Occult Suspense for Mothers Boxset: The Nostalgia Effect by EJ Valson and Mother's by Michelle Read (2 ebooks for one price) (19 page)

“Momma’s gonna buy you a mocking bird . . . ”

What if I asked them to do something?  Would they do it?  I envisioned the lot of the group getting up and dancing around like monkeys, or playing Simon Says.  Picturing it made me laugh inside.  I was feeling less nervous and apprehensive about the dire spot we were in all the time.  Actually, I was enjoying myself.  Killing time until . . .

“Thank you,” Sherry mouthed from across the room.  She motioned to the children, who were quietly listening to me sing.

I nodded to her, and examined the rest of the room again.  They were all still spellbound by the song.  Thoughtless and practically drooling on themselves.  Sherry, however, was watching the children.

I’m so glad they’re calm
, she was thinking. 
I was so worried.

She was
thinking
.

Out of the blue, something sparked in me.  I had an idea, but couldn’t wrap my mind around it yet.  Maybe I could help get us out of here after all.  But how, exactly?

“And if that diamond ring don’t shine . . . ”

Sherry’s ability to help others focus on something must be helping her choose
not
to focus on me.  She is the only one that I reminded to focus, when I signed it to her.  And it was only then that she regained the capacity to utilize her gift.  When she focused.

Maybe . . . maybe she could help the rest of them focus, one at a time, while the guards were distracted.  It wasn’t the diversion I was expecting, but maybe it would work.  For now, it was the only thing I could think of to try.

Content that the children were peaceful for now, Sherry sat back and folded her legs in front of her comfortably.  I stared at her, hoping she would look my way soon.  When she did, I held my hand up to my stomach and signed H-E-L-P.  She tilted her head to the side, completely confused.  I held my hand up again and spelled H-E-L-P T-H-E-M F-O-C-U-S.

Thank God she could understand my crudely formed letters, because then I saw the wheels in her head start turning.  Literally.  I watched her mind closely as she thought frantically about what I could mean.  She looked to the children, then back to me.

I nodded slowly.

“Momma’s gonna buy you a Valentine . . .”

“
Children
,” she whispered.

At once, all the children snapped their heads in Sherry’s direction. 
She’s got it
, I thought.  She’s regained her control of her asset.

“And if that Valentine’s not pretty . . .”

Sherry cleared her throat.  A tiny, almost fearful cough, but nothing happened.  I could hear her heart beating – or maybe that was my own.  Boldly, with her eyes glued to the guard closest to her, she pulled herself up to a crouch.  We both watched him as she shifted her weight back and forth, preparing to crawl.  While our eyes were glued to the guard, his eyes were glued to me.  Still.

She motioned to the children to do as she did, and one by one they understood.  I listened carefully to their thoughts, and it was amazing how not one child was distracted as Sherry instructed them.  A minute later, they were all crouched and ready for their next instruction.

“Momma’s gonna buy you an itty-bitty kitty . . .”

I paused for only a second – I don’t know why I thought the words would matter, they were captivated by a children’s lullaby for crying out loud.  No effect at all.  No blinking.  Nothing.

Minutes passed as I sang, watching Sherry weave between the guards, trying not to touch them.  Each time she would get near one of the teachers, she would slip her hand gently onto their shoulder, careful not to startle them.  Then she would whisper in their ear and slowly, one by one, they were all crouching and ready to go.

Once everyone was prepared, Sherry looked at me for instruction.  I honestly had no idea what to do next, besides keep singing.  I shrugged my shoulders and looked around.  Everyone was waiting for me to tell them what to do.  I had no idea, though.  This was not my area of expertise.   Should we all make a break for it?  Or file out one at a time?  Organizing an exit like this would not be my . . .

Elizabeth.

She was stooped down, like everyone else, waiting.  But when I glimpsed what she was thinking, I saw the answer.  For once she wasn’t glaring at me.  She was just waiting to be guided.  Her thoughts were quite clear….while she waited to be told what to do, she was forming her own ingenious plan where everyone filed out neatly and orderly.

I gave her a desperately hopeful look.  Hopeful that she would understand that I needed her.  We all needed her.

Searching her mind for the moment when she would understand that this was
her
time, I tried to convey in my eyes that I wanted her to take over.  To organize us well enough to get out of here. 
I
knew she could do it – but did
she
know it?

