by S. A. Hunter
He shook his head. “It took something, that’s for sure.”
When they pulled into her driveway, Mary’s good mood fell away as she recognized the extra car parked at her house. Kyle noticed. “Who’s that?”
“Ms. Smith.”
“And?”
Mary unhooked her seatbelt and got out of the truck. “And she makes me nervous. She got kind of aggressive the last time she was here.”
Kyle got out, too. Mary thought about telling him he didn’t have to stay, but she was too set on getting to Gran. She went to the office entrance. She usually never used that door to enter the house, but she didn’t want to waste seconds going through the house. She barged in without hesitation.
Gran and Ms. Smith were sitting across from each other at the table, silently staring at each other. Mary instantly picked up on Gran's unease. She was sitting ramrod straight with arms crossed. Ms. Smith, on the other hand, looked far too relaxed. She looked like she knew something. Like she had Gran over a barrel. Mary wanted to crash a barrel over her head. "Hey, Gran, what's up?" Mary said. Her words were casual, but her tone was not. Gran's eyes were narrowed.
When she looked at Mary, her face was tense and didn't relax a millimeter as she said, "Mary, welcome home. I hope your date went well." Her voice was tense, too.
"Yeah, it was great."
Kyle stepped up behind Mary to look over her shoulder. "Hey, Mrs. Dubont. How are you?"
"What did I say, Kyle?" she said, but the jokingly scolding tone she'd used earlier with him wasn't there. It sounded like a reprimand. Neither Mary nor Gran could mask their feelings through their tone of voice. They could say whatever they liked, but no matter what, people would know when they were upset.
"Kind of late, isn't it?" Mary said. It was just after nine. Gran usually stopped seeing clients at eight o'clock.
"Ms. Smith needed a very important reading," Gran said, again relaying with her dry, sarcastic tone what she really thought.
"Hope it went well. But it's getting late. We should lock up the house," Mary said.
Ms. Smith hadn't budged from her seat and still looked far too relaxed. "I really don't see what the big deal is," she said.
Mary didn't know what the deal was that Ms. Smith was referring to, but she could bet that it wasn't something Gran or she wanted any part of.
"I understand, Ms. Smith, but it isn't something I feel comfortable with. You will have to look for a different psychic."
"Is it the money? We can pay more."
Ms. Smith's slip, betraying that there were others besides herself that were interested in whatever she was doing, made alarm bells go off for Mary. There was no way she was letting Gran do something or go somewhere where more than one client was involved. Working one-on-one was risky enough. Adding more people just increased the chances of craziness.
Gran rose from her seat, keeping her arms crossed as she did so. "As my granddaughter said, it's getting late and we need to be getting to bed. She has school tomorrow, and I'm an early riser."
Ms. Smith finally moved, rising gracefully from her seat. "Of course. Thank you for seeing me."
The glare in Gran's eyes indicated to Mary that she hadn't had a choice about letting Ms. Smith see her. She held out a business card to Gran. Gran looked down at it but didn't move to take it. Ms. Smith let her hand drop and moved to the door. Mary backed off, bumping into Kyle as she did. They hustled back to clear the way for the woman. Mary was eager to watch her get into her car and drive away, but a few steps out, Ms. Smith stopped and turned around. She held the card out to Mary.
"Maybe your grandmother will change her mind once she's slept on it. Please take my number and have her call me if she does. This is a lucrative opportunity."
Mary didn't budge. Ms. Smith kept holding out the slip of card stock. Kyle finally reached out and took it. She smiled at him and started heading to her car again. She backed out too fast and spat gravel as before. Mary rolled her eyes at her dramatic exit.
"Who was that?" Kyle asked.
"Let's see what it says on her card." Mary took the card from Kyle and flipped it over. It read “Regina Smith,” with her phone number.
Regina Smith. She’d half-expected the first name to be Jane. She balled up the business card.
