“I don’t like this,” Arthur called out. "They’re watching us.”
“They’re watching her,” the deputy replied.
The distance to the entrance gradually diminished. She was running out of time. Again, she pondered her options.
“Once we get to the door, use the card to go in, Arthur. When it resets, I’ll follow. Minji and the little girl can wait outside while we deal with this.”
Upon hearing these directions, Minji knew she had to make a move and fast. The barrel of the revolver against the back of her head was terrifying, but so was failing. Was it wrong to want to help save a child from another world? She thought of her own daughters. Wouldn’t she want someone to help them if they were lost? If there could be a peaceful end for both worlds, she had to take a risk. She had no doubt that Deputy Hatcher believed he was doing the right thing, but she had to wonder how willing he was to actually shoot her. Did he really see her as a criminal? Someone dangerous enough to kill?
The entrance loomed before her, a heavy steel door inset into an alcove. Tightening her hold on Ava, she deliberately stumbled. Instantly the press of the gun vanished as she brought her head down, curling her body around Ava.
“Attack them,” Minji whispered urgently.
The silky, freezing tendrils swirled around Minji, invisible to the naked eye, but tangible against her skin. The mesmerized froze in place. Relief flooded Minji.
“I’m completely immune like you,” Deputy Hatcher’s voice said from above her. “Now get up.”
Lifting her head, Minji stared in shock at the weapon aimed at her head. “Don’t do this. Please, listen to reason.”
“Get up!” The coldness in the man’s dark eyes spoke volumes. He would shoot her.
A blast of a car horn echoed through the night and headlights sliced through the dark. It was the shuttle bus. Startled, the deputy glanced over his shoulder, the weapon in his hand wavering.
In that instant, Minji sensed the frigid invisible tentacle power she’d experienced before. Now that she was aware of the influence of the two entities, she felt the difference. This was the mother. And she was furious.
The mesmerized seized the deputy from all sides, dragging him to the ground.
“Don’t kill him!” Minji shouted. “Don’t kill him!”
Thrashing beneath the mesmerized, the deputy’s cries were frantic gibberish. Sweeping Ava up onto her hip, Minji backed away from the cluster around the screaming man.
“Please don’t kill him!”
Arthur snapped out of his transfixed state and screeched in terror. Shoving the mesmerized out of his way, he darted around the thrashing pile of bodies and raced toward the door. Minji swung about and followed him.
“Do it again! Freeze him!” Minji urged the entity within Ava.
The child’s eyes were full of fear. Maybe she couldn’t do it again. Upon quick reflection, Minji realized the attacks had been spaced apart. Maybe the entity had to recover each time before it could act again.
Arthur slammed into the door, pressed a card against a square of murky glowing glass inset in the wall, and the steel door slid open in the blink of an eye. Diving inside, Arthur twisted about and flipped Minji off.
The door banged shut.
“Shit!”
The glass was a dull color now. Minji fished the card out of her pocket with trembling fingers. The mesmerized continued to subdue the deputy. Or were they killing him? She could hear the man screaming, but wouldn’t he be dead by now?
“Arthur is immune to your mother’s power, but not yours,” Minji said quietly to the entity inside of Ava. “That’s why things have been so bizarre.”
Then a thought struck Minji so forcibly, she slumped against the door. It wasn’t the child that had chosen her. It was the mother. Minji wasn’t immune. The first attacks had been overlapping each other. Minji remembered vividly going blind and the visions. She had succumbed to the influence of the entities, but then it had stopped. Everyone had assumed she was completely immune. But that wasn’t the case at all.
She’d been chosen.
Finally, the pane of glass lit up again and Minji slid the card over it.
/> “Minji!” Alec’s voice called out from amidst the mesmerized. “Don’t go in!”
“Follow me!”