Larkspur (12 page)

“
Let’s try to get the
concrete up.” Sam pointed to a broken corner of a concrete pillar.
“We’ll have a better idea of what we’re dealing with
then.”

“
Shovels,” Jacob yelled.
“If I remember correctly, there are tunnels and drainage all
through this area.”

Wanda’s father, Erik La Monde, gave him a
shovel and an ironic look. He’d been at the park on Monday too.

“
Hell of a week,” he said
as he passed.

Jacob took the shovel and followed Erik.
Josie, Sam, and his team brought shovels and crowbars. Sam’s team
dug a trench next to the concrete pillar. Working efficiently, they
moved as much dirt as possible away from the area. Erik, Josie, and
Jacob dug out the end of the pillar.

“
Everyone!” Jacob
yelled.

They caught an edge of the concrete and
pressed. Thick steel crowbars bent. Josie’s shovel handle snapped
in two.

“
Stop!” Jacob
said.

“
We can’t risk a backhoe,”
Sam answered the question on everyone’s faces. “Too
heavy.”

“
Did you hear that?” Josie
asked. “Someone’s right there.”

She dropped down. She pressed her head
against the concrete.

“
I hear
someone . . . a man . . . maybe two.
They are yelling for us.”

“
On three,” Sam gave Jacob
a nod. “Remember when we get this up, we’re going to have to do
some quick dirt work. Hombre, Luis, and Francisco — stand
ready.”

The three men were the fastest on a shovel.
They nodded in agreement.

“
One,” Jacob yelled. Josie
grabbed Jacob’s shovel from him and stuck it under the lip of the
concrete pillar.

“
Two,” Jacob yelled. He
positioned his crowbar under the buried lip of the
concrete.

“
Ready,” Sam said. “Get
ready!”

“
Go!” Jacob
yelled.

They pressed with all their might. The
concrete pillar had just started to move when the ground shook with
an aftershock. The people below them screamed in horror.

“
HOLD!” Sam
yelled.

The wind suddenly died down. There was a
moment of silence before heavy snow started cascading from the
clouds above. Their grip on the concrete began to falter.

“
It’s slipping!” Josie
yelled.

“
I can’t hold it!” Erik
yelled.

“
Jake!” Sam
yelled.

Using his psychokinetic capacity, he lifted
the concrete pillar. A violent aftershock ripped through the site
the moment his attention slipped from keeping the ground stable.
Hombre and Luis began digging the dirt away from the pillar.
Francisco worked the dirt out from Jacob and Sam’s side.

“
Go!” Sam
yelled.

The slab inched up at a glacial pace. They
strained against their crowbars and shovels. When the slab was two
feet off the ground, Erik bent down and got his shoulder under it.
Dirt shifted and the ground vibrated.

“
Don’t give up!” Sam
yelled.

“
Push!” Josie
yelled.

They were able to lift the concrete pillar.
Everyone not holding up the pillar worked to keep the dirt from
falling into the hole. The snow fell around them like some jaunty
Christmas movie gone bad.

Sam put his fingers to his lips and let out
an ear-piercing whistle. He waved to the Lipson sign team. Carrying
water and emergency supplies, Christy and another woman from the
sign team ran across the vibrating field to them. Christy dropped
to her knees and looked under the concrete slab.

