Chapter 7

“The new town is around on the other end.” Perry’s words seemed to come from a vast distance. “We’ll go on over there in a minute.”

Ike couldn’t breathe; he couldn’t think or hear. The sight and the scent—that was all he registered.

When Perry flung an arm around his shoulders, the contact jolted him free of the trance.

Perry’s voice sounded low, kind. “Hey, I know it’s a shock. There was no way I could prepare you. It’s like the past never was.”

Ike cleared his throat and found a voice lurking down there somewhere. “Fuck, Perry. It’s—It was erased, just fucking erased. Looks like I came from thin air…In the old books, only gods and demons did that. I know I ain’t either one.”