The Shikari Box Set

by Dora Blume

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  Sloane leaned back in the cozy loveseat at Caribou. The fire was lit in front of them, and both she and Mike clutched cups of coffee in their hands.

  “I thought she was supposed to meet you at eight?” Mike asked. He moved his arm behind Sloane and rested it around her shoulders.

  “She said eight, sharp. It’s only five after. I’m sure she’ll be here any minute. I should’ve asked her what she drinks. I could’ve gotten her a drink while we’re waiting.” Sloane snuggled closer into Mike, taking another drink from her cup.

  The chime on the door rang, and Sloane looked up expectantly. Chloe strode in with another girl behind her. She saw Sloane, and they both sat in the chairs next to them.

  “Hello, Chloe, nice to finally meet you,” Sloane said, taking a sip from her coffee. “Can we get you something?” she asked.

  “Uh, sure,” she looked to Katie. “You want something?”

  “Yeah, I’ll get it.” She stood.

  “Cool, you want to get me the light roast, black.” Katie nodded. She walked to the counter.

  Sloane elbowed Mike, “Go with her.”

  “Fine,” he stood and followed Katie to the counter. After she ordered, Mike extended his card to the cashier. “I got it,” he said. Katie smiled and went to fill their mugs with coffee.

  “Okay, Chloe, what did you have in mind for the school?” Sloane sat forward, setting her mug on the table in front of her and rested her elbows on her knees.

  “Okay, so there are over thirty students that know about the possessions. We know at this rate it won’t be long until they have all of us possessed. We have been watching helplessly because the teachers aren’t teaching what they should be. All the books with the dispossession information have been removed from the school. We’ve been searching for ways to dispossess our friends but haven’t had much luck. I had a vision of you coming to help, so I reached out to you. If we have a way to dispossess our friends we can start when we have them separated.” Chloe took her cup from Katie and took a careful sip of coffee.

  “Okay, we need to move a little faster. We are going in today. How fast can you spread the incantation to the students who aren’t possessed?” Sloane asked.

  “Ah,” she looked over to Katie. “We can send out a mass text. We have to make sure it doesn’t go out to any of the possessed students, but we can get it to them in minutes. As soon as we all have it, we can start dispossessing them. As long as we do it quickly, we should be able to start without anyone catching on. When are you guys going into the school? You know they know you’re coming, right?” she asked.

  “Yeah, we think we have a way to get in without anyone knowing we’re there until it’s too late. I don’t want to give you all the details, just yet,” she said.

  “You don’t trust me?” Chloe questioned. “Of course, you don’t. You just met me. Okay, well what’s the incantation. I’ll send out a text. Maybe that will sway you into trusting us. If we can dispossess the students, you’ll have a better shot at winning the fight. You guys don’t want to go up against the students at the school. Some of us have some serious juice.” She looked over to Katie, and she was nodding.

  “Okay, hand me your phone,” Sloane said. Sloane typed in what she needed and handed it back. “I put in my cell phone. You’ll find it’s an easier way to contact me.” She smirked.

  Chloe took the phone and messaged Sloane. “Now you have my number. Will you call me with a plan? I’ll go back to the school now and see what we can do before you get there. The more students we can change the better. Then you’ll only have the teachers left to deal with. Oh yeah, and Mr. Hall. That guy such a phony. He acts all nice like he’s saving the school, but in reality, he’s the one getting all the students possessed.” She shook her head.

  “Alright, we need to go meet up with our friends to continue planning before we go into the school. Oh yeah, Chloe, can you find a girl named Nicole and try to dispossess her? She’s the daughter of my friend, and we’d like not to have to go against her. Could you try to find her for me?” Sloane asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.” Chloe got up and nodded toward Sloane.

  “Thanks, until we meet again.” Sloane waved her hand in the air. They left and walked to the car.

  Mike got into the car, “Well, that was a quick meeting. Do you think they’ll be able to dispossess students without being caught in the process?”

