Luminous Spirits (Shadow Eyes Series Book 2)

by Dusty Crabtree

  Well, this would be an easy fix. I withdrew my prism from my purse and hid it under my arm until they passed me. The moment his hazy leech came in to view, I fell in step behind the bunch and slashed the stupid shadow out of existence. I put away the prism and, with my phone still in my other hand, casually bumped into the guy from behind. The collision was too gentle to knock any sober person off balance, but this guy stumbled so hard he crashed to the ground. He and the other couple thought it was hilarious. His girlfriend simply rolled her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry!” I apologized, placing my free hand on my chest. I held out my phone. “I was playing this new game on my phone. I didn’t even see you. So sorry.”

  The man shook his head, a little dazed without his familiar friend clouding his vision. He allowed the other couple to help him up, which was difficult since all three of them were trashed.

  Once he was upright again, I squinted my eyes and tilted my head inquisitively with my finger pointing at his hand. He was still holding the keys. “You weren’t going to drive like that were you?”

  “Uh...” He glanced at his hand as though he were wondering how the keys got there. “I...I don’t...”

  I turned to the girlfriend. “You could probably drive his car for him, right? I mean, I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt or anything. At least not any worse than falling on concrete.”

  That made him laugh again, which must’ve helped. He freely handed over his keys to his girlfriend, and she stared at them as though trying to figure out what they were. Then she stared at her boyfriend as though trying to figure out who he was.

  “Thanks,” she finally said as her boyfriend was led to the passenger side of his car.

  “All right, so you’re good then?” I asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “Have a good night, guys.”

  “Yeah, you, too,” somebody shouted.

  I spun around and strutted to my car with a newfound smirk on my face. I knew exactly where I was going to go and what I was going to do. And clearly, I didn’t need any extra help.

  I pulled up to Mike’s house and peered out my driver’s side window. I was determined to kick some shadow butt on my own. However, the thought of taking my anger out on oppressive parasites wasn’t the only thing getting my blood pumping. I didn’t want to admit it, but the prospect of seeing Josh played a big part too.

  I stepped out of the car and patted my purse as reassurance that my prism was there. Since I was by myself, I wasn’t going to take any chances on just using my hands. I had more confidence with my glass weapon.

  Mike’s older cousin was on the porch with his friend smoking a cigarette when I traipsed up to the door. He waved me on in, saving me the awkwardness of ringing the doorbell.

  “Thanks,” I muttered, creaking open the door.

  “No problem, sweetheart.” He paused his conversation with his friend long enough to eye my backside and raise his eyebrows appreciatively as I walked inside. I shut the door and shivered. So that’s what Mike would be like in a few years. The slime-ball thing was even more revolting coming from a man in his twenties.

  I scanned the room to get my bearings. I’d only been in Mike’s house once before. And just like last time, the first person I recognized was Lila. Though my recognition wasn’t by sight at first. Her shrill laughter was the first thing I noticed, and the irritating sound immediately brought back the memory of when I’d heard it last. In the commons area at school when she had been fondling my boyfriend.

  I turned to face her. She was reclining on one end of the largest sofa with one hand cradling a red cup. The other arm stretched behind a well-known soccer player, and other guys crowded around her. She was easily the hottest girl at the party. She wore a bronze-colored, strapless club-type dress that was extremely short and extremely tight. With high-heel shoes and bangle bracelets and earrings, her outfit seemed altogether too mature and exotic for the typical high-school party atmosphere. Even her jet-black hair that she’d curled into perfect waves looked more appropriate for a shampoo commercial than Mike’s house.

  Naturally, the boys were all drawn to her. One guy sat to the right of her on the couch, two stood behind her, and one sat on the armrest on her left. Seeing her there surrounded by all the hopeless guys she was stringing along, I almost felt sorry for Patrick. He probably thought she actually cared about him. How could he not see how wrong he was?

