The Chase Page 0,8

quietly and purposefully, Tom followed the copper head and the golden one, stalking the girls to the gym.

It might have been his imagination, but he had the odd feeling that something else was stalking them, too.

They drove to the Center in two cars; Jenny and Audrey in Audrey's little red Alpha Spider, and Dee and Michael in Michael's VW Bug. Jenny braced herself as they walked inside.

No matter how she braced, the west wall was still a shock. It was covered with pictures of Summer.

Hundreds of them. Not just the flyers and posters.

Summer's parents had brought in dozens of photographs, too, to show Summer from different angles, or maybe just to remind people what all this efficiency and envelope-stuffing was really about. Somebody had gotten one of the pictures blown up into a monstrous billboard-like print, so that Summer's soft blond curls spanned five feet and Summer's wisteria blue eyes stared out at them like God's.

"Where's the Tomcat?" one of the volunteers asked Jenny. She was a college girl, and she always asked about Tom.

"I don't know," Jenny said briefly. The same question had been stabbing at her since lunch.

"If I were you, I'd know. What a hunk. I'd be keeping tabs on him... ." Jenny stopped listening. As usual, she wanted to get away from the Center as soon as possible. It was a warm, earnest, busy place, full of hope and good cheer-and it was a farce.

There was a sick feeling in Jenny's stomach as she turned to the large map on the wall. The map showed which areas had been postered and which hadn't. Jenny pretended to study it, even though she already knew where she had to go. If the Crying Girl had been P.C.'s friend, she might live near him.

She scarcely noticed as the Center door opened and one of the volunteers whispered, "It's that psychic who called. The one from Beverly Hills."

"Will you look at that Mercedes?" Michael said.

Jenny turned and saw a woman with frosted blond hair, who was decorated with ropes of expensive-looking gold chains. At the same moment the psychic turned and saw her-and gasped.

Her eyes got very large. She took several steps toward Jenny, until her Giorgio perfume overpowered Audrey's Chloe Narcisse. She stared into Jenny's face.

"You," she whispered, "have seen them. Those from the Other Side."

Jenny stood frozen. Lightning-struck.

"I have a message for you," the psychic said.

Chapter 4

"What message?" Dee said, frowning.

The psychic was still staring at Jenny intently. "You've got the look," she said. "You've seen them -the faery folk."

Audrey said sharply, "The faery folk?" In the paper house Audrey's worst nightmare had been a fairy tale. A story about the Erlking, a spirit who haunted the Black Forest and stole children. The Elf-king. Julian had played the part to perfection, had even claimed to be the real Erlking.

The Shadow Men. The faery folk. Different names for different ages. Oh, God, Jenny thought, she knows the truth. I should be happy, she thought wildly. But there was a knot in her stomach.

The woman was answering Audrey. "The Elder Race. Some people have the gift of seeing them where everyone else only sees a wind in the grass, or a shadow, or a reflection of light."

Something about the woman's tone brought Jenny up short. The psychic sounded too-pleased- about the subject. Not scared enough. "What do they look like?"

The woman gave her a laughing glance. As if you didn't know. "They're the most beautiful things imaginable," she said. "Creatures of light and happiness. I frequently see them dancing at Malibu Creek." She held up one of her chains, and Jenny saw the charm, a beautiful young girl with gauzy wings and floating draperies.

"Pixies in bluebells," Dee said, absolutely straight-faced. Jenny's muscles went slack. This woman didn't know anything about the Shadow Men. Just another kook.

The psychic was still smiling. "The message is: Vanished. They told me to tell you that."

"Vanished? Oh," Jenny said. "Well, thank you." She supposed it was as good a message as any, considering Summer's situation.

"Vanished," the woman repeated. "At least-I think that was it. Sometimes I only get the vowel sounds. It might have been-" She hesitated, then shook her head and went back to her Mercedes.

"For a moment there I thought she had something," Audrey murmured.

Jenny grabbed a handful of flyers and a map. "Let's go."

Outside, they made their plans. "P.C.'s house is at thirteen-twenty-two Ramona Street," Jenny said. She knew this by heart. It was the first place they had checked, along