by Meg Ripley
Penny’s ordinary motto of not getting excited was difficult to stick to this time. Although she hadn’t been pleased when Raul asked her not to go to the park alone, she’d followed his advice. It wasn’t always the best place, and the sheer numbers of murders and dumped bodies were enough to make her stop being so defensive. Was it really that bad that he wanted her to be safe? Did that really mean he was controlling or was he just a nice guy? Whatever. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want to think about Raul right now. She wanted to think about the way the sensors had practically set themselves on fire during their investigation.
“It really is,” she admitted. “Not only did we see frequency readings off the charts, we’d already performed these tests the park last year. That means we actually have something to compare them to. I still don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but that’s getting harder and harder to do.”
“Not that I want to sound like Tyler,” Dylan said from the couch, where he was rattling away on his laptop, “but I think we’ve got enough going on with these readings that we could make something out of this investigation if we wanted to. We’ve got more to go on than most of those shows you see on TV.”
Penny smiled at him. For Dylan to start thinking about publicity, things had to be good. “We can talk about that when we go back to the park tonight. I want to catch this clan in the act and see what they’re doing. Otherwise, there’s not much to prove.”
“How can you say that?” Ingrid squealed. “You saw those readings, but you also saw those bloody stones and the way the dirt was disturbed at some of those spots. Someone is doing something at Griffith Park, for sure.”
“But doubters could argue that it’s just kids trying to scare hikers with creepy setups,” Penny argued. “I admit I had a major feeling of bad energy when we got close, even worse than when we went to Dead Man’s Park. You know and I know that this is something big, but no one is going to listen to us unless we have some way to prove it.” That was the constant problem when it came to ghost hunting.
“Well, I can’t go tonight. I’ve got work,” Ingrid said with disappointment.
“You?” Penny asked Dylan.
He shook his head. “No can do. I’ve got relatives coming into town on my mom’s side. She’d kill me if I wasn’t there to get my annual inquisition on why I don’t do anything with my life. What about Tyler? I know he’s not much help, but at least you wouldn’t be alone.”
“I think I’d prefer to be alone,” Penny quipped.
“I know he’s a bit over the top, but it’s just because he’s crazy about you,” Dylan said, shutting his laptop and reaching for the case. “I’m not trying to say there’s any justification for acting like a douche, just that he might have some reasoning for it in his mind. I’ve got to go. But I’ll see you guys later.”
“See ya.”
When he’d let himself out, Ingrid turned to Penny with a smile that was a bit too big. “What about your new friend Raul? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind hanging out with you in a remote area in the middle of the night.”
“Well, maybe,” Penny said with a shrug.
“Trouble in paradise? It sounded like you guys were really getting along after that night at the cemetery.”
Penny sighed and began stacking up all her paperwork. “We were, but I think I was just caught up in the excitement of the night and starting an investigation that felt like it was really going somewhere. I mean, it had to be if it caught the attention of the SOS Force, right?”
Ingrid nodded, but she looked skeptical. “Sure.”
“Well, and you know how it is when you suddenly start spending time with someone new. It’s easy to get caught up in that. I should know better, though. I try not to kid myself into finding evidence of ghosts where there isn’t any, and I shouldn’t be any different when it comes to men.”
“Even hotties who look at you with lava in their eyes?” Ingrid asked.
“Lava?”
Her friend laughed. “Yes, like he’s melting from the inside out just thinking about you. Even in the cemetery, I knew there was something going on there.”
“It was nothing. Besides, after we went to talk to Mrs. Reyes, I realized I was letting things get too personal between us. Raul started acting like it was his job to protect me, and he hardly even knows me.” She’d often replayed the conversation between them in her head, and every single time, she’d sounded like a bitch. When she’d found out Tyler had been falling them, the deepest part of herself had reacted with true fear. She couldn’t blame Raul for offering to help, no matter his motivations.
“I see. So you told him to buzz off, and now he’s not part of the investigation?” Ingrid helped put all the books they’d been studying back on the shelf and sat back down to put her shoes on.
“No, he is. Raul did a little work of his own while we were at the park, and he’s asked to get together so we can go over stuff.” Penny had read the text and left it that way without replying, feeling odd about her relationship—or whatever she should call it—with Raul. Was he genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of these odd incidents? Or was he just trying to find a way to get into her pants?
“You guys had enough chemistry going that first night that you told me you thought the two of you were fated. I’ve known you for a while, Penny, and even though I haven’t been lucky enough to feel that sort of pull, I know you wouldn’t say that if you didn’t genuinely feel it. So you had a bit of a spat about something. Just give it time and be patient with him. He’s a hell of a lot cuter than Tyler, anyway.”
The two of them laughed over that, and Penny almost told Ingrid about her encounter with Tyler that same night. She decided to let it go, not wanting to dwell on something so negative. “You’re right. And it’s not as though I have to make any decisions about anything right this second. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and that’s what I need to focus on.”
“Just keep me posted, so I can live vicariously through you until I find someone special of my own.” Ingrid hugged her and let herself out.
