[Mystic Caravan Mystery 05.0] Freaky Places

by Amanda M. Lee

  “We’re going to walk the boardwalk,” Melissa announced, catching me off guard when she popped up on my left.

  I jolted as I swiveled, pressing my hand to the spot above my heart. “You scared the crap out of me,” I complained. “Make a noise next time.”

  “Sorry. I thought you heard me coming.”

  “No.” I shifted my eyes to Paige, who stood on the other side of the parcel, close to the trees, studying me with unveiled interest. There was definitely something off about the girl, and up close when I moved past her near the crafts fair I very clearly scented witch. Whether she realized she was a witch was another thing entirely. “Where did you say you were going?”

  “The boardwalk,” Melissa repeated. “Paige has been here a few days longer than us and she knows the cool places to hang out.”

  “And where is that?”

  “It’s a boardwalk.” Paige’s tone, dry and sarcastic, carried from across the way. She’d clearly been listening even though she did her best to pretend otherwise. That was something I would normally find intriguing, but coming from her it was beyond annoying. “There’s only so much to do. It’s better than hanging around here and listening to my dad tell the same stories for the hundredth time.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably not nearly as much fun for you, huh?” I licked my lips as I raised my head. It was getting foggy out, something that made me uneasy. “Be careful and watch your surroundings while you’re out.”

  “I think I have it under control,” Melissa noted. “I am an adult, after all.”

  She seemed irritated by my mother hen routine. I couldn’t blame her. At her age I would’ve chafed at the suggestion that anyone knew better than me, too. “You are an adult. I still think you should be careful.” I gestured toward the fog, which seemed to be thickening. “Don’t get lost, and keep aware of your surroundings.”

  “I will.” Melissa offered a half wave as she bounded after Paige. They were excited, their chatter nonstop. Before they stepped out of earshot, I heard one final statement.

  “Your mother is a trip,” Paige complained. “How old does she think you are?”

  Mother? I didn’t look old enough to be Melissa’s mother. In fact, I was only eight years older than her. I could barely qualify as a big sister. Mother? That was just … ridiculous.

  Ugh. Now I knew why teenagers were often the victim of violent attacks.

  7

  Seven

  Luke was waiting for me in front of my trailer. I knew Kade wouldn’t be far behind, but he was in the middle of listening to a hilarious Nellie tale that I’d heard several times, so I told him to follow when he was finished. I hadn’t seen Luke in hours and wasn’t surprised to find him lurking in the dark and waiting to pounce.

  “You are the worst friend ever!”

  I kept my face placid as I regarded him. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m considering putting a complaint box on my front porch, so if you want to write down what you’re feeling I’d be more than happy to read it tomorrow morning.”

  “Oh, don’t take that tone with me.” Luke wrinkled his nose. “How could you agree to move in with Kade without talking to me about it?”

  That was an interesting question, although not for the reasons he envisioned. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

  “Which means it’s probably a mistake.”

  “It’s not a mistake.” I kept my voice low so it wouldn’t travel and alert people that we were arguing. Raven was the type to jump on a potential fissure between us and attempt to widen it despite the fact that we were in the middle of a truce as of late. “It’s a natural fit.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “We spend every night together as it is.”

  “Then you shouldn’t need to move in together.”

  “But we want to.” Most days I found Luke amusing. Today I was weary from spending too much time with him. “Why is this such a big deal for you? It’s not going to change our relationship at all.”

  “Our relationship has already been changed,” Luke argued. “We don’t spend nearly as much time together as we used to.”

  Was that true? “So you think I’ve been neglecting you?”

  He bobbed his head in affirmation. “Absolutely.”

  “Okay. I’ll carve out more of my day to spend time with you. In fact, I was going to get up early tomorrow morning and head down to the water to meditate, maybe do a little yoga, so I’ll wake you up as soon as I’m ready and we’ll go together.”

  Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it. Luke’s mouth dropped open as he considered what I offered. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.”

