“Yes.”

Lori felt no pressure to dismiss the memory of her friend – and she felt no migraine threatening – and this was such a relief that she almost cried. It seemed Aashrita might’ve forgiven her after all and was looking out for her from the other side. She texted back Thanks and received an immediate reply.

What are friends for?

Smiling, Lori put the phone back in the cupholder.

“So…you’re getting texts from dead people now,” Larry said.

“Guess so.”

“And you’re appearing out of thin air without any clothes on.”

“Yep.”

“Sounds like you’ve had an interesting day so far.”

“You could say that.”

“My day was eventful, too.”

“You go first,” Lori said.

She listened as Larry told her about his encounter with Goat-Eyes and almost getting run down by the Driver, how he’d slipped into unconsciousness afterward. He woke up just as the paramedics arrived. They examined his leg, pronounced it badly bruised but not broken, and suggested he see a doctor for a more thorough diagnosis. He said he would, and when the paramedics determined he was otherwise uninjured, they departed. His leg hurt, but he could get around on it okay. He’d holed up in a library after that, a place where he could be around people and feel safe, or at least safer. He figured the Cabal would leave him alone if others were close by. It was a stupid assumption, and she wanted to berate him for putting those people in danger. Better he had gone somewhere where he’d be alone, in case Goat-Eyes, the Driver, or another of the Cabal approached him again. She said nothing, though, and when he finished talking, she understood why he hadn’t appeared in the visions Aashrita had shown her. Unlike Melinda, Katie, Justin, Reeny, and Brian, he’d managed to resist the Cabal’s influence.

“So how about you?” Larry asked.

She quickly filled him in.

“So there’s some kind of Godzilla-sized monster heading for town? That’s…fucked up.”

“Sure is.”

“How long before this thing – the Intercessor – gets here?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it moves very fast, and the Driver said once it reaches an exit, it’ll have to make it big enough for itself to go through. I have no idea how long that’ll take.”

“So we have some time, but not a lot,” Larry said.

Larry had continued driving while they spoke, not heading toward any place in particular. As they traveled, Lori saw dark shapes slinking through alleys, peering over the edges of rooftops, crouching behind parked cars.

Shadowkin. So many of them.

Some were bolder than their brethren, running down sidewalks, darting down streets. One dashed in front of Larry’s car, pausing for an instant to turn and look in their direction, featureless black face regarding them – regarding her. Goat-Eyes had said the creatures fed on the energy she emitted because she embodied the Imbalance, and it seemed like this creature recognized her. She thought it would veer toward them and attack – leap onto the hood, smash through the windshield with its clawed hands, grab her by the throat and drain the life out of her. But the Shadowkin turned away and continued across the street. It ran inside a secondhand clothing store, and Larry kept driving. She turned around in her seat as they passed the store, hoping to see what the Shadowkin was doing inside, but they were moving too fast, and she couldn’t make out any details through the store’s window. A second later, several people ran out of the building, shouting and screaming. One woman trailed behind the others, left arm streaked with blood. She only managed to make it a few steps outside before clawed hands thrust through the doorway, sank their talons into her shoulders, and yanked her back inside.

Shaken, Lori turned back to Larry.

“Jesus,” she said.

“Yeah. And it seems like their numbers keep increasing. It reminds me of that old Mickey Mouse cartoon, the one where he’s a sorcerer’s apprentice and he brings a broom to life to do his chores for him. The broom won’t quit working, so he uses an ax to chop it to pieces. But all the pieces become new brooms and they….” He broke off. “Sorry. I’m rambling, aren’t I? I’m just—”

“Terrified,” Lori said.

“Out of my fucking mind.”

Periodically, they saw police cruisers and paramedic vehicles racing through the streets, lights and sirens going. They saw a couple officers in a parking lot surrounded by Shadowkin. The officers had their guns drawn and were firing at the creatures without effect. Larry turned a corner before Lori could see how the situation played out, and she was grateful. She had a pretty good idea how that little drama was going to end.

“You all right?” Larry asked.

“Not in the slightest. If the Cabal is right, I somehow caused all this to happen.”

How many people had died at the hands of the Shadowkin since she’d been traveling the Nightway? Dozens? Hundreds?

“It’s not like you let the Shadowkin into our world on purpose. Whatever happened, it was an accident. You can’t blame yourself.”

Intellectually, she knew Larry was right. Emotionally, however, she felt totally responsible for the carnage that had come to Oakmont. She told herself that – in this case, at least – her predilection for ignoring the past could be useful. She should do her best to focus on what was ahead of her so she could do what needed to be done to fix things before the Intercessor arrived. It was like she told her clients. It doesn’t matter what caused your injury. It only matters what you do to recover from it.

She looked through the windshield at the rain hitting the glass, at the road beyond, and tried not to see the living shadows hunting prey on the streets of her town.

Oakmont was light years away from being a big city, and the people who lived there weren’t used to this level of violence. She thought of the final vision Aashrita had shown her, Oakmont lying in ruins, everyone dead. If the town’s residents thought the Shadowkin were bad, they would be in for one hell of a surprise when the Intercessor arrived – unless she could find a way to stop that from happening.

The Driver and Goat-Eyes had claimed the Cabal had no choice but to operate the way they did. Maybe that was true, but she didn’t care. Not only had they fucked with her, they’d assaulted her friends and family, transformed them in monstrous ways, all in an attempt to force her to realize what she’d done to upset the Balance and what she needed to do to fix it. Edgar had tried to help her, and he’d lost his life doing so.

She reached up to touch her head, felt the hard bump of the beetle nestled in her hair. At least something of Edgar remained, however small.

“You said you felt you’d made peace with Aashrita in the Garden,” Larry said.

“Yes. I hope so, anyway.”

“But that didn’t prevent the Intercessor from waking up and hitting the road.”

“Which is why I think reconciling with her wasn’t enough. It might’ve been an important part of the puzzle, but there’s still a piece missing. I think I need to tell her parents what I did, let them know how ashamed and guilt-ridden I was – and still am – for what I said to her that day on the porch.”

“So if you confess to them, does that count as atonement?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I can’t think of anything else to do.”

“All right, let’s go home so you can grab some clothes and—”

“There’s no time for that. We need to see Aashrita’s parents as soon as possible.”

She didn’t know how long they had before the Intercessor managed to break through into their world, but whatever time they had, she knew they couldn’t afford to waste it.

“Okay. Tell me where to go.”

Lori did, and Larry executed a U-turn in the middle of the street – almost hitting a delivery truck – and pushed the Kia’s gas pedal to the floor, roaring back in the direction they’d come from. Lori hoped they weren’t already too late.

* * *