Nobody.Not even one of the names on her very short list of Super-Duper Hated Assholes deserved that.
Besides, he had helped fight the things off.Of course, if it wasn’t for these lunatics she wouldn’t be here; she would be safe at home, dreaming of Christmas in a few days and wondering how she was going to pay the heating bill.
“Please, be calm,” Ignatius said in that choked whisper, and Liv went still, but only because more frantic motion would waste energy.
“I hate you,” she whispered.The words came out strange because her cheek was mashed against nylon webbing.Erik had weapons strapped all over him, even at three in the morning.“I hate all of you, and I hate that you kidnapped me, and I hate the fuckingmonsters.”
The fact that she’d been dreaming of the hideous things right before her bedroom window was smashed was beside the point.Or at least Liv was going to do her absolute level best to pretend it was.
“That’s all right.”Erik wasn’t fazed in the least.“I expect it.Hating us is safe.”
The necklace was a stone egg between them, digging into her breastbone hard enough to bruise.It still felt warm, somehow reassuring—and the tentacle thing had howled each time it flashed.
That probably meant something.Liv just couldn’t think of what.
She wanted to get out of this goddamn car and run screaming down the gently rising and falling road, coming around on a shallow curve she realized was north of Longpoint, like Erik had said.That meant west of the city proper, out near Statler Farms where she and Mika went each summer to get flats of fruit for Kiki Vannonberg to turn into bespoke preserves.Glimpsing the long billboards painted with dancing fruit threatened to burn her retinas, an iced-over beacon of sanity lost in curtains of falling, whirling flakes.
It wassnowing.At last.Happy White Christmas, deck the halls with monsters.
“It’s all right,” Erik repeated.“They didn’t get you; you’re with us.You’re safe.”
“Let me go,” someone moaned, and Liv realized it was her own voice.“Just let me go, for God’s sake just let megooooo…”
Jake piped up.“How far’s the nearest active?—”
“Three hundred miles, Jacob.”Ignatius made a low pained sound.A strange creaking crackle came from the passenger seat, and he sighed, gustily.“That’s better.”He sounded like his usual dry baritone self now.“Ribs are marvelously designed, but not for that.”
Oh, God, please.“Let me go,” she whispered.“Please.”
“They’d kill you, Liv.”Erik’s chest rumbled under her cheek.“Just calm down.We’ve got clothes packed, we’ll stop in a bit to clean up.”
Oh, sure.Clean up.That’ll be great.“I don’t want?—”
“You were dreaming.”His usual diffidence was gone; this Erik was coldly efficient, and the crispness to the words sounded an awful lot like anger.
She tried again to wriggle free, but his arms were immovable.“H-how did you…?”
“You screamed.Nightmare, right?”Each word soft and precise.“Only you woke up and it didn’t stop.”
All the fight gurgled out of Liv, water down a drain.She flat-out felt it leave, arms and legs turning limp, her heart dropping into her guts with a splash.“Shut up.”I want my life back.I want all this to go away.
He did shut up, but he didn’t let go.Liv closed her eyes, and the thunder of his heart, regular steadytha-thumps, filled her ear.He was covered in guck and holding her too tightly and he was one of her jailers—but he’d also fought off those nightmare things twice now, and his heartbeat kept repeatingdon’t be afraid, someone else is here, don’t be afraid, someone else ....
“We’ll stop in an hour or so, around Coringtown,” Ignatius said, finally.“Control has to be alerted.They’ll send backup; they have to.Can you last that long?”
“Yessir.”Jake was now hushed and somber.“Sir?”
“Yes, Jacob.”Ignatius sounded, for the first time, actually weary.“I know.This rather changes things.”
What?What does it change?Liv found out she didn’t want to know.
“Doesn’t matter,” Erik said, quietly.“You’re safe, Liv.”
Doesn’t sound like it.But she just kept her eyes squeezed shut, listening to his reassuring, lying heart, and wished it were true.
Other, Fouler, and Smarter
She’d retreatedinto civilian numbness by the time they reached the outskirts of Coringtown, and when Jake brought the SUV to a smooth stop in a motel parking lot she didn’t try to lunge for the door or the front seats again.Which was great, but Erik didn’t like this wan, terrified muteness.
