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“Nate?” she said.
He shook his head. “I’ll go finish up with the locals. Make sure Captain Blackford has everything he needs. We should be on a flight out of here within a few hours.”
“Nate?” she said again, jumping up from her crate as he started to walk away. She felt a panic bubbling up inside her. Something wasn’t right here. She couldn’t let him go like this.
“We need to get home,” he said. And he was leaving. Not looking at her.
She reached out in desperation and grabbed his arm, her bare hand connecting with his skin, even though she knew she’d feel it. The aura.
Part of her had hoped it would have gone away by now, that feeling it earlier had only been an afterglow, that he was safe now, but –
But there was a pain in her head that hadn’t been there before and –
She saw him. The vision was him, only him, black space all around except for behind him – and behind him was only sky, gray and clouded, and it was like looking at the world upside down because it didn’t make sense.
Only it did make sense. The worst kind of sense.
His mouth was open, screaming, his eyes wide in a way she had never seen them. Pure and utter terror. His arms and legs flailed in space like he was trying to grab onto something, but there was nothing, nothing at all.
He was falling.
He was falling to his death.
“I think the flights are pretty busy at this time of day,” Nate said, shaking her off without meeting her eyes as she snapped back out of the vision. “We’ll probably end up having to sit separately. It’s fine, though, right? We can get some sleep. I’ll let you know when the tickets are booked.”
Laura watched him go, her voice failing in her throat, tears springing to her eyes.
He was drifting away from her. He believed, and it made no difference. The vision of death was stronger than ever, more immediate. More precise and real. And she knew what was going to happen to him now.
And he was walking away from her, and she couldn’t stop it from happening.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
“Mommy!”
“Hey, baby!” Laura exclaimed, throwing out her arms to catch Lacey as she ran towards her. Laura felt her knee hit the ground and was pretty sure she’d grazed it a little, but it didn’t matter.
It felt so good.
She looked up and saw Marcus watching them from inside the car. He nodded slowly, then started the engine back up and pulled away, though she saw his eyes watching them in his mirror the whole while. Until she decided to stop watching him back, because there was something far more important right in front of her.
“Are you ready for our fun weekend?” Laura asked, unhooking the backpack from her little daughter’s shoulders so she didn’t have to keep carrying it.
“Yeah!” Lacey exclaimed. “Daddy says you’re going to take me out for ice cream!”
“Does he?” Laura said. She glanced with a wry smile in the direction that Marcus had gone. He’d still had to do a little something to sabotage her, she supposed, even if it wasn’t the serious kind of sabotage. “Are you sure you want ice cream? Even though it’s winter?”
“Yeah!” Lacey yelled again, punching her tiny fist in the air. “I always want ice cream!”
Laura laughed a little, kissing her on the forehead before she stood up. “Alright. I’ll make you a deal. Let’s get inside and get you all set up and unpack your bag, and then we can go out for ice cream together. Okay?”
“Okay, Mommy!” Lacey replied happily, reaching up out of habit and grabbing Laura’s hand.
As they walked into the apartment building, Laura felt something lodging inside her chest. Something that was sharp, but also just the right shape to fit there. Like a shard of her heart coming back home to rest. The feel of Lacey’s hand inside her own, her daughter’s happy chatter, the thought of a whole weekend together.
There was so much going on in her life right now. There was Nate, and the way he had looked at her when he responded to her call and saw the basement exactly as she had described it. Like he believed her, but not like that was a good thing.
And his death, which she now knew was still coming. And she knew how.
