“What's going on?” Bobby asked as he jumped in the back seat. “Your text was cryptic.”
Jade looked at her brother and cousin in the rear view mirror as she backed out of the driveway. “Nic's friend Ollie shadow traveled from the other side.”
“What type of friend are we talking about?” Marcus asked.
“The type that might run amuck because he finally escaped a metaphorical prison,” Jade replied. Marcus and Bobby exchanged a look.
“Why is Vicki here?” Bobby pointed an accusatory finger at Vicki.
Marcus smacked Bobby in the chest with the back of his hand. “Be nice.”
Vicki had expected the hostile greeting. They hadn't left things on good terms the last time they saw each other. However, she had to admit that he looked heathier than he had in years.
Vicki’s face split into a grin. “Always a pleasure to see you, too.”
“Vicki and Rayley overheard my conversation with Nic.”
“Where were you having it, Washington Avenue?” Bobby shook his head in disgust.
“We were at Zander's parents' house.”
“You're back together with Zander?” Marcus asked. “That's great!” Marcus meant it. He had hoped Jade and Zander would come to their senses.
“Yes, great, fabulous, stupendous. Shouldn't we be moving faster to look for this Ollie character?” Vicki interjected.
“Vicki is right. We need to check the house parties,” Jade said. She’d been driving slowly through the neighborhood, unsure where to go.
“Where do we start?” Marcus asked.
Vicki started listing all the house parties she knew about that evening.
Jade squinted her eyes, focusing on a blurry dot bobbing under a street light ahead. It was dusk and the lamps cast an eerie glow on the pavement. She thought back to other Thanksgiving Eves when she experienced strange occurrences. The house parties with the most otherworldly activity happened on the outskirts of town, in houses bordering thick woods. Jade stepped on the gas.
“Where are you going?” Bobby asked.
“Parker Knight’s block.” Jade remembered the way the shadows moved in tandem, like there were people out there. Her heart skipped a beat. She also remembered the way Zander didn't judge her crazy commentary at the party all those years ago.
As they arrived at the residential neighborhood, Jade pulled up to a stop sign on a quiet side street with no streetlights. The sun had set and navigating the dark road caused a tingle down her spine.
BAM! Jade's car didn't have a sun roof, but everyone looked up. The hairs on the back of Jade's neck were tingling.
“What was that?” Vicki had her hands over her heart. No one answered.
“Look over there!” Bobby pointed to the right side of the car. A black eye floater disappeared behind a truck at the end of the street. Vicki gasped.
“Do we follow it?” Marcus asked.
“No, it was fleeing from something. We should head in the direction it was coming from.” Jade turned the car to the left.
The street had a curve to it. As the houses on the left came into view, it became obvious what the Rogue was running from. Two police cars with their lights flashing were parked outside one of the houses, and a handful of soaking wet teenagers were sitting on the lawn with rescue blankets wrapped around their shoulders.
“I think the party ended early,” Marcus said.
Jade parked the car a couple houses down and got out. She didn't want them to bring attention to themselves, but she had to know what happened. They decided to blend in with the nosey neighbors.
Jade led the group. Vicki and Bobby were in her wake, and Marcus trailed behind. Vicki wrapped her arms around herself.
“You don't have a jacket?” Bobby asked.
Vicki rolled her eyes. “I didn't know I’d be handling detective work outside in late November.”
Bobby shrugged off his jacket. “Here. Wear my coat.”
Marcus saw the way Vicki melted at Bobby's offer. He kicked himself for not offering his own coat so he could be the recipient of Vicki's love-struck brown eyes instead of his cousin. It was just a coat to Bobby, but there was no doubt Vicki thought it was more than that.
Jade approached a teenage couple huddled on the curb. She was careful to keep her voice low and her attitude nonchalant. “What happened here tonight?”
The shivering couple looked up, their lips blue. “Emergency sprinklers went off, ruining a perfectly good party,” the girl said.
Jade's eyebrows knit together. “By accident?”
“No way, some crazy guy set them off!”
“A crazy guy?”
