He’d been thinking so much about the ghost and Mr. Morgan, when he should have been doing math, that Mrs. Miller had given him a demerit, so now he had to sit out two recess periods. He was glad when the final bell rang.
As he gathered up his things, he did his shielding, pleased he didn’t even have to close his eyes to “see” the box. It was getting easier, and made him feel a little bit safer. He walked over to Michael Thornton’s desk. “Hey Michael! Wanna walk out with me?”
Michael was stuffing wadded papers into his backpack. He was a little older than Alex—he’d already turned seven—but he was small for his age, and even skinnier than Alex. He looked up and smiled shyly, his shaggy blond hair almost covering his eyes. “Sure. I just gotta get my books.”
He was Alex’s best friend, and they played soccer together and sometimes shared secrets—although Alex hadn’t told anyone about his powers—not even about the ghost. Besides, Michael had lost his dad earlier that year, and Alex figured ghost stuff might upset him.
“Hurry up, Mikey,” he said. “I don’t want to miss the bus.”
“I’m ready.” Michael grabbed his jacket, dragged his backpack off his desk. The two boys lugged their things out into the hallway.
“I’ve been practicing soccer in my back yard. My mom got me one of those special nets,” Alex said as he followed his friend through the main entrance to the covered area where the bus waited. “Hey, maybe you can come over one day after school this week, and we can practice together.”
“Maybe,” Michael replied, but he didn’t look too hopeful. “It depends on my mom. She’s been kinda sick since—” He stopped, looking stricken.
Alex felt a flare of sadness, and suddenly realized he was sensing his friend’s emotions. Way cool. Maybe he could pick up more from Michael. Concentrating, he thought of a pretend screen, like Mr. Morgan had told him. He imagined a window lowering—just a little bit—and stuff coming inside, so he could “listen”.
He felt it then, something bad. Something really bad. It was dark and scary and made him feel sick, like he’d felt at Mrs. Burgess’s house. He froze, fear racing through him. What should he do? What would Mr. Morgan want him to do? He thought hard, remembering that Mr. Morgan said Sentinels had to listen.
Trembling, Alex knew he had to try, ‘cause he was a Sentinel. Very carefully, he lowered his guards and tried to listen.
“Hey Alex! What are you staring at?” Michael’s voice distracted him. “My mom’s here. I gotta go.”
“Okay. Bye.” Alex looked around, trying to see if there were any strangers or people who looked bad hanging around. He didn’t see any odd people, so he tried to listen again. It hit him—a feeling so scary, he dropped his backpack, and his books spilled out. Panicking, he stooped and frantically tried to cram his things back in.
He had the sudden sense of something dark coming closer. Looking for something, looking for…him. Scrambling to his feet, he glanced around, but everything seemed like a crazy blur.
The darkness moved toward him. He was terrified. He wanted his mom. He wanted Mr. Morgan.
It was coming after him. And he didn’t know what to do.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Kara left examining room two and went to the sink in the lab area to wash her hands before going to the next patient. She felt a little more rested today. Damien hadn’t called yesterday, and she and Alex had spent a quiet Sunday, going to church in the morning, working in the yard through the afternoon. They spent a nice evening watching The Incredibles, which he loved. Something about the superpowers the family members possessed really appealed to him, and perhaps now he even identified with them.
She wished Alex wasn’t so enamored of being a Sentinel. Yet, she had to wonder if his fascination with his powers and with Damien was instinctual, like birds migrating hundreds of miles to an invisible lure. Two things Damien had said ran through her mind: Some of that is pre-patterned before we’re born.… Alex chose this. His soul had free will, and came into this Earth plane, choosing the path of a Sentinel.
“Dr. Kara, you have a phone call,” Bonnie called out from the reception area. “It’s Luz, and she says it’s urgent.”
Trepidation shot through Kara. She tried to repress her alarm as she strode toward her office. But the word urgent filled her with foreboding. That and the fact she knew full well what a Belian was capable of. She closed her office door, picked up the receiver, and engaged the line. “What is it, Luz?”
