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Have you ever heard such stillness? I asked
There’s a stor Her voice floated the words as softly as a breath of suhs down the wind and flattens the waves
Are you a irl who thinks too much
My name’s Odd Thomas
Yes, she said
Prepared to explain the dysfunctional nature of my family that had resulted in my name, as I had done countless times before, I was surprised and disappointed that she had none of the usual questions
You knew my name? I asked
As you know mine
But I don’t
I’m Annamaria, she said One word It would have come to you
Confused, I said, We’ve spoken before, but I’ed names
She only smiled and shook her head
A white flare arced across the dis to land as the afternoon faded
Anna her graceful hands In the right she held a translucent green stone the size of a fat grape
Is that a jewel? I asked
Sea glass A fragment of a bottle that washed around the world and back, until it has no sharp edges I found it on the beach She turned it between her slender fingers What do you think it ?
The tide washed the sand as slass see of birds shattered the stillness, and I looked up to see three agitated sea gulls sailing landward
Their cries announced company: footfalls on the pier behind us
Three men in their late twenties walked to the north end of the observation platform They stared up the coast toward the distant harbor and marina
The two in khakis and quilted jackets appeared to be brothers Red hair, freckles Ears as prolanced at us Their faces were so hard, their eyes so cold, I ht they were evil spirits if I hadn’t heard their footsteps
One of them favored Annamaria with a razor-slash smile He had the dark and broken teeth of a heavy methamphetamine user
The freckled pairof the group At six four, he towered half a foot above the others, and had that muscled massiveness only steroid injections can produce
Unfazed by the cool air, he wore athletic shoes without socks, white shorts, and a yellow-and-blue, orchid-pattern Hawaiian shirt
The brothers said soht be called handsonon way, but his eyes seemed to be as yellow as his small chin beard
We did not deserve the scrutiny we received fronant woh to reach twenty-one years of age without losing a leg or an eye, or my hair
Malevolence and paranoia cohabit in a twisted mind Bad men trust no one because they know the treachery of which they theiant turned his attention once more to the northern coast and the marina, as did his cohorts, but I didn’t think they were done with us
Half an hour of daylight reht seehtened auto had risen out of nowhere to aid and abet the cootten to his feet Hackles raised, ears flattened, he focused intently on the giant
To Annao
Do you know them?
I’ve seen their kind before
As she rose froht fist Both hands shrank back into the sleeves of her sweater
I sensed strength in her, yet she also had an aura of innocence, an almost waiflike air of vulnerability The three men were the kind to whom vulnerability had a scent as surely as rabbits hidden in tall grass have a smell easily detected by wolves
Bad ets they prefer those who are innocent and as pure as this world allows anyone to be They feed on violence, but they feast on the despoiling of what is good
As Annamaria and I walked off the observation deck and toward the shore, I was dismayed that no one had co fishermen would already have arrived with rods and tackle boxes
I glanced back and saw Boocloser to the three men, ere oblivious of him The hulk with the chin beard looked over the heads of the other two, again staring at Annamaria and me
The shore was still distant The shrouded sun slowly sank behind a thousand fatho ain, the freckled pair were approaching at a brisk walk
Keep going, I told Anna people
She remained calm I’ll stay with you
No I can handle this