“See? There’s your clue. Botten has no idea about your capabilities.”
“As far as we know.”
“Yes, I suppose it could come to light. But trust me, Botten would pay dearly for that sort of knowledge. He used Ophelia relentlessly.” Henry waves a hand toward the development. “Perhaps because of this. No one knows what Ophelia saw that last time, not even Botten.”
Well, he thinks he knows.
But the recrimination in Henry’s voice deflates Ophelia. She feels herself coming apart, almost like mist, and scrambles to hang on. There’s nothing for her in Seattle but her mother’s tears, so why the Sight insists on booting her back so often, she doesn’t know.
Pansy, too, looks deflated, maybe even defeated. Her voice is low, still full of anguish. “I wish she would’ve told me all this.”
“I believe your mother did, in the only way she could.” Henry turns her toward him, a hand on her shoulder again, his expression tender. “Listen to me. For whatever reason, Botten needs both you and me to open, or perhaps reopen, the gateway. I suspect that was his purpose in sending me here in the first place. He needs us here, in King’s End.”
“And if we’re not here?” Pansy’s voice lightens, and her resolve returns.
These two, Ophelia thinks, read each other so well.
“Exactly. I’d like for us to get a head start and leave before the task force is activated. I wouldn’t put it past Botten to send an advance party tonight.” Henry glances around, taking in his surroundings as if he can detect Enclave agents lurking in the cemetery and the surrounding fields. “But they won’t deploy unless the epicenter is located.”
Of course. Ophelia’s spent enough time in the field to know setting up in the wrong place has nasty consequences. Losing an entire task force is one of those career-limiting moves.
“I’m more than capable of planting the devices and mending the fissure,” he adds. “But in case I’m not fast enough and I get caught, I think you should leave now.”
Something that feels like hope sparks in Ophelia’s chest. Maybe Henry’s hit upon the answer. Eliminate one, or better still, both of them from the equation? In all her trips through the loop, Botten has never proceeded until both Henry and Pansy are secure in his grasp. He needs them here, alive, at least initially.
Then, yes, the obvious answer is to remove the players from the board. She flits around them, cajoling, shouting, waving her arms, aching to get their attention.
“I won’t leave you,” Pansy says, and that stubborn tilt to her chin is back.
Yes, yes, you can. Leaving means you’ll save him.
Ophelia doesn’t know if this is true, but it feels right in a way that things haven’t felt right in a very long time.
Henry’s chest swells in what looks like a burst of righteousness and chivalry.
“You need someone watching your back,” Pansy adds. “We’ll do this together, and then we’ll both leave.” When he doesn’t answer, she says, “I mean, you did pack a go bag, right?”
His lips twitch. Indeed he did.
“All right.” Henry holds out his hand. “Together.”
Ophelia dances around in triumph, waving her arms in the air, head thrown back. Yes! They’ll do it! They’ll really do it! Henry won’t die. The world won’t end. Once they’re far away, they can figure out how to deal with Botten, the Enclave, and everything else.
Pansy takes Henry’s hand. He nods as if this, despite his earlier words, is where Pansy belongs, at his side, palm against palm, fingers laced. Together, they cross the threshold of the housing development.
Ophelia surges after them. She will stand watch, alert for the first signs of an advance party. She will force them to listen to her warnings. Except when she tries, she slams into an invisible and very solid wall. She pounds her fists, throws herself against it, but the barrier is uncompromising. It isn’t smooth or cool. There’s nothing tactile about it. The wall simply is. And it’s more than a physical barricade, it’s a psychic one as well, one with an agenda all its own, one that does not include Ophelia.
On the other side, the housing development remains, as eerie and tranquil as ever.
But Henry and Pansy are nowhere.
Part Four
The Key To Everything
Chapter 59
Pansy
