The Paladin Prophecy

#9: WATCH, LOOK, AND LISTEN, OR YOU WON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE MISSING.

“You get started, then,” said Belinda, grabbing a Diet Coke from the fridge. “I’ve got to head back to work. We’ll go over everything later with Dad.”

She hugged him from behind as he sat at the table. Her touch felt tense, fraught with twisted anxiety, wrong. Her dark glasses slipped down, and for the first time Will saw her eyes: they were Belinda’s, but chillingly glassy and vacant.

“We are both so proud of you,” she said, and then she was gone.

He heard the front door close, then hurried to the living room and watched her drive off. The Green Machine slowed as she turned the corner where he’d seen the black sedan. Her window slid down as she edged out of sight. Will ran to the next window, where he could see both cars. Stopped beside each other, driver to driver.

She’s talking to them.

Will locked the doors. He tried his dad’s cell—please, Dad, please answer—but got voice mail. Will hung up, then tapped a text: NEED TO TALK. CALL ME.

Caps. SHOUTING. Anything to grab Dad’s attention. Will set his phone beside his laptop and picked up Dr. Robbins’s packet. His hands were shaking. It took every ounce of self-control to keep his terror from breaking loose.…

His phone marimbaed. Will jumped out of his skin and picked up before the second ring: Dad calling.

“Dad?… Dad?” Will heard a hollow metallic whistling, like water echoing through a storm drain. “Dad, are you there?”

There was a burst of static, then silence. Will hit CALL BACK and heard the same swampy interference. Dad must be out of range or driving through a dead zone. Will killed the call and set the phone down where he could see it. He needed to stay focused, ground himself in facts. Analyze, manage, arrange: The Importance of an Orderly Mind.

He opened Robbins’s packet and paged through some forms, including an admission application for his parents to sign. A magazine-sized blank rectangle, made of strong, flexible material, slid out. The words TOUCH HERE appeared, and he did. More words appeared, in a simple, elegant font:

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