Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1) (19 page)

Dad! I couldn’t lose him. Not again. “Fix his memory,” I shouted over my shoulder to Jacqueline as I ran across the street. The last thing we needed was this man telling the cops that I wasn’t his daughter as I had told the policewoman. Jacqui would make him forget he even saw me. When the police found out the truth, they’d be after all of us then. Probably even think I was harboring him.

“Jack Bender!” the cop said. “Don’t move. We have you surrounded.”

Dad stared at the police like he debated doing something. His brow furrowed as he looked from the police to the nearest exit, to me.

Please don’t do anything stupid.

He held his hands up but took a step back.

“I said don’t move!”

Dad frowned but obeyed. Two officers jogged around their cars as they crossed the street. The remaining cops had blocked off traffic in both directions. My dad was in big shit. People leaned out of their cars to see the commotion. The cop edged closer until he reached my dad. Then he grabbed his arms, folding them behind my dad’s back and cuffing him. Amar glanced over at me with his eyebrows raised as though he wanted to intervene. I shook my head no.

Then the cop led him to the closest police car. After shoving him in the backseat, Dad turned and looked at me through the back window.

“Sorry,” he mouthed.

Great. I finally find my dad, we escape from the rolling tar glob and now he’s arrested. I had to save my father. What was I going to do now?

Beside me, Jacqui took my hand and I squeezed it back. “Not to add to your bummer mood, but where’s Amar?”

“H-he’s …” I scanned where I had just seen him, but saw only a couple of people sipping their coffee from paper cups, huddled in the corner. He wasn’t on the other side of the street either. Nowhere. The place he had just been, next to my dad, was empty. My stomach churned. Something was wrong. He should be here.

“Come on, let’s look for him.” Jacqueline nudged me.

But I’m couldn’t move. I needed to follow my father to the station. Find out why they thought he was involved in a murder. My screwed up world was crumbling. How would we escape this nightmare? Dad was going to prison and now Amar has vanished. Knots of dread tied in my gut. Amar wouldn’t leave like this. Something was wrong.

My hand pressed against my chest, as it was hard to breathe. Dark spots danced before my vision. Had I fought to get this far only to fail and lose Amar?

Jacqui’s hand on my shoulder made me choke out a sob. Her words were drowned out by the wailing police cars in the distance, and the honking of horns near us, as people resumed driving.

Then I thought about Amar telling me not to give up. And at least I knew where Dad was, unlike Mom. Okay. I could do this. I took a deep breath and straightened. First, we had to find out where Amar was. Second, we’d rescue my dad somehow. Third, find my mom. I ran a hand through my hair. Easy… right.

I pulled Jacqui along with me while a taxi raced away. At each restaurant or shop, I glanced in to see if he was inside. Three blocks away, the sun made something on the sidewalk glint. Jogging over, I gasped. It was his obsidian knife lying on the sidewalk. It was covered in greenish brown goo. My heart clenched. That evil shifter guy. Shit! He had Amar. And now, he was without a weapon. I’d seen that dude kill two people in front of me. What would he do with Amar? My only hope was that maybe he’d keep him alive and take him to Ms. Moor. Not that that was any better. I couldn’t image the alternative, I would crumble inside if Amar was…

Please be alive.

“Yuck. What is that?” Jacqueline asked coming up behind me.

“It’s trouble. Another shifter. And I think he has Amar.” Please be alive… my pulse raced… but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be dead soon.

“Another shifter… how do you know that?” She placed her hands on her hips.

“I’ll tell you while we search. First, let’s see if we can find any more of this stuff, it’s what the guy is able to transform into.”

“Ewww…what kind of animal does that?” She scrunched up her nose.

Not seeing any globs except for where I found the knife, I cleaned the blade in the grass, wiped it off with my shirt, then stuck it in the waist of my shorts. The coolness of it against my skin had me shivering. It would do us no good if we got arrested for carrying a weapon.

