Shadeland (The Ethereal Crossings, 1)

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 9

  When I got home I really didn’t feel like sleeping. Jared had looked at the photo’s I took of the crime scene and ignored what I thought were clues left behind by both the killer and the victims. After he told me I was a complete waste of his time he said he would “be in touch” again. I really hoped he wouldn’t be.

  He was so confusing. If I was a complete waste of time why would he be in touch? And did “being in touch” mean he would call me or kidnap me again? Maybe it meant both? I rubbed my eyes, drained and just a little bit lost. Flipping the television on, I flopped onto the couch as the news came up.

  “Another body was found today at Ellengale Community College,” said the same reporter as before, “police have released that witnesses say it was the work of an Eidolon”—I never said that—“and the deaths of Rosa Navarro, Charlotte Hill, Alice Harper and Alexi Stafoff are connected. The suspect that was in jail earlier this week had been released for insufficient evidence. The manhunt is still on for—” For a brief moment I thought they might actually name Luke, but the reported quickly switched the topic to world news, blaming more tragedies on the Eidolon’s.

  I began changing channels, never staying on one for more than a few minutes. There really wasn’t much on in the middle of the night.

  “Liv,” came a voice, “hey Liv! Wake up!” I opened my eyes to find Luke looming over me, a toothbrush in his mouth. “Did you sleep on the couch all night?” His voice was muffled by the toothbrush but I still understood what he said. I looked around the apartment, everything the same including the reporter on the news. I read her name; Cindy. She seemed to work a lot. But then again, journalists never seemed to sleep; they probably couldn’t afford it.

  “I guess so,” I said sitting up. It had been a while since I had fallen asleep on a couch, I couldn’t even remember about what time I fell asleep.

  “I got called into work,” Luke said walking to the bathroom. I heard him rinse out his mouth before he stepped back into the living room. “So I gotta go in for the afternoon. What are you going to do today?”

  “I don’t know,” maybe go visit Dr. Wineman to ask why he lied for you? “I’ll figure something out.”

  He eyed me, suspicious. Luke knew me too well for his own good, but he ignored his feelings, like always. Living in denial as usual, I see.

  “Well, I’ll talk to you later then.” I said goodbye and he headed out the door. I wondered if he would tell any of his coworkers about what had happened; then felt stupid for even considering the idea. Luke would never tell a soul about being arrested for murder and then being released, only to find another body days later at both his home and place of learning. He knew almost every victim in some way, maybe even Rosa. It’s not like he would remember if he bumped into her on the street or passed her at The Corner.

  But then again, I was connected to all the victims, too. I sat on the couch, television still on. Why were they all dying? What did they have in common? Charlie, Alice and Rosa were all at the club the day before they died, but what about Heather? It was never mentioned that she was at The Corner. In fact, she was at the lecture with Luke and me before she died.

  And then there were the bullets found where she died. I hadn’t noticed them when I was in there, but I was very focused on the smoke hanging over her body. What exactly did the bullets have to do with anything? It was never reported that any of them were shot, in fact, it didn’t make sense if they were shot; there was no blood except for Alex’s. At least…that’s what I had assumed.

  I laid back down and pulled my phone out of my pocket to go through the photos again. I stopped when I came to the stone necklace. Jared didn’t see any significance in it, but something about it stuck with me. Nobody seemed to think twice about it in Alex’s house, but why would it have been where it was?

  Tucking my phone away I thought maybe it wasn’t anything at all, maybe it was just a necklace Alice had lost down the cushion. But maybe it was something. I heard a shuffling outside of my apartment and a door shutting, shifting my train of thought. Was somebody in Charlie’s place?

  I walked on the balls of my feet to the front door and peeked through the peephole. In the hallway were two police officers, heading down the hall and away from Charlie’s apartment. I figured they had been there to collect evidence or double check something and once they were out of sight I poked my head into the hallway.

  Charlie’s door was still taped side to side with yellow tape. The red tape that sealed the door was broken from the police before and it gave me an idea. I had been too surprised and terrified to see the room clearly, to look for any possible connections between there and Alice’s place of death.

  Gingerly, I twisted the cool knob and stepped under the yellow tape, noticing that the temperature this time was much warmer. Somehow I didn’t find that comforting.

