Living With the Dead (Otherworld 9)

"It's over," she whispered. "He's okay."

"Hope?"

She jumped, startled, then busied herself tugging the jacket on Robyn. "I don't hear them fighting anymore, and I think Karl called out. Once he gets here, we need to leave - "

"What happened?" Robyn's throat was dry, her whisper like the rustling of dry leaves.

"Hmm?"

"Back there. In the forest. The man."

"My guess is that he's the partner of that girl who shot you. Luckily she seems to be relying on him to bring you in and staying clear. One less problem for us to deal with."

"He's not working with her."

A tight laugh. "That would be awfully coincidental, you having two people hunting you for unrelated reasons. I'm

sure he's - "

"He's not. He took a call. He was talking about her - Adele - about getting me away from her."

"Oh?" Hope's head shot up. "What did - ?" She stopped. "You saw a man at Judd Archer's house, right? I bet that was him. Her former partner, now pursuing his own agenda."

"And, according to what he said on the phone, pursuing Karl."

It took a moment for Hope to find the proper expression of surprise. "I guess we'll have to figure it all out later. For now - "

She looked up, then quickly plastered on a fresh bandage before hurrying to the forest's edge. Robyn heard and saw nothing, but a moment later, Karl appeared. He and Hope stayed there, a dozen feet away, murmuring in voices too low for Robyn to make out.

Hope checked Karl's lip, then fingered a bloodied rip in his shirt. He bent over her, talking, Hope nodding.

Then Karl brushed hair back from her face, leaning to say something more intimate. The other Karl - the one in the forest, the one who'd pushed them aside - was gone.

"I'll walk you two back to the car first," Karl said as they approached Robyn.

Hope shook her head. "We'll be fine. You finish here, then meet up with us." She looked at Robyn. "Karl has to clean up."

"Get rid of the body," Robyn said.

Hope let out a chirp. A laugh? Or a choke of surprise? "Damon really did subject you to too many crime shows, didn't he? I meant Karl needs to clean himself up." She waved at his bloodied shirt and split lip. "He can't go traipsing around in public like that."

Robyn gave her a look. Hope met it without flinching. Robyn continued to stare, trying to make Hope look away, give another nervous laugh. When she did neither, Robyn strode toward the forest. She got to the edge. Then Karl's hand fell on her shoulder.

"You're going to the car," he said.

There was no menace in his voice. No room for questions either.

She looked back at him, lifting her chin to meet his eyes.

"Yes," he said. Nothing more. It could have meant "yes, you're going to the car" or "yes, I will stop you from taking another step." But she knew it didn't. It meant "yes, you're right." That was all she needed. She backed onto the path and followed Hope.

It took no more than five minutes to walk from the forest. As Robyn saw the woods opening up, the field ahead, she slowed, certain the edge couldn't be so close. When she'd been running she'd told herself repeatedly how small the woods had to be, but with everything that had happened in there, it felt like those trees should go on forever, that they'd been miles from civilization.

And here, just ahead, was civilization, as garish as it got. The fair. The music still boomed. The kids still screamed. The lights still colored the night sky. The air smelled, not of fear and blood and dirt, but of corn dogs and cotton candy.

Robyn rubbed her arms and blinked. They'd been gone less than an hour, but she'd somehow expected to walk out and find the fair packed up, the field a desolate wasteland of half-filled Coke cups and unwanted prizes. She felt like Lucy, stepping from the wardrobe to see that despite everything she'd seen in Narnia, the everyday world had continued, oblivious.

"Where's the car?" she finally asked. Her first words since leaving Karl.