“It’s Alex.” Panic laced Luz’s husky voice. “He is missing. I can’t find him anywhere.”
“What?” Kara braced herself against the desk, a burst of fear jolting her heart. “What do you mean, you can’t find him?”
“I decided to pick him up at school today, so we could run some errands. But when I got to the school, he was not there.”
“The bus. He must have taken the bus.”
“No, he didn’t. I thought the same, so I followed the bus most of the route. He didn’t get off at the house, and I flagged the bus at the next stop. Alex wasn’t on it, and Mr. Meyers said he hadn’t seen him. I thought maybe he’d gotten a ride and I went back to the house, but he is not here.”
Suddenly unable to breathe, Kara pushed away from the desk. “Maybe he went home with—”
“No!” Luz’s voice rose. “I called everyone I could think of—the Roberts, the Kirklands, the Libbys, the—”
“The Thorntons. Michael’s his best friend.” Kara’s voice shook. “Did you call them?”
“Sí. Michael said Alex walked out with him, and headed toward the bus. Michael said he didn’t see Alex after that, because he got in his mother’s car and they drove off.”
“There’s got to be an explanation. Maybe he went home with someone else.” Kara pressed a hand against her mouth.
“I don’t know who.” Luz let out a little sob. “All I know is my little man is missing, and I don’t know what to do.”
Blood was everywhere, almost iridescent in the flashing lights. Richard’s body lay in a pool of it, broken and bent like a rag doll carelessly thrown aside. The Belian stalked toward Kara, its soulless eyes radiating a malevolent darkness. She stepped back, slipping in blood and almost falling. In a moment, he would reach her, and it would be over…
Alex! Thoughts of her son snapped her back. Surely the Belian hadn’t found him. Oh please, God, no!
“Kara, are you there? What should I do?”
She battled back rising hysteria. Losing it now wouldn’t help Alex. She had to think. Damien. She had to find Damien. “Call 9-1-1 and tell them Alex is missing,” she told Luz. “I’ll meet you at the house as soon as I can get there.”
She clicked off and stared dumbly at the phone, the blood roaring in her ears. Her chest was so tight, she couldn’t breathe. For a moment she thought she might black out. But her son needed her. She threw down the receiver and ran around the desk to retrieve her purse. Her hands shaking, she dug out her cell phone, punched the directory pad, and scrolled through the numbers. Where was it? There! Damien M. Thank God he had put in his number, because she wasn’t sure she could find his card right now, much less dial the number.
She hit Send and listened to the rings, rocking back and forth, terror rolling through her in sickening waves. Alex, her baby, her child, her life. He was all right. He had to be.
“Morgan.”
“Alex is missing. Damien, he’s gone!”
“Tell me what happened.” As always, he sounded calm, while her world had just tilted off its axis.
“He wasn’t at school when Luz went to pick him up, and the bus driver said he never got on the bus.”
“Have you checked with his friends? Maybe he’s with one of them. Or maybe he found another way home.”
“No, he didn’t. He’s not at the house, and Luz called his friends. No one has seen him.”
“So he’s missing from school.”
“What does it matter? He’s gone! My son is gone!” Her voice broke, and sh
e forced a ragged breath.
“Kara, you have to stay calm, and help me figure this out. I need to know where Alex was when he disappeared.”
Adrenaline and fear had her both jittery and sluggish, making it hard to think. “He was— He must have been at school. I dropped him off this morning.”
“Call the school and confirm whether or not he was there all day. Then call me back.”
“I think he was…” A memory nagged at the edge of her mind, and then she remembered what Luz had said. “Oh, wait, I know he was. Michael Thornton told Luz that Alex walked out with him after school and went toward the bus.”
“That’s what I needed to know. I’m headed to the school now.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“No. Your emotional state will affect my tracking. Contact the police and make sure they issue an Amber Alert.”
