Tortured Souls (The Orion Circle) (24 page)

“It’s only temporary,” Logan says, watching me poke at the bandage.

“Do you have any idea how much this is gonna hurt to peel off later?” I fix Daniel with a withering glower. It doesn’t have the desired effect.

“Aw, Cici, you can’t scare me with your death glare anymore,” Daniel says, chuckling under his breath. “It’s actually pretty cute the way your bottom lip sticks out in a bit of a pout…”

Hot blood pools in my cheeks. I lean forward a bit, hoping my long hair will hide my blush from Daniel. This is a battle I can’t win, so I think I’ll just bow out rather than make a fool of myself.

“So are we going to the barn?” Rebecca asks, drawing everyone’s attention away from my flaming cheeks.

“Yes,” I reply, jumping to the ground from the back of the van.

My hip protests the movement. I rub my fingers along the sore spot on my hip. It extends down the side of my thigh all the way to the knee. I bet it’ll be one amazing bruise by tomorrow. My pale skin makes even the lightest bruise rather spectacular.

“Hey, careful,” Logan says, rushing to my side. He wraps his arm around my back, supporting part of my weight. “You did just fly down a gravel drive.”

“The barn is behind the house. This way,” Mr. Kincaid says, heading toward the left side of the manor.

A stone path winds around the house. It looks brand new. The owners probably put it in when they put the house up for sale. In fact the grounds are well-kept. I was expecting something creepy, not some nice pathway through a flower garden. It’s still early enough in the season that most of the flowers are in bloom. Perhaps come winter the place will resemble the house of horrors it should. I can’t help but wonder about the Carters. Why would they buy a place with such dark history? Kinda like their very own
American Horror Story
house.

“Wow!” Rebecca exclaims as we round the corner. “Look at that barn. And the riding ring. It’s perfect!”

The barn isn’t the old-fashioned red monstrosity I was expecting. It looks brand new, made of gleaming natural-stained wood slats. Now I understand what attracted them to the property. It’s a horse lovers dream come true. We enter through a side door leading into a large office. The sweet woody scent of cedar fills my nostrils.

“The original barn was torn down before the Carters bought the property,” Mr. Kincaid says as we pass through the office into the main barn.

The barn is one massive room with at least fifteen to twenty horse stalls. Fresh hay covers the floor, trailing to each stall. It appears the Carters are getting ready for horses.

“Is anything in here original,” Daniel asks, running his fingers over one of the stall doors. He never put his gloves back on after treating my shoulder. “I’m getting nothing but forest. It’s rather refreshing.”

“Is the wood unhappy here?” Rebecca asks.

“Plants don’t have complex feelings like that,” Daniel says as he moves toward the back of the barn. “I just get glimpses of the forest the wood came from, and any human emotions attached to it. Like here… some guy smashed his thumb while hammering this plank into place. Ouch!”

Daniel snatches his hand back as though burned. He rubs his fingers while glancing around the barn. Above us a large hayloft takes up the back third of the ceiling. No, that’s not where Yardley kept the kids.

It was dark.., and smelled of both antiseptic and decay.

The words whisper through my mind. I whip my head around so fast that my hair smacks Logan in the face. With a sheepish grin, I mutter an apology. An image of a symbol on a metal door fills my mind, but I don’t recognize it.

“I think Ellie just sent me a message,” I say, unable to stop searching for the owner of those whispered words. The speaker sounded like they were right behind me. “Does anyone have a pen and paper?” Rebecca hands both over, and I quickly sketch the symbol.

“That’s a radiation symbol,” Mr. Kincaid says, studying the paper.

“Ellie was someplace dark, and the door was metal with this symbol,” I say, concentrating on the image she projected to me.

“So maybe a fallout shelter left over from the Cold War?” Logan suggests, passing the paper to Daniel.

