Soul Trade

by Tracy Sharp

  “Water,” she said.

  “This way.” Toby offered his hand.

  “I’m okay,” Robyn said.

  He lowered his hand and started toward the cement stairs that led to the beach.

  “I’m guessing you’d have to snowmobile in during the winter,” Robyn said, nervousness making her a little breathless.

  “Yeah. I’ve got two in the shed.”

  Right. One for his wife. The woman might’ve died, but she was still all over this place. That was for certain.

  In the sparse light of the half-moon, Robyn could see a motorboat tied to the dock, and a kayak turned upside down on the sand. Toby moved toward it and kicked at it several times.

  What the hell? “Roughing it up to make sure it does its job?” Robyn asked.

  “No, scaring the spiders out. Hopefully.” Toby bent down and lifted the kayak a couple of inches before letting it drop back onto the sand.

  Robyn’s stomach dropped. “Spiders?”

  “Yeah. Dock spiders. They like to hang out in the kayak when it’s turned upside down.”

  “Dock spiders.” Lovely. As big and hairy as tarantulas. Charming things. Robyn turned and looked back toward the woods. Between collectors from Hell and dock spiders, she was honestly considering risking the collectors in the dark woods.

  “Come on, Robyn,” Toby said, catching on to what she was thinking. “Those things will kill you. Dock spiders won’t.”

  Crap. He was right. “They might scare me to death.”

  Still.

  “How many of those things typically hang out under the kayak?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Toby said. He shone his flashlight around inside of the kayak.

  “There’s a couple.” He played the light on the edges of the kayak. Two large, furry, black- and brown-striped spiders moved along the edges and seemed to leap onto the sand, skittering away with incredible speed.

  “Ugh,” Robyn said, stepping away, her skin crawling.

  Toby moved the light over the sand around the small boat. Several dock spiders moved in all directions, a few moving toward Robyn.

  She stepped back a few more feet. “Jesus. Move that thing over me, would you?”

  Toby pointed the light at her shoes. One of the spiders moved over her shoe and back onto the sand.

  “Oh. My. God,” Robyn murmured, shaking her foot as if the spider were still there.

  Toby moved the light over her legs and up to her face. “No more that I can see. Turn around.”

  Robyn turned, dreading what he’d say next.

  “Nothing. You’re good. Now come on, we’re wasting time.”

  “Right. Until I feel one crawling up my pants leg or down my shirt. If that happens we’re going to drown, because I’ll be in panic mode.” Robyn stepped forward, hesitated. “Are you sure you got them all?”

  “Yes, now will you get in this thing?”

  The kayak sat in the water, silent and waiting.

  Something snapped a twig in the woods. The sound echoed around them.

  Robyn climbed into the kayak, sitting ramrod straight, gaze moving over the interior and edges of the boat.

  “Do you know how to work one of these things?” Toby handed her a kayak paddle.

  “Not really the outdoorsy type, but I think I can manage.”

  Within moments, they were silently paddling over the water.

  “I hope you know where you’re going. It’s pretty dark out here. I can’t see a friggin’ thing.” Robyn strained her eyes to see something, anything, out there on the river.

  “I could do this with my eyes closed,” Toby said.

  “Well, you might as well be.”

  “Let’s just hope that we don’t have any surprises coming out of the water.”

  “You had to say that, didn’t you?”

  “Prewarned is prepared.”

  “Right. What are we going to do, hit them in the head with paddles and push them back into the water?”

  “Sounds like as good a plan as any,” Toby said.

  In silent agreement they paddled faster, trading talk for speed.

  “These are life’s precious little moments, Robyn. Cherish them.”

  “Ah, fuck off.”

  Robyn heard his chuckle as they paddled over the calm surface of the river, almost blinded by the darkness around them.

  Chapter 5

  “Thank God,” Robyn muttered as she climbed into his black, crew cab pickup. Her arms ached fiercely.

