Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1)

by A. R. Cooper

  I didn’t know how long I’d held my breath. The substitute teacher and her minions paced alongside the pool, yet they never glanced my way. It was as if I were invisible.

  Maybe it was nothing more than luck.

  Ms. Moor vanished on the other side of the locker room, maybe she was going back to the classroom. The two huge guys walked out of my line of rippled vision. Their voices muffled, then vanished. Maybe they’d left.

  Still, I stayed ducked under the water, counting to a hundred before I rose. Many times, the other girls on the swim team and I had dared each other into staying underwater the longest with one breath. I always won.

  After I checked around, I climbed out of the pool and raced to the locker room, snatching a towel on my way in. My wet hair and feet left a trail of puddles behind me.

  “Where’ve you been?” Jenna asked, stuffing her red hair underneath her diving cap. “Some teacher and a big guy have been looking for you.”

  Shit! It was them. Had to be. My hands shook as I spun the dial on my locker and kept passing up the number.

  Another swimmer, Darla, glanced up from the bench as she adjusted her goggles.

  “Umm… I saw them already. Coach said I could do my laps early, so I’m out.”

  “Figures,” Jenna said under her breath, jealous as usual that the seniors got perks that she didn’t.

  Should I tell her about Coach? Would she even believe me? And after what happened to Coach, I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt. I didn’t make a habit of lying, but I wouldn’t buy it if she told me what I had seen without witnessing it myself. Why couldn’t I get my locker to open?!

  I took a breath and tried to slow my quivering fingers down before I tried again.

  Maybe the less anyone knew the better. A shower could wait. I had to get out of here fast. Before they came back. I hurried into my clothes. My jeans stuck to me, but I bounced up and down to get them on. My heart raced and my gut clenched as if I’d done a thousand sit-ups or eaten bad Chinese food.

  The words about Coach being tasered and Ms. Moor and the men stuck to my throat. Almost as if there wasn’t enough air. The fear I’d faced while I’d hidden at the bottom of the pool didn’t compare to the dread crawling over my skin now. I stuffed my swimsuit and towel inside my backpack, kicked my stuff under the bench, and dashed off to the restroom to compose myself and stop trembling.

  It was a mistake. Had to be. Coach wasn’t tasered and hurt. I’d seen wrong or something. Right? My gut clenched again.

  I’d ask the nurse about Coach before I left.

  The slow creak of a door opening meant someone else had entered the room through grey doors of the toilets. An eerie sensation hit my chest and I drew my legs up off the ground. Stop it! Coach is fine and there’s no one after me.

  I had to get a grip. Maybe I was having a panic attack? A visit to the nurse would calm my fears and maybe get the nerves dancing along my skin to stop.

  Everything in me told me to run, but my body stalled, paralyzed on the toilet. Chills raced through me at the clicking of heels on the cement flooring. Coach always wore sneakers or flip-flops. I shook my hands to ease the numbness in them. God, I needed to get out of here.

  “Has anyone seen Bethany Bender?” Ms. Moor asked in a pinched tone like she smelled something disgusting.

  “She was here a moment ago,” one of the girls said.

  Shit! My heart slammed into my throat and I couldn’t breathe.

  “Where did she go?”

  Cold sweat trickled down my back.

  “Ow, you’re hurting my arm.”

  Jenna? My stomach twisted. No, no, no. Not my teammates. Would they harm them like they’d hurt Coach? And why did they want me? I pressed a hand to my chest. My legs wouldn’t stop shaking.

  “She tore out of here like The Best Boys were giving out free tickets,” Jenna answered.

  “I’m subbing for Coach Johnson,” Ms. Moor said in a low tone. “Go find Bethany now.”

  “Where’s Coach? I saw her this morning…” another girl asked.

  “She got sick suddenly. Now go find Bethany.” Ms. Moor’s voice rose.

  I gasped, then slapped a hand over my mouth. Don’t come this way, don’t come this way.

