Darkness Echoes: A Spooky YA Short Story Collection

by L. A. Starkey

  “Mai is dead?”

  “No, I don’t think so. The last I saw of her, Nine Fingers had her and was riding off.”

  “Nine Fingers was here? He is alive?”

  “He followed me, and I told him to leave with Mai. Yes, he was very much alive when I saw him last.”

  They walked to the bank of the mountain ice-fed stream. Walking Bear waded out in the water, spearing trout and throwing them on the bank to Lina.

  “That should be enough.”

  Walking Bear climbed up the bank and sat next to Lina.

  “Tell me how you moved your spirit into the bear.”

  “I wasn’t even sure I could do it. Nine Fingers told me when the time came, to call on the Spirit Warriors of our ancestors. They would protect me. When the Skin Walker took Mai, we jumped on the horses and left, without a thought of what we should do. The others followed me. As we went farther into the mountains, we were forced to go single file. It took me awhile to realize that I was all alone.”

  “You didn’t hear or see anything?”

  “Nothing. I thought I had just lost the others in the dense trees. I had no idea how to rescue Mai or how I would stop the Skin Walker. I got down off of my horse and begged the Spirit Warriors to help me. The wind raged and it felt like my body didn’t belong to me. I watched my left hand take my knife and cut my right palm. The blood, instead of dropping on the ground, rose to the sky! I fell to the ground writhing around in pain and then it seemed like I was looking down on my body. I heard my voice bellering like a grizzly and then this grizzly came charging out of the trees. My droplets of blood rained down on him, but didn’t touch his fur. They went through his hide! My instinct was to run away, but my loco body ran toward the grizzly, ran side-by-side with him, and reached out and touched him. The wind sucked me away and into the bear’s body, and I watched my body crumple and fall, face down.”

  “Do you take over the bear’s body?”

  “Kind of. He is my host. His mind and thoughts are there with mine. We become one. We are one.”

  After we merged, we found the Skin Walker. Mai was slumped against a tree. I thought she was dead. We attacked the Skin Walker, it was a fierce fight, and then the next thing I knew I was in the cave. By the way, how did I get there?”

  “I build a travois and pulled you there behind the horses. The hardest part was getting you inside the cave. No amount of cajoling would get the horses into that bear cave. I finally pulled you in by your feet.”

  “Is there anything you can’t do?” Walking Bear laced his fingers with hers.

  “For you, there is nothing I can’t or won’t do.”

  “How did you get my spirit back?”

  “I didn’t. I recalled that Nine Fingers said your spirit was gone and when we found the bear, we would find you. After the Skin Walker’s death, I traced the path of your wounded bear to the cave. I went back and dragged your body here. I laid you next to him and nothing happened. I tried to roll you, and your arm flopped over and touched the bear, and you started coughing and coming around. It was an accident, a fortunate one.”

  “I agree. We have been blessed by the Spirit Warriors.” Walking Bear put his arm around her shoulders.

  They stayed in the cave with the bear for nine sunrises waiting for the bear to recover enough to travel.

  “He must be near to me. My blood is his blood.”

  “Do you think you will ever need to join with him again?” Lina stroked the hump on the grizzly bear’s back.

  “Yes. The Skin Walker is gone, but one day someone else will uncover the power of the Skin Walker.”

  “How do you know this?” Lina traced the scar on Walking Bear’s palm with her fingers.

  “The Spirit Warriors revealed it to me. This bear will be our children’s protector and we will guard it forevermore.”

  “You better make a bigger tepee this time, Walking Bear. I want us surrounded by

  children.”

  “Me, too, Lina. Me too.” His fingers outlined her lips before his lips claimed them.

  On the tenth day, they set out with the horses and the bear, stopping in the open area in the valley below the cave. Lina laid a flower on the each of the mounds of stones covering the eight graves. Walking Bear chanted in a sad singsong tone. The wind stirred the petals of the flowers as Lina stood with her head bowed.

  “Let’s go home, Lina.”

  She lifted her head to the sky.

  “Home. I’m ready. I’m ready to go home.”

  Epilogue

  “So what happened to Walking Bear and Lina? Did they find the others under the bear stars?” The little boy bounced up and down on the bed.

  “Stop the bouncing, Charlie. Yes, they found the others.” Archie tucked the covers around Charlie’s shoulders.

  “I wish I could fight the Skin Walker. I would pow him with my fists and knock him into the mountains.” Charlie jumped up. “Then I would bam, and bam him again.” He turned his small hands into fists. “I would show that Skin Walker a thing or two. Will I get to fight the Skin Walker?”

  “Perhaps. We will see. Now it’s time to sleep, Charlie.” Archie covered him back up and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Grandpa Archie?”

  “Yes?”

  “The girl in my dreams. She is like Lina?”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “When will I find her?”

  “One day, my child, one day soon.”

  Archie kissed him on the forehead. “Goodnight, Charlie.” He turned off the light and cracked the door.

  “Grandpa Archie?”

  “No more questions. It’s time for bed.”

  “Please, just one more?”

  “Okay, just one.”

  “Did they have kids and grandkids, Walking Bear and Lina?”

