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DIA DE LOS MUERTOSAUNTING THE DEAD<br />
to warn its agents against listening to <strong>the</strong> spectral<br />
voice. Some had claimed that Radio Free Death had<br />
helped <strong>the</strong>m in <strong>the</strong> past, o<strong>the</strong>rs that its information was<br />
too cryptic to be of use to anyone.<br />
“Hello!” she shouted at <strong>the</strong> TV screen. “Hello. Can<br />
you hear me?”<br />
More images flashed on <strong>the</strong> screen. A rivulet of<br />
blood running down stone, a close-up of some kind of<br />
diseased flesh, and <strong>the</strong>n an image of a woman Eileen<br />
recognized as her project leader, Rebecca O’Hare,<br />
silently shrieking as blood and viscera from her ruined<br />
eye sockets ran down her face. The static returned and<br />
<strong>the</strong> voice came through again. “Urgent… any <strong>Orpheus</strong><br />
agent… being destroyed…”<br />
Eileen dropped <strong>the</strong> phone and stepped forward,<br />
banging on <strong>the</strong> TV screen. “Answer me!”<br />
One more word came from <strong>the</strong> television: “Run.”<br />
In her head, <strong>the</strong> voice of <strong>the</strong> Llarona echoed: one<br />
who knows more than he should, one who is many places at<br />
once.<br />
“I don’t know if you can hear me,” she said to <strong>the</strong><br />
television. “I don’t even know if <strong>the</strong>re’s anything of<br />
<strong>Orpheus</strong> left to tell, but if <strong>the</strong>re is, get this out to <strong>the</strong>m.<br />
Tell <strong>the</strong>m that <strong>the</strong> things we thought were separate<br />
have a common cause. Pigment, <strong>the</strong> cults, <strong>the</strong> spectres.<br />
They’re all connected somehow. The Beast under <strong>the</strong><br />
Storm, Coatlicue. I don’t know what it is but someone’s<br />
got to find it!” There was no response from <strong>the</strong> TV.<br />
Eileen wondered if <strong>the</strong> mysterious voice of Radio Free<br />
Death had heard her and in her heart she knew she’d<br />
never know.<br />
The phone was ringing.<br />
She almost laughed. The sound was so normal, so<br />
businesslike. She slowly walked out of <strong>the</strong> nursery and<br />
looked down at <strong>the</strong> phone. The receiver was off <strong>the</strong><br />
hook, a whining sound coming from it, and <strong>the</strong> light for<br />
<strong>the</strong> phone’s second line was blinking.<br />
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