by Cady Vance
Lots of townies were out and about, even though the sun was still new in the sky. They strolled up and down the boardwalk, chatted happily from their boats or lounged in beach chairs on the sandy shore between the scattering of rocks. Seeing the bright sky, I was glad I’d thrown some sunscreen on my face before running out the front door. I didn’t want to turn into a lobster with Nathan.
Nathan was silent as we walked, the wooden planks creaking under our feet. I didn’t know where to start. He wanted to know more about what had happened, more about the spirit world, but I had no idea how to explain it to him.
“So, you wanted to talk about what happened?” I asked, breaking our silence.
He was quiet for a few moments before answering. “I know you’re a private person, and if you don’t want to tell me everything, I understand. But I’d like to know as much as I can about what happened. I feel like I need to know. And maybe I can help if something like this happens to you again.”
“Yeah, you do have a right to know,” I said. “And I appreciate the offer to help, but I don’t think you want to get involved in this.”
“I’m already involved.”
We passed a wooden bench, and I pointed at the seat. After we settled in, I pulled my knees up to my chest and decided I’d tell him everything. “Some things I’m going to tell you, no one else knows except for Laura. You have to swear to me not to tell anyone else. Not even Brent.”
“You have my word.”
I opened my mouth, and it all came pouring out. Like a dam that had been filling up for awhile and was finally ready to burst. I told him everything: how I was a shaman, what that meant and how it ran in my family. How my mom had kept me out of that world and how she’d taught me only a few spells over the years. How she’d gotten attacked by another shaman and how he’d stuck her mind halfway between this world and Lower World, the plane of existence where spirits lived. How I’d even tried talking to her in the Borderland and how she was catatonic there, too. And then I told him how she was getting worse and how I’d been searching for the shaman who had done this to her because his blood was the last thing I needed to perform an incantation. The one that would bring her back into this world.
All the while he sat there listening, no sign of judgment on his face. He seemed genuinely concerned, and he never once acted like what I said was too insane to believe.
When I was done, I felt drained of energy, the way I did after a long bike ride. Exhausted and tired but relieved from letting out my anger and frustration. It’d been therapeutic to talk to someone else about all the crazy stuff going on in my life. I didn’t know why I hadn’t done it before.
“That’s a lot to take in.” He leaned against the bench and stared out at the ocean. “Do you think these spirits are stronger because they’re being summoned?”
I bit my lip. The one thing I hadn’t told him was how I’d been conning all our classmates at school. I wasn’t ready for him to know that. Not that I ever would be. “That could be it. Or maybe they’re summoning spirits they know are strong.”
“I’m so sorry about your mom.”
“I’m going to fix her,” I said. “No matter what it takes.”
He turned and placed one of his hands on mine, palm soft and warm. I felt a blush creep up my cheeks, and I glanced away from his clear green eyes. He was being nicer to me than any guy I’d ever met, even after everything I’d told him.
“So, how does all this summoning and banishing work, anyway?”
I turned sideways and held out my palm. “Okay. Here’s how it works, according to what my mom told me and other tidbits I overheard my dad saying one time.” I pointed to my palm. “Say this is a house. In the real world.”
“Okay.”
I put my other palm on top of my hand. “Now, here’s Lower World, basically. It’s right there, in the same place, right where we are.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Yeah, so.” I took the first palm away—the one that represented the real world. “This is Lower World alone. Ordinarily, spirits see Lower World the same way we see the real world. They don’t see us. We don’t see them. They are in this separate plane of existence, right where we are, but…just somewhere else.”
“So, let me get this straight.” Nathan leaned forward. “A spirit could be sitting with us on this bench right now, and neither us or it would ever know.”
“Yeah…”
“I think this is information I’d rather live without knowing.”
“Ha. Well, I’m not done.” I put my palms back together. “So, here both these planes of existence are, but there’s also the Borderland. The place halfway between.” I reached out and took Nathan’s hand. I slid his palm between the two of mine. My hands almost glowed against the tan of his. A tingling raced up from my fingers, to my arm, to my belly, to my cheeks. Nathan’s eyes softened, and I had to clear my throat to continue. “That’s where spirits go to feed on humans, and it’s where people like me go to banish them. To send them all the way back into Lower World.”
Nathan’s voice was low when he spoke, making the tingles in my body race around even more, little tickles of excitement alerting every nerve ending on my skin. It was all I could do to pay attention to his words when my entire body seemed to be enveloped in the spot where our hands were entwined. “So, when someone summons one, they’re bringing it to the Borderland.”
“Right,” I said. “Spirits can get there on their own, but I think there are some limitations or something. But when they’re summoned, they get linked to that place. That one earthly location. They can still go in and out of Lower World, but a spirit would never want to do that. Not when there’s food…”
I trailed off at the look in Nathan’s eyes. He was leaning closer now, his nose inches from mine. His fingers tightened around my palm.
“Holly!” I heard a girl yell. I jumped and pulled my hands away, embarrassed when someone from school came jogging up the beach toward us. Her blond bob swooshed on her shoulders as she gave us a knowing smile. She was like the opposite physical image of me. Tall, curvy, blonde. Not a single smooth hair out of place. Insecurity reared its ugly head again. I felt frumpy and squat in her presence. “Glad you’re here. I was just getting ready to hassle your phone number from Brent.”
