Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 23 - Regrouping - IV

  The hour passed fitfully. Rachel called Cinza on the phone she'd been given, and Cinza promised to attend. In the meantime, Rachel tried to relax. She'd had more near-death experiences in the last twenty-four hours than she cared to have in a lifetime. There was a shaking, uneven quality to every breath she took. Anxiety filled her to the marrow. She'd faced down gods and men alike and emerged unscathed, even as so many around her had been wounded and maimed—or worse. When was her luck going to run dry?

  What if I die today?

  Rachel needed to talk. She needed to lay out her fears and worries to help her mind process—but who could she talk to? There was Preston, sleeping in the back of the station after a long night. There was Natalie, playing a game on her phone while resting against the belly of her wolf. And there was Beverly, the invisible wraith haunting her every step. Even now, Rachel noticed the leaves of the plant next to the bench bending just slightly at an abnormal angle. It was her, sitting patiently and watching Rachel's every move.

  Rachel went back into Jackie's office and shut the door. She pulled out her phone and dialed the only person she could think of.

  After only one ring, she got someone she absolutely did not expect. "Hello?"

  "Rachel?" It was Rowan Rhistler. "Were you trying to make a call?"

  "Yes. How did I end up on your line?"

  "I changed the lines to run through my office before any made it out of town. Will gave me a little control panel website thing before he..."

  "I understand," she interrupted. "Can you put my call through?"

  "...Okay." There was a click, and then the phone was ringing again. It took much, much longer this time, but finally she picked up.

  "Hello?"

  Rachel cleared her throat. Her heart was suddenly pounding. "Hi, Mom."

  "Rachel?" Her mother's voice was muffled and scratchy. She'd never owned a particularly good phone for actual calls, preferring flashy over functional. Rachel had owned the same, until she'd found herself making so many phone calls she simply couldn't stand it anymore. "Is something wrong?"

  Rachel's eyes welled up. She spoke with her mother so infrequently that Andrea DuValle assumed immediately something must be wrong if her daughter was calling. "I just needed to hear your voice."

  "...What's the matter? You sound like you're crying. Or is that just the phone?"

  Rachel had lied too often lately. She refused to deceive her own mother as well. "It's not the phone. Something happened. Will got hurt. Badly." She was stumbling over her words. "They had to fly him out to Olympia."

  "Oh God... Rachel, I can be there tomorrow. If you need me."

  "No, I don't want to take you away from the set."

  "I'm only in four episodes this season, and it's an emergency. I can ask them to reschedule my scenes. We don't air for months anyway."

  She's lying... She'd lose the part if she did that. No one would reschedule for her. Rachel took a deep breath. She hadn't wanted to tell her yet, but it was bound to come out sooner or later. "Mom, you can't come here. The town's kinda been blocked off."

  "Blocked off?"

  "The roads and the trains are all out. That's why they had to fly Will out. There's no way into town."