They gathered their bags and masked themselves as best they could. While the men hid under hats and shades, the women fixed their hair in ways that were previously anathema to them. Hannah sported a ponytail for the first time since she played Sandy Olsson in a high school production of Grease.
The group split up into innocuous pairs and took three different routes to the parking structure. Hannah rode the service elevator with Zack. Even with painkillers, the cartoonist was in no condition to take the stairs.
He gazed at the doors through dark sunglasses, his face a dismal mask. Hannah caressed his wrist.
“He really did a number on you, didn’t he?”
Zack jerked a listless shrug. He wasn’t even remotely ready to talk about it.
Hannah rested her head on his shoulder. “We’re going to make it through this, Zack. All of them. The assholes in our lives will fall away one by one, and the six of us will find a nice quiet place to settle down.”
“You really believe that?”
Strangely enough, she did. Her new optimism surprised them both. Yesterday, she was a muddled wreck. Now her thoughts were clear and bright. If she’d known a concussion would do her so much good, she would have cracked her skull a long time ago.
Soon the Silvers reunited at the Royal Seeker. While Amanda drove a slow and careful path down the driveway, the others kept their wide eyes peeled for flashing lights. No one followed them.
The moment they crossed the front gate, they let out a collective exhale. Amanda peered back at the shrinking glass towers. This was the second time her tempis had brought the law down on them, the second time they’d been saved by luck and Theo Maranan. Though she wasn’t an augur like him, she couldn’t shake the inevitability of handcuffs in their future. Sooner or later, the Deps would find them. Their wrists seemed all but destined to carry the weight of silver bracelets.
TWENTY-FIVE
On a wet Thursday morning in a tiny lakeside village, Mia Farisi’s weirdness got a little bit weirder.
The sisters had gone to Main Street on a grocery errand, with the two youngest Silvers in tow. Once Hannah and Amanda disappeared inside a barn-size market, David and Mia explored the quaint surroundings. Nemeth was a rustic hamlet in the southeast corner of Ohio, home to 188 people. It graced the lip of a thousand-acre lake that teemed with striped bass and walleyes. Half the wooden shop-signs included some reference to bait or tackle.
Mia loved everything about Nemeth. In saner times, she’d dreamed of becoming a big-name author who retreated to the quiet country whenever she needed to finish her latest magnum opus. The fantasy included a posh lake cabin, two dogs, and a miraculously compliant husband who only appeared when she needed him.
She felt the edge of a high girlish cackle when David put his arm around her, even though she knew it was merely a gesture of purpose. Holding her under their shared umbrella, he led her to a two-story building that served as both post office and town hall. A sprawling twelve-month calendar graced the front window.
David counted the squares from Armageddon to now. “Wow. It’s been sixty-one days.”
“Which way are you surprised?”
“Feels like longer. Hell, it feels like a month since we came to Nemeth.”
Mia cringed at the scorn in his voice. The lake-house layover had been her idea. David wasn’t shy in voicing his opposition. In the four days since settling into their secluded retreat, he took numerous opportunities to remind everyone that Brooklyn was just 488 miles away. A one-day drive. A single battery charge.
“Look, when Zack gets better—”
“I know,” he replied. “I’m not angry.”
“You’re impatient.”
“I’m concerned. Let’s just leave it at that.”
He leaned in to study the dozens of handwritten notations on the calendar. “Huh. Look at all those birthdays. I bet this thing lists the birthday of every person in town.”
“That’s so sweet. See, this is why I love the country.”
“Yes, it’s all sweetness and light until they spot a minority in their midst.”
Mia batted his hand. “That’s not always true.”
“It is. I’ve seen it all over. Small towns create small mind-sets.”
“Yeah, isn’t it terrible the way they generalize?”
Her jibe evoked a laugh and an affectionate squeeze from David. Amidst the flurry in her thoughts, she felt a twinge of an impending portal.
She nervously glanced around. “Crap. Here we go again.”
A bright white bead materialized in front of her chest like a penlight. Fortunately, the rain obscured the floating breach from the few townsfolk straggling about.
David hunched forward and leered at the anomaly. “Wow. My father would have given an arm to study one of these.”
“I’d give an arm to stop getting them in public.”
“Are you receiving or sending?”
“It’s a delivery.”