  “As many as the stars,” Archie replied.

  “I wish I were one of their stars.”

  “You have only to look in the mirror, Charlie, to know the answer to that wish.”

  “What’s that mean? Grandpa Archie!”

  “Goodnight, my child.”

  The room went dark. Charlie closed his eyes, and the girl appeared as she did every night.

  “Charlie, I need your help.” She ran closer to him, her golden curls bouncing. Her cornflower blue eyes bored into his.

  “Ch...ar...lie.”

  “I’m coming. Hold on.”

  He chased after her, never getting any closer, yet never getting farther away.

  “Slow down. What’s your name?”

  She called back as she ran.

  “Emmeline. It’s Emmeline. Help me. Please.”

  The dream always ended there. Charlie lay awake sweaty, his heart pounding out of his chest.

  “Emmeline,” he whispered in the dark. “I will find you.”

  The End

  Authors Bio – D.E.L. Connor

  Della Connor (D.E.L. Connor) was born in South Dakota and raised in Southeastern Montana where she acquired a keen appreciation for Western and Native American culture. She moved to Texas as a young adult and acquired her honorary Texan status. She became a registered nurse, a nurse practitioner and eventually earned her PhD in nursing. She still works as a nurse educator and as a nurse practitioner.

  Her nights and weekends, however, are filled with her stories and books. Her first book, "Spirit Warriors: The Concealing," was published by Booktrope Publishing in November of 2014. The second book in the series "Spirit Warriors: The Scarring will be available July 21, 2014. The Spirit Warriors series will consist of five books and a prequel.

  The Spirit Warriors story evolved from a short story she wrote for a college English class in the early 1990's. The professor read it, loved it and asked her to stay after class and discuss it. During this discussion, he told her that a "dark" story like hers, which was written for older children, would be unmarketable and unsaleable.

  The story kept floating around in her mind. Finally, J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meye
rs and others stepped forward with amazing "dark" stories to create a new genre called Young Adult. The time was finally right for her book. She wrote book 1 in two weeks. It took another year and a half and about a 150 queries all with a "not interested" for her to find a publisher. She found Booktrope and as they say, it's all history.

  Website ~ Newsletter ~ Amazon ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

  Other Books by D.E.L. Connor

  The Concealing (Spirit Warriors Book 1)

  Sixteen-year-old Emme Belrose has it all: four best friends, a horse of her own, a hidden tepee hangout, and a blossoming romance with tall and handsome Charlie. These friends also have a secret. They can move their spirits into animal bodies: an osprey, a mustang, a grizzly, a mountain lion and a coyote.

  But when Charlie, who has a gift for seeing the future, has a vision of Emme drowning in the icy Yellowstone River, the Spirit Warriors must train their animal bodies to kill an enemy they know is coming…but know nothing about. Suspenseful, romantic, and awash in Native American magic, Spirit Warriors captures the tragic enchantment of the American West—and confirms the power of friendship.

  The Scarring (Spirit Warriors Book 2)

  In the majestic beauty of a Montana summer, Emme and her friends celebrate her near-drowning survival and their defeat of the powerful evil spirit, the machayiwiw.

  But even as they rejoice, things are amiss. Emme watches helplessly as her family divides, and her friends struggle to hold their relationship together. Worse yet, the love-of-her life, Charlie, announces that he will move back to the reservation, without Emme. New nightmares take over and Emme realizes she must fight and kill- or watch those she loves be killed.

  New friends from the reservation reach out to Emme and show her what evil can steal from her. Emme believes that evil can never break her bond with the Spirit Warriors or the love she shares with Charlie. Or can it?

  The Burning (Spirit Warriors Book 3)

  In the third book of D.E.L. Connor’s magical coming of age Spirit Warriors series, Emmeline and her friends find themselves still reeling from the loss and pain caused by the evil spirit, machayiwiw- but the danger is far from over.

  As Emme, Charlie, Bets, Ollie, Jack and their beloved Spirit Animals prepare for the final battle against the machayiwiw, Emme struggles with a battle within her own heart. She longs for the beauty and softness she feels around Charlie, but she can’t deny the burning passion that consumes her with Jack. Will she finally let Charlie go and give her heart to Jack?

  Enthralling and passionate, Spirit Warriors brings the vibrant American West to life once again and whispers its ancient secrets of love and friendship.

  Book 4: Lantern

  By Chess Desalls

  To everyone who is a light in someone else’s darkness.

  Text copyright © 2015 by Czidor Lore, LLC

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  First Edition: 2015

  Lantern is a work of fiction. The characters and events portrayed are used in a fictitious manner and are the products of the author’s imaginings. Any resemblances to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events are purely coincidental.

  Prologue

  Fingers trembled along the grains and splinters of a broken leg.

  “What was that obnoxiously loud crack?” yelled a voice muffled by sounds of approaching footsteps.

  Jared’s eyes prickled with tears. He blinked rapidly as he picked up a fallen piece of pine. He rubbed the space above where his knee had once been, tracing along the leather straps that held the other half of the leg in place. A scowl of pain marred his face. He’d fallen hard this time, somehow managing to twist his prosthetic underneath him and snap it in half.

