Luminous Spirits (Shadow Eyes Series Book 2)

by Dusty Crabtree

  “That’s not fair. If it makes you feel any better, I’d rather switch places.”

  “I would too, babe. Trust me.” He blew a kiss at me. “But we won’t be apart for long. Until then...” He stretched his hand towards me as he continued to walk backwards to his car. “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

  “Nice.” I laughed as Patrick climbed in to the driver's seat but then kept my eyes on him as he backed out and moved to another spot to wait. Once he parked, I slung my purse over my shoulder and glanced around the parking lot to get my bearings.

  Patrick had our means of communication, which meant I was no longer able to hear what was going on. That disconnect immediately made me feel isolated and out of the loop. I could trust Patrick, though. He’d let me know if anything was wrong.

  Before long the U-Haul truck pulled in and parked by a gas pump. The driver, Michael, stepped out of the vehicle with a severe frown on his face and opened the gas tank. As he peered inside, scratching his head, the depraved shadow hanging by his side fluttered around as if looking for something, or someone. That couldn’t be good.

  Michael eventually gave up and stuck the gas pump in his vehicle. As he waited, arms crossed over his chest, I took a deep breath and waltzed over to him. He was just replacing the gas nozzle and tearing off his receipt when I saw my opportunity.

  “Excuse me.” I smiled as captivatingly as possible without looking fake. With my glowing hand, I reached out to touch his arm, and his shadow shifted back a few feet.

  “Sorry to bother you,” I continued. “But my car isn’t starting, and I don’t know anything about cars.” Pulling off the helpless, mechanically-challenged girl was fairly easy. I honestly didn’t know anything about cars. “Could you maybe help me?”

  A wide grin lit up his face as if it’d been ages since he’d spoken to a girl. My aura and fake charm must’ve been working better than I’d thought.

  “Sure. I mean, I’ll try. I’m Michael, by the way.” He shook my hand like a gentleman.

  “Thank you so much, Michael. I’m Sarah. I really appreciate your help.” I took him by the arm and led him to my defective vehicle around the corner. His shadow kept its distance but followed shortly behind.

  Upon reaching the car, I released Michael’s arm and stood beside him.

  “So...do you wanna pop the hood and try to start it for me?”

  I shook my head and laughed. “Of course. Sorry.” I opened the driver’s side door so I could do what any normal person would’ve done already.

  He lifted the hood, and I twisted the key. Of course, nothing happened. I’d gone over my strategy twenty times in my head, so I began the next step automatically. I pulled the lever to open the trunk, climbed out, and walked to the back to pull out the car’s tool kit. Gregory’s friends had purposefully stashed the kit there beforehand.

  “Could this help?” I flashed Michael an innocent smile as I held out the box to him. “My dad put this thing in the trunk a long time ago when I first got the car.”

  “Yeah, actually. That’ll help a lot.” He accepted the box and opened it to see what all he could use.

  I took the opportunity to focus on the dark figure still hovering to the side. The leech couldn’t be allowed to live or it would scamper off and alert Donovan and everyone else. Unless, a small voice inside of me whispered, the shadow had, in fact, been sent from Donovan.

  Ugh! I couldn’t think about that right now. Either way, the demon needed to die. Since squeezing it to death would take too long, I would have to revert to my fallback weapon.

  Michael bent over the engine again to search for the problem, so I backed up to give him room. The perfect opportunity. I reached in my purse for my prism. The leech didn’t even see me coming.

  One simple swipe was all it took. I had my prism tucked back in my purse before Michael had moved a muscle.

  I only had a moment to feel good about getting rid of the shadow, though. When Michael finally raised up, he gazed at me with wary, questioning eyes as if trying to figure me out. No words. Just staring. My nerves quickly became frayed little wires ready to snap.

  After what felt like a year, he returned his attention to the tool kit. “Well, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. Why don’t you go ahead and get behind the wheel so you can try to start the car for me.”

  “Sure.” I forced a smile and lowered myself into the seat. All I had to do was keep this going. Patrick and Gregory would call the police and my part would be over in no time.

