The Second Sign (4 page)

The temperature had dipped and coolness settled over
her before she trekked into the woods. Gabby loved the protection
under the canopy of trees. Hidden from eyes and from the blazing
sun gave her a sense of freedom. The only thing that mattered was
the pounding of her heart and the steady rhythmic pace of her
stride.

Jake flittered to the surface of her thoughts
demanding attention. She wanted to know everything about him. Why
he smiled so easily? Why he kept staring at her as if he wanted to
touch her? Like her, he had no choice but to come to this place at
the end of the world. His dad had sent him here much in the same
way Max did with her. She had to shape up this summer—no fights, no
attention—and he then would give her the option of where to go to
school for her senior year. Another state, most likely, a small
place in the middle of nowhere, but now California didn’t sound so
bad. Maybe she could go to the same school as Jake.

She shook her head, momentarily losing connection
with the soft soil and hurdling over a gnarled root that protruded
above ground. Hitting the ground lightly, she kept running. Jake
again. No. She had to keep her head clear. Normal wasn’t her thing.
Boyfriends weren’t her thing. Max had warned her about laying low.
She would never have a normal life. Never.

Max had accepted his fate. Being an angel, having to
train, learn about battle, and his purpose had been all he’d
thought about, all Max lived for. Gabby had never seen him with a
girl, playing ball like a normal boy, or even drinking and partying
with kids his age. In public, Max had always kept to himself, and
in private, he’d spend most days with the ancient mystic and their
guardian, Adler.

Gabby rounded a tree, and her thoughts blurred in
her mind. The air around her thickened almost as if she just
crossed through a thick veil of smog she could almost touch. She
stopped. The trees thinned and the light touched everything around
her. Yet she felt as if she were in a void. Or inside a vacuum that
had sucked out all the noise, all the air.

Elongated shadows swayed under the canopy of trees
around her.
It must be the wind
, she thought, though she
didn’t feel the wind on her skin. The forest opened up into a wide
clearing ahead of her. Something didn’t feel right. She didn’t
remember this particular patch of land. How far had she run?

Then she saw something—a very tall, lanky man with
blood-red clothes. The demon that had exploded in her living room
stood just a few yards away, staring at her. Moving more on
instinct than thought, she ran, feeling the break as she went from
compressed air into the coolness of the morning. Taking in a breath
that cooled her throat, she knew she’d passed into somewhere else.
And the demon followed her.

This demon scared her more than any other demon
she’d encountered before. Maybe it was because it had gone from
lurking to stalking, something new to her.
What the hell was it
doing here?
She didn’t want to stop and ask. With her heart
drumming in her ears and her loud movements giving away her
position, she couldn’t get her mind to focus. Every tree, every
path looked the same. She’d forgotten where she was headed.

Stopping at the top of a slope, she saw her house
through the trees a few yards away. Home. All she had to do was go
around the thick shrub and run. She moved to do just that when fear
forced her to jerk back. The ground fell from under her, and she
felt nothing but air. The image of the demon standing close enough
to see the hollow of its eyes followed her all the way to the
bottom of the hole.

Flailing to find a secure hold before the darkness
swallowed her, Gabby grabbed loose dirt and dead vines on her way
down. Landing on her thigh hard enough to feel pain, she continued
with the momentum and rolled deeper into the chamber, until
darkness settled around her. As if she hit a springboard, she
bounded up onto her feet and dusted herself off.

The darkness surrounding her was not equivalent to
the absence of light. It was blacker than that, a deep void,
impenetrable and organic. Gabby wasn’t afraid of the dark, but this
was something different. It pressed against her flesh, seeped under
her skin, and coiled around her. Her labored breathing echoed in
the dark chamber, and she forced herself to settle down or risk
passing out.

Calm down.
She closed her eyes, groping in
the darkness for a wall, a hold, anything. She found wet earth that
crumbled in her grip. The smooth wall offered no comfort. It
wouldn’t hold her weight. She looked up toward the light which
opened up to the ridge she had been standing on.

