Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1) (9 page)

“Give me a break, he can’t know that. It’s just a car wreck.”

“No.” He squeezed my hand before letting go. I missed the warm comfort of it. “I think they are trying to multiply the Blood Spirits. Fire is needed and sacrifices of many lives…”

“The freeway, there would be tons of people there.” My stomach knotted.

“That’s not all.” Amar pulled out his onyx blade. “They’ll be able to send clusters of Blood Spirits in every direction. We cannot stay here longer than to rest. Otherwise, they may find us by tomorrow.”

“Gosh, are these things that fast?” Jacqui ran her fingers through her wet hair. “I’ve never had to deal with them before, but my dad told me they are wicked hard to kill and are excellent trackers.” She climbed into bed and hoisted the covers up.

“Depends.” Amar turned toward me. “Did they taste your blood?”

“No…” I faltered remembering creepy Ms. Moor and her jagged knife. My new finger began to itch like a new scab and I scratched it. “Yes. Ms. Moor, the psycho lady, did before they threw me off the roof.”

“Can you two keep it down?” Jacqui said fluffing her pillow. “Considering the news, I need to get some sleep before we race for our lives again.”

“What does my blood have to do with anything?” I whispered.

“Everything. She can give all the Blood Spirits the taste of you, and they can use that to track you like a shark identifies a drop of blood in the ocean.”

“Great!” I flopped down on the bed, nearly smacking Jacqui’s leg.

“Trying to sleep here.”

“Sorry.” Jacqueline wasn’t the only one who was stressed. I stood and stalked to the bathroom. Inside, I closed the door but didn’t lock it. Somehow I knew Amar would never burst in on me… unless my life was in danger.

I undressed while the shower water warmed, the pipes shaking from the use. After I climbed in, I let the water run over me as I sobbed. I cried for my mom and for all the innocent people these vile creatures had killed. They would not get away with this. Somehow I would find a way to stop them.

Jacqueline woke up before anyone else. When she started humming in the shower, I dragged a pillow over my head. Amar was in the next bed on his stomach, breathing steadily and softly. His wings were tucked up against him, but at my friend’s noise, one drifted open inches from me, and I was tempted to reach out and brush my fingertips along the black edges.

Then she brushed her teeth and smacked something plastic down on the counter. Did she seriously think we could sleep when she was making that racket?

After she opened the front door to leave, I sat up and whispered, “Where are you going?”

“Coffee. I can’t sleep. Want anything?”

Behind her, the sun was barely awake and kept drifting behind clouds, making the room darker. I should have gotten up, but my body refused had other intentions–mainly sleep. “Maybe a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows?”

“Will do.” Her gaze slid to Amar in the next bed. “I’ll bring one of each for him. Did they even have chocolate in Ancient Egypt, or was that just the Aztecs?”

I shrugged and flopped back into bed. Hearing the door click closed, I snuggled back into my pillow.

After a few minutes, I drifted back to sleep and dreamed about slime oozing out of my pores, dripping down my arms and legs. I jerked upright, startled awake, my eyes snapped open. “Wha—”

“We will leave soon.” Amar stood over me. His hair and chest wet from the shower. Droplets of water fell onto my shoulder. How had he managed to fit inside the bathroom with his wings?

“Oh?” My mouth tasted like sandpaper and, when I wiped a hand down my face, wetness grazed my cheek along with my hair stuck to it. I must have drooled in my sleep. Yuck.

“The shower is all yours.” His accent made the word shower sound exotic. “While you slept, Jacqui left to buy gasoline, but wants to leave as soon as she gets back.”

It was Sunday and I still had to wake up early? Ugh, stupid bad guys, it just wasn’t fair. I scrambled out of bed and took a change of clothes with me into the bathroom. The click of TV flipping on sounded and the muffled voices of a reporter kicked off as I turned on the water.

***

Clean and dressed, I dashed out of the bathroom and stopped short of smacking into Amar.

“Ready?” he asked.

I jerked away from him to avoid being cornered. His nearness made me forget what he was… what I was. I just wanted to be… human. A girl who swam well and thought pasta out of a box would make a nice dinner for her and her mom. My throat tightened at the thought.

My mother hadn’t deserved to die. She’d raised me and done an excellent job at being a single mom.

There’s always that one house, even in a rich neighborhood that has been run down and goes for half the price. Our home still had sections of it taped closed until we could get to the repairs. But it was our home; filled with my swim trophies and mom’s certificates.

