Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. It's the Cool Zone Media book Club. Hello,
Speaker 1: I'm welcome to Cool Zone Media book Club. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy and this is the book club where you
Speaker 1: don't have to do the reading because I do it
Speaker 1: for you. And we are on chapter eight of my book,
Speaker 1: The Barrel Will Send what it may. I'm enjoying reading
Speaker 1: this to you, but I'm also enjoyed about the stuff
Speaker 1: that we're going to do after this. And this is
Speaker 1: the second book in the Danielle Kaine series. The first
Speaker 1: one you can hear me read it to Robert Evans
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of this book club a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. And the third book is called The
Speaker 1: Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice and it's available for pre
Speaker 1: order now. You pre order like really soon. You can
Speaker 1: still get a signed book plate if you order it
Speaker 1: from Firestorm Books, which is you know, it's a nashvillehere.
Speaker 1: You can also buy it through them online and then
Speaker 1: it'll get sent to you through the mail and it
Speaker 1: comes out in June. And so I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I should read you the first two books so that
Speaker 1: you're all caught up, and so that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: This is chapter eight, like I already said, and I
Speaker 1: actually think this is chapter eight and nine. I think
Speaker 1: this is going to be me reading you the rest
Speaker 1: of the book. We're going to back up a little
Speaker 1: bit and read you a couple paragraphs from the end
Speaker 1: of the last chapter. I wonder what they'll do. I
Speaker 1: was back upstairs, back on the panic couch. It didn't
Speaker 1: hit me so bad this time, maybe because whether or
Speaker 1: not it was me doing something, I knew that someone
Speaker 1: was doing something. I knew that the current situation would
Speaker 1: not continue indefinitely, even without physically moving. Every passing minute
Speaker 1: got me closer to nod in the library as surely
Speaker 1: as if I was walking towards the exit. Fuck off
Speaker 1: and leave us here, Liscilla said, that's my guess. Thursday
Speaker 1: and Doomsday sat on the love seat quietly whispering. Vulture
Speaker 1: was asleep in a Sola's bed. Brynn paced her boots
Speaker 1: a rhythmic clump clump on the floor. Every time her
Speaker 1: circuit took her past the window. She peered out for
Speaker 1: a second. Hey, she said. On one of her rounds,
Speaker 1: she motioned us over. Check this out. In the distance
Speaker 1: from the west edge of town, a thin trickle of
Speaker 1: smoke turned into a billowing cloud erupting up towards heaven.
Speaker 1: A Sola's house was on fire. Dun, dundun. That would
Speaker 1: have been a cliffhanger if you weren't listening to the
Speaker 1: next chapter right now, chapter eight. They're leaving, Brynn said,
Speaker 1: all of them. Thursday asked, yeah, wait, no, almost everyone.
Speaker 1: Mister Miller's still there, plus some other guy. Vascillis went
Speaker 1: down to the window and looked out. Arthur Dawson, he said, runs.
Speaker 1: Dawson's probably Miller's best friend in town. He armed. I asked, Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: what now, I asked, take to the roof. Thursday suggested, wait,
Speaker 1: what the fuck is that? Brynn asked. The rest of
Speaker 1: us stacked up by the window to peer out through
Speaker 1: the crack to see what she was talking about. Sebastian
Speaker 1: stood on the street, his face shaded by a baseball cap.
Speaker 1: In front of him, a tall, thin man in blue
Speaker 1: jeans held a pistol in his hand and had another
Speaker 1: holstered at his hip. Sebastian's rifle, though, was leaning against
Speaker 1: a parked car, and Sebastian had some stubby black device
Speaker 1: in his hand. Sebastian stepped up to his friend and
Speaker 1: jabbed him in the side while simultaneously muffling him with
Speaker 1: an elbow around the face. Arthur went down thrashing. What
Speaker 1: the fuck is he doing, Brynn asked Taser. Vulture said,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, I said, heading for the stairs. We're
Speaker 1: going to stop him. Informal decision making is great when
Speaker 1: there's time, you bicker about what to do. When there isn't,
Speaker 1: you just go for it. My friends were right behind me.