“Stupid,” she muttered, hitting her forehead against
the side of the hole. It must have been an old drainage hole. It
opened up at the bottom like a flask of wine.

Something scurried behind her and she turned,
leaning her back against the wall. At least nothing would spring up
on her from behind. The wall was safe. Something hissed, rocks
settled, disturbed by something that was inside with her. Under the
whispers of movement she heard...breathing. Closing her mouth she
held her breath, hoping beyond hope that it was an echo she was
hearing. It wasn’t. The breathing continued.

Someone was in the hole with her.

Releasing her breath she turned, digging her fingers
into the soft mush, scaling frantically up the wall. She couldn’t
be here. She wasn’t a demon fighter. She didn’t know squat about
demons. She never paid attention to Max. What if whatever was with
her was using her to get to Max? Isn’t that what most Hollywood
flicks started with? A death of a loved one, a kidnapping, or a
ransom? She was collateral damage. Not important. Expendable. The
dead sidekick.

Her hand slipped and she fell back down into the
hole, swallowed by the darkness. Scurrying back until she hit the
wall, she drew up her knees. Panic welled inside of her. She
clenched her teeth to keep from crying out.

Growing up with Max, she’d always felt protected.
There were perks to having an angel as a brother. Their connection
always brought them closer. He’d known when she was crying, felt
the sting whenever she fell and scraped her knee, had always been
there for her and she for him. When the bully hit him, she had felt
it and couldn’t help herself from beating that kid to a pulp while
Max offered the other cheek. Max had told her then that she didn’t
have to be afraid anymore. He would always protect her. Funny, it
was after that, after he got his wings, that he could no longer
protect her. He had become distant, training and studying with
Adler. But he was still her brother. He would save her. She stood
up again and yelled his name until her voice felt raw.

A low vibrating hum to her left and the twitch of
what could only be bugs creeping out to see the freak show forced
her into silence. The low breathing continued. The smell of rotted
wood and moss clung to her senses. She wasn’t sure if it was the
natural scent of the hole or whatever was in there with her.

Her neck tingled as if something had fallen on it
and was now making its way under her tank top. She brushed at her
hair, her neck...nothing.

“Calm down,” she whispered to herself. “You are
not
a chicken-shit.” She fought to ignore the overwhelming
feeling that bugs were crawling all over her. The urge to swat at
her clothes and claw at her skin forced her to clench her hands
into tight fists.

Something shifted.

“Who’s there?” she finally whispered, voice cracking
as she pressed herself against the opposite wall, trying
desperately to see in the darkness.

One second she saw nothing, the next she wished she
couldn’t see. It was as if a pale green light had burst through
every crevice along the wall, leading shadows toward a dark figure
sitting just inches in front of her. The demon’s legs were crossed
in front of him, his torso unnaturally extended so that his head
was the same level as hers as she stood trying desperately to hold
on to her sanity.

His eyes were two radiant white disks against the
blackness of his skin. His jaw hung almost to his chest, revealing
only a hollow pit. A deafening scream sliced through the thick
air—a deep, hollow scream, a high-pitched scream, a child’s scream
of different intonations as if inside he held a mass of screaming
people.

Gabby fell into a crouch, covering her ears and
shutting her eyes, feeling the energy inside the small cavity of
earth about to burst. Worms, beetles, and even a garden snake
crawled out of their burrow in a frenzy as if unsure where they
could hide from the hideous sound of a thousand screams.

The sound abruptly silenced, leaving a deafening
echo drumming in her ears. Her heart pounded, and she refused to
open her eyes. The presence was close enough to feel cold breath on
her cheek and to smell the hidden dead things that crept along its
flesh. It sucked all the heat from her.

“He won’t save you,” the demon said with a low
growl.

Gabby waited for what seemed like an eternity before
finally opening her eyes. Light fell into the hole, illuminating
all of it. On the floor at her feet were skeletal remains. She
scrambled for the wall, digging her hands to whatever crevice she
could find, a scream welling in her throat and finally piercing her
ears.

