On the Edge

And he was a lot stronger, too. Just the breadth of his shoulders alone showed the kind of strength she had no hope of countering. She had a feeling that if she shot him, he’d spit the bullet out, sling her over his shoulder, and drag her all the way into the Weird.

What she really needed to do was to stay home to make sure she could pick the kids up from the bus stop and watch over them. But they had to eat, and missing a day of work wasn’t an option. Her job, as bad as it was, was precious. Only businesses with ties to the Edge hired Edgers—the rest wanted a social security number and a driver’s license, and hers wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. There were places unaware of the Edge that hired illegal aliens, but competition for those jobs was fierce, and they mostly wanted muscle for manual labor. She could be fired in a blink of an eye, and there would be a line of Edgers ready to take her place.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rose said firmly. “We won’t run. This is our home. We’re going to do what Edgers do best: we’ll fight dirty. But we don’t have to do anything about him till this weekend. For now, we just have to watch ourselves and think. Grandma can’t pick you up today. She’s off checking on something with Adele Moore deep in the Wood. And I have to catch a ride with Latoya, because our truck is out of gas. When you get off the bus, I want you to come straight home. Do you understand? Don’t talk to anyone, don’t linger, come straight home, get inside, lock the door, and don’t open it to anybody. Especially him.” She nodded in the direction the blueblood had gone. She fixed them with her stare. “Repeat it back to me.”

“Come straight home,” Georgie said.

“No lingering,” Jack said.

“Get inside and lock the door,” Georgie said.

“Don’t let the blueblood in,” Jack finished.

Rose nodded. It would have to do.

ELSIE Moore hummed softly to herself. It was near eleven o’clock. Time for the brunch. It was going to be a very special brunch, too: she wore her pretty blue dress and had her favorite baby blue silk ribbon in her hair. The sun still shone bright, the weather was pleasant, the garden flowers pretty, and the row of stuffed animals gazed at her with adoration in their plastic eyes.

Elsie smiled prettily, taking her seat at the green plastic table. “Mr. Pitt, Mr. Brosnan, Mr. Clooney, Mr. Bean, how do you do? Shall we have some tea and biscuits? It’s always a pleasure to see you, Mr. Bana.”

The bears looked suitably impressed with her excellent manners. As they should be—she was a lady.

She picked up the tiny plastic teakettle with little pink roses on the side and held it over Mr. Brosnan’s cup. The soft fuzzy paws reached for it.

She tsked. “Mr. Brosnan, I am shocked at your manners. You must wait until I’ve served the tea to all the gentlemen.”

The bear dropped his paws, looking ashamed at being chastised.

A nasty feeling crept down her back, as if someone had poured cold goose fat onto her skin. She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore it. This was going to be a lovely tea.

The feeling intensified. The sickening slimy magic stuck to her, trying to worm its way through her skin into her bony back, and deeper. It was trying to get inside.

Elsie dropped the teakettle and turned around.

It stood on the edge of the lawn, a thing knitted from shadows and darkness. It didn’t like the light and stuck to the shadows cast by the shrubs, blending into the gloom, so the only thing she could see clearly were its eyes: two slits of uniform, slightly luminescent gray, like slanted holes into a skull stuffed with rain clouds.

She threw a teacup at it. “Go away!”

The thing didn’t move. A second pair of eyes opened above the first, the same dirty gray. The top pair looked at the teacup rolling harmlessly in the grass. The bottom pair stared straight at Elsie.

The dreadful feeling along her back grew stronger. The cold slime slid its way around her neck and down. A faint prickling singed her chest and back, as if a dozen tiny needle-feet tested the durability of her skin.

Elsie screeched and swiped at the cups, grabbing the little plastic pieces in a frenzy and hurling them one after the other at the baleful eyes.

“Grandma?” Amy emerged from the house, wiping her hands on the corner of her apron. She ran over on pudgy legs. “What’s the matter?”

Elsie pointed with her shuddering fingers at the dark thing. Amy brushed her curly blond hair from her face and squinted at the shrubs. “What?”

“It’s trying to get me! It ruined everything!”

“The bush? The bush ruined everything?”

“Not the bush, the thing!” Elsie pointed straight at the creature.

Amy bent to look in the direction of her finger. “Grandma, there’s nothing there but an old crape myrtle shrub.”

Elsie slapped her cheek. “Stupid girl!”

Amy drew herself to her full height. “Now that was un-called for. Into the house with you. Looks like you need a pill.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

Elsie tried to scratch, but Amy was stronger and outweighed her by a hundred pounds. She was lifted to her feet and guided firmly inside the house. She twisted her head and saw the dark thing slink to the table. She shrieked, but Amy just wrestled her forward.

A huge maw split open beneath the four eyes, revealing jaws seeded with wicked teeth. Elsie could do nothing but scream as the monster bit into Mr. Bana, ripping the small body of fur and stuffing in half.

* * *

ROSE heaved a large service vacuum into the back of the Clean-n-Bright service van. Latoya and Teresa were still inside Kaplan Insurance. Latoya was chatting up Eric Kaplan, while Teresa finished the bathroom. Eric was a handsome fellow, and he did a very good impression of a happy-go-lucky, none-too-bright type of guy. Latoya thought she could wrap him around her finger. Rose had her doubts. It was Eric’s job to get people to like him and buy his insurance, and judging by the swanky office, he was rather good at it. He had succeeded where his uncle Emerson had failed. Unfortunately, his uncle Emerson also ran Clean-n-Bright, which made him her boss, and he wasn’t half as pleasant as his nephew.

Rose leaned against the van. Worry sat in the pit of her stomach like a big heavy clump of lead. Dread had plagued her all morning, and she just couldn’t get rid of it. Usually she could figure out the cause of her anxiety— money worries, more often than not—but today she just worried in general. It wasn’t enough she’d run into a wold; now there was a blueblood to deal with.

She’d mentioned the wold to Latoya and Teresa, who made shocked noises, and then Teresa reported she’d run into Maggie Brewster the other day. Maggie, a gentle cross-eyed girl, had the foresight. According to Teresa, Maggie said something bad was coming. She couldn’t say what exactly—Teresa didn’t think she knew—but she could tell that feeling it scared Maggie out of her wits.

Maggie had been wrong before. She had predicted a hurricane last October and was convinced they’d all be blown away. Instead they got clear skies and June weather.

But Maggie had been right before, too. And that worried Rose. She felt as if an invisible storm was gathering and she was on the edge of it.

Rose shut the van door and jumped. William stood right next to her.

“Hi,” he said.

She gulped. “God, you scared me.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” He leaned against the van. “I was just driving by on my way to a job, saw you, and thought I’d say hi. How are you?”

“I’m good, thank you.” Here he was, handsome and willing, yet she didn’t feel anything romantic. Her heart didn’t “flutter.” The realization was kind of freeing. Rose smiled. She was right. She didn’t need to go on a date with him.

“How did the first day of school go?” William asked.

“It went fine.”

He grinned. “They didn’t have to tie Jack to his chair? He doesn’t look like he could sit still for longer than five