Beyond - Volume 1 (YA Paranormal Romance) (25 page)

Damian drags me to Joey’s car.

“I don’t want her to fall off my motorcycle, so you take her,” Damian says to Joey. Reluctantly, I sit down on the passenger’s seat and look straight ahead, grumpy.

“I wonder what all the rush is for,” Joey asks
as he gets in too, but I don’t answer and just stare in front of me. Joey’s dead quiet the rest of the ride. I think he got the message that I don’t want to talk. I just want to think.

Why did
n’t I ever think about those nightmares and how they might’ve had real origins? And that spirit, why did he terrify Damian’s mom so much that she drove into another car? What makes a ghost want to kill?

I dig deep inside my own memory, but nowhere do I find
a ghost that flipped over a car.

Suddenly my cell phone buzzes in my pocket. After all that’s happened, I
’ve forgotten I even carry that thing around. I fish it out and look at the message that’s just arrived.

Sure.
Cya later at Cheng’s. xx Simon

He must be talking about that text I sent, about wanting to talk with him.
Even after what I did, he’s still nice to me.

When I cock my head to look out the window, a black, smoky figure floats in front of it. A guy with spiky hair and narrow eyes. Sam.

I shriek.

“What?” Joey
screams. The car swings about. “Jesus, Stone!” He smacks his hand against me and shoves me into the seat. He winces when he sees Sam. Immediately he grabs something from the pocket in the door, a strange, metal object that looks like a small flashlight and presses the button.

A light jolt of electricity shoots out and
ricochets off the ghost, making it disappear.

“Is it gone?” I yell.

“Not for long, but at least now he doesn’t know where we’re headed.” Joey blows out some air.

“What was that thing?” I ask.

“Something Jianyu developed. It’s not important right now. Don’t ask; I don’t know the answer. We have to get to the Shack, right now.” He honks and then steps on the gas. Damian waves his hand, and Joey gives him a signal before he shoots past him.

When we arrive at the Shack Joey parks the car askew
and gets out. Next to us is another car, probably belonging to Jianyu. I get out of the car and wobble toward the house. I still feel numb since I threw up.

“Are you sure you’re okay
, or do you need some help?” Joey asks.

I just keep on shuffling. He probably thinks something’s wrong with me. Well, something is in fact wrong with me, but it’s not physical.

Next to the house Damian’s motorcycle is also parked. I thought we shot passed him, but apparently he still managed to ride faster, or he found a shortcut. Either way, he must be inside already.

Joey and I walk through the garden filled with weeds toward the door and climb through the hole.

Inside, the candles are already lit, and the laptop is standing ready. Everything’s set, but what for?

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“We saw him in the car, Dude. I could barely drive him away with Jianyu’s device.” Joey leans against the wall.

“Have a seat,” Damian says
, picking up a chair from under the table and pushing it toward me. I sit down and stare ahead. The dentist chairs where the guys sit and die are still there. They remind me of that awful day when Damian, the guy I like, died in front of me.

I swallow away the lump in my throat. I force myself to think about something else. There are much more important things going on right now. From a distance I see Jianyu preparing the seats for the guys.

“Who is this Sam? Why is he following you, and why is he following me?” I ask.

“Oh, so you know about Sam?” Joey rolls his eyes while he looks at Damian. In turn, Damian smacks his fist on the table, turns a chair around and sits right in front of me.

“How long have you been able to see him? Can you describe exactly what happened?”

“I don’t know …” I
fold my arms. “Wait a minute … is Sam just like you? Can he come back to life too?” My eyes widen.

“Yes,” Damian answers bluntly. “That’s why I can’t send him to the next realm
using only the electrical box.”

My breath falters. “But … That means he’s just a human. Why is he doing this? Why would he attack us l
ike this?”

“It’s almost finished,” Jianyu says, but it doesn’t look like he’s talking to me. He’s only looking at his
laptop screen and doesn’t seem to even notice us.

“I don’t know, Raven, but that’s not important right now. Come on, I need to know how long
he’s been around you. Time’s running out.”

“Why?” My voice is hoarse.

“Because if it’s true what I think, then you’re more in danger than I thought you were.”

“Yeah, explain, Stone,” Joey says, lighting a cigarette. Damian stands up, snatches it away from Joey and stomps it out on the floor.

“What?” Joey yelps. “Dude, what are you doing?”

“That crappy smell doesn’t belong in here. I
f you don’t stop smoking, you might drop dead soon.”

“Like I care. I die every other week
. It’s not like it matters anymore. I don’t give a crap. Mind your own business.” Joey lifts his head and leans against the wall again.

“The seats are almost ready. The program is in place,” Jianyu say
s. It seems like he’s ignoring everything that’s happening around us.

Squinting, Joey stares at Damian, but Damian isn’t at all busy with him and focuses on Jianyu and the laptop screen.

Then Joey walks out into the hall. “I’m outta here. I don’t want to be here when all hell breaks loose. Besides, I’m not here to be your sidekick. Later.”

Before I can say goodbye, he’s already gone outside through the hole in the door and disappeared from my sight.

Damian growls and then comes back to me. “Please hurry,” he mumbles.

“Alright, alright.” I hold my hands up. “At Lillian’s party I saw
him move the Ouija Board.”

“And what else?”

“Well … he came to me. I think. I don’t remember much about it. I just fainted back then.”

“Nothing more?”

I shut my eyes and try to envision the night it happened. Then something important wriggles its way into my mind. “Yeah, I saw something in my room, before I left to go to the party. There was a black smoky skull hanging in front of the window.”