“Megan, right?” I asked. She was a year older than me, a senior, and we’d never really talked before. I was always amazed at how many people knew who I was.
“Megan Joseph,” she said. She popped out a designer-jean-clad hip and cocked her head after considering Nathan. Apparently, he passed her test because she kept talking. “I was told you were the person to talk to about super weird shit.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you, too.”
Megan nodded and ticked off her fingers. “Yep, that makes Kylie, Brent and me all this week. It’s like a fucking epidemic.”
“Have you talked to Brent?” I asked, wondering if she knew about the kidnapping.
“Yeah, yesterday. He told me he was having major issues and you were going to fix it for him. He told me it was ghosts, but they seem more like fucking demons to me.”
“Your definition is a lot more accurate,” I said.
“I knew it. Anyway, you can come by and fix it tonight. You charge a couple hundred, right?”
“Um…” I said, racking my brain. Could I do this again? After what had happened? If I did, I would have to figure out a way to do this without getting caught. “I need some time to get everything sorted for it.”
She scrunched up her face and shivered at the gust of wind blowing in from the neverending stretch of rippling blue water. After zipping up her jean jacket, she glanced at the beach where a couple of girls were waving for her to go back. “Tomorrow?”
That might give me a little time to come up with a plan. Besides, it’s not like I could just let the spirit stay in her house.
“Tomorrow works. Probably.” The words popped out of my mouth before I could stop t
hem. For a moment, I wanted to reach into the air, grab them and stuff them back into my throat so that they’d never existed.
“Awesome.” She rattled off directions to her house, which I already knew because it was in that same damn neighborhood, and then jogged away.
“This is getting a little tricky,” I said once she was out of earshot. “How am I going to do this without those shamans finding out I’m involved again?”
“Are there any spells that could help?” Nathan asked.
“Probably, but my mom never taught me any of them. Do you think I should tell Megan I can’t do it after all?”
He leveled his eyes at me. “Can you do that?”
I thought about it, tried to imagine letting it all go. People might get hurt, but it’d keep me with my mom, safe where I could still find a way to fix her. “I don’t know. I keep thinking about Kylie and wondering if the spirit only attacked her like that because I was trying to banish it. Maybe no one would get too hurt if I backed off. At the same time…”
“Well, you have a little time to figure it out,” he said.
“Yeah.” I kept staring into Nathan’s eyes so I could see his reaction after my next question. “What would you do?”
He sighed, his gaze wandering to somewhere behind me. Then, he stiffened and grabbed my hand in a tight grip. My heart jolted within my chest.
“Those shamans,” he whispered. “They’re here on the boardwalk.”
I gripped his hand tighter and forced myself not to look behind me. “Did they see us?”
“No.” He hopped off the bench and pulled me with him. We hurried down the boardwalk, and I trusted him to get us away from them as fast as humanly possible. Once we were several feet away from the bench, I risked a glance over my shoulder.
They were standing where we’d just been, gazing down at the water with dark sunglasses and crossed arms, like two secret agents on a mission. I slowed and pulled Nathan behind a refreshment stand selling homemade lemonade and hot dogs. I realized we were still holding hands, and I let go, wiping my sweaty palm on my jeans.
“What do you think they’re doing?” I asked, still whispering even though they wouldn’t be able to hear us at this distance.
Nathan leaned his head close to mine, and his breath tickled my ear. “Seems like they’re looking for someone.”
My eyes followed the shamans’ gazes. “Megan.”
Nathan nodded. “That’s what it looks like.”
“Maybe we should do something.” I watched Megan waving her hands in some animated story she was telling her friends. She looked so healthy, so alive. She wouldn’t be for long with those shamans summoning spirits into her bedroom. I had a sudden flash of doubt about leaving her with the spirit for a day. But I had to remind myself of what had happened last time and how I needed a real plan before rushing in with guns blazing.
“She’s not the only one they’re taking a good look at,” he said, pointing. They were now studying a group hanging out in a boat docked in the harbor. They looked like they were in their early twenties, maybe college students, and I’d seen a few of them around town.
“I bet one of them is also being targeted.”
“Someone or maybe all of them. I bet we don’t know about every person who is. Anyone who doesn’t go to our school probably doesn’t know the whole Holly Bennett is the Queen of Weird thing.”
Queen of Weird? Is that what people called me? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. If I were going to pick a shaman-inspired nickname, I’d prefer something more in the superhero vein so I could wear a costume with a big “S” etched onto the front.
“This has to stop,” I said, watching the shamans turn their attention to another group. The Neck Tattoo Guy had a paper in his hands, and he scribbled some notes while Mark Sampson, wearing a red t-shirt of course, took snapshots with a camera. “Super creepy.”
“Listen, didn’t you say you found the address for the house they took us to?” Nathan asked.
I leaned back behind the stand and eyed him. “Yeah.”
