The Conduit (Gryphon Series) (8 page)

“You al
l right?” Alec stood behind me, righting my chair.

“There’s something happening
,” I murmured and headed for the door, oblivious to whether or not Alec followed. As soon as I stepped outside, it felt like someone lassoed my heart and yanked it toward the mountains. I cast my eyes in that direction but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Alec kept pace with me. “Did you hear or see something?”

That seemed an easier explanation, so I nodded. “Whatever it is, it’s that way.”

“What is it that we’re looking for?”

“I don’t really…” A shot pierced through the night and cut off my words.

Instantly
, Alec was all business. “That was in town. It couldn’t have been too far from here. I’ll go get my car.” He sprinted off toward the parking lot.

The wheels in my head turned at a dizzying speed. A gunshot put a terrifying spin on this. Was I being drawn toward a homicidal maniac? I w
asn’t equipped to take on a gun-wielding nut. What was I going to do? Tune into his emotions and try to rationalize with him?
I know you feel you need to go on a crazed killing spree, but I’d like to discuss why.
Yeah, not so helpful.

Police sirens interrupted that frightening line of thought as two patrol cars whipped passed me. The men in blue would get there before I did. Good. They have guns and stuff to actually handle situations like this.

Alec’s lime green Volkswagen Thing screeched to a halt in front of me. He chattered away like an excited little howler monkey while I wedged myself into his shoebox-sized car. “Wow, I guess you were right! Maybe it’s the panther. Ugh—I don’t have the video camera. But if it’s still there, I could probably get some footage on my phone.”

“Fingers crossed.” My tone didn’t reflect his enthusiasm.

Alec floored it as much as his car’s lawn-mower engine would allow and steered us in the direction the cops went. They turned, but neither of us saw where. He veered to the right at the first crossroad we came to.

“Wait!” I slapped my hand against the dashboard.

Alec slammed on the brakes. Thankfully, there wasn’t a car behind us. “What?”

I closed my eyes and tuned into the feeling. “The next street up, turn left.”

“Can you hear the sirens or something?”

“Just go!”

I didn’t have to ask twice. The tiny car whirred off as Alec followed my directions. As soon as we turned, the red and blue flashing lights came into view.

“Geez, you must have like supersonic hearing!” He practically bounced in his seat as he threw his Thing in park.

“It was just a lucky guess.”

“Let me know if you have any lucky guesses about lottery numbers, okay?”

“Sure thing.” We climbed out of the car onto a street very similar to Grams’. Modest homes lined both sides of the road. The spectacle centered around a beige two story with a wraparound porch.

Two officers rounded the side of the house toward the backyard with their guns drawn. In the driveway
, a man I guessed to be in his thirties screamed until he was red in the face at another pair of officers.              

“That thing was in my yard! How do you explain that? What if my daughter had been out there? She’s only eight! She could’ve been killed! Now I wanna know what you’re…”he jabbed a finger at one of the officers “
…gonna do about it.”

The officer’s answer came in a hushed tone that I couldn’t hear.

“It
is
another panther sighting! Great job, Celeste!” Alec slapped me on the back. “You ever thought about a career as a reporter?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well, you should! I’m going to move in a little closer and see if I can get an interview with the witness. Stay here, okay?” And he was off. For someone who was forced into the reporter role, he took to it with vigor.

The two officers came back from behind the house holstering their weapons. The younger of the two shouted for all to hear, “There’s nothing back there now.”

Many of the on-lookers groaned their disappointment then disappeared back inside their homes. The crowd thinned out quickly now that the show was over.

I stayed for two reasons, the first being that my ride home just ran off. The second was the force I didn’t understand that drew me here. Since the first reason might be a while, I decided to explore the second. I centered myself and opened the channel. My feet instinctively moved, following the navigation of my heart. A tightening vise grip of cold, hard fear led me across the yard, up the stairs, and onto the porch.

At first glance the porch seemed empty until something shifted behind the white-washed porch swing. I crept forward all the while chanting, “please don’t be a panther, please don’t be a panther” to myself. I held my breath, bent down, and peeked with one eye open and the other squeezed shut. My other eye snapped open, and I expelled my breath. Huddled in the corner sat a little girl. She hugged her knees to her chest with trembling arms. Her forehead rested on her knees. A curtain of long, chestnut hair shielded her face.

The last thing I wanted to do was
frighten her further. “Hi there,” I whispered.

Her head came up gradually, as if she was scared of what she would s
ee. Her big, brown eyes were red-rimmed with tears. “Is it gone?”

“The panther?”

She nodded her confirmation.

“Yeah, it’s gone.” I gave her my best reassuring smile. “I’m Celeste. What’s your name?”

“Ella,” she hiccupped.

“Well, Ella, the coast is clear now. So, how about if I take you over to your
dad?”

“Is the mean man gone too?” Icy fear danced down my spine. The thought of someone hurting this sweet
, little girl, or any child for that matter, revolted me.

“There was a man here?” I tried to keep my tone light.

She nodded, her lip quivering.

Did the panther belong to someone? I’d have to ask Alec if any of the other witnesses mentioned a man with the cat. “Did this man hurt you, Ella?”

“No. But he was going to.” The certainty in her voice was chilling.

I plastered on a smile I definitely wasn’t feeling and extended my hand to her. “Whoever it was is gone now. It’s safe to come out.”

Warily, she took it and let me guide her out of her hiding place. I helped her up onto the floral print cushion of the swing and then took her hands in mine. “Do you think you could tell the nice police officers what happened?”

