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ALEX CASEY
Nightingale had come to life. I had known it would happen and yet seeing it with my own eyes…I was in a state of disbelief. Saga Anderson, unlike me, hadn’t known what was about to happen. Whatever I was going through, she was experiencing everything more intensely.
So when we drove to Cauldron Lake, I had wanted to drive so that she could have some time to calm herself. But she had been too quick for me and so now I sat restlessly in the passenger seat while Jash lay in the backseat.
Whenever Saga started to ask questions, I wanted to answer them honestly. But I couldn’t risk her, or her daughter, getting in trouble with the FBC when I was gone. It could be that Jash was wrong but he could also be right.
I wanted to go against caution, but I would stay true to my husband.
In the rearview mirror I could see Jash laying on the backseat. Both windows were open so that he could stick both his tail and head out. If he tilted his head slightly, he would be able to talk so we could hear him.
I had hoped that him being uncomfortable would make me feel some amusement. But I didn’t feel anything except guilt.
“Did that…did that just happen?” Saga asked. “Dead men stay dead. You need to take lead in the case, Alex.”
“Why?” I replied.
“Because I just saw a dead man come back to life. I need psychiatric help before I’m fit for the Bureau again.”
“I hate to break it to you, Saga, but we all saw Nightingale get up and attack.”
I glanced at the rearview mirror and saw Jash give a thumbs up. There was one good thing about having to keep lying to Saga: Jash wouldn’t go on a long winded lecture about his views on Nightingale.
“We all saw what happened in the morgue because you didn’t imagine anything.” I reassured my friend. “You’re not crazy.”
“Have you ever seen something like that?” Saga asked.
The Cult of the Word. The case had shaken me to my core and left me nowhere to flee. It had been hard to keep away from whiskey after that. At least for some time. It wasn’t until Saga I had begun to feel somewhat normal again. She had pushed me into having dinner with her family. If she hadn’t done that, I would have been in no condition to meet Jash once he returned.
“The Cult of the Word.” I said. “I saw things that you wouldn’t have believed until today.”
At the theater my sanity had started to crumble. I had seen myself being murdered but didn’t have any memory of filming the scene. If Jash hadn’t appeared when he had, I would have been even more work for Saga to heal.
And, **** her, she would still have helped me.
“Is that where you met Jash?” Saga asked and didn’t allow me time to answer. “Is that why the FBC put the gag order on you?”
My partner had made a huge leap of logic. Before Jash I would have thought she was just good at putting the pieces together. It had made me confused how easily she could pull secrets out of thin air and be correct. But after Jash I knew she was a Seer and was unconsciously using her abilities.
She was more open to believe the insane than I was but still needed proof. So I had never been able to tell her a fact she should have known before me.
“Yes.” I replied simply.
“Jash, you were covered in blood at Logan’s party.” Saga continued. “Did you die in New York? Alex just said that you didn’t choose to leave him.”
“I have been to an afterlife, Saga.” Jash answered. “But it has not been ours to die.”
Saga’s face showed how confused she was. She didn’t know that he had been to Sovngarde to kill Alduin. The only information she had was that to get to an afterlife you needed to die. But Jash had said that he hadn’t died. So she must now be thinking that Jash had a much different concept of death than most.
I didn’t want to leave her lost and so I decided to distract her.
“My interest in this case is personal.” I said.
I watched as the confused look on Saga’s face turned to irritation. It was a subtle thing that many wouldn’t notice. But we had worked together for years and it sometimes felt like we could read each other’s minds.
Jash put his head back out the window. He trusted me to tell a white lie. He knew I wasn’t going to reveal his true identity.
“Alan Wake disappeared in 2010.” I said. “And then the Cult of the Word contacted me in 2013 because I share the same name as the detective from his ****** novels.”
“You knew about Nightingale?” Saga asked with a hint of irritation. “You knew he was going to attack us?”
“There are rumors about Wake. I knew some weird **** would happen.”
“But did you know Nightingale would attack us in the morgue?”
“I had guessed that part.” Jash replied.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Saga asked.
“Would you have believed me without proof?”
“No.”
There was a defeated look to her. She looked at me briefly and there was forgiveness in her eyes. Even if I had told her, she wouldn’t have believed me. She would have thought I was teasing her.
“I’ll tell you all I can now.” I promised.
“Thanks.” Saga said.
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