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Blue eyes staring …
She closed her own eyes, which were unbearably heavy. “And now I’m going to go to sleep and you … may go back to hell … where you belong.”
Take you.
“No way…”
She could no longer see him, but she could still feel him there.
Frustrated? Good. She was tired of dealing with monsters and filthy perverts who were incomprehensible to ordinary human beings. She just wanted to go away …
* * *
“YOU HAVE GONE AWAY. No one can touch you now, Mama.”
Bo
She opened her eyes, but Kevin’s skull was no longer on the table before her.
Bo
Oh, God, how Eve had missed that smile.
“And just where have I gone, baby?” she asked shakily.
“You’re still in the cottage, but the drug Doane gave you took you deep enough so that I could break through the barriers Kevin put up. I was able to reach you. I told you that was the only way I’d found to come to you.”
“I’m surprised you were able to get through. This was Kevin’s place, and it’s full of him. It’s as if he’s still here.” She grimaced. “Even that hideous graveyard of driftwood out front. It’s kind of fitting that Doane gave me a drug to knock me out. It’s like that sleeping-beauty tale, only instead of a garden of thorns keeping everyone out, there’s that graveyard of driftwood.”
“I had to work hard on it. This is a bad place.” She suddenly gri
“Wonderful. But he’s still there?”
“Not as long as you’re asleep. Everything is fine as long as you’re deep under the influence of that narcotic. Doane did us a favor when he gave it to you.”
“I don’t believe that was how it was meant.” Her gaze was ru
“I did the best I could. Kevin is very strong. But you know that, Mama, he makes you afraid.” She tilted her head. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you afraid.”
“Only for you, Bo
She nodded gravely. “I know that. Everything for me. That’s how it’s been since I came into your life.”
“That’s how all parents feel, baby. It goes with the territory.”
“But now you should think about yourself, Mama. Let me fight for myself.”
Eve went still. “And is it a fight with Kevin? Not some kind of spiritual suppression or—”
“Of course, it’s a fight,” Bo
“I know,” Eve whispered.
Bo
She remembered something Bo
“He … smothers … everything. I don’t know how he does it. Maybe it’s something he brought with him.” She bit down on her lower lip. “But it’s … bad. Terrible. Final.”
“Final … I don’t understand.”
“The soul goes on. Most of the time there’s a chance for redemption, a new start. But with Kevin, I sense only silence from his victims. Nothing beyond. No second chance.”
“Those children he killed?”
“Silence.”
“Dear God.”
“But if Kevin is destroyed, perhaps the silence would be lifted.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. We can only hope and pray. But we can’t let him silence anyone else. He mustn’t kill again. For him, silence is the ultimate power, far above the act of murder.”
Millions dead in a nuclear holocaust.
“We have to stop it.” Bo
“You worry about the afterward. Saving lives is enough for me to be concerned about at the moment.”
Bo
“One crisis at a time. Doane is my primary crisis.” She made a face. “Or maybe it’s Kevin. I get confused when I think about them these days.”
“It will get clearer,” Bo
“Yes.”
“Kevin hates you. He wants to silence you.”
“Silence.” Eve had never realized how chilling that word could be. The ultimate power, Bo
“It’s different with me. He blames you. You’re standing in his way. You have to be very careful.”
Eve suddenly chuckled. “Bo
“Sorry.” Bo
“I’m not the type. The people who know me would think I was having a breakdown if I went around gri
“I’m always near you,” Bo
“I know, but I want to see you, dammit.” She shook her head. “It’s okay. I swore I wouldn’t complain. You’re busy saving the afterworld.” She grimaced. “That makes you sound like a superhero. Now that is fu
“You like me in this T-shirt. It makes you remember me the way I was before I left you.”
“Yes, it does.” Bo
“I don’t know. I think so. But it’s not important if you’re happy with me like this.” Her smile was loving. “It’s all about you, Mama.”
“No, it’s not. You just want to keep me from joining you too soon. I’m trying, Bo
“I know you do. That’s why Doane is so dangerous to you. You wouldn’t take your own life, you’d just not fight and let him strike you down.” She shook her head. “You can’t do that. The circle around you is widening all the time. Everyone you touch would feel the loss. All your friends, Zander…”
“Zander.” She stiffened. “That’s the first time you mentioned him. What do you know about—” She broke off. “He’s not one of the people touched by me. Zander wouldn’t be affected one way or the other.”