Shadows in the Sand (A Finn McCoy Paranormal Thriller Book 2)

by Scott Langrel

  “I’ll split it with you.”

  Pru popped the top and took a swallow. The soda was still cold, and it felt good as it sluiced down her throat. She took another smaller drink, then handed the can to her mother.

  Becky took a drink and pressed the can against her forehead. She looked tired and, Pru saw with some concern, older than usual. Being young, Pru subconsciously thought of Becky as being old, when in truth her mother was only in her early thirties. If her Mom was old, then poor McCoy was ancient. He had to be pushing fifty.

  “Are you all right?” Pru asked.

  “Yeah, honey,” her mother said, smiling down at her in the darkness. “I’m just worried about your aunt Karen. She doesn’t seem to be holding up too well.”

  Pru looked down at the floor, tears threatening to well in her eyes. “Mom, I’m so sorry.”

  Becky regarded her daughter with surprise. “Oh sweetie. It’s not your fault.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, it is. I should’ve told you about all this sooner. And I shouldn’t have let Uncle Paul go outside.”

  “Honey, you couldn’t have stopped him.”

  “I could’ve tried. And if I’d told Aunt Karen, then she would have stopped him. She said so.”

  “Oh baby. She was just upset.”

  “Of course she was. A water demon probably ate her husband. I would be, too.”

  “We don’t know what happened to Paul,” Becky said gently. “Not for sure. He might’ve gone to one of the neighbors’, for all we know.”

  Pru gave a strained smile. “I’d really like to think that.” Her smile withered. “I’ve seen them. Well, I’ve seen the one. And I’ve felt them. I can’t explain it to you, how bad they feel. It’s almost like being really sick, like running a fever and puking sick.”

  Becky stroked Pru’s head. “I don’t understand why you hid it from me. You know that you can talk to me about anything, don’t you?”

  “I know, Mom. It was just hard for me to understand, myself. I wasn’t sure anyone else would. And I knew you’d ask about Dad. I—didn’t want to disappoint you.”

  “I’m not disappointed,” Becky said, bending down to give her daughter a fierce hug. “I’m glad he moved on. And I’m happy to know that there’s a place to move on to. It’s given me a little peace, and I really needed that.”

  Pru wiped an arm across her snotty nose. “So, you don’t think Aunt Karen hates me?”

  “I’m sure she doesn’t. Here, finish the rest of your soda.”

  Pru took the can and polished it off. Maybe Aunt Karen wouldn’t despise her forever; that remained to be seen. But it wouldn’t matter a hill of beans if they all ended up floating around in the Atlantic. First things first. She needed to get her head on straight and help McCoy figure a way out of this.

  As Pru thought of McCoy, another thought came riding fast on its heels. She still hadn’t told McCoy how to kill them. True, they had no way of actually doing it, but she felt that she should tell him nonetheless.

  She looked up, meaning to ask her mother if she was ready to rejoin the others, and stopped short as she looked past Becky into the darkness of the kitchen. Two figures stood there, one of which she’d seen before, and the other whom she knew intimately. Even in the dim light, she could make out their worried expressions and the sense of urgency in their motions. They were waving and pointing toward the front of the house, where the bedrooms were located.

  The Gray Man had found a new friend.

  Pru nearly broke down sobbing as she stared at the ghost of her uncle Paul.

  Chapter Fourteen

  McCoy watched Pru and Becky go into the kitchen. He wished that he’d had more time to spend with the girl. Her talents were strong, and she was mature for her age. But her inexperience could easily get her killed before she made it out of her teens. She knew nothing about magic, and was thus nearly entirely incapable of protecting herself. If she were going to make it in this business, she would have to learn.

  Maybe he would get the chance to point her in the right direction once this foul business was over and done with. In the meantime, he had to figure out what to do about the Nixes. It made no sense that they had disabled Amanda’s car and forced everyone back inside the house. If you were trying to kill your enemy, you drew them out of the fort. You didn’t force them back into it.

  Unless you wanted them to feel safe, when in reality, they were not.

