THE RESCUE
Sirens filled the air.
Red and blue lights flashed against the smoke.
Danny held Maya’s hand. “Don’t move. Help is coming.”
Maya tried to sit up. Her back screamed. Her hands were blistered. Her head was pounding.
“Vance—”
“Gone. I saw him run. Toward the other side.”
“We need to find him.”
“The police will find him.”
“The police are working for him.”
Danny looked at the approaching cruisers.
“Not these police. I called the state police. From the auditorium. Before the lights went out.”
Maya stared at her daughter.
“When did you get so smart?”
“When my mother started hunting monsters.”
Maya almost laughed. It hurt too much.
The first officer reached them. A woman. Blonde. Kind eyes.
“Maya Cross?”
“Yes.”
“We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Vance first. He’s still out there.”
“We have units searching. He won’t get far.”
Maya nodded.
The officer helped her to her feet.
She looked back at the burning car.
At the bridge.
At the water.
She had jumped.
She had survived.
She was still here.
THE WATER
The hospital was bright and loud and full of questions.
Maya answered as many as she could. Detective Leah Park had been arrested — picked up by state police at her home, still in her uniform, still protesting her innocence. Dr. Marcus Webb had been taken in for questioning. And Dr. Elias Vance was still missing.
Maya lay in a hospital bed, her back bandaged, her hands wrapped in gauze. Danny sat beside her, holding her good hand.
“You almost died,” Danny said.
“I know.”
“Three times. Maybe four.”
“I stopped counting.”
Danny’s eyes filled with tears. “Don’t do that again.”
“I’ll try.”
“Promise me.”
Maya looked at her daughter. At the fear in her eyes. At the love.
“I promise.”
They sat in silence.
A nurse came in. Checked Maya’s vitals. Adjusted her IV.
“You have a visitor,” the nurse said. “A woman. Says she knows where Vance is.”
Maya sat up.
“Send her in.”
Kaela Morgan walked through the door.
She looked different. Stronger. Her eyes were clear.
“I remembered something,” Kaela said. “A place he talked about. A cabin. In the woods. He said it was his sanctuary. Where he went when he needed to think.”
“Where?”
“North of here. About an hour. I can show you.”
Maya looked at Danny.
“You’re not going,” Danny said.
“I have to.”
“You’re in a hospital bed. Your hands are burned. Your back is burned. You can’t even walk to the bathroom by yourself.”
“I can still think. Still talk. Still direct.”
“The police can handle it.”
“The police couldn’t handle him when he was in front of them.”
Danny was silent.
Kaela spoke. “I’ll go with her. Keep her safe.”
Danny looked at Kaela. At her steady eyes.
“Fine. But I’m coming too.”
Maya opened her mouth to argue.
Danny held up her hand. “I almost watched my mother die today. I’m not letting her out of my sight.”
Maya closed her mouth.
“Get the car.”