The Valley and the Flood by Rebecca Mahoney (10 best books of all time TXT) 📗

ignoring the warning groan from Alex, “my parents are scientists! I was raised to ask questions! If you’re going to plunk me in the middle of nowhere and tell me my neighbors are ageless eldritch beings, you can’t expect me not to go see for myself!”

“You yelled that you didn’t believe in them,” Alex says.

“I was trying to get them to show themselves!” Felix says. Back to me, he adds, “But on the bright side, when one of them followed me to Natalie Meyer’s sweet sixteen, Alex literally broke in to rescue me. So, worth it.”

“And if you’d listened to me when I asked you to come to the sheriff’s office,” Alex says, “I wouldn’t have had to.”

“I didn’t know you yet!” Felix says. “I thought you were hitting on me!”

“I told you there was something attached to your back,” Alex says.

“I don’t know how y’all flirt here!” Felix says.

I smile and duck my head. It’s kind of Alex to say I didn’t ask for this. But he doesn’t know that.

“So sorry to keep you waiting.” Paul emerges, as if in slow motion, from behind the curtains. “Quite a few records to sift through. Got some receipts here, if you’d like them.”

“Did you find anything?” I ask as Alex takes the bundle of receipts from Paul’s hands.

“It’s certainly from my stock,” he says with a nod. “And it was in my inventory until about two weeks ago.”

“Do you remember who bought it?” I say.

“No one did, young lady,” Paul says. “I have no record of selling this.”

“Someone . . .” I stop, uncurl my fists. Not now. Breathe normally.

“I’m afraid shoplifting happens,” Paul says with a slow, unconcerned smile. “I must have been in the back.”

“Then let’s look at the security tapes,” Felix says.

“Felix,” Alex mutters. “Do you see any cameras in here?”

“Good heavens,” Paul says. “Why would I need such a thing?”

“I mean,” Felix says, “I don’t mean to tell you how to run your business, but—”

I wave him off. “And the cassette?”

Paul turns to me. His expression stays neutral, but the movement is deliberate. If I had to guess, he’s starting to think about who I might be. “It wasn’t sold with the tape deck, if that’s what you’re asking. I check all such merchandise for any personal items that might have been . . . left behind.”

Breathe normally, I remind myself again. But I think we’re past that point.

Alex bundles up the tape deck and cassette into his bag. “Thank you, sir. Sorry we have to take this again.”

“Not to worry, young man.” Paul waves a hand lazily. “If I didn’t miss it the first time, I won’t miss it now.”

Alex heads for the door first, nudging Felix in the same direction. I turn to follow, but a hand lands on my shoulder from behind.

“It’s you. Isn’t it?” Paul smiles, slow and grave. “I should have known.”

“I—” I have to swallow hard to wet the back of my throat. In the late afternoon sun, the glass windows of Paul’s Pawn and Loan look transparent, wide open to the rest of Lotus Valley. And anything else that’s watching.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. And I turn and leave as fast as I can without running.

The light outside glints hard off the pavement, and I duck my head, rummaging through my backpack for my sunglasses. But by the time I raise it, the sunlight isn’t there.

Neither is the pavement. The parking lot is gone, replaced by the long, dark hallway of my apartment. All the windows stand open, hot sticky air and distant noise bleeding in from the outside, the city open and watching. And distantly, I hear that same dull, shivery roar.

It could be any night ever. Except I know exactly what night it is.

I scramble back, and my foot hits something behind me, throwing off my balance. My heel is backed into the edge of the sidewalk where it meets the blazing bright pavement. And when I look up again, Felix is about two feet away, staring.

“You all right?” he asks.

“Yeah.” I manage a laugh. “I tripped.”

I want to say I don’t know where that came from. But faintly, I do. Just for a moment, I felt the same as I did then, right? Like walls weren’t enough to protect me.

Somehow, this thing is following my triggers better than I am.

When I get my bearings, I see that Cassie’s moved away from the outside wall of the store. She’s standing at the other end of the parking lot now, a hand cupped over her mouth as she mutters into the phone.

“You’re not liste—” She pauses. I hear her take a breath. “Yes, I know. But that’s not what’s—Yes. Okay. Whatever you want.”

She hangs up and turns to us in one fluid motion.

“Is everything okay?” Alex asks.

“Felix,” she says, her eyes not quite focused on any of us. “Could you give Rose a ride back to Lethe Ridge?”

“I could use the walk actually,” I say, slow but automatic. It’s only five. We should be using every second we have. “Cassie, I don’t think—”

“Hang on, hang on,” Felix says. “Rose should be with us, right?”

“Ms. Jones says the most helpful place for her to be is at that house.” If it’s possible to shrug aggressively, that’s what Cassie does. “And she’s got a decision to make, besides.”

I blink. Right. That’s what I agreed to—that by the end of the day, I decide what I want to do.

The others are looking at me. And I hope my answer isn’t written on my face: that for all I’ve seen today, I haven’t found a single scrap of evidence that this thing following me can be reasoned with. Or that I could do something that Rudy can’t.

For the first time since I’ve met him, Felix’s easy, sunny smile darkens. “Then let’s get going,” he says. “Alex?”

Alex, on the other hand, hovers. “Do you need a ride, Cassie?” he asks, partially to his feet.

“You know what?” The soft, round lines of her face are uncharacteristically rigid. “I could use the