Chapter 511
“Well, they were people, but they were completely jet black, like they’d been through a crisper. But they weren’t burned. I mean, they weren’t charred or anything. Just black. Except for their eyes. Those were red. And their clothes were weird. Some of them, anyway. Some of them looked like they were wearing clothes from a really long time ago, like villagers in an old movie or something. They crawled down the sides of the buildings, like spiders sort of. And they had claws. Maybe you should just jump into my head and then you could see for yourself.” It would be easier that way. I was so lost in watching her devour her lunch, I wasn’t sure I was making a lot of sense. I took another small bite and waited for her to decide what she wanted to do.
“Okay, sounds good to me. Pull ‘em up.” She swiped at her mouth with a napkin.
It was so weird inviting someone else into my head. I hoped I didn’t accidentally show her anything else, like how I was feeling about Brandon. Or my secrets with Christian. I didn’t think she’d dig around too much, so I just pulled up a visual from Eliza’s hunt and concentrated on that. I could’ve sent the video to Heather, but I didn’t really feel comfortable distributing it. This way, it was still in my head, and only Heather could look at it.
A few moments later, she started shaking her head and picked up a french fry, dousing it in ketchup. “Nope, ain’t never seen nothin’ like that before. They do remind me a little of the critters in the portal. They was black, too, with red eyes. But they weren’t people.”
I was afraid she was going to say that. I’d heard enough about the creatures in the portal—the demons in the portal—to know that they looked similar to the monsters Eliza had encountered the night before. But I couldn’t remember Brandon, Dax, Heather, or anyone else, saying the ones inside the portal looked like people. “Can you think of any way we might be able to figure out what they are?” Heather has been around for a while, and I still haven’t gotten beyond the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the things she knows.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, just about finished with her burger. “Catch one and dissect it? Did ya ask Christian? He might know. He seems to think he knows everything.”
I actually hadn’t asked Christian. He’d been so preoccupied with being stuck in the hole, I hadn’t mentioned it. He might know, though. But even if he did, would he tell me or keep it as one of his secrets?
Telling Heather about Christian’s predicament wasn’t an option, so I said, “He’s on vacation. I have a feeling he wouldn’t really know either.” I don’t know why I felt that way. It seemed like these creatures were something no one had seen before, not even him.
“Well, I don’t rightly know. But I reckon that the lady who sent you that video’ll check in with Aaron as soon as he gets back. Maybe he’ll know.” She finished her cheeseburger and wiped her hands off again before turning her attention to the rest of her fries. “You know, we didn’t have nothin’ like this back in my time. This here is the best meal I ever did eat.”
I couldn’t keep my laughter in now. “You say that every time you eat fast food, Heather.” It was true—maybe every time she ate food period.
“Well, it sure is true this time. For certain.”
Having even a little bit of her enthusiasm would have done me good, but I wasn’t able to get excited about my food or much of anything else. I took another sip of my drink and went over what Heather had said again. I doubted Eliza would reach out to Aaron. Heather didn’t know the history there, and I doubted she even picked up on who the video was from. Mila would tell him, though. I was sure she was already talking to Hannah. If Aaron had been there, he would’ve probably already contacted me to see if I could tell what they were. Hannah hadn’t done that. Probably because she was trying to keep me from begging her to go over there again.
It would make me feel better about the entire situation if I could see how these creatures were related to Daunator—if they were. I knew that Honey was, so there had to be a tie there, but I didn’t have enough information to put all of the pieces together. It was frustrating. I needed to go back to my apartment and see if I could make any connections. I also needed to check on Christian. I’d told him I’d drop in frequently but I really hadn’t been back since our screaming match the night before. I knew he was still in the hole and that he was alive and hadn’t changed his mind, and that had been enough. But he needed to know about these creatures. Even if he hadn’t seen them before, he might be able to figure out what we needed to do next.
My friends wanted to chat, too. I definitely didn’t want to do that. But I was done gathering all of the information I could from Heather, which was basically that she hadn’t seen them before. “All right. Thanks for your help.” I brushed the crumbs off of my fingers on a napkin and noticed Heather was staring at me like I was crazy. “What?”
“Ain’t ya gonna finish yer sandwich?”
“Ugh.” I looked down at my plate. I’d only taken a couple of bites and hadn’t even touched my chips. “I’m really not hungry.”
Her chipperness melted away as her lips turned down in a sympathetic frown. “You upset about Brandon?”
I stared at her for a moment. So she did know. I wondered how. I didn’t ask. “No.” Her eyebrows shot up. I am a liar—and not a good one. “I mean—maybe. I guess.”
“Course you are. How could ya not be?” She started shaking her head in that sympathetic way I’ve seen people do at Lucy since her dad died, and I didn’t like it. “Poor gal. Did he even give ya a reason fer breakin’ yer heart?”
