by Kasi Blake
Bay-Lee knocked on Keisha’s door. She glanced up and down the hallway, hoping no one would see her hurry inside. Most of the kids were either in their beds or in the break room or grabbing a snack from the kitchen. This was supposed to be a secret meeting so she didn’t want anyone to see her talking to Keisha. She didn’t want anyone to guess what they were up to. Hunters were becoming an endangered species. If they didn’t solve the mystery soon, all of them would die.
A hand reached out, grabbed her arm just above the elbow, and yanked her inside. The door swung shut. Keisha turned the lock until it clicked, a secretive smile on her face. She gestured to the floor. “Take a seat so we can get started.”
Mike Keebler was sitting on the carpet, legs folded beneath him. His eyes narrowed on her as she entered the room. Neither of them was happy to see the other, although she suspected he had at least known she was going to be there.
She glared at Keisha. The girl shrugged her shoulders and said, “This job is too big for us. I decided to call another hunter in to help.”
“You should have talked to me first,” Bay-Lee whispered. “Why him? If we need help, I’m sure there are better people to ask.” People who didn’t hate her.
“Sorry.” Keisha continued to smile, unaffected by Bay-Lee’s protest. The girl walked past Bay-Lee and sat across from Mike. Gesturing to the floor next to her, Keisha said, “We need to get this thing started. Since it was your idea to investigate the killings, you can go first.”
Bay-Lee had no idea where to begin.
“Keisha told me you were checking books in the library,” Mike said. “Find anything?”
“There are dozens of books on the subject of spirits.” Bay-Lee traced the pattern on the carpet in an effort to avoid meeting Mike’s disapproving gaze. “I’ve only managed to skim through a few of them. I haven’t found anything yet that ties in with the murders. Tessa might have seen a death omen. If the ghost was trying to warn her, that means something else got her. I’m not sure where to look if the killer isn’t a spirit.”
“I’ve seen a lot of things over the years,” Mike said, sounding eighty instead of eighteen. “But this is ridiculous. Why does it only kill on birthdays? There isn’t any lore about a birthday killer.”
Keisha chimed in with, “Maybe it doesn’t have to kill on birthdays. It might be trying to send a message to someone.”
“Who?” Bay-Lee frowned.
“Van Helsing maybe.” Keisha exchanged a telling look with Mike before adding, “The Order has been trying to get to Van for decades. If they could kill him, they would. Maybe something or someone is trying to shake him up.”
Bay-Lee wasn’t sure what to believe. Her brain struggled to find logic in the situation. Although she’d wanted to solve the mystery so she could rise in rank, now she wanted to solve it for Tessa. Her roommate’s life had been stolen from her. The girl with the bouncy curls and chipper voice wasn’t going to move up in rank. She wasn’t going to get the chance to make her family proud, wasn’t going to fall in love, wasn’t going to achieve her dreams.
Bay-Lee felt she owed it to her roommate to seek justice.
“What do we do now?” Keisha asked. “Books seem like a bust.”
“I’m not done reading yet,” Bay-Lee said. “I could still get lucky. Then I’ll try talking to Maxx outside of class. Maybe he knows something he didn’t give us in the lecture.”
Keisha offered, “If you need help with the books, I’ll read some of them for you.”
“And I’ll shake a few trees, see if I can find something,” Mike said.
Bay-Lee nodded. “That would be great. I’m barely keeping up with my schoolwork as it is. Thanks… both of you.”
“No prob.” Keisha reminded Mike, “You can’t say anything to anyone about this. If the others find out what we’re doing, they’ll try to beat us to the finish line, and I’ll be damned if someone else is going to use the killings to move up in rank.”
Bay-Lee was stunned by the vehemence in Keisha’s tone. Trusting her might have been a mistake. The girl took competition to a whole new vicious level. Mike didn’t seem bothered by the gruff warning. He nodded once before standing. Apparently the meeting was over.
“What about the Spirit Realm?” Bay-Lee asked. Still sitting on the carpet, she gazed up at Keisha and Mike. “We could cross over and question some of the creatures.”
They looked at her as if she had dolphins swimming in her eyes. With a grimace on his face Mike said, “You need written permission to cross over, and we don’t want Van to know we’re working on this. Besides, it’s dangerous over there. Trust me. I’ve clocked a lot of time on the other side.”
“Then why aren’t your eyes an unusual color?”
He seemed taken aback by the question. “I, uh, don’t know. They’ve always been plain old brown. Everyone else in the band has weird eyes now. Crossing over just doesn’t seem to affect me for some reason.”
Since he brought up the band, she said, “Don’t say anything to Nick about this.”
Keisha’s hands went to her hips. “Yeah, Michael. You had better not be talking to your rock and roll buddy about this. I let you in on the secret, not Nick. This is between the three of us. Got it?”
“I don’t tell him everything.” He looked sheepish.
Keisha stuck her hand out. The two of them performed a weird handshake. At Bay-Lee’s surprised expression, Keisha said, “This isn’t the first time Mike and I have worked on a secret project together.”