Double Dose, page 28
“It oozes out of you. But it’s all over and done with. You need to pull up your big-boy pants and put it behind you.”
“Easier said than done, I’m afraid.”
“Uh-oh. What did you do?”
This was hard to talk about.
“The hospital’s CEO thought Daley was planning to scam the horrors patients’ families. She said she’d never stoop that low and swore to me that her scamming days were over…that she’d put all that behind her.”
“I’m afraid to ask: Your response was…?”
“I said something like, ‘That’s exactly what I’d expect a con artist to say.’”
Cad leaned back with a pained expression and closed his eyes. “Oh, shit!”
Exactly: Oh, double-shit.
“Yeah, I think I hurt her.”
“You think? You flat-out called her a liar—to her face! She hurt you so you had to hurt her back. Not to mention that when she hurt you, it was by omission—something she didn’t do—but you had to go and punch her in the gut. Forget what I said about putting on your big-boy pants—they won’t fit.”
His brother’s words struck a nerve deep within Rhys—he knew he could be a dumbass at times but he’d been a real jerk yesterday—but something else struck him.
“You really care about Daley, don’t you. You’re really into her.”
“Goddamn right I am.” He pulled up his sleeves to bare his clear skin. “She gave me back my life.”
“Do you love her?”
The question seemed to startle Cadoc, but he answered almost immediately. “I probably do. But I’m not looking for a relationship—with anybody. Frankly, I don’t think I’m capable of one yet. Not sure I’ll ever be. But she’s special, Rhys. I knew that from the start.” He held his arms in the air. “I didn’t know just how special.”
“She’s the Duad our dear father’s been obsessing about, Cad.” In response to Cad’s bewildered expression, he added, “Look, I don’t pretend to know what a Duad is, but it’s pretty obvious she can do things no ordinary human can. I thought Dad was crazy for worrying about her messing up his plans, but now I think she may be the one to do it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. And neither does she. She doesn’t know what a Duad is either.”
“Well, that’s all well and good, dear brother, but we’re talking about a woman who’ll probably never speak to you again.”
Rhys remembered their last exchange in the car. Her words came back to him in a searing rush.
I think it’s better if we stop talking…You’ll only think I’m lying so why bother?…Stop. Talking. Now. NOW!
“Yeah, that’s a real possibility.”
71
The sun had slid well below the mountain tops by the time they reached Nespodee Springs.
(Oh, this isn’t good,”) Pard said as they drove into town.
Daley knew immediately what he meant: The main drag was crowded with cars and even a few RVs.
“Crap. They’ve connected me with Healerina.”
(“Well, you’re a celebrity now.”)
The last thing she wanted.
She turned off into the alley between her building and its neighbor and pulled to a stop near her usual parking space. A small, ragtag group of people were clustered around the bottom of her back steps where Karma—no, make that Jeffrey Kendrick stood with his big arms folded across this chest, blocking the way.
(“Well, well, well. A dragon is guarding the gate to your castle. I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad. I hope this doesn’t get ugly.”)
As long as he can prevent trouble without inciting it, it could be a good thing.
The crowd recognized her as soon as she stepped out of the car. A sound, almost like a sigh, went up and they started to flow toward her.
Kendrick raised his voice and said, “Everybody stay put!”
Most of them obeyed but a couple kept moving forward.
“That means you, assholes!”
They froze, then moved to the side to clear the way.
(“This might work out after all.”)
“Can we talk to you?” said a man as she passed.
Daley slowed but kept moving.
“Look everyone, I’ve had a long day. I can only do so much and I can’t do anymore today. It’s just not in me.”
“My wife has MS,” he said.
“I’m sorry for her, but I can’t help.”
Right?
(“Right. I couldn’t begin to repair the damage.”)
His tone turned bitter. “If you can’t heal people, you shouldn’t call yourself ‘La Curandera.’”
She stopped and turned on him. Time to put a stop to this.
“Get this straight: I don’t call myself ‘La Curandera’ or anything else. The crowd at the hospital stuck that on me. I’m just one person who can help with one thing—a one-trick pony.”
She moved on to the back stairs where Kendrick moved aside, but kept his head down and his eyes averted. As she started up, people surged after her but Kendrick pulled a red aluminum baseball bat from beside the staircase. He made no threatening gesture with it, simply tapped the head against his palm. The people held back.
She lowered her voice and said, “Don’t hurt anyone.”
“Who me?” he said, keeping his eyes on the crowd.
Pard led the way up, taking the steps backward. (“Not exactly true.”) What?
(“The one-trick pony remark.”)
I know. But we’ve already got too many people hanging out here. Imagine if they knew I—or rather, you—could heal things like lung and brain tumors and such. Even Kendrick couldn’t hold them back.
She hurried to the top and into her apartment, locking the door behind her without turning on the lights.
(“Home sweet home.”)
“I never thought I’d ever be so glad to see this place.”
Leaving the light off so she wouldn’t be backlit, she moved to the front picture window and peeked through. So weird to see so many cars in Nespodee Springs. Even weirder to see the lights on across the street at the Coyote Café, which usually limited itself to breakfast and lunch.