  Perhaps he should make a sweep of the house, just to make sure there wasn’t something he was missing. Though he sensed nothing paranormal, he was starting to get an ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach. He rose from his seat and grabbed the flashlight.

  “I’m going to do a quick walk-through of the house,” he said to Amanda. “Make sure everyone stays put, okay?”

  “Sure thing. Don’t be gone long.”

  Since Pru and Becky were in the kitchen and had not raised any alarms, McCoy decided to start with the bedrooms. Those rooms were located off either side of a hallway which led to the front entrance. Like most beach houses, this one was designed with the dining and living areas in the back of the house, so that the occupants could enjoy a view of the ocean from those rooms.

  McCoy shone the light down the hallway and was startled to see Pru leaning partially out of one of the doorways. She was motioning for him to come to her, her face a beacon of urgency.

  That was odd. He hadn’t noticed her come out of the kitchen. He started to speak, but the girl put a finger to her lips. Obviously, she wanted to talk to McCoy privately. She jerked her thumb toward the room behind her and slipped out of sight.

  McCoy shrugged. He’d felt quite a bit of tension between Pru and her aunt. Maybe the girl didn’t want Karen to hear whatever conversation she had planned. Besides, kids could be overly dramatic. It was just as well, though. Perhaps he would get a chance to talk to Pru about magic and the all-important art of Covering Your Ass.

  He reached the doorway and pointed the flashlight inside. The bedroom was neat and tidy, with a queen bed which was covered by a bright and colorful comforter. A nightstand stood beside the bed, holding a lamp with seashell designs on the shade. In the corner, beside the closet door, stood a large chest of drawers which looked to be made out of cedar.

  The only thing missing from the room was Pru.

  Irritated that the girl had suddenly gone hide-and-seek on him, McCoy whispered into the room.

  “Pru?”

  “McCoy!” Pru’s voice was loud and frantic. But it had not come from the bedroom. It had originated back in the living room.

  “Ah, shit!” McCoy said, and then a pale but muscled arm reached out and pulled him into the darkness.

  ***

  “Where is he?” Pru screamed at Amanda. She was so wound up that she literally danced from foot to foot, her hair bouncing off her shoulders.

  “Pru, relax. He just went to check the rest of the house.” Amanda kept her voice calm, but the girl’s panic was beginning to infect her. She looked up at Becky. “Did something happen in there?” she asked, indicating the kitchen.

  “I don’t know,” Becky said worriedly. “It’s like she saw something, but when I turned around, there was nothing there.”

  “It’s in here!” Pru shouted. “It’s in the house with us! Where’s McCoy?”

  Amanda looked down the darkened hallway. That was a good question. With all of this commotion, Finn should have come running back into the room by now. But there was no sign of him.

  “Stay here,” she told the others as she rose from her seat and started toward the hallway.

  “The hell we will,” Nan said, getting up as well. “Pru says there’s something in the house.”

  “Okay,” Amanda relented. “But everyone stay close. Don’t wander off.”

  “You’ll have to pry me off your backside,” Nan assured her.

  “I don’t suppose you have any more flashlights?” Amanda asked Karen.

  “I think there’s one in the garage,” Karen mu
mbled.

  “Never mind.” Amanda took her cell phone from her pocket and used its soft illumination to guide her down the hallway. Directly ahead of her stood the front entrance. There were two doors on either side of the hall. All of them were closed.

  “Finn?” Amanda called. The silence was so severe that, even though she’d spoken softly, it sounded as if she were shouting. There was no answer.

  “Okay,” Amanda said. “We try each of the rooms, one at a time. We’ll start with the one on the left closest to the front door.”

  “Wait,” Pru whispered. “I thought I heard something.”

  “What?” Nan asked.

  “Shhh! Listen.”

  They all fell silent. At first, there was nothing. The only sound was the occasional crash of a distant wave. Then there was a sudden, brief knock, as if someone had bumped into a wall. It had come from one of the rooms on the right side of the hallway.

  “In here,” Pru said, and before anyone could stop her she was through the door and had disappeared into the dark room beyond.