“Maybe the best way to approach this is by doing what they least expect. Go back, snoop around, and see if we can find out more information there.”
“You’re crazy,” I laughed, but he was only vocalizing an idea that had been niggling at my brain all morning. Maybe I could find out what they were doing here or the names of some other shamans. Any information about that world. It could help me fix my mom and find someone to stop these guys. Killing two messed up birds with one stone.
I peeked around the corner of the refreshment stand again. The two shamans had stopped snapping pictures and were now making their way back to the parking lot. “Should we follow them?”
Nathan was already one step ahead of me, and we hurried after the guys as they left the boardwalk. They hopped into their SUV parked a few spots down from my truck. Keeping my head low, I opened my truck’s door and scooted inside before unlocking the passenger door for Nathan.
We watched the SUV zoom out and turn down Main Street.
Nathan nodded at me, and I pulled my truck into traffic. I’d never tried following someone unnoticed before, and it was hard to stay far enough back while keeping them in sight. I was afraid they’d turn off, I’d have to follow, and they’d notice that the rattling truck behind them was still there. We kept the radio off and didn’t say a word to one another, as if our silence would keep the shamans from noticing we were following close behind.
After several tense moments, the SUV turned onto a street leading into a newer housing development. I gritted my teeth and turned after them, crossing my fingers they wouldn’t notice. When they didn’t pick up speed, slow down or crane their necks to look behind them, I let out a silent sigh of relief.
We only followed them about a hundred feet before they pulled into a driveway. I didn’t even slow down, just kept driving.
“Do you know whose house that is?” I whipped my cell phone out of my pocket. I opened it and then clicked it shut. I wouldn’t be able to call the cops without my number getting traced, and I didn’t want this attached to me at all, which was why I hadn’t reported the shamans for kidnapping me and my friends. I couldn’t afford the police to come knocking on my front door, see my mom and…find out a teenager was living with a vacant parent.
“Jason Harris. They moved into this house a few months ago,” he said. “He was at the beach with his family.”
I gripped the wheel tighter, my knuckles turning the color of falling snow. I’d grown up with Jason. Gone to Elementary School and High School with him all these years. He’d always been quick to burn me a copy of his latest band discovery or take a late night bike ride to the beach before he’d gotten his driver’s license. I fought the urge to pound my fist against the steering wheel. These shamans were really pissing me off.
“Do you have his number?” I asked, slowing down and making a U-turn at the cul-de-sac.
“Got it.” Nathan scanned through and dialed the number on his phone.
I let my truck idle in the dead end, waiting to see what would happen. So much for the neighborhood connection. This one was about ten minutes away from all the other houses they’d targeted. The only connection I could see now was that everyone they went after had money, which didn’t really narrow it down in this town.
“Hey, Jason, man,” Nathan said. “It’s Nathan. Listen, I was just driving by your place and saw a strange car pull in.” A beat passed. “Nah, I think these guys were trying to get into the house.” Another pause. “No problem, man.”
He hung up and grinned. “They’re calling the cops.”
We slapped palms in a hi-five. “Oh, we are so good. We should probably get out of here though.”
I eased the truck down the road and tried not to slow down as we passed Jason’s house. The two shamans were nowhere to be seen, but their SUV still hunkered there in the driveway like the Titanium Man poising to strike.
“I can’t believe they’re dumb enough to
do this in broad daylight,” I said as we passed out of view.
“Actually, who expects their house to get broken into during the day? They saw Jason’s family wasn’t home and probably wouldn’t be for awhile, so they took advantage of it.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said, coming to a slow stop at the end of the road before turning back on Main Street.
Nathan’s eyes were trained on the side rearview mirror, and all of a sudden, he spun around in his seat to stare open-mouthed out the back window. “Damn it!”
I whipped my head around to see. The SUV was pulling out of the driveway, and I put my foot to the gas to get us out of there. “Do you think they saw us or something?”
“I don’t know,” he said, still twisted in his seat. The SUV turned in the opposite direction that we’d gone. I had the urge to screech to a halt, do another U-ey and follow them again, but I didn’t know how to do that without attracting their attention.
So, instead I just kept driving, fingers twisted around the wheel, letting the shamans get away. We’d almost had them. We’d been so close. Breaking and entering would have net them several years in jail. I should know.
CHAPTER 13
What’s the emergency?” I watched Laura toss a monogrammed duffel bag into her polished sailboat, her streaked hair pulled into a high ponytail. “You sounded weird after I told you about my plans with Nathan. Want to come spy on the shamans with us? I have to go to The Scarlet Witch first, but then we’re meeting up right after.” At the sound of Nathan’s name on my lips, I rubbed my hands together, remembering how warm his fingers had felt between my palms. Focus.
Laura sighed and leaned against a wooden beam that stretched up into the light blue sky speckled with puffy, white clouds. “Wish I could, but I can’t.”
Down the dock, several other kids ranging from ten to eighteen were prepping their own sailboats for a morning of swaying on the waves. They ignored the occasional comment from an older, weather-worn man dressed in white pants, boat shoes and a blue-and-white striped sweater, too busy eyeing each other’s boats and outfits.
