Touched by Darkness (27 page)

would have gone right back into the school office if

he had.

"No. But you have to tell them something that

sounds plausible, so it doesn't raise anyone's

suspicions. Just so you'll know, Alex didn't do

anything he shouldn't have. It's not his fault he

missed the bus and didn't come home."

That couldn't be good, but she was too frazzled to

consider the implications right now. "All right," she

said. "I'll call Chief Greer."

"We'll be there in ten minutes."

She put down the phone and sank into a chair, her

heart pounding from both the stress and sheer joy.

But another part of her knew this wasn't a random

event, that it was somehow tied to the Belian.

Bringing them one step closer to the edge... and the

darkness.

#

Kara was watching anxiously out the window when

she saw the flash of headlights turning into the

driveway. She was instantly through the door and

running toward Damien's car. She had the

passenger door open before he even had the car in

park, unsnapping Alex's seat belt and sweeping him

into her arms.

"My baby!" she cried, holding him tightly. "Thank

God you're safe! I was so worried."

"Mom!" He held on to her, wrapping his legs

around her waist and pressing his head against her

shoulder. "Someone was after me. It was awful."

"You're safe now." She stroked his hair with a

trembling hand. "I'm not going to let anyone get

close to you."

She carried her son inside, but couldn't bear to let

him go, so she sank onto the couch and continued

to hold him. She inhaled a deep breath of little boy

and tears filled her eyes.

Damien's hand came down on her shoulder. "Easy

now. Alex is very shaken up, and he's affected by

your feelings."

She nodded, getting his clear message. She needed

to be calm, for Alex's sake. Dabbing at her eyes

with one hand, she looked up at Damien. "Thank

you," she whispered. "Thank you for my son."

His expression unreadable, he stepped back. "He's

all right, but he's cold and in shock. A hot bath and

some food will help. I'm going back to the school."

"No!" Alex squirmed away from Kara and lunged

for Damien, grabbing his duster. "Don't leave!

Please!" He stared up at Damien, his face even

whiter. "I don't want you to leave."

Damien's harsh expression softened, and he

squatted down so that he was eye level with Alex.

"I won't be gone for long. You won't be alone

tonight."

"But what if that person comes looking for me

again?"

"It's not a real person, Alex. It's a Belian that looks

like a person. Your mother will be here with you

until I return, and then we'll discuss what happened

today. You'll tell us what you can remember, and

we'll decide what to do. All right?"

Alex nodded, his eyes haunted.

"Don't talk about it yet," Damien repeated as he

stood. "Give it time to settle, to let your mind be

thinking about what happened. Take a bath and get

warm, eat some dinner. When I get back, you can

tell us everything. Kara, a word with you."

She rose from the couch, touching her son lovingly

as she walked past him. Damien turned his back to

Alex and spoke in a low voice. "Where's your

gun?"

"In the nightstand by my bed, first drawer. The

magazine is in the second drawer." She hated

having them that reachable, but knew the gun

offered no protection if she didn't have ready access

to it. Fortunately, Alex didn't know how to load the

magazine or chamber a cartridge. Plus she'd

threatened him within an inch of his life if he even

looked at the gun, and made her bedroom off-limits

unless she was there.

Damien strode into her room, and returned a

moment later with the gun and the loaded

magazine. He slid the magazine into the pistol,

racked the slide, and gave the firearm to her. "Keep

this with you until I get back. And don't hesitate to

use it if you feel threatened in any way."

The gun felt cold and lethal in her hand. She

glanced toward Alex, saw his wide-eyed gaze fixed

on the weapon. Swallowing hard, she nodded.

Alex's safety took precedence over his childhood

innocencebeing irrevocably shattered.

#

Alex was in his Batman pajamas and eating dinner

when Damien returned, with a wheeled suitcase

and a briefcase in tow. "I'll be staying here for a

while," he told Kara, and Alex perked up at that, his

relief evident. Damien set his things in the dining

room, then joined Alex at the kitchen table. "How's

it going?"

"Fine, I guess." Alex played with the macaroni and

cheese Kara had fixed for him. His other hand

patted Mac, who sat hopefully by his chair, on the

lookout for falling food. Normally Mac wasn't

allowed in the kitchen during meals, but she had

made an exception tonight.

Damien studied the boy. "Why don't you finish

your dinner, then we'll talk."

Alex shoved his plate away. "I'm not really

hungry."

Easing into a chair, Kara watched him, concerned.

He was still pale, with dark smudges beneath his

eyes. He'd been quiet since he'd gotten home, going

through his bath and dinner with a frightening

lethargy.

"Then let's talk about today," Damien said. "Tell me

what happened first."

"It was time to go home, and I walked outside with

Mikey."

Damien's ebony eyebrows rose. "Mikey?"

"Yeah. His real name is Michael Thornton, but I

call him Mikey. Only his best friends are allowed to

call him that." Alex paused a moment, then offered,

"His dad died last month."

"I'm sorry to hear that. So you walked outside with

Mikey. What happened then?"

Alex picked at his napkin. "He saw his mom's car,

so he went over there. I started to get on the bus."

His fingers clenched the napkin. "But I felt

somethin' funny."

"You felt something?"

