Autumn Calling by T. Lynne Tolles

outside
between the blood and plumage, she made sure the coast was clear
before moving through the door and assessing the damage.
    She opened the door and the mound of fowl
corpses collapsed inward onto the black entry mat. She deposited
one dead bird after another into the garbage bag. It made her sad
to see so many dead, and wondered why they had attacked her. When
she had made her way through the heap, she stepped outside. Still
wary of the sky and what might come at her from above, she saw the
building had been peppered with red blotches and feathers, but the
bulk of the birds were centralized around the door.
    A sickening thought ripped at her gut that
this was the Macabres’ doing somehow. They obviously had no respect
for life, whether it was hers or the hundreds of birds that
littered the parking lot. She thought about Tori, and wondered:
just how crazy were these people that they had no regard for what
or who might get in the way of their getting what they wanted? The
worst thing, though, was her sister was among them. Was she as
bloodthirsty as their father and the rest of family? And if it had
been her instead of her sister who had lived with their father,
would she have turned as ruthless and uncaring as the Macabres
seemed to be?
    Her headache was back and her stomach was
nauseated. There was no going back now. Tori had to be lied to keep
her safe. There were no hems or haws about it anymore. She
supposed, in her sadness, that Nick would be very satisfied to see
that he’d won his battle: Tori would stay away, Jackson was out of
the picture, and Summer would be on her own. But she wondered what
long-term cost there would be in implementing this deception.
    The last thing Summer did before taking a
taxi home was call a painter to power wash the building and see if
they knew a contractor who would replace the cracked glass in the
door. She looked forward to the quiet of her little home and felt
sure there’d be another bout of crying this evening. But she was
getting tired of crying, and with each new event that made her cry,
she became angrier at the Macabres and the endless death that
seemed to smear the path of their greed.

Chapter 9
     
    Summer did everything she could to prevent
herself from visiting Tori. It killed her not to do so, but she was
also determined to follow what her instincts were telling her.
She’d been receiving text message by the hundreds from Tori asking
her about all sorts of things, but mostly why she hadn’t been by.
It helped that Summer no longer had a car. The insurance company
had called and said they could arrange for a rental until they
could get all the paperwork done, but ultimately it wasn’t her car.
It was Dr. Stuart’s, and so getting a new car squared away would
have to wait for him to come back from vacation.
    As Summer had suspected, she did have a good
cry the night before, and her guardian angel was there to dry her
tears. But she didn’t want him to think she was some weak, useless
crybaby either, so they did have an informal date at the local
burger joint, where an angry-looking Nick spied them while picking
up a takeout order. It seemed there was no pleasing him, and well,
she was tired of his crabbiness. She had more important things to
take care of than worrying about his feelings all the time.
    For a moment, Summer was even enjoying
herself until she got another text from Tori, sucking her back into
reality of the situation. Summer could tell Tori was getting upset
with her for not returning her texts or for visiting her. Summer
figured it was just more fuel for the charade she would have to
commence soon, and now might be the time to get it over with.
    “Wish me luck,” she said to Daniel.
    “You’re sure about this?”
    “Yup.”
    “Okay. Good luck then,” he said taking
another bite of his burger and enjoying it.
    Tori: “What’s up with you? Haven’t seen or
heard from you in over twenty-four hours.”
    Summer: “Busy.”
    “Too busy to text