Rhys tried to grab the keys out of my hand. “But he just said—”
“The guy had a Vietnam flashback right in front of us. Since when are you so gullible?”
He stared out over the corn, a deep crease settling in his forehead.
“The summer solstice is only five days away now,” I said as I put my hand on his shoulder. “The sun is getting ready to set. If we’re going to find her it has to be now. We have to try. We can always come back and call the cops if we have to.”
Rhys gave me a nearly imperceptible nod.
I grabbed the bags from the car before he could change his mind again and set them down in front of the junkyard guy. “Can we park here for a few days?”
Tanner twitched his head to the side to spit through the gap in his teeth. “Not for free you can’t.”
I peeled off a bill from one of the stacks and stuffed it into the bib pocket of Tanner’s filthy overalls. “Here’s a hundred. I’ll give you another when we come back.”
He fondled the cash from outside his pocket. “Sure thing.” He grinned.
I put on my backpack, then tossed Tanner the keys.
Rhys begrudgingly picked up his duffel and the briefcase.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Tanner called after me as we walked toward the corn.
“Larkin,” I answered. I didn’t have to think about it this time. I felt it all the way to the marrow of my bones.
The old man’s face went slack as he turned and scurried away from us up the dirt road.
“What the hell,” I murmured. I was starting to get a complex.
As Rhys and I stood at the edge of the corn, the sun began to melt into the horizon, casting a golden glow across the field.
A breeze blew in behind us, forcing its way through the stalks, revealing a path.
Like an invitation.
I heard my brother swallow.
“It’s good to be afraid,” I said. “It means you still have something to live for.”
I took his hand and we stepped into the corn.
10
CORN
THEY SAY THE FIRST STEP is the hardest.
But it’s really the third—when you’re too far in to turn back and not far enough to completely commit. Either way, you’re kind of screwed.
“This is a bad idea. A really bad idea,” Rhys said as he led the way through the narrow path in the corn.
I wasn’t going to argue. It wasn’t worth it. There was no stopping him when he got on a roll like this.
Tuning him out, I focused on how dense and lush everything was. It was like stepping into a different world; the world before man. The twelve-foot-high stalks had a thick bamboo-like quality. The leaves, brilliant green, had a beautiful translucence—creating a lacy display of shadow and light. The scent was sweet and earthy—like spring, but with a slight hint of decay.
Other than my brother’s incessant complaining, it was eerily quiet. No insects, no wind, not a sound other than my boots sinking into the rich soil.
With each step forward, I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu, like I’d walked this path a thousand times before.
I closed my eyes, dragging my fingers along the stalks, and tried not to imagine what the sunflower field would look like in this light or, more importantly, what he would look like in this light. My junkyard crush. Obviously, my name had set him off, but what made him ask in the first place? It had to be the eyes. What did he and Tanner see in me? Were all the Larkins something to be feared?
And in that brief moment of reflection, I found myself alone.
There was no trace of my brother.
I heard the ground cover depress somewhere behind me. I turned, finding nothing, and everything all at once. I felt an undeniable presence, like the corn was watching me, but that was crazy.
Fighting back panic, I looked up at the sky to get my bearings, but felt completely disoriented. North, south, east, and west didn’t exist anymore—only corn. Dizzy and confused, I spun around, feeling for a way out, but it seemed as if the stalks had closed in around me.
Something slammed me from behind; I stumbled forward, feeling that strange vertigo again. My hands clenched in the soil, trying to find something to hold on to, but the dirt sifted through my fingers. Even though I was already on the ground, I felt myself falling, the same sensation I’d felt in the library with Katia. A gasp escaped my lips as the crush of memories fell over me like a heavy velvet curtain.
? ? ?
Leaving his armor behind, Alonso makes his way toward me. Tonight, on the cusp of the summer solstice, he will become my immortal mate.