  The pickup was parked in an empty lot not far from the state park. Robyn thought she might also have whiplash from looking over her shoulder the entire way. They’d docked the kayak at the edge of the river, then climbed up a small hill and moved along the outside edges of the park until they’d crossed the street and found the lot.

  Toby climbed in. “Lock your door,” he said.

  “Already done.” Robyn stole another look behind them, seeing nothing out the back windows. “This really blows.”

  Toby looked at her, grinning. “What? You had something better to do?”

  Robyn shot him a withering look. “At least I wasn’t running for my life.”

  “No, you’d completely given up on life. You died twice yesterday, remember? Wouldn’t be long before you were dead for good.”

  They stared at each other for a second before cracking up. Within seconds they were laughing. The punchy, hysterical laughing that comes of being overtired and stressed to the limit.

  All at once, Toby stopped laughing. His face fell, eyes widening. He reached out for her with both hands as if to push her down.

  Robyn ducked.

  Glass shattered, shards falling all around her. She felt several sharp pricks of pain, and a warm drop snaking down her forehead. Hands grappled for her from the window, clawing at her hair.

  Robyn screamed. Batting at the hands.

  Toby backed the truck out, the tires screeching.

  Robyn felt a clump of hair being torn from her head, heard a muted, ripping sound, but didn’t feel the pain. Her heart hammered against her ribcage. Adrenaline raced through her.

  She sat up, jaw dropping as she watched a pale, blonde girl of maybe seventeen running after the truck, the clump of Robyn’s hair still clutched in one hand, hanging out from her closed fist. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes were two dark holes in her face.

  “Jesus Christ,” Robyn said. “She’s a kid. What did she use to smash the window with?

  “Her fist,” Toby said.

  Robyn stared at him. “No way.”

  “They aren’t like us, Robyn.” His eyes were wide. His head turned left and right as he scanned the street for more of them. “They’ve got the devil on their side.”

  Robyn sat silently, eyes darting around, just as Toby’s were. Trying to see everywhere all at once.

  “Satan’s jacked them up with some superhuman strength and God knows what other flashy talents.”

  Robyn turned to him, a sense of unreality settling over her. “I’m just a heroin addict, Toby. I’m nothing special. Why the hell are they coming after me?”

  “Because the devil doesn’t discriminate. You sold your soul for one last fix,” Toby said. “Gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘bad trip’, doesn’t it?”

  †

  They drove for a long time. Robyn nodded off a few times, but always jerked awake, heart pounding in her chest and hands shaking. Her fight-or-flight instinct had woken up, and apparently wasn’t about to go to sleep again anytime soon.

  “How far away does this guy live?” She had to pee badly, but hated to stop anywhere. Christ knew what would come after her in a bathroom stall.

  “Another half hour or so.”

  She couldn’t hold it. Her bladder was so full it was giving her a headache. “Could you pull over at the next rest stop, please?”

  “Hungry?”

  “No, gotta pee.”

  “Me too.”

  He left the highway and turned int
o a fast-food joint. The place was busy, as travelers often pulled off the road for food or to use the facilities.

  Toby stopped the truck, but turned and looked at her, his face serious. “Look, just do your thing and get out of there. Don’t stay in the bathroom too long. If I’m not out there yet when you’re done, wait for me. Don’t come out to the truck by yourself.”

  He was treating her like a kid. Robyn prickled for a split second, but reminded herself that he was trying to help her. She’d put him into a pretty shitty situation, and it seemed that some evil things were after her. She nodded and reached for the door.

  They walked through the lighted parking lot of the place. There were several people coming from and going toward the building. They must’ve looked like several miles of well-travelled dirt road, because they received a few wary glances.

  The people who didn’t look at them nervously were the ones that made Robyn jittery. “Could be any of these people, Toby.”

  “I know it,” Toby said, keeping close to her as they entered the place. “Make it fast.”