  I walked down the hallway, suddenly having a flashback. Everything looked so different; it was brighter than I remembered but it was just as eerie. The photos that hung on the wall featuring my previous neighbour with family and friends made me feel a little sick; their smiles seemed mocking and empty. I stopped, bare foot and blank faced when I came across a picture of Charlie with Alice and two other familiar faces; Rosa and Heather.

  Charlie sat at the bar with her arms around Alice and Heather while Rosa stood behind the bar, smiling. How had I missed this? They all knew each other, and they all hung out at The Corner. Now they were all dead; that couldn’t have been a coincidence. Did the police find this connection yet? I tilted my head, observing the photograph. It was strange being in a dead woman’s apartment, I felt like I had to keep checking over my shoulder to see if she would be there, but all I saw was empty space. I took a photo of the picture on the wall and walked into Charlie’s living room.

  I could still see the ghost of her bouncing around the room. I could see her on the sofa, watching television, see her vacuuming and dancing around on the carpet. If you had asked me a week ago if I would care if Charlie moved out, my answer probably would have been “no”. But now, I realized how comfortingly normal she was; she didn’t even care much about the Eidolon’s. I wondered if that was why Luke liked her.

  The room where Charlie had died looked exactly as before, plus two bullet holes in the far wall. They never came up in any news reports, and if they were never mentioned what else wasn’t? I had always assumed police kept most details about active cases quiet, but I thought two bullet holes in the wall would be worth mentioning.

  Tucking a stray hair behind my ear I debated where to start looking. Nothing seemed out of place like it had at Alice’s crime scene. The stack of magazines still sat on the coffee table, the telephone still sat on the floor where Charlie had dialled and the decorative pillows were still disorganized on the couch. The pillows made me think of something.

  I stepped over to the sofa and dug around in the cushions. Careful to remember where each one was supposed to be, I pulled up the pillows one by one until I came across a silver chain, hidden beneath them all. I pulled it out to reveal a green stone, exactly like at Alex’s home. My phone clicked as I took a photo, this time I put the stone in my pocket, knowing that the cops weren’t going to find it anytime soon. After all, they didn’t seem to find the other one. I placed the pillows back where I had found them, best I could, smiling as I noticed all of them had teddy bears across their face.

  I took one last look around the room, wanting to investigate more and find any other clues that could lead to the killer, but there was nothing. Nothing was out of place; it was as if Charlie just lied down and died after trying to call for help. Finally, I walked back to the photo of the four girls. Nobody would notice it missing, right?

  Carefully, I lifted the frame from its hook and turned it over, taking the photo out. I set the frame back in its place and stared down at the picture, contemplating how they all knew each other. Studying
the rest of the photo I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, there was nobody in the background watching them, nothing on the counter to suggest something suspicious, the only thing—my thoughts were interrupted by a the floor creaking behind me.

  “Who took the photo?” Jared said as I turned to find him leaning over me with a hand resting on the wall, his face mere inches from my own. I tried not to react but my eyes widened in surprise when I saw him; I hadn’t even heard him come in, let alone walk right up behind me. What if he had been someone dangerous? Right…stupid question, considering past events.

  “I’m getting to that,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as flustered as I felt, noticing my face heat up. I turned the photo over to see if it was written on the back but it didn’t say much. It listed the girls’ names from left to right and after that it just said “Taken by B”. This discovery wasn’t spectacular, but it was a start. Jared grabbed the photo out of my hand and stuffed it in his pocket. “Hey!”

  “What do you think you’re going to do with it?” he asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. “And what do you think you’re doing in an active crime scene in your bare feet?” I looked down, suddenly realizing that I had never put shoes on, or even socks before I came in. He laughed, knowing I was beaten.

  “Whatever,” I said and left, avoiding the yellow tape still strapped to the doorway. Jared might have the photo, but I had something else; the stone necklace. I wasn’t about to tell him about it, he would just laugh it off. I only made it to the entrance of my apartment before he caught up.

  “Hold it, honey,” he said as he grabbed my arm. I turned to face him but he was already pushing me into the apartment just like before. I was thankful he didn’t have his gun pointed at me but I saw a flash of it underneath his jacket. He shut the door behind us, making sure to lock it. I didn’t see how that would solve anything, nobody was here but us. Oh no, I thought, nobody’s here but us. “What’re you gonna do now?”

  Taking a step back to leave a not-so-safe two feet between us I looked up at him.

  “What do you care?” it sounded a lot more personal that it had in my head. Why was that? Okay, maybe I was a little insulted he had brushed off my thoughts so easily but that shouldn’t have mattered to me. Nothing had ever mattered before, anyway.

