“Jesus, Eric,” said Paul when he’d finished telling him about what he found in the gas station. “The guy actually shot at you?”
“Well, I did hit him in the face with some metal trays.”
“That’s probably the only reason he missed.”
Eric thought that was probably true. Between the surprise attack and at least enough pain to bring tears to his eyes, it must have played hell on the cowboy’s marksmanship.
Paul shook his head. “I mean, shit… The man actually shot at you. That’s… That’s scary, is what it is.”
“I know it is.” He’d had guns pointed at him before, but he’d never actually been shot at.
“I’d have been crapping my pants if it was me.”
“Not so much, really. You’re too busy running away. Didn’t really hit me until we were out of that parking lot.”
“I guess I can see that.”
“Considering how that all went down, I’m kind of glad I lost you back there.”
Paul shrugged. “I grabbed the sodas and turned around and you were gone. I never saw where you went. I looked all over that place. The lady at the counter was starting to give me strange looks, so I bought what I had and left. That’s when I tried to call you.”
“Sorry about that. It wasn’t a good time to talk.”
“Right. That reminds me, here’s Karen’s phone.”
“It’s already charged?”
“Sort of. Kevin pulled up just as your—my—phone went to voice mail. He had a better idea. He just swapped the batteries with his.”
“You can do that?”
“Apparently.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. I guess him and Karen had the same model or something. This one’s almost fully charged. You can have your Spice Girls ring tone back.”
“Joy.”
Paul chuckled.
Eric examined the phone. He’d missed a call from Karen. She’d call back soon enough. She always did.
“So the guy made those monsters?”
Eric nodded. “He says he did. No reason to doubt him.”
“So they are golems.”
“I don’t know about that. The golems I encountered were deadly dangerous. I have the scars to prove it. They were also mindlessly relentless. These things… Well, they were intimidating…but in the end they were basically harmless. And when I found that out, the one that was left looked like it was afraid. Also, the golems were… What’s the word? Imperceptible. You could see them, but you couldn’t really understand what it was you were seeing.”
“Maybe they’re just a different kind of golem.”
“Maybe. But I think they’re a completely different kind of thing. He called them ‘projections.’”
“Still sounds like a golem to me.”
Eric shook his head. He didn’t know. But it was curious that this was the second person he’d met who could conjure monsters. Maybe the third. It was still possible that Pink Shirt was responsible for those black creatures he saw at the asylum.
“Also, doesn’t that mean that this guy was at the hospital?”
Eric nodded. “I was thinking that, too. That one came out of the stairwell, so he might’ve been down in the basement. Or maybe it came down from the second or third floor. I don’t know. I never saw him.”
“I never saw anybody. But then again, I still haven’t seen most of these buildings.”
“That reminds me, how did you know where to find me if you couldn’t see the restaurant?”
“Isabelle called me right after Kevin swapped in the charged battery. She said to circle around the left side of the building, so I did.”
“Of course. Thanks, Isabelle.”
YOU’RE WELCOME, immediately appeared on Karen’s phone.
“Any idea what was up with Billy-Bob back there?”
NO IDEA
“Didn’t figure so.”
SOMETHING WAS FISHY ABOUT HIM
“Yeah, No kidding.”
I’M SORRY, ERIC. I’M NOT MUCH HELP TODAY
“You’re plenty of help. There’s just nothing to help with. We still don’t know anything.”
“So what are we going to do?” asked Paul.
Eric sighed and stared out through the windshield. “I can’t put it off any longer. We need to head back to the apartment. I need to find out what Aiden is up to.”
The Spice Girls began singing from Karen’s phone again and Eric answered it, shooting Paul a threatening look.
Paul turned his hands up on either side of the wheel as if to say, “What?”
The call was from home, but it wasn’t Karen’s voice that spoke to him from the phone. It was Diane’s. “Does Isabelle sleep?”
Eric chuckled. “No. She doesn’t sleep.”
“How does she not sleep?”
“She isn’t sleepy.”
“So she’s been awake for all those years?”
“That’s right.”
“How can you not be sleepy after being awake for over thirty years?”
Eric closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat. He couldn’t very well be annoyed. For days after his return from his journey through the fissure, he’d sat and talked with Isabelle on the phone, asking her all of these very same questions, trying to grasp the curious nature of her condition. Patiently, he explained, “Because time doesn’t affect her body. She’s in the exact same physical condition she was in when she first disappeared. She wasn’t hungry because she’d recently eaten. She wasn’t thirsty. She wasn’t tired. Her body has basically been on pause ever since that moment.”
“But she can move around and talk.”
“She’s aware of the passage of time, but not affected by it.”
“That’s confusing.”
“So are combustion engines, but your car still works.”
“Touché, Monsieur Smarty-Pants.”
“Is there anything else?”
“Does she breathe?”
In the background, Eric heard Karen say, “Okay, quit hogging my husband.”
“Okay, fine…”
Eric heard the phone change hands and then Karen’s voice took over. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going. I’ll say that.”
“Any idea what’s going on, yet?”
“A little. Not much. Found out how Aiden disappeared six years ago.”
“Really?”
Eric told her about the restaurant, but he didn’t describe any of the encounters he had inside. He didn’t want to worry her by admitting that he’d been shot at. He could fill her in on that later. Maybe.
“That’s insane! I’ve been in there hundreds of times.”
“I know. Me too.”
“What are you doing now?”
“We’re going to try to find that apartment again. Hopefully, I’ll have some answers soon.”
“That’s good. Let me know what you find.”
“I will.”
“Say hi to Brooke for me.”
“Funny.”
“It is. By the way, Diane really wants to know what’s going on between Paul and Rose?”
Eric grinned and held the phone out to Paul. “It’s for you.”
“What? Why does she want to talk to— Aw man!”
Eric laughed. “Take it.”
“No! I’m not taking that phone. I’m not talking about that stupid manikin.”
Putting the phone back to his ear, Eric said, “Paul says, ‘No comment.’”
“He’s no fun.”
“I know.”
“We so want to know what happened. I just know it’s funnier than Gertie described it.”
“It was. Maybe Isabelle will tell you all about it.”
“Oh, do you think she would?”
“I’ll bet she would.”
“Oh… Hold on… Oh, that’s her on the call waiting!” Clearly, Isabelle was more than eager to talk about it. “Bye!”
Eric hung up the phone and looked over at Paul, still grinning.
Paul scowled back at him. “I hate all of you. You know that, right?”
Eric grinned. “Oh. That reminds me. That fat cowboy thinks you’re a transsexual named Kenny.”
“What?”
“Just a heads up.”
Paul was completely flustered now. “How…? Why would…? Come on! How does something like that even come up? I mean, really.”
Eric laughed and leaned back in the seat as Paul muttered grumpily to himself.
Recalling his brief conversation with Diane, he cocked his head and wondered… Did Isabelle breathe?
He’d never thought about that before. He’d have to remember to ask her sometime when she wasn’t giggling with Karen and Diane over Paul’s embarrassing scene at The Creek Boutique.