“
Medic!” Christy jumped to
her feet. She and her teammate jumped up and down and waved their
arms. “We need a medic.”

~~~~~~~~

Friday evening — 5:48 p.m.

“
How are you holding up?”
Sandy whispered and hugged Jill.

They were setting the Castle table for
dinner. Jill nodded. Hearing someone come in the door to the
Castle, Jill and Sandy looked up expectantly. Valerie walked in
with Jackie in her car seat.

“
Just me,” Valerie said.
“Anjelika is coming with Katy, Mack, and Maggie. I guess MJ and
Honey are both out at the site.”

Jill took Jackie’s car seat from Valerie.
She picked up the sleeping baby and went through the ritual of
checking her diaper before settling her in a crib along the wall.
Valerie hugged Sandy.

“
How did MJ get there?”
Valerie asked. “He was supposed to be with Jill.”

“
Rodney saw him as we were
walking across the street from the hospital,” Jill said. “MJ and
Colin went with them. I’m sure it’s better that they’re there. Is
Mike with you?”

“
He went out to the farm
straight from the airport,” Valerie said. “He checked in with Aden,
who is fine . . .”

Sandy nodded as if she knew that, but her
smile spoke her relief.

“
He’s handling resources
from the farm,” Sandy repeated what she’d clearly said a number of
times. “Machinery, people, stuff like that. Tres is keeping track
of who is missing; still more than fifty.”

Jill gave Sandy an open hug.

“
Mike says Jake’s up to
his elbows in mud,” Valerie said. “He’s going to rotate in so the
guys can take a break. You should hear from Jake in an hour or
so.”

“
Sam too?” Delphie asked
from the edge of the room. On her way to her class, she looked
worried.

“
Dad’s with Jake,” Valerie
said. “They’re supposed to rotate out together. Aden, Mike, and
Rodney will rotate in for them.”

“
We should go
. . .,” Jill said for the hundredth time.

“
We should stay here,”
Heather said as she came into the dining room. “You know
that.”

Jill nodded.

“
We’re supposed to be the
voice of Lipson,” Valerie said. “How’s that going?”

“
Blane’s done a couple
interviews,” Heather nodded. “He’s on Skype right now with NBC in
New York.”

“
We should just be
grateful Lipson got out of that place,” Sandy repeated what she’d
said a hundred times. Jill gave an obligatory nod.

“
Why is your mom coming
for dinner?” Valerie asked. “And Otis?”

“
I have to give Otis
something,” Jill shrugged. “Ancient family stuff. We set it up last
week and I guess it seemed like we should just . . .
you know, get it over with before the boys come. When we set it up,
the boys were the big drama in our lives.
Now . . .”

Valerie gave Jill a suspicious nod. Jill
shrugged. Before Valerie could ask again, Noelle and Nash came into
the room.

“
Are Charlie and Tink
upstairs alone?” Sandy winced.

“
They were
screwing
so we thought
we’d come down,” Nash said.

“
What?” Sandy started
toward the door.

“
They’re in the kitchen,”
Heather said. “I just left them. So unless they’re screwing in the
kitchen . . .”

“
We were getting plates.”
Charlie’s tone was indignant. “Jeez.”

“
You act like we’re horny
teenagers.” Tink sniffed in an attempted joke.

While Sandy and Heather winced, Jill and
Valerie stifled a laugh. Just then, Scooter, Sarah, and Buster came
running in the room. They circled the room and ran to the back
door. Scooter let out one demanding bark. Nash went to let them
outside.

“
The cats get them so
hyper.” Jill smiled.

“
Jill, those aren’t
. . .,” Valerie said in a low tone.

“
Hello everyone!” Anjelika
said from the side door.

“
I’m home!” Sissy came in
behind Anjelika and Otis.

“
Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,”
Mack screamed from the front door.

Heather left the dining room to get him.
Sissy brought Maggie into the dining room. Valerie went through the
baby ritual and set her in the crib with Jackie. Katy ran in and
Jill was able to pick up the small girl

“
I’m amazed you can still
do that,” Sandy said under her breath.

“
Years of carrying full
plates,” Jill said. She kissed Katy’s cheeks. “Hello, pretty girl.
How was school?”

“
Boring,” Katy said. “Can
I go help Daddy?”

Jill gave her a stern look and Katy
laughed.

“
No, Katy,” Katy imitated