“Looks like Arturo’s staying open.”
Pard came up beside her and pretended to inspect the scene below. (“Doing what any good businessman does: responding to the increased demands of a suddenly expanded market.”)
“Coffee and a sandwich sounds awfully good right now.”
(“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about going out there.”)
“No way. I was thinking of sending you. Oh, wait…”
(“Very funny. There’s always your stock of frozen dinners. What gourmet delight awaits tonight?”)
“I’ll check the fridge as soon as I check my phone.”
She’d turned it off in the hospital and hadn’t turned it back on. She didn’t need a light for it so she lit it up in the dark and noticed she had unread texts.
(“Four messages from Rhys.”)
The first said: I want to apologize. Can we talk?
The rest were just follow-ups:
Can we talk?
We need to talk
Please?
Was he kidding?
“Well, isn’t this just wonderful?” she said. “When my name was being dragged through the mud, he threw me under the bus. But now when I’ve risen from the ashes…suddenly he’s singing a new tune.”
(“You do realize you’re mixing metaphors.”)
“Look at this face—does this look like the face of someone who cares?”
(“I can see only what you see, so unless you’re looking in a mirror—”)
Grrrrrr!
She erased all four texts.
(“I’m guessing you’re not in a talking mood.”)
“Not with him.”
(“You’re sure?”)
“Totally.”
(“You forgave Sandoval.”)
“Did I?”
(“Okay, you pretended to. I note she’s still on your shit list. But—”)
“Rhys and I spent a lot of time together—in bed and out of bed—and he could call me a liar when I said I’d never rip off horrors victims?”
(“I wasn’t there, so I can go only by your memory, but maybe he was just being a jerk.”)
(“Well, he can go on being a jerk all by himself. And fuck himself while he’s at it.”)
Pard backed off a step and raised a placating hand. (“Okay. I’m going to stop talking now.”)
“Excellent idea. Oh, and tonight’s agenda: food, bath, bed. In that order. Any objections?”
(“None…none at all.”)
THURSDAY—March 19
72
Breakfast with Lucy could be a challenge for Tom.
He liked to eat but also liked to watch his weight. Lucy liked to eat too, but didn’t worry about her weight. Still, ordering half a dozen sausage Egg McMuffins delivered for breakfast was excessive, even for her.
“Six, Lucy? Really?”
“I’m celebrating,” she said, taking a huge bite out of her first.
What? he wanted to say. Adding another inch to your waist?
But instead he pasted on a smile and said, “What’s the occasion?”
“You know that clan I was taking about?” She was chewing with her mouth open, as usual. Disgusting. “The ones that want to bring back alien Visitors from another dimension?”
“Oh, right, right.” He did remember, vaguely. “End the world as we know it and all that.”
“Those are the ones. Well, I finished going through the head man’s digital diary. What a nutcase.”
“Does this digital diary offer any clue as to how he plans to bring these Visitors back?”
“Yeah.” Lucy stuffed in the end of the McMuffin and mumbled, “Interdimensional breach.”
“Sorry. I thought you said, ‘Interdimensional breach.’”
She swallowed convulsively. “I did.”
Tom couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “And he’s going to accomplish this how?”
“Something to do with a tower. His entries are the equivalent of quick scribbles, like he’s jotting down a timeline he can return to later and flesh out. Right now he’s worried about something called ‘the Duad’ interfering and he’s got to deal with her.”
Tom had never heard of a Duad and never would have guessed it was female, but he didn’t want Lucy to get sidetracked.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
She really seemed into this.
“Don’t you think it’s interesting? Fascinating? I mean, we’ve got this cult living just a few hours from here down in the Sonoran Desert working to transport aliens from another dimension. Isn’t that cool?”
“No, dear sister, bat-shit crazy isn’t cool. It’s…crazy.”
Tom studied her as she reached for her second McMuffin. Her eyes were bright and her expression animated and he hadn’t heard her so involved since the Bitcoin episode. She’d become damn near manic.
“Lucy,” he said. “Lucy, look at me.” She stopped chewing and stared directly into his eyes. “Truth now: What is it about this that’s got you so all fired up?”
“The Void, Tommy. The only way this clan can reach the Visitors is to pierce the Veil and open a channel through the Void.”
And there it was. The Void…Lucy was obsessed with the concept of a big empty nothingness that spawned all humans. Tom knew better than to argue its existence with her. Once an idea took root in her mind, it stayed. Only she could dislodge it. Any challenges to that idea sparked instant hostility and shutdown.
He had to tread carefully here if he wanted to keep an open channel. Couldn’t challenge the Void itself, only the method or the possibility of reaching it.
“Do you think this head guy can do that?”
“He thinks he can and he may have found secret knowledge in those scrolls that’ll open a gateway.”
Ah…Secret Knowledge…the old standby.
“Yeah, Lucy, he may well know stuff nobody else does. But I still don’t get the attraction.” Tom was being perfectly honest here. “Why are you so fascinated with the Void? By definition it’s nothing. Vacuum.”
