“So did everyone see that, or am I goin’ fuckin’ nuts here?” Ben was continuing to talk even as he braced himself against the steering wheel and twisted around in his seat. I could see in his eyes that he was searching for Felicity. I got the impression from my friend’s sudden silence that he actually wasn’t expecting to see my wife still securely belted into her seat.
As soon as I had made it to my knees, I was turning to check on her myself. While I wasn’t at all surprised to see her sitting there, I was relieved that she didn’t seem to have been knocked around too badly. Her heavy-lidded eyes were half closed, but she appeared to be conscious and was even looking in my direction.
“I saw her. She was…” I heard Constance reply hesitantly, her voice tainted with awe. “But now she’s…”
“What the fuck was that?” Ben almost demanded.
I heard the query but was otherwise occupied. I scrambled over to Felicity’s seat and gently touched her arm. I wasn’t quite sure how to address her at this point, but I knew the last person I’d spoken to had not been my wife-in spirit anyway. And, even though voices were being shared through the ethereal connection, whether or not physical experiences were as well was still a mystery. I hedged my bet and simply asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” my wife replied, ignoring the chatter in the front of the van. Although her voice was somewhat weak, her unmistakable Irish brogue was fully intact and thick as ever.
“Felicity?” I asked.
“Aye, of course. Did you bump your head then, Rowan? Who else would I be?”
I smiled for what seemed the first time all day. “Nice to have you back,” I said.
She gave me a puzzled look. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
“I am now,” I told her.
“Hey,” Ben called out again. “One of you wanna answer me? What the fuck was that?”
“A glamour,” I answered without turning.
“Ya mean like that time when you made me see a spider crawlin’ on my shoulder?” He referred back to a bit of impromptu hypnosis I’d once used on him to prove a point.
“Pretty much.”
“What’s he on about now?” Felicity asked. “What glamour?”
“Yours,” I replied.
She wrinkled her brow and gave her head a slight shake. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s talkin’ about you standin’ in the middle of the fuckin’ road,” Ben interjected sternly. “You scared the shit outta me. You coulda’ got us all killed.”
“What?”
“You. Road. Swerve. Ditch,” he replied, each word punctuated succinctly by a sharp gesture of his hand.
“Like I said, a glamour,” I explained. “All three of us just saw an apparition of you standing in the middle of the road trying to flag us down.”
“No wonder I’m so exhausted then,” she said. “Although I can’t imagine why I’d do such a thing.”
“It’s good to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
“What do you mean?”
“So I guess this means we’re close, huh?” Ben interjected with a huff.
“I’d say that’s a safe bet,” I replied.
“Close to what?” Felicity asked.
“Close to finding Kimberly Forest,” Constance told her.
“How so?”
“Are you sure you’re okay, Felicity?” she asked.
“I think so,” my wife replied, trying to look past me. “I’ve a few pains I can’t explain, but mainly I’m confused.” She unlatched her safety harness and pushed herself forward. “Rowan, help me sit up.”
“I’m not surprised,” I told her, fumbling for the lever and easing the back of the seat upward. “Given what you’ve been through.”
“Aye, I had a seatbelt on which is more than I can say for you,” she said quickly. “Now what’s this about being close to Kimberly? Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?”
“What are you…” I gave her a puzzled look as my voice faded. “Felicity, do you remember anything that’s happened?”
“Aye, we’re supposed to be going across the river to look for Kimberly, and apparently Benjamin just ran us off the road.”
“Hey, don’t blame me,” my friend instructed then popped his door open. The key alarm hesitantly blipped and then began a sickly buzz. “All right, since everyone’s okay, I’m gonna check outside and get an idea of where we are.” Before climbing out, he cast a glance back over his shoulder and directed himself at my wife. “And you, stay put, will’ya?”
“It wasn’t actually her, Ben,” I offered. “You know that.”
“That doesn’t make it any less fucked up,” he replied.
Mandalay said, “Storm’s right, you guys. That was too weird.”
“Yeah, I’ll give you that,” I said. “But trust me, I’ve seen weirder.”
Ben continued, “Weirder or not, lemme tell ya’, two of her is one too many, ‘specially if one of ‘em is in my head.” He looked back to Felicity again and said. “Like I said, no more hocus-pocus.”
That said, he pushed the door fully open, climbed out, then carefully eased it back shut.
Felicity let out a frustrated shriek and suddenly appealed, “Dammit, will somebody please tell me what’s going on?”
“Honey, we’ve been in Illinois for better than forty-five minutes now.”
“Really?” she asked, the look on her face deeply serious. “Then where have I been?”
“Mentally? With Kimberly, I’m pretty sure.”
She grew quiet and looked as if she was trying very hard to remember. In many ways, I was relieved that she couldn’t recall the last hour; because it was one I suspected would be better left forgotten. I knew for a fact that it was a memory I, myself, wanted desperately to erase.
She finally muttered, “I suppose that would be why the glamour then.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking so.”
She pressed, “Then where are we now?”
“Route Three,” I told her. “A couple of miles north of Two-Seventy.”
“Is that where she is?”
I nodded. “She’s probably close by. And, judging from your little out of body display, I’d say VERY close.”
She started up out of the seat. “Then we have to go get her.”
“Slow down,” I told her, leaning forward and gently pressing her back. “We’re working on it.”
She looked back at me and suddenly furrowed her brow. “Let me see your face.”
“What?”
“Let me see your face,” she repeated. “What happened to your cheek?”
I reached up and touched the burn, wincing slightly as my fingertips came in contact with the blistered flesh. At this angle it was hidden in the shadows, but when I had leaned forward she had apparently noticed the blemish.
I turned so that she could see it, then said, “Same thing that happened to yours and Kimberly’s”
Felicity mirrored my motion, gently pressing around the wounds on her own face. She closed her eyes and let out a pained sigh. “Gods…”
“I know, honey,” I said. “But it just may be the thing that buys us enough time to get her out of there alive.”
“How?” she asked sullenly.
“For about the past ten minutes, Kimberly Forest has been speaking through you,” I replied.
Before I could go on to recap the preternatural conversation, the driver’s door of the van opened with a pop and a groan. A moment later, Ben climbed back into his seat and pulled the door shut.
“Okay, looks like we’ve got a farmhouse about fifty or so yards off the road,” he told us. “Lights are on, but that’s all I can really see at this distance.”
“Nothing else?” Constance asked.
“Nada.”
“So where does that leave us?” I asked.
“Pretty much nowhere,” Ben replied.
“There’s nothing we can do?”
“Legally, no.”
“But if Kimberly is in there…” Felicity started, urgency now fueling her.
He cut her off. “That’s the problem. We got no way to know if she’s actually on the property.”
“But, can’t you…”
“No,” he interrupted her again. “I can’t.”
“Dammit, you don’t even know what I was going to say,” she spat.
“Doesn’t matter,” he snapped back at her. “We’re between a rock and a hard place.”