  The hollow clicking of heels against the concrete floor toward my stall made my stomach fisted and my heart sped up to their quick tempo. Under the door, her shiny black heels flashed. They looked like alligator leather but were probably imitation.

  The closer Ms. Moor drew, the more sweat dripped down my back. My gasping breaths sawed through my hands over my mouth. Quiet! But I couldn’t stop my panting.

  The girls grumbled, then began to leave one by one, their bare feet or sandals smacking against the cement floor. Ms. Moor pushed opened a stall door. Then the one next to me. My breaths came out faster. Through the crack along the side, her hand raised to press my door open. Dizziness pounded against my temples. I squeezed my eyes shut. The toilet lid I was perched on shifted slightly, letting out a squeak and my heart jackhammered against my chest.

  Ms. Moor paused a moment, and I froze, curled up as small as I could get. Please go, please go. The scent of chlorine and Ms. Moor’s spicy perfume tickled the back of my throat.

  Chapter Three

  The shrill of a phone made me jerk.

  “Yes?” Ms. Moor’s voice sent another shiver through me. “I’m checking the girl’s locker room for her now.”

  I wanted to bolt. Tear open the stall door and run until I passed out. But Ms. Moor was a foot away from me. What if she had a taser? I shivered.

  “You’re sure?” She paused. “She doesn’t have woodshop, why would she go there?”

  Was she still talking about me? My breath hitched, maybe they were looking for someone else.

  “No, she doesn’t have a boyfriend there.” She paced, and the click-clack of her heels made me want to dash out of here.

  Still, I cowered on the toilet, my body folding in on itself. Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.

  “We checked her file, she broke up with a Todd last month. Check with him and find out if he knows where she might have gone.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes. They were talking about me! How did they know about Todd? Who were these people? I had to get out of here and warn my friends. Call the cops.

  “Fine. I’ll meet you there.” An eternity passed before Ms. Moor spun and the click clack of her heels tapped the ground. The door slammed shut. Silence.

  My body shivered. The urge to flee choked me as I tore out of the bathroom stall, snatched my backpack from underneath the bench and left. The door banged shut behind me.

  I had to leave this nightmare, now and fast. I opened the door; all clear. I let out a breath and jogged down the narrow path outside.

  I didn’t see Ms. Moor or the big guys anywhere. I careened around the corner of the school’s side entrance, heading for the parking lot. I’d wait for Jacqui by her car.

  Though, I didn’t know how long I could standstill with my whole body trembling with the urge to get away. At the parking lot, I ducked behind cars. Hearing a scuff of a shoe behind me, I bolted behind a van.

  “Whoa!” Jacqui held out her arms as though I was going to barrel through her. “Why are you running?” She looked at me with hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You weren’t at the pool.”

  “Look, I’ll tell you later. Let’s just get off campus.”

  “Now you’re talking.” She sauntered over and her silver BMW beeped as she unlocked the doors.

  I didn’t look back toward the pool, but leapt into the passenger seat, locked my door and hunched low. After she climbed in, I motioned for her to lock her door too.

  “What’s up with you?” The car hummed to life and she pulled out of the parking spot. “You’ve been acting strange since lunch.”

  “Something weird is going on.” I told her everything. When I finished she stared ahead, but her knuckl
es were white on the steering wheel.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “I think you’ve been drinking too much chlorine.” She shrugged at my huff. “You have cool eyes, so what? Maybe those people were with a college scouting service or something. And this is all a misunderstanding. Maybe Coach fainted because they said they had scholarships for her group?”

  “And what about the cryptic message from my dad?”

  “You don’t know for a fact that came from him.”

  “No, but it’s a strange coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

  She shrugged. “I’m all for finding your dad and watching you tell him off, but I think you’re making more of this than there is.” She turned a corner. “When we find your dad, I might just tell him off too. I’m sure, though, it’s probably a wrong number that texted you and Coach are probably peeved that you left without checking out with her.”

  “Let’s call the school and ask about Coach.” Was all this like she said? Are my imagination and hormones running amuck?

  “Whatever.”

