by Ami Urban
“I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”
I sat straight, tearing myself away from Julian. “No, no you weren’t.” I threw my companion a look.
He shrugged.
“We’ll talk about that later.” Julian winked.
I rolled my eyes.
Chris chuckled. “Young love…”
The world had gone insane again.
Chris tossed the letters on the coffee table, narrowly missing toppling the beer bottles over. I slid them over and took a look.
Chicken scratch handwriting outlined Chris’s name and address.
The envelopes looked as though they’d been through hell and back.
“No return address...” I tapped my finger on the top of the pile.
“Right. Like Marcus probably already told you, I don’t think Chaz wanted anyone to know where he was. I think he was really afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” I asked.
Chris shrugged. “A lot of things—raising a child, having that child hate him, being a failure. Chaz was notorious for running away from his problems. I guess he’d had one too many.”
“So, we still don’t know how to find him.” I sighed, slumping back against the couch.
“Actually...” Chris leaned forward to sift through the pile. “One of them had a mix-up with the post… Here it is!”
He picked an envelope out of the pile. Red marker was scrawled across the front saying Return to Sender. An address was scribbled underneath the marker.
“The postal worker delivered it to the wrong place, then it came back to me lookin’ like this. The only thing I can assume is—”
“This is where Charles lives,” I finished for him.
“Lived.”
I looked up at him.
“Shortly after I received this, the letters stopped. I think he found out about it and moved house. But, that’s not for me to say.”
I looked back at the envelope, studying the address. “Amarillo... How far is that?”
“‘Bout six hours from here,” Chris said.
I turned to Julian. “Great. Now what?”
Chapter Nineteen
“Now what?” I answered my disposable cell phone to Justine’s number.
“Where the hell are you? Mary said she saw you downtown while she was out with her mom. What are you doing out there?” she spat through the line.
I tapped a foot impatiently. I’d been drawn by a familiar feeling to a nightclub in downtown Dallas. There was a wraith somewhere around and I had to find him.
“I’m following a whim. Why are you still calling me? I told you we were over, Justine.” I just wanted to get her off the phone.
“Yeah, so you can go out with the Canadian Spaz, right? I know that’s why you’re there. You found out Serena was taking her and you just had to follow, didn’t you?” she demanded.
Shit. Katie was inside the club?
That familiar sense invaded every muscle in my body.
This was bad. A wraith was near her.
“Justine, I have to—”
“What? Go? Yeah, you always have to go. Does it even matter to you that I was a virgin until we were together?”
I shuddered. Nasty.
“Don’t you remember calling me Jinny all the time?” Her voice softened. “I liked that. Why can’t we go back to the way things were?”
“Because,” I said.
“Because why?” The malice in her tone was back—like the flick of a switch. “You know that Kathleen girl’s, like, a lesbian, right? She’s psychotic, Martin.”
My blood heated to an impossible temperature. I wanted to toss the phone at a wall.
“Not as psychotic as you!” I hung up before she could utter another word, then shut the phone off completely.
Squaring my shoulders and allowing the anger to subside, I approached the line of people outside the club. I placed a thought in the big bouncer’s head to let me in, and he did just that. Sometimes I loved my abilities.
The place was a cacophony of smoke and noise. It burned my eyes and throat.
I’d never been one for smoking. Sure, in my two-hundred and sixty years I’d tried it once or twice, but each time I’d wake up the next day with everything on fire from the chest up.
Not my cup of tea.
Couples broke off into clusters on the dance floor. I spotted Serena with growing followers.
It was like she owned the place. Everyone wanted to be with her, around her, know about her. I couldn’t care less.
I moved around the pockets of partiers. A separating room was pushed all the way to the back of the club. Huge glass windows marked the end of the noise and smoke.
There she was.
Katie sat by herself in the big room, her chin propped in her hand.
She seemed to be watching Serena as though she wished she could be as flamboyant. Man, she looked bored as hell.
And suddenly, the wraith wasn’t as important as sitting next to her and sharing a moment.
So, I pushed my way to the room.
The semi-private dining area was surrounded by thick glass so you could still see into the club. Naturally, no one was there; they were all out moving around like they had no bones.
“Like some company?”
Katie swiveled around, coming face to chest with me. She met my gaze and I gave her a bright smile to hide the hiccup in my pulse. Her soft, green eyes searched mine for a moment, then she made a face.
“Haven’t we done enough damage to Justine’s ego for one day?”
I smiled. “Justine’s ego can’t be broken. Besides, do you see her around?”
Katie tossed a glance out the clear window. When she looked back at me, there seemed to be apprehension in her eyes.
“No.”
“So, can I sit?”
“’Kay,” she said.
My heart made a mad dash down to my knees. A phrase as simple as “’Kay” made the memories wash over me in a wave of sadness. I wish she’d just remember me.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked, breaking my trance. “I promise I won’t sing again.”
It was a half-joke. I knew it, because she smiled weakly. But the other half was testing the waters. She wanted to know why I’d choked up in the car that afternoon. Her song weakened me because I had a rare soul, and she was a Siren.
