The Complete Colony Series. Lisa Jackson

drove to Java Man with one eye on the rearview mirror, but none of the cars behind her seemed to have any interest in following her. Once parked, she flipped up the hood of her jacket, and hurrying through the rain, she caught sight of her friends through the window. Tamara’s red curls burned under Java Man’s lights. Evangeline’s blond paleness was even more ashen; she looked washed out to the point of illness. And Renee’s face was pinched, her dark hair untidy, as if she’d been running her hands through her brunette strands over and over again.

      “Sorry I’m late,” Becca greeted them all, shaking excess water onto a mat by the door. “I was all set, wasting time actually, then suddenly I’m behind.”

      “We ordered you a decaf latte. That all right?” Renee asked, indicating a steaming, foaming cup.

      “Works for me.”

      “Coffee first, then wine,” Tamara said.

      Becca slid into the empty seat next to Renee, which left her across from Evangeline and catty-corner from Tamara. Everyone was more sober now, more careful than they had been at Blue Note, as if a current of tension was making them cautious. And Renee looked as if she’d dropped five pounds in less than a week.

      “So, what’s up?” Becca asked, sipping her latte.

      The corners of Renee’s mouth turned downward as she twirled her cup around and around again. “I think something’s going on. Something more than what we’re seeing.” She was picking her words carefully, as if afraid to panic them. “And I think we’re all in danger at some level.”

      “Danger?” Evangeline drew back as if repelled.

      “What kind of danger?” Tamara asked.

      “Yeah, what kind of danger?” Evangeline tried to play it off like she thought Renee was overreacting, but her shoulders were hunched and her eyes practically swallowed her whole face.

      “The same danger that killed Jessie.” Renee’s gaze swung to Evangeline. “She was damn near precognitive sometimes. Twenty years ago she knew she was in trouble and she tried to run, but she didn’t get away. She died in the maze. Someone killed her.”

      “We don’t know it’s her,” Evangeline stated.

      “It’s her.” Renee was positive. “Jessie had a sense of danger coming. ‘Trouble,’ she said. And I guess I feel it, too. Trouble.”

      “So you’re precognitive as well.” Again, Evangeline tried to sneer at Renee’s worries, but she just succeeded in sounding more frightened.

      “Is this from the Tarot reading?” Tamara asked Renee. Her brows were knit in concern. “Because you have to look at the cards as a guide. You can’t take them so specifically.”

      Renee made a disparaging sound. “No. This isn’t about my Tarot reading, although I was at the beach and met this old woman—a psychic who gave me a creepy feeling.”

      “Why? What did she say?” Tamara asked.

      “She said we were…I was…I don’t know…”

      “What?” Tamara insisted.

      “Marked for death. You like that? She was nuts. The whole town knows it, but I wanted to ask about Jessie.” She shook her head. “It’s so silly I can’t believe it now. She spooked me.”

      “Jessie?” Tamara questioned carefully.

      “No. Look, I know you think she’s still alive, Tamara, but she’s gone. Even Madame Madeline said she was dead. It just feels like…whatever she was afraid of might still be a threat. I don’t know. I was doing some research, going through some of Jessie’s last days, thinking about all the things she said. Something happened to her, or she learned something, that made her decide to run. You know it, Vangie. You were her best friend. She must have told you.”

      “Why do you keep saying that?” Evangeline demanded. “I was not her best friend.”

      “You can’t rewrite history,” Renee snapped. “You and Jessie were best friends. I was in there, too. Tamara and Becca were good friends, and Tamara brought Becca into the group. That’s the way it was. Those are the dynamics. Sorry. It’s just fact.”

      Evangeline’s mouth trembled slightly. “We weren’t best friends,” she insisted. “We were pretty good friends. But I don’t remember her being ‘precognitive.’ Maybe she said something that scared us once or twice when it came true, but that was it.”

      “Fine.” Renee sighed. “Have it your way. But you do remember Jessie telling us she was in danger.”

      “I…don’t think so.” Vangie lifted a shoulder.

      “Why don’t you want to go back there? What scares you so badly?”

      “Back where?” Evangeline asked.

      “To the past.” Renee didn’t bother hiding her exasperation. “To the fact that something was after Jessie. She tried to make light of it, but she said things that now…when I think of them with the benefit of hindsight, they make more sense.” Renee raked her hands through her hair and tugged on the ends.

      Becca thought of her vision of Jessie with one finger over her lips.

      “She said she wasn’t safe,” Renee said.

      Tamara shook her head. “What’s gotten into you?”

      “Okay, forget it. I’m trying to explain something I can’t explain. I feel…like I’m in danger, sometimes. That’s all. And it really started when I began looking into Jessie’s past.”

      “I’ve had a weird feeling. Like I was being followed,” Becca confessed.

      “You, too?” Tamara gazed from Becca to Renee and back again.

      “Maybe it’s the cops,” Evangeline ventured.

      Renee assured her tautly, “It’s not the police.”

      “I never thought you’d be the kind to take a warning from the Tarot so literally,” Tamara said.

      “I told you, it’s not the Tarot,” Renee said with extreme patience, her voice lowering. “You know I’ve been investigating, trying to dig up an angle for my story on Jessie, but…” She heaved a deep sigh that seemed to come from her gut, then pressed her palms to her cheeks. “You’re not listening. None of you are listening. And I don’t know how to get you to.”

      “We don’t know what the hell you’re saying,” Evangeline said tartly but her face was gaunt, her eyes wide. She hadn’t missed the emotion, regardless of what she said.

      “Okay, so I’m warning you. Me. Us. If anything weird happens, let the rest of us know right away,” Renee went on doggedly. “Maybe we can—avoid it—if we work together. If we watch each other’s backs.”

      Watch your back, Becca… Jessie’s last words to her reverberated through her mind.

      Tamara snorted, but Renee forged on, again rotating her nearly full cup on the table. “It’s like stirring up Jessie’s bones has awakened it.”

      “Okay…It?” This time Evangeline’s tone had a hefty amount of disparagement, as if Renee were out of her mind. “Now you sound melodramatic.”

      “God, Renee,” Tamara murmured. “Whatever you’re feeling, it’s…just what you’re feeling. Real to you, yeah, but come on. Whatever you’re going through…with Tim or with your work, it’s affecting your judgment. This isn’t like you. There are no demonic forces coming after us.”

      “I didn’t say demonic.”

      “You said stirring up Jessie’s bones awakened it,” Tamara reminded her, picking up her purse and grabbing her coat. “Close enough.”

      “I hope Jessie’s dead,” Evangeline