Legends: Bloodline Book 2

by Michelle Bredeson

  “He sounded like my dad,” Sharla said, shaking her head. “How…?”

  “I don’t know,” Carly answered, which was true.

  Sharla heaved out a sigh. “Gabe’s never scared me like that.”

  Carly wished she could say the same. “I’m just glad he didn’t hurt you.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “It’s not his fault… The electricity, I mean.”

  “So, it’s your fault Gabe grabbed you and then you fell back on your butt and hurt yourself?” Sharla challenged.

  Carly didn’t have a response for that.

  “Maybe it’s a good thing my dad’s leaving,” Sharla lamented.

  “Sharla…”

  “I’ve spent way too much time idolizing him and not enough seeing him for who he really is. Now that I’m looking, I realize I don’t know who he is at all. I don’t know what just happened back there, Carly, but it was scary. I think… I think maybe we should stay away from Gabe for a while. I hate saying that because…”

  “Because it sucks that you’re afraid of your friend.”

  “Well, yeah, except there’s no way that’s him.”

  Carly took comfort in the fact that Sharla had seen it, too—the other-Gabe who’d manifested. The dark side of him willing to hurt someone he loved. It was in everyone, she supposed, such black nature, but she hadn’t expected to find it in someone who claimed to care for her.

  “You should stay the night,” Carly suggested as she parked in her driveway. The offer was admittedly somewhat selfish, as she didn’t want to be alone after all that.

  “I don’t want to be alone either,” Sharla confessed, and followed Carly inside. “I’ll call my mom and let her know.”

  But it was soon apparent that that wouldn’t be necessary as Chandra’s laughter flowed down the hall.

  “Come on,” Sharla said, starting toward the kitchen. “We can grab some snacks while we’re in there.”

  “Girls,” Chandra greeted them with a grin. “We were just talking about you.”

  “Were you?” Sharla asked cheerfully, skipping to the fridge. “Is it okay if I stay the night?”

  Chandra exchanged a pleased look with Howard. “That would be wonderful. It’s great to see you girls getting along so well.”

  “I’m sure Carly’s going to rope me into watching some horror movie, so don’t get too excited,” Sharla teased with a wink. “Carly, should we make a pot of coffee?”

  Carly noted three pairs of eyes on her, but only one concerned her.

  Chandra’s gaze fell to Carly’s right wrist, now painted in purple fingerprints. “My goodness, Carly, what happened?” She jumped from her chair to step over to Carly, bending down to get a better look at the growing bruises. “Can you move it?”

  “It’s just a little stiff,” Carly answered, flinching as she pulled her arm back. “I fell and caught myself.”

  Chandra gave a worried look to her daughter.

  “You’d think for a shapeshifter, she’d be more coordinated,” Sharla said, pulling out an assortment of goodies before she closed the fridge door.

  “May I take a closer look, Carly?” Chandra questioned.

  Carly relented, and held out her right arm. Chandra poked and prodded, but the pain was minimal. “It’s fine, really.”

  “I’d still like you to put some ice on it,” Chandra advised. “And if it’s bothering you in the morning, I’ll want to take some X-rays just in case.”

  “If it’s bothering me, I promise to come in,” Carly told her as Howard grabbed a bag of peas from the freezer.

  “It’s going to be nice having a doctor in the family, isn’t it?” Howard bragged, handing the bag to Carly. “Why don’t you put this on it for a while, and I’ll make your coffee for you.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Carly said, nodding to Sharla. “If I don’t see you again, Chandra, have a good night.”

  “Likewise,” Chandra replied, and Carly led Sharla up the back staircase.

  The girls were nearly to the second landing when Howard and Chandra started whispering to one another. Carly would have left it, except they were talking about her. She caught Sharla’s gaze, and they came to a stop to listen together.

  “That kind of injury doesn’t happen from a fall alone,” Chandra said. “Whatever happened, Sharla’s covering for her.”

  “If she said she fell, she fell,” Howard argued.

  “I don’t know, Howard. Something about this just doesn’t feel right. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but my gut’s telling me that Damon’s somehow involved.”

  “Your ex will be out of the picture in less than a week.”

  Chandra let out a sigh. “This isn’t about the fact that Damon’s my ex-husband. He’s here looking for something, and it’s definitely not a relationship with his daughter.”

  “Then maybe Sharla will be better off when he’s gone,” Howard observed.

  Carly noticed the hurt in Sharla’s eyes, and tugged on her arm. Come on, she urged, and led the way upstairs. She waited until they were tucked inside her room before she spoke, “I’m sorry he said that, Sharla.”

  She plopped down on the bed, unloading an armful of snacks onto the comforter. “If it’s okay with you, I’d rather not talk about my dad right now.”

  “Sure,” Carly agreed, sitting next to her on the bed. “And I won’t make you watch a horror movie if you don’t want to.”

  Sharla managed a half-smile. “I don’t mind them all that much, I just like giving you a hard time.”

  Carly let out a laugh. “I knew it.”

  Sharla matched her enthusiasm but for a moment before her gaze fell to Carly’s wrist. “He really hurt you.”