  The men’s and women’s bathrooms were directly across from one another, and they entered them simultaneously. Robyn almost laughed. Were they going to attempt to synchronize their urinating?

  The bathroom smelled of pine cleanser. At least it had been cleaned recently. There were two stalls, both empty. She pushed open the door to the stall on the right. Keeping her ears perked and her eyes on the crack between the door and the wall, she shoved her jeans down and squatted, hovering awkwardly over the toilet.

  Lord. Don’t let me pee down my legs, please. It’ll take longer to get out of here. Besides that, if I die, I refuse to do so with pee on my legs.

  The bathroom door swung open and a flash of black and pale moved across the space between the door and wall, where Robyn’s eyes were trained on the crack between the door and the jamb. She squinted, tried to sharpen her gaze.

  A girl in her early twenties with straight, jet-black hair and razor-straight bangs over black, lined eyes stared into the mirror for a long moment.

  Robyn slowly pulled up her jeans, keeping her eyes on the girl.

  As if she knew she was being watched, the girl turned and stared right at Robyn, finding her eyes instantly.

  Robyn’s breath caught in her throat. She froze, fingers on her jeans button.

  Within two steps the girl was at the stall door, one dark eye staring widely through the crack.

  Robyn gasped and jumped back, falling backward onto the toilet.

  The girl began laughing, a shrill sound that echoed and bounced off the bathroom walls.

  Robyn frowned, watching the girl’s face, her head tilted back as she laughed. What the hell was this girl’s deal?

  The girl lowered her face and watched Robyn again, a smirk playing on her crimson lips. “Your mother never told you it’s impolite to stare?”

  Yeah. She had been staring. Guess this fruit loop didn’t like it much. “Sorry. I’m a little jittery these days.”

  “You and me both, chicky. So I don’t like to be stared at. Got it?”

  Not like she’d ever see her again. The warning was useless. But whatever. “Yeah.”

  A knocking on the bathroom door. The girl hesitated, unwilling to pull her strange gaze off Robyn. Perhaps she had a little something more in mind for her aside from warnings. Something about her lifted the small hairs on the back of Robyn’s neck, made her stomach clench. No matter what her deal was, the girl wasn’t right.

  “Just a minute.” The girl’s voice slammed around the bathroom walls, loud and grating.

  Another knock, louder now.

  “Just a fucking minute!” Still, she wouldn’t turn away; her one brown eye remained in the crack, studying Robyn with a predator’s stare.

  “Robyn?”

  Robyn tried not to shake. She wanted to scream for Toby, but sensed that if she did that, she may never leave the bathroom at all. She took a breath and found her voice. “I’m coming out now.”

  Toby must’ve heard something in her tone. “You come out in thirty seconds or I’m coming in to get you.”

  “Okay.” She watched the girl as the girl watched her, deciding. A flash of silver glinted in the girl’s hand. A switchblade.

  Shit. Does she want to rob me?

  The girl tapped the small blade against her bare thigh, just below the short hem of her leather miniskirt.

  Unlock it and kick the door out, Robyn thought. Kick it right the fuck out and knock her on her psycho ass.

  Finally, the girl moved away, placed her hand on the door to leave, and turned back to stare at Robyn through the crack in the stall. “You’re lucky, bitch,” she said. “I think my boyfriend would like to play with you. Maybe some other time.” She opened the door and went through it.

  Robyn waited a few moments before leaving the stall and carefully making her way to door. She didn’t bother washing her hands, not wanting to take the chance that the creepy girl would come back. She yanked the bathroom door open just as Toby grabbed for the door handle.

  He took one look at her and knew something was off. “What? The creepy chick? She’s lurking around the corner. What’s her deal?”

  “Yeah. Creepy isn’t a strong enough word. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

  And as they headed down the short hallway toward the door, she noticed the tall, thin, thirty-something man leaning against the wall, waiting. His long, dyed-black hair, shiny with grease, was tied into a tight ponytail. He watched her as they went past him, and in his dead eyes Robyn knew that if it weren’t for Toby, something very, very bad would’ve happened to her.

