Of course, I wasn’t stopping at the physical. On a preternatural level, I was sending feelers out far ahead; but, thus far, I was having no more luck in that arena than the other. I’m sure my now rampant fear for Felicity’s safety was clouding my ability to sense anything outside the scope of the mundane, but still, I truly believed that I should have felt something. The fact that I couldn’t only served to frighten me more.
Sunrise was now less than forty minutes away. A quick glance upward through the small gaps in the trees showed that the sky was beginning to pale with the first inkling of the approaching dawn. Still, the canopy of foliage overhead was containing the darkness as if it were a black fog- hugging it close to the ground and obscuring the landscape.
“This way,” I said after a moment, aiming the flashlight down a gradual slope.
“You sure?” Ben asked.
“As sure as I can be at the moment,” I returned, my voice edgy.
We started downward, stumbling as we worked our way through the murky forest, thick undergrowth hindering our every step.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Ben told me. “Felicity’s not stupid, Row. She’s not gonna do anything that’d get her hurt.”
“It’s not her doing the something stupid I’m worried about,” I explained. “It’s whatever she’s tapped into. The spirits of the dead don’t always have the living’s best interest at heart.”
We continued in silence for a moment. I could tell he was chewing on what I had just said.
“Are you sayin’ Larson’s ghost would try to hurt her?” he finally asked.
“Probably not on purpose, butssppptt…” I replied, sputtering suddenly as a low hanging branch caught me across the face, then barked an exclamation. “Dammit!” I stopped, reached up and pushed the near invisible trap out of my way, then continued my answer as I forged the path. “Like I was saying, not on purpose. But, tortured souls are in search of one thing, and that’s closure. Since conduits into this world are few and far between, they tend to clamp on and not let go… The results aren’t always pretty.”
“Like what happens to you,” he grunted.
“Yeah,” I returned with a sigh. “Like what happens to me.”
The foliage seemed to be thinning, and the slowly increasing greyness could almost be visibly detected filtering into the darkness before us. As I forced my way through the thicket, I tilted the flashlight up then panned it around and saw its focused beam disappear into nothingness. Pressing forward, I crunched through the carpet of fallen leaves and aimed myself in what I imagined to be a straight line.
After several steps, the landscape began to lighten more noticeably even if it was still a muddy twilight. Pushing through the brush, I continued down the incline and soon found myself unceremoniously sliding the last few feet down a vastly sharper drop. Fortunately, I didn’t fall far, landing in what at first appeared to be a shallow clearing.
I heard Ben skidding down the slope behind me and twisted out of the way just in time to avoid being run over by him as he stumbled out into the open space. I quickly panned the light around, trying to get my bearings and realized that we were standing on a service road.
It was somewhat overgrown and didn’t appear recently traveled, by vehicle at least. I tilted the flashlight down and scanned the ground, looking for any sign that Felicity might have come through. I harbored no belief that I would find anything so obvious as footprints, but at this point, I was willing to accept anything The Ancients would see fit to bestow upon me.
Their gift came in the form of an audible clue, although it was connected not with her directly but with my own pet theory about where she would be heading. I listened closely as in the distance a low rumble was beginning to build in both volume and tempo. Unfortunately, the sound was echoing through the woods in a haphazard pattern.
“Whaddaya think?” Ben asked.
“Sounds like a train,” I replied.
“Yeah, but I mean, which way?”
I sighed and shook my head. Then I pointed the flashlight to my right and began to speak, my tone unsure, “Well, it looks like the road curves up ahead there. Assuming we followed a relatively straight path coming over the ridge and didn’t get turned around, that should take us deeper into the park and toward the train tracks. I’m guessing that’s where she’d be heading.”
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Just a feeling.”
“Okay. I’m good with that.”
“Of course, as I recall, the tracks curve,” I added, second-guessing myself. “So she might have gone back the other way. That is if she came through here at all.”
“So whaddaya wanna do?”
“I’m pretty sure we kept on a straight course,” I finally said, a tremor of uncertainty still underscoring my words. “If nothing else, going right should take us farther into the park. I think.”
“Then let’s go,” he urged.
We started walking, and I twisted my wrist up then pressed the backlight button on my watch. The blue glow lit the dial, and I peered quickly at the numbers. “Five-thirty,” I said over my shoulder. “If she was being guided by some ethereal force, then she knows exactly where she’s going and has probably had plenty of time to get there by now.”
I was amazed at how calm my voice suddenly sounded because internally I was a wreck. My stomach was twisted into a double knot, and nausea had become a constant companion. A sickly sense of dread was raping my spine and wrapping its cold fingers around the back of my brain.
The only thing that kept me from completely losing my sanity at this very moment was the fact that I had not felt anything happen on an ethereal level. Felicity and I had a very tight connection with one another and would often share experiences as if we were one person. At the very least, I was sure I’d be able to feel it if she was already in immediate danger.
At least, that is what I kept telling myself.
The buzzing annoyance of myriad insects was beginning to fill the air, and we both found ourselves randomly slapping at mosquitoes. Birds had begun to chirp their staccato songs to greet the onset of morning, and I could hear squirrels chittering in the branches above.
The distant rumble of the train was coming closer, but I still couldn’t pinpoint a direction due to the echo, and that made me even more unsure of my choice. We continued along the unused service road for several yards before I began to slow my pace, eventually coming to a complete stop.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked. “You goin’ la-la?”
“I don’t know, Ben,” I replied, my agitation growing rapidly. “I don’t know if… I’m not… I’m just not sure we’re going in the right direction.”
“You wanna turn around?” he asked.
“Gods, I just don’t know,” I replied, fear suddenly bubbling to the top in an attempt to overtake me.
“Just calm down, Row,” he told me, then looked upward. “Sun’ll be up in less than twenty minutes. It’s already gettin’ light, so why don’t we do this. You keep goin’ this way, and I’ll backtrack and go the other way.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t even know if she actually used this road, Ben.”
“Listen, Row, I know you’re upset, but you gotta get a handle on it,” he said. “I’m tellin’ ya’, man, we’re gonna find her and it’s gonna be okay.”
“How can you know that?” I snapped.
“Because I’m tellin’ ya that’s how it is,” he responded in a stern voice. “It’s gonna be all good, Rowan. Now go.”
He turned and started back down the service road, heading quickly away from me through the overgrowth. I watched after him for a moment then swallowed hard and mutely kicked myself for the display of emotion. Where Felicity’s safety was concerned, I had a hard time being rational, and he was correct- I had to stop letting it get the best of me.