What the hell was Sarah going to do when she found out about Owen?

Okay. Calm down. It's going to be...

A disaster. A total nightmare of a catastrophe of an Armageddon.

Way to think positive.

No. Maybe there was a solution. Well, not a solution, but a way this could work out. Owen didn't spend all day and all night in the shack. In fact, daytime was when he did most of his hunting. Toby had shown up countless times when Owen wasn't there. So it was entirely possible that he could get lucky and Owen wouldn't be home.

"See, sweetie? Here's the shack. Yeah, I see the boards and tools. We were just trying to fix the place up. Yeah, I should have told you about it. No, I don't think it was responsible to let him play out here-but to be fair, I was with him the whole time. Well, yeah, that includes when he hurt his arm, but it's not like he was running around rusty nails without parental supervision. I agree, I'm a total dumb-ass and bad dad. It'll never happen again. Here's the shack. Yeah, I see the boards and tools. We were just trying to fix the place up. Yeah, I should have told you about it. No, I don't think it was responsible to let him play out here-but to be fair, I was with him the whole time. Well, yeah, that includes when he hurt his arm, but it's not like he was running around rusty nails without parental supervision. I agree, I'm a total dumb-ass and bad dad. It'll never happen again."

Why shouldn't it work out that way?

Or, he could leave right now, run into the woods, tell Owen to get the hell out and not come back until tomorrow, and then return, apologize to Sarah for running off, and- No. He'd stick with the plan that did not involve him rushing out into the woods like a complete lunatic, and just pray for good luck. He'd had enough bad luck in his life that it wouldn't be out of the question for this particular instance to work out in his favor, right?

He wished he and Owen shared some sort of psychic bond, so he could send a telepathic message for Owen to leave.

Maybe they did share a bond, and Toby just didn't know it. Leave Leave, he thought. Owen, you need to leave. Leave now. Stay away. Owen, you need to leave. Leave now. Stay away.

Oh, Jesus, he was cracking up. Which was not unexpected at a time like this, but he needed to keep his mental focus. This could still turn out okay. There was no reason to let an accident-a stupid, careless accident-ruin his life.

When this day was over, he'd still have Owen and his family. Absolutely. No question about it.

He continued to pace until he heard Becky's car pull into the driveway.

Becky made a big fuss over Garrett's bandaged arm, though not loudly enough to wake him up. She sat Hannah on her lap and promised to take good care of her. Sarah explained that they were going into the forest to retrieve the broken board for the doctor, just so they could run some tests on it and make sure there wasn't anything dangerous that might have entered Garrett's bloodstream.

It was a pretty good cover story. Toby wondered if she were hiding her own monster.

They walked into the forest.

"I'm sorry I made a big deal about going out here," Toby said. "I just don't like leaving Garrett alone when he's hurt like that."

"He's not alone."

"You know what I mean."

"Just take me to the shack."

As they walked, moving at a brisk pace, Toby prayed that Owen wouldn't be there when they arrived. He mentally pleaded for it. He continued trying to send telepathic messages to his friend, no matter how insane that was. It wasn't that much to ask, for him to be out on a stroll, perhaps grabbing a bite to eat.

Please, Owen, please, please don't be there when we get to the shack. Go hunting, go back to find Esmerelda, go swimming...hell, go into town and rip the guts out of another old man, I don't care, just please don't be there.

When they arrived at the shack, Owen was waiting for them.

CHAPTER T TWENTY-NINE.

One of the most perceptive observations Toby had heard about the aging process was that time sped up as you got older. At eight years old, summer lasted forever, and it seemed as if Christmas would never never come. In your fifties, you said things like "Is it August already?" and wondered how it was possible that you were ready to celebrate the New Year when you'd just celebrated the last one. come. In your fifties, you said things like "Is it August already?" and wondered how it was possible that you were ready to celebrate the New Year when you'd just celebrated the last one.

But this moment, the moment with Sarah staring at the monster in shock, with Owen staring back at her-that moment lasted as long as Toby's previous fifty-two years, and yet somehow he didn't have time to fantasize about the possible ways the moment could end.

Owen looked confused, yet happy. Sarah looked terrified.

"Don't run," Toby said. "He won't hurt you."

Sarah didn't speak. He could see how tense her body was, see that she was ready to run, just like she'd wanted to run from that support group meeting but a thousand times worse. But he couldn't let her. Owen would chase her if she ran.

"He won't hurt you," Toby repeated.

Owen signed: Who Who?

"This is Sarah. You know Sarah. You've seen pictures."

Owen spoke. "Toby."

The horror that crossed Sarah's face brought a pain to Toby that was worse than a monster talon plunging into his heart and wrenching it out of his chest in a bloody spray. She covered her mouth with her hands and began to hyperventilate.

Owen signed: Friend Friend?