After a quick text exchange, Raul agreed to meet Penny back at Griffith Park so she could show him what she’d discovered. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and then let it down again. Several shirt changes later, she was out the door.
As much as she’d tried to talk herself out of it, Penny felt butterflies shooting like fireworks through her stomach as soon as she pulled into the parking lot near the Greek Theatre and saw Raul. He was sitting on a low concrete wall that bordered the lot right next to where he’d parked his truck. His eyes met hers when he looked up from his phone, and he pocketed it as he approached her car. He waited patiently as she got out, keeping his distance until she slammed the door behind her. “Hey.”
“Hey. It’s quite a hike out to the places Victor had marked on his map.” Penny felt like she could run straight up into the hills if it meant she could avoid this awkwardness.
“I’m up for it. That’ll give us time to talk.”
“Oh?” She felt her heart contract and her pulse quicken.
“As I said, one of my comrades and I visited that clan of Victor’s.” He fell in step beside her as they headed toward the bird sanctuary and the trails that traced all over the park. “I’m afraid they weren’t too interested in talking to us, but we did our best.”
“Any breakthroughs?” Penny was glad they had this investigation to work on. It was easier to talk about than whatever was happening between them.
Raul let out a light laugh that made her stomach clench. “It isn’t as though they just invited us in and told us everything they’d been up to. I didn’t want them to know why we were visiting them, so I didn’t say anything about Victor or the undead. We just tried to ask some general questions that would be typical for any new clan, and the Alpha quickly dismissed us.”
“That sucks. I was hoping for more, I guess.” She kept her focus on the beautiful landscape that surrounded them. The setting sun angled beams of d
eep orange light through the scrubby flora.
“Don’t check it off your list just yet. I know they’re up to something. They’re living in a run-down building, if you can even call it living. It’s more like they’re just squatting there, and they all look like they’re starving. Everyone besides the Alpha had this haunted look in their eyes. Add the fact that they’re a motley crew of every kind of shifter you can imagine, and it’s hard not to think something’s wrong.”
Penny wished she’d gone with him and had seen these people in person. “You said they look like they’re starving? That’s…interesting.”
“I’m listening.”
“It’s nothing I know for sure, just a hunch. But in any accounts I’ve found about people raising spirits, no matter what part of the world or what religion, there’s always mention of the need to feed those spirits. They require a massive amount of energy to be brought back. In some European accounts, this was something along the lines of a crust of bread or other food. In the Americas, tribal cultures often tried to appease spirits through the sacrifice of a living being. I wonder if this clan has found a way to sap only some of the life out of a person or a group of people in order to bring these spirits back to life.” Now Penny wished she’d left her hair up. It was hanging down in her face and sticking to the back of her neck, making it harder to think. Even so, just walking along the ridge line and talking with Raul was connecting some dots that she hadn’t seen the lines between before.
“Oh, like tapping mana cards in Magic: The Gathering,” Raul muttered.
“Hey, I used to play that game!” Penny looked up at Raul with a smile, surprised that a jacked, rugged soldier could ever be into such a thing, but happy to hear someone reference a part of her teenage life that she’d loved so much. She quickly looked away again when she saw the way he was looking at her. Ingrid was right. Lava. And it was working its way through her body.
“Sure. I told you I’m a nerd.”
Penny smiled again but kept her eyes on anything but Raul. “Well, you’re not wrong. There’s got to be some sort of energy that would make these ghosts come back. It’d be hard to get away with human sacrifice without someone catching on. Just wait until you see some of the places we found. I’d say there was definitely something along those lines going on there.”
“While obviously sacrifices would be a big problem, it’s also an issue if they’re putting the lives of their members in danger,” Raul said, his face dark and serious as he easily lumbered up the trail next to her. “We need to be careful around these people.
They moved on through the park as the light turned from orange to blue to deep purple. Penny didn’t see the tree root that stuck out along the trail until it snagged the toe of her shoe. A strong grip caught her elbow, effortlessly pulling her upright. Her cheeks burned as she looked up into Raul’s concerned face.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She straightened her shirt and tucked her hair behind her ear, blushing. His hand felt like a hot brand around her arm. “I just wasn’t paying attention.”
He stiffened, his eyes finding hers in the increasing darkness. “Did you hear that?”
She was too focused on Raul to have noticed, but she tuned her senses in. “Someone else is out here.”
“Sounds like they’re over there.” He still held onto her as he listened.
“That’s exactly where we’re heading.” The lack of distance between them had nearly made her forget why they were out there at all for a moment.
“We’ll have to be quiet. How do you feel about shifting?”
Her body jolted at the notion. Penny had never shifted in front of someone she didn’t know well, and even the rest of the LASS hadn’t seen her wolf. But it would help ensure that they could truly be quiet as they moved through the park and that they’d be prepared to defend themselves if need be. Also, Raul wouldn’t be able to hold onto her like that. She nodded.
“Good.” He moved off the path and into the brush.
