Shadow of Time - Book 1: (Paranormal Romance)

by Minkman, Jen

  Quickly, she packed up and climbed the hill separating the shoreline from the gravel road running alongside the lake.

  Once back at her car, she opened the trunk to get a cardigan, her eyes drifting to the gas tank hatch. It was ajar. That was weird. How could it be open? And why?

  Hannah slammed the trunk shut and put on her cardie, bending over to take a closer look at the hatch to see if it was broken.

  Nope. Nothing wrong. She’d pop down to a garage tomorrow and have it checked out just to be sure.

  Hannah closed the hatch, got in and turned the key. A cold sweat broke out when she suddenly noticed the fuel gauge on the dashboard.

  It was below the red line. The engine didn’t sound too good, either.

  “What the hell?” Hannah banged her fists on the steering wheel, cut the ignition and got out again. She stamped to the side of the car and took another look at the gas tank hatch. Her eyes drifted to the gravel road beneath it.

  There were footprints there. And was that spilled liquid? Shaking her head in disbelief, she crouched down and picked up some dirt. It smelled like gas. Oh, this could not be happening! Someone had stolen her fuel. If she ever got her hands on the asshole who’d done this...

  Cursing under her breath, she sat down behind the wheel again. What was she supposed to do now? There was no gas station around here. The closest one was the station where she’d bumped into Josh, and she was never going to make it there on the few drops of fuel left in the tank.

  With a desperate groan, she got out her phone and called Ben. He had to pick up. If he didn’t hear his phone, she had no idea what to do.

  Fortunately, Ben answered on the third ring. “Hey, Han! Where you at?”

  “You’re not going to believe this. I got myself stranded somewhere along Lake Powell. Some idiot drained my tank. They stole my fuel. I can’t go anywhere.”

  Ben was silent for a moment. “We’ll meet you there,” he said. “Where are you exactly?”

  “Close to that tiny beach where we used to go for picnics with mom.”

  “We’ll be there in twenty. We’ll pick up a jerry can of gas on the way.”

  “Wait, Ben. Don’t – don’t hang up yet. Can you keep talking to me?” A shiver ran through Hannah. The sun had nearly set, it was getting pitch-dark, and she had no idea what kind of people were around. Apparently, not every passer-by was someone she would want to run into. Least of all her gas thief.

  “Sis? I’m driving. I’ll give the phone to Josh.”

  Hannah swallowed. “Hey,” she heard Josh on the other end of the line. “You okay there?” He sounded worried.

  “Not really. I’m out of fuel. Someone stole my gas, and now I’m stranded here all by myself, and it’s getting dark. I don’t know what to do.”

  “First of all, get into the car and lock the doors. And stay on the phone until Ben and I get there.”

  Hannah did what Josh told her.

  “Did you at least have a nice afternoon?” he went on.

  “Yeah, I was sitting by the lake to enjoy the view. I read for a while too.”

  “Good. We picked up a ton of brochures at the visitor’s center, and we made tacos for dinner. I bet they’ll still taste nice when we get home.”

  Hannah’s lips curled up in a smile. “Sounds good. I wish I were home right now.”

  “I bet. Well, it won’t take long. Ben is driving like a maniac.”

  In the background, Ben let out a cackling laugh, and Hannah grinned. “Are you sure you still feel safe yourself with him behind the wheel?” she said.

  “Of course. I drive like that, too.”

  “Oh, how nice of you to tell me. I’ll never get into a car that you’re driving, then.”

  “Too bad. I just planned all kinds of nice trips for us with that pile of brochures as my guiding light. Don’t you want to join me?”

  She blushed. His stand-offish attitude was clearly gone again. “By the way,” she changed the subject, “I was wondering this afternoon about that school you said you wanted to found on the rez. How will you set that up?”

  Josh started telling her about his plans to found a native secondary school in the vicinity of Naabi’aani, and Hannah shared a few ‘teacher-fresh-out-of-college’ stories with him.

  “Sounds like teaching isn’t that easy,” Josh concluded after listening to one of Hannah’s anecdotes about the freshman group that had given her nightmares.