It took her a while to catch on, but she eventually pointed her index finger to her chest and drew her brows together.  When I nodded once, she immediately set in motion.  Everything I had seen in her head slowly played out.

She began pointing to one group of people at a time, starting with Sherry, Janice, and the children.  When she had their attention, she nudged her head toward the door and placed her finger to her lips to indicate that they should keep quiet.  None of us knew how long this trance on the guards would hold.

Janice, followed by the children, filed slowly through the teachers and guards and headed for the door on their hands and knees.  Sherry brought up the rear of the group and when she got close to where I was sitting I squeezed Manny’s hand and gestured that he should join them.  Besides me, he was the only one who knew where Azura would be waiting.  Obediently, he followed Sherry through the crowd and into the hallway.  Without hesitation, Elizabeth selected the next group to exit and, seamlessly, the room began growing sparse.

I intermittently checked the guards thoughts, keeping alert for any changes, and was amazed at how focused everyone else was.  Nothing was distracting them from the task at hand and I was sure Sherry was responsible for that.

It wasn’t until there were only a handful of us left that the panic began to set in.  Until now, I had been able to keep fear at bay.  But when I realized what was sure to happen next, I started to lose my nerve.

What would happen, for instance, when I stopped singing?  The terror I should have felt the moment I realized we could escape suddenly sank in as I caught a glimpse of Charlotte’s face at the door.  She was the last person left, besides myself, in the room.  Her face was pleading and unsure, and covered in tears. 

What was I supposed to do?
  If I stopped singing, every watchman would turn and run down the hallway after them.  If I kept up the unexplainable trance I
might
be able to back slowly past them and out the door, but the lot of us would be captured for sure before we reached Azura.

I wasn’t going to make it out of here alive.  That’s the reality.  I recalled what Manny had said earlier;
It will not end well for everyone.
  Me – I’m the person it will not end well for.  But most of them would be fine.  They would all return to their families.  They would all be safe.  And this was the only way it would happen.  The thought – no, the
realization
– that I wouldn’t be going home started running through my mind as a likelihood.  Then as I locked Charlotte’s gaze with my own, it was a statement.

I puffed up my chest and straightened my back, my heart beating right through my skin, and I kept singing . . . with more resolve this time.

“You
go
,” I was telling her, through eyes that seemed to suddenly be filled with tears.

Her eyes were pleading, and just as tearful, but they were begging for two different things.  Begging for a way to save me – and begging for me to save them.  I nodded.  She pursed her lips and shook her head.  I closed my eyes, my heart was beating so hard I was waiting for it to jump out and plop onto the floor.  Tears actually shot out of the corners of my lids as they closed. 
I’m going to die,
was my only thought.  And they will all live.

I pulled my burning lids up and my voice faltered . . . she was gone.

I continued to sing for at least an hour, simply knowing that when I stopped – they would finish me.  I wasn’t simply prolonging my own life, though I was secretly hoping there was some other way to do this, I was also imagining how long it would take them to get to Azura.  I was taking
their
steps in my mind, making sure they had plenty of time to reach her.

I decided to start over.  “Hush little baby . . .”

After what seemed like hours of a siren song that was becoming more strained with every word, I figured they were safely gathered together now.  Hiding.  Safe.  I was imagining their tears for me, and wondered what they would tell John.

With great resolution, I took a deep breath and decided that it was time.  The guards would have no way of finding them now, they were too far away in far too clever a place.  I sang something about a ray of sunshine and began to trail off.  Then I waited.

One blink.  Two blinks.

One man turned his stiff neck to look to either side.  Several others did the same.  Then came more deliberate blinking as I watched them figure out what had happened.  Then I saw the guard nearest me, the one who had been reprimanding Manny and I for talking, begin to put all the pieces together.  In one instant, his expression turned from bewildered to steely, and a cold tremor shot straight down my spine.

Then they were upon me.

I had closed my eyes when the first guard was one arm’s-length away from me.  I had drawn a short, labored breath, and waited.  I heard no shouting, no weapons rattling, not even my own breathing.  I could only hear my heartbeat, strong and loud in my ears.  Ten beats.  Twenty beats.  Twenty strong beats. 

I hadn’t expected this moment to last so long.  Like a movie, I guessed, this moment before death was grabbing time and forcing it to pause.  I hoped it was over soon.  But then I heard it. 
Crack.