"Who was she?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know. Someone who gives me a bad feeling. She came by once before to bully Gran into giving her a reading. I don't like that she came without me being here."
"What do you think she wants?"
Mary shrugged with a sigh. "We think she wants the box Mr. White sent us. But she hasn’t said anything about it."
Mary went back inside to see how Gran was. Gran was straightening up the office. "Hey, you all right?" Mary asked.
Gran sighed and nodded with a rueful smile. "Yes, I'm fine. Ms. Smith certainly is pushy."
"What did she want?"
Gran shrugged. "As far as I can tell, she wants me to sign onto some project. I'm supposed to agree to something that will be very lucrative. She has this desperation about her that puts me on edge."
"Did you get any idea what her connection is to the Shadowman and Mr. White?"
Gran looked thoughtful. "She hasn't said anything to make me think she knows anything about it. I don't think she has any ties to the supernatural. Her aura feels mundane."
"You can feel her aura?" Kyle asked.
Gran smiled. "Yes, I usually only do that when asked, but I couldn't help myself with her. Her aura was fine. There was a lot of passion and drive in it, but nothing that made me worry for my safety."
Mary wasn't convinced that there was nothing to worry about, safety-wise. She'd seen how that woman drove. "Are you planning to see her again?"
"No, but I don't think that matters. I wasn't planning to see her tonight."
Mary was calming down and remembered that she was still technically on a date. She turned to Kyle, not sure what to do next. He reached for the door. "I guess I should get going."
Mary followed him out. "Kyle, sorry you got dragged into that."
"No, it's fine. You going to Google Regina Smith?"
She still had the piece of paper in her hand. In all honesty, she'd intended to throw it away and try to forget about the woman. "Yeah, I guess so."
They walked back to his truck. "I had fun tonight," he said.
Mary smiled. "Me, too. I'm glad we did this."
Kyle stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. "Guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?"
She nodded. “Yeah, see you.”
He looked like he was struggling with something. Mary began to worry about what it was. He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped toward her. She stayed still. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. He was going to the side, and she turned her head to follow him. He stopped. She realized she'd ruined his plan. "You were going to kiss me on the cheek again, weren't you?"
Kyle gave her an abashed smile. "Thought you'd be okay with that. Guess not."
"No, it was a good guess," Mary said, and before she could stop herself by thinking about it, she got on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. As kisses went, it was brief. A little more than a peck, but it was still her first kiss. Kyle's face broke into a big smile.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then," he said.
"Yeah, see you."
He got into his truck and backed out. She watched him until his taillights disappeared down the street. She finally went back inside.
Gran was in the living room reading a novel, or maybe just pretending to. "Have a good time, dear?"
"Yeah, we had fun."
"He seems like a very nice young man."
"Yeah, he is."
"I'm happy for you."
Mary looked at her closely to see if she was being sincere. She'd been almost disapproving before. "You don't think it's weird?"
Gran gave a small shake of her head. "Not anymore. I was a little worried since I knew you we
re friends first with his brother, but I was being silly."
Mary nodded. She wasn't sure if Gran was being completely honest, but maybe she was projecting some of her own insecurities into this. She was still a little worried herself that she only liked Kyle because he was Cy's brother. She went upstairs to use her computer. She put Regina Smith's name in the search engine and looked at the results. Regina Smith was a very common name. She added the phone number to the search, but nothing useful came up. This was all assuming that Regina Smith was her real name. Mary sighed and shut off her computer. She needed to get some sleep. She hoped she slept better that night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next day at school, she couldn't find Rachel. Taryn was nowhere to be found either. She asked some of Taryn's friends if they'd seen either one. No one knew where they were. She went to the pay phone to try calling Rachel’s cell. She only got voice mail. "Hey Rach, it's Mary. Where are you? Are you skipping today? Thought you'd want to hear about my date. I hope everything's okay. See you." She hung up the phone and looked around the hall. TAB was almost over. But she wanted to hang by the phone for a few minutes in case Rachel called back. She wished she could get a proper cell phone, but she didn't have the money for it. Her prepaid phone was currently dead because she hadn't bought service for it recently. She needed to go by a store and pick up a calling card for it.
