Elizabeth raced to the wall and flipped on the light switch.
“Benny? No!”
She fell to her knees over him, stared down in horror at the knife sticking out of his chest. She felt panic bubble up, tried to keep it at bay. “Benny, what should I do?”
Benny’s voice was calm as a judge’s. “Leave the knife in me, otherwise I’ll bleed to death. Ring 333, it’s the emergency number for MI5.”
She dialed quickly, hearing his labored breathing as she spoke to a woman and told her to hurry.
“It’s all right, Elizabeth, I’ll live. At least they didn’t kill me before they came for you, why I don’t know. They knocked me on the head and left me. It took me some moments to get myself back together again. They must have cut the alarm and come in through the kitchen, it’s not as sturdy as the front door.” He fell silent, lips seamed, breath labored. His pain had to be unspeakable, but he said, “Your arm. You’re hurt.”
She hiccupped a laugh. He was worried about her? In that moment, she admired Benny Bewley more than he’d ever know. She swallowed down the tears, prayed, and for the first time Elizabeth looked at her arm, saw the blood dripping onto her carpet. It was like a thousand needles were digging into her flesh, burning-hot needles.
Again, Benny’s calm, steady voice. “Press your hand hard against the wound, and keep it there. You have to get the bleeding stopped.”
They waited together, Benny with a knife in his chest, Elizabeth with blood running down the arm of her white pajamas as she pressed as hard as she could against her wound.
Two days later Lady Elizabeth Palmer was released from hospital surrounded by private security guards her father had insisted on hiring. She ignored the cameras and the reporters screaming questions at her.
Two days after that, she disappeared.
Chapter Six
Philadelphia
Three Months Later
Something bad was coming, something really bad, not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it was coming and there was nothing he could do about it. Tash knew it was coming because he was trapped in suffocating blackness that pulsed around him like a living thing, like one of those snakes that squeeze the life out of you. He couldn’t see, there was no light at all, only the throbbing blackness. Terror clutched his chest and he couldn’t breathe. He heard vague noises, like voices whispering, then a distant sigh that sounded like his father’s voice, like he was dying. He wanted to scream, but his voice was trapped in his throat.
Tash Navarro jerked awake, heaving for breath, the covers wrapped around him like one of those shrouds for dead people in the Bible. He wanted to run to his father, like he did the first time he’d had the dream, but he couldn’t. His father was with his new wife now, Sasha, and Tash knew they’d be all scrunched together. She wouldn’t want him there, wouldn’t want to make room for him.
He forced himself to breathe slowly until he felt his chest ease. It was the third time he’d had the dream. He thought it was a warning. He’d tried to tell his dad after the first dream,but he couldn’t anymore. Sasha would give him that look, whisper in his dad’s ear that Tash was making it all up, tell his dad he should find a shrink for him. That’s what he’d heard her say the last time, a shrink. He knew his dad was already worried about him. Tash would look up sometimes and see his dad staring at him, confusion and uncertainty in his eyes.
Tash knew one thing for sure, knew it in his bones. It wasn’t just a dream. Something bad was coming. Would his dad ever believe him? Would it even make a difference? Tash felt cold and alone. If only his mama hadn’t died. She’d have believed him.
Chapter Seven
Titus Hitch Wilderness
Titusville, Virginia
Mid-June
“Autumn, stop!”
Autumn Merriweather was on the point of jumping from a pile of large rocks that crossed over a narrow bend of the Sweet Onion River to the other side. She stopped and turned to Tash Navarro, who stood a few feet behind her, holding his hands out to grab her.
