but online and by Skype, even if I got the chance to leave.
“Allie, I hate to do this to you, but would you mind hanging out for a half hour while I just run to the store and grab some ice cream?” Tessa asked. Her tired eyes twinkled as she massaged her swollen tummy. “I’ll pay you double.”
“Please. It’s on the house. Just save some ice cream for me.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Tessa breathed—and then was gone.
Tavish, who had been running around all day like the toddler madman he was, was already conked out. I had the place to myself. A lifesaver. I walked to the window. If only that were true.… The early winter wind in the treetops was a doleful sigh, the waves stroked the shore: Now? Now?
That’s when I spotted it.
A dim light: bouncing, low to the ground, bobbing along the bluff. Every few moments, the light descended, disappeared and then reappeared, wobbling, side to side, closer, and then closer.
Why had I thought he would stop? Logic? People like Garrett Tabor didn’t stop. They never stopped, until they were caught or eliminated everyone who stood in their way. They did not stop until they were forced. He had watched my shadow, alone in the apartment with Tavish. He had waited patiently, knowing that I would take his bait and step outside onto the balcony.
His silhouette stood in stark relief against the seam between the sky and dark water. Three floors and a hundred yards separated us, and still, when he waved the flashlight across the balcony, I had to stifle a shriek. Far off, miles down the road, a rumble and whine suggested Rob’s Jeep. But the sound of possible salvation died away. I held my breath.
Then he aimed the big light directly at my face.
I winced. Naturally: a lifetime of recoiling from the light.
I could call the police. But what would that do? In the eyes of the authorities, I was the attacker, the culprit. I could only thank my lucky stars Tessa and her family didn’t know. But then, he’d probably orchestrated that, too. From the corners of my vision, I tried to scope the lights throughout the building. It was late. Only nightlights, and few. I was all by myself and he knew it.
Maybe you can’t stop them until after they do what they do.…
Perhaps as reparation, Juliet had offered her own life. But what could I offer Juliet, my best friend, my heart, in return for that? Could I avenge her? Even if I had wanted to hide and pretend, it was too late for me to die without really having lived.
The light swept playfully, an arc.
If Tabor wanted war, fine.
Kicking off my shoes, I stepped on the first rung of the metal railing. Finding my balance, I stood on the second and threw both my arms up in a raised V.
“I am Allie Kim!” I shouted, louder than I realized I could.
The light beam froze on my face.
“I am Allie Kim!” I repeated. “The Great and Terrible. And I will end you!”
His light went out.
Turn the page for a preview of the forthcoming
WHAT WE LOST
IN THE DARK
1
ALL THE
LOST PIECES
Picture yourself in a helicopter, looping slowly down from heaven.
First, it looks like a child’s map of what Earth offers: green and blue and beige. The green resolves into broad hills, thick with trees: a green beard chopped off by the craggy throats of glacial bluffs, dropping away to sparkly beaches. Even from this great height, the water is so clear that you can see the bottom, and the bottom could be hundreds of feet from the surface. You think it’s a sea. But no; it’s a lake, massive and majestic. The greatest of all lakes, it’s called Superior.
Now you descend.
You can tell the red pines from black spruce at this height. You begin to hear the restless fingers of the wind among all those branches. Closer, you spot the little town. It’s named after a harbor as narrow as a creek but as deep as a river. No one pays attention to the small freighters that load and unload there. Everyone sees the big, winged yachts with their showy masts, polished deck rails, and ironic names. Nick’s Waterloo. Enter the Titan.
Touch down gently. Your rotors spin slower and then fall silent. The helicopter disappears.
There’s a town square, just a little too old and well-used to have been tacked on for tourists, although tourists flock to Iron Harbor for reasons I’ve never been quite able