The Nightworld - Jack Blaine [46]
“Ready to turn in?” Lara’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. The evening has gone by already. I’m surprised at how tired I am. I nod at Lara, excuse myself, and head for bed.
I grab the device from my pack and crawl under the covers. There’s a tap on the door, and after I shove the device under my pillow I clear my throat. “Yeah?”
The door opens a bit, and Lara peeks inside the room.
“Okay if I come say good night?”
She comes in and sits on the edge of the bed. She looks as tired as I feel.
“You doing okay?” I wish there was some way I could make everything better for her.
“I’m fine.” She combs her fingers through her hair. “How about you, Nick? Do you want to talk any more, about . . . your dad? Or anything?”
I really don’t. Talking about it right now just seems to bring it closer, and I don’t want to see his face the way I saw it last. I shake my head.
Lara watches me for a moment, then nods. “It’s hard, sometimes. It’s enough to just be here, you know?” She surprises me then, by leaning toward me and giving me a soft, gentle kiss on the lips. I put my hand on her shoulder and pull her closer. The kiss turns into three, and then five, and then we both start laughing and pull away from each other.
“We’ll never get to sleep like this,” she says.
“You’re right about that.” I’m not so sure I want to get to sleep anymore.
“Well, I’ll see you in the morning, then.” She lingers at the door, and then disappears.
I’m not quite as sleepy as I was when I first got into bed. I dig the device out from under the pillow and turn it in my hands. I push the buttons, and the tendrils of light appear. I push again, and they get brighter. The third time I push, I expect it to get even brighter, but instead it goes out. I concentrate on the seams, and try to leverage the parts of it that look like they open. Nothing happens.
I know it has to do something. I just don’t know if I’ll ever figure out what.
Chapter 25
Zeke is gone in the morning when I go out to the living room. Lara and Kath are fussing over Tank, who looks at me like he knows I’m an old friend but he’s forgotten my name because his new friends are so much better. I make a face at him.
“Morning.”
Lara turns, and her smile is like the sun. “I have some breakfast waiting for you.”
“You’re both going to spoil that dog.”
Kath grins. “He’s so sweet! I already fed him breakfast; some of the canned Spam. He loved it! But we’ll have to see if we can’t find some dog food.”
“Thanks, Kath. But don’t spoil him too much.” I shake my finger at her and follow Lara into the kitchen. There’s a box of Cheerios on the counter and a can of peaches next to it. Lara gets a bowl out of the cupboard.
“We’re out of milk now, but the peach juice from the can actually tastes decent with Cheerios.” She hands me the can opener.
“Who would have thunk it?” I open the can and fork out the peaches, then pour the juice over some cereal. She’s right; it’s good. “Thanks, Lara. Where’s Zeke off to this morning?”
“He went to see if he could find some more supplies. He said he thought if he left really early it might be quieter on the street.”
“He seems . . . intense.”
She nods. “He’s been through a lot. I mean, I guess we all have. It affects people in weird ways.”
I rinse out my bowl and spoon and we go join Kath in the living room. Tank is still in canine nirvana, getting his ears rubbed.
I look around; the plastic hanging in front of the windows drifts in the heated air put out by the gas fireplace. “That to keep the light in here from showing on the street?”
Lara nods. “We figured better safe than sorry. They look for it from street level and then break in if they can. Before the news reports stopped, we heard they were killing people for their blankets.”
I decide to try to talk with just the girls about leaving. “How long do you figure you can hold out here?”
Kath looks up. “Where else can we go?”
I tell them about the scribbled note on the desk calendar at Charlie’s. About the geothermal guy. “I wonder if there isn’t something there, someplace where people are making it