I combed a hand through my wet hair. It would dry in the car. “Ready.”

I jerked to a halt at the door and turned back to Amar. “Wait. What about your wings? It’s daylight.”

“Let me try something.” He closed his eyes and after a long pause, his wings shimmered. Almost as though they were becoming invisible, except for the outline of them. The shape was still there, but not the color. “Is this good?” His eyes snapped open.

Maybe. As long as anyone didn’t look too closely, they might not notice. It would be better if he could shift them away. “What did you do?”

“It’s a type of disguise.”

“Like camouflage? I thought you were a hawk shifter—isn’t it only prey animals that have that type of protection?”

“Owls do and they are hunters.” His eyes pinched as if he were in pain. “It’s taking all my concentration and strength to maintain this… may we go?”

“Sorry.” I yanked open the door.

Without waiting for me, he walked stiff-legged to Jacqui’s car and climbed into the backseat.

She lowered her sunglasses down her nose, staring at him, then back at me.

“Don’t ask.” I mouthed and locked up the room.

After I dropped off the hotel key at the front desk, the air squeezed around me as my mind drifted back to my mom. I rushed out and scrambled into Jacqui’s car. I stared out the window while bare oaks and maple trees scratched the sky like gnarled fingers as we drove.

***

After six hours straight, Jacqui was yawning non-stop and, after much pestering, she agreed I could drive for a while. No way were we letting Amar drive. If this was a flying car, maybe. But last time he had driven anything was a chariot with a team of horses. And I was a fine driver in the daylight.

Jacqui slept in the passenger seat as I turned onto US Highway One. This would take us into Florida until we reached the Florida Keys’ Overseas Highway. Definitely more fun seeing the ocean in Florida, than finding my dad. The further we drove, the more I relaxed. We hadn’t used the credit cards since we left. No way Ms. Moor and her goonies could be following us. Still, I checked the mirrors periodically and sighed in relief when a dark car swerved around us instead staying on our tail for miles.

And I was still going to chew my dad out for leaving me and Mom, and for what happened to her. She’d loved our family trips. Mom and I took annual family vacations. She always dreamed of visiting the mountains or camping. I preferred the beach. So, we took turns. One year it was her choice, the other, mine. It was usually Galveston, the closest beach to Haven in Texas. Once I even convinced her to take us to California. The water was freezing. But never to Florida. Now that I thought about it, she’d always given an excuse for not coming here. Did she know my dad was still here? Or maybe just the thought of this place brought back memories that she kept buried.

Now here I was, on my way to Florida, finally. My beach trips to Galveston Beach always made me feel guilty for the amount of money we’d spend. Mom would buy me kettle corn popcorn while she ate a turkey leg from the sidewalk stands along the pier. The water was murky, with dark brown sand. But even the smell of the saltwater as we drove with the windows down to save money, even from half an hour away, made my heart lighter. Once I asked Mom if we could go to any beach in the world, where would she like to go.

“The beach was always your father’s thing.” Her nose scrunched up and she shook out her beach towel.

“Yeah, but where would
you
like to go?” I twirled a piece of my hair. “Cancun? Jamaica?”

“Australia.” She plopped down. “Especially if I can get a hot dude to teach me to surf.”

“Mom, no one says dude anymore.”

I shook my head to distance myself from the memories.

Maybe I could smell the ocean from here? I rolled down the car window and from the backseat, Amar stifled a groan.

“What is it?” I glanced in the rearview mirror, but he was hunched over. “Do I need to stop?”

“No.” He sounded out of breath. What exactly was he doing back there? “Sorry. I was just trying to hide my wings away completely so I wouldn’t have to leave you two unprotected for fear of being spotted by humans. But it’s too soon for the wings to shift away.”

“Well, duh.” Jacqui tugged on her seatbelt as she sat up. “Thousand years of being a stone flying monkey will do that.”

“Jacqui!” I glanced in the rearview mirror, hoping Amar wasn’t too offended.

“I was a gargoyle.” Amar’s face grimaced like the statue. “Transforming back into stone is easy. Changing into my fully human form is proving more difficult to maintain.”

“Let’s stop for some snacks and gas. The tank’s nearly empty anyway.” I turned into a gas station. Too many more hours in the car and those two were going to start fighting any moment.

I pumped the gas while Jacqui shuffled inside. Her legs were probably as stiff as mine. The station was crowded, so I put my body between the backseat door and the woman filling up her SUV across from me. Hopefully, she wouldn’t see Amar or, more importantly, his wings.

