Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(76)

4.


Alice wasn’t sure if it was the acid or the electricity or a strange fancy she’d developed, but the energy at the lab felt different today. Like the entire place vibrated on some other frequency than it usually did. Dr. Parks hadn’t come in until late, busy dealing with the reporters. That hadn’t exactly worked out as Terry had hoped, but maybe it would make Brenner worry.

Maybe.

Anyway, Dr. Parks had administered only one strong electroshock pulse and then said for Alice to “take it easy” this week.

People had been bustling around the hallways, and she’d seen Terry being escorted past.

She’d also caught a glimpse of a nightmare on a different scale. A monstrous vortex of fire and energy and darkness, tentacles reaching and growing. Growing so big they could eat the sky. Its mouth had a glowing fire of destruction inside it…

How could anyone fight such a thing?

The door opened and Alice was only a little surprised to see Kali skip through it.

“Alice!” She ran over and threw her arms around her. “Today has been so much fun!”

“Why’s that?” Alice looked past her, but no one seemed to be following the girl.

“The men are here and so I get to do things. Terry saw.”

Alice’s eyebrows shot up. She had so many questions. But…“How are you out here right now?”

“Papa’s busy! I asked him if I could go visit my friend and he said yes.” Kali gave a sheepish smile. “He thought I meant Terry. But I already saw her today. So I came to see you.”

Something had been bothering Alice. She knew her visions weren’t of now, they were still to come, but…this little girl lived here.

“Kali, have you ever seen a monster in the lab?”

Kali frowned in concentration. “I don’t think so. What kind?”

Alice lifted her arms and waved them around like tentacles. “Big with weird arms and a mouth that opens out of its head.”

Kali shook her head, her eyes big. “Does that live here?”

Her sudden fear was plain.

Good job, Alice.

Alice who’d watched one scary movie at age eight and then not slept with the light off for months afterward. Her mom had forbidden her from ever watching another one. She still occasionally checked under her bed before going to sleep. And she never, ever let her foot dangle off the side. She’d asked for a ghost story from Ken that night in the woods because part of her enjoyed being scared. But when she was a kid, that part had done the opposite of enjoy it.

“Don’t worry, tiger,” Alice said.

But Kali still frowned, her small forehead pinched. “You saw the monster, didn’t you?”

Alice nodded. “But not now. It’s not here now. It’s in the future.”

“The future?” Kali asked.

“It happens at some point, but probably not soon. Forget what I said.”

“I never forget!” Kali growled like a tiger and crept around the edges of the room. “Do you want to see what I did for the men? Before me and Terry?”

“No,” Alice said. And when Kali looked hurt, she said, “I don’t want you paying the cost.”

Kali lifted her shoulders. “I don’t mind.”

“That’s because you’re a good girl.”

“Papa doesn’t think so.” Said so matter-of-factly.

Alice struggled to respond. She needed to speak the child’s language. Finally, she managed, “Then Papa is a poopyhead.”

Kali laughed so hard that Alice worried she might fall over. At least the girl had forgotten about her fear of monsters with hungry mouths.

Too bad Alice couldn’t do the same.





5.


As soon as the van drove away, Terry turned to the others where they stood in the parking lot. She kept touching her belly. She couldn’t seem to stop. She’d gone through a million scenarios, including a bunch of extremely unpleasant ones: Becky’s furious reaction, how to tell Andrew and whether he’d freak out, probably getting kicked out of school…

And then there was the problem of Brenner. What was she going to do? “We need to talk. I need to.”

“Should we go to the garage?” Ken asked, frowning. “Sorry the reporter didn’t pan out. At least they’re doing a story.”

“Who were all those guys in suits today?” Gloria asked.

Terry moved her arms up to hug herself. “One of the reasons we need to talk.”

“I’ll drive you.” Alice touched Terry’s arm. “Whatever it is will be okay.”

“I don’t think so.” Terry shook her head. “Let’s just talk here. I need to see my roommate after.”

“Okay,” Gloria said and gave the parking lot an intense scrutiny. “The driver’s gone.”

Ken nodded toward the nearest building. “There’s a bench over there where we can sit. As long as we don’t hang out too long, security shouldn’t bother with us.”

The evening was cool and quiet, the sky hidden by low gray clouds. The campus trees had begun to sprout some early leaves, but in the dark they looked like teardrops. When they reached the outdoor seating area Ken had mentioned, he sat on the sidewalk and so did Alice. Gloria sat down on the metal bench and Terry joined her.