Speaker 1: The ground floor of the library was empty, had been
Speaker 1: empty for days. It already looked abandoned. Rats gathered on
Speaker 1: the checkout counter. Sunlight cut thin swaths across the floor
Speaker 1: from where it broke through the edges of the barricade shutters.
Speaker 1: I reached the front door and carelessly through the bar
Speaker 1: to the side. My motives here weren't entirely altruistic. I
Speaker 1: wanted out. The door swung outward, and the day poured in,
Speaker 1: blinding me for a second. As my eyes adjusted. A
Speaker 1: rat ran out the door. Well, it tried to run
Speaker 1: out the door. No sooner had it crossed the threshold
Speaker 1: than green fire burst from its body and it collapsed
Speaker 1: lifeless on the stoop outside. Everyone saw, I think, because
Speaker 1: I threw out my arm to block the way, but
Speaker 1: no one tried to leave the window, Brinn said. I
Speaker 1: tossed back the shutter from the nearest window and opened
Speaker 1: the pane. I couldn't see anything, but that meant nothing.
Speaker 1: I edged my soulless hand out through the window, and
Speaker 1: sure enough it tingled and glowed pale green on the
Speaker 1: street outside. Mister Dawson lay motionless on the street. Sebastian
Speaker 1: knelt over him with a hunting knife and an ice
Speaker 1: pick grip, stabbing the corpse of his friend over and over.
Speaker 1: It must take a massive amount of pain to raise
Speaker 1: the barrier. Sebastian saw me looking and raised his head
Speaker 1: to meet my eyes. I can't believe you killed him,
Speaker 1: he shouted in a sarcastic tone. Then he switched to menacing.
Speaker 1: You'll wait in there until everyone comes back from whatever
Speaker 1: chaos you tricked my wife into causing. I'll let down
Speaker 1: the barrier and you'll see how the town of Pendleton,
Speaker 1: Montana deals with a bunch of freak murderers like you. Crack,
Speaker 1: I jumped to the sound of gunfire. I'd never been
Speaker 1: a particularly jumpy person before all of this adrenaline kicked in.
Speaker 1: Turns out bullets don't have souls. Thursday shouted from the door.
Speaker 1: More gunfire. He and Doomsday we're both shooting. And you
Speaker 1: know what else doesn't have a soul? Corporations. It's not
Speaker 1: even me trying to make a slight at corporations. They
Speaker 1: just don't. And some of them advertise on our show. Also,
Speaker 1: there's some stuff that isn't advertisements. No, they're all advertisements
Speaker 1: that isn't corporations. Y'all ever do that thing where you
Speaker 1: just start switching nouns around in sentences like a totally
Speaker 1: normal person whose brain is working properly. Me too, well,
Speaker 1: don't switch around the various nouns in these ads, because
Speaker 1: then you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the eels.
Speaker 1: Here they are and we're back. Sebastian reeled, maybe hit,
Speaker 1: He spun a little and dashed behind the hood of
Speaker 1: the nearest car. Bullets wouldn't get through the engine block, sadly,
Speaker 1: or the days might have still had a chance. If
Speaker 1: they brought him down, the barrier would drop with him.
Speaker 1: They stopped firing. What now, Thursday asked, told you we
Speaker 1: need a drone, Vulture said, not helping vulture. Doomsday said,
Speaker 1: I'll check all the windows. I said, I was the
Speaker 1: only one who could do it safely. I thought doing
Speaker 1: the rounds would give the adrenaline a chance to clear
Speaker 1: my system. But I was just too jacked up and
Speaker 1: nervous for my body to consider calming down. Each time
Speaker 1: I put my hand through the barrier at a different window,
Speaker 1: A inched closer and closer to overwhelming nausea. It needed doing.
Speaker 1: Though the last window, the fifteenth one, was in the
Speaker 1: living room upstairs. I put my hand through, felt that green,
Speaker 1: fire and dry, wretched. I couldn't remember the last time
Speaker 1: I ate something. There was no way out. The townspeople
Speaker 1: would come back and see Arthur Dawson stabbed to death
Speaker 1: on the asphalt. Sebastian would drop the barrier, and dozens
Speaker 1: of angry, armed, innocent townspeople would storm this place, and
Speaker 1: what citizens arrest us lynch us. I could only come
Speaker 1: up with two sources of hope. The days might kill Sebastian.
