foot-dragging monster, trying to get the vomit off his shoes in the grass.
Suddenly beside them there was the noise of a door banging open and Matt ran, ran to his mother, who was trying to heft a huge suitcase, much too heavy for her, through the door.
Matt took it from her and felt himself encompassed in her hug even though she had to stand on tip-toes to do it. "Matt, I can't just leave you - "
"He'l be one of those to get the town out of this mess,"Dr.
Alpert said, overriding her. "He'l clean it up. Now we've got to get out so we don't drag him down. Matt, just so you know, I heard that the McCul oughs are getting out too. Mr. and Mrs.
Sulez don't seem to be going yet, and neither do the Gilbert-Maxwells."She said the last two words with a distinct emphasis.
The Gilbert-Maxwells were Elena's aunt Judith, her husband Robert MaxWell, and Elena's little sister, Margaret. There was no real reason to mention them. But Matt knew why Dr.
Alpert had. She remembered seeing Elena when this whole mess had started. Despite Elena's purification of the woods where Dr. Alpert had been standing, the doctor remembered.
"I'l tel - Meredith,"Matt said, and looking her in the eyes, he nodded a little, as if to say, I'l tel Elena, too.
"Anything else to carry?"Tyrone asked. He was encumbered by a canary birdcage, with the little bird frantical y beating its wings inside, and a smal er suitcase.
"No, but how can I thank you?"Mrs. Honeycutt said.
"Thanks later - now, everybody in,"said Dr. Alpert. "We are taking off."
Matt hugged his mother and gave her a little push toward the SUV, which had already swal owed the birdcage and smal suitcase.
"Good-bye!"everyone was yel ing. Tyrone stuck his head out of the window to say, "Cal me whenever! I want to help!"
And then they were gone.
Matt could hardly believe it was over; it had happened so fast. He ran inside the open door of his house and got his other pair of running shoes, just in case Mrs. Flowers couldn't fix the smel of the ones he was wearing.
When he burst out of the house again he had to blink. Instead of the white SUV there was a different white car parked beside his. He looked around the block. No children. None at al .
And the birdsong had come back.
There were two men in the car. One was white and one was black and they both were around the age to be concerned fathers. Anyway they had him cut off, the way their car was parked. He had no choice but to go up to them. As soon as he did they both got out of the car, watching him as if he was as dangerous as a kitsune.
The instant they did that, Matt knew he'd made a mistake.
"You're Matthew Jeffrey Honeycutt?"
Matt had no choice but to nod.
"Say yes or no, please."
"Yes."Matt could see inside the white car now. It was a stealth police car, one of those with lights inside, al ready to be fixed outside if the officers wanted to let you in on the secret.
"Matthew Jeffrey Honeycutt, you are under arrest for assault and battery upon Caroline Beula Forbes. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up this right, anything you say can and wil be used against you in a court of law - "
"Didn't you see those kids?"Matt was shouting. "You had to have seen one or two of them! Didn't that mean anything to you?"
"Lean over and put your hands on the front of the car."
"It's going to destroy the whole town! You're helping it!"
"Do you understand these rights - ?"
"Do you understand what is going on in Fel 's Church?"
There was a pause this time. And then, in perfectly even tones, one of the two said, "We're from Ridgemont."
Chapter 19
Bonnie decided, with seconds precious and seeming to stretch for hours, that what was going to happen was going to happen no matter what she did. And there was a matter of pride here. She knew that there were people who would laugh at that, but it was true. Despite Elena's new Powers, Bonnie was the one most used to confronting stark darkness. She was somehow alive after al that. And very soon she would not be. And the way she went was the only thing left up to her.
She heard a glissando of screams and then she heard them come to a