“Yes!” The shivering teenager’s eye’s narrowed. “He waltzed in and drank beers from the refrigerator. He started smoking cigarettes in the house, but when I told him to take the cancer stick outside, he flipped out. He started shouting and making a scene. He ran all over the house. I swear he moved so fast that he looked like a blur.”
Vicki and Bobby exchanged a look.
“You didn't know him?” Jade asked.
“No. He pretended he knew people at the party.”
As Jade sympathized with the teens, movement in the bushes behind the kids caught Bobby’s attention. Dark shadows moved along the house. He nudged his sister.
“We have to get out of here,” Bobby whispered.
Jade took note of the shadows and agreed. Ollie had made his mark and left the premise. Sticking around meant drawing attention to themselves. She thanked the kids for the information and headed back to the car.
Nic hovered in the shadows of Department L for forty-five minutes. He didn’t want to take the chance of scaring off a crossing Rogue by waiting in his human form. His ears were tuned for creaks, and his eyes scanned the room for sudden movements.
Finally, a pair of eye floaters tentatively crossed the hidden barrier into the windowless room. Nic waited for the floaters to circle. He knew they would check out the space and confirm that they were alone. Rogues were naturally distrusting people.
The floaters morphed into detached shadows, taking the shape of a couple holding hands. They were human as they approached the door. Nic stepped out of the dark corner and cleared his throat.
The woman took up a fighter’s stance with her knees bent and her fists in front of her face. The man grabbed a metal leg from a nearby broken chair and raised it like a weapon.
Nic threw his hands in the air. “I come in peace.”
The couple didn’t trust Nic, but they didn’t attack. “What do you want?” The man’s voice was deep and menacing.
“I’m looking for my friend. Oleander Gray.”
The couple exchanged a look. Nic knew they were debating if they could trust him. He wouldn’t trust a random person hiding in the shadows either, but Nic was desperate.
“How do you know him?” the woman asked, keeping her fists raised.
“We lived together in District Concrete.” Nic moved his hand slowly to the neckline of his shirt. He pulled down the material and revealed his Mercury tattoo.
The man placed the metal chair leg on a pile of desks next to him. “He crossed hours ago.”
Nic sighed. “I know. I was hoping someone knew where he planned to go.”
“You don’t know? Ebola has big plans.” The woman placed her fists on her hips.
“Ebola? The Mercury boss?” Nic’s toes curled with disgust remembering the selfish and vengeful kingpin.
“He’s aiming for dominance of all Rogues. He sent his minions over to incite fear in the Rogues living in the Land of the Free. He says their crossing was a sign of disloyalty to our people.”
“That’s crazy!” Nic shouted, forgetting where he was.
The woman eyed him coolly. “Tell that to your friend. We decided to cross before all the underground crossing locations were closed.”
“If you know any local businesses run by Rogues, you better warn them,” the man said before taking the woman by the elbow and gui
ding her through the exit.
Nic drove as fast as he could back to downtown Woodpine. He hadn’t expected the rush of emotion from hearing that Ebola planned to mess with the Rogues in his town, but Woodpine had grown on him. Plus, it was his son’s home, too. He owed it to Kelvin to keep it safe.
Now he understood Ollie had entered Department L with rage burning in his blood; his head was filled with lies about the Rogues who lived in secret in the Land of the Free. He had crossed over with a mission to wreak havoc. Nic wished he’d tried hard to follow him and prayed that his friend wasn’t acting stupid. If he could just talk to Ollie, perhaps he could help him see the insanity in fulfilling Ebola’s mission.
Nic recognized the uniforms of the PMI agents who were headed to the entrance of Murphy’s Music Hall. He walked around to the back exit instead. Opening the door a crack, Nic slipped inside.
Massive destruction that greeted him. Fights had broken out in all corners. Men and woman with tattoos of purple flowers intertwined with silver ink threw punches, tossed bottles, pushed over tables. Ebola had sent a mob from Mercury.
They weren’t even taking pains to hide their shadow abilities. They surged around the room in a blur, destroying furniture and inciting panic. Nic was frozen in shock at the chaos in the hall.