Penny paused just long enough to give him time to get a little ahead of her. She slipped into the trees and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Nothing happened. Glancing ahead to make sure Raul wasn’t watching her, she tried again. This time, her human body melted away. She bent to the ground as her hands and feet became paws, and a bristling of hair snapped out of her skin all over her body. Penny felt the customary tickle of her ears sliding up to the top of her skull, elongating, and sharpening to points.
As she became her true self, so too did she understand more of the truth of the area they were in. Though her senses were heightened even in human form, they were nothing compared to those of her wolf body. Penny’s ears easily attuned both to the people further up along the ridge line, off the beaten path. She could hear their feet shuffling in the dirt and the rumbles of their voices. They were moving something heavy.
She also heard the gentler sound of Raul’s four paws in the earth ahead of her, and she trotted to catch up. It was easier to be with him when they were like this, she quickly discovered. There wasn’t the same pressure that came along with being human. They didn’t need to explain themselves or worry about their behavior. They simply were there to observe, and at the moment, they were perfectly built for just that.
Penny was wondering how to tell him they were getting close when Raul stopped and took a sharp right. He stepped up behind a fallen log and sat, his thick tail whisking in the dirt. They weren’t far from one of the ritual sites Penny had discovered earlier, and they had the perfect vantage point to watch the clan march through, carrying their torches high.
“Come along, my brothers! We, who have for so long been on the outskirts of shifter society here, will soon rule over them all! It takes but only the smallest offering from each of us. Your efforts here will pay off for years to come.” The man at the head of the group was older than the rest of them, but he looked stronger. Thick, blocky tattoos snaked up and down his muscled arms, and he clearly had no problem ascending the trail. The other men, none of them older than thirty, were thin and frail. They seemed lucky to have made it this far, considering the way they were breathing and the large, wrapped object they were carrying.
It was set down with a solid thud on a flat stone when they came to the clearing. Penny assumed the Alpha was this Miguel that Raul had spoken of, and she watched as his glittering eyes observed his men spacing themselves with perfect uniformity around the stone. They clasped their hands and bowed their heads as Miguel chanted in a foreign tongue.
Raul’s head pushed back on his shoulders, and his long tongue slid along his dark lips. His ears twitched and circled on his head. Whatever was being said, he didn’t like it.
This wasn’t the time, but Penny let her eyes linger. She took in the deep fur that ran down along his back, so dark that it blended in with the shadows. It faded to a deep gold that ran down his legs and along his belly, only a few shades lighter than his eyes. They were his wolf eyes, and though they were completely different than the ones she’d come to know, Penny could still tell that it was him inside.
A gasp came from the gathering, and she turned her attention back to the task at hand. The object the clan had laid on the stone had been unwrapped. The dead man lay stiffly stuffed into a suit, staring up at the sky. A mist swirled around him as Miguel continued to chant. He moved around the circle, slicing the wrists of each man, and their blood dripped down their fingers, running like dark syrup onto the stone. The haze eddied toward it as Miguel’s chanting turned to a low drone in her ears.
The corpse didn’t move, but the fog rose up from it and coalesced into a figure that looked exactly like it. The spirit turned to Miguel, looking confused.
“Go!” the Alpha commanded in English. “You died as a criminal, and now I give you the chance to continue living as one. Create your chaos!”
The spirit drifted off into the darkness, heading down the pathway toward the exit to the park.
When everyth
ing appeared to be over, Raul and Penny moved off through the woods. A few deeper shadows hid them as they retracted their thick coats and regained their limbs, and soon enough, they were once again two people, walking through the woods.
“That took a lot longer than it felt like,” Raul said, glancing at his cell.
“What do you make of it?” She’d drawn a few conclusions, but they were selfish ones. Her mind had continuously turned to Kayla as she’d watched that spirit be called back from the next life through its former body. It didn’t seem to be a very pleasant process for anyone, but Penny could see the potential for finally speaking to her old friend again.
“I’m actually a little angry that I didn’t figure some of this out before.” Raul was pacing in a small circle, gesturing with his hands. “Miguel had those distinct tattoos, and there was a book about Aztec culture in Victor’s room. I couldn’t understand all of what they were saying, but it was a dialect of the native tribes of this area. They were related to the Aztecs, as well as the other tribes along the coast and down into Mexico.”
Penny was confused. “What are you saying?”
“You mentioned the European tradition of putting out food for spirits, and you linked it to human sacrifice here in the Americas. You were exactly right! I couldn’t get every world—it’s been too long since I’ve heard my abuela ramble on in the old tongue—but it’s like Miguel and his makeshift clan have blended several tribal and spiritual customs in order to raise these spirits.”
She was used to being the expert when it came to ghosts and rituals, but it was clear Raul was on the right track about this. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about the Aztecs.”
“It’s incredible stuff, if you ever get into it. Just like many other cultures, they believed that death is just the next step, a way to move on to the next life. The spirits can go to one of the levels of either heaven or the underworld, but it can be called back to Earth when it’s needed.”