  As we drove to Jacqueline’s house, I dialed the school’s number. Mrs. Powell, the school nurse, answered. “Newton High School.” I recognized her voice from all the fake sick calls I made last year to get out of school, which never worked and I ended up going anyway.

  “Yes … um. Have you had any incidents?” Dumb. Now that I was talking with an adult, my mind said I was being silly about Coach, my Bio sub, and her minions.

  “Who is this?”

  “Be—it doesn’t matter. Is Coach Johnson all right? I saw her…” What could I say? That I saw her tasered by some weirdoes that were after me?

  “Coach? Oh, she’s fine. Is this Bethany?”

  How did she know it was me? Right. The fake calls I’d been conned into in ninth grade by Jacqueline.

  “She blacked out from heat exhaustion, but she’s in my office now and drinking fluids. Would you like to speak with her?”

  Could I have been mistaken earlier? But her body had jerked, then again, I’d never seen anyone pass out from overheating. The nurse wouldn’t lie to me. And she would have seen the burn marks from the taser … wouldn’t she?

  “No. Thanks though. I just wanted to make sure she’s okay.” I disconnected the call, but the dread refused to leave the pit of my stomach.

  “Well?” Jacqui glanced over at me at a red light.

  “Yeah, the nurse said it was heat exhaustion and she fainted.”

  “Told ya. It was nothing. Now, we party.” She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and gunned the car when the light flashed green. “Tomorrow we hunt down your dad and I’ll video you telling him off and giving you a panic attack for no reason.”

  I pushed aside the nagging ache and focused on a night of fun with my best friend. Maybe my paranoia about Ms. Moor made me see something that wasn’t real. Maybe the taser was the dude’s cell phone so, when he reached for her, she was already crumbling from the heat.

  Once at Jacqui’s house, I was finally able to shower. The warm water eased my knotted muscles.

  Coach was fine. She was with the school nurse… awake and talking. I should have asked to speak with her.

  No, that was just my imagination going crazy again. But why were Ms. Moor and the men with her looking for me? Was Jacqui right and it was for a scholarship? Did I miss an opportunity? And what about the text from my dad? Was it really him and he’d tried to warn me? Or a prank or wrong number?

  We had all weekend to track down my dad and find out. Part of me hoped that it hadn’t been him and that it was just a weird coincidence that I’d got someone else’s text. Monday would come and I’d tell Coach what I thought I saw and she’d laugh. I rolled my shoulders to ease the tension as I stood wrapped in a bath towel while raiding Jacqui’s closet.

  “Hurry up.” Jacqui brushed back her hair.

  I borrowed her black dress that came to my knees, with a hemline longer in the back. My thoughts kept drifting to Coach and her body convulsing before she crumbled. Over and over the image repeated itself while we did our makeup and curled our hair, despite my hands shaking. Stop it! Coach is fine.

  Chapter Four

  Tonight, clubbing. Tomorrow, we’d find my dad and I couldn’t wait to tell him off for making me a basket case and jumping at every shadow. Oh, and ditching me and Mom.

  Jacqueline weaved her car through downtown until we drove up the ramp to La Promada’s valet service. Early dusk-tinted the club in gold and orange as its purple neon light buzzed. Once a tailor’s red and black brick home, it had been sold to a bank when the skyscrapers crowded him out. Five years ago the club’s owner snatched the closed bank up, revamping it with multicolored squares as its doors, dance floor, and bar.

  My best friend’s strapless crimson dress flattered her blond hair and tan skin as she flirted with the valet guy.

  I glanced away, not caring that he scribbled his phone number on her valet tag. We’d both probably have a guy’s phone number before the night ended. The sun dipped behind ginger colored clouds as cars filled the empty parking lot. Outside in the heat, humidity cooked the aroma of my floral perfume.

  We skipped under the ropes that would corral the crowds in another hour. Two bouncers covered in muscles greeted us.

