Dead River - By Cyn Balog Page 0,65
you, you must leave here and never come back. Not until you are one hundred years old. Preferably later. And please realize it’s not because I don’t want to see you again. I will see you again.”
“It’s impossible,” I whisper.
She puts a hand on mine. Her eyes glint with pride. “I assure you, I can do it. As long as certain conditions are met. I would prove it to you now, but I need to ensure a little something before I can start. Trey is working on that. Now I have some duties to attend to. Do not stray too far.”
She brushes my wrist with her thumb and turns to walk back to the crumbling stone house. I’m just standing there, numb, in disbelief. The sun is hot on my face, and it’s then I realize that we’ve climbed through the woods, and I’m standing on a peak overlooking the river. The wind blows hard and cold against my skin. Down below, yellow rafts dot the river, returning from the day’s white-water expedition. I can see across to the east bank. Trey is there somewhere, performing some task for my mother, in order to send me back. Send me back. To the living. How is that possible? If it is, why can’t she send herself back? Why didn’t she kill me herself to spend just a few more days with me, if she knew she could send me back? I turn to ask her the hundreds of questions percolating in my mind, but she has already disappeared among the trees.
Chapter Twenty
Still not feeling right alone, I head back toward the old stone house. Trey must be back with a new group, because a new long line is snaking up from the dock, all people I don’t recognize. It’s hard to believe so many people have died on the water. The little girl I saw before is having her hair braided by an old woman. She smiles at me and waves. I’m about to go over there when I catch a bright light shining through the pines. Trey. I move away and see another figure beside him. My mother. He’s listening intently, and I can tell from his expression that he’s not happy. Something’s wrong.
He scowls and storms out into the sunlit path, nearly colliding with me. The worry on his face quickly dissolves into a smile. “Hey!”
I study him. “What was that all about back there?” When he shrugs, I say, “You looked upset. Is something wrong?”
“Nothing for you to be worrying about,” he says, digging his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. He looks over each shoulder, for someone, I guess—my mother? “You want me to show you round now?”
“I don’t see what the point is. She’s sending me back,” I whisper. “Did you know she could do that?”
He gives me a small nod, then pulls on my sleeve, beckoning me back up the pathway. He leads me on a new path, which begins to slope downward, toward the river. I follow him silently, thinking about the fiends, about the sad, angry souls that still miss their human lives. Did Jack do this to me because he’s jealous of me and the life I have?
Finally, when we’re almost near the river, Trey says to me, “Yeah.”
“If you knew that, then why is it such a big deal? Why have you been watching me so closely—”
“It is a big deal. You don’t understand. Your momma has powers none of us have. But it’s not an unlimited supply. Bringing someone back has never been done before, and it will weaken her. We don’t know how much. It might take away all her power.”
“All her shine?”
He looks at the ground. “Yeah.”
“And then what?”
“She’s gone. Like I said, I don’t know where. And that relation of yours? The one I told you about? That person will take over. And I don’t expect things will be very good here after that.”
“Jack?” I ask.
“Yeah. No. I don’t know. It’s going to be a mess here. But your momma’s right. You got another chance at life. You need to take it.”
“You would take it?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“But I could take over. I could be the Mistress. Now.”
He squints at me. “You don’t know nothing yet. And you want that? You want to leave everything behind?”
I don’t even have to think about it now. Of course I don’t. But I would, if I were needed. I would … I stop when I realize that’s just what