Кей Хупер - Blood Ties

Diana was staring at the guide. “I know the truth of my relationship with Quentin; I can’t deny that, and I don’t want to hide from it anymore.” She looked down at her free hand, still feeling him holding it.

Brooke said, “That’s one truth.”

“The truth at the heart of the investigation is Samuel. Not just here but out there as well.”

“What?” Hollis demanded.

Diana nodded. “The sniper is his man. Maybe all of it was planned before Samuel died, or maybe he’s able to reach out through some kind of connection he formed before he died. That’s why I was shot. Samuel realized it was the quickest way to get me back here. To open the door.”

“Son of a bitch,” Hollis said blankly. “I never even thought about him affecting you or going after you—like that, I mean—because he was always so afraid of mediums.”

“Until he needed one to get out of here.”

“Irony, I suppose. Or just the twisted humor of the universe. Do Bishop and Miranda know this?”

“I have no idea.”

Brooke said, “That’s two truths.”

“Three,” Diana protested. “You said one truth was the truth of why I was shot.”

“Three, then. You still have two truths left to uncover. The truth of who is trying to deceive you, and the truth underneath it all.”

“Jesus,” Hollis muttered. “Diana, we have to hurry. I’m not at all sure I can get us to the door, let alone through it—but I have a hunch Reese will pull me back before much longer. You have to be ready to go too.”

Diana leaned a little harder against the cold brick wall behind her, trying not to make it obvious how hard it was to breathe now and how very weak she felt. “Who’s trying to deceive me. I don’t know who’s trying to deceive me. Is it you, Brooke?”

“Why would I want to deceive you, Diana?”

“I don’t know. Maybe… maybe to protect this almighty truth underneath it all.”

Hollis looked at her with a sudden frown. “The truth underneath it all. Damn, now I know why it sounded so familiar. That’s what Andrea kept telling me I had to find.”

“Spirit Andrea?”

“Yeah. That’s the way she phrased it. The truth underneath it all.”

“You mean … the same truth?”

“I guess. She said it was all connected.”

Diana looked at Brooke. “You said that too.”

Brooke remained silent.

“Huh,” Hollis said. “Maybe everything is connected. Which means that Andrea isn’t attached to me but to this whole thing with Samuel. She didn’t show up until that investigation started, until we followed Samuel’s pet monster from Boston down to Venture.”

Diana shook her head. “So … connected to Samuel and somehow connected to me? If it’s the same truth, I mean.”

“Well—”

“Diana.”

The new voice jerked their heads around, but it was Hollis who spoke first. “Andrea. Great, maybe you can—”

“That’s not fair,” Brooke chided, frowning a little at the seemingly older spirit. “She has to figure it out by herself.”

“She’s running out of time,” Andrea said, her gaze fixed on Diana’s face. “And I have to help her.”

Hollis had not let go of Diana’s wrist since first grabbing it, and now she felt the other woman’s tension. “Hey, what is it?”

Diana hadn’t taken her eyes off Andrea. “My God. Oh, my God, it’s… Mama?”

HOLLIS LOOKED BACK and forth between them. “You mean—Andrea is your mother?”

“Andrea wasn’t her name.” Diana’s voice, weirdly hollow in the gray time, sounded numb.

“It was my middle name, the name I went by for most of my life. Until I married. Your father preferred my first name, so I used that.”

Diana shook her head slowly. “Missy said…you were okay. That you were at peace. Did she lie to me?”

“No, your sister didn’t lie. I was at peace. Until… they came for me.”

“Who?”

“His victims.”

“Wait,” Hollis said. “You got yanked out of heaven?”

“It was my choice. I could have said no. But they were insistent. All of them, all the victims. His victims, calling me to help them. Poor souls who couldn’t move on until he was made to pay for what he’d done.”

“Samuel?”

“No.” Andrea’s eyes were filled with sorrow. “Your father. Without him, without his money and determination to destroy Bishop, so much of this wouldn’t have happened. He believed he could regain control over your life, get you back, if he destroyed the SCU. But even more than that, he hated Bishop. Hated him for allowing you to believe in your gifts, for providing you with a useful life with purpose. Something he could never do.”

“Oh, my God,” Diana said.

“The truth underneath it all,” Hollis said, almost as stunned as her friend was.

Andrea said, “I tried to help, but… I’d been away so long it was difficult for me, just to make myself seen. I was never able to get here, to the gray time, when you were walking here, and it was even harder to make myself seen on the living side. Until Hollis.”

“You could have told me who you were,” Hollis said. “That might have helped, you know.”

“I’m sorry. I was… confused. The bits of knowledge I had when I came back were jumbled. It’s taken me a while to sort everything out.”

Diana was struggling visibly to come to grips with what she had heard. “But… Dad… He helped Samuel? He helped that monster destroy so many innocent people?”

“You were all he had left. When you tried to break away from him, when you met Quentin and Bishop, he knew he was losing you. He was willing to do anything to stop that. Anything.”

Hollis, quite abruptly, felt a tug, and said, “Diana, I think Reese wants to pull me back. We have to leave. Now.” She took a quick look around the corner of the building and added urgently, “Samuel’s heading back this way. If we’re going to leave without him seeing us, it has to be now.”

“There’s no time,” Brooke said to Andrea.

Andrea reached out and caught Diana’s hand, holding it for only an instant. “You’ll remember,” she said. “When you wake up, you’ll remember all of it. Have a happy, useful life, Diana. Fight for it. In spite of your father.”

“But—wait. No, I want to—”

But Andrea was gone, vanished like a soap bubble.

“There’s no time,” Brooke repeated.

Hollis made sure she had a firm grip on Diana’s arm. “You’ve found your truths,” she said quickly. “Come back with me now, Diana. Come back to Quentin. Reach with me. Do it.”

Diana looked at her blindly for a heartbeat or two, still obviously stunned, then nodded. “Quentin. I’ll reach for Quentin.”

Hollis felt a wave of stark relief sweep over her, even as the tugging became stronger. Too strong to resist. She felt herself begin to let go of this place or time or whatever it was and return to her own reality, and in the last seconds as the gray time began to flicker and then fade, she looked at Brooke, maybe to say goodbye.

The guide was smiling. And there was an odd, flat shine in her eyes.

Diana sucked in a breath and opened her eyes, immediately aware of her living, breathing—and very, very sore—body. She saw an unfamiliar ceiling, heard the beeps and clicks of machinery, and realized that she was in the hospital. She felt something leave her forehead and saw that it was Hollis’s hand, so she automatically looked to her left.

Hollis was slumped, mostly supported by Reese, but she was very much awake. Pale and with shadows of exhaustion beneath her eyes, but still on her feet. More or less. And grinning. “Hey. Hey, there. We did it.”