  “Because you’re getting in the way,” he said, “and when people get in the way, they get hurt.”

  “Is that a threat?” I eyed him, he seemed like the threatening type, but for some reason it almost sounded like he didn’t want me to get hurt. I changed my mind when I remembered the gun and changed it back again when I remembered he had saved me with said gun. My brain was going to get whiplash being around Jared this much.

  “No, it’s more like…a friendly warning.” Warnings could be friendly? “Whatever is doing the killings is targeting girls involved with your boyfriend. You tend to fit the type.” I pursed my lips, not wanting to admit I had noticed the connection as well.

  “Well they’re all involved with me too,” I said, “that doesn’t mean anything.” He stared down at me, something he did quite often I noticed. I hoped he was considering my words, mulling them over to try and figure out the meaning. I had done it often enough in the past hours; he could at least do the same.

  “Why don’t you quit with the doe-eyed Nancy Drew investigation here honey,” I narrowed my eyes, he kept calling me that. “Because it isn’t cute anymore.”

  “Doe-eyed?” I questioned. Why was that the part that bothered me most? “No,” it was my turn to cross my arms at him. “I want to find out who killed them.” We watched each other for a long moment before he looked away. For a bounty hunter with a gun he wasn’t very good at standing up to people. Or maybe it’s just me, a voice said in my head. I quickly shoved that thought aside with a blush.

  “You’re not going to leave it to the professionals, are you?” Jared asked, already foreseeing my answer.

  “If you’re such a professional why do you keep asking me for help?” He didn’t have a reply for that one. Jared had never officially asked me for help, but he did ask what I saw at the Alice crime scene. That was something I could hold over his head.

  “Fine,” he said uncrossing his arms and running a hand through his hair. It was only then that I understood his hair looked blown back because he was always brushing it back, stressed. “What did you take from the apartment?” He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, where I normally sat. I followed him in but stayed standing.

  “What?” I asked, confused. He wasn’t there long enough to have seen me take the necklace; there was no way he could’ve known that.

  “You’ve been keeping something in your pocket,” he explained, stretching his arms over the back of the sofa. “You keep your phone in your left pocket because you’re left handed, but you’ve been touching something in your right. I can see your hand moving.” I blinked, wondering how he would know I was left-handed.

  I looked down at my pockets, not even aware I was doing something. Most of the time we had been talking I was rubbing the stone between my fingers subconsciously. Wow, he actually was kind of like a professional. I tried to think of something to say, but there were no words for how stupid I felt. Tugging on the chain carefully the stone slid out of my pocket, allowing it to dangle in the air.

  “I found it in the cushions,” I said. He watched the stone wave back and forth until it came to a gentle stop.

  “What is it with you and rocks?” he asked.

  This was exactly why I didn’t want to tell him; he would never see it as a clue. He extended his hand to me, palm up. Frowning, I reluctantly handed over the necklace, taking a quick step back to stay away from him. Jared held it up in the air to examine it before he sighed. “Well I guess it means something if it was at two crime scenes.” He kept his gaze away from me.

  I smirked at him, knowing why he wouldn’t look me in the eyes. Jared was embarrassed for not recognizing a clue when someone shoved it in his face.

  “What do you think it means?” I asked, hoping he would have an answer. This was new to me, asking someone else a question. Luke would say I was growing as a person.

  “What do you mean?” he looked at me with an exhausted glance, as if my question wasn’t justified. I shifted my weight, a little uncomfortable suddenly being under such scrutiny.

  “Well,” I started, “stones and crystals tend to have meanings. If they were at both crime scenes maybe someone put them there for a reason.” Jared considered it over in his mind and appeared to come to the conclusion that I wasn’t completely useless. That might have been a point in my favour, just maybe.

  “See ya,” he said and shot off the sofa, headed for the door. He still had the necklace in his hand and photograph in his pocket.

  “Wait!” I said, reaching for him. “I’m coming too.”

  “No you’re not.”

  “Yes, I am.” He was already unlocking the door and I considered grabbing his arm like he often did to me. I decided against the idea, yanking my hand back to my side. “I found it, I get to go.”

  “You don’t even know where I’m going,” he said walking into the hallway and down to the elevator. I quickly slipped into a pair of moccasins and ran out the door.

  “No,” I said following him, “but you’re going to find something out about the stone and I want to be there.”

