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Back on the levee, Bill cupped a hand over his eyes and looked up at the storm rolling in. “Don’t like the looks of that sky.”
“That’s some kinda canaillerie,” Remy said. “Mon dieu, we sure don’t need more rain.”
Bill kept his eyes trained on the thick dark clouds fighting with one another. Lightning, blue and sharp, struck out over the wide river. It was followed by a clap of thunder that shook the ground underneath the tents. Whispers floated in its wake. Like the sky had exhaled.
“Never seen a storm quite like that one,” Nate said.
“Naw. I ’magine you ain’t,” Bill said grimly. “Memphis?”
“Yeah. I see.” Memphis turned to Nate and the others. “You need to gather everybody, quick. We’ve got to move out now. We can’t wait.”
Bill came to stand beside Memphis. “What’s comin’ you don’t wanna be here for.”
And something about the big man’s warning seemed to hit home with Nate Timmons, whose grandmother, touched with the sight, had known which mushrooms to avoid and which could be made into a tea to weaken a cruel master—and when the Angel of Death was nearby. A Diviner, through and through.
“Mose and Toby ain’t back yet,” Nate said.
Memphis could picture the boys playing in the knee-high floodwaters, fooling around when they weren’t supposed to, as boys who can make a carnival out of catastrophe will do. He could picture Henry playing the easygoing uncle, splashing along with them, hearing only the whoosh of the river as the dead descended.
It had grown dark suddenly, as if a switch had been thrown.
Some of the women poked their heads out of their tents and looked up. “More rain? Lord, I hope not.”
“We have to go get them. Right now,” Memphis said.
“How we gonna get off this levee?” Nate asked.
“Remy’s boat,” Memphis said.
“We got a boat but no pass,” Nate shot back.
“We’re gonna have to make a stand here,” Bill said solemnly.
“If they’r
e looking for us, we need to take the fight away from all these people,” Memphis said. He wished Henry were there. At least they could try to join their powers together.
“Memphis.” Bill nodded in the direction of the submerged railroad tracks, where the bloated dead of Greenville crawled up out of the water and onto the levee. They glowed like some kind of rare underwater sea creatures who’d ventured too close to the surface. They flickered as if they might disappear, but as they moved toward the others, they solidified into a more corporeal state. These ghosts were a new threat.
“What is that?” Nate whispered.
“That’s what we’re trying to stop,” Memphis said. “How many you count?”
“Maybe a dozen,” Bill said.
“You think the two of us…?”
“Can’t guarantee it,” Bill answered.
“We have to try.”
Memphis reached out and took Bill’s hand.
At the end of the levee, the ghosts did the same.
“What are they doing?” Memphis whispered.
“You ever seen ’em do that before?” Bill asked.
