“Tell you my story?” Lauren caught up and strode at her side. “Maybe I shouldn’t talk much. You see, when we were ready to climb the rope, a winged shadow flew over, and we heard gunshots. Then the rope got pulled up to this level, so we decided to go back to the prison.”
Mrs. Bannister stopped and turned toward Lauren. “This winged shadow, was it a bird?”
“I think it was Tamiel. He’s one of the kidnap—”
“Tamiel?” Mrs. Bannister’s brow lifted. “Are you sure of that name?”
Lauren nodded. “Have you heard it before?”
“I have.” Mrs. Bannister looked at the ground as if deep in thought. “I’ll have to think about that one.”
“Tamiel called himself an angel, but I think he’s some kind of demon.” Lauren tried to gauge Mrs. Bannister’s reaction, but she seemed unaffected. “Or don’t you believe in strange things like that?”
“Trust me. I’ve seen things a lot stranger.” Mrs. Bannister laid a hand on Lauren’s back. “Just give me a quick summary. Why were you in the prison? What’s up with the handcuffs?”
Lauren raised the dangling cuff. “Tamiel kidnapped me and brought me to the prison. Apparently he thinks I’m an anthrozil, because I can hear beyond all reasonable limits, and because I …” Feeling a flash of heat in her cheeks, she averted her eyes. “Well, Mrs. Bannister, I kind of glow in the dark.”
“Call me Bonnie.”
“Okay … Bonnie.”
“I heard a rumor that the Enforcers were looking for a girl with unusual hearing, but no one mentioned a glow.” Bonnie leaned closer. “I think I can see it. It’s not very bright at all.”
“Sometimes it’s obvious. Anyway, I think they’re hunting for any unusual girl my age, because they’re—”
“Trying to find my daughter.” Nodding, Bonnie sighed. “I know. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s not your fault.” Lauren slid her shoe across the fallen leaves. “It must be awful not knowing where she is.”
Firming her lips, Bonnie nodded again. “So, what’s Matt’s story?”
Lauren looked into her expectant eyes. No doubt this poor mother ached to hear some good news, but Matt was right. It would be a shame to get her hopes up without proof. “Like I said, I just met him in the prison. He told me Walter got him to help with the jailbreak, so when we find Walter, he’ll probably tell you more.”
“We’d better hurry. They know I haven’t flown in a while, so they might send out dogs, thinking I couldn’t have gotten very far.” Bonnie gave Lauren a gentle push. “Since you have radar ears, maybe you should lead the way.”
“Right.” Lauren jumped ahead, slipping for a moment on the leaves before breaking into a brisk walk. With trees, both large and small, forcing her to travel in a weaving pattern, and thick underbrush making her lift her legs high or push through foliage, she had to slow her pace at times. The image of sniffing dogs on her trail and a demon possibly flying overhead raised prickles of fear, and with them, the tingling sensation.
She glanced back. As Bonnie flapped her wings to push herself along, she kept up without a problem, deftly dodging trees or lifting herself over the bushes and brambles. Watching her agility was almost too much of a distraction.
After a few minutes, a soft moaning sound reached Lauren’s ears. She stopped and lifted a hand. “Did you hear that?”
Bonnie settled next to her and quieted her wings. “No. What was it?”
As the familiar tingle ran up Lauren’s spine, the moaning continued, and a series of pain-streaked thoughts seeped in. Got to get to the headset. Have to call Larry.
“Moaning.” Lauren kept her voice whisper soft. “I think someone’s hurt.”
“Can you follow the sound?”
“Maybe. Let me see if I can get my bearings.” Lauren listened again. Although the moaning continued, the thoughts ceased. “I heard someone mention the name Larry.”
Bonnie’s whisper spiked. “Larry is Ashley’s supercomputer. That has to be Walter.”
“I’ll keep tracking him.” As she tiptoed, leaves crunched under her feet, masking every other sound, and the tingle grew stronger, bringing new thoughts to her ears. Give me one last chance, Father; that’s my only prayer. I have to find Ashley. I have to get her out of that place.
