Nightrise

turn right — but that way had been blocked off. From this position, there was no sight of the bleachers, the post office, the platform where Trelawny would speak. But one thing was certain: There was nowhere to park, no way they could drive into the crowd.
    The policeman was waving at them, more angrily now.
    "Mom…?" Daniel muttered from the backseat.
    "Hold on," Alicia said.
    She spun the wheel to the right and slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The tires screamed. The car shot forward and down the hill toward the crowd.

    ***
    John Trelawny was in the back of a vintage 1960s Cadillac. The mayor of Auburn was next to him. As usual, there was a Secret Service man driving. Warren Cornfield was in the front passenger seat, his eyes completely hidden behind a pair of solid black, wraparound sunglasses. There were two more Secret Service men walking with the car, one on each side. They had followed Trelawny all the way down the street, and the strange thing was that, despite the heat, they had barely broken into a sweat.
    Trelawny could see his wife sitting in the bleachers next to another woman whom he had met earlier that morning — she was married to the mayor. His two sons were sitting there too, and he knew that they wouldn't be enjoying this. Both of them felt shy about being out in public. His car had almost completed its circuit around the bleachers and any minute now it would stop and he and the mayor would get out.
    The speeches would begin. It seemed so strange to be here. Trelawny remembered playing in these streets as a child. And now here he was, fifty years old, and all these people had turned out on account of him. He wished his parents had been alive to see this moment. He also hoped the speeches wouldn't go on too long.
    The car slowed down and stopped. Warren Cornfield was the first out, his hand resting on the car door, his head swiveling to take in the crowds.
    About twenty-five feet away, in the middle of the bleachers, Susan Mortlake leaned over and rested her hand on Scott's arm.
    "All right, my dear," she whispered. "It's time. Do it now."

    ***
    There was a filling station at the bottom of the hill and it was the one thing in the town that hadn't closed. Alicia drove off the ramp and into the driveway, skidding to a halt beside the pumps. She and Jamie left the car. Daniel scrambled out after them.
    "Hey!" The garage attendant had come out of his office. 'You can't leave that here!"
    But they were already on their way, abandoning the car, pushing their way through the crowds. Alicia knew that they were in danger. The policeman at the bridge must have seen what they had done, and he would have put out a radio alert. There was a presidential candidate in the area and anyone behaving strangely would have to be brought down quickly. In other words, shoot first — ask questions later. She wished now that she had left Daniel behind.
    "How are we going to find him?" Jamie shouted.
    He couldn't absorb it all: the people in the thousands, the band still playing, the welcoming banners, the sunlight, the flags flying red, white, and blue. He felt he was being stifled. The wound in his shoulder was throbbing badly. For a moment, he lost sight of Alicia.
    "Watch where you're going!" He had barged into a family. The father was a fat man, wearing a Homer Simpson T-shirt. He was scowling at him.
    Alicia was a little way behind him, clinging tightly on to Daniel. "Use your power!" she called to him.
    'You can find Scott. You don't have to look for him."
    Jamie understood. He didn't need to look. He could think. If Scott was anywhere near, surely he would be able to sense him. He turned his head…
    …and saw his brother.
    Scott! He was here!
    At first, Jamie could barely recognize him. Scott was sitting so still. And he was pale, as if the life had been sucked out of him. His hair had been cut short in a style that didn't suit him and he was too smartly dressed in a black jacket, black pants, and a shirt that was a brilliant white. It was Scott but it wasn't him.
    Jamie had never seen him like this before and he was suddenly afraid.

    He noticed the woman sitting next to him and recognized her immediately, even though he had only ever seen her once…and then very briefly. She was part of Nightrise. She had come out of the Los Angeles office when he was there. Her eyes, behind the oversize glasses, were fixed on Scott. She was like a mother who was overly proud of her son but —-Jamie could see it