I run and I run, and I don’t trip, even though it’s dark out here. And finally, up ahead, I see something. A clearing. A large open space in the middle of the woods, where people seem to be growing in place of trees.
They’re all looking at me. And they all have the same face.
Hisface. The face of the men I’ve killed. The men and women around me all have dark hair. Wide-set brown eyes. Narrow noses. No freckles.
I’m pulled right into the center of their gathering, and the crowd closes around me. There’s no way out.
I should be scared. Instead, I feel an odd exhilaration firing from that place inside me. That place where the invisible chain was moored.
The crowd tightens around me, identical faces and bodies drawing closer. I lift my hands and reach for the nearest one. My fingers sink through flesh, and blood spurts like—
“Hey. Delilah,” a voice whispered near my ear.
My eyes flew open. A form bent over me, and my heart beat a panicked rhythm for a second before I recognized Lenore.
“Hey,” she said again. “I was going to apologize for having to wake you up, but it sounded like you were having a bad dream. So, you’re welcome.” She was still whispering, and when I felt the warm form pressed against my right arm, I understood why.
Rommily.Still sound asleep.
Gallagher had talked both of us into taking a nap after lunch, and I was pretty sure one of her sisters had slipped something into her coffee to help her sleep.
Lenore sat on the edge of the bed, near my thigh. “I’m going into town. Do you need anything?”
“Um... I need to check the news. I’ll come with you.”
“No.” She put a hand on my shoulder when I tried to sit up. “It’s not safe for anyone else to be seen until we know none of you were caught on security camera footage at the lab. I’m going by myself. But I can pick up anything you need. Within reason.”
“You mean other than a crib and an obstetrician?”
Lenore gave me a sad smile. “Yes. Other than that.”
“The usual. Food staples and a glimpse at the headlines. Pick up actual newspapers if you can’t make it to the café. We need to know what people know about the lab break-in. And a potential second wave of surrogates.”
She nodded. “That’s the real reason I’m going. That, and toilet paper.”
I grabbed her hand when she stood. “Please be careful. We can’t lose anyone else.”
Lenore nodded again without calling me on my lie. We could and probably would lose someone else. No one could live in hiding forever.
When Lenore was gone, I turned off the lamp, throwing the room into deep afternoon shadows cast by the east-facing window, and started to curl up next to Rommily.
“Puppet on a chain. Make them dance. Set the forest on fire.”
I froze, one hand ready to plump my pillow. Rommily was talking in her sleep. Chain. Forest. It was like she could see my—
Ihadn’t dreamed that I was being pulled through the forest toward an army of identical murder victims.She’ddreamed that I was being pulled through the forest toward an army of identical murder victims. While she’d been pressed up against me.
Had I somehow channeled the oracle’s dream?
Was it a prophetic dream? Was that what it was like to see the future? If so, it was no wonder Rommily never made any sense, and it suddenly seemed miraculous to me that her sisters usually did.
I had no idea what the dream meant, other than that I might be murdering more dark-haired fair-skinned men. And maybe women? Possibly in the forest. Though the detail with the chain running from my spine through my belly button seemed to indicate that I shouldn’t take the events of the dream literally.
I tried to turn off my brain and go back to sleep, hoping to sink back into Rommily’s dream for a little clarity—an admittedly strange thought. But my mind was racing, so I got up and made a pot of coffee instead.
When Lenore got back, Genni ran out the door to help her, and by the time I made it down the front steps, the pup was already on her way back to the cabin with an armload of newspapers.
“May I see a couple of those?” I asked, already reaching for the one on top.
