Now this blond surfer type with a supernatural smell to him had saved me from drowning. Again. And he claimed he’d been in that original car accident along with me and my other friends. But if I couldn’t remember, what good did that do me?
And what did he want?
I had no doubt he wanted something. Maybe I could get a hint of what that might be if I played my cards right. I glanced at him sideways. He was leaning foreword, staring intently down the road as though he had to be ready to face whatever might be coming our way. I focused hard, reached down into my core and drew up my psychic senses, narrowed my gaze and let it run over the naked skin of his back, up and down, searching for answers, probing every inch, every golden hair, listening and breathing and analyzing even the scent of him.
He turned his head quickly and caught me at it.
I tensed, ready to duck, but instead of lashing out, he laughed again.
I turned away, reddening but unapologetic. Now he knew that I knew he wasn’t purely human and for some reason, that seemed to amuse him.
“Don’t worry, Haley,” he whispered close to my ear. “Soon, all will be revealed.”
“Really?” I said sarcastically. “How about a short preview? Just a little something to tide me over.”
He stared into my eyes for a moment, then almost smiled.
“Okay.”
He leaned closer again so that his words sort of vibrated in my ear, and I had a feeling he was creating some sort of barrier so the two in front wouldn’t be able to understand his words to me.
“Here’s the deal, Haley. I’m here to help you but in order to do what I came for, I need to make some connections in town. At the same time, I need to remain anonymous. If anyone in paranormal authority here in Moonhaven gets wind of my presence, I’ll be gone like a summer rainstorm.”
He grabbed my hand and held it for a second or two, then dropped it again.
“Can you keep a secret, Haley? I’m the secret you have to keep. Reveal me, and I’m probably a dead man. You got that?”
I took in a sharp breath. He meant it. I could see it in his eyes. And suddenly I realized revealing his presence was the last thing I wanted to do. If he actually had come to help me get my memory back, that was something I wanted desperately.
Yes, I’d been telling myself it really didn’t matter all that much, but I’d been lying. It was everything to me, and I was pretty sure, the only way I would ever get a strong enough foundation to go out and find my family.
Yes, it was everything.
But how could I depend on a man like this to help me? He could say all these things, but what was he really going to do? No, I had to get away from him if I could.
“You okay?” he whispered, his gaze searching my face.
I didn’t answer. No matter how much I wanted what he was promising, I didn’t trust him. So where did that leave me?
He went back to talking to Roger and I went back to fantasizing how I might be able to car-jack this tin can of a van and take it where I wanted it to go. Was it possible?
It would take tricking Marcus and getting him to turn his attention to something else, something far enough away to provide a puzzle for him to work out, and meanwhile I would have to find a way to overpower that big teddy bear driving, and at the same time, do something about the Celia person who hadn’t said a word in fifteen minutes. Oh sure. Easy peasy. This was what I’d been training for, wasn’t it?
But somehow, the proper moment hadn’t arrived yet. Things would have to fall into place. That wasn’t happening.
We took a sharp turn and I got slammed up against the window. Marcus yelled something at Roger. Something had slid over my foot and I looked down to find a stack of papers and two notebooks had invaded my space. The papers included a map of California and a hand-drawn attempt at a map below it. I couldn’t quite make it out and suddenly, I really needed to know. Something told me it would be relevant very soon.
Marcus was still cussing out Roger for his driving and I kicked the pile with my foot, exposing more of the map. It looked like a childish rendering of the basic outlines of Moonhaven Valley. A red line extended from the downtown area out into the space called the Bad Lands. I’d never been there, but I’d heard that various tribes of supernaturals had a sort of reservation system in the Bad Lands, each with their own little kingdom set apart from the others.
I tried to kick the papers apart a bit more so that I could see where that red line ended, but before I could get anything real, Marcus turned to me and held out his hand. Hanging from his fingers was a slender twist of leather thong, laced with tiny silver and purple glass beads.
“Look what I’ve got. Your bracelet. Remember? Here.”
He dropped it into my hand and my fingers closed around it as though I had to hold on to it now, never let it go again.
“Where did you get it?” I asked, my heart thumping. Did I remember it? No, how could I? And yet…and yet… There was something about it…
“I’ve been holding it for you. I knew we would meet again. Look.”
He held up his wrist and I saw that he had a bracelet too, almost a twin of the one I held, only larger.
“You want me to help you put it on?”
I shook my head, but at the same time, I held on to it. I wasn’t going to give it back. Still, I wouldn’t let myself look at it, even though I wanted to. Why did it seem to have power over me? My heart was still thumping.
He shrugged, looked down and straightened the stack just below my seat so that I couldn’t see any details any longer, and looked away again. I tried to relax.
We were in farm country now, racing past the Gremlin Ranch where I’d once visited Brick, the gremlin wrangler, and then the suburbs of Moonhaven began to appear through the windshield. Marcus was leaning against the armrest with his eyes closed and the fingertips of his left hand were massaging his temple. Suddenly his eyes opened and he looked behind us at the road we’d just traveled. Without seeming to remember I was right beside him, he scrunched forward on the seat, leaned into the front and said something to Roger.
