Doctor Sleep

maybe the tiniest bit overdone. Dan, in the peculiar position of both participating and eavesdropping on the discussion, now realized something he found touching and sweetly comic: Abra knew perfectly well that her mother was illegitimate. Lucy had told her the year before. What Abra was doing now, strange but true, was protecting her father’s innocence.
    “That’s right, honey. But it’s no crime. Sometimes people get . . . I don’t know . . . confused. Family trees can grow strange branches, and there’s no reason for you not to know that.”
    “Gramma Sandy died a couple of months after Mom was born, right? In a car wreck.”
    “That’s right. Momo was babysitting Lucy for the afternoon, and ended up raising her. That’s the reason they’re so close, andwhy Momo getting old and sick has been so hard on your mom.”
    “Who was the man who got Gramma Sandy pregnant? Did she ever say?”
    “Tell you what,” Dave said, “that’s an interesting question. If Alessandra ever told, Momo kept it to herself.” He pointed ahead, at the lane cutting through the woods. “Look, honey, almost there!”
    They were passing a sign reading CLOUD GAP PICNIC AREA, 2 MI.
    7
    Crow’sparty made a brief stop in Anniston to gas up the Winnebago, but on lower Main Street, at least a mile from Richland Court. As they left town—Snake now at the wheel and an epic called Swinging Sorority Sisters on the DVD player—Barry called Jimmy Numbers to his bed.
    “You guys got to step it up a notch,” Barry said. “They’re almost there. It’s a place called Cloud Gap. Did I tell you that?”
    “Yeah, you did.” Jimmy almost patted Barry’s hand, then thought better of it.
    “They’ll be spreading their picnic in no time. That’s when you should take them, while they’re sat down and eating.”
    “We’ll get it done,” Jimmy promised. “And in time to twist enough steam out of her to help you. Rose can’t object to that.”
    “She never would,” Barry agreed, “but it’s too late for me. Maybe not for you,though.”
    “Huh?”
    “Look at your arms.”
    Jimmy did, and saw the first spots blooming on the soft white skin below his elbows. Red death. His mouth went dry at the sight of them.
    “Oh Christ, here I go,” Barry moaned, and suddenly his clothes were collapsing in on a body that was no longer there. Jimmy saw him swallow . . . and then his throat was gone.
    “Move,” Nut said. “Let me at him.”
    “Yeah?What are you going to do? He’s cooked.”
    Jimmy went up front and dropped into the passenger seat, which Crow had vacated. “Take Route 14-A around Frazier,” he said. “That’s quicker than going through the downtown. You’ll connect with the Saco River Road—”
    Snake tapped the GPS. “I got all that programmed. You think I’m blind or just stupid?”
    Jimmy barely heard her. All he knew was that he couldnot die.He was too young to die, especially with all the incredible computer developments just over the horizon. And the thought of cycling, the crushing pain every time he came back . . .
    No. No . Absolutely not. Impossible.
    Late-afternoon light slanted in through the ’Bago’s big front windows. Beautiful autumn sunlight. Fall was Jimmy’s favorite season, and he intended to still be alive andtraveling with the True Knot when it came around again. And again. And again. Luckily, he was with the right bunch to get this done. Crow Daddy was brave, resourceful, and cunning. The True had been in tough spots before. He would bring them through this one.
    “Watch for the sign pointing to the Cloud Gap picnic area. Don’t miss it. Barry says they’re almost there.”
    “Jimmy, you’re giving me aheadache,” Snake said. “Go sit down. We’ll be there in an hour, maybe less.”
    “Goose it,” Jimmy Numbers said.
    Snakebite Andi grinned and did so.
    They were just turning onto the Saco River Road when Barry the Chink cycled out, leaving only his clothes. They were still warm from the fever that had baked him.
    8
    ( Barry’s dead )
    There was no horror in this thought when it reached Dan. Nor even anounce of compassion. Only satisfaction. Abra Stone might look like an ordinary American girl, prettier than some and brighter than most, but when you got below the surface—and not that far below, either—there was a young Viking woman with a fierce and bloodthirsty soul. Dan thought it was a shame that she’d never had brothers and sisters. She would have protected