"Yes, friend," said Toby, using every bit of energy he could summon to keep his voice steady. "Tell her that you'd never hurt your friend."

Not hurt friend.

"Toby, get me out of here," Sarah said. "Get me away from that thing."

She was losing it. Toby put his arm on her shoulder, trying to calm her, but she shook him off. "I said, get me the fuck out of here!"

Owen frowned, obviously hurt by her reaction.

"It's okay, it's okay, we're going. Owen, don't follow us. Garrett's fine, he's okay, so you don't have to worry about him, everyone's fine."

He led Sarah away, checking over his shoulder every couple of seconds to make sure Owen wasn't following them. He wasn't. Owen just stood there, disappointed and lonely.

When they were out of sight of the shack, they ran.

They emerged from the forest into the backyard, and Sarah spun toward him, the horror in her face now gone, replaced with pure anger. "What the fuck was that?"

"His name is Owen, he's-"

"What the fuck are you doing with our son?"

"Just let me explain."

Sarah slapped him so hard that Toby felt his eyes well up with tears. "Your ex-girlfriend got eaten by a giant animal-you think I can't put the pieces together? You think I'm a fucking idiot?"

The door opened, and Becky stepped out onto the back porch, holding Hannah.

"It's not like that. Give me a chance and I'll help you understand."

"What am I supposed to understand, Toby? What exactly do you think in that fucked-up head of yours that you're going to convince me of? I cannot even describe how sick this is, you son of a bitch!"

"Becky, you should go inside," said Toby.

"Maybe you guys should do this later."

"Becky, go inside!" Toby shouted.

Becky hesitated, then went back inside, shutting the door behind her.

Sarah took several long, deep breaths. "Okay. Explain."

"Owen would never hurt Garrett."

"You named named it? You named that thing?" it? You named that thing?"

"Yes! Because he's not some wild animal! I know it sounds deranged-"

"You have no idea how deranged it sounds."

"Let me talk, okay? I swear to you, I'd never put our child in danger. Owen had nothing to do with this. It was an accident that could have happened anywhere."

"Garrett told us that thing licked his blood."

That part of today's events was hard to overlook, and Toby had planned to address it, perhaps never bring Garrett back to the forest again, no matter how much the boy begged to see his friend.

"That never happened," Toby said. "I don't know where it came from. You saw Garrett-he'd lost a lot of blood and barely knew where he was."

"How long have you been taking him out there?"

"I'm not sure. A while."

"How long?"

"It doesn't matter, okay!"

"Why did that goddamn thing say your name?" Sarah wailed.

"Because he's my friend. I've been friends with him since high school. I didn't know you, I didn't know Mr. Lynch, I didn't know Becky, but I knew Owen! He's been with me through everything! Do you know when I found him in his cave? 1960! That's how I knew he wasn't going to hurt Garrett! That's how I knew he wasn't going to hurt you! Because he's my best friend!"

Sarah stared at him, her eyes cold with hatred. "He hurt Melissa."

"You don't know what happened."

"If this is the way you want to live your life, that's fine." Sarah was no longer shouting, and the even tone of her voice was far more disturbing. "You can hang out in the woods with your magical creature friend and just have yourselves a ball. Do whatever the hell you want. But you're not going to risk the lives of our children."

"I didn't-"

"I'm leaving. Garrett and Hannah are coming with me. I don't want your mental illness anywhere around us. You're not going to visit us, you're not going to call us, you're not going to fucking exist exist for us, do you understand?" for us, do you understand?"

"You can't take my kids away."

"When you took Garrett out there and let him go near that thing thing, you gave up all rights as a parent. You're out of the picture. I love you, but there's something hideous in your brain, and I'm taking our children far away from it."

Toby shook his head. "No. There's no way I'm letting you do that. You want a divorce? Fine. Bring me the papers. I'll sign whatever you want. Just don't take Garrett and Hannah away from me."

"This isn't your choice anymore."

"I'll fight it."

"The hell you will. You do one thing to stop me and I'll tell everybody about your dearest, most darling friend. I'll hold a goddamn press conference. They'll tear those woods apart looking for that freak, and they'll blow him away. I'm not bluffing." There was a cruel edge to her voice now, almost sadistic.

"Please don't take them," he said in a soft voice.

"You're lucky I'm not calling the police right now. What you need to do is go out into the woods, put a bullet into that thing, and straighten your life out. Is that where you were all those times, those hundreds of times? What's wrong with you? How can you not see the insanity of this?"

"I do see it."

"Then why the hell are you bringing our son out there?"

"Because he's our friend!"

"Not anymore. We'll work the money and property out like civilized people, and you can say good-bye, but if you ever try to contact our kids, it's over."

"If you spent time with him, you'd understand."

"Get help, Toby. Go to a hotel. I'll call you when we're ready to leave."

"You should kill her," said Larry. "Orgy of violence!"

"I'm not going to kill anyone."