Tracking? An Amber Alert? The reality of the situation lanced through her like a spear. Thoughts of child predators—and worse—ran through her head. Alex knew better than to go anywhere with a stranger but if it was someone he knew. . . “Do you think the Belian—”
“I don’t know what to think yet. Let me do my job, Kara. Call the police, then go to the house.”
“But—”
“Just do it. That’s the best way to help Alex.”
He disconnected with his usual abruptness. Anger flared through her, but she welcomed it, preferring it over the debilitating fear. She knew Damien was her best hope for finding her son. And his plan—as terrifying as the implications were—was sound. She fumbled in her desk for her Rolodex, picked up her phone, and called the police station.
* * * *
Damien parked in front of the school and turned off the car. He placed his hand over the quartz crystal resting beneath his shirt, centered himself, and initiated the flow of power through his chakras. As he got out, he let his senses flare. Immediately, he hit a wall of darkness and depravity that signaled Belian energy. Damn!
For a moment, fear and concern for Alex gripped him. He was beginning to bond with the boy, to feel affection toward him. The thought of the child in the hands of the Belian sent rage and other, unfamiliar emotions through him.
Stop it, he told himself. He could not afford to form emotional attachments to the boy, or to let his feelings affect his judgment. Emotions could get him killed, and wouldn’t save Alex. He must remain calm, objective.
He flared his senses again, saw the choppy, murky images created by a shielded Belian. He saw the psychic replay of the children coming out of the school, obviously leaving for the day, as they had jackets and backpacks and books, the bus and waiting cars edging the peripheral.
The vision jolted, moving across the kids, as if searching; the Belian must have been looking for someone. The focus appeared to be on the children rather that the adults who were present, raising the concern that the Belian had indeed picked up Alex broadcasting. But did it know Alex was the broadcaster?
The visual scan continued, and Alex walked out of the school, beside a pale, blond-haired boy. The scan swept past Alex, slowed, and started back in his direction. But before it came back to him, the vision blurred, faded to gray. Something must have caught the Belian’s attention, broken its concentration.
Damien tried to pick up the ethereal trail again, but hit a psychic blockade—another indicator of the power and cleverness of this Belian. There was no way to tell if it had fixated on Alex or not, and what had happened after that. God damn it!
Senses fully alert, Damien walked along the sidewalk to where the children had been getting on the bus or in cars. Then he walked to the other end of the loading area. No other vibrations or twinges. Frustrated, he turned and started back. Outside of the initial psychic trace from the Belian, there was nothing. It was as if he were operating in a void.
A very slight wisp of energy brushed his mind; a faint stirring of something—or someone. He reached out mentally, carefully, broadcasting only through the higher chakras. “Alex? Can you hear me? If you can, try to send me an answer, like a thought, but keep your shields up.”
He waited, got nothing. He tried again. “Alex? Where are you?”
The dead silence felt like a weight dragging him down. He had absolutely no idea where to look next, except to drive along River Road and hope he saw the misshapen oak tree he’d seen during the conduction—and what were the odds of that? His failure to keep the boy safe burned in his gut as he turned toward his car.
He felt it then, another faint whisper of energy. He froze, waited. There it was again—so soft and distant, he wasn’t sure what it was. “Alex? Is that you?”
“Help…me…”
Damien turned full circle, scanning the entire area. “Where are you?”
Despite his intense concentration, he couldn’t pick up the thought form again. Its weakness, and the fact the sender hadn’t been able to sustain it, convinced him it must have been from Alex, who didn’t yet have the power or the skill to project clearly. But where was he?
Damien closed his eyes, used his third eye to search for more energy trails. There! Fading swirls of brown, orange, and blue—the murky brown indicative of a lack of focusing skill, and the orange indicating agitation. The blue told him it wasn’t Belian energy—he’d have seen black instead. The swirls appeared to be coming from the main doors of the school. He pivoted sharply and strode toward the entrance. There, the energy felt more pronounced. “Are you inside the school?”
He felt a small energy surge and took that as a yes. Now it became a question of where in the school. And was the Belian with Alex? Damien tried the glass door, found it locked. He focused his mental will, felt the bolt on the other side turning. Then he pulled open the door and went in. “Alex, talk to me. Tell me where you are.”