  “Oh, no. You think I’m neglecting you, so we’re going to fix that.” I folded my arms over my chest, keeping my eyes on Luke even as Kade hurried through the growing fog to join me. He pulled up short when he saw who I was with.

  “Do you want me to leave you alone?” Kade asked after a beat. He looked worried.

  “That won’t be necessary. Luke and I were just talking about the fact that he feels neglected. We’re going to get up before dawn tomorrow and do beach yoga together. I think it’s going to be a terrific way for us to bond.”

  “That sounds fun.” Kade’s demeanor was unnaturally bright. “Is everything else okay?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “Is it, Luke?”

  Luke hated being put on the spot. He especially hated it because I could tell he was in the mood to bully me before Kade showed up. “Not really,” he answered after a moment’s contemplation. “I don’t think that you and Poet moving in together so soon after you started dating is a good idea.”

  Kade was calm. “And why is that?”

  “Because you barely know each other.”

  “We know each other quite well, and we’re learning new things every day,” Kade argued. “Just today, for example, I learned she hates dolls and wants to move in with me. I’m thrilled with those discoveries.”

  While I found Kade’s expression charming – I’ve always been a fan of snark, after all – Luke clearly didn’t agree.

  “Listen, you muscled pain in the ass, she was my friend first,” Luke barked, narrowing his eyes to dangerous slits. “You can’t just steal her.”

  Finally, tempers were on full display and neither man in my life was pulling any punches.

  “I am not stealing her from you.” Kade’s voice was low and full of warning. “It’s not because you hate the idea of it happening, though. It’s because of her. She loves you and would be miserable without you.”

  “That doesn’t mean you’re not trying to steal her,” Luke sniffed.

  “That’s exactly what it means,” Kade shot back. “I don’t want her unhappy. On the contrary, I want her happy more than anything else. You’re necessary to making that happen, so I have no intention of boxing you out.

  “On the other hand, I also don’t intend to let you run roughshod over her,” he continued, his eyes flashing. “You and I are going to have to learn to play nice with one another for her. I’m willing to try. That means the ball is in your court.”

  “Oh, well, that’s just typical.” Luke was haughty as he rolled his eyes to the sky. “I don’t understand why you have to move in together.”

  “Because we want to, and it’s a growing exercise for us,” Kade replied. “We want to live together. It’s not the end of the world. I think it’ will be good for everyone involved … including you.”

  Luke didn’t look convinced. “What happens if you break up? You’ve only been together a few months. It could happen. Once you’re living together, that’s going to make a breakup that much more difficult.”

  “You’re not hoping for a breakup, right?” I asked, my stomach twisting.

  Luke made an exaggerated face. “Of course not. I want you to be happy. He – however annoying – seems to make you happy. I’m the pragmatist in this threesome, so I feel as if I’m the one who has to be logical.”

 
“Uh-huh.” Wow. If he thought he was the pragmatist in our little group, he was even more deluded than I originally thought.

  “We’re not going to break up,” Kade argued, holding up his hand to cut off Luke before he got up a full head of steam and mounted a bitter comeback. “We’re not,” he repeated. “If that should happen, we’ll deal with it. It’s not that hard to separate into two trailers again. We’re technically going to have two trailers now – one for our living quarters and one for an office – so we’ll be able to make it work.”

  Luke made protesting sounds as he clucked his tongue. “But … it’s too soon.”

  “Well, that’s our concern,” Kade said. “We don’t believe that. If you’re right and we’re wrong, though, we’ll both offer up apologies after the fact.”

  Wait … what? “I’m not apologizing to him. He’s being mean to me.”

  Kade ignored my petulant tone. “It’s going to be okay, Luke. I promise.” He rested his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “We’ll make this work for everyone.”

  Although mildly placated, Luke remained somber. “I don’t want to get up and do waterside yoga tomorrow morning. Don’t let her make me.”

  Kade’s smile was indulgent. “I’ll take care of it. We’ll see you at breakfast.”