  “You won’t want to be there,” he clicked the down button next to the doors and we waited.

  “I’m going,” I said and mimicked his crossed arms stance. He had kidnapped me more than once, mocked my ideas only to find out I was right; I wasn’t about to just let him go without me. I wanted to know how this was connected and I wanted to find out who was behind everything.

  “Fine,” Jared conceded, “just let me do the talking.”

  I nodded, agreeing. It’s not like I talked that much anyway.

&
nbsp; I had to confess, I really loved Jared’s car. Though, yes, it did give me nightmares for a while, it was cool. My father had always wanted me to bring home a boyfriend with a car like that; instead he got Luke, who I wasn’t even dating despite everyone’s accusations. I sat in the passenger seat beside Jared and gently touched the door. Observing the interior of it, I tried to guess what year it was made; my guess was a while ago. I knew nothing about cars.

  “What year was this made?” I asked, the words coming out of my mouth before I could stop them. Jared gave me a sidelong glance, not expecting the question.

  “Sixty-nine, why?”

  “Just wondering,” I looked in the back seat, assuming to see junk food wrappers or bottles of water, magazines even. Part of me expected to see a gun or two, but there was nothing; it was clean. Or at least it was clean on the surface; who knows what lay beneath its blank cover.

  “Why did you make it so loud,” I questioned, “wouldn’t a bounty hunter need to stay under the radar?” Because his car was noticeable, so much so that while we drove I could see people turning their heads to find the source of the roar. Its sound was part of why I always noticed it in the first place. Jared just laughed.

  “I drive everywhere,” he said, “I may as well like the car I’m driving.” It made sense, I couldn’t imagine security would let him on an airplane with a gun…and whatever else he carried with him that was out of sight. My mind began to drift off, thinking of what other things Jared may have on him and the things he had seen over time. My thoughts told me I watched far too many movies.

  “Do you only hunt Eidolon’s?” I asked. The general public only knew of Eidolon’s for about a year, but was Jared one of the few that knew before then?

  “I only started after the revolution,” he explained, running his hand through his hair again, “I hunt whoever I’m paid to hunt. Business is booming since all the freaks came out of hiding.”

  “They aren’t freaks,” I said, annoyance clear in my voice, “they just aren’t fully human. There’s a difference.”

  “Right,” he rolled his eyes. “I forgot, you’re dating one.” I shifted in my seat, my opinion of Jared changed every hour, no, every minute and it was getting on my nerves. I preferred hating, liking, or not giving a care about someone, no grey areas. Jared was all grey area.

  The rest of the car ride remained silent, neither of us wanting to talk. Or perhaps it was just me that didn’t want to talk; Jared seemed content with the silence anyway. I finally broke the tension when the car stopped in front of a broken down house.

  “Where are we?” I asked, adrenaline starting to rise. I hadn’t thought of how stupid it was to just go somewhere with Jared, a complete stranger.

  “I know someone who’ll know about the stone,” he said, shifting into park. We climbed out of the car.

  “Who is it?” I looked at the house, not understanding how anyone could call it home. The first two steps of the wooden porch were broken down, actually most of the porch was gone. The railings were coated in plant life and grim while the windows were decorated with bars and what appeared to be cardboard, blocking any view inside or out. The small red-brick exterior had vines growing up its sides and what had probably been a nice garden was overgrown with weeds, the only part that looked like it would bloom again were the roses aligned against the fence. Their thorns stuck out on the stems, as if to threaten anyone walking by.

  “Human,” he said hands in his pockets, “sort of, if you were wondering.” I really wasn’t, that hadn’t even been on my list of questions for him. “She knows things about…well anything really.”

  “Clearly she knows nothing of gardening.”

  “Well, she doesn’t get out much.”

  Jared made his way to the door and I followed a few feet back, careful to watch my surroundings. He knocked on the door but there was no reply.

  “Not home?” I asked.

  “She’s here,” he said with another knock. “Open up ya dumb witch!” I wasn’t sure if he meant that literally or as an insult. In today’s world it could go either way.

  “Go away!” came a voice from inside the house.

  “Open the door Yamuna,” Jared said loudly, “or I’ll kick it down.” Silence bore down on us from all angles, and I took another glance around. Jared nudged me to the side and out of his way. As I took a step back the wood beneath my foot cracked and broke, causing me to fall. As the rest of my body made contact with the rotted wood it caved in and I fell through it completely, landing on the dirt below. Pain rang through my tail bone then vibrated throughout the rest of my body. As the dust settled back to the ground and I looked up, I found I had only fallen about two feet.

