Shadeland (The Ethereal Crossings, 1)

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 24

  Driving back home I welcomed the quiet. Yamuna’s house had seemed a lot darker than I remembered, and thankfully she never stepped outside to see us. I didn’t know what I had expected when pulling up at the curb by Jared’s car; I guessed I had imagined seeing her at the doorway, watching us. But there was nobody there, the front door closed and windows still covered.

  I wondered what had become of Bayani. He dove out the window without a real explanation, and the cops chased right after him. I understood that, he was acting awfully guilty. But maybe he ran because he felt guilty not because he was; he seemed to be trying to make excuses for not knowing sooner, and he had tried to protect them. Maybe he felt guilty for not trying harder…or not warning them sooner.

  I came to a stop at a red light, the street empty while Jared lagged behind me, just turning the corner. Resting my head on my hand I sighed, wishing everything would make more sense. I was doing that a lot lately. My mind focused on Bayani when I heard someone clawing at my passenger side door, trying to get it. I whipped my eyes open, not realizing I had shut them and turned to see who was trying to get to me. They began banging on the window as Bayani’s desperate face appeared through the glass. Speak of the devil…

  An engine roared and Bayani paused to turn and face behind us just as Jared’s car raced next to mine. It came to a halt inches away from my car and mere millimeters away from hitting Bayani, who dove over the hood of my car with a bang. He toppled over to the center and cautiously peeked over at the Charger that had nearly nailed him, body shaking fiercely. Bayani pushed himself to his feet, eyes just as wide as before.

  Jared pulled back and stopped the car. I looked at him through the rear view mirror, then scanned the area for anyone else who might look upon this strange scene. The street was empty, thankfully, since we were on a more residential area that only had local traffic. I was still concerned someone may look out their window; Jared’s car made a lot of noise and the sound of screeching tires tended to draw attention in this kind of place.

  The bounty hunter marched around to the back of the car to Bayani and grabbed him by his jacket, lifting him off his feet.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, fury clear in his eyes. I jumped out of the car, barely taking a moment to park it.

  “Jared,” I said, grabbing hold of his forearms. I noticed how strained his muscles were; there was no way Bayani would get loose, just like when Jared and I had first met and he locked me to his chest. My heart began to beat faster and the bounty hunter looked over to me, not moving his head. “Let him go.”

  “Let him go?” he scoffed. “He coulda been…” When he looked into my eyes he seemed to soften, calming down just a bit. He let Bayani go, narrowing his gaze on me and the man scrambled to stay standing, breathing heavy and deep. “Fine.”

  “What were you…Bayani?” I asked. He was hunched over now, his breath coming in short gasps. “Come here.” I pulled him as fast as I could over to the passenger’s seat of my car and set him down, ignoring Jared’s protests. “Put your head between your knees.”

  “What are you doing?” Jared asked, clenching and unclenching his fist. I hoped that meant he was working out his adrenaline and not waiting for the chance to hit someone. Bayani did as I said and as he lowered his head I could see tears streaming down to the pavement.

  “He’s having a panic attack,” I said, rubbing the poor man’s shoulder, “after everything that’s happened and having you attack him I’d say it was reasonable.” I hadn’t meant to sound mean, but I knew it came out that way. Jared had good reason to do…most of what he had done, since it probably looked like someone was trying to car jack me. It didn’t help that it was Bayani doing it either.

  “Hey,” he said, throwing his hands in the air, “I’ll let you die next time.” I was going to point out that I wasn’t in any real danger when Bayani grabbed my wrist, surprising me. His palms were slick with a sweat. The sudden movement made Jared flinch, and take a small step towards us.

  “You are working to stop it,” he asked, his words coming in between gasps, “yes?” I nodded. “Then please take this.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a silver chain, the same kind, I noticed, that had been attached to both the Agate found in Charlie’s and Alex’s homes. What was hanging on it wasn’t a stone though, instead, dangling from his fingers was a single bullet.

  “A bullet?” I asked, confused. It must’ve meant something, I imagined and remembered that multiple bullets had been found with Heather, in the bathroom. I pictured the detective coming out to yell at Luke, those in hand. Honestly, I had kind of forgotten about them altogether.

  “Heather,” his voice cracked, “Heather did not want to wear hers, she kept it in her pocket. It doesn’t work then, you have to wear it!” Bayani pushed the necklace towards me and I took it, pulling it over my head. He breathed a sigh, as if his duty was complete.

  “Thank you,” I said, “but um…how will it help me?” My last words travelled through the air in puffs, a chilling breeze coming through my hair. I turned around to see Jared surveying the area, noticing the temperature drop as I did. But there was nothing around us as I pushed myself from the ground, not a soul. There was a siren in the distance, getting closer to us and it seemed to put Bayani on edge.

  “I should leave,” he said, standing, his attack over. “Be careful, please.”

  “Wait,” I called as he brushed past us and onto the sidewalk. He glanced back at me, a strange look on his face. “What are you going to do?” He hadn’t explained anything. He hadn’t told us who the killer was, or what the bullets meant, or how to find anything out.

  “I am trying to find out who murdered them,” he said quietly, “I will make sure she does not kill again.”

  “Hold up,” Jared said, waving his hands in front of him, “I thought you knew who the killer is.” He had a point, Bayani had led us to believe he knew who was behind it. Or maybe I had just assumed he did…

  “I do not know who it is,” Bayani told us, “but I know what it is. As do you. The ancient creature, very old and very…evil.” He nodded his head at us as a goodbye and walked off, legs wobbly on the sidewalk.

