He was teasing me a little, but I needed him to know exactly how I felt. “I want that more than anything. The faster we take out Pandora’s trash, the faster we get that hot tub. And it better be peaceful and quiet. Just the two of us.”
“I love it when you get all forceful.” He patted his chest and fluttered his eyes.
I pulled into the diner’s parking lot, avoiding the ruts and puddles. “All right, let’s go see what that flash was all about.”
The wind had picked up, cold and wet off the ocean. It wasn’t raining, but the air still had tiny droplets in it, forming a mist that was almost invisible. It was the kind of moisture that wasn’t really noticeable until you’d been standing in it for several minutes and realized you were soaking wet.
Typical Oregon.
“I’ll take point.” I strode up to the door.
He nodded and fell into step behind me.
The diner looked normal. Half-a-dozen cars were parked as close to the building as possible so the owners wouldn’t have to walk far through the rain. The smell of cinnamon and onions—weirdly, a nice mix—poured out of the venting.
From what I could see through the windows, diners were at tables eating breakfast. There must be some really great music playing on the janky speakers because every head in the place was nodding along to the beat.
Which was…
“Weird,” Ryder said. “The synchronized head-bopping. That’s weird, right?”
“That’s weird.”
I pushed through the door and stopped.
“Hey, Delaney,” Piper said. She was plastered against the wall next to me, her eyes wide and staring straight out over the dining area. “Thought you’d be by. Wanna fill me in on what’s going on?”
I didn’t tell her I was just about to ask the same thing.
“Did you buy a toy from Crow?” I asked.
“Toy?”
“Solar-powered clapper?” Ryder hadn’t stepped into the building at all, but stood in the threshold of the door, letting in the wet, fresh air.
“Yeah,” she said. “I did.”
“Is it here?”
She still hadn’t taken her eyes off the far side of the diner. As a matter of fact, other than talking, she hadn’t moved at all.
“Can’t you see it?” she asked.
I scanned the room. Three booths and two tables were occupied. Every person was sitting still, hands in front of them, heads bobbing side to side. Side to side.
The music was a slow country tune, and the beat of the song and the beat of the diners was not lining up at all.
But it wasn’t just the bobbing heads that were a problem. Everyone in my line of vision had blank stares on their faces. It was like they were listening to a hypnotist put them under a thrall from far away.
“What are they doing?” Ryder asked. “All the people?”
I didn’t know, but luckily, someone did. “You can’t hear it?” Piper asked. “The voice?”
“No,” Ryder and I said at the same time.
“As soon as I unboxed the little guy and stuck him in the window, it started talking. At first, I thought it was just static on the radio or something. But then I remembered we stream our own playlists.”
“That’s very modern of you,” I said.