“Oh, yeah.” I sidled into the booth next to her. “Sorry about that. It’s just that… Justine had this screechy singing voice and all those pop stars out there today are a bunch of whiners. It was a surprise to hear how pretty your voice is.”
Her cheeks went slightly pink and I loved her even more in that moment.
“Thanks…”
“So, how’s it going?” I asked.
She shot me a look.
“With the new school, new friends, new place thing…?”
“Oh, it’s goin’...” She took a sip of Diet Coke and watched Serena flirt wordlessly with some drunk guy.
“You don’t sound too convinced.” I chuckled. She turned to look at me.
“I’ve been the new girl before—four times to be exact. And it’s always the same. Someone doesn’t like you for some stupid reason and it’s always the most popular girl in school. So, all it takes is one rumor and she can blackmail you for anything...” She trailed off.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Blackmail? Justine’s trying to blackmail you? With what?”
She sighed. “I’d rather not talk about school right now. Or homework. Or rumors—”
“So, how ‘bout them Broncos?” I said, hiding a smile as I watched her.
She nodded, allowing a laugh to escape.
“I don’t follow football.”
“Football? I thought they were the baseball team. Denver, right?”
Katie’s green eyes glittered with humor. “No, they’re football.” She nudged me with her elbow. “I thought you played football. Wasn’t that what you were doing the day I met you outside the school?”
I made a fa
ce. That’s not when she’d met me. She’d met me fourteen days before her sixteenth birthday. It was December ninth. I remembered it like it was yesterday. It was bright, sunny, but cool.
“That was just for fun. I don’t follow any sport. I can’t stand them, really,” I said.
She laughed again. “What kind of guy are you?”
“Not a sports one... I’m more the...science fiction, fantasy movies, horror stories...sushi eating kind of guy.” I smiled for real.
She returned it with a shake of her head.
“Who knew sushi and sci-fi went hand-in-hand?”
“Of course! Haven’t you ever seen the old Kaiju film about the giant cuttlefish?”
She let out a belly laugh. “Are you serious? An oversized squid terrorizing a city? In the end, did they cover it in breadcrumbs and deep fry the sucker?”
“You know, I don’t remember...” I trailed off, putting a hand to my chin in mock-thought.
“That’s too funny...”
“Speaking of science fiction flicks, they’re showing a Kubrick Marathon tonight. 2001: A Space Odyssey—”
“One of my favorites.”
“Then, A Clockwork Orange.”
“Oh, I love Malcolm McDowell...”
“And Eyes Wide Shut.”
She shrugged. “I can do without Tom Cruise, but the movie was good.”
“Interested?” I asked.
I had her, I could tell.
Humor shone behind her eyes and smile. She wanted to come with me.
I could show her how good we were together. Maybe she’d remember.
She started to nod, but stopped short. I felt a sudden prickle of familiar fear. Judging by the sudden droop of Katie’s features, she’d sensed it, too.
We turned our attention toward the dance floor. People were crowding around in little pockets of sweaty hormones.
But there was no sign of a tall, skinny, blond. I’d lost her. And the wraith.
“Crap!” Katie stood straight in the booth. She turned, but I was blocking her only way out. I stood up, too, and we became tangled in an impossible pretzel while trying to save Serena’s soul.
“Can you just—” She tried to get behind me. I almost stumbled as she squished herself between me and the seat.
“All right, hold on!” I turned and grasped her shoulders in my hands. In one fluent move, I yanked her in front of me. We were pushed together between the table and seat.
My breath caught as I realized our bodies were touching front to front. I was pressed right up against her. Heat coursed through me. I wondered if she could feel it, too.
“What…? What’s wrong?” I asked.
She inhaled, pushing her chest against mine. It took all my strength to stifle the surge of electricity.
“I lost Serena…”
For a moment, I couldn’t remember why that was important. But the fear returned, pushing every other thought to the back of my brain. I couldn’t let Katie fail.
“This is a bad part of town. We better go find her,” I said.
Without another word, Katie squeezed out of the booth and almost tripped on the step down. I rushed to her side and grabbed her wrist, tugging her in the direction of the club.
“Come on!” I shouted as the sheer volume of the music washed over us.
My heart was pounding so hard. I couldn’t figure out if the moment we’d had caused it or if the adrenaline of finding Serena was pumping through my veins.
We pushed our way through the crowd of people toward the bar.
Katie waved at the bartender. The man came over in a second.
“What can I get you, miss?”
“Have you seen a tall blond girl?” she asked.
“You mean the one you came in with?”
“Yes.”
“She just left with some guy out the back.” He jabbed a thumb in the opposite direction. Katie and I exchanged glances, thanked the bartender, and rushed toward the back entrance.
We passed the bathrooms and came to an impossibly small door that led into an alley behind the club.
“Allow me!” I reared back and slammed my foot into the door, kicking it open to reveal the dark, wet night. Katie tossed me a look.
“Nice going, Brawn, but there was a push handle there, you know.”
