Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(59)

“Terry’s struggling?” Andrew sounded skeptical at first. But then he seemed to accept it. “She would hide it from me. What can I do?”

“That’s why I’m here.” Ken still wasn’t sure this was the right thing. “I’m not supposed to interfere—that’s what my mother always said.” But his mother wasn’t always correct. He knew that now.

“If it’ll help Terry, it’s worth a shot.”

“I think you should break up. While you’re gone. I don’t know why, I just have a feeling it might help her somehow.”

Andrew stayed quiet. Then, “You sure you don’t want to date her?”

“I’m sure.”

Andrew shook his head. “Well, if I don’t come back you have my blessing. Okay, I’ll do it.”

“That’s it?” Ken had expected an argument. One where he didn’t have much to push back with.

“I know you care about her. If this will help, sure. It only seems fair. She should be free until we see what happens. I’d been thinking that already.”

Ken stared at Andrew’s profile, trying as hard as he could to determine the future. But, still, it eluded him.





4.


A nonexistent breeze blew past Terry and the ghostly trees around her cackled, the leaves clattering together like teeth. It didn’t help that she could see through them to the cot and the tile floor and her minders.

A hand on her shoulder. “Miss Ives?” The voice of a demon. His teeth looked too big in his mouth as he spoke to her. “Terry? What’s wrong?”

“You should know,” she said, or thought she said. It was hard to be sure. Today her mind kept circling back to the forest and the monster. Dr. Brenner in front of her asking her questions didn’t help. How long had she been lost in the psychedelic woods, a transparent layer between her and the lab? Four hours? Five? It made her afraid to close her eyes.

She’d been unable to get to the void to see if Kali might be there again, talk to her. The acid made remembering why she needed Kali slippery…

The leaves clattered again around her.

“Should we give her a sedative?” the orderly asked.

Dr. Brenner slid his hand down her arm to her pulse. She tried to shrug him off, but he held fast. “Let me go,” she demanded. “Now.”

The slightest hint of a smile in icy blue eyes. “Or?”

Terry’s other hand flexed into a fist and she opened her mouth to scream—

And then he removed his hand, only to put his stethoscope in ears that seemed pointed, wolfish, and listen to her heart. She flinched as the cold metal moved to her belly. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears, and she reached up to push him away.

“Relax,” Brenner said, stepping back. To the orderly he said, “Her vitals are fine. Pulse racing, but nothing that can’t be accounted for by the stress of the hallucinogen.”

“He means I’m having a bad trip,” Terry said to the minion over Brenner’s shoulder, and tossed her head from side to side. “I want you to leave me alone.”

“We’ll be here while you ride it out,” Brenner said. Was that a note of enjoyment in his voice? Or was it her mind playing tricks?

Whichever, Terry closed her eyes and, inside, she began to run. She had found a focus, finally. It was not wanting to be anywhere near Dr. Martin Brenner. And eventually she escaped the grim forest and room. The void surrounded her. Her feet splashed through the pool of water she associated with this nowhere-everywhere place.

She opened her eyes to the serene dark in all directions. She was breathing hard, still upset.

She’d grown calmer when Kali appeared in front of her.

The girl skipped toward her, splashing through the darkness.

This poor child had been through more than Terry could imagine. Sure, Terry’s classwork in theory prepared her to deal with children. In practice, at least on acid, coming to talk to Kali after their last conversation felt like walking across a field peppered with landmines while wearing a blindfold. Kali’s outburst about Terry having so many friends, and then the fierce hug. She ached for the angry, sweet, lonely girl.

Terry tried to hide how relieved she was that Kali was here. She didn’t want to spook the girl.

“Hello!” Kali said. “I asked for a calendar and they gave me one! I mark every day, and Thursdays are your days.”

She said it shyly.

Terry bent to be at her level. Kali didn’t really seem to like being touched unless it was her idea, so she resisted the urge to smooth a stray hair behind the girl’s ear. “Does your calendar have pictures?”

Kali gave a little hop. “It has a different animal for every month! February is a tiger.”

“Tigers have big teeth,” Terry said.

“Tigers go roar.” Kali made a growling noise and prowled around Terry. All of a sudden the girl stopped moving. “My mom used to make that noise and tell me a story about a tiger! I was named after a goddess. She wore a tiger skin and was fierce in battle.”

So the girl had a mother somewhere. “Where is your mother now?”

“Gone.” Kali’s joy evaporated. She kicked at the water. “Gone, gone, gone.”

“Mine is too,” Terry said.