The Restorer

surveilling the woods from the corner of my eye.

I saw it there, hiding in the gloom.

Whatever it was, it had followed me all the way to Beaufort County. And now it hunkered among the trees, watching me.

I didn’t move, didn’t even dare breathe.

It wasn’t like any apparition I’d ever encountered. There was no aura, no ethereal lightness. This thing was dark and dank, with no more substance than a shadow. But I could feel its presence. The evil that emanated from the woods was palpable.

Now the hairs on my arms rose, as well. I tried to take my time climbing down from the roof, but my feet slipped and I ended up on my butt, sliding down the windshield, bouncing off the hood and landing on my hands and knees in the dirt. Gravel and glass cut into my flesh, but I paid little mind to the sting. I leapt to my feet, jumped into the car, slammed and locked the door.

As if that would keep the thing out.

I reached into my pocket for my phone, found Essie’s amulet and clutched it in my hand.

A foul chill oozed through the closed windows, turning my stomach, making my heart pound even harder.

I saw a flash at the passenger window. There one moment, gone the next.

Pulling the mirror toward me, I watched the rear, almost expecting to find something peering in at me, but I saw nothing. No…there was something…

About two hundred yards back, a car had pulled to the shoulder.

I experienced a momentary elation before I realized that I hadn’t heard the engine or seen the lights.

Very odd. And creepy.

My eyes fastened on the mirror, I tried to detect movement.

Nothing.

But at least a car was real, the driver a flesh-and-blood person.

Climbing over the seat, I grabbed the tire iron I’d used earlier and then returned to my place behind the wheel. My gaze went again to the mirror and I wondered if I should go back there and ask for help.

I waited.

An eternity passed before I finally spotted a faint glimmer on the horizon that gradually morphed into twin pinpoints of light.

Whoever was in the car behind me must have seen the headlights, too, because I heard the engine start up. The next thing I knew, the vehicle was flying up the shoulder so fast I thought the driver meant to ram me.

I caught my breath and braced for a collision, but at the last moment, he veered onto the road and shot around me, still without lights. I could make out nothing more than a dark color and the boxy shape of a late-model sedan.

As the other car approached, I got out and stood shivering at the edge of the road. Terrified the driver might fail to stop, I dashed into the middle of the highway, screaming at the top of my lungs and waving my arms like a madwoman.

The vehicle slowed, stopped and a door opened. I heard the crunch of shoes on gravel and then miraculously, my name.

“Amelia?”

My knees went weak with relief.

Nineteen

Devlin came around the car and I saw his ghosts then. I wasn’t surprised they were with him. It was full-on dusk and we were out in the middle of nowhere, far away from hallowed ground.

I hadn’t seen him since our encounter at Rapture, and all the things that I’d learned about him since that night flashed through my head. He was, in fact, one of the Devlins and was estranged from his grandfather because he’d pursued the wrong profession and married an unsuitable woman. That told me a lot about him, about the man he’d once been before tragedy and grief had made him so guarded.

It was strange, but the more I knew about him, the more remote he seemed to me. Which was probably a good thing, considering. Too many things had happened since he’d entered my life. His ghost child had appeared in my garden, his dead wife had taunted me at the graveyard, the old man’s entity had returned, perhaps as a warning, and a door had been opened, unleashing a cold, terrifying presence that now trailed me.

It was also a good thing I’d tempered my impulse when I first saw him tonight. I’d wanted to launch myself into his arms the way I had at Oak Grove, but his ghosts held me back. Already I could feel their consuming chill as Devlin walked toward me.

“What happened?” His gaze was narrowed as he focused on my face.

“Flat tire. Thank God you came along when you did. You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” I was proud of myself for the right amount of relief and nothing more in my voice.

He glanced around. “What are you doing way out here?”

Was that suspicion I heard in his voice?

“I came to look at a cemetery.” Not a lie, though I purposefully let him assume an untruth. “What about you?”

“Personal business.” His voice was as flat as my tire. “Do you have a spare?”

“It’s on the car. This is my second flat, lucky me. I must have picked up a couple of nails somewhere.”

Maybe it was my imagination, but the angles of his face seemed harsher than usual, the circles under his eyes even darker. Then I remembered his trip to the cemetery and the date on that tiny headstone.

I glanced away because I couldn’t bear to look at him. Couldn’t bear to think about Essie’s prediction. I had a hard time envisioning a scenario where I would ever be able to tell him about his daughter’s ghost.

“Two flats, huh?”

“Yes. I called my roadside service, but the signal kept fading in and out. I’m not sure the operator even heard the directions. If you hadn’t come along when you did…” This time a tremble in my voice betrayed me.

He turned to peer down at me. “What?”

“It was probably nothing. A car was parked a little way up the shoulder. I never heard the engine or saw the lights. It was just…there. Then the moment your car appeared, the driver took off. I actually thought he was going to hit me for a moment.”

“This part of the county is rural and poor. A lot of drugs, a lot of crime around here.”

“You think I stumbled across a drug deal.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” He glanced at the tire iron I still clutched in my hand. “Do you have a jack to go with that?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then let’s get this tire off. I know a guy in Hammond who owns a garage. Maybe we can persuade him to stay open long enough to fix both flats.”

“Thank you.”

He knelt to loosen the lug nuts. “No problem. It’s not like I was going to leave you stranded out here.”

“I know but…” My gaze swept the edge of the woods and I shuddered. “You really have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

The mechanic in Hammond was subject to persuasion, but not without a price. Sixty dollars and two patched tires later, I finally drove across the Ravenel Bridge into Charleston.

Devlin followed me all the way back home and waited at the curb in front of my house until I was inside. I hurried down the hall turning on lights, and then stepped out on the veranda to wave him on. If I had been a bit more socially adept, I would have invited him in for a drink or a cup of coffee. It probably wasn’t a good night for him to be alone. But years of caution and solitude still governed my behavior so I stood there and watched him drive off.