Shadeland (The Ethereal Crossings, 1)

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 19

  The roads weren’t very busy for nine o’clock at night and I chalked it up to an Eidolon killer being on the loose. Nothing like that had ever happened in Ellengale before; we were just a quiet suburban town filled with quiet people wanting a quiet life. At least we used to be, these killings seemed to have put us on the map and made the humans fear Eidolon’s even more.

  That was something that I found frustrating. People were afraid of the Eidolon’s because of their abilities, because humans didn’t understand them. Why couldn’t the humans just give them a chance? Somewhere inside of myself I knew that was never going to happen, since humans didn’t even give their own kind a chance. I was beginning to understand why Dr. Wineman had been so elated to see me in his class.

  I pulled the car to a stop with a sigh, behind an unfamiliar red mini cooper in front of Yamuna’s house. I was so tired of this and it wasn’t going to get any better. I looked past Luke into Yamuna’s yard. Jared’s body was blocked by the dead plant life but I knew he was there; I was going to have to walk past him to get to the door after all.

  “Just wait here,” I told Luke, “I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Alright,” he said with a concerned expression. Taking a deep breath I stepped out of my vehicle. Strong yet wary steps took me to the gate and I moved onto the dead grass beside the pathway. I closed my eyes and before I knew it I was at Yamuna’s steps, clutching the jar of pixie’s dust to my chest.

  “You know nothing will happen if you look at him, right?” Yamuna said as I peeked at her with one eye. She stood at the top of the broken stairs, watching me. What she said was completely untrue. If I looked at Jared in his current state, something would definitely happen; and it would happen inside me.

  “We got the dust,” I told her, passing her the jar. She observed it for a moment before finding it was acceptable.

  “So how do you plan on getting the blood?” she asked, walking back into her house. After glancing back at Luke I followed her inside; somehow I knew she was going to tell me something useful.

  “I’m not really sure,” I said, “I thought Jared would know…” my sentence trailed off as I turned the corner to her kitchen to come face to face with Violet. Arms crossed tight across her chest she raised one eyebrow at me, telling me to move.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked me, as if I wasn’t allowed to be in Yamuna’s house.

  “Calm down,” Yamuna said, taking her usual seat at the round table. “She’s helping Jared.” The sly grin on her face as she said those words disturbed me. Violet flicked her eyes towards the witch then quickly turned them on me, looking me up and down.

  “Huh.” I wanted desperately to ask why Violet was there, but I knew I wouldn’t get an answer from either of them. They all had such a mysterious history, them and Jared, and I wasn’t sure if I would ever find out. Jared seemed to be connected to everyone, somehow, like he was the center of a sinister spider web. I tried to leave it alone, telling myself that it was none of my business and would be over soon, but my brain wouldn’t let it go and I found I was jumping eagerly onto that web. I swallowed my questions and focused on getting the final ingredient. Stepping around Violet to show her that she didn’t scare me I faced Yamuna.

  “How should I get the blood?” I asked. Yamuna’s eyelids lowered at me, bored; it seemed Violet hadn’t reacted to my presence as the witch wanted.

  “You won’t be able to do it on your own,” she told me. Her smile grew again as she gently touched her finger to her cheek and there was something rather sinister behind it. “Violet can help you.”

  “Like hell that’s—” Violet argued when Yamuna interrupted her. She rushed to her feet and clenched a fist at Violet, her eyes turning black. The chair she was sitting on screeched backwards, almost falling over from the force.

  “You’ll do as I say!” I stepped backwards just as Violet fell to her knees with a groan. She held her stomach, crying out in pain.

  “Fine!” she coughed back and Yamuna released her fist. Violet put her hands on the ground for support and looked up at the witch through streaked hair to growl, “Fine.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked, going to hold her arm to help her up. She swatted me away and I guessed she would have done that to anyone, not just me.

  “Don’t touch me,” she warned. Pushing off the ground she straightened her clothes, careful not to look at Yamuna. I couldn’t tell if it was fear, but it didn’t seem so; if I didn’t know any better I would say it was from shame. “We need to go then.”

  “Take care,” Yamuna said, as if she had done nothing. I made a mental note not to get on her bad side. It was only then that I realized she wasn’t a victim, she was a villain. I had felt sorry for her before, but maybe it was a good thing she was locked out of the world.

  “Let’s go,” Violet said, grabbing my elbow and dragging me outside. She and Jared seemed to have a lot in common, so much so that their facial expressions seemed to be the same. As we stepped out onto the porch I gasped when I saw Jared was not where I had left him. The pathway was clear, no evidence of him at all. Violet hauled me along until we got to the fence. Reaching into her jacket pocket she pulled out a set of keys. She didn’t look at me as she said, “Get in.”

  I heard a car beep, the Mini Cooper that I had parked behind. She released my arm and walked to the driver’s side, opening the door. Luke sat in the passenger seat of my car, patiently awaiting my return. When he saw me he immediately got out.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, clearly wondering who Violet was as she sat down and slammed her door shut.

  “I just—”

  Violet honked the horn, telling me she wasn’t going to wait. I tossed Luke the car keys and said, “Tell you later.”

  Dashing away before he could protest, I jumped into the Cooper. Hopefully he wouldn’t follow us, wherever we were going. The second my door was shut Violet sped off, leaving Luke in the rear-view mirror. I sent him a quick text, telling him to go home for now, that I would contact him later. He only sent back two words, “Be careful.”

  The first thing I noticed while driving with Violet was the way she held the wheel. She kept her hands high, gripping it tight. It was rather aggressive but matched her speed and the way she swerved around other vehicles. Exactly like Jared.

