The Second Sign (5 page)

“There’s something dead here with us,” she whispered
in his ear.

Relief spread through him at her touch, causing him
to hold her tighter. Scanning the small chamber, he found what she
was referring to. “It’s okay, look. It’s some kind of dead
animal.”

“No,” she said into his shoulder. “It’s a man. A
black man.”

A black man?
He pulled her away so she had to
look at him. “Gabby, look. It’s an animal.” He led her gaze to the
carcass on the ground. It didn’t look anything like a human, let
alone a black man. She shuddered again but didn’t make to hold on
to him again, and he regretted the empty space between them.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she wiped her hair
out of her eyes. “I’m a mess.” She gave him a halfhearted
smile.

He sniffed. “Yeah, you stink,” he said, forcing her
to laugh and feeling heat rise through him. He’d never heard of an
attraction at first sight, but he had it bad. He loved the feel of
her close to him, her cold against his heat. He loved the sound of
her voice, the shape of her lips, and the color of her eyes. He
shook the reaction away and stepped back.

“Hey, you guys want me to leave?”

“No!” Gabby called up before Jake could say yes.

Jenna threw a rope into the hole.

“I’ll go up first and—”

“No, I don’t want to be here alone.” Gabby took the
rope. “I can climb, just don’t...” She paused, her face turning
pink even in the dark. “Don’t look up.”

Her muscles tightened under the strain as she pulled
herself up. The rope had been knotted in even intervals and she
used it for purchase. She didn’t need him to lift her up. She was
strong enough to do it herself. Once she reached the lip of the
ridge, he climbed.

“Thanks,” Gabby said sheepishly before turning back
toward her house.

Jenna shrugged at Jake and they followed.

“I just have to jump in the shower,” she said over
her shoulder as they reached her house.

“Maybe you should rest,” Jenna responded.

Gabby whirled around, her violet eyes wide. Jake
heard Jenna take a deep breath and hoped she wouldn’t mention
Gabby’s eyes. She didn’t.

“No, I’m good. I don’t want...” Gabby’s voice
trailed the fear clear on her face.

To be alone.
“It’s okay,” Jake said. “We can
still use the tour.”

Gabby smiled and nodded, running up the steps and
disappearing up the stairs to her room, leaving Jenna and Jake
looking through the open door.

“She’s something, huh?” Jenna said, smiling. “Nice
eyes. Different, but nice.”

They didn’t have to wait long for Gabby to come
bounding down the steps as if he didn’t just save her life. Okay,
maybe that was an overstatement.

She stepped off the bottom step, her eyes behind a
very dark pair of sunglasses. She wore a purple tee shirt, with
black arm warmers, knee-high jeans, and flats. Her long, dark hair
fell in a braid down her back.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She looked good.

“Yeah, stupid me. I should know better.” She raised
her hands so he could see the superficial scratches on her palm.
“Just scrapes. I’m good.”

Jenna stepped forward, reaching out for a handshake.
“I’m Jenna.”

Gabby took a step back as if Jenna were holding a
gun. Jake couldn’t make out her eyes behind the dark glasses, and
he remembered the way she looked at him when he did the same to her
last night. He almost felt sorry for her. Gabby pulled down the arm
warmer, creating a barrier between her exposed hand, including
fingertips, just as she reached out and shook Jenna's hand. Jenna
frowned as if not making human contact was something akin to
squashing a bug with your finger.

Gabby noticed. “Sorry, I have a phobia of making
hand contact.”

“That’s okay. Germs and all,” Jenna said with a
smile. “I hope you don’t mind that Jake invited me. I’ve never been
here and would like a tour.”

“That’s okay. The more the merrier,” Gabby said.

Jake bit his lip, hoping she wouldn’t mention the
fact that it was his coaxing that got him the tour.

“I love your collection of angels and demons.
They’re intriguing,” Jenna said, eyeing the pieces behind a large
oak cabinet. Twenty small figurines—some made of porcelain, others
crystal, and still others of gemstones—stood as sentinels waiting
to be summoned. They were intricate in their design and each of
them unique.

“I have a thing for angels and demons. They have
such an archaic history, and no one really knows anything real
about them. Most people attribute them with God, others with
faeries, and others with mysticism.” Gabby shrugged, seemingly lost
in a dream.