  After a few failed attempts, Michael leaned up from the engine and peered at me through the windshield, just like before. I racked my brain for something to say or do. What would a normal person do in such an awkward situation? Surely they wouldn’t just sit there. I considered asking him if something was wrong, but I didn’t get the chance.

  Something fluttered beside Michael, growing from a faint wisp of gray to something much larger and much darker. Surely it wasn’t the shadow I’d just killed. No way that pathetic excuse for a shadow could’ve come back. When the dark form fully materialized, I recognized the black-as-night silhouette immediately. Donovan.

  I started to gasp but slapped a hand over my mouth and whimpered silently. For all of my brave talk earlier, nothing could’ve prepared me for the shock and horror of actually seeing Donovan there in that context. Fear didn’t come close to describing the raw chill that paralyzed my heart.

  Donovan’s ink-black form curled around the side of Michael’s head by his ear. Without taking his eyes off me, Michael gingerly walked over to where I sat with one foot out of the car, touching the pavement. He narrowed his eyes, as though inspecting my very pores for signs of deceit.

  As much as I attempted to hide it, his scrutiny made me squirm like an ant under a magnifying glass. I had to get out from under his gaze and away from Donovan. I had to get help. As naturally as I could, I picked up my purse, swiveled in my seat to get my other foot out of the car, and stood up. I did my best to keep my expression calm and lighthearted. “I’m going to go get a drink from inside. Can I get you something?”

  His eyes didn’t leave me, nor did the suspicion in them. “No. Thank you.”

  To get to the store, unless I wanted to look like I was avoiding him, I’d have to pass between him and the car. And he wasn’t budging. As I squeezed through the tight space, my arm grazed his. The tension in the air surrounding us was so thick I could hardly breathe, but I kept moving. Just when I thought I was in the clear, cold, rough fingers seized my arm and stopped me in my tracks.

  I swallowed the scream in my throat and flicked my head back to him.

  “Why’d you pick me to help you?” His tone was almost as dark and sinister as Donovan's presence.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess you just seemed like you’d be willing to help and that you’d know what to do. Excuse me.” I slipped my arm from his grasp and walked briskly to the store. My breath grew heavier and faster with every step. Once past the side of the building, I pressed my back against it. My mind raced, struggling to come up with the Plan B we would undoubtedly need.

  I peeked around the corner to make sure Michael wasn’t following me. At first I didn’t see him, but when I did, I realized his following me was the least of our worries. The driver’s side door was opened, and Michael was squatting down with his head directly in front of the fuse box.

  There was no time to think. I took off directly towards Patrick’s car, which was around the corner at the gas pumps by the U-Haul.

  At first all I saw by the U-Haul was a flash of light streak from behind Patrick’s car to the back of the truck. Then Patrick appeared with the walkie talkie in his hands. Severe worry distorted his face. The worry must not have been because of me, though, because when he saw me running towards him, his already concerned brow wrinkled even more.

  “He knows,” was all I could get out between gasps of air.

  In the last few seconds to the truck, the world seemed to spin around me like a whir
lwind and only one object came into focus—Angel, sitting in her carrier on the ground between the vehicles, just waiting to give us away.

  No time to wonder why. I immediately snatched her up and whipped my head around to look for Michael. He was walking towards the entrance. We had all of three seconds for him to not find me and then return to his U-Haul truck.

  The doors to our car were closed. The back of the U-Haul was still open halfway, although Patrick was about to shut it completely. There was no choice. We couldn’t risk Michael seeing us by his truck.

  I chunked the carrier into the back of the truck as quickly and quietly as I could and scrambled in after it. “Patrick, get in. He’s coming. Now!”

  Patrick took one fleeting look around the edge of the truck and then flung himself in as he yelled at Gregory. “Lock the doors! He can see us. He can’t see you. Hurry!”

  Gregory fluttered indecisively for a split-second as I stood and turned to inspect the cargo for the first time. What lay in massive piles along the walls and the entire back half of the truck was not drugs.

  The slamming of the doors resounded in my ears, ricocheting off the metal walls of our tomb.

  Everything went black. We were stuck…in a truck filled with drug money.

