Bentley Little - The Walking

"Bob and I were born in Wolf Canyon, though we left early. I don't even remember the town, only what my parents told me of it. Isabella's day was long gone, and no one believed by then that her curse would come to pass. Plenty of people had left and returned and left again, and nothing had ever stopped them. But our parents told us of Isabella,

warned us of her, and we grew up afraid, fearing and dreading her resurrection and revenge.

"We met each other again after they built the dam. I was living in New Jersey then. I had a husband and a house and a dog and a good life.

And then I felt it. I felt the screaming of all those souls as they were drowned, as the dam waters flooded in and Isabella's curse came true. I left my husband, left my house, left my dog, and went back to Wolf Canyon. I was drawn there. We were all drawn there, all of us who had escaped the waters, and I met Bob on the shore by the dam, and we both saw the same vision and we talked about what was happening.

There were dozens of us, all standing by the water's edge. She was calling to us from down there, laughing at us, and we understood that she had waited a long time for this and that she would wait even longer. She would wait as long as it took for her to escape.

"We made a vow then to right her, to never let her out. We kept in touch for a while, but then we stopped, like our parents had before us, and maybe that was part of her curse, too. We started new lives, and most of us avoided all thought of Isabella, all mention of magic. Some of us... some of us became..."

May shook her head, tried to smile, looked for a second as though she was about to say something crazy, then continued on soberly. "Several months ago, it started again. I felt the pull, and I dreamed about Isabella, and I realized that she had grown stronger. She had taken from those of us who'd died over the years and had remained down there, hoarding her power, waiting to use it until she was strong. She was going after the dam builders, too, the ones who had flooded the canyon with water, and she was killing them off one by one, using her powers to find them and hunt them down. She was getting strength from them, as well, even though she was still stuck underwater, in the cave."

May grew silent, and Claire waited for more, but there was no more.

That was it. Now the old lady did smile, and Claire understood that her craziness was the way she dealt with the tremendous mental strain that she was constantly under. Schizophrenia might be somewhere in the mix, but May's outbursts were also part of her defense mechanism, the means by which she coped with the knowledge she was forced to possess.

That didn't make things any less unnerving, but at least it explained the homeless woman's bizarre behavior in a way that was somewhat comprehensible.

"Dirty face in a rain chair!" May screamed at the top of her lungs.

She looked up into the sky. "Down by feathers of silence!"

Claire looked at her. If May's experiences at Wolf Canyon could transform her from a New Jersey suburbanite to... this, what was going to happen to Miles?

That was Claire's real concern, and once again she looked into the old woman's eyes and felt nothing but fear--a feeling she saw reflected right back at her.

The two of them stood on the lawn, facing each other. A car drove by.

From down the street came the sounds of kids playing basketball on someone's drive way court. A helicopter flew overhead.

"We need to go back!" May moved forward, grabbed her by the arm.

Claire tried unsuccessfully to pull away. She could smell the woman's fetid breath. "We need to go with Bob!"

With Bob. You mean Miles, Claire almost told her, but she was not at all sure that the old lady was confusing Bob with Miles. She had the feeling May meant exactly what she'd said.

Miles, too, thought his father was walking back to Wolf Canyon.

Once again, she felt small and insignificant, caught up in larger events she could only partially understand.

She pulled herself out of the homeless woman's grip, felt a strange tingle in her arm. Was all of this the result of some dead witch's curse? That seemed to be the case, and in a weird way, that gave Claire hope. The ultimate source of everything appeared to be a single entity with a single agenda, and that was easier to right than the nebulous force Miles seemed to think he was up against.

Perhaps May was right. Perhaps they could help Miles. "Wait here!"

Claire ordered the old woman, and May nodded in acquiescence, mumbling something unintelligible to herself.

Claire hurried inside and used the cordless phone to dial Miles' firm.

She asked to talk to Hal, keeping track all the while of the woman in her front yard. She gave her name to the receptionist and, after a few seconds' silence, was put through to Hal.

"Claire!"

"Hi, Hal."

"It's great to hear your voice again! How the hell're you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Glad to hear it, glad to hear it. I was so happy for Miles when he told me you'd gotten back together--" Hal broke off in mid-sentence, clearing his throat embarrassedly, suddenly aware that he may have said more than he should. She smiled. "Yeah, well..."

He sounded worded. "You' really not back together? That was just wishful thinking?"

"No, we are."

"Whew! Scared me for a minute. You know Miles; I thought that maybe his plans were rushing ahead of the

|

"No. We're. I don't know what we are, to be honest with you. But we're together again."

"Well, I'm glad you're back," Hal said.

'l'hanks," Claire told him.

"So what can I do for you? Miles isn't here--"

"I know. That's why I'm calling. He took two weeks' leave in order to go to Arizona and find out what happened to his dad."

'l'hey found Bob's body? Howbme he didn't tell me?"

"No," she said. "It's not that." She paused, sighed. "Some i thing's going on. And the reason he didn't talk to you about it was probably because he was afraid you wouldn't believe him."

"Try me"

"All right." She dc bed for Hal the events as Miles had told her and as she herself had seen--Bob and Liam Connor and the woman in Utah---ending with May's mysterious visit and their intended trip to Wolf Canyon. She looked outside, saw the homeless woman grinning at her through the window, palms against the glass.

Hal whistled. "Heavy shit."

"Yeah. I know you probably don't believe any of it--" "Don't count me out. Miles was asking me my feelings about the supernatural a few weeks ago, and I told him then and I'll tell you now: my mind is open.

I don't automatically disbelieve anything."

Claire hesitated. "I don't know exactly how to bring this up, but do you think you could come with me?" She lowered her voice. "I don't want to travel by myself with that woman. She's crazy and she scares me. She said she's a witch, and she obviously has mental problems besides.

"I'll pay," she added quickly. "Whatever your going rate is. I'll hire you to-"

"Fuck that shit. What do you think I am, a stranger?

have enough sick leave built up. I can take a few days. How long do you think it'll be?"

"One day there, one day back. Two days, probably. Three at the most."

"No problem. I'll get myself together and come right over. Where are you? Miles' place?"

"Don't you have to clear it with someone first? ......

"NO"

"What about Perkins? Isn't he going to be ticked?"

"Are you kidding? His head's a fecal-containment sys term. He will not even notice I'm gone. Besides, if worse comes to worst, Tran'll cover for me."

"I'm at my house," Claire said. She gave him the ad dress. "Do you have a cellular phone you could bring?"

"It's my American Express," Hal told her. "I don't leave home without it."

Or' See you in an hour, then?" much sooner. I don't imagine you want to spend too time alone with that fruitcake."