  “Pru!” Becky screamed, dashing into the room after her daughter. Amanda was the next one in, holding her cell phone out in front of her like some sort of magical talisman.

  The flashlight was lying on the floor, its beam partially illuminating two figures. One was McCoy, who was currently suspended two feet off the ground, held by the neck by the second figure, which was nothing short of a vision from a child’s nightmare. It looked like something that had died centuries ago and had been lying at the bottom of the ocean ever since. The Nix’s skin was pale blue and wrinkled, and as it turned to study the intruders, they saw that its eyes were glowing with a greenish light which cast a sickly illumination on the room.

  Becky, seeing all that she needed to see, promptly fainted and collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

  “Finn!” Amanda screamed.

  McCoy didn’t answer, because he was currently incapable of any kind of vocalization. The Nix’s grip had shut off his air supply, and his eyes were bulging in their sockets. He appeared to be on the verge of passing out, though he kicked his legs feebly.

  Amanda started to rush the fiend, but stopped short when she realized that the monster was no longer there. In its place stood a second McCoy, who was still gleefully choking the original McCoy with a large grin on his face. Though Amanda was fully aware that the Nix was playing tricks on her eyes and mind, the sight caused her to hesitate. That hesitation was enough to doom McCoy.

  Or would have been, Had Pru Pridemore also hesitated.

  Pru, however, did not skip a beat as she rushed in, drew her leg back, and delivered a devastating kick to the faux McCoy’s crotch.

  The Nix, apparently as vulnerable to this underhanded technique as any other male, instantly dropped McCoy and reverted to its original form. Under other circumstances, the expression on its face would have been comical—its eyes went wide and its jagged, ugly mouth formed a large O. It was the classic slapstick reaction to receiving a kick in the nuts, but in the present situation it failed to amuse anyone, with the possible exception of McCoy, who hadn’t yet caught his breath sufficiently to laugh.

  “Pru!” Amanda yelled. “Back away from it!” The girl was standing dangerously close, and she was looking at McCoy, not at the monster. Even as Amanda lunged toward Pru, meaning to drag her back to a safe distance, the Nix’s hand shot out and clamped around the girl’s ankle.

  Pru screamed and almost went down as the Nix jerked her leg, but Amanda reached out and grabbed the girl’s arm, stopping her fall. In an instant, Nan was in the room, encircling her arms around Amanda’s waist and helping to offset the Nix’s strength. Even so, the women were forced to give up ground as the creature slowly pulled Pru toward it.

  “The name!” Pru shouted, grimacing as the Nix tightened its grip on her leg. “That’s the only way to kill it! You have to know its name!”

  Amanda glanced at McCoy, but he was still holding his throat, unable to speak. She wracked her brain for the names the Gray Man had given them earlier. Damn! What were they? One had started with a T—

  “Tietza!” Amanda shouted. The Nix looked at her in obvious surprise, but it didn’t drop dead. She looked at McCoy again. He was shaking his head vigorously. Amanda realized she had used the female’s name, and this ugly specimen was obviously the male. She tried desperately to remember the other name—something like marshmallow or mellow something-or-other. The name danced around merrily inside her head, but she just couldn’t catch it.

  And then she had other things to worry about as the Nix, which was slowly regaining its sapped strength, redoubled its efforts on Pru’s leg.

  ***

  Mallobaudes found himself in a desperate situation. The girl’s blow had been devastating, to say the least. He hadn’t been expecting it; his attention had been focused on the adult woman, and to that end, he had been successful. The woman had hesitated, just as Mallobaudes had known she would.

  But the girl had surprised him with her sudden and vicious attack, and he had failed to neutralize the man. To make matters worse, the woman had screamed Tietza’s name. If they knew his companion’s name, then it was possible that they knew his, as well.

  Since he could not allow his name to be uttered in his presence, that left him with two options. The first, most obvious course of action was to flee, to get out of the house and return to the sea. But, though he was not as intelligent as his female counterpart, Mallobaudes was wise enough to know that it would mean the end of their hunting here. They would not be able to operate if there was even the slightest chance that their names had been discovered. And there was always the possibility that the man might follow them and seek to destroy them. He was, after all, a sensitive.

