Page 11 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

Above all things, I was mad that I had convinced myself that we could. That I had allowed myself to believe it.

“It’s okay, babe.” I held Lucas to me as my car idled, and Lucas shook, his arms violently grabbing ahold of me, as though he needed to be reminded what was real. “It’s okay.”

“How the fuck are we still in Point Worth, Rob?” He managed to choke out. “How the fuck is that possible?”

Lucas wasn’t crying or falling into complete hysterics. Still, it was obvious that he wasn’t holding himself together as well as he would have wanted under normal circumstances. The problem was—we hadn’t found ourselves cast into a normal situation since we’d had coffee at the Sunny Side-Up Café right after I got back to Point Worth. Everything that had happened since I returned to Point Worth—to Oma’s—had been a complete shit show. It was like riding a rollercoaster, my return to Point Worth. At first, things are fun and different, then the cars start to move, and you find yourself going uphill, slowly, slowly, slowly…you see the tip of the coaster that you will soon be cresting before the fall. And you start to dread the fall.

We had found ourselves at the top of the coaster. We were slowly inching our way into the fall. Soon…there’d be no stopping the downward journey.

“I don’t know.”

I knew.

Lucas knew.

“Why won’t this fucking place just let us leave?” Lucas growled suddenly, making me jump, though I didn’t let go of him. “I knew this place would never let me go, but fuck!”

Lucas pushed away from me gently and fell back against the asphalt, his knees rising so that he could wrap his arms around them. I fell to my knees in front of him, a great gust of breath escaping my throat as I shook my head. As I knelt there in front of Lucas, only the headlights of my car providing us with any light as the city limit sign loomed over us, what Lucas had said rang through my ears. Like a fly buzzing around my ear, his words were distracting me from any other thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

“What?” Lucas barked, though his anger wasn’t directed at me.

“You said you knew this place would never let you go?” I frowned. “What did you mean, Lucas?”

Lucas looked up, his face no longer buried against his knees, and gave me a confused look, half of his face cast in shadow.

“You said,” My brow furrowed, “that you knew this place would never let you go. That’s what you said. What did you mean? It sounds like maybe you know something you’re not sharing, Lucas.”

He sighed. “No. Not really. Well, it’s just—”

“—something that you knew.”

Lucas stared into my eyes for a few breathless moments, then nodded.

“Why?”

“Because,” He sighed, “I just know things, Rob. We’ve talked about this, and—”

“But you said this place would never let you go. You knew that. You’ve never mentioned that before.”

Lucas was sighing again, and his legs shot out, leaving him sitting like a rag doll dropped right there in the middle of the highway.

“Because it’s batshit crazy, Rob.” He threw his hands up. “The fact that I know things is batshit crazy. That’s bad enough, okay? But then to say something like: ‘Ya’ know, every time I drive over to Toledo, there’s this inextricable force calling me back, as though I might be violently ill if I don’t return to Point Worth?’ That’s craziest of all, right? Look, I know you’re special and everything, magic and all that jazz, but even you would have trouble with that. Who the hell am I going to tell something like that to? Who will understand it if I say that Point Worth—a town—has claws and they’re buried in my fucking skin, Rob?”

“Calm down, babe.” I reached out to touch the toe of his shoe gently. “I just want answers. We’re sitting in front of this sign, and we passed a ‘welcome’ sign over an hour ago. I’m trying to understand. That’s all.”

“Baptizing the cat?” He grinned slightly, looking down at his lap.

“Hopefully not.” I chuckled, though my heart wasn’t in it.

“Rob.” Lucas sighed. “When you found me at the football stadium…I knew that Jason and his pack weren’t going to hurt me. I knew it. Not because I’m Mystic Meg or something, but because nothing was adding up. Why would they go to all that trouble? Especially since it was obvious that they wanted you to come get me. They wanted me with you, and they wanted to delay you leaving. They knew if they could waste time and also make sure you had me with you—you wouldn’t be able to leave either. If I’m with you, you’re stuck here—because this town won’t let me leave. And they were delaying everything because…”

“He’s coming.” I nodded. “He’s probably here.”

“Who is he?” Lucas seemed to be pleading with the universe to give him answers.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I mean…I know, and I don’t. It’s almost as if—”