  She spotted me from across the room and her eyes narrowed. As did mine. The guys didn’t notice. Without a word, she handed her empty cup to the boy behind her. He hastily left for the kitchen, and she whispered something into the ear of the lucky or unlucky guy on her right. As she withdrew, she made sure I could see her tongue gently caress the inside of his ear. The swirling of the boy’s shadow promptly picked up speed.

  Lila’s whispering must have been to ask for a massage because she laid her legs on the guy’s lap and he proceeded to massage them without a second thought. With the shift in position, Lila’s tight dress had inched up even higher. As she directed his hands to grope her exposed thighs, his funnel cloud became violent. I was just thankful I knew how to keep from hearing the foul thing.

  I wasn’t, however, able to avoid hearing Lila’s exaggerated moan of pleasure from her massage. A moan that, of course, caused a stir among the rest of the guys and their shadows. The moan on Lila’s lips transformed into a devilish grin, and she locked eyes with me without saying a word. Her message, however, was clear. That’s right. What are you going to do about it?

  I narrowed my eyes to slits and grabbed the prism from my purse, squeezing until my hands hurt. The fact that my prism was out in the open didn’t faze me one bit. Though it probably should have.

  I stomped over to the huddle of hormone-crazed boys. As my penetrating, cold stare remained fixed on Lila, I swung my weapon over the nearest boy’s head. The dark mass spiraled away to vapor.

  As I put away my prism, I directed my attention to the guy I’d nearly attacked who was sitting on the armrest. “Sorry, there was a fly.” I turned my attention back to Lila and smirked, as if to reply, That’s what I’m going to do about it. Now what?

  Without taking her venomous eyes off me, Lila flung her legs off the first boy’s lap and planted her feet firmly on the ground. She then shifted her attention to the boy on the armrest, the one I had just freed. Hooking her fingers in the waistline of his jeans, she yanked him down to the small space between her and the arm of the couch. She draped her legs seductively over one of his thighs so that her legs were inches from his groin.

  A new shadow formed almost instantaneously above him. Its insides circulated rapidly like the beginnings of a violent funnel cloud larger than the one I’d just annihilated. She released her fingers from his pants and grinned triumphantly.

  “Ugh!” I screamed in frustration as I balled my hands into fists. “You disgust me. You know that?”

  Her grin deepened.

  “You know exactly what you’re doing and you take pleasure in doing it. You don’t care about these guys at all or what you do to them. You make me sick! Did you ever stop to think that there are decent guys out there who actually want to keep their thoughts pure and that you’re making it exceedingly difficult? Wait.” I rolled my eyes. “Who am I talking to? Of course, you do. You just don’t flippin’ care.”

  “Whatever.” She rolled her eyes like I wasn’t worth her precious time. “Everyone knows you’re jealous.”

  The guys around her all looked at me and blinked as though seeing me for the first time. They half-raised their eyebrows in agreement.

  “Of course,” I spat back. “That must be it. Because I’ve always wanted to be known as the easiest girl in school.”

  I spun around on my heel and started to walk off as one of the guys hollered after me, “You mean the hottest.”

  “Whatever!” I threw up my hands and kept walking with my chin in the air. But then a small voice sprang up from some hidden place in my mind and whispered, “Maybe that’s wh
y Patrick would rather be with her than you.”

  I shook my head as if to fling the thought from my mind and tried to focus on what I had come to do. This night was not going the way I had planned.

  I turned the corner to get out of Lila’s line of sight and bumped into someone. “Sorry,” I muttered and then glanced up to find that the person I’d bumped into was, in fact, Lexi. The girl who hadn’t returned my text earlier. The same gray fog I’d seen on her this morning lingered over her head.

  My jaw fell open and her eyes grew wide as she recognized me. “Hey,” she blurted out a few decibels louder than necessary. As though that would cover up the awkwardness of our unplanned meeting. “What are you doing here? I didn’t think you liked Mike.” She shrugged and dipped her head to the side. “Well, neither do I, but...I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

  I ignored her question. “Did you come with Nicole?”