  Luke mustered a smile, although it wasn’t one of his full-wattage wonders. “I really do love and want the best for her.”

  “I know you do. That’s why I haven’t killed you.” Kade pressed his hand to the small of my back to prod me up the trailer steps. “We’ll all have breakfast in the morning. We’ll talk further about things then.”

  “Whatever.” Luke scuffed his feet against the ground as he slumped his way back to the bonfire.

  Kade waited until he was sure Luke was out of earshot to speak again. “Were you really going to do pre-dawn yoga by the water?”

  I made a derisive sound in the back of my throat. “Of course not. I just wanted to shut him up.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  I HAD TERRIBLE NIGHTMARES.

  I should have expected them. All the talk of dolls – that one doll in particular – was bound to leak into my subconscious. The dream I had was terrifying even for me, though, and I’ve seen some downright frightening things.

  I was isolated in the dream, stranded on a foggy expanse. The only light came from the moon, allowing me to see the drifting fog but anything more than ten feet out was a murky mess. That didn’t stop me from seeing them. I felt them moving in my direction even before I saw them … or heard them.

  Then they opened their eyes in unison, fake doll eyes glowing red as I turned in a circle to look for escape. They didn’t speak as their feet shuffled across the ground. They were bigger than normal dolls – which made them all the more frightening, of course – and when I steeled myself to stare the nearest one in its evil blinking eyes, the laughing started.

  I remembered the sound from when I was a kid. I was older now, so it shouldn’t have been terrifying, but my heart shuddered all the same. At first it was only one doll, but then the rest joined in. Suddenly it was a hundred dolls, which meant there were a lot more ceramic faces waiting for me in the darkness.

  They laughed … and laughed … and laughed.

  When I couldn’t take it any longer, I woke screaming.

  “Poet!” Kade thrashed to a sitting position next to me, his hands clenched into fists and his eyes wide with terror as he searched the room for an enemy to fight.

  I gasped for breath, working overtime to calm myself as the dream faded away thanks to the early morning sunlight filtering through the shades. My heart pounded so hard I thought I might pass out, but the minute Kade pressed his hand against my back the chill began fading … as did the fear.

  “Honey, what was that?” Kade slipped a strong arm behind my back, his hand shaking.

  “I’m sorry.” I gritted out the words. “I just … I’m sorry.”

  “That’s not why I asked. I don’t need an apology.” Kade’s eyes filled with concern as he leaned over my shoulder. “What was that?”

  “Um … a nightmare. It was just a nightmare.”

  “I figured that out myself. You’ve had nightmares before – and some pretty vivid ones at that – but I don’t ever remember you screaming like that. Do you want to tell me what it was about?”

  I remembered the dolls in the dream and vehemently shook my head. “Not really.”

  “I don’t think I can just let that be, Poet. I mean … you weren’t dreaming about moving in with me, were you?”

  It took me a moment to realize what he was referencing, and when I did, couldn’t stop myself from letting go a hoarse chuckle. “No, I definitely wasn’t dreaming about you.”

  “Then what?”

  “I … it’s not important.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  He wasn’t going to stop pushing until he got a satisfactory answer. Still, I didn’t want to admit to the dream. It made me feel weak for some reason, the same way I did as a kid when the first doll took over my life for a brief time.

  “It was dark. I couldn’t see beyond the fog. I was surrounded by dolls. That’s it.”

  “Dolls?” Kade’s eyes filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry. This happened because I pressed you yesterday on the doll story. This is my fault.”

  “It’s not your fault, and I would like to point out that they weren’t normal dolls,” I said. “They were as big as us, there were hundreds of them, they had glowing red eyes and they wouldn’t stop laughing at me.”

  Kade stilled. “They laughed at you? Like the doll from when you were a kid?”

  I scowled. “I know what you’re getting at, but it’s not a big deal. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “We’re a team. I’m supposed to be here if you have a bad dream.” Kade stroked my mussed hair. “I’m sorry about the doll dream. I do feel it’s partially my fault.”