“They’re beautiful,” Jenna said.

“Thanks, I’m actually taking a few into Bar Harbor
for a purchase.” Gabby delicately took two out of the case. “This
one is mother and child. The purest love is that between mother and
child,” Gabby began lost in her own world. “This one is said to
possess the power of protection from evil.”

Jake could almost see the images the small figurine
brought to his sister. It had been three years since their mother
died, and it still left a nasty void for both of them.

“Our mother died,” Jenna said, forcing Jake to
flinch. Jenna never talked about their mom.

“I’m sorry,” Gabby said. “My mom died giving birth
to me.”

“I guess it makes us kin, huh.” Jenna smiled, and
Jake couldn’t help but to feel his heart swell. He loved his
sister...that hurt too.

Jenna usually thought his tastes in girls were hype.
His girlfriends were usually more interested in being around should
he splatter to the pavement if one of his jumps went awry. But
Gabby seemed different, turning his relatively easy way into
mush.

“We should go,” Gabby said, grabbing a blue bag from
the couch and depositing the figurines.

Jenna poked him with her elbow as they made their
way to their truck. “I like her. Can you not mess this up?”

“What? I thought you were here to save me from her,”
he mused, glad that Gabby had stayed a few steps behind them.

“I like her. Easy peasy, I told ya,” she whispered
with a smile. Jenna’s smiles were too far between. He liked the way
she smiled easily around Gabby, another reason why he’d chase Gabby
till the ends of the earth, or off a mountain, whichever came
first.

Jake sat wedged between Jenna, who refused to let
Jake drive, and Gabby, who seemed more uptight as they headed into
town. “My dad grew up here,” Jake offered just to fill the
silence.

This made Gabby turn to him and their eyes met.
Transfixed by her intense gaze, he held his breath. She sat close
enough that he could feel her heat, smell her soft vanilla scent,
and see the smooth hollow of her throat. Gabby blushed and placed
the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, turning back to the
window just as Jenna jolted him out of reverie with a punch to the
leg. Hold it together, that punch warned. This girl fascinated him,
and worse…Jenna knew.

They parked the truck and walked through the town’s
shopping district near the coast. The mountain in the distance
looked a million miles away, and Jake found himself gazing out to
it as if it were calling his name. The urge to jump off something,
anything, pulled at him like a taught bungee cord. The streets were
lined with curio stores, artisan shops, and boutiques calling out
to the poor, unsuspecting tourist. Namely, Jenna.

“Told ya there’s a mountain top somewhere you can
jump from,” Gabby said. A smile played on her lips as she straddled
the bench beside him.

She looked even more beautiful in the daylight.

“I’d rather head into the nothingness of the
mountain than be here with my shop-a-holic sister.”

“She’s nice,” Gabby offered.

“I know. A little bit too nice.” He sipped his ice
drink.

“Listen, I just wanted to apologize for this
morning. I’m usually not like that.”

“You were scared. It’s okay.”

She pinched her face and flared her nose as if
fighting back a retort until she finally said, “I wasn’t
scared.”

He cocked a brow that made her smile.

“Okay, maybe a little bit. But I’m glad you were
there.”

He reached for her hand, but she pulled away.
Tapping the bench in front of her instead, he realized the no
touching rule was going to be something he’d have to get used to.
“Sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry too.”

Their eyes met and he knew she was telling the
truth. He also knew that he was hooked.

Jenna called out to them from the store, breaking
whatever moment they had. Or whatever moment he imagined they
had.

“Duty calls,” he said, standing up. They both
shrugged and followed the path of the mad-girl.

After Jenna made Gabby buy a rather nice bathing
suit, with Jake’s help, they stopped at Elle’s Curio shop where
Gabby meant to unload her two angels. The small shop stood at the
end of the street where the road began to slope and enter into the
mountain pass. A chime announced their arrival as they passed the
threshold into the store. Jake felt a sudden tightness in the air
as if he’d stepped into a sauna and had to struggle to breathe. The
shop was small with a variety of trinkets. Jenna decided to buy Dad
a gift, and he soon lost her in the array of aisles.

