Harmony Black Read Online Free PDF Page A

the first hibernation than the second, by almost a decade. The first time, it took six children. In the ’80s, it took five. The abductions occur over a period of two to three weeks, with seemingly random gaps between incidents. Harmony, when it spoke to you, did it seem . . . surprised? It couldn’t have known you’d walk in on it.”
    I thought back, picturing it in my mind. That first approach, when I thought it was my mother, and how focused it was on Angie.
    “Yes. It hesitated. That’s when it held out its hand, and tried to get me to go with it.”
    “It changed its plans, spontaneously.” April frowned. “It is sentient, it is an opportunist, and it is not bound by ritual or compulsion. That’s not good.”
    “Doesn’t make our job any easier,” Jessie said, “but it’s still our job. Talbot Cove’s a three-hour drive from here. Let’s pack up and roll out.”

    Down in the dimly lit garage under the building, Jessie twirled a set of keys on a plastic tag and checked license plates.
    “All right, let’s see what they gave us to drive. I’m feeling lucky this time. C’mon, Dodge Charger, it’s gonna be a Dodge Charger—”
    We came to a dead stop in front of a paste-white Crown Victoria, its bug-spattered license plate about ten years newer than the rest of the car. An entire quarter front panel was a slightly different color than the rest of the body, and the driver’s-side door sported a long, jagged scar in the paint, like someone had raked their keys along it.
    “Every time,” Jessie said, deflated. “They do this to us every time .”
    Kevin patted her shoulder. “Sorry, boss.”
    April pushed her wheelchair past them, rolling around to the side of the car. Kevin helped her into the backseat, holding her wheels steady while she pulled herself into the car; then we collapsed the chair and stowed it in the trunk.
    Jessie tossed me the keys. “You drive. My enthusiasm is suddenly diminished.”
    I’d been gone for thirty years, but once we put Detroit in the rearview mirror, Michigan looked exactly the way I’d left it. We drove through wild woods just feeling the first kiss of fall, the leaves turning crimson and gold, and past sleepy, hilly towns that hadn’t changed since the ’50s. Eventually we hit the coast of Lake Michigan, the highway turning to follow its curves, and the slowly setting sun gleamed like molten gold on the water.
    Twenty minutes and I’d be home again.
    The digital clock on the dashboard felt like the countdown timer on a bomb. I tried to distract myself from the inevitable, but all I had was static-choked talk radio and the incessant typing sounds from the backseat as Kevin hammered away on his laptop keyboard.
    “So why are you called the Circus?” I asked, aiming the question at nobody in particular.
    Sitting beside me, after spending the last hour in a light slumber, Jessie’s eyes snapped open. “Hmm?”
    “Linder, he said your cell designation was ‘Circus.’”
    “Because he’s a jackass,” Jessie said.
    “Because we fight evil clowns,” Kevin said. “Well, okay, it was just that one time, but once was enough. Eeh, creepy .”
    “Because,” April said dryly, “our reputation for results far exceeds our reputation for following protocol. It makes for messy reports, which Mr. Linder must then explain to his superiors.”
    “They love us and they know it,” Jessie said. She wriggled a little in her seat, put her head back, and closed her eyes again. “Considering the scuttlebutt about what went down in Vegas, you should fit in just fine.”
    I gripped the hard plastic steering wheel a little tighter.
    “That’s not how I normally operate. I do things by the book.”
    In the rearview mirror I saw April shake her head, a slight smile on her lips.
    “Oh, dear,” she said, “an idealist in our midst. I almost remember what that feels like. Suffice to say, Harmony, that works only when confronting a situation that’s in the proverbial