* * *
“Five, six,” Ward said, as Avery and Buchanan trailed him through the apartment building’s breezeway, toward the concrete steps. “One of them’s dead, but she can possess the living. Another one can communicate with the dead. And we have another appearance from our friend with the fearful touch and gray eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be the mastermind. If Senator Mayfield doesn’t do us a favor and die tomorrow, our next move is track down ‘Tommy’ and a Latino girl named ‘Esmeralda’...no known surnames.”
“That doesn’t sound like much for the data miners to go on, sir,” Buchanan said.
“The rare eye color might help us identify the male,” Ward told him. “Search police and prison records, all the usual.”
Avery held the door as Ward climbed into the car. When they pulled out of their parking spot, Ward said, “It looks like there are two factions. This Esmeralda, Ashleigh, and Tommy were one—Tommy is probably the ringleader. Jenny and Seth are another.”
“What about the zombie guy?” Avery asked.
“We don’t know where he fits, do we? But I believe the events we’ve seen—the Easter plague in Fallen Oak, the riot in Charleston, the Barrett House fire—are all simply side effects of their conflict. They leave a path of destruction behind them.”
“Sounds like somebody ought to neutralize ‘em,” Avery said.
“Acquire or neutralize, that’s our objective,” Ward said. “This ‘Tommy’ has a particularly dangerous power. We find him first. If we can bring him over, his entire faction might follow their leader.”
Chapter Thirteen
Jenny stood in front of the little wall mirror in her studio, her shirt off, turning side to side as she examined herself. At four months, her belly was really starting to pooch out. So far, she’d kept to wearing loose, bulky shirts and sweaters, and she’d joked about how the French cheeses and chocolates were fattening her up, but it was clear that she would have tell Seth the truth pretty soon. She was shocked the pregnancy had already lasted so long, but she hadn’t used the pox at all, except to frighten Mariella once, which she regretted. Besides that, she’d done what she could to keep the developing baby safe.
She opened a door to a cabinet where she kept her art supplies, and she reached all the way to the back of the bottom shelf. Even as she picked up the bottle, she cursed herself. It was empty, and she’d meant to buy another one, but it had slipped her mind.
She gave it a shake anyway, but there was nothing inside. Jenny had started taking the prenatal vitamins about a month ago, despite knowing the baby was almost certainly not going to live. She wasn’t sure why she’d started doing it, and she tried not to think about it too much. Clearly, she wanted the baby to live, but it was useless to desire impossible things.
Jenny heard the loud squeal of tires on pavement, following by an ear-shattering crash. She hid the pill bottle and walked out to the living room, where Seth was playing a Nintendo Wii game that involved racing and crashing big monster trucks.
“You can take the boy out of South Carolina...” Jenny said.
“Ha ha. You can drive Grave Digger if you want to race.”
“I think I’ll pass. I have to run to the store.”
He paused the game. “Why? What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just have to get some cream and, uh, nutmeg. For the eggnog.”
“Don’t worry about the eggnog. It’s Christmas Eve already, everything might be closed.”
“No! I mean, it doesn’t really taste like Christmas without eggnog. My dad always had some.”
“I’ll go with you.” Seth stood up.
“You don’t have to.” It would be hard to buy prenatal vitamins without Seth noticing, Jenny thought.
“It’s icy out there, and it’s almost dark, too.”
“What do I care about the dark?” Jenny asked. “I almost feel bad for anyone who tries to attack me.”
“Why would you feel bad for them?”
“I said almost.” Jenny bundled up in a scarf, knit hat, coat, and gloves, and she grabbed her purse. “Do we need anything else?”
“Wine. You keep forgetting to buy it. And bourbon for the eggnog, if you want to get lucky tonight.” He winked at her. “It could lower my inhibitions.”
“Seth, you don’t have inhibitions.”
“What do you mean?”
“I seem to remember you hooking up with some random blond girl at the festival in Charleston...”
“Oh, come on, that was Ashleigh's fault. She was possessing Darcy, and she forced me to do that.”