  “What are we doing?” I asked with as little hesitation as I could muster. I still didn’t have any idea as to how we were going to get the blood. My hand kept on the arm rests by my sides, posture growing more tense with each sharp turn, checking my seatbelt.

  “We’re getting the blood of the latest victim,” she said. So she knew about the spell then. What else did she know?

  “How exactly?” I flinched as she turned again, causing her to smirk. Was she doing this on purpose?

  “By finding the latest victim’s body and sticking a needle in it,” she gave me tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes. I faced the windshield, picturing how we would get the blood.

  The sky grew darker as we drove until finally lightning streaked across it. The booming thunder made me feel at ease, just slightly; I had always found storms comforting. Violet turned down a suburban street lit by flashing red and blue lights, her speed finally reducing. Slowly, she rolled the car past an ambulance and multiple police cars. Drops of water hit the window while I stared out of it. I could see Det. Young standing at the doorway of a pretty white house speaking with a middle-aged man. A small crowd had gathered on the outskirts of the property, just like at Alice’s house. As we rolled past, I saw a large black bag being lifted into an ambulance.

  “Someone else has been killed,” I said, not asking a question.

  “Then we have to go to the hospital,” Violet said, stopping on the side of the street to let the ambulance pass. Once it was around the corner she began driving again; taking the same path to the hospital.

  “Why?”

/>   “Because that’s where the morgue is.” I looked back out the window, a heavy feeling in my stomach.

  Violet’s driving was slower now, calmer. Her hands rested at the proper positions and she no longer dodged around the few cars that were on the road. My fingers finally loosened on the rests and I began to relax my legs. I didn’t understand what had changed her mood so drastically.

  My mind began to wander around, but never straying too far from Jared or Luke. Had Violet been at Yamuna’s house because of what had happened to Jared? And what had Yamuna done to her?

  “How are they connected?” I mumbled to myself without realizing it. I gave Violet a glance, wondering if she had heard me; her grip on the steering wheel told me she had.

  “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” she said.

  “What?”

  “I think I’m the one who should be asking how you’re connected with Jared. Not the other way around.” She glared at me from the corner of her eye. She thought I had meant Jared, not Yamuna. Though I was wondering about that connection as well.

  “He’s helping me catch the one responsible for the recent killings,” I explained carefully, “so that my friend can be proven innocent.” She laughed, quick and bitter.

  “Jared doesn’t help people,” she said, “if he’s trying to catch this thing, then he’s in it for the money. You and your friend don’t mean a thing to him.”

  It was true, Jared had told me he was looking for the killer just because he was paid for it; Rosa’s mother was the one willing to pay him even. But I felt like that wasn’t all it was. A part of me felt like he was doing it because it was right, because he didn’t want to see anyone else die. A part of me hoped he was doing it to help Luke and me as well.

  “How do you know that?” I asked, beginning to feel a little upset. He was a good person, despite certain behaviours.

  “Because I know Jared, and he doesn’t just help people without him gaining something,” she thrust her hand at me, end of discussion.

  “How do you know Jared so well?” I questioned. I wasn’t going to convince her otherwise, but I would at least try and get something from this conversation.

  “I think I know my own cousin bett— damn it.” She banged a fist on the wheel, realizing what I had made her tell me. Resisting a smirk I kept my view forward. “That’s dirty.” I shrugged her off, not apologizing.

  So they were cousins then. That explained a lot. But they had so many similarities it must go past simple genetics.

  “I’m guessing you were raised together, then?” I said, more telling then asking.

  “Did he tell you that?” she asked, frustrated.

  “No,” I said, not choosing to explain myself. I could tell it bothered her. This made me feel better, being the one who was able to read between the lines rather than the one who couldn’t. I might have been the one asking questions, but I could read her better than I could Jared. “Then are you a bounty hunter too?”

  “Not exactly,” she said. Her knuckles began to turn white on the wheel.

  “So you just work selling exotic animals then.” Violet was easy to manipulate. Say the right things when she’s mad and she’ll tell you anything you need to know. I made a mental note to try it on Jared, when he was better. Who knows? It might work…

  “Like I would work for scum like that!” she shouted at me, making me jump in my seat. “For your information I’m only working there undercover to save all those animals! What he’s doing is wrong and I will not let him continue doing it!” She pointed her finger at me for a split second.

  “So you’re a…” I said thoughtfully, “animal activist then?” It was a reach, but lately my life had been full of reaches.

  “Not exactly,” she huffed, placing both hands high on the steering wheel. Violet was speeding again, but thankfully not as much as before. I stared her down, hoping she would just tell me. After a moment she finally sighed and confessed. “I used to be a bounty hunter with Jared. But once all the…supernatural things came out of the proverbial closet I saw that the creatures weren’t being taken care of so I started hunting …poachers, so to speak.”

  “So you’re an Eidolon animal activist.”

  “That’s one way to put it,” Violet said.

  I was content knowing her connection with Jared, oddly enough. I actually felt relieved to hear that they were family. Why did I feel so much better about that?

  “What about Yamuna?” I said.

  “What about her?”

  “What has she done to get her locked inside of her house?” I asked, wanting to really just ask how she knew Jared. I didn’t think it was as simple as he was paid to catch her; it couldn’t be that simple.

  “Leave it alone,” Violet told me. “It’s between her and Jared.”

  “But-”

  “Alone.”

  “Why-”

  “Leave. It. Alone.” Her tone told me that I wasn’t going to get anywhere. Not tonight anyway, and not with her.

  Turning my attention to the street, I saw that we were only two blocks away from the hospital. The ambulance that had taken away the latest victims body was nowhere in sight, even though Violet had driven like a madman behind it.

  This was it; the final ingredient was so close that it made me start to think about what would happen after we got it. I didn’t like where my mind took me.