Part 33 (1/2)

”We're at the road,” he said. ”Not too close to the edge, I hope. The cliff is falling away.”

He sat down and let me settle into his lap. He squirmed out of his sport coat and began to pull up his s.h.i.+rt.

”What are-” I couldn't finish the sentence.

”Warmth,” he said. ”You need it.”

He flung the jacket around my shoulders, then pulled me against his bare chest. I could feel the heat from his body and began to soak up Qi, mentally forcing it through my skin. The sirens came closer, louder. They had almost reached us when Belial attacked again. I'd lost track of him in my exhaustion.

I had my s.h.i.+eld up, or he would have killed me right then and there. I could hear him splas.h.i.+ng and bubbling as he grasped my mind with his. I struggled and summoned the last of my Qi. I dropped my s.h.i.+eld, sucked up the Qi from it, and threw a bolt of fire. He howled as he pulled back. One last bolt-I threw again, heard him scream, but he, as desperate as I was, struck back with every bit of Chaos force he could summon.

I saw an enormous wave fill the sky, emerald-green water tipped with white foam. It broke and roared as it plunged down. It swept over me, grabbed me, tore me out of Ari's arms, and thrust me down into an ocean that opened under me. The world turned green, light-shot and strung with lines of bubbles.

I'm drowning, I thought. Crud!

INTERLUDE: AUNT EILEEN.

AT ABOUT THREE O'CLOCK THAT AFTERNOON I had the first premonition. Nola, I knew, had to be ill or injured. I tried calling her flat-no answer-then her cell phone-no answer there, either. When Michael came home from school, he told me he'd received a warning, too.

”Could you reach her by phone?” I said.

”No,” Michael said. ”This is h.e.l.la gross.”

I considered calling various hospitals to see if she'd been admitted, but for all I knew, she might have merely sprained an ankle or gotten the flu. My waking talents tend to be too shapeless to trust in any detail. I had too much to do that day to take a nap in hopes of a dream, which would have been more accurate. Still, I felt more and more worried as the afternoon went on.

When Ari finally called me, I'd just put dinner-a pair of roast chickens and a stir-fry of mixed vegetables with rice, of course-on the table. Jim told me to just let the answering machine pick up, but I knew the call was important and grabbed the receiver. I had trouble breathing while I listened to the news. Jim, Sophie, and the two boys sat staring at me. I relayed what Ari told me.

”Oh, Mother Mary, help us!” I said. ”Something awful's happened to Nola. She's in a coma. They're at the Kaiser hospital on Mission Street in South City. The doctors are calling it hypothermia, but Ari said, 'Like h.e.l.l it was,' whatever that means.” I took off my ap.r.o.n and threw it onto a chair. ”I'm going down. Go ahead and eat. I'll call when there's news.”

Michael shoved his chair back and stood up.

”I want to go with you.”

”They won't let that many people in the room, dear,” I said.

”I'll make them let me in.” Michael crossed his arms over his chest. ”You've got to let me go.”

”Michael, I said no.”

”I don't give a d.a.m.n about what you said.”

Jim put his whiskey gla.s.s down on the table and got to his feet. ”Don't you talk to your aunt that way.” His voice was soft and controlled, which meant he was truly angry. ”I won't have it in my house.”

They stared at each other. Michael looked away first. He glanced at Brian, who winced, and Sophie, who mouthed a couple of words. I think they were ”shut up.”

Michael sat back down. Jim smiled and sat down himself.

”I'm sorry, Aunt E,” Michael said. ”I'm just h.e.l.la worried.”

”We all are, dear,” I said. ”You call Father Keith and tell him what's happened. Ari's so upset he could barely get ten words out.”

I hurried upstairs to our bedroom to get my car coat and purse. As I was leaving, I saw the rosary Ari had given me in its special box on the dresser. For the comfort it offered, I put it into my purse. When I came back down, Jim followed me out to the car.

”It's that d.a.m.n dangerous job of hers, isn't it?” he said. ”For Chrissakes, be careful! What if there's an a.s.sa.s.sin prowling around? You never know what some foreign b.a.s.t.a.r.d's going to do these days.”

”Darling, Ari would have warned me. He'll be right there, and after all, he is a police officer.”

”Well, okay. He's probably armed. Good.”

”Of course he's armed. It's sweet of him to try to hide it, but every time he's been here, he's been carrying a gun.”

My poor darling husband looked honestly shocked. He hadn't noticed, but then, I'm not surprised.

”Anyway, I'll call as soon as I know anything,” I said and got into the car.

Since the freeway would be crowded thanks to the evening rush hour, I went out Mission Street, which was busy enough but not as bad as the rush. Just past Daly City the traffic thinned out, which meant I could say a few prayers to the Holy Virgin as I drove. The rainstorm had broken up into long streamers of cloud scudding away in the sunset, all streaked red and gold. When we were children, Keith always called that kind of cloud the banners of the church militant, strange for a child, but there you are, that was Keith. We all called him Key, when we were children, short for ”key to the mysteries.” I suppose it's no surprise that he took holy orders.

Ari had told the hospital receptionist to be careful about whom they allowed to see Nola. They called the room to check, then gave me her room number, at the top of the green tower, they said. I followed the green tape on the floor to the correct elevator and from there found the private room with no trouble. When I walked in, Ari got up from the chair he'd been sitting in.

”You came down,” he said.

”Of course. Did you think I wouldn't?”

He managed a twisted sort of smile.

Dressed in one of those flimsy hospital gowns, Nola lay on her back on the bed, which had been cranked up at an angle to help her breathe better. Wires hooked her up to monitors, and a tube from her left hand connected to an IV. Her face-I'd never seen her so pale. It was hard to tell her skin from the pillowcase. Her eyes, which were open, looked like green gla.s.s, just by contrast.

I walked over to the bed and began to brush away the wisps of hair sticking to her face. Her skin felt cool and as dead as damp paper.

”Nola darling,” I said. ”It's Eileen. I'm right here.”

I could tell that she didn't hear me. I perched on the edge of the bed and took the hand that didn't have the tube in it into both of mine. Her fingers lay limp as a dead fish against my palm, but she blinked once and closed her eyes.

”What happened?” I said to Ari.

He shrugged and seemed to be fighting for words. All of that nice curly hair of his was matted down in some places and standing up in others. He needed to shave, too. He'd b.u.t.toned his white s.h.i.+rt up wrong, and it was stained with what looked like dirty water. His sport coat and trench coat lay on the floor with the holster and his pistol-whatever kind it was, I wouldn't know-on top of them.

”We were investigating that idiot friend of Jack Donovan's,” Ari said finally. ”He was camping out in one of those condemned apartment buildings on the cliff top.”

”In Pacifica? I thought they had security guards watching them.”

”They should have. But while we were scouting the situation, a rogue wave soaked her to the skin.”

”You were on the beach?”

”Not exactly.” Ari paused with a nod of his head toward the door. ”I'll explain later.”