No!
Robert got a grin that looked suspiciously like his mother s, said, Uh-
huh, and sauntered off. I had the distinct feeling I d been had.
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You can sit next to me, Jacquie announced from behind me. I spun
around, blinking down at her. At least she probably wouldn t tease me about
Gary.
Okay. Where are we sitting?
Here and here. She dragged two chairs out and looked at me expectantly.
I sat and she scrambled into her own chair, looking smug. A moment later
Mel appeared in the doorway, carrying Erik on one hip and an enormous
bowl of gravy in the other hand.
Jacquie, you re supposed to be helping set the table.
I m keeping Joanne company, Jacquie said virtuously. I gaped at her and
Mel laughed out loud.
I see how it is. All right. You keep Joanne company. She put the gravy
down and disappeared back into the kitchen as I yelled, I m being used!
after her. Jacquie giggled, pleased with herself, and tilted her chair
precariously so she could lean on me. By the time I got her straightened up,
the table was set and everyone had gathered around. I lifted my wineglass
and my eyebrows, looking to Billy for permission to make a toast.
To Mel, I said cheerfully. A miracle of modern efficiency. Thank you
for inviting us to dinner. I lifted my glass a little higher, watching the wine
catch the bright white of one of the chandelier lightbulbs and turn it red as
the full moon. Oh, shit!
I dropped the wineglass and ran for the door.
Chapter Ten
I didn t actually get my boots all the way on until Gary had us halfway to
the park. I kept fumbling my stupid damned cell phone as I tried to call
Morrison. Finally, on the fourth try, I got the right number punched in and
he answered in with a worn-out hello.
Morrison? You ve got to get everybody out of the park, right now. Do we
have anybody there? Call them out. He s going to be there. The Blade. It s
the full moon. Mother said the moon was changing. Can you call them out?
Gary gave me a sideways glance of concern. Billy leaned over the front
seat of the cab, hanging on my every word. I had no idea what Mel must
think. I hadn t managed to say anything coherent between grabbing my
boots and running for the cab.
Apparently I still wasn t saying anything coherent. Morrison was silent on
the other end of the line for a few moments, then exhaled heavily. Walker?
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Of course it s Walker! Does anybody else do this kind of shit to you? Can
you empty the park? They re never going to see him coming, Morrison,
they re just going to get killed. You ve got to move now!
Another moment s silence, and then, I will call you back in two minutes.
Do not do anything until you hear back from me. Morrison hung up. I
finally pulled my second boot on, wishing my foot weren t soaking wet and
cold from melting snow.
Hurry-hurry-hurry-hurry, Gary, hurry.
If I hurry any more we ll be dead. It was true. The roads were coated in
black ice, and he was driving as fast as I would have, which didn t bode well
for anybody.
Joanie?
It s Blade, dammit, it s the full moon. I twitched around to look at Billy,
then twitched forward again. I m going to have to explain it to Morrison, I
don t want to explain it twice. I leaned forward, as if my doing so would
urge the cab to a faster pace. Dammit, dammit, dammit, stupid stupid stupid
Jo.
Hey, Gary said, surprisingly quiet under my litany of abuse. You got no
reason to be callin yourself stupid, lady.
Unexpected sniffles hit me right in the nose. No right, I mumbled. Not
no reason.
Close enough for this old dog.
The cell phone rang and I nearly jumped out of my skin as I answered it.
God, I hate these things.
I assume you re talking about the phone, Morrison said. The park s
clearing out. What the hell is going on, Walker? You d better not be
screwing with me.
I would not screw with you, I promised fervently. It s the full moon,
Morrison, my mother died on the full moon. It was the solstice, now it s the
equinox and the moon is full again. Check the records, I bet that s what it
was twenty-seven years ago, too.
How the hell am I supposed to check the records on the full moon from
thirty years ago?
There s this really cool Web site, I started, then screwed up my face and
grabbed the oh-shit handle as Gary took a corner by use of the Force,
without looking where he was going and with no apparent regard to life or
limb. Look, it doesn t matter, I know I m right. He s killing people on the
full moons of winter. This is the last one. Tonight s the equinox. I m going
to stop him.
How?
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I have absolutely no idea. I hung up, not wanting to hear Morrison s
response to that. To my utter surprise, the phone didn t ring again. Less than
two minutes later we pulled into the park s lot. I tumbled out of the cab
almost before it stopped moving and ran for the baseball diamond as fast as I
could. Gary and Billy came after me, shouting.
I expected to slam into the Blade s red barrier with such force that it d
throw me back. Instead I flung myself at it so hard that I skidded ten feet in
the snow when I hit nothing at all. I said something witty and intelligent,
like, Da fuh? around the mouthful of snow I got for my troubles, and
scrambled to my feet, waiting for all hell to break loose.
Somehow, despite everything, I didn t expect it to break loose by way of
crimson falling down the face of the moon to cast a bloody shadow on the
earth. Everything real seemed to go away: the bite of cold air, the shine of
moonlight on fresh snow, my friends voices yelling somewhere behind me.
I stood there with my jaw hanging open, staring up at the bleeding moon,
while a sliver fell from it and tumbled all the way to earth.
Just before it hit the ground, it flared a cloak of blackness that cut the air
with a banshee scream. Then the cloak settled, the Blade walking forward,
tall and thin and hatchet faced. I could feel power rolling off it, heavy as the
sea, and with as much concern for the threat I provided as the ocean itself
might be.
Right about then it struck me that I was so low on power I d been punch-
drunk and giggling less than an hour earlier, and that out of all the days to
pick a fight with something that looked like Morticia Addams s incredibly
evil older brother, today might well be the worst possible choice.
The Blade came toward me, faster than a run, without any visible means of
locomotion. He simply glided over the blood-colored snow, picking up
speed that was all the more eerie for its silence. I did a mental check over my
list of available weapons.
There weren t any.
I was going to die.
To my surprise, I discovered I could live with that. I let out the best war
cry I could manage it had nothing on Jacquie s gleeful yelling, but it
wasn t bad and flung myself at the Blade with everything I had.
Which was nothing.
The Blade wasn t prepared for that.
I hit him in the stomach, a shoulder-first tackle Gary would ve been proud
of. It was like smashing into a flexible block of ice: cold split straight down
into my bones and made the marrow into something that carried icy death. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]