Roger grunted and pulled over to the side of the road. Marcus gave me a nod.
“Here’s where you get off, Haley,” he said, moving quickly to pull open the sliding door and give me a guiding hand in the center of my back, rushing me out onto the side of the road.
“What?” I was saying. I hadn’t planned on being dumped out in the country. Now, instead of wishing I could get away from this bunch, I was trying to think of ways to get a full ride into town. After all, I didn’t want to lose touch with them. They supposedly knew a lot about me that I needed to know myself.
“Listen,” I said quickly, trying to get it all out in a rush. “I was thinking you and your friends could come stay at the bakery I run just off the central park in Moonhaven. It’s pretty private and….”
He was shaking his head, his gaze back looking down the road behind us again. “That’s not going to work out for us,” he said softly, then pulled me closer. “But I’ll be seeing you soon. We’ve got work to do, you and I.”
He stared down into my face, his deep blue eyes seeming to glow a bit, sort of eerie and definitely hypnotic. I felt myself begin to sway, like a snake entranced by a flute song. I struggled to speak.
“But…”
“Sorry I have to leave you like this. It can’t be helped. But you won’t be alone for long.” He glanced back down the road again as though expecting someone. “Just remember what I told you. Keep our secret, okay? See ya, kiddo.” He touched my chin, grinned, and swung back into the van, which took off like a rocket.
“Hey, your hoodie,” I called after them, knowing no one could hear me. I watched them disappear into a cloud of dust, realizing I hadn’t even begun to find out anything from them. If Marcus was telling the truth, these people were the only ones I’d found who might possibly give me new information about myself and my family. I didn’t want to lose contact, but there wasn’t much I coul
d do about that right now.
With a sigh, I looked around at the country mailboxes, each set out like a lonely sentinel, each farmhouse they belonged to set back from the road at least a quarter of a mile away.
“Oh well,” I muttered. I guess I’m in for a long walk.
I dropped the bracelet Marcus had given me into the pouch on the hoodie and started off, still in a bit of a haze, not sure what the heck was going on. Then I heard something coming up behind me. I turned and saw Shane’s patrol car. He pulled up beside me and I gave him a look. He put it in park and came out to meet me, face to face.
His hands were on his hips. His jaw was working. His temple was throbbing. I couldn’t see his eyes because of the sheriff-style dark glasses he wore. But something told me he wasn’t pleased with me right now. Funny how quickly I could pick up on that with him. Maybe that was because it happened so often.
“Hey,” I said, smiling, trying to keep things friendly.
“Where have you been?” he said in a voice that sounded more like a growl. “The whole town thinks you were drowned at the beach. They think you got hit by jet skiers.”
“Huh?” I blinked. “Where did they get that idea?”
“Rennie.”
“What?” I wanted to laugh, but thought better of it.
“You did walk out into the surf and disappear, didn’t you?”
“Oh.” I swallowed. “Yeah, maybe. A little bit.”
His mouth was open but he was so angry with me he couldn’t seem to get any words out. I tried to help him.
“You see, I was kind of upset. I mean, we’d planned the beach trip for ages and at the last minute, everybody bailed. That disappointment was roiling around inside me and I needed to get away from Rennie and Mandy and think some things through and I headed out into the ocean. That’s all.”
“All alone?”
I shrugged. “Sure. I’m a strong swimmer. You know that.”
“I also know that you once drowned.”
He really was angry.
“I was trapped in a car at the time. You can’t compare the two.”
“So why didn’t you go back to Rennie on the beach? Why did you go off somewhere else?”
I grimaced. “Okay, that’s a little harder to explain.”
He stared at me. I tried to smile. He reached out and pulled me close, holding me tightly. I melted against his hard body and felt tears tremble in my eyes. I bit my lip, bound and determined not to let him see me cry. And that was when I realized I’d had a more traumatic afternoon than I’d realized.
”Don’t scare me like that again,” he muttered as he let me go. “Come on. Let’s get you back home so you can get out of those wet clothes. You’re shivering.” He stared at the hoodie, reading the saying written across the chest and reacting badly to it.
“Where’d you get that?”
I held up my hand. “I’ll explain it all. Just let me get into the car.”
We both got in and headed toward town. I sighed and relaxed in the comfortable seat.
“So. Explain.”
Shane is a man of few words, but he usually manages to get his interests taken care of.
“Okay, I was swimming and it was great. Such a beautiful day. The air, the sun, even the fog, all great. I was having a wonderful time. And then…” I paused, biting my lip.
“Yeah?”
“Well, I began to realize I was caught in a riptide.”
“There’s no such thing as a riptide.”
I grimaced, wanting to punch him. “I know. But most people think of it that way. I know it’s actually a rip current. Doesn’t matter. Whatever you call it, I fought it using everything I know about those currents, but in the end, it had me beat.”
I explained how I’d tried to deal with it, and then how it had been when I’d realized I had company.