  “I don’t know. I hope they can. Chloe seems smart, but I don’t know anything about her. She jumped right in, so I hope she knows what she’s doing. If not, we’ll end up fighting the students. I’d like to avoid that if at all possible.” Sloane took Mike’s hand.

  “I couldn’t agree more, love.” Mike looked into Sloane’s eyes. Sloane noticed his mouth was tight with worry. She couldn’t blame him. She was worried, too. They were only kids, fighting against demons.

  “Okay, now we’ve handled the meeting. Are we going back to Caroline’s? Erik and Jessie will be there shortly.” Sloane tried to calm her nerves. Felling Mike’s hand in hers helped.

  “Yeah, we need to go back and talk with the others. Let them know about Chloe and see what they found out.” Mike took the last turn and pulled into Caroline’s driveway. “Shouldn’t there be other people here by now?” Mike asked.

  “I thought so. Maybe they just aren’t here, yet. Our meeting was pretty quick.” Sloane shrugged and got out of the car.

  ‘Yeah, maybe.” Mike said and followed Sloane into the house.

  Chapter 21

  Caroline was sitting in the kitchen, clutching a cup of coffee. “Hey, I thought there’d be more people here by now. It’s almost ten.” Sloane said as she moved to sit next to Caroline.

  “They’re coming. Some are just further away than others.” Caroline shrugged.

  “Did you get any sleep?” Sloane asked.

  “No, I can’t sleep with my daughter out there, possessed. I’ll sleep when she’s home safe.” Caroline looked hollow. Dark circles rimmed her lower lashes.

  “Aren’t you worried you won’t be able to fight if you’re too tired?” She asked.

  “No, I’m not.” She lowered her head and took another drink of her coffee. “You’ll understand when you’re a mother.” She muttered.

  “O...kay, so, did you get the text from Erik?” she asked.

  “Yes, Nick is finding out about Carlos. Magnus already got a truck for us to use. Jessie and Erik are picking it up now. They’ll be parking it at a nearby dock. I called a friend. When we’re ready, we can load up in the back at the dock. I wanted to make sure it was ready to go nearby.” Caroline glanced at her watch. “They should be back here any minute. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on Nick. Hopefully, he found this Carlos to help us.” She rose and trudged back to her office.

  Sloane was concerned about her. She figured she’d be the same in her situation. She looked up, and Mike strode into the kitchen. “Hey, I think I just saw Erik and Jessie pull up. I thought they were bringing the truck?” Mike asked.

  “They parked it at a loading dock nearby per Caroline. They couldn’t exactly drive a semi down a residential street. Especially one so close to the mountains.” Mike stood behind Sloane and began rubbing her shoulders. “You’re too tense, love.” He continued rubbing. Sloane closed her eyes as he worked to relax her.

  Jessie and Erik came into the room. “Hey, so we parked the truck.” Erik said, “How was the meeting?”

  “Good, Chloe has the incantation to dispossess the students. She sent a mass text. They said they’d try to dispossess as many students as they could before we got there. I told her I would let her know when we were going in. I also sent her to try to find Nicole. She mentioned some of the students there have some serious powers that we don’t want to go against. I’m hoping she focuses on dispossessing them, first. I can’t imagine having to go against our own. Especially students.” Sloane shook her head.

  “Yeah, can you imagine
being Caroline, right now.” Erik sat across from Sloane.

  “Ah, no and I’m worried about her. She doesn’t look so good.”

  “She’s not going to rest until we have Nicole. Can you blame her?” Jessie sat at the table next to Erik and reached for his hand. He gave it to her and squeezed.

  “No, I just needed to say that. When she was in here, she looked worn. She hasn’t slept any. I hope she makes it through the battle. It can be even worse when you're sleep deprived to make quick, accurate decisions. I’m just worried about her.” Sloane clasped her hands together.

  “Sloane, you live your life sleep deprived.” Erik cocked his head to the side, giving her a knowing look. She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I know, I know.” She shook her head.

  “Okay, so what’s next? We have the truck. Nick is working on Carlos. What should we be doing? I’m surprised no one is here, yet.” Jessie looked around the kitchen.

