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Seeing her there at the edge of the river, Isaiah remembered the vision he’d had weeks earlier of Sarah Beth’s discarded socks and shoes near the fast water, and there’d been blood on the rocks. He couldn’t leave her. What if something happened to her?
“Let’s go back, Sarah Beth. I’ll push you on the tire swing!”
“I don’t want to go back yet.” Sarah Beth unlaced her shoes and laid them in the grass along with her socks. Just like in the vision.
Isaiah watched the water slipping over the rocks. “I can’t swim,” he said.
“Oh, is that all? Isaiah, this li’l ol’ river can’t hurt you. You and me, we’re special. Come on,” Sarah Beth beckoned. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He couldn’t leave her here.
Isaiah took off his own shoes and followed Sarah Beth out across the slippery jetty. The water was knife-prick cold, and the rocks were slick under Isaiah’s bare feet. If they lost their balance, they could be swept up in the current. At last, they made it to the big rocks. Isaiah sat down. That made him feel less wobbly. The river roared around them. The spray hit Isaiah’s cheeks, and it felt good enough to make him laugh.
“See? Don’t you feel brave?”
He did. They were here with the river around them and everything was fine.
Evie came out of her trance. She tossed the dolls away, no longer caring if anyone knew she’d read them. She hobbled down the stairs and out the front door, screaming Isaiah’s name. Theta came running up, Ling making her way behind.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” Theta asked.
“Where’s Isaiah?” Evie said, twirling around, hoping to see him coming out of the barn wearing his goofy grin.
“He was painting the fence earlier,” Ling said. The paint bucket and brush sat in the grass near the unfinished fence.
“It’s… Sarah Beth,” Evie panted.
“What about Sarah Beth?” Theta asked.
“I think they went down to the river together,” Henry said. He dipped a ladle in a bucket of water and drank it.
Evie’s gut was screaming at her. “I read her dolls. I know I shouldn’t have, but I had a bad feeling.”
“Spare us the monologue. Skip to the end,” Theta said.
“I saw glimpses of the King of Crows. She knows him. She admires him. The night she died, she met him. He whispered in her ear, and I couldn’t hear what he said, but she’s been talking to him this whole time! I think that’s her power—it isn’t visions like Isaiah’s. It’s talking to the King of Crows.”
“She never said what she saw while we were under. She’d always get Isaiah to say it first,” Ling said, piecing it together.
“I think… I think the King of Crows put her up to this. It was part of his plan all along, to get us to come to Bountiful. To keep us distracted so we couldn’t work on our powers. Even Gideon and my injury.” Even Mabel, Evie thought. “Sarah Beth’s been his accomplice this whole time. I think that’s why we couldn’t make our powers work before. She was keeping us from it!”
“The gentleman caller,” Theta said, her eyes widening. “It was right under our noses. She was practically flaunting it.”
“If Isaiah’s alone with Sarah Beth…” Henry said.
“We need to find him,” Evie said.
But suddenly, Jericho was shouting their names. He sounded alarmed. A huge cloud of dust was barreling up the road.
“Something’s coming,” Henry said.
“The King of Crows?” Ling asked.
They raced to join the others.
“What is it?” Ling asked.
“Don’t know. Stay here,” Bill said and marched toward the road to get a better look. He tented his hands over his eyes to cut the glare. “It ain’t the King of Crows,” Bill called back. He counted a truck and two cars. Bill kept his eyes trained on the wall of dust and the glimpses of white inside. He had a bad feeling in his gut. Something with the feel of inevitability. He could see the men in those cars and trucks. Even from where he stood, Bill could see their white sheets and white hoods.
