Page 94 of Sundowners
“Boyfriend? Since when do you have a boyfriend?”
“Since now. He’s…it’s Nurse Creed from Puesta Del Sol. Now listen—”
“No way! Does Lola Frances know?”
“I—not yet. Listen,focus, Em. I need you to remember, not everything is what you see. If you see something that scares you, close your eyes. If you can still see it with your eyes closed, it’s not real. Okay? Ask me if it’s real if you can’t tell. Now, can you hear your mom? Go around the edges of your room…wait, what do you see?”
“It’s…like a classroom. There’s a chalkboard. And…hymnals. Like, it’s like a Sunday school place or something.”
“Okay, maybe we’re in a church. See if you can find anything else in the room, like a location, and keep trying to send texts from every corner of the room. Something is bound to get through.”
I must have been in a storage closet of some kind. Hopefully Emmanuel could get a message out.
I paced around the room and felt my chest tighten, my pulse racing. If I kept this up, I was going to pass out. I crouched down in a corner, my back against the wall, and I closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing, and thought of the one person who always made me feel better.
Creed. Please find us. I’m trying to hold it together, but I’m not as strong when I’m not with you.
Hurry.
29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Creed
“God bless that kid,”Rey said. “I’m never giving him shit about his electronics ever again!”
We traveled in a caravan toward the location Emmanuel had shared with Rey via his watch, deep in the Santa Cruz mountains. Vanessa realized he had his watch on, and that he could send messages even if they took his phone. A jumble of texts came through with random bits of information, but it was enough for us to piece it together.
I rode with Rey and Vanessa in her SUV, which she insisted she would drive. Mark and Cross were in Mark’s truck ahead of us on their way to the spot where the ceremony was supposed to take place. It was near a church camp, not too far from where our original commune had been, although those buildings had all been burned to the ground in the mutiny. Ross, Barringer, and Captain Rojas were in an SUV behind us, ready to provide backup.
“Let me clue you in on a few things that could happen,” I said, wanting Rey and Vanessa to be prepared. “Remember, Stephen can make you see shit that’s not there. Also, apparently one of the people with him can drain energy on command. They confronted me at the home one night a few weeks ago and one of them was able to not just absorb my excess energy, but to really yank a big chunk out of me. It was such a violation. It goes against everything we were taught. Be aware because he may have some very powerful people with him.”
“So what can we even do against that?” Vanessa asked.
“If you start to feel tired or weak, don’t ignore it. Tell someone and get the fuck out of the way so you don’t get hurt.” Reynaldo was checking all of his weapons, loading and reloading them, checking the magazines.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s about it. But if you see something that’s upsetting, close your eyes. If you still see it, it’s not real.”
“What kind of upsetting?”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Stephen did this once to my friend Muse. He showed her images of him raping her. Another person, he showed them their lover being gutted. He’s thorough, and he’s cunning. He seems to know what scares people.”
“Let him fucking try,” Rey snarled as he slammed a mag back into his weapon. He asked Vanessa for hers, and then did the same with both her duty pistol and the backup she kept strapped to her ankle.
We pulled into the trees a few hundred yards from the church, which appeared abandoned. Only a couple of windows showed dim lighting. Cross and Mark continued on to the picnic area parking lot, which was walking distance from the church building.
“Creed, you stay with Vanessa,” Rey said. “And I swear to God, I’m trusting you with my goddamned family’s safety, so don’t fuck up.”
“Enough, Rey. Just stay close, Creed. Don’t be a hero.”
“I won’t. But I can tell you, they likely won’t be armed with guns. There will be a ceremonial knife, at least. But they are physically powerful.” I shook my head. I didn’t like this scenario at all. I hated bringing the uninitiated into this fight because I had no clue how to protect them. “My biggest concern is The Source. I’d heard stories about how powerful they are, but I don’t know everything they’re capable of. You’ll be able to feel them as you get closer.”
“What the…more fucking weird shit. Fine. Stay close,” Rey said.
We creeped around the back of the building, but there was no one in the vicinity.
“They must have gone to the ritual site,” I said. “I can’t feel anything.”