  The second option was to kill them all before they could say his name. Had he not been weakened, he would have been able to accomplish this fairly easily. And already the crippling pain was beginning to ease off into a dull ache. He would kill the girl first; he would snap her neck in full view of everyone and then finish the others while their shock rendered them frozen and unable to react.

  Mallobaudes pulled harder on the girl’s leg. Though her death would not be nearly as sweet as if she’d died in the ocean, he was nonetheless anxious to experience it.

  ***

  Pru’s leg felt like it was about to snap. She clung desperately to Amanda’s arm, but still she felt herself being drawn closer to the Nix. She looked at McCoy—he’d made it to his knees, but he was still gasping for air. Their eyes met, and in that instant Pru realized that he would not recover in time to help her. She turned back to see her aunt enter the room, but when Karen saw the scene unfolding in front of her, she froze. The sight, combined with the rest of the day’s events, forced her mind into complete shutdown. She stood as motionless as a store window mannequin, oblivious and useless.

  “Nan!” Amanda called through gritted teeth, the exertion of the struggle beading sweat on her forehead. “Do you remember the other name?”

  “Malloballs!” Nan yelled.

  Again, the only effect was that the Nix pulled harder. Amanda felt her grip begin to slip.

  “Pru! Hold on!”

  “I can’t!” Pru screamed. “It’s too strong!”

  With a sudden, final tug the Nix pulled Pru from Amanda’s sweaty grasp. Amanda and Nan flew back into the wall, with Nan taking the brunt of the impact as she was sandwiched between the paneling and Amana’s body. She crumpled to the ground, semi-conscious.

  Emitting a victorious snarl, the Nix pulled Pru into its grasp. Screaming, Pru jerked and twisted as she fought to evade the creature’s free hand, which was reaching for her neck. Salvation seemed impossible; everyone in the room was either unconscious or too dazed to offer any assistance.

  With the speed of a striking cobra, The Nix’s hand shot out and clamped around Pru’s throat, cutting her cries short. She felt the sea demon’s powerful fingers digging into her flesh and knew that the end was near. Sh
e was no match for the creature’s strength and speed. At least it would be quick.

  Probably.

  There was a sudden flash of movement, and both Pru and the Nix looked up to see Karen standing over them. Her dazed and empty expression was gone, having been replaced by a look of pure hatred.

  The Nix, sensing imminent danger, tightened the muscles in its arm and prepared to give Pru’s neck a swift and forceful twist. The helpless girl was completely immobilized, both from the monster’s iron grasp and from something she saw in her aunt’s countenance. Something familiar, yet totally out of place.

  “Mallobaudes,” Karen said.

  The Nix bellowed and tried to follow through with its neck-snapping motion, but already its flesh and form were starting to liquefy. Pru felt its vise-like grip loosen, then disappear completely as the howling creature lost its shape and substance. Its cries became wet gurgles as its once powerful and fearsome body dissolved into nothing but a pool of dark and malodorous brine and seaweed, which puddled upon the hardwood floor around Pru.

  “Damn,” Karen said in a voice that was not quite her own. “That’s going to be a hell of a cleaning bill.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Uncle Paul?” Pru asked as she looked upon the form of her aunt. “Is that you?”

  Paul Stallings gazed down at his niece with his wife’s eyes and smiled. “Hey, kiddo. You all right? That bastard didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “No, I’m fine.” Pru’s eyes welled with tears as she regarded her dead uncle. “Uncle Paul, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “Hey,” Paul said. He bent down to gently stroke Pru’s head with Karen’s slender hand. “None of this is your fault. You have to remember that. It was my decision to go outside, and nobody could have stopped me.”

  “I could have tried,” Pru sobbed.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Pru. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. But it’s okay, trust me. The main thing is that you and Karen and Becky are safe. I can move on now, and I’ll be waiting for all of you when it’s your time.” Karen’s body stood, and Paul looked off into a dark corner of the room, seeming to see something that Pru couldn’t.