“How are we supposed to find that without ground penetrating radar or something?” Carl asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I need to contact the company that did the reconstruction of the barn,” Mr. Kincaid says, heading back toward the entrance. He seems in a hurry to leave. Perhaps the events today were too much. “They should still have the old blueprints and the construction plans. After reviewing those, we’ll have a better idea if there is a fallout shelter here and how to access it. It’s quite possible they covered the access.”

“I hope not,” I murmur as my eyes scan the dirt floor. “I think that shelter may be the key to freeing the children.”

“Well, there’s nothing else we can do here now,” Mr. Kincaid says from the office door. “Let’s head back to my place and regroup with the others over dinner.”

He disappears into the office, followed by Rebecca and Carl. A cool breeze blows by, ruffling my hair. I know it’s one of the boys, though I’m not sure which. Just as I’m about to ask for help locating the shelter, the temperature returns to normal. The spirit is gone.

“Come on, Kacie,” Logan says, taking my hand. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here today—I mean other than dig up the entire barn.”

“You’re right,” I admit.

There’s a heavy pressure in my chest. I feel like I’m letting the spirits down—like I should be doing something other than leaving. After one last glance over my shoulder, I follow Logan out of the barn and into the twilight. Time flew while we were investigating the barn. We pick up the pace to a fast jog, neither of us wanting to be here after dark. Daniel revs the engine in the SUV as we jump into the backseat. Before we can buckle our seatbelts, he takes off down the gravel road, following the van’s taillights.

My breath comes out in a relieved
whoosh
.

Why do I feel like we escaped just in time?

Chapter Twenty-Five — Slumber Party

Chapter Twenty-Five

Slumber Party

When no new information turns up from the construction company that rebuilt the barn, grim satanic cult talk is replaced with excited chatter about the upcoming Samhain Gala. It seems everyone is willing to let it go. Everyone but me. Not that I could even if I wanted to.

Dr. Hayes decided several days ago that I need to have more nighttime visions if we are to have any hope of defeating the Foxblood Demon—I hate the name the media coined for him all those years ago, mostly because I get the feeling Yardley loves it. Well, I stopped taking the medication suppressing the visions, but they haven’t returned like I expected. Of course, it could be caused by lack of sleep. I think I’m sabotaging myself out of fear. It’s hard to go to sleep when I fear
he
will show up.

Nightly slumber parties continue in my home theater room, though tonight is the noisiest yet. The last few nights it was just Gavin and Logan with me. It’s no surprise I miss Logan. I felt so safe with him nearby. What surprises me is that I miss Gavin’s snoring. Yep, even that foghorn is preferable to the giggle fest going on right now. Girl’s night in, they called it. It’ll be fun, they said… take your mind off the killer phantom. I’ve been visionless for three nights now, and I really need one soon.

Halloween is less than two weeks away. What will happen if I can’t figure out where Yardley hid the trophies he used to trap the souls? A shudder courses through me. I freeze, caught between hoping it’s just the air conditioning and wanting a visitation. Anything to get a little more information. The moment passes, the shiver caused by nothing more than the cool air flowing from the vent in the ceiling.

“You okay, Kacie?”

Raven, our newest addition, plops down on the sofa beside me. She just moved here from Orlando. Her father is high up in the Orion Circle, so Raven and her brother, Mark, were welcomed on arrival. Her fingers wrap around one long strand of black hair, coiling and uncoiling in a nervous gesture.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” I reply, squirming under her scrutinizing stare. Her dark blue eyes never leave mine as her left eyebrow arches above her bangs.

“You seem anything but okay,” she comments, breaking eye contact to watch Gavin enter the room.

Gavin stands behind me, his arms crossed over his chest. After several moments locked in a staring contest, he throws his head back with a bark of laughter.

“You’ve got some visitors downstairs,” Gavin says with a wink. “I’m sending them up, but I want them out at midnight.” He stops at the door. “Because for some reason Dad thinks teens only have sex after midnight.”

“Gavin!” I cry out, my cheeks flaming from his remark.

“I got a lecture before Dad left for the weekend,” Gavin says with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You can’t have boys in after midnight and no closed doors. In exchange, I get to be in the same house as a group of teenage girls all night.”