  “I said the same thing when I came in here to talk to Caroline. She said some were coming from further away, and they would be here soon. I thought they started calling last night? I’m surprised no one has arrived.” Sloane shrugged. “I guess, I can try to get a vision while we’re waiting.” She slouched further. She didn’t like the idea because her visions were often draining, but she needed to try.

  “Okay, we have bugs planted in Mr. Hall’s office. We’ll listen in on what’s going on to find the best time to go in. Magnus is working on stalling the actual food delivery truck until later. I think our timing is going to be around two to three this afternoon, but I’ll let you know if anything changes.” Erik stood.

  “I’m going to make a few calls. See if I can get any more people here. I’ll be up to join you shortly.” Mike bent to kiss Sloane before walking out of the room.

  Sloane walked to the fridge, to make herself and Mike a sandwich. She went up to her room to focus. Sitting at the desk, she looked at her phone. It’d been a long time since she’d checked on anything from her other life. Even the thought of opening Facebook gave her a knot in her stomach, but she wanted to know. She needed to at least see that everyone was okay. She was trying to distance herself from the life she couldn’t go back to, but there was still a twinge of guilt for disappearing so abruptly. Amy knew what was going on, but she’d been calling. Sloane hadn’t answered a single call. She wasn’t ready to explain anything to her. She sighed and turned her phone upside down on the desk and took a bite of her sandwich. She needed to keep her head in the game.

  She took a few steps over to the bed and slid to the middle. She cleared her mind of all thoughts. She focused on herself, her power. She focused on the future. After a few moments, Sloane huffed. She was sick of how temperamental her power was. She needed to be able to get visions when she needed them. Not whenever the universe felt like it. Mike opened the door and popped his head in.

  “Mind if I join you?” he asked.

  “Of course not. I made you a sandwich.” Sloane pointed to the sandwich on the desk.

  “Oh, thanks.” He walked over to the desk and took a bite of the sandwich. “So, any luck?”

  “No, I never get a vision when I want one.” She clasped her hands in front of her. Mike set down his sandwich and slid in front of her on the bed. He took her hands in his.

  “Love, you need to stop putting so much pressure on yourself. You’ll get a vision when you need one. You know your power doesn’t work on command. You’ve gotten lucky so far. Have you messaged Chloe about when we’ll be there?” he asked.

  “Oh, no. I probably should.” She went to the desk to grab her phone. She grabbed their sandwiches and handed Mike his plate. She sent Chloe a message saying they’d be arriving at three. She didn’t want to give her the details as to how they planned to arrive. She figured giving her the time would be good enough.

  Her phone lit up a moment later. Okay, we’ve dispossessed about fifteen students. No Nicole yet though. I don’t know where she is or what she looks like. Can you send a pic?

  “I need to find a picture of Nicole.” Sloane looked to Mike.

  “There’s a few in picture frames when you walk up the steps. I think they’re her school pictures. The closest to the bottom is her most recent, I think.” Mike explained.

  “Okay, I’ll be right back.” She hurried to take the picture and sent it off to Chloe.

  She came back, and Mike was brushing crumbs off the bed and setting his empty plate on the desk. He walked back to the bed and slid against the headboard. He patted the space in front of him. “Come here, love. I’ll try to help you relax.”

  She slid in front of him. “Okay.” He massaged her shoulders. She moaned as he dug his fingers into the muscles in her shoulders and back.

  “Oh God, Mike. That feels so good,” she moaned.

  He bent to whisper in her ear, “I love you, Sloane.”

  She tensed, “What?” She turned to face him, eyes wide.

  “I said, I love you.” He blinked.

  “Why would you say that?” She tensed. He couldn’t love her. They were just having fun. She shook her head and looked down to her hands. She began picking at the cuticles on her nails. So much for relaxing.

  “I said it because it’s true, love. What’s wrong? I would think you would love to hear me tell you; I love you.” She felt his eyes studying her. She continued to pick at her cuticles. She had thought the same thing the other day, but she wasn’t ready to tell anyone, especially him.

