Julie was too afraid to answer him.
“What are you going to do to us?” Lorraine asked. “Why don’t you let my friends go?”
“We really just want to ask you some questions,” the woman said.
They were silent again. If they began to speak a few minutes later, neither Julie nor Steven could hear.
They’ve taken her too far away, Steven said. Bui if she needs us, she’ll call us.
What good would it do? Julie said worriedly. How could we help her?
In his cell, Steven laughed. But there was no humor in the sound, and it sounded eerie as it bounced off the fiat gray walls.
Believe it or not, he said, that little kid is better at taking care of herself than either one of us. She has a special . . . talent.
What kind of talent?
Steven told her about the monsters both Lorraine and Marty had created.
I can’t do that, he admitted.
Neither can I, said Julie. I’m glad I didn’t see that bird-thing at the house in Ohio.
The problem is, Steven said, that Lorraine shouldn’t try doing that here. I’m afraid she’ll reveal too much about us to these people.
Julie sat down on the edge of her bunk and buried her head in her arms.
Maybe they already know, she said. Maybe they did this to us, and that’s why they want us back.
Marty said we’d be strongest together, Steven said. We have to wait for him to call us again, and then we can fight.
How long has it been since we heard from Marty?
Steven thought awhile, and came up with an exact figure. But he said: A very long time.
What do you suppose is happening to Lorraine?
She must not be in trouble yet, Julie. She hasn’t called to us.
I’m going to think about her, Julie said. I’m going to tell her to be brave. I don’t care if she can make monsters happen. She’s just a baby.
Three floors above them, the woman who had escorted Lorraine to another room was thinking exactly the same thing. Lorraine sat on an examination table, sipping a can of soda. Marianne Scott had gotten it for her from a refrigerator. She watched her now, studying her strange eyes as they looked around the room. Lorraine’s hair was dirty, but Marianne thought it must be beautiful when freshly washed. The poor baby needed some TLC. Not that this was the place she’d get it.
The door opened behind them, and before either one could turn, a voice boomed:
“What the hell are you doing?”
And suddenly the soda can was flying across the room.
“Hey!” Lorraine cried, annoyed.
“I . . . I thought she might be thirsty, Mr. LaBerge,” Marianne said, her eyes round.
Lorraine glared at the huge man who had just entered the room. She had caught only the briefest glimpse of him in the woods, but she knew this was the man who had brought her here. She also sensed that, while he had acted violently, he was mostly just talk. Not like the man who’d taken her to the motel, or even the landlord at Bettina’s place. Those men were crazy enough to kill.
“You’re not to do a damned thing without being told,” LaBerge snapped. He glared at Marianne, his subordinate, with piggy little eyes. “She can’t be filled up with substances like sugar when she’s to be given a thorough examination.”
“I’m sorry,” Marianne replied. “But I thought all that was done when we first got her here.”
Lorraine’s eyebrows went up, keen interest lighting her round face. She’d been here before!
LaBerge cleared his throat, a very ugly sound to Lorraine’s little ears.
“Because of that fool Trefill,” he said, “it’s necessary to start again. I don’t know what happened to her out on the road before Trefill found her again. Or what damage he did to her himself.”
He reached over and brushed back the lock of hair that was hiding Lorraine’s cut. She flinched away from him.
“We can’t return her to her . . . her ‘family’ in less-than-perfect condition,” LaBerge said. “We don’t even know who those people are until the child tells us. But thanks to Trefill, she’s got amnesia.”
“She had it when she first came here,” Marianne pointed out.
LaBerge’s voice was even, an odd contrast to the raving maniac who had entered the room.
“Don’t tell me things I already know, Scott.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You can go now. Send Dr. Blanely in here.”
He turned to Lorraine and said in a very clinical manner, “Get yourself undressed.”
“No!”
Lorraine wasn’t afraid they’d hurt her, but she had no intention of cooperating with these people.
“Don’t argue with me,” LaBerge said. “I’m stronger than you. If we have to, we’ll strap you down. Just take off your clothes. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”