Part 15 (1/2)
”Claire?”
”Mom...”
”What's the matter?”
Startled by the intensity of the question, Claire jerked around but could neither see nor hear anything moving up on her. ”What do you mean? What do you know?”
”You were choking.”
”Oh, that.” Wiping her chin with her free hand, Claire relaxed. ”The phone startled me, and I tried to breathe spit. It's nothing.” Breath back, she explained the problem.
”Oh, my.”
”Exactly. Do you think you could come and have a look at it? At them. Tell me what you think.”
”I'd like to help you, Claire, but I don't know. If I were needed, I'd have been summoned.”
”I need you. Who says a summons can't use the phone?” She could feel her mother weakening. ”This is huge. I'd hate to screw it up.”
”Under the circ.u.mstances, that wouldn't make anyone very happy.” She paused. Claire waited, poking her finger through the black coils of the cord. ”It would be nice to spend some time with you. Would you like me to bring your sister?”
”I don't think so, Mom.”
”You haven't seen her for almost a year.”
”We talk on the phone.”
”It's not the same.”
”Yes, I know. But, please, leave her home anyway.” The thought of Diana within a hundred miles of an open access to h.e.l.l brought up an image of the Four Hors.e.m.e.n trampling the world under their hooves as they fled in terror.
After supplying detailed directions, Claire hung up, glanced out into the shadowed lobby, and sighed. ”Are your work boots dry, Dean?”
He looked down at his feet. ”They should be. Why?”
”You walk too quietly without them. Please, put them on.”
With no memory of turning, he'd taken three silent, sweat sock m.u.f.fled steps toward the back door before he recalled what he'd come out to the lobby to say. ”I made a fresh pot of coffee, if you're interested. And pecan cookies.”
Dean stared at Claire over his seventh cookie. ”So your mother is your cousin?”
”No. She's a Cousin.”
”And your father's...?”
”A Cousin, too.”
”And you and your younger sister, Diana, are both Keepers?”
”Yes.”