She pressed her eyes closed a moment, collecting herself.
Granny D had checked in five minutes ago, still waiting for Finn, but there was no knowing what the roads were like for him to get there. One bridge nearest her house, in particular, may prove the trouble... if it was even still intact at all.
Daphne moved to one of the front windows and stared out across Main Street, water creeping up the street, forming a river over the pavement. There had to be a least a foot or two gathering near the bottom of the street, not to mention what was rushing down from the top of the hill.
Her phone flicked to life.
Finn:River is cresting Granny D’s bridge. Just made it over and parked, but her house is already about two-feet deep in water. I’m grabbing her as fast as I can and we’re heading back. Don’t leave unless you must. It’s not safe out here.
Daphne:Okay. Be careful.
She stared at the message longer than necessary, her thumb hovering like she wanted to say more.Come back to usfelt too... intimate? Butuswas exactly what it felt like now. Her, Lucy, Finn.
And if anything happened to him...
Another person... gone?
She forced a breath and sent a quiet prayer heavenward, then flipped through a few news reports on her phone. Widespread flooding, downed trees, power outages, water rescues.
This was like something from a movie.
Her attention traveled the length of the room to land on Lucy, who sat cross-legged on the rug watchingTangledwith Winston beside her. Lucy’s favorite. It had definitely moved up Daphne’s favorite’s list because... well, Flynn Rider. And smolders.
Daphne nodded and braced herself. Finn had trusted Daphne with the most important person in his world. So no matter how hard her heart pounded or how tight her throat felt, she would keep it together. For Lucy. For Finn. For whatever came next.
But surely they’d be all right in an upstairs apartment on Main Street! The water, even if the dam broke, wouldn’t reach that far, would it?
A sharp crack of thunder sent Winston to his feet and to her side, and Lucy’s eyes grew wide. “That was a big noise.”
Daphne reached down to rub a hand over the dog’s head and shot Lucy a smile. “I think we may hear a few big noises with all this rain right now.”
The answer seemed to suffice for the little girl at the moment and she turned back to the movie. But the two had already talked about how the rain makes very big mud puddles and if the puddles got too big, well, they’d need to find a place farther away from those puddles to wait for Daddy.
Another bolt of lightning sliced through the sky, lighting up the hill behind the east side of Main Street.
And then—something else. Her stomach seized.
Not lightning. A flash of unnatural orange, almost like—
No.She shifted closer to the window, drawn to the sight as if in a trance.Was that one of the towers on the hill? Had it been struck?
And then a strange sort of movement sliced through the rain. Otherworldly.
She gripped the window frame, staring out, as the top of the ridge gave way, just like icing melting off a hot cake. Earth, trees, rock—anentire section of hillside collapsed, taking with it trees and mud, crashing down behind the toy store two buildings over, sweeping through the backyard fences and uprooting a power pole.
And she kept staring, her stomach knotting tighter the longer she watched. Like she couldn’t process what she was seeing. That one whole side of that massive hill just... fell.
Oh Lord, please keep people safe! From her limited view, the collapse didn’t appear to have taken buildings, but she couldn’t see everything clearly.
Another unnatural flash of light sparked in the distance to her left, almost like the world was setting off some strange domino light effect all around her. Theboompopped in her ears.
Then the light shut off, the TV screen went black. The fan stilled. Every appliance stopped humming in the sudden hush.
And the late-afternoon light cast a gray hue across the room.
It wasn’t temporary this time. The power was gone.
Lucy looked up at Daphne in expectation.
