arm harder. As if to confirm the thought, the tapping resumed, gently now, but the light shone pointedly on the barrel of a gun, the thing Rattler had been using to tap the glass. And it was pointed at me.
“Come on now, Hailey-girl,” Rattler crooned, almost a singsong. “Come on outta there. We’re goin’ for a drive.”
“He won’t shoot me,” I said. But he would shoot Kaz without a second thought.
Kaz knew it too, because I could see him hesitating, reaching for the keys dangling in the ignition, trying to figure out whether he could get the car in motion before Rattler took a shot.
The grinning figure on the other side, leering through the window, seemed to make up Kaz’s mind. Slowly, he took his hand off the keys.
Rattler had known we were coming.
He and Kaz, both Seers, were plagued with visions of thethings that stirred them most, the things that they held dearest or that threatened the greatest harm. That was how it always worked. Kaz had seen the Quadrillon sign because Chub was there. Rattler, though, cared most about Prairie. I lowered the window a crack. “She’s not with us, you know.”
Rattler’s expression didn’t so much change as drive over a speed bump. For a flash of a second, it was shot through with anguish and even worry, something I’d never seen on his face before. “I know it,” he muttered. “Now get out.”
Kaz reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze, and then we both got out. My mind raced, looking for ways to fight back, to escape, but Rattler seized my arm roughly and guided me toward Kaz and the other man. Rattler was much stronger than me, and the other man held a gun loosely at the small of Kaz’s back as they headed for the road. A car drove past in a blur of headlights and spun gravel; the people inside probably didn’t even see us walking along the ditch beside the road, and even if someone stopped and inquired whether everything was all right, I was sure Rattler had a reply at the ready. Help wouldn’t come in that form.
We walked toward the lights of the gas station and fast-food restaurants ahead, not even a quarter of a mile away. I shook my head in disgust as we came within fifty yards of the giant Exxon sign: choosing to stop here in the shadow of this sign was like sending Rattler a postcard inviting him to come find us.
I’d made another rookie mistake. I kept pretending that Icould stay a step ahead of all the dangers that surrounded us, and I kept failing. First I’d led the General’s men straight to us. And now Rattler. I couldn’t keep letting things like this happen. I had to be sharper, think faster.
At the edge of the Long John Silver’s parking lot was a big old sedan sagging on its wheels, and Rattler and the other man led us to it. In the parking lot’s bright lights, I got a better look at the man and realized I knew him; he had been one of Gram’s regulars. Derek Pollitt. He’d been one of the quieter ones, never putting a hand on me or even joking with me, and for that I was grateful. He opened the passenger door for Kaz and then got in the driver’s seat.
Rattler opened my door, but before he released my arm, he stood looking into my face. It was the first good look I’d had of the eye I’d stabbed, and it was a transfixing sight. The skin below the eye was rimmed with a red ragged scar. The eyeball was milky and pale, and it seemed to spin as Rattler stared at me, but surely that was an illusion.
I looked away first, and Rattler laughed, a harsh, bone-chilling sound. “Aw, don’t be that way with your daddy,” he said. “You and me, we got off on the wrong foot, after all this time. We both got a little makin’ up to do, I’d say. Now, I’m not going to hold this against you.”
He pointed at his wrecked eye. It was true—Rattler didn’t look angry, only slightly amused and … somehow very much alive, sparking with the manic energy I’d always associated with him.
“You and me, we got the same goal
“Come on now, Hailey-girl,” Rattler crooned, almost a singsong. “Come on outta there. We’re goin’ for a drive.”
“He won’t shoot me,” I said. But he would shoot Kaz without a second thought.
Kaz knew it too, because I could see him hesitating, reaching for the keys dangling in the ignition, trying to figure out whether he could get the car in motion before Rattler took a shot.
The grinning figure on the other side, leering through the window, seemed to make up Kaz’s mind. Slowly, he took his hand off the keys.
Rattler had known we were coming.
He and Kaz, both Seers, were plagued with visions of thethings that stirred them most, the things that they held dearest or that threatened the greatest harm. That was how it always worked. Kaz had seen the Quadrillon sign because Chub was there. Rattler, though, cared most about Prairie. I lowered the window a crack. “She’s not with us, you know.”
Rattler’s expression didn’t so much change as drive over a speed bump. For a flash of a second, it was shot through with anguish and even worry, something I’d never seen on his face before. “I know it,” he muttered. “Now get out.”
Kaz reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze, and then we both got out. My mind raced, looking for ways to fight back, to escape, but Rattler seized my arm roughly and guided me toward Kaz and the other man. Rattler was much stronger than me, and the other man held a gun loosely at the small of Kaz’s back as they headed for the road. A car drove past in a blur of headlights and spun gravel; the people inside probably didn’t even see us walking along the ditch beside the road, and even if someone stopped and inquired whether everything was all right, I was sure Rattler had a reply at the ready. Help wouldn’t come in that form.
We walked toward the lights of the gas station and fast-food restaurants ahead, not even a quarter of a mile away. I shook my head in disgust as we came within fifty yards of the giant Exxon sign: choosing to stop here in the shadow of this sign was like sending Rattler a postcard inviting him to come find us.
I’d made another rookie mistake. I kept pretending that Icould stay a step ahead of all the dangers that surrounded us, and I kept failing. First I’d led the General’s men straight to us. And now Rattler. I couldn’t keep letting things like this happen. I had to be sharper, think faster.
At the edge of the Long John Silver’s parking lot was a big old sedan sagging on its wheels, and Rattler and the other man led us to it. In the parking lot’s bright lights, I got a better look at the man and realized I knew him; he had been one of Gram’s regulars. Derek Pollitt. He’d been one of the quieter ones, never putting a hand on me or even joking with me, and for that I was grateful. He opened the passenger door for Kaz and then got in the driver’s seat.
Rattler opened my door, but before he released my arm, he stood looking into my face. It was the first good look I’d had of the eye I’d stabbed, and it was a transfixing sight. The skin below the eye was rimmed with a red ragged scar. The eyeball was milky and pale, and it seemed to spin as Rattler stared at me, but surely that was an illusion.
I looked away first, and Rattler laughed, a harsh, bone-chilling sound. “Aw, don’t be that way with your daddy,” he said. “You and me, we got off on the wrong foot, after all this time. We both got a little makin’ up to do, I’d say. Now, I’m not going to hold this against you.”
He pointed at his wrecked eye. It was true—Rattler didn’t look angry, only slightly amused and … somehow very much alive, sparking with the manic energy I’d always associated with him.
“You and me, we got the same goal
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