“Gabby, I didn’t know you were already here.” A
tall, thin woman met them. Her dark brown eyes settled on Gabby,
and a genuine smile broke from her face. The lady had an ancient
look about her, though her features were smooth and hard, like
stone.

“Max and I got here last night,” Gabby said,
stepping closer to the woman.

“How is dear, old Max?”

“Good. He’s in upstate New York now. He should be
here for our birthday.”

The woman swept Gabby in a hug. “Seventeen. I can
hardly wait.”

Gabby cleared her throat and looked ready to fold in
on herself, turning to lead the woman’s gaze to Jake who was taking
in their conversation and the notation of her birthday.

“Elle, this is Jake. He and his sister, Jenna, just
got here yesterday too. Jake, this is Elle, the owner and family
friend.”

Jake took the woman’s hand. Her long fingers wrapped
around his hand and held him firm.

“Nice to meet you.” A tingling sensation just
underneath his flesh made him feel as if tiny microbes had just
started to amass an army on his dermis. Squeezing his hand, her
smile never wavered as she scrutinized his features, swallowing him
with their intensity. An awkward moment passed before Jake decided
to reclaim his hand. “Um, can I have my hand back?”

Elle laughed. “If you must,” she said and released
his grip. Jenna squealed and Elle nodded to both of them before
engaging a very enthusiastic Jenna, leaving Jake and Gabby
alone.

“Elle doesn’t get out much,” Gabby said when the
woman was already past hearing distance.

“I can tell,” Jake said. “So when is your birthday,
exactly?”

“Next week,” she whispered and started for the angel
pendants in the center of the store.

Jake smirked, wanting to reiterate the
exactly
part of the question she ignored. The pendants were
in a locked case with no price tags. Jake wondered if they were for
sale.

“These were believed to bring luck and fulfillment
in the path to righteousness,” Gabby offered, changing the subject,
as she turned the stand on its circular pedestal. “Talismans.”

She stopped at a silver pendant. Its lines were
smooth and wings barely noticeable. The angel’s features were
piercing, and its lines rigid.

“I don’t believe in hocus pocus,” he said. “If I
can’t see it or touch it, then it doesn’t exist.”

She looked at him, her brow drawn tight. “What about
God?”

Jake shook his head. “We weren’t brought up to
believe in much of anything we couldn’t put our hands around.”
Jake’s parents were very liberal in their approach at raising their
kids. Faith and spirituality wasn’t something spoken in the home,
though Jake knew they both had believed in heaven and hell.

She met his gaze for a moment before returning to
the counter where Elle and Jenna waited. “I have more to add to
your collection,” Gabby said, digging into her bag and removing the
two figurines. She placed them gently on the counter, taking care
not to let her fingers touch anything but the figurine, while Elle
put her glasses on and peered at the pieces.

“Nice,” a voice from behind them said.

Funny, Jake hadn’t heard the chime above the
door.

Gabby visibly stiffened, and Jake turned to the new
guy. The energy in the place skyrocketed, and Jake had the feeling
that the ceiling of this place was going to soon explode. He’d
sensed something similar just before he leapt off an airplane. The
new guy wore a loose, Hawaiian shirt with white shorts and sandals.
A head taller than Jake, who at six-one stood taller than most, the
guy loomed. Though the guy’s blue eyes held an ancient look, he
couldn’t have been more than a year older than Jake.

“Where did you get them,” he went on, seemingly
unaware that he was being ignored, or he didn’t care.

Jake thought the latter was probable.

The guy leaned in and sniffed the pieces. “Nice,” he
repeated.

“Pat,” Elle said tersely.

Gabby looked away from him.

An awkward pause drove Jake forward. “I’m Jake,” he
said, opting not to try the handshake thing. It probably wasn’t
kosher in this neck of the woods. And since Gabby didn’t
acknowledge the new guy, Jake opted to tread carefully. He
considered himself a good judge of character. He knew how to
navigate awkward situations, deescalate conflicts, and bring calm
to the chaos. Most of the time.

“Pat, good to meet you.” He patted Jake’s shoulder.
“Hey Gabby,” Pat said.

Gabby’s face cinched and she turned to him. “I
thought you weren’t allowed back in town,” she said with clear
irritation in her voice.