  Chapter 30

  “What are we going to do? What are we going to do?” I whimpered hysterically. “Donovan was out there. He tipped the driver off about us.” My high-pitched breathy voice echoed around us.

  In the pitch dark, Patrick found me and gently covered my mouth with his hand as he whispered in my ear, “Shh.”

  I struggled to get my breathing under control as my chest heaved up and down. Before long, Patrick’s hand over my mouth began to glow. I closed my eyes and let the light wash over me.

  When I reopened my eyes, they quickly adjusted to the dim glow radiating off Patrick. I was still freaking out on the inside, but at least my breathing had slowed to normal. I took his hand from my mouth and wrapped his arm around my waist from behind. His close contact comforted me, but I remained on edge, waiting for anything to happen.

  The crunch of footsteps came first. Then an even more frightening sound—the metal clink of the lock on the back of the truck.

  “Hmm...” Michael murmured to himself. The clink only lasted a second. He must have been checking to see if the doors were still locked.

  His footsteps moved from the back of the truck to the front until the driver’s side door opened and slammed shut. The roar of the engine came next.

  He was leaving. With us stuck inside.

  Before we started moving, Patrick had enough sense to grab my hand and the carrier and drag me to the side by the money. He set the carrier on the ground, pulled me down to a sitting position in front him, wrapped one arm around my waist, and braced himself with his free hand.

  Seconds after my butt hit the ground, the truck lurched forward with a jolt.

  This was so not how the plan was supposed to work. The guy was smuggling drug money instead of drugs, which, from what I’d heard, was a far more dangerous thing. And we were also trapped inside. Not to mention, being in the back of a moving vehicle with no seat belts sucked. With our legs propped up, Patrick's back against the wall, and my back against him, we absorbed most of the hard jolts. But our ride wasn't exactly comfortable.

  When we eventually shifted to smoother road that must’ve been the highway, my brain relaxed enough to think of something other than not falling over. The first thing that came to my mind was that we didn't want the shadows or especially Donovan to know we were in there. As much as I appreciated Patrick’s glow, the shadows might be able to detect the light. We would have to be in the dark.

  I nudged him. “You probably want to switch off your aura. I don’t know if Donovan knows we’re in here, but better not chance it.”

  He nodded. “Like moths to a flame.” Then all was black again.

  I thought about using the walkie talkie to reach the others, but making that much noise was too risky. I did still have my purse and my phone, though. Talking was out of the question, but we could text. I turned on my phone to check the battery. Only twenty-five percent. But Lexi had sent me a text. I read the message and then gave my phone to Patrick to read silently.

  GREGORY TOLD US WHAT HAPPENED. THAT SUCKS! KYRA WANTED TO TURN AROUND BUT GREGORY TOLD HER THEY COULD HANDLE IT. GREGORY AND ROBERT ARE GETTING A DIFFERENT VEHICLE AND WILL COME GET YOU GUYS SOON! GREGORY SAID HE WOULD’VE STAYED WITH YOU, BUT HE WAS PRETTY SURE DONOVAN DIDN’T SEE YOU GET IN THE TRUCK AND HE DIDN’T WANT TO DRAW ATTENTION TO YOU GUYS. BUT HE WILL BE THERE IN SECONDS IF DONOVAN OR LUCAS SHOWS UP BEFORE THEY GET THERE.

  While Patrick was reading, my phone vibrated with another text from Lexi.

  OH, AND IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING, THEY’RE WAITING TO CALL THE POLICE WITH THE TIP ON THE U-HAUL UNTIL THEY GET YOU SAFELY OUT. HANG IN THERE!

  I had no idea what Gregory’s plan would be and why they needed a different vehicle, but there was no use worrying or even speculating. Either way, we’d just have to wait it out as she said. And the thought of Gregory being only seconds away if needed helped calm me down too.

  Without a plan to come up with, there wasn’t much to think about except the present circumstances. I sat on the hard floor of a U-Haul, in the dark, alone with Patrick...pressed up against his firm chest. Mounds of money lay all around us, and the adrenaline and excitement from our close call and what we’d still very likely have to face, boiled inside me. The strange combination of it all was starting to have an odd, yet not unpleasant effect on me.