  Robyn turned back and felt dread slither up her spine as she spotted the dark-haired Goth girl leaning up against a door that led to the back of the building. What would’ve happened if she and her creepy boyfriend had forced her out that door?

  †

  They waited in the parking lot of the rest stop for the couple to come out. They didn’t. Toby wanted to know which car was theirs. It was an hour before a manager at the fast-food joint followed them out. It seemed he was chasing them away. Somebody must’ve complained.

  The couple flipped him off and climbed into a nineties-model minivan. Toby snapped photos of the vehicle and the license plate.

  It was dark, but the lights around the parking area made it bright enough to see the numbers.

  “Something about them is definitely off,” Toby said. “Those two are dangerous.”

  He sent the photos to a generic e-mail account he kept, then—from there—to the local police department. He then shut down that account. “Gotta cover our tracks. But that should at least be enough for the cops to check those two out.”

  Something was niggling at Robyn’s memory. Then she had it, and a chill ran through her. “Toby, didn’t a young woman in her twenties go missing from one of these rest stops about a month ago?”

  Toby nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t want to freak you out more than you already are, but yeah. She vanished. There were no cameras at that place. It was older. Just like this one.”

  They drove for a long stretch before Toby took an exit that led to a country road. Corn stalks on one side, trees along the other. As the first signs of dawn began to appear, Robyn almost relaxed. It wasn’t quite daylight, but the aurora cast a brilliant purple-blue light over the town. The effect was heart-achingly beautiful. She felt her eyes closing, but didn’t want to sleep. Watching the rows of corn, her eyelashes fluttered closed for what seemed like a half second before a muffled thump made her snap her eyes open.

  “Oh shit.” Toby slapped the wheel, looking in the rearview mirror, then turning to look behind him. “Shit!”

  “What?” Robyn turned to look behind them, looking in all directions. Her eyes caught sight of something dark lying on the side of the road.

  Something about the size and shape of a German shepherd.

  Robyn’s hand flew up to her lips. “Oh no.”

  Toby s
lowed the car and sat on the side of the road, forehead resting on the wheel. “Fuck.”

  “Turn back. It might still be alive.” Robyn strained to see the shape they had left behind on the road. Her breaths were coming quick and ragged.

  “It’s not. I hit it really hard.” His voice was almost a whisper.

  “Toby, turn back.” She would jump out of the window if she had to, but she wasn’t leaving that animal back there to die alone in the road while they drove merrily away.

  “I can’t. I can’t look at it.” He looked up from the wheel, his face stricken.

  Robyn opened the car door and jumped out, running toward the shape in the road. As she drew closer, she saw that it was a German shepherd.

  The dog was panting, whining just a little. A stream of blood was coming from its mouth. Its hind legs were twisted strangely, and Robyn knew they shouldn’t be lying that way. The dog’s eyes rolled up to look at her, and Robyn’s heart sank. This dog wouldn’t live long.

  It was a male. A large, magnificent male. She spoke softly. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  The dog whimpered, a high-pitched, keening sound.

  Robyn’s heart shattered. A lump formed in her throat and her eyes filled. “Oh God.”

  His eyes lost their light and the panting stopped. He was gone.

  Something tore inside of her. “No. No. No. No.” She covered her face with her hands. “Please. Not this.” Tears she had never cried for herself spilled through her fingers.

  Somehow, for her, this was worse than anything she’d endured. This animal hadn’t had a choice. His life had been snuffed out for nothing.

  I live and he dies? She said it aloud, looking at the sky. “I live and he dies? Are you kidding me?”

  But nobody answered her.

  She reached her outstretched fingers toward his head, softly stroked his fur. She ran her hand over his huge, muscular body. She closed her eyes and kept her hands on him, feeling the heat drain slowly from his body.