  “Oh, you’ll do fine. You seem sort of strict.”

  “Of course I am. Pupils will tremble as I enter the classroom.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds very pedagogical.”

  “Oh, we’re at the gas station, by the way.”

  “Hmmm. Ben really drives like a maniac.”

  “Yeah, he’ll only be a minute, there’s no one here. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry, okay?”

  Her gaze drifted to the road ahead of her. Oh, crap. In the darkness, she could see three guys were approaching her car. They looked drunk. One of them was carrying a half-empty case of beer, and the other two were shouting at each other in unsteady voices.

  “Shoot.” She couldn’t help whispering into the phone. “Josh. There’s a bunch of drunks walking in my direction. They’ve seen my car.” One of the guys was pointing at her Datsun right at that moment. “Oh, damn.”

  “Are your doors still locked?”

  “Yes,” she quivered.

  “So just ignore them. They can’t bother you when they can’t get in.”

  “I suppose.” Despite his words, her heart was beating in her throat.

  In the meantime, one of the guys had stopped next to her window. He bent over to look at her through the glass. “You okay in there?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Hannah swallowed hard. “My car broke down, but help is on the way.”

  “Would you like a drink?” the second one asked, holding up a beer bottle.

  “No, thanks.”

  “Can’t we sit in your car for a while?” the guy next to her asked in a velvety voice. The third one plonked down on the hood of the Datsun, staring at her through the windshield without saying a word. The look in his eyes was downright creepy.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Her voice was getting shaky. “I don’t know you guys, and I’m all alone. No offense.”

  Her eyes were darting from one guy to the other. The way they moved was odd. It was like their bodies responded to one another, reminding her of a documentary she’d recently watched about packs of wolves and their group behavior. Goosebumps spread all over her arms.

  “Come on, don’t be a party-pooper.” The guy on the other side of her door tried the handle and discovered the car was locked. He violently pulled the handle again, a few times. The sound echoed in Hannah’s ears like it was coming from far away.

  Oh my God, she had to do something before this got out of hand. Say something. Scare them off.

  “Keep your dirty paws off my car,” she barked, as snippy as she could manage. “I just told you to stay out of my car. Are you deaf?” She fixed the guy with an angry stare. He wasn’t even that much older than the pupils she taught. She could do this outside the classroom, too. Make clear where her boundaries were.

  The guy on the car hood crawled closer and tapped a finger on the glass, leering at her. “Maybe you’re blind,” he replied. “There’s three of us and only one of you. You really think we can’t force you out of that old car if we want to?”

  A cold shiver ran down her spine. Her right hand reached for the glove compartment, finding the unloaded gun she kept there for emergencies. “Just in case,” her mother had said when Hannah first got her driver’s license. She wasn’t a big fan of firearms, but right now she silently thanked her mom.

  “Fine.” She pointed the gun at the guy on the hood. “Go force the door open. Let’s see how far you’ll get after that.”

  They stared at her wide-eyed. The guy in front of her slid off the car
hood. “Come on, let’s go. That chick is nuts, ” he muttered, kicking against the front tire and glowering at her. “Have a nice life.”

  Hannah followed the guys with her eyes until they disappeared into the dusk. She let out a shaky breath. Her heart was hammering like crazy.

  “Hannah?” A tinny voice piped up from the passenger’s seat. “You still there?”

  She grabbed her cell phone. “Yeah, I’m still here,” she replied softly.

  “If I ever get my hands on those bastards.” His voice trembled. “Are they gone?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’re almost there, sis,” she heard Ben shouting in the background. “Hold on just a little longer.”

  Hannah put the gun down. The grip had turned all sweaty in her hand. “Gotta go. My battery is almost dead.”

  “All right.”

  “And Josh?” She sighed. “Thanks for your help.”

  She hung up just before the battery died, sagging back in her seat. After five minutes, the headlights of Ben’s car appeared in her rearview mirror. Hannah unlocked the door and staggered outside. Ben parked next to the Datsun after which he and Josh got out. Ben got to her first, hugging her tightly.

