“Seriously?” I was sounding a little screechy. “You obviously know what’s happening. You have some stake in it, you have … some kind of power. So why don’t you do something? What don’t you stop Roman? Or Lightman?”
They flinched a little when I said the name.
“She’s met him,” one of them said to the other.
“Things really are bad,” his partner answered.
“Then help me!” I demanded, my fists clenched.
The pale one looked chagrined. “I’m sorry, Ms. Norville, but we can’t really do anything but watch. Technically, this isn’t our world, so our influence here is limited. A push here, a nudge here—you know?”
“He knows,” the black-haired one said, indicating Sun.
“Hi,” Sun said, waving. “Have we met?”
“No, but I believe Xiwangmu knows us.”
“Oh, well, okay then.”
I wanted to pull my hair out. I was very tempted to strip naked and run back to the park, but I had to wait for Ben.
“Ms. Norville,” the black-haired Man in Black said. “We very much look forward to talking to you when this is all over.”
I stared. “Should I be encouraged? That you think we’ll be around to talk when this is all over?”
“Yes,” he said. “Definitely. There’s always hope, don’t ever forget that.”
“Who the hell are you guys? At least give me a hint.”
“Good-bye, Ms. Norville.” And just like that, they got into their car and drove away.
Sun had come up beside me and was also staring.
“Do you know who they are?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. But they are totally not human.”
“What?”
He crossed his arms, pursed his lips, like he was considering a particularly complicated puzzle. “Don’t know exactly what they are, but they’re definitely not human.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Since you and I aren’t human, either, I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” he said.
Oh dear lord, I needed a fucking nap.
Inside the diner’s front door I used a pay phone and called Ranger Lopez. I absolutely could not wait until I got my phone back, only I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do that, since it was in the pocket of my jeans, which I’d left somewhere outside the Norris Geyser Basin, along with my wedding ring. She’d given me her card in case I needed anything. “Hi, yeah,” I said when she answered. “How’s Old Faithful doing?”
“I’m sure it’s fine—”
“Can you just check? Did it go off as scheduled?”
“Just a minute…” The line clicked as she put me on hold. A minute later, she came back on. “Yes, it went off right on schedule. Nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
“You’re sure everything’s okay?”