She turned to the left. The thoughts grew slightly louder, more prayers fervently calling out the same words. This had to be the right direction.
“Now is when I could use my husband’s fire breathing,” Mrs. Bannister said. “It’s dark under these trees.”
“Oh, yeah.” Lauren stopped again and withdrew the penlight from her pocket. “I forgot I had this.” She flicked the light on and guided it across the forest debris—mostly leaves, cones, and twigs. “Should we risk calling his name? Tamiel might be around.”
“I’ll call him. He’ll recognize my voice. And I can fly you out of here in a heartbeat if Tamiel shows up.” Bonnie cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, “Walter? Can you hear me?”
Her voice seemed to die, as if caught in a snowstorm and swept away.
“That’s odd,” Bonnie said. “It’s like we’re in a dead zone.”
“Something like that happened right after we heard the gunshots. Matt couldn’t hear anything until after an explosion inside the prison.”
Bonnie pointed at her. “And you could hear?”
Lauren nodded. “But I’ve always been able to hear things other people can’t.”
“Then keep tracking. If Walter’s in some kind of no-sound bubble, he won’t be able to hear us call.”
Leading with the penlight again, Lauren bypassed a hefty tree and pressed on. The prayers continued radiating through her skin and into her ears, weaker now. Had she turned in the wrong direction, or was Walter getting tired?
A weak call sounded. “Hello? Who’s behind that light?” Then a stream of thoughts followed. I can’t even hear my own voice. How is anyone else going to hear me?
Lauren turned to Bonnie. “He’s close.”
“What did you say?” Bonnie touched an ear. “I think we’re inside that bubble.”
Lauren waved for her to follow and trudged onward, searching with the light. After a few seconds, the beam passed across a man sitting with his back against a tree. Keeping the light trained on him, she brushed between two prickly bushes and ran across a clearing, dodging scattered equipment, including a backpack, a radio headset, and a box with an extended antenna.
She raced to the man’s side, dropped to her knees, and shone the light on his forehead, making sure to keep it out of his eyes. Blinking at her, he smiled. Camouflage paint covered his face, and a baseball cap sat sideways on his disheveled hair.
“It’s Walter!” Bonnie flew to his other side and settled on her knees. She knocked a cap from his head and ran her fingers through his hair. “Are you all right?”
Slowly lifting a hand, Walter touched an ear and shook his head.
“I know,” Bonnie said. “I can’t even hear myself.”
With pain twisting his face, he forced out, “Where’s Ashley?”
Bonnie leaned close and enunciated carefully. “Did you ask about Ashley?”
He nodded.
Bonnie fluttered her wings, still speaking slowly. “We had to fly away in a hurry, but she was okay when I last saw her.”
“That’s what I guessed.” Walter sighed. “It was a long shot.”
Lauren touched her own ear and nodded. “I can hear you,” she said, also carefully enunciating. “What happened?”
He gave her a weak smile. “You must be Lauren. I see a glow.”
Nodding, she smiled in return.
“Where’s Matt?”
“We had to leave him behind.” Lauren wanted to add more, but it would be torturous to explain that she had heard gunshots while she and Bonnie were ascending.
“Did Matt tell Bonnie who he is?” Walter asked.
r /> “I’ll let you tell her.” Lauren glanced at Bonnie. Her confused expression probably meant that she wasn’t following the conversation. “What happened to you?”
“I …” Walter cleared his throat. “I was about to pull you up with the rope, and this winged guy dropped in.” He smiled at Bonnie. “At first I thought Gabriel had come from Second Eden, but when I got a look at his ugly mug, I knew better.”
Lauren nodded. “Go on.”
“Anyway, he opened his mouth, and black fog came out.” Walter’s voice strengthened, though his words sometimes sounded a bit off. “I’ve seen enough demons to know not to mess around trying to figure out if they came for a quilting bee, so I pulled my gun and shot him a couple of times. I had no idea if bullets could hurt him, but what was I going to do? Negotiate? So I got him in the chest, and he staggered backwards. More black fog spewed from the holes in his body, and it spread around this area and made everything completely silent. Well, at least I couldn’t hear anything. Then the demon fell, and I pulled up the rope and tied his wrists together. All the while, I was yelling for Matt and Lauren to take their chances in the woods, and I would find them later, but they probably couldn’t hear me.”
