The Last Rite

Chapter Seventeen: Strange Phenomena

Chapter Seventeen: Strange Phenomena

They made a pretty good run of it in the end, especially since they had very little to go on.

Jan had a vague feeling she was in contact with Maggie, felt an even vaguer pull toward the west and north. She drove slowly, weaving through the country roads over gravel and less frequently pavement, and Nick marked on the map of Ontario the direction the Maggie sensation seemed to be coming from.

It had been understood from the start between them to stay away from the subject, Jan’s idea Maggie was calling to her. It was so impossible as to not bear examination. Too many things had happened which were odd, but none had been strictly impossible like this.

Curiously, the taboo over the one subject made it easier to talk about other things. “Okay,” Nick said. “Eighth birthday.”

“Eighth,” Jan replied. “Right. Quiet night at home. We rented the original Star Wars movies and got a pizza. I can’t believe I’m actually getting all of this.”

“It’s great,” he said. “All sorts of information you store up all your life, thinking some day it’s going to come in handy. You think the time’s never going to come and then bang, someone walks in and asks, tell me everything.”

“What about you?”

“Me? Okay, that was. . . Madrid. I was in Madrid. A legitimate job in the summer. And making money within my vocation for once. I painted sign boards for a travelling circus.”

“No!” she said. “I was working in advertising. Doing glamorous spots for plumbing companies. Lucky bum.”

“Come on,” said Nick. “You never wanted to join the circus, did you?”

“How do you know? I wanted to be a tightrope walker – there was this book I used to read to Maggie, in fact – Hold on, I can feel it pretty strongly that way.”

She indicated, with a sweeping gesture, most of a field to their right.

“Does that make a difference?”

He used the pair of compasses they’d found in a pile of Maggie’s old school things in the car to estimate their position. “What’s the odie say?”

“Seventeen kilometers since the junction. This road is destroying my car. I wouldn’t be surprised if the windshield cracks.”

“We should check the tires at the next gas station. We’re riding pretty low. No – It’s another piece, but we’re still only closing in. Nothing for sure yet.”

“Okay, let’s make another pass. Is there anything left of that sandwich?”

He checked as Jan turned up the next concession for a parallel route. “Nada,” he replied. “Unless you can fill up on orphaned hot peppers. It’s getting dark. How about we find a place, since we’ll be getting near to civilization in a few minutes, and get a sit-down meal?”

“I’m not ready to stop looking yet,” she said.

“Jan.” Nick put his hand lightly on her arm. “You’re not going to help Maggie by falling asleep at the wheel.”

“I’m not tired.”

“What if you can’t feel where she is effectively if you’re half-asleep?”

“What if I’m more susceptible when I’m tired?”

“So you are tired. Sorry – sorry. I wasn’t trying to be argumentative.”

“Oh, hell.” She put her foot more heavily on the accelerator. “You’re right. I’m starving and I’m exhausted. My brain’s going to go on the fritz pretty soon if I don’t get something going into it besides worrying and long country roads.”