Speaker 1: Maybe he was already bleeding out, or maybe he'd stick
Speaker 1: his head up at just the wrong second. Or maybe
Speaker 1: a Sola or Gertrude would find their way back, and
Speaker 1: I guess kill him themselves. Slim hope either way, Maybe
Speaker 1: one of us could rush the barrier. The witch's fire
Speaker 1: took a while to kill Heather. Maybe one of us
Speaker 1: could rush the barrier and kill Sebastian and the rest
Speaker 1: of us could make a break for it. I sat
Speaker 1: down on that same fucking chair I'd spent way too
Speaker 1: much of the past couple days sitting on, and dropped
Speaker 1: my head into my hands as my brain and stomach raised.
Speaker 1: It should be Vacillis, I mean, mostly because he was
Speaker 1: the odd man out. I'd rather lose him than any
Speaker 1: one else. It should be Vassillis because he was the
Speaker 1: one who didn't do anything for months when he knew
Speaker 1: there was something evil going on. He was the one
Speaker 1: who didn't step up. Hell, he was the one who
Speaker 1: was too afraid to let Heather heal on her own
Speaker 1: time and rush the ritual and got her killed. Cold
Speaker 1: logic became a sort of hate as it coursed through
Speaker 1: my brain. Vacilis deserved to die, and noble sacrifice was
Speaker 1: about the best he could do. I could talk him
Speaker 1: into rushing Sebastian. No, the fuck I couldn't. That snapped
Speaker 1: me out of it. There's only so far our thoughts
Speaker 1: can wander outside our ethics before something kicks in and
Speaker 1: brings us back. If vacilis deserved anything, it was to
Speaker 1: run a library and drink tea and study magic and
Speaker 1: maybe fall in love again one day. To get over Heather, Shit, Heather.
Speaker 1: I looked over. She was still on the table where
Speaker 1: she died. Atop her, the book of Barrow sat where
Speaker 1: Doomsday had set it down. She could get through the barrier. Hey,
Speaker 1: I shouted down the stairs. Hey guys, I would like
Speaker 1: the record to state my objection to this plan, Thursday said,
Speaker 1: so that when it goes horribly wrong, I won't even
Speaker 1: have to say I told you so. I would like
Speaker 1: the record to state I think this is metal as fuck, said,
Speaker 1: so that no matter how it goes, I'll be right boys.
Speaker 1: Doomsday said, If this works, Fascilla said, she will be alive.
Speaker 1: So long as Doomsday and I hold the ritual space,
Speaker 1: our own life energy will hold open the gate. Unless
Speaker 1: we condemn another soul to death and send it back
Speaker 1: to Barrow in her place, she will die again. As
Speaker 1: soon as we drop the ritual. We might be able
Speaker 1: to hold it for an hour without risking our own lives.
Speaker 1: Once it's over. Once Heather has passed through the gate
Speaker 1: that second time, there's no bringing her back, not even temporarily.
Speaker 1: Barrow won't be happy with any of us when he
Speaker 1: doesn't get his due. He probably won't seek revenge, but
Speaker 1: he probably won't heed our call ever again either. We
Speaker 1: nodded solemn. I was beyond fear, firmly in the realm
Speaker 1: of all We called them endless spirits or or sometimes demons.
Speaker 1: But as I thought about what we were going to do,
Speaker 1: I realized what they were gods. We were about to
Speaker 1: risk pissing off a non abstract, non bearded dude in
Speaker 1: the sky. God. I wasn't in awe of Barrow. I
Speaker 1: was in awe of Doomsday of Vacillis for that level
Speaker 1: of courage. Fortunately, none of the rest of us had
Speaker 1: to participate in the actual spell casting. We stood in
Speaker 1: a semicircle several steps away, outside the line of salt
Speaker 1: that encircled the table. Vasillis spoke in Greek, then put
Speaker 1: his hands on one of Heather's shoulders. Doomsday said her part,
Speaker 1: we ask you Barrow to animate this vessel. She put
Speaker 1: her hands on Heather's other shoulder. We opened this space
Speaker 1: as ritual space, Vacillis said in English, this time, and
Speaker 1: hold it so until such time as we close it.
