Mom and I drive for a long time before she makes a turn, and suddenly, it's snowing out.
She pulls over to the side of the road and gets her phone out. Then, in shocked disbelief, she shows me the date. It's in the summertime. So why is it snowing? Especially this hard, and this much.
I've been living in Pennsylvania enough to know that this is equivalent to Christmas time. But again, it's the summertime.
"Keep driving, mom," I say. "Things are gonna get bad if we stop."
Mom looks at me. "You're so grown up."
I laugh dryly. "Yeah. But none of that matters if he gets to me. Does it?"
Her expression changes. "Pandora, I know this is really hard for you, but I know these guys can help."
"How? What if it's a trap? What if we're being lead to our deaths?"
Tears prick my eyes.
"Honey, I ... "
"He's gonna kill, and maim, and torture more and more until finally someone stops him. And since I'm his daughter, I think I can."
She sighs. "Pan, this is impossibly hard for me too."
"I know, Mom. But a real life was never mine to have. Even though it's what we wanted, it's not gonna happen. It just isn't."
"Do you think you can stand a chance of killing him?" she asks me.
"How can you even ask me that? Mom, he's done awful things to people and done terrible things to you. He tried to kill you. And if I can stop him somehow then I have to at least try!"
She gently caresses my face. "So grown up. I'm so proud of you."
"I take after my mom."
She beams at me and then carefully pulls back onto the road again. Her phone's GPS is leading us to these guys who live out near Princeton and they have experience with Habit. At least, we think they have.
And if so, then I know that I have to be there. Because I was born for one reason - to kill him.