  “Well, what now? Must you ruin everything?” A young woman with the same dark eyes as Jared glared at him. She wiped soiled hands across an apron patched with rags. Her lips puckered when she noticed the broken leg. “I cannot pay for a replacement. Enjoy thumping about on the one leg you have left.”

  “Moretta—”

  She snorted before stalking out of the room, extending and exaggerating each step taken with her two good legs.

  Jared gritted his teeth as he lifted himself from the floor. Pain lanced from his ankle to his knee. He knew he shouldn’t have been running, but he had to strengthen his good leg if he was going to be useful to anyone. Moretta had taken care of him long enough. She wanted a husband, and Jared was tired of hearing that he was the reason she couldn’t get one. He had plenty of theories why Moretta had no offers, which he was sure she would learn for herself. Once he was gone.

  “Two days,” he muttered. “If I’d lasted two more days for my apprenticeship with Machin to begin, I could have avoided this altogether.”

  The walk to Machin’s cottage would be a long one. Jared decided to busy himself by building a crutch from scrap lumber and metal screws. He hobbled to his workbench and rolled up his sleeves. His arms were muscled and strong from hammering and cutting wood. His inventiveness and ability to work with his hands had impressed everyone in Havenbrim, except for Moretta. Jared was sure these skills were what convinced Machin to hire him for the position. Machin had also called him an intelligent young man, which was news to Jared given Moretta’s frequent declarations of his stupidity.

  Jared’s lips stretched into a lopsided smile. All remnants of pain, both mental and physical, faded at the prospect of getting to learn how to read and write. If he caught on quickly, Machin would teach him figures as well. As if these opportunities weren’t enough, Machin had promised that he would make Jared whole again. Jared assumed that meant a high-end prosthetic, something part machine that could flex and bend just like a real leg. Until then, a crutch would have to do.

  Lost in daydreams of a brighter life, Jared worked on the crutch through mid-meal and supper, ignoring Moretta’s howls and insults as he carved and shaped a simple length of wood into a work of art. After tightening the screws and smoothing a rough patch with glass paper, Jared set his handiwork aside. With a sigh, he dropped his head forward and to the sides to loosen the tightness in his neck.

  Hungry, he wiped his hands on a towel before pulling from his pocket the last piece of fig cake wrapped in paper. “This will have to do for tonight,” he said to no one in particular as he munched the cake. There was no way he was going to ask Moretta to heat up week-old pottage; and the rats, he noticed, wouldn’t eat it cold. Jared chewed slowly. The fig cake had been a gift from a girl in town who he’d assumed pitied him for his infirmity. He’d no clue that she’d been flirting—that the batting of her eyelashes was meant to make her look attractive, not to hold back tears of pity.

  While readying himself for bed, Jared flinched in surprise when he realized the broken end of his prosthetic was still attached to his thigh. He unbuckled the leather straps and tossed the contraption aside before settling onto the mattress laid out near his workbench. “Two more days,” he murmured as he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter One

  Five Days before Halloween

  Tori smiled as she watched her brother bounce across garden stones to avoid touching the grass with his shoes. It was his new favorite game since arriving at their grandmother’s house.

  Absently trailing her fingers along the curls and bends of a wrought-iron bench, Tori looked up past her brother at the eighteenth-century plantation, renovated many times over until it resembled a haunted mansion. The main building was huge with gables topped with neo-gothic spires. Multiple levels of porches looked out across gardens and walking paths leading to the woods. Leaves flecked the surrounding lawns with yellows and reds, filling the air with the spiciness of autumn.

  Tori sucked in a breath when the toe of her b
rother’s shoe caught the edge of a stone.

  “Kimmy!” she yelled out, just before he landed on his stomach, his fleece jacket adding a smear of blue to the mix of colors. “Careful, come here.” She wrapped her arms around the boy to soothe him before the surprise of falling wore off and turned into a tear-fest.

  His given name was Kenneth; his toddler pronunciation of the nickname Kenny had always morphed into Kimmy, and so the name stuck. He squirmed in her arms but smiled in that way she knew meant he didn’t want her to let him go.

  “Are you ready for Halloween?” she said, looking into his giant blue eyes.

  “Candy!”

  Tori laughed. “That’s right, we’ll get lots of candy this year. Everybody’s going to love your costume!”

  Last year’s lady pirate and parrot ensemble had been a bust. Kimmy, dressed as the parrot, had refused all forms of candy, insisting that parrots only wanted crackers.

  Tori’s friend Shawna had been horrified at the idea of dressing up in matching costumes with a sibling thirteen years younger. But Tori thought it was kind of cute. She loved having a brother. She’d waited so long. There would have been a sister between her and Kimmy, but her mother had miscarried. Her parents weren’t the only ones who’d been devastated. Besides, Tori wasn’t proud, especially where candy was involved.

  “What are you dressing up as this year, Kimmy? You remember?”

  “A candy bucket.”

  “That’s right,” Tori laughed, tapping his nose. Halloween was only a few days away, but she’d had a year to prepare their costumes and coach Kimmy. She’d even designed her own homespun version of a lollipop princess from one of Kimmy’s board games. Operation Candy had to be a win.