“Dark… Afraid…”
Damien strode to the corridor on the right and turned down it. He followed the energy trail, feeling it grow stronger. Up ahead, a wizened man in a rumpled khaki uniform and scuffed work boots was mopping the tile floor. When he saw Damien, his head snapped up in surprise. Before he could react, Damien silenced him with a forceful mental push. Knowing the man’s mind would be temporarily blanked, he moved past.
He slowed, however, as he approached a closed door. The energy seemed strongest there. Damien studied the door. It didn’t have a window in it, and it didn’t appear to be a classroom. Some sort of storage, maybe. And something was on the other side.
Damien grasped his crystal, and called upon the forces of Earth and water to give him strength and focus. Then he pulled his gun from the shoulder holster he’d strapped on after Kara called him.
Grasping the door handle, he turned it and pulled the door open.
* * * *
Kara watched Luz’s white pickup truck drive away and battled the all-out panic attack that lurked inside her. Officer Ben Rains had left ten minutes ago, after taking her statement and telling her he’d check into activating the Amber Alert. This was the first child disappearance for Zorro, and they had no firsthand experience with this.
Then Luz, who had been monitoring the progression of the labor of one of her patients via cell phone, told Kara she couldn’t stay any longer. “I must go now, mi camadre, or Estella’s bebé will birth itself. I am so sorry. I do not want to leave, especially with no word on my little man.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she picked up her coat and purse. “But I am una curandera, and I must honor my obligations. Another chiquito needs me also. Promise you will call as soon as you hear anything.”
Kara nodded. “Yes. Yes, I will—” her voice broke, and she turned away. “I—I’ll let you know when I hear.”
“I will pray that los espíritus buenos, good spirits, will watch over our little man, bring him back to us,” Luz said softly, and then left.
There was nothing for Kara to do but pace back and forth, praying to God to bring her son safely home. An awful, incessant pit of fear spread through her until she could barely
breathe. Horrific scenarios kept flashing through her mind, and she couldn’t turn them off.
She felt the frantic need to do something, and several times started to reach for her car keys, determined to go to the school. But each time, she thought of Damien’s words and stopped. She knew she couldn’t control her emotions right now, and she also knew he had the best chance of tracking Alex. She couldn’t do anything to endanger his chances.
She felt as though she was going insane as each interminable minute crawled by. She thought of calling Chief Greer, but had already spoken with him twice, and once with Officer Rains.
She desperately wanted to talk to her mother and stepfather, but didn’t want to alarm them. Besides, they didn’t know the truth about Richard, or the secret life Kara had led in Birmingham for two years. She didn’t have any close friends, having left her old life behind when she fled to Zorro seven years ago. One person she might have told, Doris, was dead.
Feeling sick and dazed, Kara continued to pace and pray. Time blurred, so she wasn’t sure how long she’d paced when her cell phone rang. Her heart leaped, and she snatched it up. “Yes?”
“I have Alex,” came Damien’s deep voice. “He’s fine.”
“Thank God.” She sagged against the table, weak with relief, but then doubt dug in its talons. “Are you sure Alex is okay? You’re not just saying that?”
“He’s fine, Kara. I promise.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding. “Where was he?”
“Let me get him home, and then we’ll figure everything out. In the meantime, you’d better contact the police.”
“Yes, yes I will.” Alex was all right! She could leap tall buildings, could handle anything, even dealing with Chief Greer. “What should I tell them?”
“That Alex missed the bus and decided to walk home, and got sidetracked.”
“Is that what really happened?” she asked incredulously. Alex had never missed the bus, and would have gone right back into the school office if he had.
“No. But you have to tell them something that sounds plausible, so it doesn’t raise anyone’s suspicions. Just so you know, Alex didn’t do anything he shouldn’t have. It’s not his fault he missed the bus and didn’t come home.”
Touched by Darkness – An Urban Fantasy Romance (Book 1, The Sentinel Series) Page 16