“So it’s true then. I knew it.” Damian smacks his fist onto the table. “He wasn’t at the party by coincidence. He didn’t just touch that Ouija Board. He was with you before that, left, and then came back. Do y
ou understand what that means?”

I swallow, but don’t answer, because I don’t get where he’s going with this.

“I wasn’t there yet, Raven. I wasn’t at your house before the party, he was. He didn’t come after me; he came after you,” Damian says. His pupils dilate, and he squeezes his chair. “Why else would he come to the same spot, the place you often are, twice, while I wasn’t there, and then harass you a couple more times after that?”

“But why? What did I do? I don’t even know him,” I say.

Damian sighs. “I don’t know, but it’s dangerous. Raven, he wants you. That means your family is in danger just like mine, especially now that he’s lost you. He’ll go find someone else that has a close connection to you.”

My heart makes a jump when I r
ealize what he’s saying.  “My mom?”

“Maybe. Did you say or do anything while Sam was there? Give him any hint so he could c
hase after you or your family?”

Jianyu rapidly taps the keys on his laptop. “I’m almost done, Damian. We can start in a few seconds.”

Damian holds his thumb up in the air, but keeps his eyes on me. “Raven, think, did you do anything that could get him on their trail?”

My fingers dig deep into my skin as I search through my memories. Then I realize I was about to work tonight with Simon. I sent him a text, just before I went into the locker room. Simon answered when I was in Joey’s car. Sam was there, watching over my shoulder, while I looked at his text.

Simon.

Sam will be at his doorstep tonight.

I spring out of my seat, but Damian p
ushes me down again. “Say it.”

“Simon! Simon’s in danger. Damian, Sam knows I was supposed to go work with Simon at Chen
g’s tonight. He’s going there!”

Damian frowns and bites his lip. “Alright.” He turns his head t
oward Jianyu. “Everything set?”

“Damian?” I pull his arm. He pushes me down and grabs my shoulders. “We’ll try to save him, okay? I don’t know if it’s going to work. Sam’s po
werful, but we’ll try our best.

What you’ve seen so far are only his games. He’s c
apable of much more than that.”

“Take me with you!” I scream. “I have to save him. It’s
my fault if he gets attacked.”

“Leave it to us, okay?” Damian bends over until he’s on eye
level with me. “Please, just stay here. For your own safety. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Then he gets up and walks to the seats in the back of the room. Jianyu controls the computer. I grind my teeth while Damian crawls into the chair. He can’t be doing this alone. I don’t want him to
solve my problems.

I have to do this myself.

With a quick move, I run to the table and grab Jianyu’s car keys. Before the guys notice what I’m doing, I sprint through the hallway and slam the door shut behind me. I grab a wooden plank that fell loose from the stairs and barricade the door with it.

“Raven!” Damian pounds on the door whi
le I walk backward and wipe away a tear. “What are you doing?” he screams.

“I have to do this, Damian. It’s my fault. I have to solve this.” That’s the last thing I say before I worm my way through the hole in the door.

The guys are still yelling after I’m outside already. When I close the door of the car after getting in, it’s eerily quiet. Tears stream down my cheeks. My legs are shaking, and I can barely keep my hands on the steering wheel.

A
ringtone coming from my jeans startles me. I don’t expect a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Raven? Where are you?” It’s Lillian.

“I uh …” I stammer.

“You haven’t been to class, and I haven’t seen you since gym. What’s going on?” She sounds worried.

“I got sick. I went back home straight after,” I lie.

“Oh, are you alright? You just disappeared all of a sudden, and it got me worried.”

“Yeah, sorry
. I should’ve told someone. I just forgot.” I look ahead and see the village looming up ahead.
I’m almost there, Simon. Please, hold on a little longer.

“Hey, it’s
not because of Damian, is it?”

For a moment I’m distracted and don’t know what to say. “Huh?” I have to let her words sink in before I realize what she’s saying. “No, that’s not it at all. I just have a hug
e headache.”

“Well, do you
want me to drop by later then?”

“No, that’s alright, thanks. I’m in bed anyway
, and I just took some medication, so it’ll be alright I guess.” I’m just going with it now. Anything to get this conversation over with as soon as possible. I don’t have time to talk to Lillian right now.

“Well, I’ll call you tonight then, maybe. But put your phone on mute
, I don’t want to wake you up.”

“Before you know it, I’ll feel much better. I think I can come ba
ck to school tomorrow already.”

“Okay, get well soon!” She sounds hesitant. I hope she can’t see through my lies.

“Thanks!” I say with a cough, so I sound even sicker.

As soon as she hangs up, I turn off my cell phone. I have more important things
to focus on.

Cars coming by honk at me
, and some drivers give me the middle finger. I’m driving through the streets way too fast, and I should get a speeding ticket, but that’s the last thing on my mind right now. I need to get to Simon as soon as possible, before it’s too late.
What will Sam to do him?
I had Damian to protect me from him, but Simon only has Mister Cheng, and all he can do is wave a stick. There’s no one there to keep him from getting harmed.

Sweat trickles down my forehead as I race through the streets of Piney Hollow. I hope I get there in time. Before Sam gets to him.

The fuel is almost gone. I hope I can make it before it’s gone completely.

When I finally arrive at the building the tires screech as I drive up the parking lot
. The last grumbling seconds of the empty fuel tank save me. I don’t even lock the door when I run out of the car. I wipe the hair away from my eyes as I bolt to the front entrance. There’s a sign hanging on the door saying ‘CLOSED’, and the lights are off. I waltz inside and hear the jingle of the bell when the door closes behind me.