Speaker 1: Green fire erupted from the salt and encircled our friends.
Speaker 1: When I was younger, I used to spread that conventional
Speaker 1: wisdom that magic, real magic was subtle, not something you
Speaker 1: could see. Nope, turns out that magic, real magic ain't subtle.
Speaker 1: For shit, We ask you Barrow to animate this vessel.
Speaker 1: Doomsday's voice filled every corner of the room, then faded
Speaker 1: to nothing. Vasillis released his hands from Heather's shoulder. Then
Speaker 1: Doomsday did the same. Then Heather screamed. Then she sat up.
Speaker 1: Doomsday and Vasillis stood statue still. They had no energy
Speaker 1: to spare on speaking or moving by their expressions. They
Speaker 1: were in pain. Brin's turn, Heather, She said, as loudly
Speaker 1: as she could, while still trying to calm someone down.
Speaker 1: It's okay, Heather. Heather's scream subsided, and she jumped off
Speaker 1: the table to her feet. She stumbled for a moment,
Speaker 1: then caught her balance. She was still inside the circle
Speaker 1: of flames. Is it safe, she asked? You can pass through? Yes,
Speaker 1: Brynn said Heather came through the oar Boris tattoo still
Speaker 1: looked fresh on her arm. It still looked like it
Speaker 1: was healing. What happened, she asked, You died? Brynn said,
Speaker 1: I remember that. Listen, Brynn said, taking in a deep breath.
Speaker 1: This was hard on her. You're not back for good.
Speaker 1: How long do I have? Maybe an hour? Brynn said,
Speaker 1: She choked up, was barely able to get the words out.
Speaker 1: As long as they can withstand the pain, basically okay?
Speaker 1: Heather said, it clearly wasn't okay, and tears were forming
Speaker 1: in Heather's eyes. Sebastian Miller did this, He did all
Speaker 1: of this. He killed Damien and Loki and Asola and
Speaker 1: now Arthur Dawson and who knows who else, And we're
Speaker 1: trapped inside right now until he drops a barrier of
Speaker 1: witches fire by choice or by lack of consciousness, and
Speaker 1: that barrier only the dead can pass. Vulture stepped forward
Speaker 1: and gave her a ratty black hoodie. She pulled it
Speaker 1: over her naked body and it was long enough to
Speaker 1: serve as a dress. Thursday stepped forward and gave her
Speaker 1: a gun. She took it in her hand. Carefully and
Speaker 1: dropped the magazine to count bullets before seating it back in.
Speaker 1: Brynn had given her knowledge Doomsday and Vasilius had given
Speaker 1: her this brief respite from death Thursday in Vulture had
Speaker 1: both offered her gifts. I had nothing that felt wrong. Somehow,
Speaker 1: the whole scene was so goddamned biblical that it felt
Speaker 1: like I probably should have something to give her. I've
Speaker 1: got nothing to give you, I said, feeling a bit
Speaker 1: silly as I did. I'm dead and nothing's going to
Speaker 1: stop that. So basically, anything I say right now I
Speaker 1: can't really be held responsible for. She asked. I nodded.
Speaker 1: Bryn is a big old fat crush on you, she said,
Speaker 1: and then laughed. She's falling in love with you, she
Speaker 1: told me herself. Heather Brynn said, it turns out Bryn
Speaker 1: is capable of blushing. Okay, I'm gonna go kill this
Speaker 1: fucking guy for you losers. She ran out the front door,
Speaker 1: gun blazing. I mean I couldn't see the actual muzzle
Speaker 1: blasts or whatever in the daylight, but she just ran
Speaker 1: straight for that sedan with the pistol firing over and over.
Speaker 1: She wasn't saving Ammo that wasn't good. It flushed him out,
Speaker 1: though he must have seen her coming, and he ran.
Speaker 1: Thursday took a shot from the door and hit him
Speaker 1: in the leg. He dropped like he was a bike
Speaker 1: with a stick in his spokes, and face planted. Heather
Speaker 1: had a wild smile in her face, dropped the gun
Speaker 1: and leaped onto his chest. She'd never meant to shoot him.
