“Can’t bogeymen just walk through walls?”
“Yes, but if they want to hurt you badly or kill you, they’ll possess another person to do it. That’s why Protectors are trained in physical combat. When demons get vengeful, it gets ugly.”
“Sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
He smiled and brushed my hair behind my shoulders. “Are you feeling better? Do you need anything?”
“No. I’m fine now. Thanks.”
“How about this?” He reached into the brown paper bag and pulled out a toothbrush and toothpaste.
“You’re my hero!” I ripped the toothbrush out of the plastic wrapping and unboxed the tube of toothpaste. While I brushed, he picked up my discarded uniform and sealed it in a plastic bag he had removed from his medical bag. This guy was too much. He treated me like I was valuable. Like I mattered. My heart did a fluttery little dance that made me want to dance too.
“It’s my job,” he said with a wink.
When we returned to the car after Alden had removed my stitches with a funny-looking pair of scissors, there was no trace of the odor. Spook watched me protectively from Alden’s lap while I sipped ginger ale. Alden had purchased it in the convenience store when he bought the toothbrush and toothpaste. He was right: the ginger ale settled my stomach.
As we reached the causeway bridge to Galveston Island, the terrain turned into coastal wetlands. The Texas City refineries puffed clouds like stalled steam engines off to the east. Building the huge expanse of bridge to get from the mainland to the island must have been a giant undertaking. I closed my eyes and ran Alden’s memory of the storm through my brain. The bridge washed out and all those people died because they were trapped.
Poor Alden.
The survivors probably had it worse than those who perished.
“What did the Malevolent say?” Alden asked as we entered Galveston.
I shuddered when I remembered the ominous whisper. “It welcomed me back. Mainly, it just stank.”
His brow furrowed. “What were its exact words? This is really important Lenzi.”
I reached across to stroke Spook’s head. “He didn’t really say much. He just whispered, ‘Welcome back, my love.’”
“Damn!” He whacked the steering wheel with his palm.
Spook startled and crossed over to my lap. “What?”
He shook his head. “It’s just bad timing, that’s all.” He took a deep breath through his nose and loosened his grip on the wheel. “We need to be careful. I have no idea what he’ll do. You can’t leave my sight, not even for a second, until he makes his intentions clear. You can’t even go to the bathroom without me. Do you understand?”
“That’s pretty dramatic, Alden.”
“My job is to keep you alive. You talk about how oppressed and subjugated I am. This is where the tables turn, Lenzi. In order for me to serve you, you have to do what I say.”
I could tell by his tone of voice he wasn’t kidding. Maybe the stinky thing was really dangerous. “Okay.”
He glanced at the clock on his dash. “Even with the pit stop, we made good time. We have almost half an hour before we meet with the ICDC rep. How about a walk along the beach?”
“No!” My volume surprised me.
“You don’t like the beach, do you, Lenzi?” he asked as he turned onto Seawall Boulevard.
“No. I can’t stand it. I’ve never liked it.” I peered with dread out my window at the rolling surf.
He glanced at me briefly. “That makes sense, I suppose.”
“Why?”
He pulled into a parallel parking place at the seawall. “Because you died here.”
TWENTY-TWO
A
lden snapped a leash onto Spook’s collar, led her around the front of the parked car, and opened my door. No way. I was not getting out of the car. He evidently picked up on that because he leaned against the car and stared out at the surf.
It was a clear, sunny day. The waves were tiny—less than two feet tall—rolling in even, benign bands to the shoreline. We were parked at the seawall over fifteen feet above the beach, and still I was frightened.
“You know this seawall didn’t used to be here,” Alden said. “Before it was built, the whole island was at sea level.”
“Yeah, you told me about it when we met. Hobbit mausoleums, remember?”
He chuckled. “I remember that conversation well. They started building this seawall two years after the Great Storm. It took that long to clean the place up and settle on a construction strategy.”
I stared down at the wall. It had a curved face on the Gulf side similar to the concrete barriers on a freeway, only huge. Behind it, the land was the same level as the top of the wall.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is there a point to this history lesson?”
I knew what he was trying to do. He’d said once that knowledge alleviated fear. Well, it wasn’t working.
He smiled and held up a finger. “Did you know that Galveston was the first city in Texas to have electricity and telephones?”
“No, and I’m not sure I really care.”
“It was also one of the busiest ports in Texas. It was a really big deal compared to Houston back then.”
I reclined my seat back and closed my eyes. “You sound like Ms. Mueller, Alden.”
Spook gave up pulling on her leash and sat at his feet.
“Why don’t you come out here, and I can tell you about it on the beach.”
I opened my eyes when I heard him pull on the latch. “Not a chance. I’ll listen to your historical fun facts from the safety and comfort of the car, thank you.” I pulled the door closed again.
He leaned down and looked into the car. “Come on, Lenzi. The beach is fun.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Alden stared out over the placid Gulf waters and leaned back against the car again. “Happy things happened here too,” he said.
“I’m not staying in here because I’m Rose, Alden. I just don’t like the beach, that’s all,” I said, putting the seat back up.
“I didn’t say anything about Rose. Let me show you a memory. It’s a pleasant one. You’ll like it.” He leaned down and looked in at me. “Come on, Lenzi. It’ll only take a moment.”
He knew I couldn’t resist seeing memories of the past. I held out my hand and he took it.
“I can’t leave my body out here on the Seawall. Scoot over.” I shifted over toward the center of the car and he opened the door. He sat on the seat with me and pulled me up onto his lap. Spook leapt onto the floorboard at our feet. Alden shut the door.
