wouldn’t trust which way was up,” she said, giving my hand a quick squeeze. “This way.”

“Thank you,” I said, and meant it. It was the first time anyone had made me feel as if my insane emotions were understandable in such simple terms.

I followed her down the long hall, which opened up onto the back of the police station. Together we walked to Grantz’s office, and I watched her hand over the key, which he tied to a chain that was attached to his belt. Liam was waiting for me near the front door.

“Good?” Teresa asked, turning to me with a smile.

“Good,” I said. “You’ll call me when he’s awake?”

“The second he starts talking,” she assured me. “Don’t worry, hon. One way or another, this is gonna be over soon.”

I nodded and joined Liam at the door, feeling heavy and hollow at the same time. One way or another. It didn’t inspire much confidence.

“Something really weird happened to me today,” Liam said.

We were climbing the hill to the mayor’s house through the wind and the rain. Both of us were bent forward against it, like two storm-tossed ships trying to cut through the waves.

“Weirder than usual?” I asked.

He nodded as we reached the top of the bluff. “I was helping Nick up after he got pounded by a wave, and I got this flash.…I saw how he and Lalani died.”

There was a crack of lightning directly overhead. We ran for the cover of the porch roof at the mayor’s house. Heaving for breath, I pushed my hood off my hair and looked at Liam. His face was half lit by the overhead lamps, and he looked, understandably, freaked.

“That means he’s your first charge,” I told him. “He’s the first person you’re going to usher. Once we get this mess figured out.”

Liam looked at his feet. His Converse were soaked through. “That’s what I figured.”

“Are you okay?” I reached out to touch his arm, and he flinched, violently, away. I drew my hand back, my heart hammering. “Liam?”

He scoffed at the ground. “Sorry. I just…it’s been a weird day.”

Then he turned and yanked open the door, ripping his jacket off as he barreled inside. I took a deep breath, shaking off the awkwardness, and followed. Joaquin stepped away from the wall where he’d been leaning, and Krista hurried toward me from her post near the office door, where she’d clearly been attempting to eavesdrop.

“Well? How’d it go?” Joaquin asked.