  I exhaled a shaky breath and forced a smile. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Let’s forget about it and shower, huh? I’m starving.”

  Kade didn’t look convinced, but he let it slide. “Sounds like a plan.”

  I WAS BACK TO MY normal self when I carried a container of eggs to the kitchen area an hour later. Kade followed with bacon, bread and a bag of pre-cut hash browns. I could feel his eyes burning holes into my back as we walked, but he wisely kept from pressing me on the dream.

  He was either biding his time or he’d honestly opted to let it go. I was hopeful it was the latter.

  “There you are.” Luke was impatient when we arrived. “I thought you were getting up for sunrise yoga? I’m starving, by the way. Make my eggs scrambled.”

  Kade frowned as he rested the food items he carried on the picnic table. “I believe you meant ‘Poet, will you please cook me breakfast.’ Because, if you didn’t, I will totally thump you in about five seconds flat.”

  “Listen, Prince Testosterone, Poet likes cooking me breakfast,” Luke argued. “She doesn’t feel complete unless she does it.”

  That was a gross exaggeration, but I was too irritated to call him on it. “Scrambled eggs. I’ve got it.”

  Kade shot me a look before returning his focus to Luke. I realized what he was going to do a split second before he did it, but it was too late to stop him.

  “She had a bad dream and woke up screaming, Luke,” Kade barked. “Don’t treat her like a servant.”

  Luke immediately sobered. “You had a bad dream?”

  Great. By the time these two were done the entire circus would know I hated dolls … and why. “It was nothing.”

  “It was something,” Kade argued. “She scared the crap out of me. I thought we had an ax murderer in our trailer or something.”

  “I’ve always wanted to be an ax murderer,” Nellie announced, joining us under the tarp we set up to keep the kitchen area dry during rain. “I figure I would make a good one.”

  “You would definitely make a unique one,” Kade said d
ryly. “I don’t know many ax murderers who attack in evening gowns.”

  “Norman Bates wore dresses while attacking with a knife,” Nellie pointed out. “It’s not that far off.”

  “No, but the ax is a colorful detail that will add to your mystique,” Kade drawled before turning his attention back to Luke. “Be nice to Poet. She had a rough night.”

  Oh, geez. “My night was fine. It was just a dream. I think you’re more upset about it than I am.”

  “That might be,” Kade conceded. “You didn’t hear your screams from my point of view, though. I swear my blood turned to ice. That means Luke had better be nice to you because I’m feeling a bit helpless. I’m totally fine with smacking the crap out of him to feel better.”

  Yup. Prince Testosterone sounded just about right. “Do whatever you want. I’m staying out of it. In fact … .” Whatever I was about to say died on my lips when I caught sight of a harried-looking woman picking her way through the trailer aisle and heading in our direction.

  “What were you saying?” Kade asked, shifting so he could follow my gaze. “Who is that? Do you recognize her?”

  I shook my head. The woman was largely nondescript, short dirty blond hair and sad-looking eyes offsetting a rather plain face. She headed directly toward us, exuding purpose and worry with each step. I opened my mouth to greet her, briefly wondering if she thought the circus was already open and expected to find the big show ready to go down under the main tent, but something about the way she carried herself had me changing course before any words escaped.

  “Can we help you?” Kade asked, stepping forward.

  I remained where I was, watching with a mixture of worry and curiosity.

  “I hope so.” The woman didn’t bother faking a smile. “My daughter went missing last night and I’m hoping very much that you’ll be able to help me find her.”

  And just like that, my day took a turn.

  8

  Eight

  Pamela Dobbins was on the edge. She was ragged, exhausted and ready to burst into tears. I read it all, including her name, within a split-second of her arrival because it lingered on the surface. The moment she got close enough to touch, her emotions whipped through me, barreling into my heart and almost knocking me over. Kade was so distracted by the distraught woman he didn’t notice my reaction, instead hurrying to her side so he could lead her to the picnic table.