Different Lee by Bill Hiatt

Author:Bill Hiatt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9: Hail Mary Shot

DL woke from his nightmare-twisted sleep when one of the Bey’s men shoved him. Staring blearily around him, he could see another guy holding a gun on him. In front of him on the table were what looked like stale donuts.

“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” said the one who had shoved him. The mockery sounded odd because of his Romanian accent. DL wished he were a Western dragon and could breathe fire to melt the sneer off the guy’s smug face.

“How am I supposed to eat those with my hands behind my back?” asked DL. He doubted either of them was dumb enough to unchain him, even if they could, but he figured he might as well try.

Both of the guards laughed. “You’ll figure it out.” They continued to chuckle as they went back outside.

DL, who decided starvation might be better than giving them the satisfaction of chasing donuts around the plate with his face, looked around. Naturally, the place had no electricity, but considerable light was coming in through the east-facing stained-glass windows. The multicolored glow would have made him happy if his situation hadn’t been so dire. Anyway, the cathedral-restaurant combination wasn’t working for him, regardless of the lighting. He wasn’t having as much trouble now imagining why the park failed so fast, though maybe if he’d read the underlying books, his surroundings might have made more sense to him.

DL probed gently to find out whether Max was awake. Like DL, the kid was sitting in front of stale donuts, though at least his hands were free. The Collector obviously didn’t consider Max as very much of a threat—probably an accurate assessment, though DL didn’t go out of his way to point that out.

“Any idea where your parents are?” asked DL.

“I just know they aren’t here,” thought Max, sound a little forlorn.

DL couldn’t help noticing another voice in his head. No, the other voice was actually in Max’s head, though it was very, very faint, like someone shouting, but almost out of hearing range.

“Max, who is that?” DL knew Ekaterina would be more or less comatose during the day, and even if she had been awake, she had a bond with him, not with Max. If DL wasn’t just imagining the voice, then someone else knew they were there, someone who must have at least a little magic. What other explanation could there be?

“I don’t know. I can’t really make out any words.”

“Let’s both focus on the voice,” suggested DL. “If we concentrate as hard as we can—”

“It’s my grandmother!” thought Max, sounding surprised but pleased. “I still can’t…wait…she wants to help. I can get that much. The connection is pretty weak, but your blood must have amplified my ability to hear her, even outside the house.”

“How can she help?” thought DL impatiently. “We need a little more than a whisper in your head.”

“It’s so hard. She thinks…she thinks if you can communicate with me this way, maybe you can slide your…consciousness into my body temporarily.

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