Walter took a deep breath, wincing. “Then he used his wings to get up, and he kicked me. I went flying like a shot out of a cannon, and I slammed against this tree. Now I can’t move my legs.”
Lauren reached around and touched his back. “Your spine?”
“I hope not.” He winced again. “At least I feel pain there. I guess that’s a good sign.”
Bonnie pulled Walter’s hiking boots off and began peeling down his socks. “I picked up some of the conversation. I’ll see what I can figure out.”
“Legs or no legs …” Walter reached out a hand. “Help me up. I’ll try to find that creep.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Lauren said, pushing his hand down. “Just show me where he went.”
Walter lifted his brow. “Show you where he went?”
She nodded.
He pointed toward a darker area of the woods. “He crawled away slower than a slug. I’m guessing he’s still leaking fog somewhere around here. Otherwise, we might be able to hear by now.”
“What do we do if we find him?” Lauren asked, still mouthing her words carefully.
“Get him to tell us what he’s up to.” Walter pulled a handgun from an inner pocket. “I think he won’t want to ingest any more lead. He seemed allergic.”
Lauren looked into the forest, imagining a wounded Tamiel sitting against another tree in a similar pose. Searching around in the dark for a demon wasn’t exactly a good idea. How could she figure out where he was without him seeing her first? Might the rope still be attached to him? If so, it didn’t seem to be lying around anywhere. Yet, maybe there was another way.
Again clutching the loose handcuff, Lauren set an imaginary phone to her ear. “Do you have a cell phone?”
Nodding, Walter pointed at the equipment in the clearing. “I don’t know if it still works. He roughed up my stuff, like he was looking for something, but it might be in my backpack.”
Lauren grabbed the gun and scrambled to the pack.
“Wait!” Walter called. “I can’t let you go after him. It’s too dangerous.”
Lauren wanted to reply with, “You don’t have a choice,” but he wouldn’t be able to hear it. Using the penlight, she rummaged through the main compartment, digging through a variety of electronics and packaged granola bars, until her hand brushed across the phone. She jerked it out. Since the demon’s number popped up on her own phone so many times, it was branded on her memory. She began punching numbers with her thumb as she walked back to the tree.
Looking at the phone, she waited. Soon, a chime sounded in the darkness. She marched straight for it, the gun extended. After a few steps, she halted and waited for a second chime, but it didn’t sound. She raised the phone to her ear and spoke a quiet, “Hello?”
“Miss Hunt.” The voice was low, measured. “I suggest that you turn back.”
“Why?” She shifted her aim from tree to tree. “Are you scared of a girl?”
A low chuckle preceded his reply. “Have you noticed that I never touched you? I have guided you from afar. I chose the limousine in order to keep a significant buffer between us. You see, I think you have a rare dragon trait that I need not describe in detail, but suffice it to say that if we come into physical contact, we both will perish.”
She edged closer. “Why should I believe you? I hear demons aren’t exactly trustworthy.”
“I told you the truth about Micaela. I said she would die if you did not heed my warning. Now, I again issue a warning. Stay away. Take care of your wounded friend and leave.”
Lauren boiled inside. This monster killed Micaela. She could shoot him without getting close at all. Maybe she could keep him talking long enough to find him.
“Why can you hear when no one else can?”
“You seem quite capable. We both have a special gift. That is all I will say.”
She tuned her ears from the phone to the forest. “What will you do when we leave?”
“Do not ask inane questions. I will not reveal my plans to anyone.”
Lauren stepped toward the voice, trying to keep her footfalls quiet. “Are my parents all right?”
“You have a phone. I suggest you try to call them.”
Lauren halted. She lowered the phone and stared at it. He was right. She could call and check on them, but not from this place. They probably wouldn’t be able to hear her. Maybe she could kill Tamiel first and then call.