When Jacqui returned with two sacks full of food, I motioned her to come over. She tossed the food into the passenger’s seat, then slid over to me.

“What’s up?”

“Just block anyone’s view of Amar. I’ll be right back.” I was not going to pee in the woods again.

***

When I came out of the restroom, there was a police car right beside Jacqui. My heart crawled up my throat and I choked out a gasp. What if they were the Blood Spirits and they’d found us?

Trying not to look guilty, I swallowed hard and marched with my knees shaking to the car.

“Oh, there she is.” Jacqui pointed at me.

I gave the officer a smile, noticing she kept her hand on his arm. Her chameleon gift was handy. They only things I could do with mine, so far, was swim well, hold my breath for a long time, and have eight arms of
telepathy
that I wasn’t even sure I could do again.

“It’s kind of you to come all this way for your brother.” The officer nodded.

“My brother?” I met Jacqui’s eyes and she widened them. Realization hit. “Right… yes.”

“Just don’t forget to replace that brake light.” The cop nodded to Jacqui. “Otherwise, you’ll get pulled over again. And there’s a report of a man who kidnapped a teen.” He ran a hand down his face as though waking up from a dream, and stared at me. “A teen that fits your description.”

My hands started to shake and I clasped them in front of me to keep them still.

“Well, we gotta go.” Jacqueline squeezed my arm. “I hope you find the missing girl.”

The office shook his head and refocused on her car… on Amar in the backseat. “Just tell your brother to stay away from the booze at the next costume party, okay? At least he called for a ride rather than drive drunk.”

“Don’t worry.” Jacqui patted his arm and then let go as she hustled around to the driver’s side. I followed her lead and plopped down in the passenger’s seat. “This way, he owes us big time.”

Without waiting for a reply, she started the car and we left. I kept glancing behind us to see if the cop followed, but there was no sign of him.

I spun to face her as she drove. “What happened?”

“Do you want to tell her? Or shall I?” Jacqui glanced back at Amar, then at the road again.

Amar snorted. “Your friend nearly got attacked.”

“What?” I twisted in my seat more to see him better and dodged the edge of his wing.

“It was nothing. Some local guy asking for my name, number, you know those kinds of things.”

“And?”

“Well, he was cute, so I gave him my phone to type in his number.”

“Jacqui! This isn’t the time to pick up guys.”

She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder, ignoring me. “Then birdboy here dashes out of the car and tosses him on the hood of the car. And of course, a cop coming out of the store sees it.” She waves a hand. “So I had to step in and smooth things over.”

“What happened to the guy?” And why had Amar reacted that strongly to him? Did he have feelings for Jacqui and I fooled myself that he might have an inkling of attraction toward me?

“He left.” Jacqui gave a snort. “I doubt he’d answer if I called him.”

“If the Blood Spirits got ahold of him, they might glean from torturing him that he saw us.” Amar crossed his arms over his chest.

“And why would they snag some guy off the street on the off chance that he ran into us?” Jacqui gripped the steering wheel like she wanted to choke Amar. “Anyway, I had to convince the officer that Amar was just overprotective and his wings were a costume.”

“Quick thinking.” I adjusted back into the seat and away from Amar. “How long before we’re at the Keys?”

“I’d say about an hour.” Jacqui pointed to the bags on the floor. “Hand me one of those juices, will you?”

After I rummaged through the bag, I opened the grape juice and handed it to her. Then I lugged out two more and gave one to Amar, keeping the other for myself. Potato chips! I pried open the bag and Jacqui was already reaching for a handful, then I offered Amar some. He took a handful, stuffing them into his mouth in one go.

I rolled my window down a crack and sniffed. The saltwater and sun drifted over me, making me giddy. No wonder my dad lived here. I would too if Mom… I stopped my thoughts and shoved potato chips into my mouth.

Palm trees waved on either side of us as we drove. The late morning sun blinked on the horizon as we drove onto the bridge. Mile markers showed shops for now, but I knew from pictures that the bridge and offshoots would narrow to one long stretch of the ocean. I couldn’t wait to see it.

We picked up food to go from a pancake house and I carried the boxes back to the car. After finding a semi-vacant rest stop, we carried our food to a distant concrete bench and table. Amar plopped down beside a willow tree, allowing the long hanging branches and leaves to hide his wings.

“This is delicious. What do you call it?” He stuffed another piece in his mouth.

“It’s a pancake.” Jacqui flipped her hair off her shoulder. “Seriously, did they not have food in your time? Or anything good?”