Then, abruptly, Nest felt something snap all the way down inside her body where her joining with Wraith began. She gasped in shock, and for a long, painful moment, everything went black and silent.
When she could see again, she was back inside her own body, standing alone in the patch of shadows at the end of the Petersons’ backyard. The feeders had dispersed. Snow fell wet and cold on her face, and the park stretched away before her, silent and empty.
Her realization of what had happened came swiftly and left her stunned. She could no longer see through Wraith’s eyes. She was no longer connected to him.
The ghost wolf had broken free.
-=O=-***-=O=-
Larry Spence pulled the cruiser into the driveway of the old Victorian on West Third and shut off the engine. In the ensuing silence, he sat in the car and tried to think matters through, to decide how he should approach this business. But it was hard; his head throbbed and there was a persistent buzz in his ears. He wasn’t sure how long he’d had the headache and buzzing; he couldn’t remember when they had begun. But they assailed him unrelentingly, making it almost impossible for him to concentrate.
Everything seemed so difficult all of a sudden.
He knew he had made a mistake about the children. He knew he had placed his career in jeopardy by allowing Robinson to take them out of Nest’s home. His betrayal of Nest was almost unbearable. It no longer mattered that he thought he was doing the right thing at the time; he had allowed himself to be manipulated and deceived. He was furious about this, but oddly impotent as well. He should do something, but even now, parked in the drive of Robinson’s safe house, he was uncertain what that something should be.
He exhaled wearily. At the very least, he had to get the children back. Whatever else happened, he could not leave here. without them. He did not know for sure what was going on, but he knew enough to realize he would have been better off if he had thrown Robinson out the door of his home on that first visit. Thinking back on it, he couldn’t understand why he hadn’t.
The headache throbbed at his temples and the buzzing hummed in his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut momentarily. He just wanted this business to be over with.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, he climbed out of the car and walked up the snowy drive to the front porch, mounted the steps, and knocked on the door. Inside, it was silent. There were lights, but no movement behind the drawn curtains. The neighborhood of once-grand homes had the feel of a graveyard. The street, in the wake of the storm, was deserted.
I’ll make this quick, he told himself. I’ll take those children out of here and be rid of these people.
The door opened, and the man who called himself Robinson was standing there, smiling. “Come in, Deputy Sheriff.” He stepped back.
Careful, now, Larry Spence warned himself. Take it slow.
He entered and looked around cautiously. He stood in a large entry. A stairway climbed into darkness to one side. A door stood closed on the other. The living room opened up ahead, bright and quaint with turn-of-the-century furniture and fading wallpaper that hung from wainscoting to mop-boards in a field of yellow flowers.
“Take off your coat, Deputy Sheriff,” Robinson said. It almost sounded like an order. “Sit down for a moment.”
“I won’t be staying that long.” Larry shifted his gaze to Robinson, then back to the living room, where Penny sat with her legs curled up on the couch next to a giant, nearly hairless albino, both of them staring at a television set. Penny saw him and gave a small wave and smile. He nodded stone-faced in response.
“Where are the children, Mr. Robinson?” he asked. His head was pounding, the pain much worse, the buzzing so insistent it threatened to scramble his thoughts completely.
“Playing downstairs.” The other man was watching him carefully.
“I’d like you to bring them up here, please.”
“Well, things have changed a bit.” Robinson seemed genuinely apologetic. “I need to ask you for one more favor.”