Swallowing hard, he scanned the room for Ollie. Instead, he caught the eye of Carl, the doorman, as the PMI aimed their neutralizing guns into the room. The same liquid that surged through hydro cuffs sat in the tank atop the gun. Nic knew that one drop on his skin would guarantee he couldn’t shadow travel and escape, and the PMI were ready to soak the room.
Carl tilted his chin in the direction of the back door. Nic didn’t wait for further instructions. He could hear the battle between the Rogues and the PMI as he left through the dark exit.
Nic sprinted to his car and crouched down in the front seat. He watched in horror as the PMI brought out soaking wet Rogues in hydro cuffs and forced them into the backseat of their cars. The last one out was Carl. His shirt was torn and blood dripped from his ear. The PMI officer was a full head shorter, but Carl didn’t struggle against his restraints.
Zander and Rayley entered McCallister’s and could immediately tell something was off. Never a quiet place, this night’s volume was deafening. People were even shouting in the back corner of the bar.
Something about the bar looked darker, too, like a shadow or a dark cloud was covering the inside. There was an electric buzz in the room. Zander edged his way through the rowdy crowd.
“Come on. Show me what you got!” A young man with a blond Mohawk was facing Trip with his fists up and bouncing on his heels like he had boundless energy. A purple and silver tattoo that extended from under his leather jacket looked like a poisonous plant clawing at his face.
“Either pay for the alcohol or leave,” Trip said. He’d come out from behind the bar, but kept his arms pinned to his side. He knew he was facing a violent Rogue. Trip hadn’t spent years creating a new life just to be thrown back on the Isle of the Lost.
“Do you think that’s Ollie?” Rayley asked, grabbing Zander’s shoulder as the crowd pushed into them. She had never seen the bar so riled up.
“That would be my guess,” Zander responded. The guy emanated danger. Zander pushed into the center of the group of people. He put his arms out between the two men. “What’s going on here?”
Trip kept his furious stare on Ollie. “This isn’t your fight, Zander.”
“You, too?” Zander asked. The pieces were falling into place in Zander’s mind. “You are one of them.”
Trip’s gaze faltered. “Go home, Zander.”
There was no time for Zander to ask questions or get comfortable with the new realization about the world he lived in. With unimaginable speed, Ollie whipped through the crowd in a blur and jumped on the bar. He reached down and pulled out the soda gun.
“Is anyone thirsty?” He aimed and shot at the crowd, covering the bar patrons and causing chaos.
The eruption of protests reverberated off the wall. A swarm of arms reached out to pull Ollie down. People argued with their neighbors and began pushing one another.
Zander kept his eyes on Ollie, who cackled like the mayhem was hysterical. In the pandemonium, Ollie disappeared into a shadow and was gone.
“Where is he?” Rayley asked.
The fighting between customers was turning violent. “Let’s get out of here,” Zander said. He headed toward the exit, doing his best to avoid people as he grabbed Rayley’s arm and escaped through the door.
“Hey!” someone yelled from the parking lot.
“It’s Nic,” Rayley said to Zander.
“Get in.” Nic motioned for them to hop in his car.
Jade turned the car onto Washington Avenue where an eerie fog hovered along the street. Nic had texted her where he was, but hadn’t mentioned the fog. A chill went down her spine. Headlights from passing cars shone like massive floating flashlights. She pulled her car next to Nic’s, and Nic, Rayley and Zander got out. Across the street, Lorenzo’s usually vibrant pizzeria was dark.
“Ollie’s in there?” Vicki asked.
“I saw him leave McCallister’s and cross the street while PMI officers were putting the doorman from Murphy’s Music Hall and half a dozen Rogues into the back of their cars,” Nic said.
“They arrested Carl?” Rayley asked. “But he’s one of the good guys!”
“The PMI don’t care. A Rogue is a Rogue,” Nic said. He felt a pang of guilt as he watched Rayley’s face fall, but he shrugged it off. She had to grow up and learn the world was mean.
“What’s Ollie doing at Lorenzo’s?” Marcus asked.