She grinned. “Exactly! Where we could be pure intellect—our original state of being. We all once existed in another form. In the Void you can be nothing and yet still be.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
“Better than being trapped in this decaying meat sack.”
It took a second or two for him to realize she was talking about the human body. Her anti-natalism thing again.
“‘Decaying’?”
“Of course. The decay starts the instant we’re conceived. We were free and formless intellects in the Void until we were thrust into the physical world and trapped in these spoiling fleshy prisons. It’s all downhill from there, all entropy until the meat dies and takes our being along with it.
“Wouldn’t you think we’d all return to the Void when we die?”
“You wish! That’s the sin of being born! It makes us mortal! If we’d been left in the Void we’d live forever. But once we’re flesh our days are numbered.”
Tom backed off here because she seemed to be getting worked up.
“Okay, so this clan leader—”
“Elis Pendry.”
“Okay, so this Pendry guy thinks he’s going to open a channel into the Void. But what if he’s just a crazy guy?”
“But what if he’s not? What if he’s right and succeeds?”
“I think we can lay money that he won’t.”
“But if he does, Tommy, it’ll happen at the equinox, and I want to be there when it does.”
He laughed. “You do realize, don’t you, that that would require leaving the house?”
“Yeah, that’s the downside, but if he does succeed, the trip will be so worth it. And you’ll be so glad you took me.”
Wait…
“Me?”
“Sure. We’re heading down to Nespodee Springs in time for the equinox tomorrow. And you’re driving.”
73
Coffee in one hand and Coyote Café breakfast special sandwich in the other, Daley watched the street below from her front window. Arturo stood beside her. He’d made another breakfast delivery, and brought an extra for Kendrick who remained on guard below.
“Crazy down there,” he said.
Daley, dressed in jeans and a lightweight V-neck sweater, shook her head. The cars and RVs had multiplied overnight. “What do they want?”
“Ain’t it obvious? You.”
“But what do they expect from me?”
“Miracles. And that’s not just a guess. I hear them talking in the café and they think you can heal anything.”
This was so frustrating—and so scary.
“Where’d they get that idea?”
“Best I can tell—from each other. They start off talking about what they hope you can do and then somebody adds what they heard you can do, and before you know it, that becomes what they know you can do.” He started to turn away, then snapped back. “Well-well, what’s this?”
The Tadhaks’ white bus was pulling to a stop in the street in front of Healerina.
Daley waved her breakfast special in the air. “They must have heard how good these are.”
Pard, sitting cross-legged on the couch is a semi-lotus position, said, (“Alien invasion.”)
Under different circumstances, that might have been funny.
(“I have a feeling Jason is well enough to meet with you now.”)
Yeah, but did she want to meet with him?
“I’m glad you like it so much,” Arturo said. “As for the Tadhaks, I love Jason. He’s a great guy. But no Tadhak has ever bought a thing at the café, so it’s a good bet they’re not here for me. But even though they’re not, I’d better get back. I left Pete working the grill. He’ll be eating up all the profits.”
“Hey, let me pay you for this. Kendrick’s too.”
“No way. I’m gonna have the best week since I opened the place and it’s all because of you. I can sure as hell spare a couple of thank-you sandwiches.”
She watched two Tadhaks exit the bus and walk toward Healerina. Both wore the gray coveralls that seemed to form the alpha and omega of Tadhak fashion. Jason was the only member of that clan she’d ever seen in a suit.
I think you’re right. They’re looking for me.
Daley wasn’t so sure she liked that.
She followed Arturo out the door and stood on the landing. A murmur and a few cheers rose from a crowd of about twenty people below. Immediately smartphones were raised on high.
Just to be polite, Daley gave a non-committal wave as she finished her sandwich. Arturo descended to where Kendrick stood guard at the bottom, holding the crowd at bay. Had he been there all night?
She watched Arturo slip through the crowd and disappear around the corner just as the pair of Tadhaks pushed in from the other direction.
Pard appeared next to her. (“I wonder why Jason didn’t come himself.”)
Maybe he’s still hurt.
Words were exchanged as Kendrick held his bat in bunt position and blocked their way. Finally he turned toward her but kept his eyes down.
“They say Jason wants to speak to you.”
“Is Jason all right?” Daley said to the newcomers.
“You will want to speak to him,” said one of the Tadhaks.
I will?
(“I think that’s their way of saying he has something to tell you.”)
But do I want to hear it? I mean, you say he’s not human.
(“All the more reason to hear what he has to say, don’t you think?”)
I suppose.
As she started down the steps, the crowd below began to stir excitedly.
“You’re going with them?” Kendrick said.
“Yes. But I’ll be back.”
“I should go with you.”
She did not want him as a traveling companion.
“I’ll be fine. Better if you stay here.”
The pair of Tadhaks flanked her and escorted her through the crowd. As in the hospital, people reached out and touched her. Whoever was driving the waiting Tadhak bus had turned it around so it now pointed uphill. The blackened windows gave her pause, though.
Is this such a good idea?
