Larkspur (15 page)

“
So does this child,”
Bruno pointed to Katy. “But . . . they say they’ve
never seen a female with the capacities of this child. She is new,
stronger, more able to . . . survive.”

“
Me?” Katy asked. “I’m
just Katy.”

“
You’re very special to
me.” Jill kissed her hair. Sandy tickled her.

“
What would it take to
break the curse?” Heather asked.

Everyone turned to look at Heather.

“
I’m dead serious,”
Heather said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m not
okay with Jill living with some bullshit ancient curse on her head.
Plus, Val wants to have more kids.”

Bruno stared at Heather.

“
Ask him,” Heather
said.

Bruno posed the question to the gargoyle.
The creature let out a sinister laugh.

“
He says it must be done
by the father,” Bruno said. “Before the babies are
born.”

“
How do we get in touch
with Jake?” Valerie asked.

Bruno and the gargoyle both shook their
heads. Jill jumped to her feet and pointed at the gargoyle.

“
You and I made an
agreement,” Jill said.

“
They have not been
spoiled,” Jill heard the gargoyle speak in her mind. “They are
comfortable.”

“
I want to talk to him,”
Jill said. “We can relay what needs to happen.”

The gargoyle shook his head and spoke in a
flurry of Latin.

“
He
says . . . no . . . contact with the
father.” The gargoyle was speaking so fast that Bruno was
struggling to translate. “Will kill the babies.”

“
What about by cell
phone?” Sandy asked.

“
Creates an emotional,
psychic link,” Bruno translated.

“
I could call Aden,” Sandy
said. “I could tell him what you tell me word for word
and . . .”

“
Aden could call Jake,”
Valerie’s voice held her cheer.

“
The Celt?” Bruno sneered.
“Never.”

“
He’ll talk to me,” Sandy
said. “Not Jill.”

“
What if I call my dad?”
Tanesha asked. “Or better yet, my mom can call.”

Everyone turned to look at Yvonne. She gave
the creature a sweet smile. The gargoyle gave a sinister laugh.

“
It will work,” Bruno
said. “It will work.”

Chapter Two Hundred and
Fifty-seven

Pinch thinker

Friday night — 7:49 p.m.

“
Rodney!” Pete screamed
over the wind and snow. “Rodney!”

Surrounded by moving equipment and mud,
Rodney stood like a dark pillar in the whirling snow.

“
Rodney!” Pete
yelled.

Rodney looked up. Pete ran through the mud
and snow to bring Rodney a cell phone.

“
It’s Yvonne,” Pete
said.

Rodney’s eyes scanned the construction site.
They were still digging earthquake survivors out of the mud. They’d
lost Jacob and Sam over an hour ago. The firemen and police said
they had no heat signature; no heat signature meant Sam and Jacob
were dead. Colorado Emergency Rescue told them that when all of the
living people were retrieved, they could go back and bring Sam and
Jacob’s bodies back to the families. Distraught, the Lipson crew
focused on doing what they knew Sam and Jacob would want them to do
— save as many people as possible.

No one had the nerve to tell their family
that Sam and Jacob were dead. Rodney’s eyes flicked to Pete.

“
It’s Yvonne,” Pete yelled
over the wind. He thrust the phone in Rodney’s direction. “She says
Jake and Sam are fine, not to worry about them.”

“
What?” Rodney wasn’t sure
what he’d heard.

“
Yvonne wants you to call
Jake,” Pete said. “She says she has the number.”

“
Call Jake?” Rodney raised
his eyebrows in disbelief. “In Heaven?”

“
No idea,” Pete said. “I’m
just relaying the message.”

Pete pushed the cell phone into Rodney’s
hands and ran back to the tent, where he was helping to identify
people.

“
Yvie?” Rodney spoke into
the phone.

“
Hello precious,” Yvonne’s
voice purred. Rodney couldn’t help, but smile. “I need you to do
something for me.”

“
Jake and Sam,
they . . .” Rodney started.

“
I hear your sorrow; I
hear it,” Yvonne said. “Would you do something for me?”

“
Anything,” Rodney’s mouth
said the words out of habit. His eyes scanned the destruction
around him.

“
Will you call this
number?” Yvonne asked. “I need to relay some information to you and
have you relay it to Jake.”

“
We lost Jake, Yvie.”
Rodney felt the full weight of his sorrow. “Sam too.”

“
Now, I know you did,”
Yvonne said. “I’m going to help you find them.”

“
But . . .”

“
Do you trust me?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Yes,
but . . .”

“
Try it; what do you have
to lose?”

Yvonne’s voice was light and lovely. Rodney
remembered her saying the same thing to encourage him to take that
pastry cooking class in Paris. When she laughed, he felt as if the
light of angels had lifted his despair.

“
Well?” Yvonne’s voice was
light and flirty. He smiled.

“
You haven’t given me the
number, woman.” Rodney imitated his father’s gruff meanness. Yvonne
laughed.

“
You ready?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Go ahead,” Rodney
said.

She gave him the number. Of course, he’d
forgotten to get his cell phone from his pocket. He fumbled with
the phone at his ear while he dug around in his pockets. He finally
found his phone in the bottom of his front pants pocket. His frozen
hand chaffed against the cuff of the pocket as he pulled the phone
out.

“
Ok, can you say it
again?” Rodney asked.

Yvonne said the number in the sassy way she
would have when she was eleven. He smiled.

“
Old age’s made me daft,”
Rodney said.

As if that was the funniest thing she’d ever
heard, Yvonne laughed.

“
Here goes nothin’,”
Rodney repeated what he always said when she’d dared him to do
something new.

The phone rang and rang. He had pulled the
phone away from his ear to hang up when he heard, “Hello?”

Jacob had answered the phone.

Overcome, Rodney dropped to his knees.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 7:56 p.m.