The Tour

Jake woke early, took a shower, and threw on a white
tee shirt, cargo shorts, and canvas sneakers. He’d hoped to bypass
Jenna but no such luck. She was already in the kitchen when he made
his appearance and looked at him suspiciously.

“You’re up early,” she said, pouring herself a bowl
of cereal, the Myers breakfast of champions.

After pouring himself some cereal and milk, he sat
across from her. “Yeah, I’m going to tour the island,” he said,
shoveling a spoonful into his mouth, milk dripping onto his chin
and back into the bowl.

She scowled at him. “Why are you eating like the
world is about to end?”

“I need to be out by seven.” According to his watch
he had fifteen minutes.

Jenna arched a brow. “Who are you going with?” she
asked as if he had told her the first time.

He shrugged. “Who says I’m going with someone. Maybe
I’m going alone.”

“You took a shower and combed your hair. That’s a
dead giveaway.”

Instinctively, he ran his fingers though his hair.
Jenna had been trying to force him to cut it, but he liked the
grunge look. Girls seemed to like it too. “I met this girl.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Already? We just got
here.”

“I’m not one to waste what precious little time
we’re given. Anyway”—he shrugged—“she invited me for a tour.”

Jenna swallowed the last spoonful and rinsed her
bowl. “Great, I’m going too.” She turned to him. “It’s too early
for you two to be anything other than friends, and if you don’t
like her, I can always take her off your hands...easy peasy.”

A groan made his way to his lips. He actually knew
he liked this one but didn’t want to admit it to his sister. “Fine,
but stop with the easy peasy stuff. You make me want to gag.” He
ducked as she threw a dish towel missile at him.

After Jenna changed into her spring wear,
considering the weather had already threatened to be hot, they
arrived at Gabby’s at seven on the dot.

“Maybe she’s not home?” Jenna reasoned as Jake began
to pound on the door after the doorbell didn’t summon Gabby to
them. “I don’t think you’re going to win her over by breaking down
the door.”

Hearing a faint whisper of a sound, he lifted his
finger at his sister. “Do you hear that?”

Then he heard it again. A light scream carried by
the breeze. Without explaining, he ran toward the thick woods
behind the property, Jenna running behind him. Jake had always been
sensitive to sound. It had saved him from certain doom from his
parents and had gotten him in trouble with his friends. This time,
though, something gnawed at him.

“Are you sure? I don’t hear anything,” Jenna
whispered, right before he stopped near a high ridge.

“Gabby!” He dropped on all fours at the lip of the
drop and peered inside, seeing movement and then her face.

“Jake?” she called back, her voice cracked and
dry.

Squeezing the wet earth for purchase, letting the
dirt sift through his clenched fingers, his heart raced with an
urgent need to see her face and know that she was all right. “Are
you hurt?”

“No, but please hurry up. I think there’s something
down here with me.”

He’d hidden his climbing gear in the truck when his
dad forced him to go to this godforsaken place. He’d been adamant
about finding a mountain to jump off. “I’m going for my gear. I’ll
be right back,” he called down.

“Jake,” she called. “Don’t leave me alone,
please.”

The sound of her voice broke him.

“I’ll get it,” Jenna said, and before he could say
anything, she ran, fast.

“I’m coming down.” He made to climb but stopped
short at her frantic call.

“No!”

“It’s okay, Gabby. I’ve done this before, remember?”
The ground was wet, the rim of the hole filled with mossy patches
and weeds. There was nothing to hold on to and he could see where
she had dug her nails and ripped vines to try to get a hold. “Move
out of the way in case I fall.”

“Don’t fall!” she called. “But hurry.”

Something in her voice unnerved him. With no place
he could secure his weight, he decided it best he fell on purpose
rather than an accident. “I’m coming down fast, move out of the
way.”

With nothing but air between him and the ground, he
dropped and rolled deeper into the chamber to lessen the impact. He
didn’t have time to speak when she flung herself at him, wrapping
her arms around his neck. She shivered uncontrollably, and her
heart pounded against his chest through the fabric of clothing. Her
breath came in deep gasps.