  Carly wrapped the bag of frozen peas around her hand. She was tired of making excuses for Gabe, tired of writing off his behavior—

  “Then stop,” Sharla suggested, popping the tab on a can of Coke. She handed it to Carly, and added, “He doesn’t deserve to take up real estate in your mind right now anyway.”

  Carly grinned, and took a drink. “Thank you.”

  “I’m serious. With school, all the books you read, and hanging out with me, you shouldn’t have any spare time to waste on him. Not if you don’t let yourself.”

  Sharla was right. Carly’s thoughts were all a matter of choice.

  “Duh,” Sharla giggled, and cracked open a can for herself. “Now, do you have a movie that might take our minds off things?”

  Carly leaned back on her bed, scanning over the film collection that housed one of her bookcases. “Yeah, I’ve got just the thing.”

  * * *

  Though Carly’s wrist was feeling better the next morning, she still used the injury as an excuse to miss a few more days of school. When she did return to Sterling High, she was relieved that Gabe was absent. Both he and Katia missed classes Thursday and Friday, and Carly was thankful for the break. She spent her time hanging out with Sharla and consuming the stack of books she’d compiled on her nightstand. Pages and pages of information, yet none of it mentioned anything specific to the amethyst skull.

  Carly didn’t quite know what she was looking for, just that she had to keep looking. She had to keep reading and digging and exhausting herself, because not only did she need to know why the amethyst skull was so valuable to Damon—she needed to know why she was so successfully hiding it from him.

  What about Carly Morneau made her able to both wield a crystal skull and resist its lure?

  “Earth to Carly,” Crystal teased, twisting in the passenger seat of Carly’s Jeep to turn down Cloud Cult on the stereo. “Are you really that zoned out after a day of shopping?”

  Carly kept her eyes on the road ahead, north from Duluth to Sterling. She, Crystal and Sharla had had their Saturday away to shop and eat out and not think about all the drama back home. But as the sun whispered its final goodbyes to twilight, Carly felt the weight of it all hit her again—and more than anything, the weight of the amethyst skull.


  Carly still didn’t understand how exactly she was connected to the skull, but the how was starting to matter less and less. As long as the skull remained hidden, as long as she could keep Abel and Esther convinced to leave it be, the how could wait.

  “I’m certainly exhausted,” Sharla answered, taking a drink from a double Americano as she popped her head into the front seat between them. “But the best kind of exhausted—from overuse of my mom’s credit card.”

  Crystal let out a laugh. “You did some real damage, but you did manage to find a great dress for the party tomorrow night—both of you.”

  “So, even if the party sucks, we’ll look hot.”

  “It’s not going to suck, and you always look hot.” Crys looked out her window, and noted, “Full moon tonight.”

  Carly looked up at the looming orb, and shuddered. The full moon had no significance to her, but left her with an eerie feeling all the same. “I guess it is a full moon. I never notice that kind of stuff.”

  “I can’t seem to help it since Abel showed me that book earlier this week.”

  What book? Carly thought, glancing at Crystal.

  But by Crystal’s blush, she’d misinterpreted Carly’s look. “It’s not like that—with me and Abel. We’ve just been hanging out a lot.”

  “You can hang out as much as you want,” Carly told her. “What book were you looking at that talked about full moons?”

  Sharla smirked. “You must be over him if you’re more interested in some stupid book.”

  Carly couldn’t let Sharla and Crystal into the full extent of the drama she was dealing with, which meant she couldn’t fully explain her curiosity. Sometimes, secrets were necessary. Though it was the hard way, Carly had definitely learned that.

  “I think it’s called Discovering the Power—the book,” Crystal answered. “It talks about full moons pulling at us the same way they do with the tides—all supernatural creatures, not just werewolves. Supposedly, it’s a time when we’re more powerful, though that power can’t be relied upon. But in the next paragraph, the author admits he has no proof of any of it, so, who knows?”

  “Yeah, who knows?” Carly agreed, glancing back up at the moon. Not just werewolves, Crystal’s words echoed in Carly’s mind. “Do you think there really are werewolves out there? Do you think it’s more than just a legend?”

  “I hope they’re out there,” Sharla was quick to pipe up. “Not that we’ll ever meet any, living in the middle of nowhere.”

  “We exist, and there’s far less lore about us floating around than werewolves,” Crystal said. “It’s tempting to assume all that stuff about full moons and silver bullets has at least some truth to it. I mean, I didn’t think crystal skulls existed until I held one for myself.”

  Carly looked at her with wide eyes. Crystal had been the one to discover the amethyst skull in Carly’s bedroom, so it wasn’t shocking that she’d mention it. But the talisman had thus far remained a secret from Sharla.

  “What crystal skull?” Sharla asked, catching Carly’s gaze.

  How could Carly explain without really explaining?

  “Why can’t you explain?” Sharla prodded.

  “It’s not her decision,” Crystal answered. “Her dad made us promise—”

  “Promise what?”

  “To keep the skull a secret,” Carly confessed. “It’s a powerful object, and holding onto your senses with that thing in your hands is a lot of work.”