“Come on, Tash, it’s easy. Watch me. It’s just a little jump and you’ll clear the water.” He didn’t move, just stared at her, shaking his head. Something was wrong with him. She no longer felt the same impatience with him she’d felt when her mother had first asked her to take him under her wing four days before. When she’d first seen the pasty-faced little private-school boy, she’d known, just known, he’d ruin her very fine summer. But no choice, he would be her summer job, spend five days a week with him, teach him how to hike and swim and whatever else he couldn’t do. She was also supposed to give him more confidence in himself, and how did one do that? Autumn had planned to spend the summer with her friends and helping her mother with her outdoor adventure business—Titus Hitch Adventures—hiking,white water rafting, camping, having all sorts of fun and making sure big-city folk didn’t drown. At least spending time with Tash was a well-paid gig, and 90 percent of what the kid’s dad was paying her would go into her college fund. The other 10 percent would buy them all Christmas presents, her dad had told her, with a wink to her mom. She’d heard her dad’s dispatcher, Faydeen, say Tash’s dad owned a big-time investment fund in Philadelphia, and wasn’t that something. Mr. Navarro had seemed nice enough when she’d met him, a big man, handsome and fit, older than her stepfather, Ethan, with dashes of gray at his temples. His wife, Sasha, was much younger, with lots of thick, wavy blond hair. Her toenails were painted sky blue, a color Autumn wanted to try, and she’d showed off her body in tight white capris and a crop top. Autumn wondered how long it had taken her to fix her hair and makeup. Archer Navarro smiled down at Autumn and shook her hand like she was a grown-up. “My brother, Rebel, tells me you’re the best, Autumn, you know every square inch of the Titus Hitch Wilderness, like your parents do. I’m pleased you’ll be spending the summer with Tash. I’m sure you’ll do well with him. As you know, he’s staying with Rebel for the summer.”
Autumn had turned to the little boy grudgingly. He hadn’t smiled or met her eyes, just stared down at his painfully new sneakers. She wondered how she would ever be able to teach this thin, wimpy little kid how to fish, pitch a tent, make a fire, or cook on a Coleman stove. He looked pathetic in his stiff jeans and ironed T-shirt, and who ironed a T-shirt? Five days a week with him—full days—until the end of August. She’d shaken his limp white hand and finally he’d looked her full in the face. She’d seen a sort of dull acceptance on his face, and something she didn’t expect—loneliness. In that moment Autumn knew to her adolescent shame that she’d been wrong to dismiss him as a dweeb impinging on her precious time.She’d said his name and smiled and he’d smiled back, at least a try at a smile. She’d leaned down and whispered, “We’re going to have a blast, Tash.”
Autumn had turned twelve years old the previous week and celebrated with a red velvet cake and a birthday party with kids from her class at school. As was her habit for the past six years, even on her birthday, she’d spent a few minutes before going to bed thinking about a particular something that had happened during the year, something good or bad, didn’t matter. Her mama had taught her to do that, to use this private time to look back at herself and weigh what she’d done, what she’d experienced, and plan what to do the next time something like that happened. That night she’d thought about how her friends at school would never really know her, never know what she could do with her mind—only her mama, her stepfather, and her special friend, Dillon Savich, and that led her to think about her father, who’d died. She felt a sort of distant sadness at his memory because she knew she’d loved him, she remembered that. Her mom had told her it was okay and not to feel guilty, he’d always be in Autumn’s heart as he was in hers. And that made her think of Ethan, the sheriff of Titusville, her dad for a long time now. She loved him, admired him, trusted him. She also knew her mom was crazy about him. She’d seen her mom pressed against the wall, her stepdad kissing her all over her face, the two of them laughing. She’d realized she no longer had nightmares about her birth dad’s insane family in Bricker’s Bowl, her mad old grandmother, Shepherd Backman, and her crazy uncles, Grace and Blessed, all of them monsters. Her uncle Blessed could control most people with his mind, make them do whatever he wanted them to do, horrible things if he felt like it.Most people, but not her. Her father, Martin, hadn’t been like his brothers, and he’d escaped them. He never used his gift for his own gain. He’d been a good man, he’d loved her, she knew that, and he’d passed his gift on to her.No, she wasn’t as scared anymore when she remembered them all, they were long dead and gone.
Things were good now, and she’d smile as she slid into bed.
But how could things be good when she had to be responsible for Tash Navarro all summer? But then Autumn quickly learned Tash wasn’t a coward; he tried his best to do everything she asked him to do, and if he failed, he just kept trying. At first he rarely smiled or spoke unless spoken to. But after nearly a week with her he didn’t seem as sad or lonely, didn’t act like his life was rotten. It became clear as day—Tash Navarro was happy.
Still poised to jump from the rock, Autumn cocked her head at Tash and realized he was scared. For her. But why? Did he think she couldn’t make that easy jump, and fall into the creek?
