Page 36 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

They made the turn onto the narrow road up the mountain, Maverick driving too fast as usual. Enormous thunderheads piled black and menacing as thick fingers of pink and orange light reached through the clouds. It took Angeline’s breath away, the quiet of this place, its untouched beauty.

Up in the sky huge birds were circling the hotel, slow, graceful, gliding. Angeline thought of Petra again, the feeling she’d had when the old woman took her hands. As if Petra had grown from the earth like one of the ancient trees and was the voice of the island itself.

Please, she’d pleaded when the others couldn’t hear.Take these men and leave here. They don’t belong.

“What the fuck is this now?” Mav said as the Rover approached the hotel.

She didn’t like the edge in Mav’s voice. Lately as the pressure mounted at Extreme and Mav was getting his way less, making lots of compromises, his tantrums had amped up in volume and frequency. She felt her shoulders hike, checked the urge to soothe him.

There.

A line of men stood dressed in black and thick flak vests, with assault rifles cradled in their arms like babies, arms bulging with muscle, faces blank. In front of them another five men sat on mud-caked black-and-red ATVs, similarly clad and armed.

Petra stood at the apex of the grouping, looking severe, taller, and more powerful than she had during their last meetings where she had just seemed old and exhausted. Angeline drew in a breath.

The fierce old woman held a fighting stance, her expression grim.

“That bitch isnotgoing to fuck this up for us,” said Mav, his voice tight. He clenched the wheel, face taut with anger.

Angeline tried to put a calming hand on his arm, but he moved away quickly as he brought the SUV to an abrupt stop, killed the engine, and climbed out, slamming the door. She followed, moving swiftly past him so that she was the first one to greet Petra.

The old woman stood firm, a patient smile etched on her face. The humming engines of the ATVs buzzed like a swarm of angry bees, menacing and low. To their right the trailer and the generator sat waiting for fueling and setup.

Angeline turned to see the other Rover approaching with Gustavo at the wheel and Wild Cody riding shotgun. Great. Perfect.

Adele and Malinka walked around the formation unhindered by the men and over to join Mav and Angeline, eyes trained on the armed gathering.

“What’s happening?” said Adele, brow furrowed with concern. “Who are these people?”

“It’s okay,” Angeline said. They’d yet to meet formally, but this didn’t seem like the moment for introductions. “We’ll handle it. Just some local opposition to our event.”

Adele was younger, prettier than she’d seemed in the pictures and video Angeline had seen.Hard to believe she was a mother of two teenagers: she was fit and fresh-faced, eyes bright, dark hair shining.

“Uh,” said Malinka. Angeline was not a fan. The girl was full of herself; she’d had a list of demands three pages long before she agreed to do this. But they needed her huge following, so they’d acquiesced. “That’sa small army.”

Why are you here? Why are you doing this?Angeline wanted to ask each of them. Malinka at her young age had already accomplished so much. Adele was a mom with kids at home. What did they need with a game like this?

But, of course, there was only one answer ever: money. People, she learned, would do just about any asinine thing for it, especially if they didn’t have to actually earn it.

She turned away from the two women and focused her attention on Petra.

“Take your men and get out of here,” said Mav, getting in the old woman’s face. She stood her ground, though he towered over her. Two of the armed men stepped forward, and Mav took a step back, lifting his palms. “You have no right to do this.”

“Petra,” said Angeline putting herself between Maverick and Petra, keeping her voice calm, respectful. “I’m sure Anton told you that we’ve been granted our permit.”

“He did,” said the older woman. “Your permission has been granted. Legally you have a right to be here now, and there’s nothing we can do to help that.”

“Then, what is this shit?” Mav pressed behind Angeline, thrust his arm toward the obvious show of force Petra had mobilized.

Petra looked at Maverick with strained patience and barely concealed disgust, like he was the worst spoiled brat.

“A final warning,” she said directing her gaze to Angeline. “This land is—” she seemed to search for the right word “—unwell. It has been scarred, damaged by greed, by murder, untimely death,accidents. Nothing good can happen here again. That’s why this hotel sits rotting, never cleared, never rebuilt. It’s a tomb. It stands as a warning to stay away.”

The mean, white sun slipped suddenly behind clouds, the temperature dropping.

Petra’s words echoed another earlier warning.My daughter Chloe is not well. Please reject her application to this challenge. For her sake and for her family’s sake.

But Angeline pushed it aside, took a breath.

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