“I looked up and saw a cabin cruiser just beyond the surf line. There was a man leaning on the railing, watching me. I tried to yell, but he didn’t seem to hear me. And then the boat was lost in the fog. And there I was with nothing. No help. And a hungry shark circling me.”
Shane gave me a quizzical look. “There hasn’t been a shark sighted around here in years,” he said.
I gazed at him, horrified. Was he doubting me?
“You think I made it up?” I said.
He winced. “No, of course not. But…”
“But you think I made it up. Or I was dreaming. Or maybe…” I took in a quick breath as the possible answer came to me. “Or maybe someone cast a spell on me.”
The moment I said those words I realized that last thrust might just be close to some kind of truth. After all, I’d been so sure that shark had bit me. I’d seen blood. I looked again, just to be sure, but there was no sign of it on my legs. So maybe…
“My gosh, do you think he put a spell on me? Really?”
“Who?”
I looked at him, wide-eyed. Something told me to be wary. Something told me to be smart. Not to give anything away. Not yet.
“Uh…this guy who pulled me out of the water. He said he knew me but I don’t trust him. Oh, and he’s the one who gave me this hoodie.”
That was what I should have said. Instead, I improvised. Why? Oh who knows! I’m constantly afraid of being outsmarted and that’s just what I end up doing. So sue me.
“I don’t know,” I said instead. “There was this guy hanging around, acting sort of kooky. I was just thinking…” My voice trailed off. I didn’t have anything else to say.
Shane gave me a sardonic look. “So much for your quiet day at the beach,” he said.
I sighed. “Oh well, at least there wasn’t one darn thing there to remind me of Alice in Wonderland. That’s a plus in my book.”
In case you weren’t aware, our town was in the middle of an Alice in Wonderland makeover. It was mostly Rennie’s fault. And I had to admit Gran Ana had something to do with it. Tourists seemed to like it. But the rest of us were somewhat bemused and overwhelmed.
“Hmm,” Shane muttered, finally in the mood to tease me a little. “I hadn’t noticed we had such a big problem to be remedied.”
“Are you kidding? Rennie wants us all to have to take out permits everywhere we go to prove our task is somehow a reference to something in WonderlandWorld.”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” he said. “Then anyone who wants to use the beach will have to sign out a walrus and a carpenter to come take the oysters for a walk. She’ll charge a small fee and make a mint on walruses alone.”
I fought back a grin. “Let’s hope not.”
“Oh come now. A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, along the burning sand. What could be more Wonderlandish?”
I laughed softly. “You surprise me, Deputy Sheriff. I had no idea your reading experience was so…so…”
“Ridiculous?” He gave me a full on grin. “What the heck. I like a good Lewis Carroll poem as much as the next man.”
“Do you? Just one little correction. It’s briny beach, not burning sand.”
“Sorry. My English Lit is just a little rusty.”
I turned to look at him closer, but it didn’t really matter, because Shane wasn’t listening anymore. A call was coming in.
10-54 on cabin cruiser near the Moonhaven Beach pier. Deputy assistance required. Code 2.
10-54. That means dead body.
I bit my lip to hold back any instant reaction that might be surging up my throat and a thousand panicky thoughts rushed through my head as I remembered the man watching me from the yellow cabin cruiser as I was struggling in the water. Watching and not responding.
But there was no reason to assume it was the same one. There were plenty of boats around the pier. Most of them didn’t have dead people on board. There was no reason…. Or was there?
Meanwhile, Shane swore softly, then returned the call and promised to be there as soon as he could make it.
“I’ll take you home first,” he told me.
“No, uh… Why do
n’t I just come with you?” I said quickly. Something told me this was going to be pertinent to my situation somehow, dead body or not. At any rate, I didn’t want to be left out. It seemed like something I should know about.
“No.” he said shortly in a voice the brooked no disagreement. “Not this time. There are too many weird things going on lately with the Festival coming and all. Your grandmother has warned me….” His voice trailed off and he glanced sideways in my direction. “I just want you some place safe,” he said gruffly.
I tried to argue but it did no good. He was unyielding. I got out of the car in front of my home and bakery and he barely nodded before he shot off, back the way we’d come. Back to the beach.
I watched his taillights disappear with a feeling of dread and I knew he was right. Something bad was happening.
Chapter 5
Rennie’s car was pulled up to the front porch so I wasn’t surprised to find her inside my bakery.
“Thank God you’re safe!” she cried, throwing her arms around me. She drew back after a quick hug and immediately went into accusation mode. “What happened? Where’ve you been?”
“I got caught in a rip ti…a rip current,” I said quickly, glancing over at Krissy, another friend from the old days that didn’t exist in my memory.
Krissy was now my official baker and lived, with her darling little boy Gavin, in a room on the second floor of the bakery, right next to mine—even though she was always giving me side-ways looks that seemed to say she was waiting for me to go a little crazy at any moment. What had I ever done to that woman?
“Sorry,” I added as Rennie fussed at me. “I ended up in a cove far from the main beach and the people I got a ride with didn’t want to go back by way of the beach. I didn’t have my cell, so…..” I shrugged.
Wild and Witchy Page 3