My body thrummed with the energy he was transmitting. What had happened to “this is wrong” from last night?
“This is a little too cozy, don’t you think?” I remarked.
“You’re absolutely right.” He patted the driver’s seat. “Come on, Spook. Three’s a crowd.” The dog jumped up onto the driver’s seat. “Better?” he asked with a grin.
“Um, you said—”
“Shhh,” he interrupted. “I’m only going to give you a memory. Contact helps. Ready?”
I nodded.
“Out,” he whispered. I braced for the pain that always followed. It wasn’t bad this time. Not bad at all. Since he wasn’t in his body, I relaxed against it, enjoying the contact.
Okay?
“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s see it.”
Rose was walking down the beach with Alden. She wore a long, brown dress with a high lace collar and a funny-looking hat with a purple ostrich feather. Her hair was pulled up under it. Alden had short hair. He wore a suit and held a hat. Her arm was linked through his.
“We look weird.” I giggled.
Yes, we do. Watch.
“Well, not ‘we.’ I mean you and Rose.”
Right. Just watch.
Rose grabbed Alden’s hat and took off running, which must have been difficult in the sand in that long dress and uncomfortable-looking pointy shoes. He laughed for a moment before chasing her. Her hat flew off, and he grabbed it up easily from the sand as he closed the distance between them. She ran a few feet out into the water before Alden caught her, and they both fell into the surf. Alden held her hat out of the water as they continued to laugh at each other. He placed it gingerly on her wet head. Giggling, she pulled his hat out of the water and put it on his head, dumping water on him.
The memory stopped.
“Wait a minute. I want to see more,” I whined. I loved this memory. Seeing the playful side of Rose almost made me like her.
Nope. I have to retain some of my mystique. I just wanted you to see that at one time, you loved the beach. It’s one of the reasons you asked to be assigned to the Texas Coastal Region.
“C’mon, Alden. Let me see more.”
We’re out of time. I’m exiting now, okay?
Almost painlessly, he exited and came to life. Contact really did help. He squeezed me before he opened the door, gesturing for me to get out.
He called Spook out and locked the car. “I want to be sure we don’t make the rep wait.”
“What will he be looking for?” I asked, turning to face the Gulf so that the wind didn’t blow my hair across my face.
“Anything odd about you—or me for that matter—that would keep you from doing your job. I guess for now, until we are caught up on points, you might want to not reveal the amnesia. We don’t want them to think you might not be able to keep up. It would help if you acted a little more confident. Rose was very self-assured.”
“Oh, great. He’ll see right through me.”
He looped Spook’s leash over his arm and took my face in his hands. “You are powerful, Lenzi. You are the Speaker. He’ll only see who you are.” He gently pressed his warm lips to mine.
“Wait a minute! You said we couldn’t do that!”
“No. That was nothing like what was going on last night. I kissed Rose like this all the time.”
“No way. A kiss is a kiss, Alden,” I said, frustrated he was breaking his own rule.
He laughed. “Lenzi. If you think that was anything like last night, then we weren’t in the same room.”
I glared. “Cheater.”
He chuckled.
For a moment, an image flickered through my mind. I closed my eyes and concentrated on recapturing it. The perspective was as if I were standing on the beach below us. The Seawall wasn’t there and loads of long, skinny bathhouses on stilts littered the beach. To the left, where the Hotel Galvez currently stood, there were only wooden buildings. This had to be how Rose remembered this spot trying to push its way into my conscious mind.
I opened my eyes with a jolt to current-day Galveston.
Alden touched my shoulder. “What is it?”
Before I could answer, he closed his eyes. “A Speaker is getting close. Maybe the rep is a Speaker instead of a Protector. That would be a lucky break. He won’t feel your nervousness. Oh, yeah . . . he’s real close. This is good, Lenzi.”
“How do you know it’s a he?”
“His soul doesn’t feel like a girl’s.”
A handsome African American man in his early thirties was approaching us from the west. He looked out of place on the seawall in his suit.
“Four thirty-eight?” he called as he came near.
“Yes, sir,” Alden responded, holding my hand. He had amped up the sedative effect of his touch, thank goodness. I needed it.
“Thanks for meeting with me.” He shook Alden’s hand, then turned to me. “I finally get to meet the famous Rose, Speaker 102.”
No doubt, Alden felt my fear skyrocket. He increased the current and gave my fingers a squeeze before letting go.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, shaking the man’s hand. “And you are?”
He smiled. “I apologize. I’m Speaker 956. You can call me Phillip.”
“Nine fifty-six,” Alden repeated. “You’re a pretty young soul to abandon the role of Speaker for a job like this.”
Phillip shrugged. “This is only temporary. My Protector was lost last year. I’ll go back next cycle when she returns.”
Alden shook his head. “Sorry, man. Exorcism?”
“No. Vehicular homicide. It happened in this region, actually. We came down because we were assigned a case by the IC. The Malevolent hangs out at some cemetery around here, swearing vengeance on the South. Calls himself Smith. Bad dude. Killed her by possessing a truck driver, who ran her down. He has a thing against women, I guess. Kept raging about some lover who double-crossed him. But then, this is your region. You probably know more about him than I do.”
Alden took my hand again. “Yeah. He’s been around awhile. We’ll get him, eventually.”
Phillip returned his attention to me. “So, Rose. You were gone a long time, huh? What happened?”
Alden responded to my jolt of fear with a squeeze and more calming current. Thank goodness the IC didn’t send a Protector. The charade would have ended right here.