who—”
“She’s the one who followed you down to Pioneer Courthouse Square the day we met the Proctors, right?”
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t realize you were aware of that. Anyway Abby got caught up in the whole mess that night we had the showdown with Prado when the shedding victims, the zombies, converged on the shop. There was a ceremony that was supposed to free Prado’s spirit from the shedding victims—and that part worked—but the downside was he ended up taking Abby instead and becoming some kind of metaphysical devil. Now she’s jumping in and out of our realm snatching passengers from Flight 559.”
“I’m afraid to ask, but why?”
“I don’t know, and I’m kind of afraid to find out,” Mara said.
CHAPTER 45
After Bohannon dropped Mara off at the shop, she checked in to find no customers and no issues waiting for her, so she closed up and went home. She spent the afternoon napping in her room, while her mother took Hannah out shopping. Now Mara sat, still a little bleary-eyed, in the passenger seat of her mother’s Ford Edge on their way over to Ned Pastor’s place to pick up the duplicate Chronicle he had fabricated. As Mara shifted in her seat trying to get the seat belt to not rub against her neck, she felt Stella Reese’s memory stone in her pocket. She slid it out and held it up for Hannah, who was sitting in the back, to see.
“Hey, little girl, have you ever seen one of these?” Mara asked. She twisted the orange stone between her thumb and forefinger as she held it aloft.
“Yes. It’s a rock. I’ve seen lots of them,” Hannah said.
“No, I mean have you ever seen this rock before?”
“Nope.” Hannah dismissed the subject by looking down to her lap where she held a comic book.
From behind the wheel, Diana eyed the stone and said, “That’s an odd color for a rock. What is it?” she asked.
“It’s a memory stone,” Mara said. “I can use it to share memories with someone, but it’s just a one-time thing apparently.” She described what happened at Stella’s house earlier in the day.
Diana blanched when Mara described Abby’s emergence from the black hole. “What on earth do you think happened to her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think those wounds came from our encounter before Thanksgiving on the roof of the shop. Most of the violence was over before Abby … got taken.” Mara looked out the window and took a deep breath.
Diana noticed but decided it was not the time to get Mara to open up about her friend. Instead she asked, “Why did you think Hannah would recognize the stone?”
Mara shrugged. “I can’t imagine wanting to actually share memories with someone, so I figure I might still have it around in the future. Maybe she saw it somewhere.”
Diana frowned slightly. “Well, you need to remember she’s a five-year-old. It’s not like you are going to confide every detail of your past life to her. Oh! Speaking of confiding details, Hannah did say something interesting while we were shopping, when I asked her what she would like for Christmas.”
Mara lowered her voice. “What did she say?”
“Ask her yourself.” Diana cocked her head toward the backseat.
Mara twisted around and said, “Hey, Han. What should I get you for Christmas?”
“You don’t need to get me anything,” she said, not looking up from her comic book.
“Why is that?” Mara asked.
“’Cause I’m going to be gone before Christmas.”
Mara narrowed her eyes as she looked at her mother, who nodded. “Gone where?”
Hannah looked up and said, “Back to the future, silly.”
The Ford Edge slowed and turned into a driveway behind an old white van. Diana put the vehicle in Park, and killed the engine and headlights. They were at Ned’s house. For a moment they sat in the dark, listening to the cooling engine ticking. She turned to her daughter and lowered her voice, “Does that mean you are going to send her back?”
Mara looked aghast. “Not based on anything I know today, it doesn’t.”
“Well, then how is she going to return?” Diana asked.
“How am I supposed to know?” She held up a hand as she unbuckled her seat belt and looked over her shoulder. “Hannah, how do you know you are going back before Christmas?”
“You told me before I left that I would be home before Christmas.”
“Of course I did.” Mara rolled her eyes. Looking at her mother, she said, “My future self also told her that she would arrive here in