She returned the phone to her ear and again stalked closer to Tamiel’s voice. “That’s a good idea. I assume they’re alive then.”
“I see you, Miss Hunt. Your parents are alive, but if my companions do not hear from me within the hour, you will be an orphan once again.”
Lauren lowered the gun. This demon had her trapped. Even if he was lying through his teeth, she couldn’t risk it. He had proven his willingness to murder.
She hurried back to Walter and gave him the gun. Bonnie had put his cap, socks, and boots back on and was tying the laces.
“We have to go,” Lauren said.
Bonnie squinted at her lips. “Did you say we have to go?”
Lauren nodded.
“He has feeling in his toes. I think we can transport him.”
Walter slid the gun into a shoulder holster. “Grab what you can, at least the radio and headset. Matt has a tooth transmitter, so we might be able to contact him.”
Nodding again, Lauren rose to her feet. She pointed at Walter, then at Bonnie and used her arms to mimic embracing someone from behind.
“Yes, I can carry Walter,” Bonnie said. “I assume you couldn’t find the demon.”
Lauren stared at her for a moment. It would take too long to explain. “I’ll tell you later,” she said, not bothering to make sure she understood. She pocketed the phone, hustled to the radio and tucked it and the headset into the pack, then hoisted it onto her back and slid her arms through the straps. Matt needed help. Her parents needed help. And this soundproof bubble was keeping her from doing anything about it.
While Bonnie carried Walter, flapping her wings to lift their feet over obstacles, Lauren followed. Of course, since she never lost her sense of hearing, she wouldn’t be able to tell when they left the bubble, but it shouldn’t be too far. In fact, Bonnie and Walter already seemed to be talking to each other.
She tried to tune in to their conversation, but no sensation in her spine aided the effort. After nearly a minute, Lauren stopped. “Can either of you hear me?”
Bonnie turned, nearly hovering in place. “We regained our hearing almost right away. I’ve been telling Walter what you told me about Matt, and he’s been telling me which way to go. Since your hearing is so good, I thought you might have been listening.”
“It comes and goes.” S
he glanced at Walter. “Did you tell her why you brought Matt here?”
“Not yet,” Walter said. “I’ll tell her everything I know about him when we get settled.”
Lauren lowered the backpack to the ground and dug the phone out of her pocket. “I need to make a call.”
Bonnie set Walter down in a sitting position. “Here? Now?”
“I have to check on my parents.”
Walter looked up through a large gap in the canopy. “It’s all right. If you’ll put the radio and headset next to me, I’ll call for air support. I think this clearing is big enough. When Matt and I came through, we didn’t want to risk chopper noise this close, but we don’t have much choice now.”
While Bonnie helped Walter set up the equipment, Lauren punched her home number into the phone. It rang several times, but no one answered, not even the message system. After disconnecting, she dialed Dad’s mobile phone, but his voice mail immediately picked up. She waited through the message and spoke clearly, as if she were still in the bubble. “Dad. It’s Lauren.” Her throat tightened, making her voice crack. “Please call this number right away. It’s an emergency.”
She lowered the phone and stared at the keypad. What was Mom’s mobile number? Of course, it was stored in her own phone’s memory, but she usually just called the home number. Mom hardly ever carried her mobile phone with her anyway.
As an image of her mother entered her mind, tears welled and trickled to her cheeks. Then, every fear, every heartache, every pain that assaulted her during the past few hours tried to erupt, but she swallowed them down. She couldn’t fall apart. Not now. Yet, her body quaked as she fought back sobs.
Bonnie scooted over and rubbed her shoulder. “No answer anywhere?”
“I’m worried … about them.” Lauren spoke through rhythmic spasms. “Tamiel said he would … would kill them if I didn’t cooperate.”
“I’ll check with Larry by radio,” Walter said. “My transmitter chip flew out when my head banged against the tree.” He slid the headset on. “Give me your parents’ names.”
“Fi … Fiona and Gaston Hunt.” Lauren swallowed. “We live in Flagstaff.”