Once the trail's level walking paths had become root-covered, winding stretches of loose dirt, Parker stashed his bike near a distinctive tree and walked the remaining distance to Castle Rock. He discovered that he was second to arrive, Logan already perched atop the commanding structure.
"Identify yourself!" Logan called down with the feigned authority of an imperious tower guard.
"Parker Campbell, requesting permission to ascend the tower!"
"Permission granted," came the voice from above, and Paker began his climb up the side of the structure. As he rose, Logan watched, wondering what might happen if Parker slipped and fell to his death right this moment. It would throw off everything he had planned, and further directly contradict the past—or was it the future?—that he knew would unfold—had unfolded?—but the thought played through his head nonetheless. There was a fair-sized stone right by Logan's feet… a small toss to his head would send him crumpling down. Could I, if I wanted to?
Logan flexed his fingers. His arms could move. He could throw the stone, if he decided to. But Logan already knew that Parker survives this morning unharmed… It was all very confusing. Despite the fact that he reasoned he could kill him right now, he knew that he hadn't, and so, he wouldn't kill him in this moment… so how was that any different from couldn't kill him? If Logan knew how the future would unfold, and so Logan acted in ways to promote that future and avoid contradicting it, events reached their conclusion without Logan getting to influence them at all. Did Logan have free will if he let fear of paradoxes steer him from point A to Z precisely?
Logan was still eyeing the stone and grappling with those questions when Parker crested the structure and settled onto the flat top with him. Parker hadn't died here today, much to the surprise of nobody… but the whole mental line of questioning left Logan feeling an echo of helplessness once again. Was he prisoner to actions at once already done and somehow yet to be made? He looked to Parker and saw a shoulder covered with blood. His ears rang with that damned screaming of silence after gunshots, and that horrible music returned to his mind once again. The buzz of the light, of insects outside. The rattle of Skinny's final breaths. The patter of blood. The click of empty revolver chambers. Buzz. Rattle. Patter. Click. Buzz. Rattle. Patter. Click. He felt the weight of the fire ax in his hand, and could still visualize the forest clearing. Its weight was horrible in his hands, the cool wood somehow burning to the touch.
"—others?"
"Hmm?" Logan snapped back to the present.
"No sign of the others?"
"Nope," Logan said, mind turning. He stood and faced out to the woods, Parker standing to his side doing the same. "Say, Parker, since you're here early anyways… there's something I wanted to tell you. Didn't really want to raise this in front of the group for reasons that'll be obvious… it's about Skinny."
"Sure, shoot away."
Buzz. Rattle. Patter. Click. Logan charged a battery with the Empathizer pressed to his side opposite Parker and pocketed it immediately. Cool, collected calm washed over him and returned him firmly to the present. He reloaded the device with a battery he'd kept in his coat pocket for just this moment. He then subtly began rubbing the terminal on the front of the Empathizer and pressed it to his palm.
"The night he went missing… I never mentioned this to you guys because I was worried about it. He actually came to me that night, after the official last time anyone had seen him."
"Did you tell the police that?"
"I didn't tell anyone… because of what he came over to talk about. He said that he was getting into shouting fights with Ronnie… that he hadn't been acting himself lately. That Ronnie was demanding the two trade devices, because he didn't like the ring."
The easygoing smile wiped off Parker's face as he began to consider Logan's words. "Are you implying what I think you're implying?"
Logan swallowed and nodded his best impression of a reluctant-yet-grave nod. "He was asking me for advice of what to do, and if I could use my Empathizer to mediate between 'em… I told him it could wait until morning. Then, as you know," Logan trailed off.
"Ronnie's always been a gentle giant…" Parker thought out loud.
Logan knew that this was the critical moment. He'd been holding the terminal on the Empathizer… would it be warm enough to pass for flesh? "Please, I don't want you to think I'm accusing him of anything," Logan said, doing his best to play the role of a friend worried he's insulted another friend. As he spoke, he partially turned, reached behind, and tapped Parker on the arm, as though punctuating the statement… but he'd tapped Parker with the Empathizer instead, and discharged the purple-black battery right as he vocalized the p in please, hoping it would best hide the hiss. He dropped his hand to his side and the device into his pocket as Parker turned to him.
"No, of course not, but it's important to be careful in a situation like this," Parker said, seemingly uneasy. Logan saw the seed of fear begin to take root in Parker's mind through all of the subtle facial tics he'd become good at recognizing… there was the widening of the eyes, a gentle dilation of the pupils… the smaller, more-rapid movements. He did all he could to resist smiling at Parker then and there.
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"Well, I've actually got an idea, if you're willing to help," he said.
* * *
Shaun showed up next, and Wade and Ronnie were only minutes behind. Once all five were settled on the top of the formation, Shaun regaled the group with the story of his near-miss with the Trents.
"So the old man took a baseball swing to the leg?" Wade asked.
"Yuh-huh. I was pretty sure my head was about to be a tee-ball with those swings," Shaun replied.
"But you didn't find it?" Ronnie asked. "The Thought-Enunciator?"
"No, no sign of it anywhere," Shaun said.
