Page 82 of A Seer and Present Danger

I held my breath and pushed the door open a crack.

Nobody in sight.

I squeezed through the doorway and darted into the storage room.

It was even darker here. I pressed my back against the door, breathing hard.

This room wasn’t empty.

Gail and Charles were on the floor, out cold.

I hurried to them and checked for breathing (yes and yes), then looked for injuries. I couldn’t see anything, so I risked turning on my flashlight just long enough to scan their bodies. No blood.

Okay, okay. They’d been knocked out somehow, maybe a hit to the head, maybe a sleeping pill? But no other wounds I could see.

I tapped Gail’s face, then tried Charles, but neither of them stirred.

Think, Piper, think.

Phones! Check if their phones had signal.

I tried Gail’s first, but it was locked. Charles’ phone was the old flip kind that not only didn’t have signal, it didn’t even have battery power.

I couldn’t carry them to safety. I couldn’t wake them up and send them out into the rain to drive away.

So, I did the next best thing.

I pulled Buzz’s keys out of my pocket, left the room, and locked the door behind me.

That should keep them safe since there wasn’t another key that opened that door.

What next?

Think, Piper.

I crouched and peeked out into the dining area again. Vandre was near the windows, walking slowly along the booths. He still had the knife.

He could probably see the future.

The future that would tell him where I was and what I was about to do.

Well, two could play at that game.

I took a breath to try and calm my heartbeat (it didn’t help), then looked into the future.

Blank…

Blank…

Vandre calls out my name…

“Piper,” Vandre said just above a whisper like that wasn’t creepy. “Is that you?”

Who else did he think it might be?

I didn’t answer.

“You were looking right? Trying to see the future?”