“Preparing for his last hurrah,” Nic said. His tone was flat.
“But why?” Vicki asked. “Why go through the trouble to travel to our side of the world only to cause a scene and get caught by the authorities?”
Nic looked distressed. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his fist pressed against his lips. “He’s given up. The other side can do that to you. It beats you down until you have nothing to live for.”
A huge crash sounded inside just as there was a flash of light in one of the windows. Jade’s chest constricted. She didn’t know Ollie, and she wasn’t on great terms with Nic, but she wouldn’t allow someone to imperil the world her child lived in. She turned to Zander. “We need to convince him to stop.”
Zander looked at Jade. She had her hands wrapped around Zander’s forearm, and her sad eyes were pleading with him to understand how important this was. In that moment, he knew he would love her no matter what. He didn’t believe she was trapping him. She was caring and selfless, and he would do anything to please her. He headed toward the pizzeria. Jade followed him, her hand sliding down to link her fingers through his. Nic was one step behind.
“Zander, what are you doing?” Rayley asked. There was a hint of panic in her voice.
“Lorenzo may be inside,” Zander shouted over his shoulder.
Rayley remembered the night she saw the eye floaters move into the alley next to McCallister’s. Lorenzo, Carl, and Trip had protected her. The thought of Carl being taken away by authorities, and Lorenzo being trapped with a psychopath, urged her forward.
“Wouldn't it be safer to wait outside? He's going to come out sometime,” Marcus said.
“Chicken!” Bobby was excited to be joining the fray. If they talked some sense into Ollie, maybe he could take Bobby to the other side to search for his father.
“We can't be the ones left out of the fun,” Vicki said.
Marcus clicked his tongue and heaved a sigh in disappointment. He should have guessed that Vicki would trail after Bobby. He shook his head and followed them to the pizzeria.
Zander was the first to step in the door. He kept one hand out to protect Jade. The lights were off. “Lorenzo, are you in here?”
“Lorenzo is a little tied up at the moment. He can't come out and play.” Ollie's menacing voice echoed across the s
tore. The lights flickered as Ollie cackled the same tormenting laugh that Zander had heard at the bar.
Zander scanned the room and didn’t see any customers; he finally caught sight of Lorenzo tied up behind the counter. Seeing his old pal restrained felt like a gut punch. Lorenzo’s mouth was gagged but his eyes pleaded with Zander. The coin dropped. Lorenzo was a Rogue?
Zander’s heart twisted. The Rogues were refugees, fleeing from persecution. They were regular people in search of a better life. Lorenzo was one of them. He wouldn’t let this insane person bring down the ones he loved.
Zander motioned for everyone to crouch low. Vicki, Bobby and Marcus kneeled beneath a booth’s table. Zander and Jade slid to the floor and pressed their backs against the end of the counter, and Rayley hunkered behind the garbage pails.
“Ollie, cut it out. Turn the lights on, and let's go to my place. What is the point of this?” Nic asked. He walked past Rayley and stood in the middle of the pizzeria. His figure was outlined by the headlights of cars passing the front window.
“Arsenic, my so-called best friend, how nice to catch up,” Ollie mocked. “Unfortunately, you don't get to make the decisions here. I have direct orders from Ebola to stir the pot in Woodpine. You’re no longer a member of Mercury, so get out of my way before you get hurt.” His words were said with venom.
Fear was rising in Jade's chest. Ollie sounded mad. She wasn't sure there was anything Nic could say to calm him down.
“Come on. Don't give up now. You made it here,” Nic urged.
The doors on the five-foot pizza ovens shot open, revealing a blaze of fire inside. “Let's turn the heat up, shall we?” Ollie's deranged face was lit up by the flames as he turned the temperature to high.
Jade stood up from below the counter. Her blue eyes were wide as they reflected the unwieldy fire. “Nic went to the crossing location and waited for you every single year. He’s here to help you. You don't have to go back to the Isle of the Lost. There's another option. Another way to live your life.” Jade hoped Ollie would find her the voice of reason, and realize he didn't have to throw away his chance at a new beginning.
All Shadows Eve Page 14
