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“What is?” Luke asked, pocketing his phone.
“We caught the guy,” Garrett said.
“The church is safe,” Tanner added.
Hallie’s body was practically vibrating now. Caden had been hurt for nothing. Those poor kids were still in trouble and her gift really was a useless piece of shit. “The explosion. You didn’t stop it. I just saw it again.”
“What do you mean you just saw it again?” Martin asked. “I was with you the whole time. We were talking.”
Hallie nodded. “When I turned to look back at you, I saw it.”
“Could it be a mistake or something?” Luke asked.
Shaking her head, she forced out her next words. “I won't stop seeing it until it happens. That means it hasn’t happened yet.”
“The hell it didn’t,” Tanner said. “The damn shooter caused a spray paint can to explode and put Caden in the hospital. Martin even went so far as to disconnect the damn water heater. What else could there be?”
Blake inhaled sharply. Luke folded his arms across his chest. Hallie didn’t know how to explain this to them any better than she already had. “Whatever explosion or fire occurred was not the one that I saw. Which means there’s going to be another one. You didn’t stop it. Those kids are still in danger.”
“Fuck,” Garrett ground out. “The perp must’ve set some kind of explosive. I didn’t see anything else down there that could explode.”
“Who the hell goes out of their way to blow up an old church?” Luke asked. He was starting to pace in the small space where they stood.
“Someone who doesn’t want to go to services,” Hallie suggested. It was a weak attempt at humor, even as resignation and defeat drowned out her every thought. “I don’t know. But I also don’t know when the explosion is supposed to happen. Whoever was there today might not be connected to it at all or maybe he set it to go off - who knows when.”
“This is some seriously fucked up shit,” Luke said. “At least with Orly…” He let his words fade as he pushed a hand through his hair.
Hallie couldn’t listen to this anymore and turned away. The disappointment all over their faces after they were so sure they’d stopped the disaster she had predicted was more than she could take right now. “I’m sorry,” she said, just loud enough for them to hear. “I told you my gift is useless. It’s nothing like Orly’s.”
A firm, yet gentle hand landed on her shoulder, but she didn’t even look to see who it was. It didn’t matter. She’d let them all down, and the worst part was that Caden had gotten hurt for nothing. “Still not useless and still not your fault.”
Hallie appreciated Blake’s comforting words, but they did little to make her feel better. “It was so much easier when I didn’t know. How am I supposed to keep seeing this glimpse knowing a bunch of kids are going to die when it happens?”
“It’s not going to happen,” Luke said. Hallie turned and saw Luke standing beside Blake and the others. “I’m sorry about what I said. I don’t know how much you know about my story with Orly, but I didn’t give up on her, and I sure as hell am not giving up on you. Or this glimpse. If we can stop it and any others you might have in the future, you can bet we will.”
“Can you tell us anything else about what you saw?” Blake asked.
Hallie thought about it for a moment. “Just what I told Caden. That the explosion comes from below.”
“From below,” Tanner parroted her words. “We checked the whole basement and almost got shot and blown up in the process. There’s nothing down there.”
Tanner’s frustration was coming off him in waves and it only added to her feelings of helplessness. “I don’t know how else to explain it. When I see it, it happens so fast. The glimpse, I mean. I don’t know how long the actual explosion or fire will last.”
“All right, let’s just assume for a minute that whoever is going to do this is wanting to inflict maximum damage,” Luke said.
“That means they’d rig it to blow on a weekday when the school is full of kids and teachers,” Blake said, disgust in his voice.
“I don’t know about that,” Tanner said. “There were a lot of people coming out of there from an afternoon service when we got there.”
“Shit,” Blake said. “Then I don’t know.”
Hallie sighed, tears burning the back of her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I have no way of knowing what day it’s going to happen or who’s going to get hurt or -”
A woman standing not far from them burst into tears, sobbing loudly, as a nurse tried to comfort her. Hallie turned, silenced by the other woman’s grief. Caden just had to be okay. She wouldn’t be able to handle losing him.
Then it hit her. She turned back to the guys. “The church. Does it have a graveyard? Or did it at one point have a bomb shelter or something like that?”
Blake thought for a moment. “I don’t know about a bomb shelter, but there’s a small graveyard out back, why?”