  “Hey,” he whispered in her hair. “This is quite a night, huh?”

  Now that she was safe, Hannah started to shiver uncontrollably. She could feel Josh rubbing her back to calm her down. For a while, the three of them were just standing there. Ben was the first to pull away from their group hug to get the jerry can. “Let’s feed your car, okay?”

  Hannah turned around to face Josh. “Thanks for your pep-talk on the phone. I really don’t know what I would have done without my helpline.”

  Josh smiled. “I’m sure you would have been just as brave.” He noticed the way she rubbed her hands over each other, and silently took them in his. “You cold?”

  “Yeah. Stress, I guess.” Her hands warmed up against his palms. Hannah looked at Ben, catching the glance her brother shot at her hands safely tucked away in Josh’s. She sighed. “God, I’m exhausted.”

  “You should sit down.” Josh pulled her toward the Datsun’s passenger seat.

  “But – I have to drive.”

  Josh shook his head. “No, I’m driving. You’re too shaken.” He helped her into the seat, but didn’t let go of her hands straight away. “I’ll drive safely,” he added with a grin. “Trust me.”

  “I trust you.” Hannah closed her eyes.

  “Are you done filling her up?” Josh asked Ben.

  “Yep, all clear. You driving Hannah’s car?”

  Ben shut his car door and started up the engine. Josh sat down next to her, turning the key in the ignition. She closed her eyes again when they drove off, feeling her entire body relax.

  “Just rest,” he said. “You’ll have to wake up for tacos when we get home, though.”

  “Hmmm.” She dozed off, thinking about the way she’d felt when he held her hands. Josh was six years her junior, but somehow, she felt inexplicably safe with him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to feel that way about him, though. The age difference wasn’t bugging her that much, but his mood swings were. Plus the fact that Emily had warned her about Josh pushing people away.

  Hannah fell into a deep sleep. She didn’t notice the car pulling into the driveway. She didn’t wake up as Josh lifted her and carried her inside, and Ben tucked her in.

  That was the night she dreamed about the burning village for the first time.

  6.

  Clouds of smoke billowed above the primitive hoghans of the small settlement. Hannah panted. She was on the run from a group of Mexican-looking soldiers. Even though she’d never seen soldiers dressed like them in her life, she instinctively knew they were from Mexico, and they didn’t mean well.

  “Run!” she cried out to the people she met on her way through the village. In front of her, she saw burning hoghans and Navajo people trying to put out the fire with buckets of water. Hannah knew she was looking for someone. Someone who meant a lot to her. She bumped into fleeing villagers and tripped over her own feet, scraping her knees when she fell down. Frantically, she tried to stay out of sight of the Mexicans on the village square by hiding underneath some thorny bushes.

  And then, her eyes focused on a figure running across the square. He came closer and spotted her, but he averted his eyes so he wouldn’t alert the soldiers to her presence. Hannah stared up in utter confusion. That man who was trying to protect her was the man she’d been looking for. And it was Josh.

  He looked older, about thirty years old, but it was definitely him. He was wearing traditional clothes and carrying a bow, which he presently raised to draw the string and release an arrow at the approaching soldiers.

  Behind him, a hoghan collapsed under its own weight, spitting up flames and smoke toward the sky. Hannah coughed, her eyes beginning to tear.

  And then, she jolted awake, startled by the sound of her phone. Someone must have charged it. Hannah opened her eyes and wildly flailed her left arm to grab it from the bedside table.

  “Hey, Nick,” she answered in a groggy voice after glancing at the display. “How’s life?”

  “Wonderful. You don’t sound very alive yourself, though.”

  “You woke me up,” Hannah groaned. “Sorry. I was supposed to text you yesterday, but I forgot.”

  “What time are we meeting up?”

  “Josh and Emily will be here around five. So if you want to talk to them about your thesis...”

  “Great! I’ll be there. What’s the name of your street?”

  “It doesn’t have one. Once you get to St. Mary’s Port, just follow the signs saying ‘Log Cabin Park’ and you’ll end up here.”

