by Leigh, Jena
But after Jessica’s plans to steal herself a boyfriend resulted in a demolished computer lab and Alex’s exile from Bay View High’s social scene, Vee had stopped speaking to her entirely.
“Hey!” said Cassie. “What the heck is wrong with this thing?”
The camera in Cassie’s hands was zooming in and out, apparently of its own volition. She set it down on the counter.
“Alex?” Cassie was eyeing the camera as though she expected it to blow at any moment.
“It’s not me,” said Alex. “I’m not doing anything this time.”
The camera zoomed in on something across the street, snapped off a picture, zoomed out and then returned to the standby setting. Cassie picked it up gingerly, as though she were afraid that it might still shock her.
“Okay,” Cassie mumbled as she inspected the view screen. “That’s kinda creepy.”
“What is?”
Cassie handed her the camera.
Standing in the center of the frame, leaning against the railing that lined the walkway, was Mr. Military Jacket. He was staring directly into the camera, a self-assured smile on his face… and he was waving.
Alex looked quickly out the window in the direction the picture had been taken. He was gone. Again. When she glanced back at the camera, the image had disappeared.
With one last beep, the camera turned itself off.
Alex glanced nervously out the window.
“Excuse me, miss?”
A heavy hand came to rest on her shoulder and Alex nearly jumped out of her skin. As she whipped around, she heard the barista’s startled cry and the crackling sound of electricity arcing from a nearby socket. She didn’t need to look to know that the espresso machine was toast.
People really needed to stop sneaking up on her like this.
The owner of the hand turned toward the commotion behind the counter and Alex let out a slow breath of relief.
It wasn’t the guy in the military jacket. Just a middle-aged man with shoulder length salt-and-pepper hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in dark jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a brown vest. His thin, wire-rimmed glasses gave him the unassuming appearance of a college professor.
Somewhere behind her, the espresso machine ground to a halt with one final ratcheting death rattle. Alex cringed. That machine had probably cost more than her Jeep. The barista behind the counter unleashed a string of curses far more colorful than the ones the clothing-store clerk had employed.
The man smiled politely. “I believe you dropped this,” he said.
Alex registered his Scottish accent with distraction and stared at his outstretched hand. He was holding her wallet between two fingers. She was positive that her wallet was still safe inside her satchel in an interior zippered compartment, where she always kept it.
Alex took the wallet from him and flipped it open. The mugshot she’d had taken at the local DMV almost a year earlier stared back at her. The wallet was hers alright. “Thank you. I didn’t even realize I’d dropped it…”
In fact, she was almost certain she hadn’t.
She unlatched the cover flap of her satchel and unbuttoned the tab that held the main compartment closed. The interior pocket was still zipped tight. She opened it.
Empty.
How had it fallen out?
“No trouble,” said the man. “Saw it over there by the door. Lucky you were still here.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Lucky.”
She returned the wallet to where it belonged and spun back around, intent on thanking him again.
The sitting area was empty. Alex’s gaze swept across the coffee shop and then out the window to the now deserted, sun-drenched boardwalk.
“Where did he…?” Cassie trailed off. “Okay, that’s it. I need some vitamin D if I’m going to be expected to deal with all this weirdness. It’s time for the beach.”
* * *
Vitamin D did the trick.
Alex spent the next three-and-a-half hours on a deserted strip of beach, listening to the sound of waves crashing against the shore and working on her tan lines.
No weird guys who were there one second and gone the next, no fried electronics, just a few hours by the shore with her best friend.
This was what she’d been hoping for when she agreed to a day at the boardwalk with Cassie.
She brushed a few errant grains of sand from her feet and slipped them back into her socks.
“You’ve got to be the only person on the planet who wears jeans and Chuck Taylor’s for a day at the beach,” said Cassie.
The soft rumble of thunder echoed through the air around them. In the distance, storm clouds were moving in as flashes of lightning lit the darkened sky a little farther off shore. Beautiful, but it meant an end to their sunbathing.
“I happen to love my Chucks, thank-you-very-much,” said Alex as she tied the laces. “Besides. Sun will set in an hour or two. The temperature’s already dropping. You can’t tell me you’re not cold in those shorts.”
“Freezing,” she admitted, handing Alex her messenger bag as she got to her feet. “But dammit, I look cute and we both know that’s what counts.”
“Naturally.”
Cassie led the way back to the boardwalk. “Okay, so I’ll meet you at your house just as soon as I run by the Red Box for movies and pick up the pizza. Should I order a small veggie for your aunt?”
“Better make it a medium,” said Alex. “She was going to spend the day throwing pottery. You know how she gets when she’s working. I doubt she stopped for lunch.”
“One large pepperoni and mushroom, a medium veggie and whatever chick-flick I can find. I’ve got this!” Cassie started off in the direction of the parking lot and then turned to walk backwards. “You sure this errand for your aunt won’t take long?”
“Just need to pick up a special order for her from Ballard’s,” Alex called across the promenade to Cassie’s retreating form. “It’s only a few blocks and then I’ll walk home.”