  She lowered her head for a moment. “Yeah. I mean, I figured you and Kyra would be busy like you always are, and I didn’t have anything better to do.”

  Her honest and painfully true statement was a knife in my gut. My heart broke for her. For our broken relationship. “I’m so sorry, Lexi.”

  She laughed nervously. “Hey, it’s all right.” But I knew it wasn’t. A big part of her did blame me for having nowhere else to go on a Friday night. I really was trying to be a better friend to her, but whatever I was doing wasn’t enough. I was afraid that if things stayed the way they were…it never would be.

  I tried to switch on my aura as a last ditch effort to help her, but the attempt was futile. My soul was still shattered in pieces from Patrick and ice cold with hatred for Lila. Trying to turn on my aura was like trying to start a fire with broken icicles.

  Lexi eyed me warily. “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not.” A night intended for shadow-slaying had ended up making me feel impotent and helpless. My frustration had reached a boiling point. I yanked my prism out of my purse once more and flung my arm over Lexi’s head before considering the blatancy of my actions.

  It worked. The shadow dissipated. But the fix was only temporary.

  Lexi’s face distorted in confusion. “What was that all about?”

  I sighed. “Nothing.” I turned away from her to escape more questions and ran into another familiar friend.

  “Hey, Iris!” I wasn’t sure which emotion in Josh’s voice was stronger, his surprise or excitement. He grabbed the sides of my shoulders, his eyes and mouth gaping. “Lila told me you were looking for me. What are you doing here?”

  Wait, why would Lila tell Josh I was looking for him? I had never said that and why would she care?

  “I mean I’m glad you came,” he continued, “but...” He suddenly seemed to remember he was drunk and dropped his hands self-consciously. I would’ve known by his telltale wavering fog, which was worse than the last time, but his eyes were also a bit glazed over.

  Once Lexi excused herself, Josh shook his head. “Sorry. I never wanted you to see me like this. I mean, I know you were here before, but...well, you came earlier that night.”

  I sighed dejectedly and studied the ground. “It’s okay, Josh. This is all my fault.”

  “What? What are you talking about? This is totally me.”

  “Well. Partially.” I lifted my head, examining the fog above him, and whipped my prism over his head. He barely had time to duck out of impulse.

  “What the... Was there a bug over me or something?”

  I chuckled as I snuck the piece of glass back into my purse. “Something like that.” I sighed again and gazed at Josh’s face, much more attractive and pleasant without the dark cloud surrounding him. These moments were few and far between any more. “If only it could stay this way,” I whispered to myself.

  “Stay what way?” He laughed. “Without bugs?” Then he dropped the grin and sobered up. He stepped closer to me and gently gathered my hands in his. “Or did you mean something else?”

  For a split second, I wondered if what he’d hoped I’d meant was actually true. Did I want it to stay that way? Us? Together? I stared into his eyes and opened my mouth to speak, unsure what would come out if I didn’t filter my words first.

  But then I snapped out of it. I was not going to lead him on. We could never work. We’d already tried that.

  I dropped his hands and moved back a step. I wasn’t sure what to say besides, “Bye,” and I assumed that would be a bit rude. So I said the first safe thing I could think of. “So where’s Mike? I haven’t seen him around yet.”

  Josh shrugged and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him for a while.”

  “Oh.” I nodded slowly, but then froze at the memory of what had happened the last time we were at one of his parties and he’d mysteriously disappeared.

  I smiled at Josh. “Would you excuse me? I think I need to use the bathroom.”

  “Sure.”

  I pushed past him through the kitchen and spotted the door to the main floor bathroom in the hallway. Luckily, it was occupied. I had an excuse to make the trek upstairs if anybody noticed, especially Josh. But I wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. I had a new mission, and my heart was pounding in my chest with anxiety and adrenaline. What if I did find what I thought I might? What would I do? Could I stop him from taking advantage of another girl? What if I was too late? Could I handle what I very well may see?