  “Okay, see you later then. Sorry I woke you up.”

  “No problem. Bye.”

  Hannah threw her phone back on the bedside table and stretched her arms and legs, staring at the ceiling. That dream. It had been so bizarre, and yet so life-like. She could still smell the burning wood and hear the villagers scream. She’d never dreamed in Spanish before. She’d been able to understand those soldiers, even though they’d had a strange accent. In a flash, she remembered the Josh from her dream. Older, with a more worn and muscular body and an alert attitude that made him look like a born warrior. And yet, his eyes had been the same when he looked at her. So intense and gentle.

  Hannah shivered despite the heat. Dreaming about Josh wasn’t that strange – after all, she’d been thinking about him a lot lately – but dreaming like this was. It had felt like a blast from the past.

  “Hey,” Ben called out from the other side of the door. “You awake?”

  “No, I was on the phone in my sleep.”

  Ben opened the door with a cheeky grin. “Snarky as ever. So, how are you feeling, Sleeping Beauty?”

  Hannah yawned. “I slept well. Sorry for skipping dinner.” She conveniently forgot to mention her strange dream. She was so not about to fess up to Ben and say she’d dreamed about his best friend playing her protector in some pre-Civil War setting. He’d probably think she was losing it. If she ever had it, to start with. She groaned and got out of bed.

  “How about some tacos for breakfast, then?” Ben pointed at the plate on the kitchen table. “I saved two vegetarian ones for you.”

  “Wonderful.” Hannah smiled at her brother and sat down at the table.

  “Ivy said they’d be here at four,” Ben said. “What about Nick? What did he say when you called him in your sleep?”

  “Oh, he’ll be here at five. Let’s go out and get groceries before they show up. We don’t have enough stuff to feed all of our guests.”

  “Amber and Ivy promised to bring drinks for everybody. Josh is bringing some burgers, and I said we’d get ice cream and stuff to make salad. We’ll pick berries some other time.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Hannah sank her teeth into one of the tacos and finished it in a heartbeat. She was really hungry.

  After she scarfed down her break
fast, they got into Ben’s old Chevy convertible with the top open. While Ben started the engine, Hannah hit the side of the car stereo, which made it sputter to life after a few seconds. It was set to a radio channel playing lazy country music.

  “Good. You still know how my radio works.” Ben chuckled. He was notorious for never throwing anything out until it crumbled to dust in his hands. His car stereo was so old it needed special treatment.

  As Johnny Cash crooned through the speakers, Hannah sank into the car seat, absently looking out at the reddish-brown desert and the deep-blue sky above. It was going to be a hot day. Already, shimmering heat was radiating off the asphalted road in front of them.

  A cold shiver suddenly ran down her spine as Hannah remembered last night’s events. She couldn’t believe she’d threatened people with a gun, even if it had been an unloaded one.

  “You okay, sis?” Ben interrupted her thoughts. “You’re so quiet.”

  “Still thinking about last night. It bothers me that I scared those guys off by pulling a weapon.”

  Ben gave her a bug-eyed stare. “What? I didn’t even know you had a gun!”

  “I told them I wasn’t interested in their company, but one of them flat-out told me they’d force the doors open if I didn’t unlock the car myself.”

  Anger flared up in Ben’s eyes. “What a bunch of assholes.”

  “Yeah, that’s when I suddenly remembered the unloaded gun in my glove compartment. Mom gave it to me so I could defend myself if something ever happened to me. I guess I was supposed to buy bullets for it, but I never did.”

  Ben shook his head, his mouth set in a firm line. “You know what? I think we should go down to the police station. You have to file a report. Who knows, those creeps could be stalking and harassing other girls, too.”

  Hannah fell silent for a moment, then nodded. “Let’s. I’d rather forget about the whole ordeal as soon as possible, but I don’t want those guys bothering other women.”

  Once in Page, Ben parked the car on the square in front of the police station. He followed Hannah inside. “Where can we report a case of harassment?” Ben asked the middle-aged police officer who greeted them when they entered the station.