CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
OCTOBER 30, 11:22 PM
I feel nothing but fury towards щука as I continue on towards Harold’s house. Danny, of course is against the idea, however, I have not told him I healed Harold’s condition, and unless I can find a way to make it with everyone surviving the Далее twenty-four hours, I decide that information is best left secret. As I near the exit that will take me back into the suburbs, I realize is less than an час until Halloween, I drift back off into my memory of that fateful night all those years ago.
ALBANY,OCTOBER 31, 1850:
We are less than a mile from exiting Albany when щука motions for me to stop. I haven’t changed my clothes, and the blood of the man I killed earlier has dried, turning my рубашка a dark red. щука smiles when I approach. Immediately, I feel a powerful sensation in my head. “What’s wrong?” щука asks. “My head.” I mutter. He stares in awe. “I knew it. I sensed it, but I wasn’t sure…” I look at him, and note genuine surprise on his face. “What?” щука seems as if he is about to speak, but stops. I immediately note hooves approaching. My head throbs even worse, the closer the hooves get the worse my headache. I turn to see a young girl, a bit older than me, arrive on a horse. She stops just outside a house a few meters away from where щука and I are hiding. I note the further away she goes, the pain gets lesser. щука continues to stare at me, and then speaks. “Ashley, I can’t believe Ты have that ability. I never did, and the few that have… but the fact Ты haven’t Остаться в живых it…” I stop him. “What are Ты talking about?” щука motions to the girl. “That girl is a telepath. There have been a few. They share a connection with certain people like us. Not all of us, mind you, me being an example, although I do seem to have a faint sense for it, but I can never tell directly who…” I stop him again. “You сказал(-а) we were going to deal with a threat. How, may I ask is a girl, who is likely only a год или two или older a threat?” щука looks at the girl again with a grin on his face. “As I said, she’s a telepath. Her kind poses a danger to our kind.” He says, stopping suddenly. “How?” I ask. “I can’t tell you. Just believe me. The girl must die. All of them must Ash.” “What is the reasoning? I’m not going to kill someone just because they have ‘abilities’, as Ты call them. How are they a threat?” Pike’s smile fades. “Ash, I want that girl dead. If Ты don’t do it. I’ll kill you, and likely that dad of yours too.” I look once еще at the girl enter her house, and ponder what to do next.
CRYSTAL FALLS, OCTOBER 30, 11:50 pm
As I did before, I park the car a block away from Harold’s house. I instruct Danny to wait in the car, and he is reluctant. “What are Ты going to do? Just gag him up and hand him over to Pike?” Danny asks. I shake my head. “That’s not the plan.” I say quietly. “What is the plan?” Danny asks. “Don’t worry. I’ll think of something.” I say calmly, and with that I climb out of the car and make my way down the street. I note Harold’s bedroom light is on, and wonder what kind of story he’s working on. I climb up to his window and knock on it. He immediately gets up from his computer and opens the window, and I note that unlike before he is not surprised to see me. I climb into his room, and he shuts the window. “Hey. I was just working on a story.” He says smiling. I nod. “How’s the story going along? The one about the vampire?” Harold grins, and climbs into his chair. “It’s going great. Lots of back-story is being revealed. Every time I dream еще of the story comes to me.” I try to smile, but can’t because I remember that the same thing seems to be happening in real life, in the form of my flashes into my past. Harold notes my expression, and asks me what’s wrong.
I change the subject, at least for the moment, as I am curious about something. “Harold, have Ты decided how the story is going to end?” Harold’s expression changes. “It hasn’t come yet, but I’m sure it will when I go to sleep.” I look at him, and note he seems puzzled. “What?” I ask. “You remind me of my character in the book. She asks another character about his dreams. It’s a character I based on myself. She even looks like Ты in the dream. “Harold, I need to let Ты know something about the deaths…” I start to say, but he stops me. “I know. Ты killed Mike and Jason.” He says. He notes my expression, then says. “It’s going to sound crazy, but I think it’s Ты who’s inspired my story. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. But I know whatever happened, Ты did in self-defense like Ты said, because I saw it.” I decide to tell Harold everything. He listens without words as I explain Pike’s plans, Vincent’s condition, and Danny’s transformation in detail.” When I finish, he looks at me. “I knew, I knew it sounded crazy, but I knew it wasn’t when my kidney began healing. Doctors couldn’t explain it, saying they’ve never seen anything like it. But it was true.” I fight back some tears as he says the Далее sentence. “And now it seems I have to die anyway huh?” Suddenly, it dons on me, maybe… “No. We’ll think of something. Who knows, your dreams may be the key.” Harold smiles, “I know you’ll stop him Ashley. But be careful, there seems to be something you’re missing about his plan, but I’ll call Ты in the morning. Just make sure you’re ready in case everything goes wrong. With that, I climb out the window, and watch as Harold’s light turns off. As I walk back to the car, I wonder what Harold meant when he сказал(-а) I’m missing something.