"Well... Mikey and I were talking about his dad,

and I felt his sadness." Alex twisted and untwisted

the napkin. "I thought maybe I could feel some

other stuff, so I 'listened', like you showed me." He

looked up at Damien, his small face pinched with

remorse. "I kept my shields up, I promise! I just

kinda imagined a screen, like on the window—just

like you showed me—and lowered the shields just

a little, so I could 'listen'."

Damien placed his hand on Alex's arm. "It's all

right, son. It's good you kept your shields up. What

did you feel?"

Alex squared his shoulders. "It felt real bad, kinda

like when we went in Mrs. Burgess's house."

A chill swept through Kara, and she clenched her

hands in her lap.

"Okay." Damien's voice was pitched low and

soothing. "Did you sense anything else?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. It felt dark—like I could

almost see black. It was really scary. I dropped my

backpack and my books fell out. I tried to stuff 'em

back in." His lips trembled and he looked at Kara.

"I left my backpack, Mom. I guess it's lost. I'm

sorry."

She forced air into her lungs, managed a weak

smile for her son. "It's okay, sweetie. I'm not

worried about the backpack. It's probably in the

school's lost and found anyway."

"What else did you see or feel?" Damien asked.

Alex looked back at him, his eyes wide and dark.

"Something was coming closer, and it was looking

for someone. I looked around, trying to see it, but I

only saw regular people."

Kara knew one of those 'regular people' might have

been the Belian, and terror shot through her like an

insidious infection. She leaned forward, stroked her

son's hair. "What grown-ups did you see there

today?"

"Mr. Martin, Mrs. Roberts, Mikey's mom, Mrs.

Williams... Principal Anderson... that's all I can

remember."

"Mrs. Williams? Belle Williams?" Damien asked.

"Yes," Kara answered for Alex. "Belle has a

granddaughter she often picks up after school. Sal

Martin has two grandchildren, so he's frequently at

the school as well." She thought a moment. "And

Luz was probably there, because she told me she

decided to pick up Alex today."

"I didn't see her," Alex said.

"All right, we know some of the people who where

there," Damien said. "What happened next?"

"I could feel the bad thing getting closer, like it was

coming after me. I got really scared." Alex's voice

quivered. "I didn't know what to do. So I ran back

into the school, and I hid in the closet by Mrs.

Randolph's room."

"That was a very smart thing to do," Kara told him,

grateful he'd had the presence of mind to hide.

"It was very smart," Damien agreed. "Did you feel

anything else after that?"

"No... The bad darkness kinda faded away, but then

I was in the closet darkness, 'cept it didn't feel as

scary." Alex looked from Damien to Kara. "But I

didn't know what to do after that. I was afraid to

come out, in case the badness came back."

"You did the right thing. Always stay where you're

safe until you're absolutely certain it's all right to

come back out," Damien reassured him.

Alex nodded, obviously still replaying the day. "I

stayed in there a long time, and then I heard your

voice in my head, Mr. Morgan." Awe replaced the

fear in his eyes. "It was way cool! How did you do

that?"

"You can 'talk' the same way you 'listen' with your

senses. But that's another lesson. Besides, you

answered me, at least enough that I could figure out

where you were." Damien ruffled the boy's hair.

"You did good. And you're safe now."

Still radiating tension, Alex didn't seem convinced.

"But what about tomorrow?" he asked. "What if

that person or bad thing comes back tomorrow?"

"We're going to come up with a plan to prevent

that," Damien told him. "Your mom and I are going

to figure out a way to keep you safe. We're not

going to let anything happen to you."

Alex visibly relaxed. "Will I still get to play

soccer?"

Kara's heart went out to him. He was just a boy,

and it was patently unfair that his life had been

disrupted, tainted by evil. He deserved a normal

life, damn it!

"Of course you'll play soccer," she said, determined

he would continue to have a regular childhood,

even if she had to subject herself to a hundred

conductions to make it so. But her first priority

right now was his safety. "We just have to find the

person who's doing all this bad stuff and send them

away."

Alex considered that. "Like to jail?"

Kara looked at Damien, noted the hard set of his

jaw and the steel determination in his eyes.

"Something like that," she said.
Or something

much worse, akin to a super-hell.
She certainly

wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a

Sentinel's dispensation of Atlantian justice.

Damien pushed his chair back and stood. "I need to

talk to your mother now," he told Alex.

The fearful expression returned to Alex's face. "Are

you going to talk on the porch again?" It was

obvious he didn't want to be left alone, even with

the close proximity of the porch.

Damien glanced at Kara. "No, I think we can talk

in the front room. You can stay right here in the

kitchen with Mac, if you want."

"And you can rinse the dishes and put them in the

dishwasher," Kara put in. Now
that
chore would

definitely make it seem like life was returning to

normal.

Alex scrunched up his face. "Ah, Mom!"

She rose from her chair. "It will just take you a

minute. Get a book from your room, then you can

sit at the kitchen table and read after the dishes are

done."

She walked into the living room, with Damien

behind her. She whirled to face him. "It was—" She

stopped, seeing Alex walking through the dining

room and into the hallway to his bedroom.

She lowered her voice. "It was the Belian, wasn't

it?" She saw the acknowledgement in Damien's

eyes before he answered.

"No doubt about it. I picked up the same psychic