With a moan, she swept the child's hair away from her face.
She had to know for sure.
The little girl stirred and furrowed her brow. And then she opened her eyes. The most beautiful shade of blue she had ever seen. They were the same eyes that stared back at her from the mirror every day. Her eyes.
Emma's eyes.
'Emma!' Vanessa sobbed. She drew her daughter to her chest and held her as tightly as she could. She inhaled Emma's scent, savored the sensation of her daughter's cheek against her own, reveled in the texture of her dyed hair.
'Mommy?' Emma whispered.
'I'm right here, baby. I'm going to get you out of here. Take you home.'
Emma's whole body shook and she started to cry. Her lips parted and Vanessa noticed that Emma only had four front teeth in both her upper and lower jaws. Only gums behind, where the teeth had yet to grow in.
'I'm so sorry I let you out of my sight.' Vanessa adjusted her grip so she could lift Emma out of the bed. 'I promise...I will never let it happen again. Ever.'
'Mommy!' Emma screamed.
The cicadas erupted in song, so loud in the confines that even the air appeared to tremble.
A shadow fell over Vanessa from behind. She saw the expression of horror on Emma's face, the terror reflected in her eyes.
Clinging to her daughter, she threw herself to the side.
A knife flashed through her peripheral vision and embedded itself in the mattress. It was trailed by a thin, feminine arm.
Emma screamed directly into her ear.
Vanessa rolled over to shield her daughter with her body. She glanced up at her assailant from the corner of her eye.
Sandra Matthews towered over her, only it wasn't the Sandra she remembered. This woman's hair had gone prematurely gray and was tangled and unkempt. Her eyes were wild, her teeth bared. She held the knife above her shoulder, the muscles and tendons showing through her emaciated arm.
The cicada song ceased, leaving an oppressive silence that made the air feel somehow heavier.
'Let go of my Chelsea right now,' Sandra snarled. 'Get your hands off my daughter!'
She took a step closer and raised the knife.
Vanessa turned her face away, looked directly into Emma's eyes, and cringed in anticipation of the searing pain to come.
Trey thundered down the stairs into the basement when the screaming started. There was just enough illumination from the seams around the windows to limn the cicadas on the walls. They seethed as though the plaster had begun to boil. He had never seen so many insects in one place, let alone inside of a house. Pistol at arm's length, elbows slightly flexed to absorb the kick, he reached the bottom of the staircase and veered toward the source of the light.
The cicadas started to sing. The sound was physically painful.
He walked in his shooting stance, finger tightened on the trigger, prepared to fire at the first hint of movement.
The entire hallway was black with bugs. The walls. The ceiling. The partially open door at the end.
And then the sound suddenly died.
He heard a growl that could have been words from slightly to his left as he slipped past the door. It looked like a child's bedroom, only there was an eyebolt in the center of the torn carpet attached to a length of chain. He followed it with his eyes to where it terminated in a manacle bound around a tiny, pale ankle. Vanessa covered the child with her body.
Another woman reared up over his sister with a knife in her hand.
'Drop the knife!' he shouted.
The woman looked over at him with a twisted expression of rage and anguish.
'Drop it now or I'll shoot!'
She turned back toward his sister, who had seized the opportunity to drag the child to the furthest reaches of the iron tether. Vanessa still had her back to the woman, who screamed and strode after her.
The cicadas erupted from the walls, as though the entire room were imploding. They flew directly at the woman, hitting her, swarming around her. She wailed and lunged forward.
Trey lined up his weapon through the swirling insects and took his shot.
Blood spattered the far wall, climbing it in arcs and dots.
The woman spun and was launched backward against the wall at the foot of the bed. She slumped down, chin hanging to her chest. The entire left half of her shirt near her shoulder was crimson.
Trey could barely see her through the swarm, which slowly dissolved. The cicadas flew straight at him. He ducked his head against the barrage as they funneled past him down the hallway.
When he reached his sister, only a blue cloud of gun smoke hung in the air.
All of the cicadas were gone.
Vanessa rolled over and looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.
Trey kissed her on the forehead, smiled down at his niece, and began working on the lock of the manacle.
Epilogue
Vanessa stood at her kitchen window, staring out into the darkness. She wrapped her arms around her chest to combat a sudden chill. Emma was upstairs in her own bed, with her own belongings, right where she was supposed to be. Buddy hadn't left her side for a second. She had spent the past two nights in the hospital, where specialists of all kinds had evaluated her health, both physical and emotional. There would be hard times ahead, they assured her. The nightmares had already begun to torment her, and she was terrified of walking from one room to the next, let alone setting foot outside. She broke into tears without warning and often screamed for no reason, but whatever it took, Vanessa would be there for her. She would never let Emma out of her sight again.
Sandra Matthews was in the hospital as well, only under constant guard until she was stable enough to be transferred to the county jail, pending her trial. At first, Vanessa had wanted to be there, to hear the rationale behind stealing her daughter and killing her husband. She had wanted to know what kind of monster waited until her own daughter died, stomped on her until she was broken to pieces, and then dumped her in the swamp. But a part of Vanessa already knew the answers. She had lost her daughter once, and would have done anything to get her back. Hearing the words from Sandra's mouth would change nothing. The two of them were more alike than Vanessa cared to admit. Even to herself. As long as she had Emma back, she was content to let Sandra rot in a dismal prison or asylum with only the thoughts of her dead husband and child to haunt her. Vanessa knew that was punishment enough.
The time had come to look forward, not back.
For the first time in two years, a seemingly infinite future stretched out before her. It was a future without her husband, but she would see him again soon enough. For now, she was excited to explore the possibilities with the daughter she thought she had lost forever.
She could hear Trey's muffled voice through the floor above her. He continued to read to Emma, even though she was already fast asleep. He couldn't bring himself to leave her either. He had born the guilt of her abduction as much as Vanessa had. While he wasn't ready to forgive himself yet, it appeared as though the process had at least begun.
He still hadn't asked her how she tracked Emma to the Matthews's house, nor had they discussed the cicadas. Vanessa suspected that he understood that there were some things better left unexamined. Whatever had caused them to swarm as they had to guide her to Emma, she was grateful and chose not to question it. Call it divine intervention or a miracle of nature. It didn't matter. Everything had worked out perfectly in the end. And she