  La Promada’s lay squished between two skyscrapers. It always seemed out of place to me. It was a modern two-story nightclub while buildings made in the eighties stood like ancient centurions on either side. A flutter of wings from a nearby roof caught my attention. Shading my eyes from the sun, I spotted a stone figure perched on the corner of the skyscraper.

  Was that a gargoyle?

  As I pushed open the glass doors, the air conditioning was welcoming. Once inside, our hands stamped with the club’s under twenty-one smiley face, the sound of music thumped against my chest. The dance floor lights pulsed in red, blue, and green while the table lighting remained dim. Boots and high heels clacked against the tile while two boys’ sneakers squeaked as they danced to Beyoncé.

  A hint of mold and stale chips permeated the air along with the reek of spilled beer and old cigarettes.

  “Now, isn’t this better than wandering around some college campus?” Jacqui shouted over the music. “Or fretting about those weirdos.”

  “Maybe, but a college campus has way more guys.”

  We strolled up to the bar and waited for the bartender to notice us.

  I ordered a coke and ate shelled peanuts while I waited for our drinks. This was what I needed; fun away from school and stress. No worries about tests, graduation, weird text messages, or being stalked by lunatic substitute teachers.

  Still, the image of Coach twitching as she fell into a heap refused to leave me.

  “Let’s dance before it gets too crowded.” Jacqueline grabbed my arm. She nodded to the bartender to hold our drinks.

  I laughed as she tugged me onto the dance floor.

  “I forgot to tell you,” she leaned forward and yelled in my ear, “Mike asked me to Prom.”

  “No way!”

  Mike was one of the football players that didn’t look like he played. He was slim, but he had a wicked throw. And he was cute, with copper-colored hair and freckles so small you forgot they were there unless you paid attention.

  “So, has anyone asked you?”

  “Not yet.” Prom was three weeks away. My dress was in layaway. Jacqui had her dress, shoes, and even had her hairdresser booked six months ago.

  After three more songs, and more dancing, we kept nudging against people as the club filled.

  “Let’s grab a drink,” I yelled over the noise.

  “Sure.”

  We jostled to the bar through the throng of dancing couples groping each other. After ordering our drinks, we snatched up a table in the corner.

  A vaporware’s electronic music blasted through the speakers while black lights flashed on. Dancers on the floor appeared invisible except for fragments of brightly colored shoes or shirts. One woman
wore a white skirt and it bobbed along to the music. Normally, Jacqui and I would make a pit stop during these songs or go outside and pretend we were smokers because the music sounded too much like the video games Roy, my ex-boyfriend, used to play instead of spending time with me. Dude loved games more than breathing. I wouldn’t have minded so much if it was two-player games, but he thought I should be excited to just sit there and watch him play for hours straight.

  The club usually played a few songs in this genre, so it gave us plenty of time to get through the restroom line and venture outside for a few minutes.

  This time, we stayed seated; all the other tables were full. Even the bar had people lined up waiting for a spot to snag. If we left, someone would snatch our spot. So glad I was eighteen and didn’t have to bother with a fake ID to get into this eighteen and up club.

  I downed half of my drink. Then Jacqui popped an ice cube in her mouth as she checked out the crowd.

  Setting my drink on the table, I searched for lipstick in my tiny sequined purse, and my fingers brushed my phone. Had my dad texted again? No new messages flashed on the screen when I hit the text button. Why was I letting a message that may or may not be from my dad wig me out? He’d skipped out on me and my mom when he’d learned she was pregnant. No visits, no birthday or Christmas cards… nothing… and now this? Mom never liked to talk about him. She always left the room or changed the subject. If I wanted to confront my dad, I’d be on my own.

  “Cool contacts,” a guy said squeezing past our table.

  “What?” I yelled over the music.

  But he kept going as though he hadn’t heard me.

  I shrugged and turned back to Jacqui.

  She jerked, then her surprised expression returned to normal. “Wicked. When did you get contacts?”

  “What’s wrong with my eyes?” I didn’t wear contacts or glasses.

  “They look like an animal’s eyes. You know like when a light shines on a cat or deer?” She kept glancing around as if nervous.