Devil's Advocate (The X-Files: Origins #2)(75)

The front door was a door again.

The window was unbroken.

The night seemed to stop holding its breath. Crickets began chirping—tentatively, carefully—and in the trees there were the scuffle of bird feet and the soft caw of a nervous crow.

She sat up very, very slowly and looked at her arms and legs, expecting them to be slashed to ribbons from the window glass.

Nothing. There was no blood, no pain. Nothing. Her clothes were not torn or bloody. There was nothing wrong. Her mind felt like a fragile teapot on the edge of a table that crashed and shattered.

Then she saw the stick she had planned to use as a weapon against Angelo. A twenty-inch piece of green wood, thick at one end and thin at the other, standing against one of the slats of the porch rail. Her backpack sat next to it, all the snaps snapped and zippers zipped.

Who had put that stuff there?

Dana said, “What?”

But the night held its secrets and did not answer. She looked once more at the house. The house number was clear: 313, and this was Sandpiper Lane.

Who lived here?

Was this Maisie’s house?

Dana picked up the stick and turned in a full circle. The yard was empty, the street was empty. She snatched up the pack, shrugged into it, took a firm grip on her stick, and ran all the way home. When she got there, she went upstairs and locked herself in her room.





CHAPTER 69

Scully Residence

7:37 P.M.

When someone knocked on her door, Dana did not answer. Not at first. She sat on the corner of her bed farthest from the door, a letter opener clutched in her fist, knees drawn up. She’d been that way for the last half hour.

Another knock.

And then, “Hey, let me in.”

Melissa.

Dana got up very slowly and crept across the room. There was a quarter-inch gap on the hinge side of the door from where it had been hung wrong, and she peered through it, saw red hair, and leaned her head against the frame for a moment, exhaling a ball of pent-up air. Then she put the letter opener down, opened the door, and pulled Melissa into the room.

“Ow! What’s with you?” cried Melissa, pulling her arm free and rubbing it. “I’ve barely seen you for two days and now you all but rip my arm out of its socket. What gives?”

Dana closed and locked the door, then wedged a chair under the doorknob. Melissa watched this and then studied Dana. A deep frown of concern etched itself onto Melissa’s face.

“Okay,” she said, “what happened? What’s going on?”

“Too much,” said Dana, and retreated to her corner of the bed.

Melissa came and sat down. “Tell me what happened.”

Dana went through it all, giving her sister every detail she could remember. The wounds of the apostles, Corinda’s warning, taking Ethan to meet Sunlight, the science club, Angelo chasing her, the ghosts. All of it.

“Okay,” said Melissa, “I am officially creeped out.”

“Tell me about it. They said, ‘The boy will die soon,’ ‘The girl will die first,’ and then I was going to die.”

“Yeah, well, if he comes after you, sis,” said Melissa with a steely glint in her eye, “he’s going to come up against a couple of red-haired witches, and the Scully girls don’t take prisoners.”

Dana nodded and tried to smile, but she did not feel as confident as Melissa sounded. “Okay … but which girl and which boy?”

“Ethan, maybe?” said Melissa, and Dana nearly had a heart attack.

“What if you’re right?” she cried. “Maybe the angel somehow knows Ethan’s working on this with me and is coming after us!”

“Will he freak out if you tell him what you told me about what happened in that house?”

“Probably. Who wouldn’t … though I don’t think he really believes much in this kind of thing.”

“That’s his problem. His uncle’s a detective with the sheriff’s department, right? Even if he doesn’t believe, it’s still worth warning him. Maybe his uncle can arrange police protection.” Melissa pursed her lips thoughtfully. “So who’s the girl? I don’t think it’s me, because they’d have said, ‘He’ll come for your sister,’ right?” She glanced at Dana. “Was this a real house or a dream house?”

“Real enough, I guess. The address was 313 Sandpiper Lane.”

Melissa stiffened. “I think I…”

She stopped, jumped to her feet, pulled the chair out of the way, and went out into the hallway phone. She made a call, and Dana came and listened.

“Dave?” asked Melissa when the call was answered. “Put your sister on. No, this is serious. Good. Oh, hey, Eileen … Do you know Karen Allenby? Yeah, Maisie’s cousin. You do? Good. Do they live on Sandpiper? What’s the actual address? That’s what I thought. Okay, what’s her phone number?” She snapped her fingers for Dana, who ran and fetched a notepad and pen. Melissa took it and scribbled down a number. “Thanks,” she said, and hung up. Dana tried to ask a question, but Melissa made another call. It was answered on the fourth ring. “Hello, Mrs. Allenby? This is Melissa Scully from school. Is Karen there? What? Oh yes, I’m so sorry about your niece.… Yes, we all liked her. No, I don’t believe the sheriff’s department is right, either. Maisie wasn’t the kind of girl to do drugs. She was a great girl. You’re welcome. Okay, I’ll wait.”