Her hair fanned out around her as she shook her head vigorously from side to side.

“Why not, sweetheart?”

“Cause I wasn’t supposed to be outside. I was supposed to be in bed. If I tell them, they’ll tell Daddy and Mommy and I’ll get in trouble.” Fresh tears sprang to her eyes.

“Okay, we won’t talk to the officers,” I reassured her. “Could you at least tell me?”

She dried her eyes on the back of her hand. “I wasn’t sleepy, so I took my baby doll outside. I was showing her the stars like Mommy does with me. That’s when I saw the man. He had scary eyes. They were black. He started asking me all sorts of questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Stuff I didn’t understand. He asked me if I was the…the one. If I had the power. I didn’t know what he meant. I told him I didn...didn’t understand. That made him laugh, but it wasn’t a nice laugh. He said he knew how to find out for sure. Then he disappeared and the panther came.” Tears zigzagged down her flushed cheeks.

“He sicced his panther on you?” My astonishment caused my voice to come out a high-pitched squeak.

She gazed up at me as if contemplating a painful truth and shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She lowered her voice to a soft
, barely-audible whisper. This confidential secret was meant solely for me. “I think he was the panther.”

The image of the eagle transforming into a woman flashed before my eyes. There had to be a connection. It was too much of a coincidence. “What happened next?” I croaked.

“Daddy came outside with his gun. He saw the cat but not me. He shot at it and I r…r…ran and hid. I dropped my baby doll in the backyard,” she sobbed.

I cupped Ella’s face in my hands and wiped her tears away with my thumbs. “Shh, shh, shh. That man won’t bother you again. I promise. I’ll make sure he can never hurt you or threaten you again.” I had no idea how I intended to keep that promise, but I felt compelled to say it. “And we’ll find your dolly.”

I held up my little finger to pinkie swear on it. As she linked her finger with mine, I opened the link between us. I needed to know she was okay. Her knot of fear loosened then fell away. For a split second I got the crazy notion that I had altered her emotions somehow. Huh.

Ella cocked her head to the side and peered up at me. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

“What’s me?”

“You’re the one he was looking for.”
             

A simple sentence spoken from the innocent mind of a child, yet all the weird stuff compiling around me added a weight of believability to it. “I…I think I might be.”

She graced me with an angelic grin. “You’ll stop him, Celeste. I know you will.” At least one of us had faith in me.

My time with Ella came to an abrupt end when the front door of the house flew open and a frantic looking woman in her bathrobe raced out. “Ray! Ray! Ella’s not in her room! And I found this in the backyard!” She raised a baby doll up for her husband to see.

“My Cindy doll!” Ella chirped.

The woman’s head swiveled to Ella and
me. Relief cast her eyes to the heavens and her hands to cover her heart. “Oh, thank you, God!” She rushed to Ella’s side where she scooped her daughter up and showered her with kisses. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again!”

“I’m sorry
, Momma.” Ella hugged her mother, and Cindy, tightly.

Ray, Alec
, and the police officers joined us on the porch. Making sure little Ella was safe trumped everything else.

Ella’s mother turned to me. “Thank you for finding her. Where was
she?”

“She was here on the porch
; she didn’t get far.”

“You must be new to town. I don’t think we’ve met.”

Ella twirled Cindy’s hair around her finger. “That’s Celeste, Momma. She’s gonna catch the panther.”

Funny how seven different adults could all give me the same patronizing look.

“Are you an avid large game hunter, Celeste?” Ray smirked. Alec and the officers snickered behind their hands. Heat rose to my cheeks.

Ella’s mother elbowed her husband, “Be nice. She probably said that to calm your child down, you big jerk.”

Ray bowed his head at his wife’s comment. “You’re right.” He extended his hand to me. “I’m sorry, Celeste. Thank you for your help.”

“It was no problem. She’s a great kid.”

He turned to the officers. “If we’re done here, my wife and I need to put our little peanut to bed.”

With one last wave to Ella, we said our goodbyes. Back in the car Alec was in overdrive. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing me here! This is really going to help my story. I may have to keep you around. You’re great for my career!”

Aren’t those just the romantic words every girl longs to hear.

I ignored his comment. “Did any of the other witnesses mention seeing a man with the panther?”

“Ray didn’t see anyone with the panther.” His excitement deflated at my abrupt tone.             

“No, but his daughter did.”

Alec shook his head as if my poor, simple mind saddened him. “Celeste, there were people everywhere. She probably just told you that to get attention. Ray said when he was outside with the panther, his family was safely inside.”

I gritted my teeth and tried not to slug him. “He didn’t know she was out there. But she was. And she saw the panther, too. Only she said there was a man with him. Did anyone else mention that?”

“Well, yeah,” he snorted. “You remember the little boy that said the panther was ‘peeking’ in his window?” He air quoted the word.

“Yeah?” My stomach churned. Another child was involved.

“He said that as the panther looked at him, it changed. It became a man. Like I said, he obviously had an active imagination and was using it to get attention. That’s all Ella was doing, too. It worked on you because you’re a kind-hearted, trusting person.”

I wasn’t even pretending to listen anymore. Two children had
been targeted by this man-beast. If I was the one he was looking for, why was he harassing kids? My list of questions continued to grow, and I had nothing in the way of answers. I peered out at the mountain range veiled by the darkness of night. I had an idea where I needed to go. But first, I had to round up Gabe and Kendall. Somehow this involved them, too.

CHAPTER 10