Speaker 1: Her hands went over his throat, choking off his screams.
Speaker 1: I put my hand into the barrier over the door,
Speaker 1: watching the green light flicker over the gray mottled wound,
Speaker 1: and I tried my hardest to disassociate from the nausea
Speaker 1: that rose again in the pit of my stomach. After
Speaker 1: a short moment, the green light disappeared. I reached farther, cautiously,
Speaker 1: letting my wrist pass through the threshold. Nothing, my whole arm,
Speaker 1: Nothing go, I said, and we ran out the door.
Speaker 1: The plan was to get Heather inside for a final
Speaker 1: goodbye while we packed up the bookmobile for as quick
Speaker 1: an exit as we could manage. As soon as I
Speaker 1: got near Heather, she stood up. Sebastian rolled over and
Speaker 1: threw up. He wasn't dead, He'd just been unconscious. Why
Speaker 1: isn't he dead, I asked, I've got a better idea,
Speaker 1: Heather said, what's that? We make him fucking confess to
Speaker 1: the whole goddamn town, bring everyone back to his place,
Speaker 1: let them see his basement. Then he doesn't die, I said,
Speaker 1: surprising myself, I didn't realize just how deeply invested in
Speaker 1: the death of that man I'd become. He'll just go
Speaker 1: to jail. Death's not a punishment, she said, so don't
Speaker 1: seek it as one. You don't argue what death is
Speaker 1: like with a dead woman. Brynn pinned Sebastian and Vulture,
Speaker 1: picking up on what was going on, ran inside and
Speaker 1: came back with duct tape. We hogtied the man there
Speaker 1: in the street. Brynn searched him for weapons and found
Speaker 1: a stun grenade. It wasn't magic he'd used to get
Speaker 1: away from us behind the graveyard, just a damn flash bang.
Speaker 1: Thursday grabbed the rifle, but left mister Dawson's guns on
Speaker 1: his body. Brynn threw the man over her shoulder, crouching
Speaker 1: a little with the weight, and jogged east toward the
Speaker 1: gift shop. That woman she knew how to get things done.
Speaker 1: Fuck just having a crush on brit I really was
Speaker 1: in love. Gertrude was shaking, holding herself up against the tyrannosaur.
Speaker 1: I ran ahead to greet her. She opened her arms
Speaker 1: and I let her fall against me. She held me tight.
Speaker 1: I saw the basement, she said, Oh God, I saw
Speaker 1: what he's done. We're going to make him confess. No
Speaker 1: one will believe you about the magic, not really. They
Speaker 1: stare at me because I think I came back from
Speaker 1: the dead, but they don't really believe it. I think
Speaker 1: they actually stare at me because they don't approve of
Speaker 1: me leaving my husband after a near death experience. When
Speaker 1: they see the basement, though, I said, I'll go to
Speaker 1: prison for a long long time and you kids will
Speaker 1: be off the hook. She sighed, then pulled a phone
Speaker 1: out of her purse and dialed a number. It rang
Speaker 1: for a long time, then someone, Hey, she said, it's
Speaker 1: miss Miller. Yeah, yeah, I'm okay, No, listen, No, you've
Speaker 1: got it backwards. I wouldn't have believed it either. The
Speaker 1: library people, Yeah, it was my husband all along. A
Speaker 1: little pause. Look, just come to the shop and don't
Speaker 1: threaten anyone until you've looked in the basement. Come see
Speaker 1: for yourself. Everyone else trudged inside. I wanted to go
Speaker 1: with them, because, as terrible as I assumed it would be,
Speaker 1: I really wanted to know what was in that basement.
Speaker 1: Someone needed to stay with Gertrude, though, and for some
Speaker 1: unknowable reason, she'd taken a liking to me, so I
Speaker 1: was standing with her when the posse what else could
Speaker 1: I call it, rolled up? Two dozen men, all armed.