Ring!

“
What the hell is that?”
Sam asked.

“
Sounds like a phone,”
Jacob said.

Sam jumped to his feet and started looking
around. Jacob watched him walk around the large sewer junction.

“
Your cell phone?” Sam
asked.

“
No, remember, we tried
those,” Jacob said.

Ring!

“
We did?” Sam
asked.

“
You were asleep,” Jacob
smiled. “I tried both of our phones.”

“
Did the
walkie-talkie-thingy-or-another work?” Sam asked.

“
The Lipson intercom? On
our phones?” Jacob shook his head. “No, that didn’t work either. I
assumed it was because we were down here.”

“
Huh,” Sam said. “They
worked when we poured this.”

Ring!

“
You think that’s God
calling?” Sam looked up at the ceiling.

“
Gargoyle’s more like it,”
Jacob said.

Sam smiled. Jacob got to his feet.

“
The sound is coming from
over . . .” Jacob pointed to a 1950s era wall
telephone. Sam guffawed at the sight. Jacob chuckled and picked up
the phone.

“
Hello?” Jacob
asked.

He heard a human grunt followed by the sound
of wind and rain. In the background, he heard the warning beep of
an excavator in reverse. A diesel engine revved and the sound got
closer.

“
Hello?” Jacob tried
again.

He heard the sniffing sound of someone
pulling back strong emotion.

“
It’s Rodney, Jake,”
Rodney said. “I . . . We thought you were
dead.”

“
No,” Jacob said. “I can’t
explain it now, but we’re all right.”

“
Yvie called
and . . .” Rodney remembered that Yvonne was on the
other phone. “Can you hang on?”

“
Sure,” Jacob said. He
turned to Sam and said, “It’s Rodney. Yvonne told him to
call.”

“
The wall phone?” Sam
chuckled.

Jacob raised an eyebrow and grinned.

“
How is it up there?” Sam
asked.

“
No idea,” Jacob said. “He
answered then disappeared.”

“
Wish we were there to
help,” Sam said.

Jacob nodded.

“
Jake?” Rodney
asked.

“
I’m here,” Jacob
said.

“
Yvonne’s with Tanesha in
your loft,” Rodney said.

“
How’s Jill?” Jacob
asked.

“
Fine, fine, everyone’s
just fine,” Rodney said. “Yvonne was trying to explain it to me,
but I don’t get it. Would you mind if I just repeated what she
said?”

“
Why doesn’t she call?”
Jacob asked.

“
She said it would ‘create
a psychic link,’” Rodney said.

“
And that’s
bad?”

“
Apparently so,” Rodney
said. “This all sounds crazy to me,
but . . .”

“
Just tell me what she
said,” Jacob said.

“
She said that you can
break the curse,” Rodney said. “The, uh,
gargoyles
know how to do it. You
know, Jake, she’s got brain damage, and . . . I made
Tanesha get on the line to confirm about the . . .
you know,
gargoyle
thing.”

“
She’s perfect,” Jacob
said. “Does she know how to break the curse?”

“
She’s going to tell me
and I’m going to tell you,” Rodney said.
“But . . .”

“
We’ll just do our best,”
Jacob said.

“
Yes,” Rodney
said.

“
What is it?” Sam
asked.

“
Is that Sam?” Rodney
asked. “Sam made it too!”

“
He’s here,” Jacob said.
“Yvonne called Rodney to tell him that we can break the
curse.”

“
That’s very good,” Sam
said. “But what about the people dying up above?”

“
What about the people
trapped up where you are?” Jacob asked Rodney. “They’re more of a
priority than some ancient curse.”

“
Yvie says that if we fix
this curse, the
gargoyles
will save everyone that’s
still . . . savable,” Rodney said.

“
We should get going,
then,” Jacob said.

“
You ready?” Rodney
asked.

“
I’m ready when you are,”
Jacob said.

“
All right,” Rodney said.
“Here we go. How do we break the curse?”

The line went silent for a moment.

“
What?” Rodney’s voice
became indignant. “Put him on.”

Jacob heard Rodney argue with someone.

“
Listen,” Rodney said when
he came back to the phone. “This fool says that he doesn’t know how
to break the curse, and those ‘foul creatures’ don’t know
how.”

“
Who does?” Jacob
asked.

“
They said you have to
figure it out,” Rodney said.

“
I do?” Jacob
asked.

“
Listen, I need
to . . .”

“
Sure,” Jacob said. “Get
back to saving people’s lives. I’ll call you from this phone if I
need something.”

“
Done,” Rodney said. “And
Jake?”

“
Yeah?” Jacob
asked.

“
Glad you made it,” Rodney
said. “And sorry about the curse and all.”

“
Sounds like there’s
nothing anyone can do,” Jacob said. “Thanks for your
help.”

“
We’ll talk later,” Rodney
said, and hung up.

Jacob looked at the phone receiver for a
moment before setting it back on the cradle.

“
What is it?” Sam
asked.

“
We’re supposed to figure
out how to break the cure,” Jacob said.

“
Who is?” Sam
asked.

“
I guess just me,” Jacob
said. “I was kinda hoping you would help.”

“
Of course,” Sam said.
“What are the rules here?”

“
Seems like we can have
anything we ask for,” Jacob said.

“
Is Celia here?” Sam
asked.

“
I haven’t called her,”
Jacob said. “But I can.”

“
Call your mother,” Sam
said. “I’m going to sit down and think for a while.”

“
Thanks, Dad,” Jacob
said.

Sam nodded and went to sit down along the
wall. When he arrived, a copy of his recliner appeared. Absent
mindedly, Sam sat down and leaned back. Jacob paced back and forth
along the sewer junction. After a while, Sam sat up.

“
What are the rules?” Sam
asked.