her voice. “You are a little girl. You have to stay here and
entertain the worried guests.”

She fell into gales of giggles. Jill set her
down and the little girl ran to get Scooter. While everyone was
saying hello, Nash and Sissy moved the television from the kitchen
so they could watch what was happening at the site. Sandy had just
set a basket of warm rolls next to the soup when Tanesha arrived
with her mother, Yvonne.

“
She’s too worried to be
by herself,” Tanesha whispered to Jill.

Because Yvonne only sort of remembered them,
Heather introduced her to everyone. Yvonne’s sweet smile and
gracious nature created the first sense of calm since they’d first
heard about the earthquake. Otis and his bodyguard, Bruno, seemed
to appreciate her company. Blane came in from his interview and
they settled down to eat. While everyone tried to keep the
conversation light, their attention centered on the construction
site.

“
Can I ask you something?”
Yvonne asked.

“
Of course.” Jill smiled
at the beautiful woman.

“
Why are there gargoyles
all over the place?” Yvonne pointed to a black cat in the
corner.

“
Mom!” Tanesha tried to
shush her mother.

“
Gargoyles?” Jill couldn’t
help but smile at the idea. “They’re just some stray black
cats.”

“
Mommy,” Katy said. “Those
aren’t cats.”

“
You can see them too?”
Jill asked Katy.

“
Of course,” Katy giggled.
“I didn’t know
you
could see them.”

A black cat sauntered behind the chairs to
sit between Katy and Jill. Katy held out her hand to pet the black
cat. Scooter gave a low warning growl.

“
Don’t touch it!” Valerie
yanked Katy’s hand back in horror. “That’s not a cat.”

“
Of course it’s a cat.”
Jill gave Valerie an ironic smile. “What else would it
be?”

“
That’s not like any cat
I’ve ever seen,” Yvonne said. “Cats do not have wings.”

“
Or horns,” Katy
said.

“
They tried to kill Mom,”
Valerie said in a terse whisper. “When Jake was being born. It was
just me and Mom and Delphie and . . . They speak
some crazy language. They screamed at her
and . . .”

“
The cats tried to kill
Celia?” Jill stifled a laugh.

“
That is no cat,” Otis,
Jill’s grandfather, said in his thick accent.

“
It’s a gargoyle,” Yvonne
said.

“
A gargoyle?” Valerie
stared at Yvonne.

“
What it looks like to
me,” Yvonne said. “It keeps looking at you, Jill, and saying
something.”

“
It is Latin,” Otis said
and took a sip of soup. “This is lovely soup. I’m always amazed at
vegetables in winter. I don’t know why, but it surprises
me.”

His eyes flicked to his elderly Russian
bodyguard, Bruno.

“
He says, ‘Why you sit
down here in the
kholodnyi
?” Bruno
translated.

“
Cold,” Anjelika
translated.

“
The
gagul’ya
thinks you should move
somewhere warmer,” Bruno shrugged. “You no speak Latin?”

“
Bruno was always the
scholar,” Otis smiled.

“
The cat told you that?”
Jill raised her eyebrows in disbelief. She stifled a
laugh.

“
That’s no cat, honey,”
Yvonne smiled. “It’s a gargoyle. I don’t know what it’s saying,
Jill, but it’s trying to tell you something.”

“
They hurled curses at
Mom,” Valerie shivered. “We were terrified, and
Dad . . .”

“
Did you see that?” Noelle
yelled from the end of the table where the kids were eating. “Mom!
They fell in!”

“
What happened?” Sandy
leaned forward to look at Noelle. The girl was pointing at the
television. Heather got up to turn up the sound on the
television.

“
We’re replaying the
tape,” the announcer said. They watched Jacob and Sam move across
the destroyed construction site. They were almost to the safe zone
when another earthquake hit. The ground they were walking on
disappeared below them and they dropped in. Dirt fell around them
and within seconds, there was no hint of the men. It was as if the
earth had swallowed them whole.

Jill and Valerie screamed and the babies
began to cry. Blane popped to his feet and Mack fell off his lap.
Mack began to cry. They all spoke at once.

“
Will you move somewhere
warmer now?” Bruno didn’t look up from his soup.

Stunned at his words, they fell silent.

“
What?” Jill asked. “What
did you say?”

“
The
gagul’ya
,” Bruno said. “That’s what
he said.”

Jill reached out and snatched the cat by its
neck. She pulled the creature close to her face.