The warning bell rang. The hall started to empty out as people went to class. She debated staying by the phone. Her next class was pretty close by. She felt a little like a loser waiting for a call that probably wouldn't come. She wished she knew what Rachel was up to. She should go. It wasn't any use being tardy for no reason. The pay phone started ringing. She snatched up the receiver.
"Hello, Rachel?"
The speaker blasted her ear with crackling electricity and grinding gear sounds. She jerked the phone away and slammed it back onto its cradle. It immediately started ringing again.
She picked it up again. Over the noise, she shouted, "Stop calling me, loser! I am not afraid of you!" She slammed the phone down again. It started ringing once more. She grabbed the cord attaching the phone to the box and pulled. It wouldn't budge because it was encased in metal tubing. She let it go and stepped back. The phone continued to ring. It echoed through the empty hallway. Was it louder than usual? She lifted her boot and started kicking it, trying to get it to shut up. The metal box dented, but the phone kept ringing. She focused her kicks to the side and the box finally came loose and the ringing stopped. She sighed in relief. She looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone had been watching her. No one had stepped into the hall. She was pretty lucky. Destruction of school property would definitely land her in detention or possibly even in school suspension.
The PA system popped on. Maybe she hadn't been so lucky. She looked at the mounted speaker, expecting Principal Hoke to call her to the office. Instead, crackling electricity and grinding gears blasted out.
Mary stared at the speaker in horror. The noise was deafening. Classroom doors opened and annoyed teachers popped out. They looked at her in suspicion. She needed to get out of there. She ran to the nearest exit. She slammed through the door and kept going. She didn’t stop until she reached home. She called out to Gran, but she wasn’t home. Mary didn’t know where she was, and she didn’t carry a cell phone either. She went up to her room and sat on her bed. What was she going to do? She had barely formed the thought when her stereo turned on at full volume and started blasting the Shadowman’s chittering at her. She leaped from the bed for the power cord, jerking it out of the outlet. The stereo kept making noise for a few seconds even without power, but it faded out. How could it do that? She was shaking as she lay sprawled on the floor with the power cord still clutched in her hand. The phone started ringing downstairs.
She moaned and curled into a fetal position. She wasn’t going to answer it. She wanted Gran. She sniffled and grabbed her tissue box. She knew it wasn’t strong to break down, but she was alone now. No one would see. She let the tears flow. Her breathing began to hiccup. She got a glimpse of herself in the mirror and quickly turned her head away. She didn’t want to see herself like this.
The crunch of gravel drew her attention. She crawled to her window to look out. It wasn’t Gran. If she’d thought about it, she may have said it was the last car she’d expect to see pulling up to her house, but then again, Vicky did have a history with the Shadowman. The doorbell rang. Mary thought about ignoring it like she was doing to the phone. From outside, she heard Vicky yell, “Mary, I know you’re in there! Answer the door!”
Unlike the phone and the doorbell, Mary wasn’t able to ignore Vicky’s voice. Her life would’ve been a lot easier if she had learned to do so, but something about the cheerleader’s voice had always shot straight into Mary’s brain. She could never stop herself from hearing whatever Vicky was saying, no matter how mean or spiteful. Mary pulled herself up and clomped down the stairs. She opened the door for the Queen Bee with a blank face.
“What do you want, Vicky?”
“You took care of it, huh? Yeah, it sounds like you took real good care of that monster.”
“I killed it.”
“So what was that at school? Is it haunting you now? Kill it again!”
Mary rolled her eyes and tried to swing the door shut, but Vicky’s hand shot out and stopped it. She pushed her way inside.
“Get out of my house, Vicky.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know. Get out.”