I opened my eyes and saw the floor.  And boots.  I was doubled over and was being hit, and kicked, so hard that it had broken my arm. 
Crack
.  And my knee. 
Crack.
  And then one blow to the head sent me wheeling into a clean black sensation that I knew was death.

I hit the floor.

Somewhere in the mountains of Colorado, buried deep underground, far from the eyes of the world, was a small gathering of women.  All of them hugging each other.  All of them crying soft, unintelligible sobs.

“It’s okay.  It’s going to be okay,” whispered Claire.  “I just know it.”

SEVENTEEN

“She’s coming ‘round,” someone muttered.  I heard a quick shuffling of feet and soon felt the heat of several bodies close to mine.

“Shh, give her some room,” Claire reproached.  A soft hand brushed my forehead.  “Erin?  Honey, can you hear me?”

“
Mmm-hmmm,
” I croaked.

“Get Azura,” she ordered.  “Where is she?”

“She’s checking on Charlotte,” someone answered.

“What’s wrong with Charlotte?” I asked, but I couldn’t tell if anyone heard me.  My throat burned and my ears were ringing.

“Oh Erin,” Claire whispered, “she’ll be okay.  I’m so glad you’re—”  She trailed off, sobbing.  I crawled into her mind, hoping to see what had happened to Charlotte.  If anything had happened to her, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.  I should have kidnapped her while I had the chance and hidden until Azura left without us.  I wanted so badly for her to be safe.  As I searched Claire’s memories, I was horrified, and it didn’t take long to figure out what I was seeing.

Charlotte’s gift was compassion.  She could put herself completely in someone else’s shoes and understand how they felt.  That’s what Azura had enhanced in her.  She could also take on another’s feelings; sparing them pain, or embarrassment, or heartache.  I understood that much from Claire’s thoughts.

I found the very recent memory of Claire standing in a horde of women, gathered around a single woman who was lying on the floor.  Everyone was howling, crying in horror of the woman on the floor, who was screaming.  I concentrated harder on the face of the woman in Claire’s memory.  Gradually, the woman’s face became more clear.  It was Charlotte.  A sharp pang hit my heart as I watched her writhing in pain.  Something was obviously
very
wrong with her, but what?  No one was standing around her.  There were no wounds on her body, nothing that should be causing her that much pain.  Eventually, she stopped moving.  Very abruptly, her eyes shot open for a brief moment, then her body went limp.

Confused, I started to ask Claire what had happened, and if Charlotte was alright.  But just as I was about to speak, something else entered my mind.  Something just as baffling to me as the mystery of Charlotte’s screaming.  Something else I couldn’t understand.

“Why am I
here
?” I finally mumbled, to anyone who could hear me. 
How was I alive?

“I came back for you,” a familiar voice replied.

My neck ached so badly I could barely turn to see who had spoken.

“Don’t move, it might be broken,” Azura commanded.  And though my eyes were nearly swollen shut, I could see her stepping through the group to speak to me.  “I’ve been working on your wounds.  But it’s going to take a while, you took quite a beating.”

“Azura,” I choked when she got close enough for me to focus on.  The first thing I saw was that her hair was down, and it didn’t look a thing like I had pictured it.  I’d never seen her without her absurdly tight bun, and she was
breathtaking
.

“Your glasses,” I managed, awestruck.

“Gone.”  She took my hand.  “They were just for looks anyway.”

“Looks,” I laughed.  “They made you
look
like Wonder Woman.”

Her massive green eyes were bright and absolutely gorgeous.  Her small face was framed in wildly curly hair that fell to her shoulders.  Her fair cheeks were tinted pink, probably from all the booty she kicked to secure this hiding place, and they brightened her whole face.

“Don’t ever wear your hair up again,” I scolded.  “You look amazing.”

Oh Erin,
she thought. 
Your ability to be sassy in such a state is one of your best qualities.

“
You
look awful,” she mused aloud.

I tried to grin at her, but wasn’t able to make my face do what I wanted.

“What happened to Charlotte?”  I suddenly demanded, trying to get up.  “Is she alright?”

“Lay
down
, Erin.  She’s fine.”  Azura put her hand on my chest and pushed me back down.  “Be still.”

“
Tell me
why she was screaming,” I ordered again.  My voice was shaky, and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know.  The image of her writhing flashed into my frustratingly clouded mind.