  “We haven’t even been together that long. How can you know you love me? Why would you say it, now? We were just having fun together.” She got up from the bed and walked out of the room.

  Mike sat, mouth open. Then he scrambled to follow her. “Sloane, Sloane, where are you going?” Mike called. She turned toward him in the hall.

  “Downstairs,” she stared at the floor. Mike placed his hand under her chin, lifting it so she would meet his eyes. Sloane could see the calmness in his eyes. She only felt fear.

  “Love, we’re about to go into battle, again. I didn’t want you going into it without knowing how I felt. You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know.” His eyes glistened in the light. She could see the gold flecks in his eyes as he watched her. She nodded slightly.

  “Okay,” she muttered softly.

  “Come on, let’s go back to the room.” He held out his hand to her. She looked down at it wearily, then back up to his eyes.

  “I want to go check on, what Erik and Jessie have learned from listening to Mr. Hall. Maybe they know where Nicole is since Chloe hasn’t been able to find her.” She turned and hurried down the steps leaving Mike to stare after her.

  Jessie and Erik were sitting on the couch with Erik’s laptop on the coffee table in front of them. “Hey, hear anything interesting?” Sloane asked when she reached the landing.

  “Yeah, but none of it is good. They have Nicole. They’re using her to get others to do what they want. It’s not looking good for us.” Jessie looked back at Sloane. She walked over to take a seat in one of the chairs.

  “That’s why Chloe hasn’t been able to find her.” A moment later, Mike reached the living room. He met her eyes momentarily and sat in a chair across the room from her.

  “Did you let her know we’re going in at three?” Erik asked.

  “Yeah, they’ve dispossessed fifteen students so far. Do you have any idea how many are possessed in there?” She asked.

  “No, we didn’t stay long enough to get an accurate number, but there are plenty. I’m hoping they put a good dent in it before we get there. I’m not sure we’ll have enough of us to go up against an entire school of possessed Shikari. That would be a suicide mission if I ever heard one.” Erik shook his head.

  “I’m sure they have. I’ll message Chloe in an hour for an update. How many of us will there be?” She asked.

  “About twenty-five, I think. Caroline and Nick keep changing the number and Magnus is on his way here. Bryant is with him. They’re p
utting off going to Kansas City until everything here is wrapped up. Magnus said he didn’t feel right leaving when his city is in turmoil. He’s bringing as many with him as he can spare. There are still demons in Denver he needs to deal with.” Erik shook his head.

  “I called in a few people I know from the area. You can add four more. They weren’t happy to be pulled out of hiding, but they’re coming for me.” Mike looked to Erik. He nodded.

  “Thanks, that will help,” Jessie said.

  “Why are they in hiding?” Sloane couldn’t help herself.

  “Some don’t trust the order. Especially, if they have a particularly useful power.” He studied Sloane. “You should understand that.” His tone was biting as he spoke.

  “I do understand.” She shot back.

  “Oh shit,” Erik said. “What’s going on with you two?”

  “Nothing.” They both said in tandem.

  “Ah, okay, I don’t believe either of you.” Erik looked from Sloane to Mike. “You need to get your shit together because we need to fight in a few hours. The truck is already. We’re just waiting on more people.”

  “We’ll be ready,” Mike said.

  “Do we have a plan for how we’re going into the building? Who is focusing on what? Anything like that?” Sloane asked. She knew Erik was the king of planning, and if she asked, he would forget all about their issues.

  “Yes, Nick got Carlos to help us. He’s Shikari, which was surprising. He’s meeting the truck as expected. Jessie will freeze the other workers when he opens the door for them. We’re going for the leaders in the offices first. Then we’ll spread to the different buildings. Jessie will help as much as she can to freeze. The rest of us will spread out and try to dispossess without too much of a fight if possible. I’m hoping the students are taken care of by your friend. Do you think the students will help when we get there? Do any of them have similar powers to Jessie?” Erik looked expectantly toward Sloane.

  “I’ll check.” She reached for her phone but remembered it was still up in the bedroom. “Oh, I left my phone upstairs. I’ll go text her.” She stood.