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“No,” Sarah Beth whispered once she realized what Bill was about.
As Bill drained the Diviner energy from Sarah Beth’s veins, he could feel Isaiah in there, what she had stolen from him, and he could feel Sarah Beth’s gift for prophecy as well. It was all leaving her, flowing into Bill. His hair was graying at the temples and his pulse galloped under the strain of the sudden aging. That was the price. So be it. Sarah Beth pounded her fists against Bill’s strong hands, but his hold was firm. Almost there.
“You let her go or I’ll kill you where you stand.”
From just behind him, Bill heard the click of Mr. Olson’s rifle. Bill loosened his grip just a little, stopping the flow of magic. How close was the man’s gun? Was it aimed at his head? His legs? His stomach? A stomach wound was a nasty way to go.
Bill tightened his clutch on Sarah Beth once more. “You ain’t never gonna take what ain’t yours ever again.” With that, he sucked up the last of the magic.
When her father’s shot rang out two seconds later, clean and clear, tearing a straight path through Bill’s heart, he thought of Samson, the gentle horse he had loved and cared for, the horse he had needed to put down with a merciful touch of these same hands. His damaged heart slowed to a blues tempo. Six-eight time at the end of the night with a bad drummer. Blood drowned the breath in Bill’s lungs. His vision was going hazy. He tried to draw another breath and could not. His eyelids fluttered. His knees softened. This was the shape, then: He was going down hard onto the barren dirt of Bountiful, another ghost on the road. As Bill lost control of his limbs and the air died to a last wheeze in his throat, it was Samson he thought he saw. Samson running fast and free, showing Bill the way home.
BARGAIN
Jericho kept his foot on the gas as they bumped over dirt roads. They’d been driving for hours. An orange sun wounded the clouds into a bruising dusk. The flat farmland of Nebraska had given way to the stark, red-rocked beauty and rolling hills of Wyoming, and if this weren’t the end of the world, Jericho might have loved the chance to stand by the side of the road and enjoy the wonder of it all.
“Where are we going?” Ling asked.
“I don’t know,” Jericho said in a monotone. Then: “West. To Death Valley. We’re going to stop them.”
“Bill’s not meeting us, is he?” Ling didn’t really want the answer.
“No,” Jericho said, and neither of them spoke again.
“You’re gonna have to do something, kid.” Jericho slid his eyes sideways. He did not see Ling sitting there, but the ghost of Sergeant Leonard. “How are you feeling these days?”
I’m fine, Jericho thought.
“You know that ain’t true, kid. The Daedalus program. You had a good run, but it comes for all of us in the end.”
“I’m fine,” Jericho said firmly.
“Jericho?” Ling was looking at him strangely. “Are you all right? You look kind of funny.”
“I’m… it’s nothing,” Jericho said and gripped the wheel with trembling hands.
In the back of the truck, Memphis cradled Isaiah’s body and wouldn’t let anyone else near. “Gonna be okay, Ice Man. Gonna be okay,” he murmured until Theta thought her heart might break. They were all numb with horror.
“Hey. Hey, Memphis…” Sam tried at one point.
Memphis shrugged off his touch and cupped himself over his dead brother like a shield that was too late in arriving.
“Theta?” Sam pleaded.
She shook her head and tried not to cry.
“We’re going to stop them,” Evie said through her teeth. “If it’s the last thing we ever do.”
Jericho pulled over by the side of the road. The Diviners piled out of the truck, except for Memphis, who wouldn’t leave Isaiah’s body. Their collective gaze was drawn to the sight of a magnificent natural formation that jutted up from the soft green and scrub. It reminded Ling of a New York skyscraper made completely of rugged rock. It quite took her breath away. “What is that?” she asked.
“Devils Tower,” Jericho said. “It’s a national monument. I’ve seen pictures in a book, but…”
Ling stared at it. It made her feel small and vast at the same time. There was so much in the country she hadn’t seen. She hoped she’d still have that chance. Ling allowed herself to imagine coming west with her parents and Uncle Eddie, posing for a photograph against all that sky. Her mind was trying desperately to distract her from the sorrow in the back of the truck, the danger ahead.
Sam came around the side of the truck. “Why’d you stop driving, Freddy? We need to get to California.”
Jericho turned away from the breathtaking view. “We have to help Memphis.”
“Help him how?” Henry asked. “His brother’s been murdered.”