I studied her for a second. She never failed to amaze me. “Did you just make a Transformers reference?”
“You started it! Let’s go!” She hauled me into the alley.
The night air was chill and thick with the smell of smoke and stale beer.
A man and a woman were making out next to a dumpster in the shadows.
I managed not to stare.
“Where is she?” More desperation was in Katie’s voice than I’d expected.
“This way!” I pulled her further into the alley toward where I sensed the wraith.
We rushed on past the oblivious couple and further into the night. But then, I stopped suddenly. Katie slammed into me.
“What is it?” she whispered.
I strained every nerve I had. The prickly feeling accompanying the sensation of a wraith had gone. Which either meant that he’d taken Serena’s soul or he’d found someone else to stalk.
My money was on the former.
“I don’t like this,” Katie whimpered. “Where’s Serena? Serena?!” Her voice bounced off the brick walls surrounding us.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
A dog barked somewhere. Then, I felt the wraith again.
“This way!”
I dragged Katie and ran blindly down the alley. We had to get to her. We had to make sure she was all right.
“Serena!” I called.
Someone shouted out their window above us to shut up, but I ignored them, too.
Katie stumbled, ripping her arm from my grasp.
I heard something squeak, and she flipped out, saying something about stepping on a rat.
Then, she went down.
“Well, that was graceful.”
A flicker of light lit up a patch of alley ahead of us. The round tip of a cigarette glowed in the dim light. Serena was pushed up against the brick wall.
The wraith—a guy I’d never seen before—had his fingers curled around her throat.
She wasn’t choking or anything, but by the dreamy look in her eyes, I knew he was controlling her.
“I’m sure you would’ve been performing Swan Lake if you’d stepped on a rat, right?” Katie said as I helped her stand.
The wraith chuckled, blowing smoke in our faces. “How cute.”
“You okay?” I tried to see if Katie had been hurt, but it was useless in the dark.
A light came on in a window upstairs, bathing the alley in pallid yellow.
I picked up Katie’s hand. She winced at the large piece of glass embedded in her palm.
“That’s a nasty cut.”
She spun toward the wraith. “Get away from her!”
“Oh…” the wraith breathed, looking up toward the sky. “What’s that phrase I’m thinking of…? Oh, let me see… Ah, yes… Make me.” He tightened his grip around Serena’s throat, but she didn’t even seem to notice.
“Serena? Serena, snap out of it!” Katie pleaded.
“Oh, how sweet. You want to save your little friend…”
The wraith took a long drag on his cigarette and blew it straight in Serena’s face. She coughed, sputtered, and I could see her eyes widen. He’d broken the trance on her. Why?
“Wha…? What’s going on?” She began to claw at the wraith’s arm with her nails. “Let me go!” She tried to kick and spit, but the stranger was unperturbed.
“Be still, girl. This will all be over in a moment,” he growled.
I took a deep breath. It was now or never. I turned to Katie. She looked up at me, her eyes as wide as saucers.
“Sing something!”
It looked as though she’d stopped breathing. “What?”
I gave her a gen
tle shake. “Sing something to freeze him!”
“How do you—?”
“Just do it!”
She opened her mouth and started singing the song we’d shared in the car that afternoon.
I had to focus hard when her voice started to influence me.
I clamped my hands over my ears and shouted, “Aim it at him! Channel it!”
After a few seconds, I uncovered my ears.
When I was sure her song was no longer causing me to melt, I looked over the wraith. He’d let Serena go and was frozen to the spot. Katie’s assignment crumpled to the concrete and held her hand to her throat.
“Serena, are you okay?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the wraith as he slowly came toward us.
“Y…yeah… I think so.”
“Stay there.” In one swift movement, I bolted forward and grabbed the wraith by the collar of his shirt. When I had him in my grasp, Katie stopped singing. His eyes cleared and the smirk returned.
“So nice of you to drop by, Martin Krane…”
“Any last words before I banish you?”
“I knew you’d come. Your guardian wraith in the human student’s body thought I’d be a nice distraction…” he said.
“Yeah?” I gripped his shirt tighter. “Distraction for what?
“You’ll soon find out…”
“You the one who murdered Andy Bowdry?”
A sick smile twisted onto his face. “This fleshy human student was not murdered.”
“Oh, really? So he’s just pretending to be Irish Moses, then, huh?”
The smile widened. “No one has been killed, Martin Krane. The human’s soul was simply…pushed out.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Push…pushed out?” Katie’s voice sounded weak behind me. I’d almost forgotten she was there. The wraith’s gaze never left mine.
“What do you mean?” I demanded.
“You will soon find out…”
I shook him and his head lolled to one side with a laugh. I’d had enough.
“I banish you.”
When his soul released into my palm, glowing white and pulsing black, I let it go into the air. It zipped through the smokey wet alley and across the rooftops of Dallas.
His body fell to the ground, dissolving into dust that blew away with the wind.
“What…? What are you?”
I turned back to Katie after a deep breath. Her eyes were wide and her body shaking. She cradled the wrist of her injured hand to her chest. I held out my arms and approached her.