Vicky wasn’t listening to her. She sat down on the sofa with arms crossed. Vicky’s boldness flummoxed Mary. Would she have to physically remove her?
Vicky scowled at her. “I can’t believe you. You swore that thing was taken care of.”
“It was.”
“Oh yeah? Then what blasted over the PA system? And since when does it make general announcements?”
“I don’t know. But it’s not something for you to worry about. It’s not going to bother you.”
“How do you know?”
Mary didn’t reply. She heard a vehicle pull up to the house. She looked out hoping it was Gran. Maybe she could make Vicky leave. But it wasn’t an old station wagon that had pulled up. It was Kyle’s truck. He got out and headed up to the house.
Mary didn’t like this. She was worried that Vicky would say something to Kyle about her. But Kyle didn’t bother to even knock. He came straight in and to Mary, not sparing Vicky a glance.
He pulled her into a hug. “Hey, are you all right?”
“I’m okay. Freaked out, but okay.”
He looked down at her. Mary realized her eyes were probably pretty red and puffy. She ducked her head to hide them. Kyle turned and looked at Vicky. “What’re you doing here?” he asked her.
Vicky gave him a condescending look. “Considering that the thing attacked me first and kept me in a coma, I’d like to know if I need to invest in some night lights.”
“Has the Shadowman called you?” he asked.
Vicky’s brow scrunched. “What, like on the phone? Are you serious?”
“It called Mary.”
Vicky shook her head, obviously exasperated. “Oh, you took real good care of it. It’s so afraid of you that it’s prank calling you. If you scare it more, will it start leaving flaming bags of dog poo on your doorstep? Or maybe it’ll TP your house?”
Mary had had enough. “Go home, Vicky. Sleep with a night light on. I don’t care. Just leave.”
“Do you really expect me to just go?”
“Vicky, this isn’t your problem anymore, trust me.”
Vicky wasn’t having any of it. “No, I don’t think so. That thing didn’t touch you and take something from you.”
Mary wasn’t going to argue, but Kyle was. “Mary has fought this thing. She put herself at risk for you. We don’t know what’s going on now, but you have no right to make demands of her. She’s the one in danger, not you.”
�
��How do you know? How do you know this thing isn’t attacking people?” Vicky demanded.
Mary didn’t know. Maybe it was roaming around hurting people. She had assumed it wasn’t because of the phone calls. Why call her when it could just show up to frighten her? She may not have killed it, but she must have done something to it. It couldn’t be the same as before. She’d definitely hurt it.
“Great, just great,” Vicky grumbled as she got up. “That thing is out there, and you don’t know how to stop it.”
Kyle moved in front of Mary and loomed over Vicky. “Do you?” he demanded. “Do you have any ideas? Please, share them with us. Better yet, do something yourself if you think you can do a better job.”
Vicky met him glare for glare. “I’m not the freak here. This is Mary’s thing, not mine. And what do you think you’re doing? You really think you’ll protect her? You can’t punch this thing or tackle it.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he said.
Vicky rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go buy a butt load of night lights.”
Mary let out a sigh of relief as she watched Vicky leave. She was still surprised the cheerleader had even known where she lived. Kyle put an arm around her and gave her a squeeze. “You all right?”
She nodded, but slipped out from under his arm. She perched on the sofa and stared at the dark television. “I can’t believe that happened. The Shadowman was trying to call me at school from a pay phone. I broke the pay phone to shut it up. I wouldn’t have if I’d known it would switch to the PA system.”
“That was pretty freaky.”
Yeah, freaky like her.
“Mary? Are you all right?”
She shrugged. Why did he keep asking her that? Did he want her to say no? “Thanks for checking on me and helping me deal with Vicky. You can go. I’ll be fine.”
He sighed and sat down beside her. “Mary, do you like me?”
She jumped. “You don’t just ask someone that!”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “I just did. Now you have to answer the question.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she argued.
She unfolded herself from her fetal position and scooted away from him. Kyle’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward to peer at her face.