Chapter 20. Reed #2
I’m drowning in a river of ice as waves of Carl’s disturbed memories cascade over me.
Carl as a young boy using a magnifying glass to burn ants.
Carl pressuring Tilly to kiss him in the back seat of his car, or secretly recording a video as she leaves school for the day.
He’s swerving toward her by the river, laughing as she scrambles out of the way.
His thoughts are consumed by sick fantasies of hurting her.
And even more disorienting is how Tessa and I are in there, too, in that flood of memories.
Me, with my pupils blown wide, gasping and gagging on my own blood as I dragged myself into the bathroom.
Tessa, pulling her hair, begging for water, as she curled up on the floor.
It’s too much; I need to escape. Get me out of here.
Then it’s suddenly over. I’m through, shivering on the asphalt, teeth chattering, my mind trying to pick up the pieces, remember who I am separate from him.
I try desperately to bring my awareness to the present; there was something I needed to do, something important, but I’m too overwhelmed by those images of my own death to remember. I roll my head to the side.
Carl’s shaking beside me, clutching his stomach. He’s fallen to the ground, but clambers back up. “What the—?” he mumbles, pulling his key out of his pocket.
That’s right. That’s what I needed to do. Stop him. But I can’t. Not anymore.
“Tessa,” I gasp, when she runs over, looking concerned. “Don’t let him get in that car.”
As Carl staggers toward his vehicle, Tessa’s jaw is set, her mind made up.
She steps forward and plunges through him, too.
That strange illusion happens again, a ripple effect, like a stone cast in a still lake.
Reality vibrates around them, time almost coming to the briefest standstill.
Then it’s over and Tessa’s through. She’s coughing, bent double, looking like she’s going to be sick.
Carl convulses on his side, face pinched tight. He groans. When his eyes open, and he glances down the block, Tilly is long gone. “I can’t … shit.” He pulls himself up partway and crawls the final distance to his car. Hand trembling, he manages to open the door and hoist himself inside.
I stumble over to Tessa and help her up as Carl takes off down the street.
“Did you see which way Tilly went?” Tessa asks.
“She went right.” I clutch Tessa to my side. We watch tensely as Carl pulls up to the stop sign, waits, and eventually turns left.
Tessa lets out a deep sigh. “That was insane.”
At least we stopped him, for now. But what kind of plan is this? “Are you okay?” I check her over.
“Yes, are you?”
I nod, then lean my forehead against hers. We breathe together for a long moment, slowly coming back to ourselves.
“Of all the times that’s happened, that was by far the worst. I didn’t like being inside him at all.” Tessa shivers beside me. “He’s dangerous. I don’t think he’s ever going to stop.”
“I know. He’s obsessed. He gets off on the violence. It was one thing to know he watched us as we lay dying, but another thing to feel what he felt as he watched. He enjoyed seeing us die. He was thrilled.”
“He’s evil, Reed. This is far worse than we thought.”
I take her hands in mine. There’s no easy way to say this. “I saw in his mind all his plans for hurting her.”
A cry of pain, guttural and deep, tears out of Tessa. She leans over, hands on her knees as she struggles to regain her breath. “You know when she said that thing about going to the police?”
“She should have taken out a restraining order days ago.”
“Well, he wasn’t thinking about restraining orders. I saw his thoughts, his plans. He’s sure Tilly is onto him—that she was threatening to go to the police about our deaths, to turn him in.”
The air gusts out of me. “But I don’t think Tilly suspects him of our murders.”
“He doesn’t know that. He’s full of all kinds of paranoid delusions. Tilly can place him at the scene of the crime. She knows what he’s studying.”
“Shit.” I press my palms against my eyes. “This is not good. Before he was obsessed with her, but now she’s a threat. Her comment about the police changed everything.”
Tessa staggers forward, lightheaded. “This is all my fault. I should have been a better friend, noticed she was dealing with all this, left the party when she first mentioned he was there. She was obviously upset to have seen him. And she’d been getting all these texts from someone.
I bet those were from Carl and not silly drama with her cousins like I thought.
How could I have been so clueless? And now, she could be killed because I wasn’t paying attention.
I’m a terrible friend.” Tessa drops her face into her hands.
“Hey, hey, listen.” I reach for her shoulders, turning her toward me. “You were a good friend to Tilly. And we’re not going to let anything happen to her, you understand? He’s not laying a finger on her.”
She searches my eyes for the promise behind them. “I want to believe you, more than anything. But I don’t know if I can,” she admits. “We lost time, right? Like Hal said we would?”
I pull our phone out of my pocket to flip open. “Two days’ punishment for making contact with the living, like he warned us.”
“Dammit. Only sixteen days left now.”
“With one phone and one door, it seems it doesn’t matter which of us walks through someone. We both lose time.”
“This is no plan, Reed. Look at my hand, it’s coming in and out of focus.
” Tessa holds her fingers up, unsettling and translucent, as she begins to pace.
We’ve been away from the mansion since early this morning, and having Carl blast through us can’t have helped.
“We can’t save Tilly if every time we try, we incapacitate ourselves and lose more time.
We’re going to run out of chances. But Carl won’t.
He’ll still be coming for her after we’re gone.
So don’t make promises that he won’t hurt her again because you don’t know that. ”
My brows knit together as my own body flickers translucently. It’s creepy as hell.
Tessa shivers. “Santiago can place him at the party, too.” Her eyes snare on mine. “Carl’s fixated on Tilly now, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t come after Santiago later. Not if he viewed Santiago as another threat.”
“Shit.” My stomach drops.
“In his memories, Carl was watching Santiago comfort Tilly at her mom’s store. He was consumed with jealousy over being replaced, positive Tilly was sleeping around.”
I drag my hand through my hair. The people we love need us and I’ve no idea how to help them. It’s infuriating. I could kick something, but I can’t even do that, so I howl instead, my temper rising. Our friends are in so much trouble.
What are we missing? Why would we be here to stop Carl, if we’ve no means of stopping him?
Because either we deter him now … or we find a way to pause the timer until we can figure things out.
I don’t like a puzzle I can’t solve.
I make up my mind then and there. “We need a way around this fucking clock.”