The Calling (Darkness Rising 2)

I looked at Daniel. He rubbed his mouth, thinking. Then he said, "Hayley seemed really upset. I don't think she's that good an actor. If it played out the way you said, Hayley would have used the opportunity to escape. She'd tell us Nicole and Corey were both dead so we could all run."

As usual, Daniel's argument worked for Sam, and she agreed to go back and wait with Hayley. If he did have some magical power of persuasion, he didn't need to use it with her.

Had she always sensed what he was? Is that why she liked him?

Were they really both benandanti? Was it a coincidence I'd ended up in the same town as another supposedly extinct supernatural? That Sam ended up in the same town as both of us?

When Rafe had said we were part of an experiment, I'd wondered if it was connected to Salmon Creek--a medical research town. But they did drug research, not genetic work. Besides, I'd been adopted at birth and my parents had moved to Salmon Creek for a job. That had seemed to rule out the possibility of a connection.

But now...

I glanced at Daniel. Since Sam left he'd been walking in silence, following me on autopilot.

I should tell him what I was, let him know there might be a connection.

"How are you doing?" I said.

"Okay."

"I--" I began.

"I don't know what to think," he interrupted. "What happened in the forest, when I yelled at that guy... I thought I'd hit him without realizing it. I was mad enough, seeing him pointing that gun at you. But when it happened again on the helicopter, with the pilot, I knew I'd done something. I just didn't know what."

After a few more steps, I opened my mouth, but again he got there first.

"I think... I think Sam might be onto something. Everything she says is true. Even about the pilot. I had a bad feeling, when we got on the helicopter, but only a slight one, and with everything that happened, I figured I was just stressing out. I don't believe the parts about demons and all that, but I can see maybe having some power to sense bad vibes in people. I mean, it's not like she's saying I'm a vampire or a werewolf. That would be crazy. This is just a little weird."

No, it wasn't like she'd said he was a werewolf. It wasn't like she'd said he could change into an animal. That would be crazy.

I shut my mouth and carried on in silence.

SEVEN

WHEN WE DREW NEAR the place we'd left Corey, we realized going straight to him wasn't wise. We decided to take a look from farther down the shore.

We could hear a boat motor, but the running lights were off. There were people on board with flashlights, though, so we could see where it was.

Did that mean everyone was back in the boat? Did they have Corey?

A distant splash told us someone had gone in the water. Retrieving the bodies? Removing identifying parts from the helicopter? It sounded far-fetched, but if you kidnapped kids in a helicopter that crashed, you didn't want local fishermen finding the wreckage.

Daniel tapped my arm. I followed his outstretched finger and saw two more flashlight beams strafing the forest right around where we'd left Corey.

I gripped Kenjii's collar as we crept closer. Another flashlight beam flickered through trees farther down. Three searchers. At least two more on the boat plus the diver.

So how would we get to Corey? Was he even still there? If they'd found him, had they--?

My brain stuttered over the thought.

Shot him? That was the easy way of saying it, like it didn't mean what I knew it meant. Killed him.

Nicole was dead.

"Nic," I whispered. "Nic's--"

"We don't know that," Daniel whispered harshly, and I knew that's what he'd been telling himself. It's what I'd been thinking, too. Shot. Just shot. Hayley hadn't seen exactly, so we could keep telling ourselves Nicole was only injured.

Kenjii whined and brushed my hand, and I patted her head.