“A sea cucumber.”

When Jacqui raised her eyebrows as if in disbelief, I let out a huff.

“Look it up later.” Where had the guy taken Amar? They couldn’t have gone far despite the guy’s cheetah speed… Amar would have fought him. What if he had just dragged Amar somewhere to kill him? A place where cops wouldn’t see? Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed hard.

“Is that …?” She pointed to a wooden fence next to a warehouse. “The same stuff?”

Creeping closer, I investigated the brownish-green slime between the boards. “Yup.” I jogged around to the front of the warehouse, but it was locked, and peeking past the dirt covered windows didn’t reveal anything. Behind the warehouse was a high wire fence. It blocked off an area clogged with ramshackle forklifts, various engine parts coated in rust, and some other metal contraptions I couldn’t identify. Weeds sprouted up between the pieces, making the place look abandoned.

“We’ll have to go over the fence.”

“It’s gotta be seven feet tall.” She dragged her feet behind me. “How are we going to climb that?”

“Isn’t your spirit animal a raccoon? Aren’t they expert climbers?”

“Yes,” she snapped, “and they can rotate their hind feet and even climb down head first, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t make my feet do that, I don’t have claws, my nails would splinter, and I am afraid of heights.”

Really? I never knew that. Maybe that’s why she never went on the high diving board with me during the summers, I thought it was just me who hated heights.

“Come on, it’s not
that
high.” I put Amar’s knife between my teeth so I wouldn’t lose it or stab myself, and stood in front of the fence. “Boost me over.” I glanced around to make sure no one would see us.

“And then what?”

“I’ll open the gate and let you in.” My gut was telling me to hurry, and I didn’t want to delay any longer. That evil shifter could be doing anything to Amar, and I forced the lump in my throat back down. I wouldn’t let panic and fear strangle me.

“All right.” Jacqui put her hands together and leaned against the fence. “Maybe try that jump thing you and your dad were talking about last night?”

I nodded and placed my foot inside her palms. With a count of three, she shoved her hands up and I fought to remember how I’d accomplished the missile-like jump when Amar had not been able to fly us high enough to clear the Spirits of Blood, and I’d crashed into the back of the pickup.

Unprepared for the momentum, I sailed up and then crashed into the top of the fence. The metal pole connecting the top of the fence horizontally between the poles rammed into my side. I gasped as shooting pain radiated through me.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” I grunted and hoisted myself over. The yard was full of rusted equipment that looked like pieces of forklifts and lawn mowers. I was glad Amar and the other shifter weren’t back here, or my surprise rescue would have fallen apart. I rubbed my side, then hitched my other leg over and lowered myself down. I dashed to the gate.

Thankfully, the fence was a sliding lock rather than one with a key or combination. I wrestled with the tight rusted hinge, then opened the door and gestured Jacqui inside. “Hurry.” I didn’t want to get arrested for trespassing. Shaking my head, I followed a weed-filled path to the warehouse’s back door; we didn’t need all of us in jail.

It was a descending door, like a garage door, and groaned when I pulled on it. Inside, I sneezed from the dust and dirt. “Let me know if you see any more of the goop anywhere. It should lead us to Amar.” At least I hoped it would.

“I’ll find a light switch.” She scrambled off.

Banging my shin against a crate, I cursed. Yes, light would be good as my eyesight wasn’t the best in the dark. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead and I took a quick look around.

“There’s some more doors upstairs.” Jacqueline pointed and I dashed over there weaving through crates, metal pipes, and oxidized engines.

The metal stairs led to the second floor and what looked like offices. So much for an ambush, he probably already knew we were here. Just in case, I put my finger to my lips and then eased up the creaking steps as quietly as I could.

I had to believe Amar was still alive. If I let the images flashing through my mind of his neck broken… I wouldn’t be able to fight the sorrow that even now caught in my throat and squeezed my heart.