Speaker 1: No one leveled a weapon at me, but neither did
Speaker 1: anyone give me any impression that I was in any
Speaker 1: way free to go. Well, one man said, stepping forward
Speaker 1: and lifting his baseball cap. He was the spitting image
Speaker 1: of that corpse we left in the street, and he
Speaker 1: had an assault rifle with a hunting scope. My father's dead,
Speaker 1: and the only reason I'm not shooting this stranger right
Speaker 1: here and now is because she's a woman. Fuck you
Speaker 1: shoot me, I said it without thinking there were at
Speaker 1: least three reasons why that was the wrong thing to say.
Speaker 1: But fuck, I hate that shit so much. What I
Speaker 1: didn't kill your father? I saw Sebastian Miller do it. Bullshit,
Speaker 1: Come inside, Trent, Gertrude said, shaking her head, tears in
Speaker 1: her eyes. We went inside. Whatever blood there had been
Speaker 1: at any point was washed off the furniture and the
Speaker 1: cement floor. There were three large dog cages reinforced with
Speaker 1: welded rebar. There was a shell filled with glass jars
Speaker 1: of salts and herbs. The tranquilizer gun sat on a
Speaker 1: work bench with darts and vials of tocsin next to it.
Speaker 1: Most damning of all, a third of the floor had
Speaker 1: been ripped up to reveal three grave length mounds of
Speaker 1: dirt in parallel lines. Next to them two empty graves.
Speaker 1: Besides that, a pickaxe, shovel, and the hill of exhumed
Speaker 1: dirt and rubble. A dentist's chair stood in the center
Speaker 1: of the room. There were no restraints, cobbled on, nothing
Speaker 1: like that. The chair alone was terrifying enough. Thursday, Vulture,
Speaker 1: Brin and Heather stood over Sebastian, who was still gagged
Speaker 1: and bound with tape. Trent Dawson took off his ball
Speaker 1: cap and held it over his chest. I would never
Speaker 1: not in a million years, he said, before trailing off.
Speaker 1: A few of the others came down with him, and
Speaker 1: one ran back upstairs immediately, presumably to tell everyone what
Speaker 1: was down there. Trent strode over to mister Miller and
Speaker 1: ripped the tape off his mouth. Say something, Trent said.
Speaker 1: There was gravel in his voice, barely concealing rage. I
Speaker 1: stared at our captive, trying to guess what lies he
Speaker 1: would tell and how he might have to counter them.
Speaker 1: Sebastian staggered up to his knees. No, he said, simply,
Speaker 1: I said say something. Trent roared, No, you killed my father,
Speaker 1: you son of a bitch. I would like to speak
Speaker 1: to a lawyer. I ain't the cops. I would like
Speaker 1: to speak to a lawyer. Trent raised the barrel of
Speaker 1: his gun level with our prisoner's face. No one moved
Speaker 1: to stop him. The vulture got out of the way
Speaker 1: in case the bullet kept going ricochet. One of the
Speaker 1: townspeople mentioned that was apparently the only objection to putting
Speaker 1: Sebastian down right then and there. To hell with you,
Speaker 1: Sebastian Miller. Trent spit. He said, hell like he believed
Speaker 1: in the place, which is frankly a different kind of
Speaker 1: curse than when I use it. Gertrude, In respect for you,
Speaker 1: for everything you've been through, I'm going to walk away.
Speaker 1: You come and find me let me know whether or
Speaker 1: not you need me to call the cops or fill
Speaker 1: in one of those graves. They left us, simple as that.
Speaker 1: Trumping heavily back up the stairs. Well, I asked Gertrude,
Speaker 1: Gerty Miller said, I did it for you. Gerty gag him.
Speaker 1: Gertrude said, Brynne obliged. Anyone know how this thing works?
Speaker 1: Gertrude lifted up the dark gun. Sebastian whimpered. Vulcher stepped over.
Speaker 1: You have to know your target's weight in order to
Speaker 1: use it safely, he said. It's probably loaded for you
Speaker 1: or a sola, so probably not strong enough to guarantee
Speaker 1: it'll knock him out. Two shots a most certainly would,
Speaker 1: but there's a chance it'll kill him. She turned, aimed
Speaker 1: and f The dart went into his lower ribs. He
Speaker 1: looked up more surprised than afraid. Lord, forgive me, she said,
Speaker 1: but I cannot let this man walk upon your earth
Speaker 1: another day. She fired again. The second dart pierced his belly.
