The Impossible Coin (The Downwinders Book 2) (21 page)

“Can I talk to your daughter?” Deem asked.

“I wish you could,” Ester replied. “She goes in and out of
consciousness. Right now she’s out; she’s been out since last night. That’s why
I called Carma — I’m so worried! I don’t know if that letter you’re holding
will matter one way or the other, but I need to know before I drive her back to
the hospital! Come on, I’ll show you.”

Ester rose from her seat and walked down a short hallway,
turning into the first bedroom on the right. Deem followed. Inside was a twin
bed with a woman about Deem’s age lying under a blanket. She looked peaceful
and calm, as though she was sleeping.

“You have no idea what’s wrong with her?” Deem asked.

“No,” Ester replied. “Neither did the doctors. But look…”

Ester walked to her daughter. She pulled down the covers and
lifted her hand, showing Deem. Then she pinched her daughter.

“See? Nothing!” Ester said. “No response.”

She replaced the hand and covered her daughter back up.

“Alright,” Deem said, opening the letter. “Let’s see what
this says.” She pulled a single sheet of paper from the envelope and opened it.

There were about ten hand-written lines. She struggled to
read the elaborate cursive, but after a while realized it wasn’t just the fancy
lettering that was giving her trouble — there were some words she just couldn’t
make out at all, even when she tried to sound out the letters.

“I’m sorry,” Deem said, looking up at Ester. “I can only read
part of this.”

“You have the gift, but you can’t read it either?” Ester asked.

“This must be something I’m unfamiliar with,” Deem said.
“Until I understand the context of something in the River, I can’t read about
it. This was written by someone who understands something I don’t.”

“The River?” Ester asked.

“It’s what we call the place we go to, to see things that
other people can’t see,” Deem replied. “Your daughter never talked about the
River?”

“No, Lizzy never mentioned it,” Ester said. “Then again, I
don’t exactly encourage those things.”

“Ah,” Deem replied, thinking of her own mother and how she
disliked anything related to her gift, considering it evil. Deem flipped the
letter over, checking the back side, and dropped into the River briefly to
inspect it, but nothing special appeared. Then she took another look at the
envelope.

“There’s a return address in New Harmony,” Deem said. “Do you
know who sent this?”

“No idea,” Ester said. “Lizzy said she’d reached out to
someone who could diagnose her, and that’s all she communicated before she
passed out yesterday. I have no idea who she talked to.”

“Well, I can take this letter back to Carma if you want,”
Deem said. “If she thinks it’s a good idea, I can drive up to New Harmony and
try to talk to whoever sent it.”

“Oh, would you?” Ester asked. “I’m worried sick about her,
and I just don’t know what to do to help. I’m not a big believer in these
things, but I know Lizzy is, so if you would do that for me, I’d be extremely
grateful.”

“Sure,” Deem said. “No problem.” She stared down at the girl
in the bed, and couldn’t help thinking that she seemed a lot like herself —
same age, same size, same looks. Even the same hairstyle, though Lizzy’s hair was
dark black.

“I guess I better head back,” Deem said. “Can you give me
your phone number? I’ll call you as soon as I find out anything.”

“Sure,” Ester said, leading them out of the bedroom and back
into the living room. She went to the kitchen and jotted her number down on a
small pad, then ripped off the top paper and handed it to Deem. “Here it is.
Thank you for coming all the way out here. I’m really quite desperate, and
Carma was the only one I could think of to turn to. With her unresponsive like
this, I want to take her back to the hospital, but Lizzy was so insistent that
it wouldn’t help. I really need Carma’s opinion on what I should do.” Ester
opened the door for Deem.

“I’ll discuss it with her,” Deem said, walking through and
down the front steps. She turned back to Ester. “Don’t worry. I’ll call you!”
she said, and watched as the worried look on Ester’s face melted a little into
thankfulness.

▪ ▪ ▪

This has been a complimentary first
chapter of the next book in
The Downwinders
series,

The Graves of Plague Canyon

Enjoy the rest of the novel by
downloading your complete copy from Amazon.com
!