Chapter Thirty-One – Ryder

 

I watched as Stephanie and Jeff disappeared up the road.

A cloud had descended. The shabby hotel seemed even shabbier. The blacks seemed blacker, the whites more dingy than before. Why did I have to be who I was? Why couldn’t I have been just a normal human? It was almost enough for me to walk right out to the Charger, climb inside, and drive right out of town. What was the point of sticking around and helping people who didn’t understand me? Who never would?

I clenched my jaw, shook my head. No, I couldn’t think that way. I couldn’t just let my will collapse like this.

I’d known it was a thankless job when I started. Col. Harrington had told all of us working for the PRB, then Full Moon afterwards, that we’d never hear any accolades. We’d never get any parades, or medals, or rewards. No recognition. All we would have was the knowledge that we’d done what was difficult, but right. That we’d made the tough decisions, and we’d taken the risks. Because if anyone ever found out about our jobs, or what we did, that would mean we’d failed in almost every way imaginable.

Esther’s footsteps on the stairs drew my attention from the front window. She came down, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, wearing a blouse, jeans, and work boots. She and I exchanged nods as she came down the hall towards me.

“Ready?” she asked.

I snorted a little. “To walk into a nest of creatures that can tear me limb from limb, all so I can face an evil witch that’s trying to do the unthinkable?”

She smiled a little.

“Sure, why the hell not?”

“Lead the way.”

I grabbed the secondary walkie from the bag and stuffed it in my back pocket. I’d already stuffed my concealable mag carry down my hip pocket opposite from my pistol. Together, Esther and I stepped out onto the porch, my ears and eyes searching for any sign of the cat-things.

“Think we’re clear,” I said as she locked up the door behind us. “Really nervous about someone breaking in right now?”

“No,” she admitted with a frown. “Really just nervous about leaving it empty. Do you know how long it’s been since this building was completely vacant?”

I nodded. “Things change, don’t they?”

“Even if we don’t particularly want them to.”

Together, we made our way across the parking lot and up the road to the Charger. She was sitting there just like she had been a couple hours before, crouched like a puma ready to spring.

“Passenger side’s unlocked,” I said as we approached.

With a nod, the witch who was old enough to be my great-great-grandmother walked around to the passenger side and let herself in. I continued to scan the surrounding area while I waited for her to close the door behind her, just out of habit from my personal protection details, before climbing inside myself.

When I turned to Esther, she had a little smirk on her lips. “All clear?”

I chuckled as I tossed my walkie on the dash and slid the keys into the ignition. “Yeah. Far as I can tell.”

“Then hi-yo, Silver.”

I laughed as I turned over the engine and got it going, the engine seeming to rumble and shake the whole world down to its studs as it kicked alive. I revved the engine a little, just to get the gas moving, before throwing it into first and pulling onto Main.

I followed Esther’s directions out of town, taking my time as I headed out to Anderson’s Farm. There wasn’t much sense in getting ahead of ourselves and arriving before Stephanie and Jeff had finished drawing their circle.

Still, less than five minutes passed before we were outside the Camelot city limits.

“Anderson’s is just a few miles down this way,” Esther said, peering out the front windshield at the road ahead. “My sister’s little production company leased the whole plot of land for the festival, no expenses spared.”

I whistled low. “Quite a chunk of change.”

Esther shrugged. “No expenses spared. Any word from Stephanie yet on the circle?”

I shook my head. “Nothing, yet. They should be getting there in just a few minutes.” I paused, licked my lips. “Worried she won’t hold up her end of the plan, or something?”

She shook her head. “No, not that. Just want to make sure everything is in place before we go in. Marguerite’s not one to be trifled with, though, and we’d be foolish to underestimate her.”

“Who’s underestimating her?” I asked. “I’m going in there with my eyes peeled, and prepared for anything to come down the pike. I know it’s going to get bad.”

We drove a little farther in silence, with just the rumbling of the Charger to fill the void as we drove down the twisting country road. Soon, the grade of the road began to decline, and we took another turn. Down below us, the valley seemed to spread like a great, open book, with the festival at the center of the picture.

Easily a couple hundred acres in diameter, the grounds were almost circular. The side closest to us had been turned into a parking lot, with the cars packed as tightly as train cars in a rail yard. Beside that was what looked like the campgrounds, with a mass of domed and rectangular tents, both big and small, dotting the whole tract of land. Finally, at the farthest side from us, was the music festival itself. A rectangular space filled with a mass of people, at least a thousand, all writhing together. Beyond that was a large concert stage, complete with lighting and giant speakers assembled on some scaffolding, which framed the whole thing.

“That’s a lot of those cat-things,” I breathed as my view of the grounds disappeared behind a curve and a stand of trees. “You sure we’ll be able to get through to your sister?”

“Just do your part like we discussed,” she said, patting my hand where it rested on the gearshift, “and we’ll be fine. They won’t dare touch you. I promise.”

I furrowed my brow a little. “I still don’t get why they haven’t come for you yet. There’s plenty of them.”

“Maybe she was worried I’d try to run. Or, maybe, she knew I was finally tired of running, and she could take her time.”

I nodded a little. “Any idea what you would’ve done if Stephanie and I hadn’t come along?”

A distant look came over her face, and she frowned a little. “Not really, no. Ryder, I was just tired of running. Do you know what that’s like? To never be in one place for very long, never have any chance to put down roots? Before Camelot, the last time I had that chance was back in Philadelphia. And that was decades ago.”

“So you just decided to quit running? Say ‘fuck it’?”

“Not in quite those exact words.” She laughed. “But now that you actually put it that way, yes. ‘Fuck it’ sounds about right.”

I grinned, eyes drifting to the walkie on the dashboard. Any minute now, Stephanie would be giving me a call, and then we’d know when we could head in. And then, after that, she’d be free and clear, far away from the action. “Well, I guess you haven’t exactly given up just yet, have you? I mean, here you are, riding into the lion’s den with me. Guess that makes you my Tonto.”

“Something like that, I suppose.” Her eyes must have followed mine. “You’re worried about her, aren’t you?”

I sniffed. “No, just the plan coming off the way it’s supposed to.”

Esther gave an unladylike snort of laughter as she turned and looked out the window.

“What?”

“You. Men. You’re all the same.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you not only lied to her, you lied to yourself. Have been lying to yourself.”

“About what, oh wise woman?”

“About not needing her help. Even I know you need her help to pull this off. She was the one able to hurt me, not you.”

I glanced in her direction, caught her smiling a little. “Think that’s funny, huh?”

She shrugged. “No, I just think it’s reality. You didn’t want to bring her along for the biggest part of the plan. You didn’t want to trust her with what you really are. I bet you even tried to keep her from going with you when you first left Jeff’s house, didn’t you?”

I didn’t reply. I just gritted my teeth a little and tightened my grip on the steering wheel. The Charger didn’t judge; it just drove.

“Struck a chord, did I?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

I chuckled. “Maybe a little. Happy?”

“Very.”

“How much longer, do you think?”

Esther glanced down at the clock as I took the Charger around another corner to the right, and the road began to descend. The trees were flying past now, and the growth was getting fuller and thicker to either side of us.

“Not much,” she said. “Not much longer at all.”