Page 73 of Reap the Night
Silence reigns for a minute, then another.
“Edwin?” Merry calls out this time.
“I’m good. I?—”
“Hey!” Reggie appears from another side of the yard, and Holly comes running toward us.
“I lost…him.”
“What are you doing?” Reggie demands. “I told you to?—”
Metal groans and whines, and for a moment I think the pile in front of us is about to collapse, but the mass is stable. The sound comes from above, from the huge magnet swinging toward us.
“What the…” Reggie stares at it in shock. “That can’t be.”
The magnet hovers over the white van, and I know what’s about to happen, but my scream is trapped in my throat.
“Edwin!” Merry and Holly cry in unison.
The van shoots up into the air and slams into the magnet. I catch sight of Edwin’s face, pale and stunned. He tries to climb out of the window, but the van rocks violently as the magnet swings away from us and he’s thrown back into the cab.
“NO!” I grab Reggie’s shoulders. “Do something.”
“I thought you said Bobby was sick,” Merry cries.
“He is. The crane is empty. He has the keys. He has?—”
“Where is it?” Holly shakes him. “Show me!”
Reggie breaks into a run, and Holly and Merry follow, but I stay, tracking the van as it makes its way across the yard.
“Edwin! Edwin!”
Why isn’t he answering me? Oh God. He’s hurt, he must be.
The van clears the aisles of scrap and swings toward the crusher, and my heart is in my mouth. I spot Holly and Merry on the other side of the yard by the huge machine that controls the magnet. Reggie is hanging from the door, trying to get inside the control cab.
The empty control cab.
My blood is ice because this is no mistake. No natural phenomenon. This is a warning to back off.
“We can’t get in,” Merry yells, running toward me.
I barely spare her a glance because the van is now above the crusher, which flares to life with a whirr and a chomp.
“Edwin!” My scream is a bloodcurdling thing. “Edwin, get out!” My voice cracks, tears blurring my vision because I know it’s too late, and my heart is about to burst. “Edwin!”
The hum of the magnet stops, and my heart is in my mouth as the van drops toward the crusher.
“No!” Holly and Merry scream, but I’m frozen, watching the horror occur in slow motion.
An icy gust hits my back, throwing my hair forward, and the next moment the van door blows out and whizzes across the yard, and just before the van hits the crusher Edwin follows, sailing across through the air, too slow to have jumped, too limp to be conscious, and lands several feet from us.
The awful crunch and crackle of metal being devoured covers my sobs as I rush toward my friend’s unconscious form. He’s bleeding from a head wound, and he’s definitely unconscious.
I hit the ground with my knees and gather him into my arms, hugging him to me as my heartbeat slows to resting pace.
“How?” Holly joins us, her chest heaving.