“Okay! See you in a bit!”
Alex left the boardwalk and turned down a little-used side street. It was only a short ways to Ballard’s store from here and she knew the shortcuts well.
As she made her way down the empty street a gentle rain began to fall. She tugged a lightweight hoodie out of her messenger bag and slipped it on, flipping up the hood as she quickened her pace.
Rejoining the flow of traffic on one of the main roads, she had the uncanny sensation that someone was watching her. Casting a quick glance over her shoulder, she caught sight of Mr. Military Jacket, trailing her from a few yards back.
Unnerved by his sudden reappearance, Alex turned down a random side street.
After walking for another minute, she paused to look around. Her pursuer, if that’s what he was, was nowhere to be seen.
Relief washed over her as she turned back onto the main road and approached her destination. The words Ballard’s Rare Books were etched in faded gold paint on a green sign hanging above the door.
She walked inside.
Ballard’s store wasn’t all that wide, but it made up for that in its length, with five towering rows of bookshelves stretching endlessly to the back of the shop. Books lined every wall and every shelf. High above, a balcony ran the circumference of the large room, allowing access to an even higher set of shelves that reached toward the lofty ceiling.
Alex couldn’t help but smile. She’d always loved this place.
As she stepped further into the store, she immediately noticed that something was different. The wonderful, musty aroma that seemed to be reserved solely for the yellowing pages of old books was missing.
Instead she’d been greeted by another scent entirely: the smell of something burning—of meat cooking.
She would have chalked it up to the smell of Mr. Ballard’s dinner, except that the aroma was nearly overpowering.
“Mr. Ballard?” she called out.
“Hello, again.”
Alex w
hipped around. The Scotsman from the coffee shop now stood behind the register. He leaned against the countertop with an air of nonchalance and smiled wide.
“Hope I didn’t startle you,” he said. Despite his smile, there was a baleful look in his coffee-colored eyes.
Alex glanced toward the door.
“And I really hope you’re not thinking about leaving.” He walked out from behind the counter, pushing open a waist-high swinging door.
Alex inhaled sharply and took a step backwards.
As the door swung open she had caught sight of a charred and blackened mass at the Scotsman’s feet. After looking at it more closely, Alex nearly cried out upon recognizing the distinct features of a skull.
The dark shape was what remained of a human body.
“Oh, my god.” Her stomach lurched. “Is that… Did you…?”
The man had come to a halt halfway between Alex and the store’s entrance.
“It is,” he said. “And I did.”
Alex stood frozen in place despite every instinct she possessed commanding her to run. Run where? The man was blocking her only exit.
He pulled a lighter from his vest pocket. Alex took another step back, closer to the shop’s wall.
“You know the wonderful thing about fire, Alexandra?” He flicked the lid open.
How had he known…?
Of course. Her wallet. He must have read the name on her driver’s license before giving it back to her in the coffee shop.
Alex’s grip tightened around the strap of her satchel. She had to get out of here.
“It’s the perfect murder weapon, fire.” He pulled the flame from the lighter into his hand, where it hovered, impossibly, an inch above his palm. “Persistent, resilient, ultimately untraceable… and entirely at my command.”
He flicked the lighter closed with his free hand and slipped it back into his pocket.
Alex considered making a run for the door, intent on barreling into him and, with any luck, taking him by surprise.
Before she could put her plan into action, however, he hauled back his right arm and threw the blaze straight for her. Alex staggered aside and the flaming orb landed just to her left. The fire spread quickly, engulfing the bookshelf behind her in a matter of seconds.
She stepped away from the conflagration.
“Just a suggestion,” he said, a sneer twisting the lines of his face. “You might want to run.”
With one last, desperate glance at the exit, Alex turned on her heel and fled deeper into the shop.
— 4 —
The fire swept toward her as if it had a mind of its own, a sentient being driven by a single goal: to consume her.
Alex reached the end of the row of books and turned left, the fire spreading, following, taking the corner and closing fast, licking at her heels as she ran along the bookstore’s inside wall.
The only exit she knew of was at the front of the building, the area surrounding it now a veritable inferno. In desperation she fled to the rear of the building, hoping to find another way out.
A putrid gray smoke had thickened the air inside the shop, stinging her throat as it filled her lungs. The threat of asphyxiation now seemed as imminent as the flames trailing only a few feet away.
Reaching the back corner, Alex spotted a door leading to the shop’s storeroom. She tried the handle with no luck, finally kicking the base of it in desperation.
Taking as many steps back toward the flames as she dared, Alex got up a running start and slammed her shoulder into the very center of the wood.
A blinding pain rocketed through her arm, spreading from the base of her neck to the very tips of her fingers. With a yelp, Alex bounced off the heavy door and fell to her knees before it.
The door was locked tight. It wasn’t going to budge.
She looked to her left. Her only other option was a spiral staircase leading to the upper balcony. The second tier of the store offered more walls lined with books, but no visible exit.