At the top of the stairs, I motioned Jacqui behind me. In case I was able to get my octopus ability to work, I didn’t want to have to worry about her dodging my invisible arms as well as keeping Amar safe. I tried the door, but it was locked. Dust coated my hand and I rubbed it off on my shorts. If Amar had come this way, there would be either cucumber guy’s slime along the cracks or they would have had the dust wiped off when they turned the knob.

I gestured to the office across from us with office chairs, two tables and a bookshelf in the corner. Two more doors locked, and even a cobweb trailed across one at my chest level, so I knew we didn’t have to search that one.

Jacqui sneezed behind me and I jumped. Great. If anyone was here, they would have heard that. The sound echoed through the warehouse. We needed to hurry. Every second put Amar in further danger or he could be halfway to who knows where by now. I was almost going to tell Jacqui that maybe we’d missed something and to head back outside, when a black feather caught in the steel mesh crossway above us caught my attention.

Amar!

Dashing ahead, Jacqueline hissed behind me to slow down.

He was here. I didn’t know how I knew for certain, but I did. Now I just had to reach him in time.

At the end of the hallway was a corner office. A droplet of the slime smeared with a bloody handprint lay across the wooden panel. This was it. I motioned to Jacqui to be ready as I pointed to the mark.

She nodded.

When I tried to ease the lock open, it didn’t budge. Okay. I’d kick it down.

“Allow me.” She put a hand on my shoulder as I lifted my foot. “Raccoon, remember? We can pick locks, memorize symbols, and all sorts of clever other stuff.”

“Hurry.”

With a huff, she bent down and examined the lock. “Go grab me that pen from the first office.”

Pen? What pen? I jogged back to the office. Sure enough, there on the floor was a ballpoint pen. I snatched it up and as I dashed back. The office opposite us had a large window facing the fenced yard.

She unscrewed the pen, removed the inside cylindrical tube, and took off the spring. Then she broke the metal clip off the outside and bent it until it was an ‘L’ shape with the bottom of the letter being short. Not even looking at me, she fitted the pen’s clip inside the top part of the lock, then the ink filled piece in the bottom portion. Her fingers wiggled the pieces for a few minutes and I leaned down to watch her.

“Just another minute. I feel four edges inside and I just need to hit them all and turn this top piece.”

She made it sound so simple. But I doubted I’d be able to unlock this door with a hundred attempts.

“There.” The lock clicked open.

I pushed past her into the room and it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Amar lay on a dust and dirt covered floor. Was he breathing? My heart fisted in my chest as if it had become encased in lead.

“Well, well, well… looks like my plan worked.” Creepy shifter guy stood in the corner of the room, his dark eyes watching us. “And I’ll have three to take to town with me.”

“Why are you doing this?” I took a step closer to Amar. If I could get him out of the way, maybe Jacqueline could drag Amar to safety. I just needed this guy distracted long enough. “You’re a shifter like us… why are you working for the enemy?”

“Money and power. Ms. Moor and other of the Blood Spirits pay to finish your kind off.” He grinned. “And I get more than money in the bargain.”

“And when there are no shifters left?” I waved my hand out. “Then what? Ms. Moor and her goons will come after you. Join us an—”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but you picked the losing side.” His eyes flickered to Jacqui as she took a step towards Amar. “Stay where you are.”

He drew an odd looking pistol, plastic with a long barrel, like maybe it had tranquilizer shots in it. It didn’t look real. But I wasn’t going to count on that. Besides, us knocked out was just as bad as getting shot.

“And by the time I’m done collecting all the totem animals from all the shifters including you and your friends, I will be invincible. Ms. Moor or anyone won’t be able to defeat me.” He took a step toward me. “And yours, the rarest of all, will serve me better than all the rest.”

I flipped my hair over my shoulder to appear nonchalant, but inside I was terrified. “Oh? I would think you’d find a fox or octopus shifter nearly anywhere.” I didn’t add that my mom and dad where those shifters.