17
After learning what they had from each other, Audrey, Nathan and Charlotte wasted no time in heading back to Haven.
Audrey's heart thumped against her ribs. William had found the open thinny, and now he was back in this world.
"Nathan, slow down," she scolded weakly.
Instead, Nathan turned his red bubble light on, and hit the gas. He had to get back to Haven, to find Duke, and most of all, to protect Audrey.
What happens when William gets back to Haven? he thought. He knew without a doubt that William was making his way there, if he weren't there already.
Can he make her turn back into Mara again? It was a thought he didn't want to have; Mara was dead and gone, Charlotte had told them. But the events of yesterday were also playing through his mind, a hundred different scenarios of what would happen when William caught up with them again, none of them good. Not to mention Prudence. If she was still so angry about Mara, even though she'd seen and witnessed that she had changed, that she was Audrey, what was going to happen when she came face-to-face with the guy who'd Troubled her in the first place?
Audrey had been steadily trying to reach Dwight, but his phone kept going to voicemail.
"Dwight, it's Audrey," she talked to the message for the fifth time. "I need you to call me, and I need you to make sure there's someone at the Gull and on board the Rouge. I need you to take Duke and Prudence into protective custody," she finished. "We'll explain when we get there, we're headed back now." She hung up.
"Charlotte-do you think he could make-her-come back?" Nathan finally asked, unable to bear the torment.
"I don't know," Charlotte said slowly. "It's imperative that we get to Haven first. I need to see Prudence. Given what you've told me about her, she's collecting Troubles. I think she may be building an arsenal."
"Like a chimera," Nathan muttered. "Made up of different parts of animals, with all the strengths and characteristic of each one."
Charlotte nodded. "Exactly. A Troubled person who can pull up any number of Troubles to use as a weapon."
"You think she's going to use them against Haven?" Nathan questioned.
"I think she's doing it to use against you and William," Charlotte replied.
"But we can't be affected by Troubles," Audrey said.
"No, remember when-no, I guess you don't," Nathan trailed off.
"What, Nathan?" Charlotte asked, anxious. "It might be important."
"When Duke still had all those Troubles in him-he affected Mara, somehow," Nathan pointed out. "He split her and Audrey off into two people. And when he had that Nonsense Trouble, she couldn't understand him. They affected her as well as us."
"His Troubles had mutated to the point even people from our world could be affected by them," Charlotte breathed. "Does Prudence know that?"
"I don't think so, not unless Duke told her," Audrey said, blanching at the thought of Prue relieving Duke of that particular Trouble. If she took that Trouble on, Prudence would be unstoppable.
"Drive faster, Nathan," Audrey urged.
The day had remained gray, and rain had begun to set in, damping down the leaves on the ground as Prue and Dwight crunched through them to the little house set on the edge of the woods.
They could see several people waiting around anxiously outside the house, one woman covered over in a heavy coat, her face obscured.
Rory Palmer was there also, and he walked up to them.
"Miss Crocker," he said, presuming that as she and Duke were related, they shared the same surname. "I wanted to apologize to you for the other day."
"Accepted," Prue replied. "Your friend had died, and it was the heart that spoke, not the head."
"Is this her?" a man asked, his voice nervous.
"My name is Prudence," she addressed the group. "And I have come to help you. Understand now that I can help you, but only five for today. As I take your curse, I will also take it on, for a short while," she explained. "So there will be some time between one cure and the next, or I am transferring the curse from one person to another," she went on. "Who among you is the worst afflicted?"
"That's Marjorie," Dwight explained, motioned to the bundled-up woman. "It's a Medusa Trouble-anyone Margie looks at turns to stone."
"Come," Prue smiled gently, and led her into the cabin, closing the door behind them.
Dwight felt his phone buzz for the umpteenth time, and saw all the missed calls from Audrey.
He walked away a short distance from the little gathering and dialed her phone. "Hey Audrey-what's up?"
"Dwight, where are you?" Audrey asked without preamble. "Is Prudence there with you?"
"Yes," Dwight replied. "She's starting the cures. She's with Marjorie Dane right now."
"Dwight, William found that thinny in North Carolina-he's back," Nathan cut in.
"Crap," Dwight muttered.
"Don't let her cure anymore people. She doesn't just take Troubles, she can manipulate them," Audrey told him. "Just-get her and take her down to Haven PD until we can figure out what to do. And have Duke brought in too-but don't let them be together."
"Why?"
"I'll explain it when we get there," Audrey finished, and hung up.
He saw the door open, and Marjorie step out. She moved the hood from around her head, and her husband smiled.
"There's my gal," he said, and she threw herself into his arms, crying tears of happiness as he kissed her face repeatedly.
Dwight headed back to the group at a quick trot, and up the steps to the cabin.
"Do not enter!" Prudence called from inside.
"Prue, it's Dwight. Look, I hate to cut this short, but something's come up," he said to groans and protests from the gathered people. "I have to take you down to police headquarters, there's a situation."
"What's happened?" Rory demanded.
"I got it handled, for now. If I need you, you'll be the first to know. We'll get everybody fixed, I promise. Just not today, so go on back home."
He turned his attention back to the cabin door, open a fraction. "Prue?"
"Yes?" her voice faint.
"How long do you think it will take you to recover?"
"I do not know. Her curse was incredibly strong."
"She could use my cloak and glasses," Marjorie offered. "I don't need them anymore."
"Thanks, Margie," Dwight replied, and took them from her. He then inserted just his arm in the door, and felt Prue take them from his hand, her fingers brushing lightly against his hand, making his skin tingle.
A few moments later, Prue emerged, bundled up tightly in the cloak, her eyes obscured by the glasses. Dwight put his arms around her, and hustled her back to his truck.
At The Grey Gull, Duke was collecting drink glasses from the back patio and was about to head inside when he heard a board above his head creak.
He knew that Audrey and Nathan had gone out of town to go talk to Charlotte, so whoever was up there wasn't supposed to be. He set the glasses down, and crept silently up the staircase that led to Audrey's apartment.
He reached the top, and saw that the door to her apartment was standing slightly ajar.
"Pretty brave to try to knock over a cop's apartment," he said to himself, and got a firmer grip on the crowbar he'd gathered up.
He peered cautiously in the door, seeing no one. He was about to enter when he was unceremoniously hauled inside by his shirt front, and thrown into the floor.
Duke started to scramble back up, but a large and heavy foot pinned him to the ground, crushing the air out of him.
He looked upwards, following the foot to its owner, a very large angry-looking man. Next to him was a smaller, frizzy-haired man, his mouth twisted in a cruel smile.
"Well, well, Duke Crocker," he heard a voice he'd hoped to never hear again, and William's smiling face swam into his range of vision. "Looks like you didn't die after all. Well, not yet, anyway. Where's Mara?"
Duke would have answered, but his vision was blacking out from the lack of air.
"Here now," William scolded. "That's no way to treat an old friend, help him up."
Two two men hauled Duke up to his feet, as William dusted off Duke's shirt with his hand.
"There now, that's better," he smiled in his evil choirboy manner. "Now, let's try this again. Where's Mara?"
"Go to Hell," Duke growled.
William pouted at his response, and then drew back and hit Duke as hard as he could in the face, knocking him cold.
"Bring him along," he told the two. "We'll need him to help find my girl."