Alex got to her feet. The glass-paneled bookcases set against the nearby walls were already alight. Soon even the staircase wouldn’t be an option.
Realizing that the approaching flames had effectively made the decision for her, she started up the stairs, the handrails already hot to the touch.
Alex risked a glance upward and her heart sank at the sight of what awaited her at the top of the stairs.
Dirty blonde hair. Hazel eyes. Gray military-style jacket.
She came up short, four steps from the landing.
The look on his face held just a hint of amusement. “Well?” He offered her his hand. “You coming?”
She hesitated, weighing her options. Risk running back down the flaming aisles to find another exit? Or trust the guy who’d been stalking her all afternoon?
The fire had spread to the nearby shelves. The heat was growing unbearable.
“You cut me deep,” he said. “You’d actually choose a fiery death over the prospect of my company. I have to admit, that stings a bit.”
She didn’t move.
His expression grew serious. “Trust me, Alex.”
Still uncertain, but more fearful of the flames than of the stranger before her, she took his outstretched hand—and very nearly dropped it in surprise. The sensation was… electric.
Literally. There was an actual, live current passing between their joined hands.
The flames were closing in.
Dismissing the odd sensation, she gripped his hand tightly and climbed the remaining steps.
Upon reaching the landing, Alex looked quickly for the exit through which the stranger must have arrived… and found nothing. How had he gotten there?
Alex came to a stop before him and tried to pull her hand from his. He wasn’t letting go.
“Ready?” he asked. The self-assured smile he’d worn earlier was once again firmly in place.
“For what?” she choked out, the mixture of heavy smoke and utter panic causing her throat to tighten. “There’s no door!”
“Door?” The smile grew wider. “Who said anything about using a door?”
Alex opened her mouth to reply—and instantly wished she hadn’t.
Before she could form a word in protest, the world around them had fallen away. The sound of thunder roared in her ears as a sudden change in pressure knocked the air from her lungs and forced her eyes closed.
Just when she felt certain that her body would soon do the impossible and turn itself inside out, it was over.
The pressure was gone… and she was falling.
Alex’s eyes burst open. She was eye level with the treetops and falling fast, heading straight for a dark body of water that stretched out below her.
A cry of surprise slipped from her throat.
The grip on her hand tightened.
Alex caught one last glimpse of her savior as they broke the surface of the water… He was still smiling.
* * *
“Is he back yet, Kenzie?”
“No.”
“…How about now?”
“Brian, if you ask me about Declan one more time, I’m taking that book you’ve had your nose stuck in for the last couple of days and I’m torching it.”
Stricken by the prospect, Brian covertly slid the large tome in front of him off of the table and into a backpack on the floor. Using his foot, he nudged the pack further from him, until it was well out of the older girl’s reach.
Kenzie had a laptop opened in front of her and was typing furiously on the keyboard. Brian’s gaze traveled between the girl and the bag.
They sat in silence for another moment.
“Are you sure he’s—”
“Brian.” She glanced up from her work.
“Sorry! It’s just that he should have been back to check in hours ago.”
Her expression lost some of its severity when she registered the concern in the eyes of the bespectacled ten-year-old sitting across from her. She turned her attention back to her compu
ter.
“It’s Declan, Brain,” she said, intentionally using his nickname and softening her tone. “He can take care of himself. You worry too much.”
That didn’t exactly make him feel better, but he stayed quiet all the same.
A moment later and the silence was broken once again, this time by Brian’s father, a tall, well-dressed man who had materialized through a door that led to one of the adjoining rooms. He cleared his throat and Kenzie glanced up from her computer.
“Any news?” he asked.
Kenzie had a faraway look in her eyes as she raised one eyebrow. A smirk played at the corners of her mouth. “Perfect timing as always, boss. He’s back. And it looks like he brought someone with him.”
Brain’s father looked around the room as though he half-expected them to be hiding behind the sofa. “Well? Where are they?”
Kenzie appeared to be fighting back laughter as she hiked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the bay windows.
He walked to the casement.
From where Brian sat at the table, he could make out two sets of ripples spreading across the still waters of the lake.
Brian’s father let out a sigh, grabbed a coat from the coat stand and headed out the front door, making for the winding path that led down to the water.
“C’mon, kid.” The girl climbed to her feet and snagged him gently by the arm before he could bolt out the door. “Let’s go get some towels. They’re gonna need them.”
Wanting to follow his father, but realizing it would probably be a bad idea, he settled for following Kenzie obediently through the living area and up the stairs.
They were definitely going to need those towels.
* * *
Alex reached the surface first and swallowed a lungful of icy air.
The frigid water and the cold, crisp air made for a jarring contrast to the oppressive heat they’d left behind in the bookstore.
Her mind reeled, a thousand different questions running through her head. Where were they? How had they gotten here? Better yet, how was she going to get back? If she didn’t show up at home in the next twenty minutes or so, Cassie and Aunt Cil were going to freak.