Alice waited in the dark by the door inside the garage. An anxiousness built inside her, but it didn't have the negative tinge it usually did. She'd puzzled out an idea over the break of how she might be able to use her visions to help, and was convinced it was worth a shot. And she was excited to see her friends en masse. They had agreed it might be good to gather the night before their first post-holiday trip to the lab.
So she'd hidden and watched for their headlights at the agreed-upon hour of 11:00 p.m. When at last she heard the crunch of footsteps, she flipped on the
Alice waited in the dark by the door inside the garage. An anxiousness built inside her, but it didn't have the negative tinge it usually did. She'd puzzled out an idea over the break of how she might be able to use her visions to help, and was convinced it was worth a shot. And she was excited to see her friends en masse. They had agreed it might be good to gather the night before their first post-holiday trip to the lab.
lights and jumped out. "Boo!"
There was a yelp, and Gloria entered with her hand over the heart of her perfectly pressed blouse. "Congratulations," she said. "You have successfully caused a heart attack."
"Oh, come on, it was a gag." Alice nudged Gloria's shoulder. "I got you. And I taught you how to take apart a door lock."
"True." Gloria laughed. Then she turned and shouted into the evening. "Alice is in a weird mood—expect surprises!"
"I already knew that," Ken called back.
Gloria and Alice shared a roll of the eyes. "I thought having a psychic around would be more useful," Gloria said, low.
"He's grown on me," Alice said.
Gloria nodded. "Like a very special and likable form of algae."
Terry and Ken came in together. It had been two and a half weeks since they'd all seen each other. Two and a half weeks of no van, no lab, no acid, and no electricity. Of no monsters.
"You shouldn't talk about people when they're not present to defend themselves," Ken said.
"Never mind that." Terry hefted high a marvelous meringue in a round tin. "I call this meeting of the Fellowship to order. Also, I brought pie."
"But no Andrew?" Alice asked.
Terry's face fell. "I can't tell him about Brenner and the draft—it would just make him worry too much about me once he's gone."
"You're doing him a favor." Gloria put a gentle hand on Terry's arm, and Terry nodded.
"And I'm doing you a favor." Ken carried a stack of paper plates and four metal forks. "I brought the means to eat the pie."
Terry stage-whispered. "I didn't tell him to either."
Alice reached out and plucked a fork from the top plate, then dipped it straight into the pie for a bite. "Butterscotch," she said.
"What is butterscotch anyway?" Ken asked. "Buttered scotch?"
"Heaven," Alice answered.
"Brown sugar and butter usually, sometimes a little vanilla," Gloria said. And when they all gave her a look, she added, "Baking's just another form of
chemistry."
Alice couldn't believe it. "You contain more layers than anyone I know, Gloria Flowers."
"Back at you, Alice Johnson."
"Fellowship, Terry Ives' feet are tired from running the dinner shift all night. Can we sit down?" Terry beelined to the same area they'd occupied the first time they came here.
Alice had been so nervous about bringing them. She loved the shop with its grease-and-oil aroma and the machines that were her work. It had meant the world when no one laughed at her. They'd even seemed impressed.
The bulldozer from the other week was gone, back to its home. Now a granite- crusher sat in its place. Terry awkwardly lowered herself to the floor beside it, depositing the pie in front of her with care. Alice thought she looked a little less worn out after the holiday. She hoped Terry and Andrew were getting lots of time together. She'd had a dream in which they got married, and one of her cousins from Canada's kid was the flower girl. Weird, huh? It had felt like just a dream, not real, but she'd woken with a smile and then lost it immediately when she remembered that he'd be leaving anytime. The calls would start going out to the first-round draftees soon.
Ken placed the plates and cutlery beside the pie. Everyone grabbed a fork— even Gloria, in pants tonight—and sat cross-legged around the tin to take a bite.
"I wish we didn't have to go back." Gloria was the first to bring up the reason they were here.
"But we do." Alice swallowed. "So I've been puzzling about whether there might be a way for me to use what I see to help...A way to use it to our advantage, like Terry said. I don't think any of you can access the Beneath like I do, and I already told you I can't control it. At least I haven't been able to yet." Alice had a theory that she was getting better at seeing, though, and that an increase in electricity might show her more. "But if I could tell you exactly what I'm seeing as I'm seeing it, so we make sure nothing gets lost in translation... maybe we could go on a real fact-finding mission."
"But how would we manage that?" Terry asked, piling another forkful into her mouth.
"So you do trust that I'm seeing what I say I am?" Alice knew they said they did, but she'd understand it more if they didn't. "The little girl? The monsters?"
