All The Dark Places

9. London Can Wait

        It felt like being drugged, a slow creeping feeling of drowning. Rosalind felt it in every limb. She held Felicia's hand, not wanting the little girl out of her sight for a moment. It seemed like every time she did, something soul shaking happened. Felicia skipped along between Rosalind and Scott as they walked through the meadow toward the Bracks cottage. She felt guilt about disobeying Tess's orders to keep Felicia away from Toby and Ivy Bracks. 

      "This is a bad idea, Roz. What is cranky-pants gonna tell us that we can't figure out on our own?" 

      "I don't know," she said honestly, gripping Felicia's hand tightly. "but if he knows something, anything at all, we have to talk to him." 

      "Wait, what is that?" Scott said, pointing to the East toward the narrow, paved road to the castle. 

      "A car. Oh shit, a car! Sophie's car! Toby Bracks can wait." 

     Rosalnd and Felicia ran toward the castle, and Scott dutifully kept up with the pace. Sophie's blue Lexus hybrid stopped in front of the castle, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Sophie step out of the car, and then tensed again when she saw no sign of Thessaly. 

      "Sophie! What's the news?" 

     Rosalind's heart lurched when she saw Sophie's face. Sophie was not the kind of woman to ever be seen disheveled or not at her best, and she looked like hell. Sophie bent down and ruffled Felicia's hair, trying to hide her shock and exhaustion. 

      "Felicia, honey, why don't you go with Scott and see if Noel can cook up some pancakes. He makes the best potato pancakes. Then we can grab some clothes and things and go and see your mum and dad. Sound good?" 

     Felicia grinned and ran up the steps with Scott and into the castle, leaving them outside as a fine mist of Summer rain began to fall. None of them seemed to care. "It's pretty bad," Sophie said, struggling not to cry. 

     "Martin is in a lot of pain and it's possible that his leg will need to be amputated. I saw the news, about Malaysia. Four cities flattened to nothing in a single day." 

      "Four? My God, I only saw the news about Kuala Lumpur." 

      "So many people dead. I can't even register it in my head. How could that possibly happen?" 

     Sophie tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, a nervous gesture she repeated every few seconds. 

      "I don't know. How is Thessaly?" 

      "She didn't want to leave Martin's side. She is terribly worried about Felicia though." Sophie said. 

      "She's OK. I've been keeping her distracted." 

      "I'm here to pick up Felicia, and bring back some fresh clothes and things." 

      "Of course. I'll help in any way I can." 

     Sophie shivered though it was not that cold. 

      "Rosalind, I'm worried about Tess. She kept talking about seeing little robot insects in the hospital waiting room last night. The doctor gave her a sedative, but she was screaming about it and wouldn't calm down. A few months ago Martin told me that she suffers from depression. Maybe she is on medication, and the stress is making her have an episode." 

      "It is probably just stress. I can't blame her, considering all that is going on right now. These robots she thinks she saw were in the hospital? Did she interact with them?" Rosalind pressed.