  “Wait, how would you know?” Crystal asked. “Howard wouldn’t let you touch the skull because you hadn’t shifted yet.”

  Crap. Carly gripped onto the steering wheel, not sure how to respond. Part of her wanted to tell them about the skull, but the rest of her sensed it would put them in danger.

  “So, you’ve both touched the skull?” Sharla asked. “And you know where it is?”

  “We don’t know anything,” Carly jumped in, pressing on the gas.

  Sharla clamped down on her shoulder. “Don’t lie, Carly. We both know how you feel about lying.” She moved her petite fingers to Carly’s neck, folding them around her throat with surprising force. Before Carly could react, Sharla’s voice morphed to Damon’s, and demanded, “Tell me where the skull is.”

  twenty-four

  “Carly, look out!” Crystal screamed, grabbing the wheel before the Jeep could veer off the road. The vehicle just missed the outer edge of the shoulder, but managed to hit a patch of ice.

  Carly reached up to pry Sharla’s fingers away as the Jeep spun in a circle. As she took Sharla’s hand, two things happened—the entirety of Sharla’s eyes turned black, and a foreign surge of power forced the girls apart, throwing Carly back into the driver’s door as the Jeep jerked to a halt.

  Carly’s head bounced off the glass of the driver’s window, her skull radiating with pain as her world swarmed black. A muffled sound crackled in her ears, and she blinked to make out Crystal shouting at her. Unconsciousness tugged at Carly, but so did Crystal, her hands falling in on Carly’s shoulders to shake her awake.

  Carly finally was able to hear Crys’s words, but couldn’t seem to comprehend them. “Sharla was thrown from the vehicle! You have to help me find her!”

  Carly’s ears buzzed as she groped for the door handle. It took a good push to get the door open, a snowbank fighting from the other side. The Jeep was stuck, that was obvious, but the least of her worries now.

  “Sharla!” Crystal cried out. She raced down the road one way, spun on her heel, and ran back the other. “Sharla, where are you?”

  It took Carly a moment to gather her bearings as she staggered through the snow. “Sharla!” She turned around to look over the Jeep, and sure enough, the glass was blown out of the back left window. But there wasn’t any indentation in the snow, any markings on the road to indicate a body had disturbed it—and that disturbed Carly. “Sharla!”

  Carly raced around the Jeep, giving the wreckage a wide berth. She scoured snow-covered terrain, crossing paths with Crys over and over again. Yet neither of them could seem to come up with any sign of the young shifter.

  Someone can’t just disappear, Carly rationalized.

  “Then where the hell is she?” Crystal countered, stopping in her tracks to face Carly on the side of the road. “Did you see her eyes, Carly? Right before we crashed? Did you hear her voice? She wasn’t herself, and now she’s gone.”

  “But where could she have gone to?” As Carly asked it, a chill of warning shot through her. “We need to get back to Sterling and tell Chandra. Maybe she’ll know what to do, maybe she won’t—but my gut’s telling me we can’t stay here.”

  Crystal nodded in agreement. “My primary will probably get us there faster. Do you think you can copy it?”

  “I’ll sure as hell try.”

  And just like that, without a second thought, Crystal transformed from a stunning redheaded woman into a sleek, majestic bald eagle, her wings wide and open with flight. Carly closed her eyes and connected with Crystal’s mind, taking in the form not the way she saw it from the outside, but the way Crys saw it. From that perspective, shifting into an eagle seemed no work at all, and Carly soared with pride under the full moon alongside Crys.

  The flight seemed quick, and soon Grant Manor came into view. Carly noted Chandra’s car in the driveway as she landed on the porch, shifting human. She made her way into the house and called out, “Dad!” as she stormed down the hall to the kitchen. It was empty, so she looped back around Crystal to head into the living room. There she found Howard and Chandra cuddled on the couch, watching TV. “Dad,” she said again, and by the look on Howard’s face, he sensed her fear.

  “What is it?” Chandra questioned, hopping to her feet with Howard. She looked between Carly and Crystal, and added, “Where’s Sharla?”

  Carly shook her head, and Chandra broke into tears.

  “It’s Damon,” Chandra sobbed into Howard’s shoulder. “I’ve felt it all day, that he’s been planning something.”

 
“Now, we don’t know anything,” Howard reasoned, wrapping her up in his arms as he looked to Carly. “Tell us exactly what happened.”

  Carly attempted to keep a cool head as she related the events of the crash. She mentioned the part about Sharla asking for the skull, but she didn’t mention its current location. “We looked everywhere for her, but we didn’t see anything.”

  “There were no footprints,” Crystal explained. “No marks in the snow, no blood, no anything. It’s like she completely vanished into thin air.”

  “You did the right thing by coming to us first,” Chandra told them, wiping at her eyes. She pulled away from Howard, squaring her shoulders. “I’ll alert the other families that Sharla’s missing, but I won’t tell them my suspicions about Damon. Not yet. It’s apparent that not everyone shares my apprehensions.” With that, she slipped out of the room.