  All of these questions swarmed through my mind like a nervous mob of hornets whose nest was being threatened. And just like a nervous hornet, I was on edge and impulsive. On my way to the foot of the stairs a couple of girls with hazy clouds crossed my path, and I lashed out. Grabbing one foggy shadow in each of my bare hands, I dug in with more strength than I thought possible. I threw them at the adjacent wall but didn’t get the loud smack I’d wished for, followed by their corpses dissipating as they slid to the ground. Instead the wall sucked them on through and they vanished from sight. At least they were gone. I’d done something. Something pretty amazing actually. I let that confidence push me forward.

  My fingers tingled as I walked up the stairs. I stretched them out and curled them back in several times, trying to get the circulation going. But the exercise wasn’t helping. My whole body was tingling. Especially my head.

  I made it to the second floor hallway. There were three doors, and all were closed. How would I know which one to check? I reached out my hand and cupped my ear to the first one. I didn’t hear anything but opened the door to be sure. Nothing.

  I moved on to the next one. This time, audible movement filtered through the door. I leaned my ear in closer and was met with the squeaking of a mattress.

  My heart thumped deafeningly in my chest as I placed my hand on the door knob. I attempted one last time to force my aura outward but it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I concentrated. My prism and the shock of an intruder would have to do.

  I knocked loudly on the door and then cracked the door open. A sliver of light filtered in to the room to at least give them fair warning. The mattress squeaked with the weight of their bodies moving hastily as some guy hollered, “Somebody’s in here, dude.” I gave them a few more seconds to get covered up and then pushed my way into the blackness of the room.

  The faint light of the hallway must have been enough to identify my silhouette standing in the doorway. The male’s surprised and horrified voice ricocheted off the dark walls to my ears. “Iris?” I was quickly having second thoughts about my plan.

  I opened my mouth to see if the girl with Mike was even lucid, but hesitated. That voice sounded awfully familiar. And it wasn’t Mike’s.

  “Iris?” an even more incredulous voice belted. A female’s this time. There was no mistaking whom that one belonged to.

  “Nicole? Tyler?” I smacked my hand to my mouth. My stomach heaved inside me and my eyes burned. I backed out of the doorway and slammed the door shut.

  As I staggered down the hallway, my bl
ood boiled in a strange way that churned into something new and foreign in my veins. My body straightened into a rigid, volatile, hyper-sensitive stick of dynamite that would go off at the slightest touch.

  I stomped down the stairs, angrier and more confused than I’d been since before seeing Lila and Patrick together. Like the first outpouring of lava in an eruption, my anger spewed forth from my mouth, and I didn’t care who was listening. “Well, why doesn’t everyone around me just go ahead and procreate like rabbits. I’ll die the last virgin on the planet since my boyfriend would rather be with some flirtatious slut than me.”

  It was as though my whole world, everything I’d thought I’d figured out, wasn’t real. The stairs went in and out of focus in front of me and I could hardly breathe. I’d been lied to and was seeing the truth. Maybe there was something to Lila and Nicole’s way of doing things. They at least didn’t run guys off. Was that my problem? I was too chaste and tame?

  I faltered off the last step and wandered obliviously into the kitchen. My vision became clear only long enough to zero in on an empty cup and a large glass bottle with clear liquid. Without thinking, I unscrewed the cap and poured. Slamming the bottle down, I grabbed the cup and lifted it off the counter. But as I brought the drink to my lips, a familiar flicker of light flashed behind me.

  I whirled around, trying not to spill the drink, and slammed my back against the counter. For a moment, all I saw was a solid shield of light encasing a tall silhouette. An arm was outstretched and a hand held a triangular prism. Which was headed straight for my head.

  Chapter 18

  I screamed and ducked as the prism sliced right over my head. Immediately after, my vision and sanity returned to normal and I straightened back up. I could see who the bright figure was. Patrick. He was still glowing, but the light had faded to a faint glimmer.