Speaker 1: Either the toxins were fast or he fainted. Hey, Vulture said,
Speaker 1: we've got kind of a choice right now. We've got
Speaker 1: a guy who's about to be dead soon. Anyway, in
Speaker 1: case we wanted to. You know, it's never too late
Speaker 1: to start over, Brenn said, looking at Heather. Heather shook
Speaker 1: her head. I've been dead before. I'm not afraid to
Speaker 1: be dead again. Fuck that, I said. Heather turned to me, surprised.
Speaker 1: It's up to you. I get that, but really and truly,
Speaker 1: this man is about to die. Let him not have
Speaker 1: killed you too, The Apocalypse Thursday said, Remember how every
Speaker 1: resurrected person brings us one step closer to the apocalypse.
Speaker 1: A million to one Vulture said, a million to one
Speaker 1: odds in our favor that we don't destroy the gates
Speaker 1: between Heaven and Earth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I added, okay,
Speaker 1: father said, Hope broke across her face like dawn, brightening
Speaker 1: faster and faster. I can't fucking believe, Thursday said, Gertrude,
Speaker 1: you've got to be against this, right. I don't want
Speaker 1: another living soul on this earth to have to go
Speaker 1: through what I went through. Gertrude said, knowing that an
Speaker 1: innocent person died so that you might live. But he's
Speaker 1: dying anyway. Apocalypse Thursday shouted. If he there's the second coming,
Speaker 1: then she's the second coming, Gertrude said, and that's God's will.
Speaker 1: I can't, I don't. Thursday took a deep breath and
Speaker 1: calmed down. Heather, you okay with this? Okay? She said.
Speaker 1: She had tears in her eyes and a smile quivered
Speaker 1: on her lips, coming in and out of existence. Then
Speaker 1: we better hurry, I said. A bullet hole in his
Speaker 1: leg and two doses of God knows what those day
Speaker 1: threw Sebastian over his shoulders and walked sideways up the
Speaker 1: steps like he was moving an awkward piece of furniture.
Speaker 1: Trent and his friend stared at us as we troop
Speaker 1: passed them through the gift shop. Gertrude put two of
Speaker 1: those darts into him before having a change of heart,
Speaker 1: I explained, we're getting them into the library. Bacillias knows
Speaker 1: about this stuff. I have a feeling, though, that we'll
Speaker 1: be right back here to bury him. None of it
Speaker 1: was technically a lie, even Trent nodded. On the way
Speaker 1: out the door. I swiped Pendleton shot glass, Dun, dunt, dun.
Speaker 1: This is where there would be a cliffhanger, but instead
Speaker 1: it's not because I'm just going to read you the
Speaker 1: sort of epilogue, which is chapter nine. But you know what,
Speaker 1: before I read you the epilogue, which is chapter nine,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna subject you to I mean, give you the
Speaker 1: opportunity to peruse some of the finest goods and services
Speaker 1: available to anyone, which are available to you. And here
Speaker 1: they are, and we're back chapter nine. There aren't so
Speaker 1: many glaciers in Glacier National Park anymore, but the vistas
Speaker 1: are still something special. Clouds sat heavy on the horizon,
Speaker 1: threatening rain, with the lake below us shone a heavenly blue.
Speaker 1: And earlier that day I'd seen a mountain goat and
Speaker 1: its kid. My left arm was in a sling. I'd
Speaker 1: ripped a stitch, after all, and while Vulture had been
Speaker 1: happy enough to sew me back up, he insisted that
Speaker 1: I try harder not to mess up his handiwork this time.
Speaker 1: Brin lay on her stomach next to me, stick and poke,
Speaker 1: tattooing my the ora boris. It's never too late to
Speaker 1: start again. The bookmobile was parked nearby Vasillis, and Heather
Speaker 1: had given it to us, and I have to admit
Speaker 1: it's a step up from the Honda Civic, at least
Speaker 1: for traveling with five people. The ritual had gone without
Speaker 1: a hitch, and Heather got to stay living again. Despite
Speaker 1: what Vasillis had figured, she decided to stick around Pendleton.