  “Huh,” Jared said, a sly smile on his lips. “Looks like you were wrong, honey.” He emphasized the word he knew I had come to dislike so much. I shut the passenger door and walked back to the driver’s side, ready to get in as the siren’s approached us.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, already knowing what he was going to say and not bothering to tell him to stop calling me “honey”.

  “An ancient creature,” Jared repeated, “old and evil. Sounds like Shadeland to me.” He shrugged his shoulders and stuck his hands in his jean pockets, strutting towards the Charger. Jared had a point. I was wrong, it was the Shadeland creature, Bayani had just proven it. He knew that we knew, and he understood that we were working towards the same goal. I sat down in my car and touched the necklace he had given me. Not all my questions were answered but maybe it was best not to focus on that.

  Bayani had said he was looking for who the creature was, as if it was hiding in plain sight. But Yamuna had told me Shadeland was all around us, and that the smoke I had been seeing was actually the creature forming into our world. I held my head as it began to pound, the space around me swirling. It was still cold; I could still see my breath. I opened my eyes as I heard a siren and saw a blurry fire truck rushing through the intersection in front of me. But not only that, I also saw a small insect land on my windshield wipers and flutter its wings.

  Everything began to move again and I heard Jared honk behind me, telling me to get going. I was finding it hard to breathe, my head hurt and I couldn’t see straight. I tried telling myself that I was just tired, sleep deprived but I knew that was wrong; Luke and Richard had seen to it that I slept, even if it was only for a few hours. I held my head, feeli
ng the temperature around me return to normal.

  “What’s wrong?” Jared was beside me now, my door open. When had he gotten there? Kneeling beside me he touched my forehead; his hands felt cold, but it was rather soothing. He swore, but not at me, it seemed to be at himself. “You have a fever.”

  “No,” I said, meekly trying to push him away and failing, “I’m fine.” Now was not the time to be sick, there was no way I could have a fever. We were so close to figuring out the puzzle, I wasn’t about to lose out on that, to not help Luke when he most needed it.

  “Yes, you do.” Jared pulled me out of the car and led me over to his, sitting me down on the passenger seat. I leaned my head against it and closed my eyes; just leaving them open was making me feel worse. And now that I knew I had a fever it seemed to make it escalate. Jared used a firm hand to push me into the seat and ordered, “Wait here.”

  Jared shut the door and disappeared. It felt like a matter of seconds before he was back but it must’ve been longer than that. He sat down next to me and buckled my seat belt beneath my arms.

  “Where’s my car?” I asked, confused. I opened my eyes to see it parked on the side of the street. That was awfully fast.

  “We’ll leave it there for now,” Jared said driving past it, “your boyfriend can pick it up later.” I laughed, a little out of it.

  “He isn’t my boyfriend,” I said, “I wish people would stop saying that.” I had never wished that before, so why did I now?

  “Really?” Jared asked, disbelief clear in his voice. Nobody ever believed me; not my dad, not my brothers, even our coworkers thought we were dating. Why couldn’t a guy and a girl be friends without people thinking there was more?

  “Really,” I assured him.

  “Well, try and get some sleep,” he said as I closed my eyes, “you look like you’re getting worse.”

  “I’m not sick,” I said. “I can’t be sick.” He didn’t say anything back. It was true, I did get sick easily, but now was not the time. I didn’t care if it killed me, I would help prove Luke’s innocence, and I would help stop the killer.

  I had strange fever dreams then. It didn’t make sense to me, but I was at a tea party, sitting at the same table set I had as a child. My guests were a light brown rabbit, a barn owl and a wolf; a beautiful, white wolf. As I drank my tea all I could think about was that I didn’t want any of them to kill each other. I looked around the room and saw we were at my father’s house, in the backyard where I used to play with Luke.

  “What happened?” the owl asked the wolf. But he didn’t speak in English, he hooted it, yet I still understood. I was trying to wrap my brain around the idea of being able to understand owls when the wolf replied.

  “She’s got a fever,” he said in his wolf language. He set one paw onto my hand, quickly taking it away when the rabbit squealed.

  “She should rest then,” the owl said, “we can do the spell without her. It’ll be better that way.”

  “No you can’t!” I yelled, shooting my hand out to grab him and spilling my tea over the plastic table.

  “It’s dangerous,” the owl told me, “too dangerous for a young girl like yourself.”

  “What do you know?” I asked, trying to clean up the tea. “You’re just an owl.”

  “Yeah, you’re just an owl,” the wolf barked a laugh. As I patted the pink plastic I heard a whisper calling to me, drawing my attention to the window of my father’s house. The wind grew cold as I stared at the familiar blurred yellow butterfly, sitting atop the windowsill.

  “What are you looking at?” the rabbit squeaked.

  “I’m being stalked by a butterfly,” I giggled, “it’s been following me everywhere.” Why could I not stop laughing?

  “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” asked the owl and I shrugged, sitting back down.

  “Jared always ridiculed my ideas,” I explained, feeling a little guilty. “I thought I did tell someone…didn’t I? I did…I don’t think they believed me.” It was warm again, a little too warm. I moaned, trying to take off my sweater but finding I couldn’t figure out how to get my arms out of the sleeves. “It’s too hot out here.”

  “Calm down,” the wolf told me and I felt something cool touch my cheek, “go to sleep.”