“Yeah, Dad didn’t think this through,” I mutter under my breath.

“Double standard alert,” Celia yells from the floor where she’s painting her toenails blue.

“Just for that, I won’t let Jake up, princess,” Gavin says, staring at Celia’s bare legs with what looks suspiciously like a leer.

“Jake’s here?” she squeals, her hand flying to her hair. “But I’m a disaster!”

“You look adorable, princess,” Gavin says, ogling her. “You girls worry too much about looking perfect and together. Guys like that just-rolled-out-of-bed sexy look.” He ducks out the door and disappears down the hall.

“Gavin thinks I’m sexy?” Celia asks with wide eyes. I cringe at the tiny smile on her lips. Oh, no. No, no, no! Not my brother.
Eww!

“Gavin
is
hot,” Raven murmurs, flashing me a knowing grin.

“I so don’t want to hear it,” I mutter, resisting the urge to put my hands over my ears. “He’s my annoying brother.”

“Well, to the girls here, he’s a sexy college guy,” Raven says, pointing toward the three enraptured faces.

Closing my eyes, I drop my face into my hands. Celia, I understand, I mean she’s boy-crazy. But Michelle and Rebecca too? I almost feel betrayed. My torment is interrupted by the arrival of three noisy guys. Jake races across the room, pulling a squealing Celia into his arms.

“We won, babe!” he shouts over her excited cries. “We’re heading to regionals.”

“Congrats, Jake,” I say but am drowned out by Celia’s excited shrieking. Well, at least she forgot about Gavin.

“Got permission from your brother to stay the night,” Logan says as he plops down beside me on the sofa.

“But he was just in here saying no boys after midnight,” I reply with a skeptical glare.

“Yeah, well, anything paranormal freaks him out,” Logan says shrugging. “He’s afraid you’ll have a vision and he won’t know what to do.”

“I think I can help her through a vision,” Raven says, tossing her hair. “I’ve been having them as long as I can remember.”

“Good to know,” Logan says, his tone somewhat icy.

“Don’t mind my friend,” Daniel says, lowering himself on the sofa beside Raven. He gives her his
come hither
stare which tends to turn those of the female persuasion to jelly. “He has trust issues.”

“As well he should,” Raven says, giving Daniel a hard glare which he ignores.

If I didn’t like her before, I sure do now.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to come across so… uh,” Logan trails off.

“Neanderthal?” Raven asks, tipping her head to the side. “Or do you prefer alpha male?”

“Oh, sweetie, Logan isn’t an alpha male,” Daniel says laughing. He places his hand on her leg, right above the knee.

“Don’t call me sweetie,” Raven bites out as she shoves his hand off her leg. “I’m a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a black belt in Judo, and a blue belt in Krav Maga. If you like your manly parts, you’ll back off.”

“Wow, why so many different disciplines?” Logan asks with wide eyes.

“I’m a monster magnet,” Raven says, shrugging her shoulders. “Dad started my training when I was four.”

“I’m sorry,” Daniel says with sad eyes. “For everything but especially the monster magnet part.”

“What’s a monster magnet?” I ask. Logan and Daniel are quite upset by her remark.

“There’s something in my blood that attracts monsters,” Raven says, leaning back against the sofa with a loud sigh. “It’s like they can smell it a mile away. Vampires, werewolves, all sorts of creepiness will crawl out of the woodwork after me.”

“That sounds awful,” I say, trying to keep the pity out of my voice. Then one of her words finally registers. “Wait… vampires exist?”

“I’m a vampire hunter, have been for years,” she says with a dismissive shrug. “Makes the job easier, I suppose.”

Daniel gasps. “You’re actually a hunter?”

“My mom was killed by vampires when I was eight. My dad’s been obsessed with revenge. He trained my brother and me to hunt as well. The monsters were coming after us whether we liked it or not… better to be prepared.”

Her voice is hard, but that edge doesn’t reach her eyes. Sadness and regret are reflected in her eyes for a brief moment before she covers it up with a smile.