  It was as though my frayed nerves knew we were safe enough to loosen up but not enough to completely relax. As a result, I’d fallen into some sort of limbo. My entire body was hypersensitive yet woozy and euphoric at the same time.

  Was Patrick feeling the same thing? Only one way to find out.

  I twisted my head so my chin rested on his shoulder and breathed in his tantalizing scent. All I had was my sense of touch to guide me, but my mouth had to be close to his neck. I bent my torso into his side and leaned in until my lips grazed his skin. Without a word, he tilted his head towards mine so that his mouth was near my ear. He didn’t speak, but his exhaled breath was enough to send shivers down my already tingling spine.

  If that wasn’t an invitation, I didn’t know what was. I twisted into Patrick’s chest and dragged my leg across his thighs until I straddled his lap. The clanging of my phone on the metal floor didn’t even faze me as I slid my arms around the back of his neck. Our hungry mouths found each other in the dark and moved in sync until, eventually, his lips began to wander off. Not being able to see must have heightened my sensitivity. His exploratory kisses on my ear, down my neck, on my shoulder, sent a jolt of electricity racing underneath my skin.

  I’d almost forgotten where we were, that we were on a mission, and that we were in danger, when a loud, echoing cry shattered my trance.

  “Crap! The baby!” I crawled off Patrick’s lap and clambered across the floor towards the shrill wailing. If I didn’t put an end to the noise soon, the baby would ruin us.

  Patrick rushed to my aid with my dropped phone. Turning on the screen, he held the phone over the baby to give me light as I dug in my bag for the key. I just hoped what she needed was something simple. I yanked the baby out of the carrier, stuck in the key, and waited with bated breath. Within two seconds the crying stopped. I let out a gasp of air as my shoulders slumped, but I didn’t move. I stayed still and quiet, hoping and praying the truck wouldn’t slow down.

  Once the light on my phone shut off, we continued to wait with only blackness surrounding us like a suffocating shroud. The drone of the truck’s engine didn’t change. I wasn’t sure how long was long enough to wait before we were in the clear.

  Apparently a minute or two was enough for Patrick. He turned my phone back on for light and carefully took the baby from my lax grip.

  “Iris.” He touched my trembling arm. “It’s okay. He didn’t
hear anything.”

  “Are you sure?” I couldn't stop shaking.

  “He would have stopped by now to check back here. He must not be able to hear much.” Patrick dragged the carrier and bag back to the side of the truck, so I pulled myself up off the ground and moved to sit beside him.

  “Any idea what she needs?” he asked, still holding the key in the baby’s back.

  “Um...hopefully a diaper change?”

  Sensing I wasn’t up to the challenge, Patrick performed the duty for me and slowly removed the key. She didn’t cry, so he set her back in her carrier.

  “Well...” he said after we’d had enough time to gather our wits. Instead of finishing his sentence he just cleared his throat and looked at the floor.

  Our little moment was over. And although I didn't know how I felt about that, I knew it was for the best. I didn’t want to say that thought out loud though. Instead, I drew my knees to my chest and rolled my eyes. “Stupid baby. I swear I’m going to have a heart attack before this thing is over. And I hope then Gregory will be happy.”

  He laughed and shifted his legs. “You’ve got to admit, that was impeccable timing.”

  I smirked. “Almost like Gregory planned it.”

  After a brief pause, we twisted our heads at the same time and stared at each other with narrowed eyes...until we both shook our heads and spoke in unison. “Nah.”

  Patrick pulled the walkie talkie from his pocket and turned it over in his hands. His lips curled up at one end. “Maybe we can ask him.”

  “Uh, no, thank you.” I smiled but then studied the device we hadn’t been able to use in a while. “Do you think we’re safe to use it now?”

  He shrugged. “If the driver didn’t hear that baby crying, I think we should be be fine. But I’ll lower the volume just in case.”

  Once Patrick turned down the volume, he flicked the on switch and pushed the talk button. “Is anybody there?”

  Lexi was the first to respond. “Patrick? Are you guys still okay?”