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.Is that all correct information?She got her facts in order, Cal noted.Such as the facts were known.They fell far short of the abjectterror of entering that burning school, of finding the pretty Miss Lister cackling madly as she ranthrough the flames.Of how it felt to chase her through those hallways as her clothes burned.She had a breakdown.Obviously.Smile in place, Quinn lifted her eyebrows.There were also over a dozen nine-one-one calls on domestic abuse during that single week, more than previously had been reported inHawkins Hollow in the six preceding months.There were two suicides and four attempted suicides,numerous accounts of assault, three reported rapes, and a hit-and-run.Several homes and businesseswere vandalized.None virtually none of the people involved in any of the reported crimes orincidents has a clear memory of the events.Some speculate the town suffered from mass hysteria orhallucinations or an unknown infection taken through food or water.What do you think?I think I was ten years old and pretty much scared shitless.She offered that brief, sunny smile.I bet.Then it was gone.You were seventeen in nineteenninety-four when during the week of July seventh another let s say outbreak occurred.Three peoplewere murdered, one of them apparently hanged in the town park, but no one came forward as a witnessor to admit participation.There were more rapes, more beatings, more suicides, two houses burned tothe ground.There were reports that you, O Dell, and Turner were able to get some of the wounded andtraumatized onto a school bus and transport them to the hospital.Is that accurate?As far as it goes.I m looking to go further.In two thousand oneI know the pattern, Cal interrupted.Every seven years, Quinn said with a nod.For seven nights.Days according again to what Ican ascertain little happens.But from sundown to sunset, all hell breaks loose.It s hard to believe thatit s a coincidence this anomaly happens every seven years, with its start on your birthday.Seven sconsidered a magickal number by those who profess to magicks, black and white.You were born on theseventh day of the seventh month of nineteen seventy-seven.If I knew the answers, I d stop it from happening.If I knew the answers, I wouldn t be talking toyou.I m talking to you because maybe, just maybe, you ll find them, or help find them.Then tell me what happened, tell me what you do know, even what you think or sense.file://C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\Rar$EX03.813\Nora.3/3/2008BloodBrothers Page 53 of 257Cal set his coffee aside, leaned forward to look deep into her eyes.Not on a first date.Smart-ass, she thought with considerable approval.Fine.Next time I ll buy you dinner first.Butnow, how about playing guide and taking me to the Pagan Stone.It s too late in the day.It s a two-hour hike from here.We wouldn t make it there and back beforedark.I m not afraid of the dark.His eyes went very cool.You would be.I ll tell you this, there are places in these woods no onegoes after dark, not any time of the year.She felt the prick of ice at the base of her spine.Have you ever seen a boy, about the age you dhave been in eighty-seven.A boy with dark hair.And red eyes.She saw by the way Cal paled she dflicked a switch.You have seen him.Why do you ask about that?Because I saw him.Now Cal pushed to his feet, paced to the window, stared out at the woods.The light was dimmer,duller already than it had been an hour before.They d never told anyone about the boy or the man whatever form the thing chose to take.Yes,he d seen him, and not only during that one hellish week every seven years.He d seen it in dreams.He d seen it out of the corner of his eye, or loping through the woods.Orwith its face pressed to the dark glass of his bedroom window and its mouth grinning.But no one, no one but he, Fox, and Gage had ever seen it in the between times.Why had she?When and where did you see him?Today, just before I turned off onto Pagan Road.He ran in front of my car.Came out of nowhere.That s what people always say, but this time it s true.A boy, then it wasn t a boy but a dog.Then itwasn t anything.There was nothing there.He heard her rise, and when he turned was simply stunned to see that brilliant smile on her face.And this kind of thing makes you happy?It makes me thrilled.Excited.I m saying wow! I had myself what we could call a close encounterwith an unspecified phenomenon.Scary, I grant you, but again, wow.This sort of thing completelywinds me up.I can see that.I knew there was something here, and I thought it was big.But to have it confirmed, the first dayfile://C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\Rar$EX03.813\Nora.3/3/2008BloodBrothers Page 54 of 257out, that s hitting the mother lode with the first whack of the pick.I haven t confirmed anything.Your face did.She picked up her recorder, turned it off.He wasn t going to tell her anythingtoday.Cautious man, Caleb Hawkins.I need to get into town, check into the hotel, get a lay of the land.Why don t I buy you that dinner tonight?She moved fast, and he made a habit of taking his time.Why don t you take some time to settlein? We can talk about dinner and so on in a couple days.I love a man who s hard to get.She slipped her recorder, her notepad back in her bag.I guessI ll need my coat.After he d brought it to her, she studied him as she shrugged it on.You know, when you firstcame outside, I had the strangest sensation.I thought I recognized you, that I d known you before.Thatyou d waited for me before.It was very strong.Did you feel anything like that?No.But maybe I was too busy thinking, she looks better than her picture.Really? Nice, because I looked terrific in that picture.Thanks for the coffee.She glanced back tothe dog who d snored lightly the entire time they d talked.See you later, Lump.Don t work so hard.He walked her out.Quinn, he said as she started down the stairs.Don t get any ideas about LoisLaning it and trying to find the Pagan Stone on your own.You don t know the woods.I ll take you theremyself, sometime this week.Tomorrow?I can t, I ve got a full plate.Day after if you re in a hurry.I almost always am.She walked backward toward her car so she could keep him in view.Whattime?Let s say we ll meet here at nine, weather permitting.That s a date.She opened her car door.The house suits you, by the way.Country boy withmore style than pretention.I like it.He watched her drive off strange and sexy Quinn Black.And he stood for a long time watching the light go dimmer in the woods where he d made hishome.C AL HEADED FOX OFF WITH A PHONE CALL AND arranged to meet him at the bowling alley.Sincethe Pin Boys and the Alley Cats were having a league game on lanes one and two, he and Fox couldfile://C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\Rar$EX03.813\Nora.3/3/2008BloodBrothers Page 55 of 257have dinner and a show at the grill.Added to it, there was little as noisy as a bowling alley, so their conversation would be covered bythe crash of balls against pins, the hoots and hollers
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