  Jared looked down on me, an amused expression on his face. He reached his hand to me and I hesitated to take it but did. As I stood up in the hole a woman appeared next to him, hand touching her lips.

  “You okay?” Jared asked as he kneeled down, not paying any attention to the woman next to him. He brushed dirt off of my shoulder while I slapped it off the rest of my body. He helped me climb out of the hole with a chuckle. Oh, look, he was good again… sort of.

  “Yeah,” I said with a cough. The woman never said a word, she walked back inside and was about to shut the door when Jared caught it with his foot.

  “Go away,” the woman said with only the slightest hint of an Indian accent, her blue hair falling in front of her face. Her hair colour struck me as odd, it was such a pale blue compared to her smooth, brown skin; she looked to be in her early thirties at the most.

  “I need a favour,” Jared said and he pushed his way inside. I noticed he had a habit of home invasions. The woman backed away and snapped her fingers but nothing happened. She continued to snap them until she gave us both a frightened look. “Can’t do that anymore.” Jared showed her something on his ankle with a lift to his pant leg. She sneered at him but stopped backing up. What did he just show her?

  “Why should I help you?” she hugged herself, glaring at him as if it would make him disappear. It wouldn’t, I’d tried. “You’re the one who trapped me here after all.”

  “Like I said, I need a favour,” he smiled at her. I wondered what he was playing at, since she didn’t seem too inclined to help us out.

  “I’m never helping you, bounty hunter,” she walked into the room next to her. Jared followed her, and I after him, hesitantly. I stepped into a very new age kitchen and it was then that I noticed the interior of the house was nothing like outside. It was all shiny and clean, nothing broken, nothing…rotting. The woman sat down and watched Jared, her eyes darting to me for only a second. “Who are you?”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Jared answered for me, “I just need you to identify something for me.”

  “Sorry you fell down,” she said to me as she stood, “don’t get out too much because of him.” The woman walked over to a tea pot in the corner and poured herself a cup. She glanced up at me before getting a second cup out. Briskly, she walked over to me and shoved it into my hand, then gesturing for me to sit at the round table. I did so, mostly out of surprise, not because I wanted to. Jared sat down next to me, annoyed that I had done so. The witch said, “Name’s Yamuna.”

  “Liv,” I said, cautious of where Jared set his hands. “Thank you.” I held up the tea and took a sip, earl gray.

  “You’re not one of him are you? You don’t look like one,” Yamuna looked to Jared then back at me. Did she mean a bounty hunter? I could only assume so.

  “No,” I answered, “just working to catch my best friend’s neighbour’s killer.” I didn’t see the point in lying to her. She didn’t seem interested in helping Jared, so maybe if she knew the truth she would at least help me. Jared’s hand brushed back his hair as I broke the one rule he gave me. “Can you help?”

  “With what? I’m under house arrest, I can’t leave these walls,” she opened her arms to display her prison. />
  “He seems to think you can help,” I said with another sip of the tea. Yamuna looked at Jared expectantly, waiting for an explanation. He pulled the stone out of his pocket and set it on the table. Yamuna looked down at it.

  “Please,” she scoffed, “you’re losing your touch bounty hunter. You want me to tell you what this is?” She picked the rock up and waved it in the air. Was it supposed to be obvious or did she just misunderstand the question?

  “Please,” I said, “they were found at two of the crime scenes, possibly more.” Her grey eyes travelled between Jared and me, thoughtful. Yamuna sighed.

  “It’s agate,” she told us, “it’s used for a lot of things. Though it isn’t very clean, I doubt it would have done any good.” She eyed the stone in her fingers.

  “What is it used for?” Jared asked. He really wasn’t the patient type, especially with people.

  “Well this particular colour of agate is used to promote good health,” Yamuna set the stone down with a shrug, “most novices’ buy it thinking it can be used for luck or protection.”

  “Protection?” I repeated. Yamuna nodded at me while Jared touched his hair again. So were Charlie and Alice using the stones thinking they would protect them? No, the stones were stuffed in the couches, so they had no idea they even existed. So somebody else planted them there, hoping to keep the girls safe. Judging by the look on Jared’s face he came to the same conclusion I had.

  That only brought up more questions. Who wanted to protect them so much that they would break into their homes and hide the stones? And more importantly, why did they need protection in the first place?