Jeremy Finley - The Dark Above

Lynn shook her head. “I remember thinking it simply couldn’t be. But I saw it above the trees. At first, I thought it was how they marked the locations of abductions. But now I think… it’s how they communicated what they had done to us. How they had altered us.”

“I saw the same above that formation in North Dakota. I knew then and there that nothing would ever save all of us. We’d changed. In the end, it was how I knew, when I was trapped in that… thing…, that perhaps I could change everyone back.”

Lynn stopped, the breeze blowing her hair. “I know that’s why you stay here. Why you always will. Because you reversed what they did to all of us, but you didn’t do it to yourself, did you?”

William looked out over the beach. “I failed. I couldn’t do it in the end. My plan was to alter what they’d done to us, and then remove myself, to make sure no one could ever be switched back. But I saw the chance for revenge, and I took it. It died, and I was out of bullets.”

Lynn exhaled, leaning into his shoulder. “I’m glad. We all are.”

He shook his head. “We all live with the mistakes we make, don’t we, Nanna?”

“Yes we do,” she said softly.

They’d reached a shaded edge of the beach, where a pair of refurbished lounge chairs sat almost tucked in the woods. “And here is Tommy’s favorite napping spot. And I say that with complete sarcasm.”

“I remember another red-headed boy who hated to take naps, too.”

“I need to check on a build just down the way, see if the pillars of this dock we’re working on held overnight. Think you could rock a baby to sleep?”

“I have some experience with that.”

As Lynn settled in the chair, William handed her the baby, who was already starting to whine. She held him, already humming in his ear.

“I’ll be right back,” William said, kissing her on the forehead and jogging down the beach.

Tommy raised his head and began to cry. Lynn swayed back and forth.

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,” she sang softly.

With William rounding a bend in the beach and disappearing, Tommy began to wail.

“Take these broken wings and learn to fly…”

The boy was strong, trying to push himself up, reaching for the direction of his father.

“All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise,” she sang a bit louder.

He’d reached full tantrum mode, his sweet rounded cheeks flushed, his eyes narrowed fighting sleep.

“Blackbird singing in the dead—“

The thunderclap jolted her as she saw the lightning bolt flash on the horizon. The boy screamed, and the lightning flared again. A strong wind picked up, tossing the trees around them. As his little fist curled almost painfully on the sagging skin of her arm, the crack of thunder resounded across the water, now beginning to churn in the distance.

My God. My God.

Lynn leaned in, their foreheads touching. “Listen to me. No sir. No sir, you will not.”

His eyes, the deepest of blue, then began to close. He laid his head on her shoulder, whimpered once more, and sighed.

Lynn looked across the water, now calming. She closed her eyes.

A storm was coming. But it would not be today.

The Darkest Time of Night

Jeremy Finley’s investigative reporting has resulted in criminal convictions, legislative hearings before the U.S. Congress, the payout of more than a million dollars to scam victims, and the discovery of missing girls. The winner of twenty regional Emmys and Edward R. Murrow Awards, he is also the winner of a national Headliner Award, a national Edward. R Murrow Award and is a two-time recipient of the IRE Award (recognizing the best in investigative journalism). He is the chief investigative reporter at the NBC station in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife and daughters. You can sign up for email updates here.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

THE DARK ABOVE. Copyright © 2019 by Jeremy Finley. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 120 Broadway, New York, NY, 10271.

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Cover design by Nikolaas Eickelbeck

Cover photographs: sky © Pozdeyev Vitaly/Shutterstock.com; cloud © Vandathai/Shutterstock.com; trees © DutchScenery/Shutterstock.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Names: Finley, Jeremy, author.

Title: The dark above / Jeremy Finley.

Description: First edition. | New York: St. Martin’s Press, [2019]

Identifiers: LCCN 2019007958 | ISBN 9781250147288 (hardcover: acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781250147295 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Paranormal fiction. | GSAFD: Science fiction. | Suspense fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3606.I55345 D36 2019 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007958

eISBN 9781250147295

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First Edition: July 2019