"How thoroughly did you check the place?" said Parker.
"I'm pretty sure it wasn't there. And if it was, well, they've no doubt got cops at the place checking it out," Shaun said, trailing off.
"Do you think the parents might have it?" Wade asked.
"I don't think so… I don't know. Oh yeah, and bad news gets worse. I saw your mom there, Parker, right when I was leaving."
"She saw you?" Parker asked, worried.
"Well, no, nobody saw me, invisible 'n stuff… but I nearly bumped right into her as I was running out the house."
"Now how's that for inconvenient timing," Wade mused, shaking his head. "So now what? The police send out secondary search parties, these ones for the Invisible Man?"
"Well, we'll have to wait and find out," Logan said. "These developments are troubling, sure, but we'll handle them the same as last time. When we get home tonight, stash your devices away and hide them good. This time they might pick us up with a lot more questions. Now, until then, how are we planning to find Skinny?"
The boys began to wander through the woods, searching for anything out of the ordinary. They decided to split up into two groups: Wade, Logan, and Shaun in one, and Parker and Ronnie in the other. When Logan saw the slight unease in Parker's disposition at being paired alone with the larger boy, Logan offered to swap groups.
They then set out and combed through the woods, searching for any clue of their friend's whereabouts. Logan did his best to seem as genuinely interested in the hunt as the others were, even taking a proud moment to call out a suspected clue—a dirty, bundled shirt they found tucked near a tree—but the group quickly decided it wasn't significant. As they walked, they saw the occasional searching adult or police officer poking through the brush. They nodded and waved pleasantly to those they passed, assuming they were all out there for the same reasons.
They set up a small camp for lunch on the edge of the woods after two hours of fruitless search, eating pre-packed lunches and drinking from their canteens. Ronnie unfolded and set up the portable radio unit, tuning it in to the same police frequencies. There, through mouthfuls of food, they chatted idly and listened to the radio's chatter.
"So," Wade said, taking a large bite out of his sandwich as the group listened in, "it's time for the elephant in the room. When do we use the time watch to solve this thing?"
Everyone had already thought of it, with Logan and Parker already even having discussed it, but it was good to get the whole group up to speed now.
"So," Logan said, "using the watch comes with certain… disadvantages."
"We've gone back before, but not very long each time. As you guys know, there's no going forwards, so anyone going back to that night would have to wait out the few days to get to the present."
The group munched, listening.
"But, of course, because of paradox-y stuff, that person couldn't interact or be near any one of us, nor could they stay at home or be seen at all by anyone we know without risking big trouble. Whoever we send back is gonna have to live in the woods for a couple days," Parker said.
"Now, I know of a small shed in the woods," Logan said. "It's tiny and dirty, but it'll at least be shelter… I haven't been there in a couple years. It'll be guaranteed empty, so whoever we send back can live in it for a while. Generator might even still work. It can fit a person just fine, and might just be able to fit two, but that'd be pushing it."
"So the question is how many do we send back," Parker said. "And to when and where exactly?"
"We don't even know if it'll be dangerous," Logan added. "If Skinny was… you know, by the original owner of these things, then it might not be a good idea to send a bunch of us back… we might just be delivering them right to his grasp."
"But sending anyone alone would be putting them in even greater danger," Ronnie protested.
"I know. That's why we're asking you all," Logan said.
"What if…" Wade began, thinking. "What if we sent one person back with the Time Watch, the Protectionizer, and the Invisibility Plug? What better spy kit is there than time traveling invincible invisibility?"
"That'd be putting a lot of eggs in one basket," Logan said. "What if he subdued whoever we sent back? Then he's got four of the six, and the two we'd have left, mine and the ring, wouldn't be much help in protecting us."
The boys chewed this over.
"All of this is assuming there's some evil hitman collecting the devices," Ronnie said. "What if his disappearance was something more mundane?"
"You want to gamble all of the artifacts on the chance that Skinny somehow just went missing in the woods?" Logan asked.
"I'd gamble my own," Ronnie said. "What if it's just Parker and I? Strength in numbers makes two people better than one, and If he gets mine, we still have a bunch of the more protective ones left."
"I think it'd be better if I went alone," Parker said. "If there's any trouble, I don't need to go invisible or be invincible… I can just go further back in time to safety."
The group let that idea settle for a moment, each one testing it in his mind.
"The same could still be done with two people," Ronnie protested.
"But at greater risk," Parker replied.
The radio suddenly squawked to life with the garbled voice of a dispatcher. "All units, we have reports of an armed suspect at Best Friends Veterinary Office." The group immediately fell dead silent: that was the place Skinny's mother worked.
"Dispatch, this is car 067. Sewer main break on Grove means we'll be delayed approximately twenty minutes; moving with all possible haste, over."
The group sat in a momentary stunned silence. Then, Parker spoke. "What if the parents did find the device after all?"
"I mean, who even robs a vet's office," Wade said. "What if this is our guy?"
"We could get there before the police if we leave right now," Ronnie added.
Logan nodded, and the group immediately set to packing up. In forty seconds, they were on their bikes, racing from road to field to road as they cut a straight path to the vet's office.