As she cleared as much blood from my face as she could with the damp cloth she produced, Azura explained that Charlotte was sure to heal much more quickly than I would.  It seemed that once the group had reached the small cavern we were now gathered in, Sherry immediately found her.  Together, with Sherry nearby to keep her focus from wavering, Charlotte used her ability to take another person’s pain upon herself to save me.  To save me from the brunt of the attack I was facing miles and miles away.

Because of Charlotte, my dearest friend, I felt none of the many bones that were breaking.  None of the bruises that now covered my body.  She had taken them all upon herself; every skipped heartbeat, every ounce of fear – she was taking them slowly away from me.  And while I looked like death warmed over, I only
felt
sore.  Very……very……..very sore, but not in excruciating pain like I should have been.  She felt it all willingly,
for
me.  My throat tightened painfully and I wept for my friend.  I would never, never know the pain she had endured for me, and I didn’t know how I could ever repay her for that.

Never before had Charlotte been able to stretch her abilities so far, but Azura explained that, like an adrenaline rush, her fear and her love for me pushed her strengths beyond what she believed possible.

I blinked to clear my eyes, which was useless, and looked at Azura.  I searched her mind and listened more closely to her account of the small huddle of women that surrounded my suffering friend.  Some of them were sobbing for Charlotte and her screams, but just as many of them were sick at the thought of losing me—knowing that I surely couldn’t survive whatever was happening to me.

Losing me?

All this time I was certain they wanted nothing to do with me.

I turned, stiffly, to Azura.  Still marveling at her beauty that had been so cleverly hidden behind her silly bun and ridiculous glasses, I had an idea.  Well, it was really more of a curious desire.

“May I?”  I asked childishly.

She looked confused, but only for a moment, and gave me a sly smile.

“Of course,” she answered, allowing my morbid curiosity to be indulged.

I closed my eyes and relaxed as best as I could.  Concentrating on the touch of her fingers as she laced her hand in mine, I crawled inside her mind while she recounted her role in the evening’s events.

She began outside the room that we had all been held hostage in, as soon as the doors had been closed behind her.  I listened as the two burly guards that had escorted us to the room agreed to take her to see Gabriel, as long as she was completely cooperative.

Once the door was closed, she quickly and easily grabbed the forearm of the guard to her right with one small hand, jerking him forward violently.  In the same movement, she put her right hand on his shoulder and forced him to the ground.  He was thrown to the floor so hard that he seemed to have the wind knocked out of him, and immediately curled into a ball.

The second guard, having barely enough time to even
look
stunned because she had moved so quickly, began balling up his fists.  He would have been a fool not to expect Azura to try
some
thing, but he was probably ready for mind games and negotiating rather than brute force.

Just before the first guard had his face slammed unforgivingly into the concrete, Azura craned her neck around to bring the second man into view.  With his fists tightened and his legs moving into a more confrontational stance, he raised his arm to strike.

His attack was quick, but Azura was quicker.  She used the force she gained from throwing the first guard to the ground to twist her back and throw two powerful kicks to his jaw, sending him to the ground as well.  With the momentum her legs had acquired from striking him (first with her left foot, then with her right), she allowed her body to continue spinning full circle until her right elbow found the cheek of the first guard.  Her elbow bounced his skull downward so hard that he was sent neatly into unconsciousness.  All four strikes took less than two seconds to complete, and left two very limp guards lying face down on the dusty concrete floor.

As Azura turned to sprint down the hallway, pulling her glasses off and tossing them on to the small pile of guards, I pulled out of her memory – chilled to the bone at the thought of someone so proper and uptight packing so much power.

“Let’s get you home,” Azura suggested quietly.

I closed my eyes.

Home
.

After Azura mended the rest of my wounds, we began our journey home.

“What will John and everyone else think?” I questioned.  “We’ve been gone all night.”

“Have you?” Azura asked.

“Mmmm.  Yes?”

Charlotte turned in her seat toward the back of the Jeep.

“Jane helped us with that,” she said.

“The librarian?”

“Yes,” Charlotte smiled.  “She can manipulate time.”

Cool
, I thought. 
Why not?
  Enough had happened in the last twenty four hours that I was likely to believe anything at this point.

I looked in the seat next to me and saw that my cell phone was laying in it.  I turned it on and checked the time.

Eleven twenty.  I chuckled.

“I’ve been out for coffee, then?”

Charlotte grinned.  “Tell him we had a nice time, okay?”

“
R-i-i-i-ight
,” I chortled.  “Maybe we should stop and actually get some on the way home.  I could go for a cup . . . or twelve.”