Speaker 1: She told us that new beginnings don't have to involve
Speaker 1: new places or even new people, which is obviously wrong.
Speaker 1: New places are the only thing worth living for. But
Speaker 1: I suppose not everyone is a traveler demon crewe, Vulture said,
Speaker 1: sitting in the open door of the van. No, Thursday
Speaker 1: said an ARCO team. No, you're not even trying anymore.
Speaker 1: The children of the Road. Now, you're just saying random things.
Speaker 1: These two had been added all afternoon. Brynn had mentioned
Speaker 1: us needing a crew ne and Vulture couldn't seem to
Speaker 1: get the idea out of his head. The A team.
Speaker 1: Vulture said, that's taken. Thursday said twice over, I changed
Speaker 1: my mind. Brynce said, I don't think we need a name.
Speaker 1: Is that actually true? Or do you just want me
Speaker 1: to stop brainstorming? Vulture asked, I honestly don't know the
Speaker 1: answer to that. Brynn said, her voice low enough that
Speaker 1: only I could hear her. Caine's children, Vulture said, No.
Speaker 1: Thursday said, wait, I don't know. That's pretty metal. No,
Speaker 1: I shouted, grumble, grumble, grumble. Vulture said, like he actually
Speaker 1: said the word grumble three times. I thought you all
Speaker 1: were going down to the lake. Brynce said to leave
Speaker 1: us alone. We were, Thursday said, But then Vulture and
Speaker 1: I agreed it was more fun to argue where we
Speaker 1: had a peanut gallery. I looked around for something to
Speaker 1: throw and saw an empty soda can left by some
Speaker 1: other picnicker before us. It didn't fly well, but it
Speaker 1: made my point. They left. Should we do this? Then?
Speaker 1: I asked, while they're gone, totally, you're sure you're not
Speaker 1: worried they might come back and catch us at it? Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I reached into the top pouch of my travel pack
Speaker 1: for the book i'd hidden there, A Lustful Bride for
Speaker 1: the Horseman Prince. I read chapter one. Brynn smiled. I
Speaker 1: first came to these lands in search of fame and
Speaker 1: glory because I believed those things mattered. Instead, I found her.
Speaker 1: Brynn giggled as she stabbed my leg repeatedly with an
Speaker 1: inked needle, and I read to her. I didn't tell
Speaker 1: her anything about love, not yet. There would be time
Speaker 1: enough for that. Hey, guys, time to go. We gotta go.
Speaker 1: Let's go now, Vulture was out of breath. I woke up,
Speaker 1: my head curled in the nook of Brynn's arm. The
Speaker 1: book lay across my hip, folded open on its spine,
Speaker 1: which is a terrible thing to do to a library book.
Speaker 1: What I was groggy and mostly thinking about the book
Speaker 1: and whether or not Vulture had noticed it and read
Speaker 1: the title Magic Fed's gotta go, Magic Feds more this time,
Speaker 1: go go go. I staggered to my feet, and Vulture
Speaker 1: handed me a pair of binoculars. There on the road,
Speaker 1: a string of three identical black SUVs threw up dust.
Speaker 1: Those could be any three identical black SUVs with tinted windows,
Speaker 1: I argued, but I handed Brynn the binoculars and grabbed
Speaker 1: my pack. Thursday had the engine running by the time
Speaker 1: we climbed into the back of the bookmobile. Brynn slammed
Speaker 1: the door shut and we were off. No specific destination,
Speaker 1: not yet, but I had a feeling one would find
Speaker 1: us soon enough. Dunt dunt dum. And that's the rude cliffhanger.
Speaker 1: I left everyone on for like seven years. I don't
Speaker 1: know whatever how long it took between that book and
Speaker 1: the next book. But the next book is coming. It's
Speaker 1: coming so soon. It's called The Immortal Choir Hold Every Voice,
Speaker 1: and I don't really have any specific notes or thoughts
Speaker 1: here at the end of the book, I hope you
Speaker 1: liked it. I'm proud of it, and we'll be back
Speaker 1: next week with more Cool Zone Media Book Club. It
Speaker 1: Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Speaker 1: coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the Iheard
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated
Speaker 1: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.