“I’m not sure if you’ll be able to access anyone outside the island. Even cell phone service is practically nonexistent.”

There goes Swedey, Eddie thought. Jessica’s remote PI could be handier than a pocket on a shirt. From what she’d told him, he was a master at digging up information, even if it had been officially been sealed.

Daphne continued, “It’s so strange. Do you honestly think it could be something as mundane as that?” She did little to hide her disappointment.

If her call was to get them to, in a sense, cleanse the island of any preternatural phenomena, why did she seem so reluctant to hear that the cold may have nothing to do with ghosts? Eddie closed his eyes, feigning a pause to savor a deep breath of the fresh air. He tried to push his way into her conscious, but there was so much interference in the atmosphere, he couldn’t navigate his way through. He couldn’t make sense of what was coming to him. The voices were everywhere. For the moment, he couldn’t see them, but they were there, as steady as the current of a swollen river.

“I was hoping we’d get to meet your kids,” Jessica said.

“Oh, they’ll be here any minute. My husband took them out to look for leaves, rocks, you know. In fact, I think I hear them coming now.”

Tobe Harper emerged from behind a row of hedges that lined the concrete patio. He gave them an odd, borderline effeminate finger wave.

“Good morning Jessica. Good morning Eddie,” he said. He turned around, stooped out of sight and reemerged with his daughter in his hands. He lifted her over the hedges. She was a very pretty girl with wheat colored hair braided down her back, wide, aquamarine eyes and a tiny nose above a smile that would melt a curmudgeon’s heart.

“Hi,” she said in a very small voice.

Her brother came next. His hair was like his sister’s, all one length that went past his shoulders. His cheek was smudged with dirt, as were his pants and shirt. He had the mischievous look of most boys his age, though his eyes still held the innocence of a youth shielded from the negative influences prevalent in today’s world.

He probably doesn’t even know what YouTube is, Eddie thought. Looks more content to search for frogs in the swamp than surf the net for porn or videos of teens acting like dumb asses.

“Hello,” he said, his voice not much deeper than his little sister’s.

“Alice, Jason, this is Ms. Backman and Mr. Home. They’re the people your father and I told you about.”

“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Backman and Mr. Home,” they said in unison. Eddie had to think fast and remember if they were twins. No, Jason was older by almost two years at age eleven. They sure could pass for twins.

“Hello Alice and Jason. You can call me Jessica.”

Before the children could speak, their mother interjected. “If you don’t mind, we prefer they not. It’s a matter of respect for one’s elders.”

Eddie nodded. He’d lived in North Carolina long enough not to be surprised. Manners went a long way in the south. “We understand.” He wasn’t sure Jessica did, but it was best to go along with them since they had to spend the week living with the family.

“Now that you’re here,” Tobe Harper said, “consider our house, your house. You’re free to go as you wish. If you need anything at any time, just call out for myself or Daphne. I’m curious to see what you’ll discover on our island.”

Alice wrapped her little hand around Jessica’s fingers. “Come with me, Ms. Backman.”

Jessica looked to her mother to make sure it was okay. Daphne smiled. “Don’t keep her too long, dear. Ms. Backman has work to do.”

Eddie walked up to Tobe. “Do the kids know why we’re here?” he said as low as he could.

“Oh, yes. You’ll find they’re not as tentative as other children their age when it comes to this subject. They’ve spent considerable time with us overseas, living in much older locations with, ah, rich histories.”

Interesting.

Eddie felt a tug on his pants. “We should go, too, Mr. Home,” Jason said.

“If you haven’t returned by lunch, I’ll send Paul to get you,” Daphne said.

He waved back at them as little Jason led him around the house to the path to the dock. The sun was at their backs, presumably, and the tunnel of trees and brambles was almost dark as night.

“Come on,” Jason insisted.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“Is it where your sister and Jessica—Ms. Backman—are going too?”

He nodded with unbound enthusiasm.

One thing about the Harper children, they weren’t shy. How many other kids would traipse off with a couple of strangers a minute after meeting them? Daphne and Tobe need to talk to them about stranger danger. Growing up in a city like San Francisco, he was taught at a young age to avoid contact with any adult he didn’t know. Maybe things were different for kids who traveled the world, though Eddie suspected that message would be hammered home even deeper, going from one new place to another.

They stumbled down the path. Midway down, Jason crouched and darted into a cut in the bushes. “This way,” he said.

Eddie had to get on his hands and knees to fit. He followed the boy as closely as he could. Sharp sticks and needles pricked his skin. It was even colder here than in the house. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he’d stepped into the middle of a late fall day.

The small passageway made several sharp twists and turns. At one point, Eddie used his telekinetic ability to lift the cover over his head enough for him to get by without scraping half the skin off his scalp and forehead. The boy didn’t notice the soft, mental nudge he’d given the overgrowth.

Jason suddenly disappeared. Eddie quickened his pace, his knees aching.

He popped out of the path into a circle of bright, warm sun.

Jessica was standing with Alice. He got to his feet, swatting the knees of his jeans clean.

“Uncle Paul doesn’t like us to come here, but we thought it would be okay as long as you were with us,” Alice said.

Eddie followed Jessica’s downward gaze to a patch of scorched earth over twenty feet wide. Nothing grew within the irregular circle. The black earth was littered with the brown husks of desiccated ragweed fronds. Though there was no lingering scent of a blaze, it looked like one hell of a bonfire had taken place in the hidden patch of land.

“What the fuck?” Jessica whispered, though loud enough to get a giggle from Jason and Alice. Eddie rolled his eyes. She bent down to grasp a handful of dirt and ragweed. It crumbled to a fine dust that filtered through her fingers. “It feels weird,” she said.

He did the same. She was right. The texture was completely off, like something synthetic gone to waste.

“This is the place where the Last Kids live,” Jason said.

“Last Kids?” Eddie said.

“Yes. There were lots of them on the island. This is where the last ones went to sleep.”

Eddie’s heartbeat quickened.

“Did your mother or father or Uncle Paul tell you that?” Jessica asked, kneeling so she was eye level with them.

They shook their heads. “Mommy and Daddy don’t know about this place and Uncle Paul is too afraid to talk about it,” Alice said. “Sometimes we come here to talk to the Last Kids. But most times, they come to see us. A couple of times, they came as fireflies. It’s really pretty. They’re not scary at all.”

Eddie looked over at Jessica. She did a great job of keeping her cool, not showing her concern to the kids.

A feathery sensation, like walking under cobwebs, fingered across the back of his neck.

When he looked back to the strange clearing, he could no longer see the barren land.

The entire space was filled with the luminescent bodies of the dead. Dozens of young, tortured faces stared back at him, soundless, breathless. Many had high, sloping foreheads with small, crescent-shaped eyes. Some had stunted limbs, arms that ended where the elbow should be, useless digits flopping when they moved. He saw a boy with a severe cleft palate, a teenage girl with teeth in desperate need of braces, a baby—dear God, a baby!—crawling on the ground, missing its feet.