Page 36 of Shadow Scorching

As they trundled her out of the house, Dante stood beside me. Penn had returned to our house, to keep an eye on breakfast.

I turned to Dante. “What did you find?”

“Well, they determined she slipped on a patch of ice. Looks like some water either got spilled or came through the roof or something—it froze. She went out to the porch, slipped, hit her head, and was there at least six or seven hours.”

“I wonder…then why the mail build up?” Then, I remembered something—I’d seen something that caught my eye when I brought her nightgown and blankets to the living room. “Hold on.” I headed back to her bedroom. Sure enough, a suitcase sat near the bed. I unzipped it and saw that it was filled with jumbled clothes. The baggage claim ticket on the handle had been stamped at five PM, yesterday, from SeaTac airport. She’d flown in from Chicago.

“I think I know why the packages were piled up,” I said, returning to the living room. “She just got back from a trip. She was in Chicago. I don’t know whether for a layover, or if that’s where she was visiting.” I asked Dante to bring in all the packages, and the mail, and then I found her purse. Her phone was in it, so I opened it up—she didn’t have a passcode—and I glanced through her Recent contacts.

She’d called aSara Brinkwatertwice yesterday, and there were two unanswered calls from the same number. I opened her voicemail and, sure enough, there was one from Sara last night, and one from this morning.

“Mom, are you okay? I know you were tired when you left, but you didn’t answer my message last night and I’m worried. Call me, please.”

I punched the return call number and, two rings later, a woman answered.

“Mom! I was starting to get worried?—”

“Excuse me, but is this Sara Brinkwater? Are you Terri Stillman’s daughter?” It seemed that a direct approach would be best.

Immediate pause.

Then, “Yes, who am I talking to?”

“My name’s Kyann Sarasan. I’m your mother’s neighbor. Long story short, I found your mother on her back porch this morning, unconscious. She’s being taken to Harbor’s Edge Medical Facility. As far as I know, she has hypothermia, but I’m not a doctor, so I’m not entirely certain. I have their number for you.” I gave her the number.

“You’re sure she’s alive?” Sara sounded in tears. “You must have saved her life. I can’t thank you?—”

“Why don’t you call the hospital and see how she’s doing. I’ll give you my number, too, in case you need to contact me later.” After texting her my number, I hung up and placed Terri’s phone in her purse.

Dante glanced over at me as I entered the kitchen. He was feeding the cat, who was mewing softly. “Did you find any next of kin?”

“Her daughter. She’s flying out to be with Terri.”

Glancing around the kitchen, something struck me. Inside the fridge, there were several single serving containers. A half-gallon of milk. A few veggies, and meats in small containers. Everything pointed to one person living here, with few guests. Her calendar was on the wall, with two appointments written on it, one for returning from a three-day trip to her daughter’s, the other, a doctor’s appointment. Nothing else.

“I wonder…” I stared at the calendar. “Are these her only meetings with other people? If so, does she have an online life? I realize how little I know about her. Is she lonely? Does she have any friends?”

“You’re thinking about my aunt, aren’t you?” Dante wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“I guess I’m suddenly sensitive as to how many people feel isolated or alone, and we never know it. Terri could have died if we hadn’t noticed the build up of packages. And this is magnified all over the country. You can’t tell me it’s not.” I turned to face him. “We’ve become a nation of isolationists. Some people thrive on that, but there are many who don’t. At least in a nursing home, the elderly have someone to check on them.”

Dante sighed. “Yeah. But even with connections, people will be lonely, or slip on the ice. My great-aunt sees her friends and family on a regular basis. I go to visit a lot. And she’s still searching for love. We can’t save everybody, Kyann.”

I ducked my head. He was right. When I was first on the streets, after my mother died, I’d been alone and frightened. Dante had come along and helped pull me out of a one-way trip toward a very bad end. ButIwas lucky. If it hadn’t been for him, I probably wouldn’t be here now. But not every young girl had a Dante to save her. And he was right—even though Tilly had lots of family around her, she still felt alone.

“I don’t know what to think,” I said. “I’m just...I guess I feel guilty. Terri’s my neighbor, and I’ve barely said two words to her over the past year. I guess, we try to reach out, pay attention to signs—like her build up of packages—and hope for the best.”

“Sometimes, that’s all you can do,” Dante said. “Come on now, Penn is waiting breakfast for us. Let’s get back to the house.”

As we headed back across the street, the sky clouded over again and a light dusting of flakes began to fall. It wasn’t as thick as yesterday, but I suddenly found myself longing for my green lawn and the rain. They felt warm and cushioning, in a way the snow never did.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Okay,I found a way to open a portal to banish the Shadow Man,” Penn said. She’d made a fresh batch of waffles while Dante and I were across the street. “I’m going to need your help, though, to protect me while I work the spell.”

“You’ve got it,” I said, shivering. I wasn’t sure what we could do, but we had to try. “What about the revenant?”

“I have a plan for the rest of you to keep it occupied. But I guarantee you, the moment I walk into that house, everything in there is going to notice me.” She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I’m marked by Hecate, for one thing—and I’m an excellent conduit. They’ll be trying to jump me and use my magic against the rest of you.”

---