Echo Into Darkness: Book 2 in The Echo Saga (Teen Paranormal Romance) (18 page)

The man in gold rested his hand on the girl's shoulder. Her arm dropped to her side, and the flames went out.

The victim and his clothes were smoldering but didn't seem badly burned. He held his hands to his mask like he was weeping.

Outside that window, we gripped each other's arms like it was the end of the world.

"How did she do that?" Becca's voice shook and was loud.

"Sshh!"

The girl on the platform snapped her head to the side and fastened her eyes on the window. On us.

Fear has always had an unpredictable effect on me. Usually, it paralyzes my whole body. This time, it shocked me into action. I pushed Becca toward the edge of the roof. I waited while she climbed down the trellis. Once she got to the ground, she blended into the night. So did everything else. I couldn't see where the roof ended. I couldn't see the trellis.

I reached into the dark. The tips of my fingers barely found purchase on the thin wood. I froze.

"Hurry!" Becca said.

I shook so badly, I couldn't convince my hand to close around the crossbar.

"I'll meet you at the car!" I said. If I told her I was too afraid to move, she might panic.

The front door of the house slammed.

"Run!" I said. "Go!"

Becca took off. Heavy footsteps came from the front of the house and paused below me. I flattened against the shingles and waited, my heart thrashing in my ears.

In the distance, a car started and screeched down the street. I hoped it was Becca, even though that meant I was now alone.

Harsh auras lashed at me like a viper's tongue. The footsteps moved to the back of the house. Behind me, someone tried to wrench the window open from the inside. I worm-crawled up the pitch and crammed next to the chimney. Every inch of my aura and body tried to betray me. I wanted to throw up, pee my pants.

The wind carried low voices from the ground. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but hearing them so close was enough to make me bite through my lip.

The person working at the second story window gave up. The men's voices receded and they pounded back onto the porch. The front door slammed.

Twenty minutes passed before I convinced myself to slither back to the edge. I was shivering from the cold as much as anything, and my fingers had gone numb. The second floor window was still lit. Faint voices reached me from inside, meaning they'd probably gone right back to their bizarre ritual. A sense of obligation ticked through me before I convinced myself that staying wouldn't do the girl any good. What could I do, bust in superhero style and steal her away? Only in the movies.

I blew warm air onto my fingers, then clutched the gutter and inched a foot onto the trellis. I put all my weight on the crossbar and stepped down to the next one. I lowered a foot, swinging the toe of my tennie back and forth in search of the next bar and missed. I lost my balance; the wood in my hand cracked, split, and gave way.

I squealed when my knees smacked against the side of the house. My tennies raked the siding and finally found a toehold between intersecting vines.

"I'm okay I'm okay I'm okay…" I chanted.

My cell phone rang.

The volume was on high.

"Shit!"

I dug it out of my pocket. It was a text from Becca.

Where are you?

Trellis
, I madly thumbed my response with one hand.

Loud voices penetrated the home's thin walls. Movement from inside told me they were on their way out again. I let go and fell the last few feet.

My phone rang again.

End of the block,
the text read.

I was deciding which way to go when a flashlight bounced along the front yard and pointed in my direction. I sprinted across the back yard and squeezed behind a shrub, partly to catch my breath but also because I'd lost my sense of direction. Becca was waiting for me at the end of the block but which way was that?

The flashlight beam found my feet and trailed up my legs. I took off running. Behind me, heavy puffing from an out-of-shape chaser fell farther and farther behind.

I tore down the street, spotted Becca's car, and jumped inside. She hit the gas before my door fully closed.

On the ride back, we broke a record for how long we could go without talking. We pulled into my driveway before she finally spoke.

"What. The. Hell," she said.

"It was them," I replied, tasting iron from where I'd bit into my lip. "And I'm pretty sure Keenan was there. He might have been wearing the gold mask."

A thought blindsided me. "Omigod." I pulled out my phone. "Jaxon was with Keenan. He doesn't have any idea what is going on."

Becca put her hand over mine. "Wait." She thought a moment. "How do you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"They went to Witch's Castle together, remember? Maybe Jaxon already knows."

I swallowed. "He would have told me."

"Are you sure?"

I put my phone down. He
had
told me. "Jaxon said he met someone who could get him closer to the Mutila. That's why he didn't show up for our date."

"But how much does he really
know
?" Her eyes were spooked.

I honestly didn't know how to answer that. Now he was out with one of their agents. Unease skipped along my spine, but I said, "No more than I do. I can't text him right now. He'll still be with Luma."

She shook her head and shrugged, not liking the way Jaxon played into this. I didn't feel much better, but I wasn't jumping to any conclusions.

"What was going on back there?" she asked.

"It looked like the man was being forced to make that V sign with his fingers."

"But why?"

"I don't know. The Mutila uses different tactics, like coercion, destruction, and…assassination." I shuddered. At least we hadn't witnessed that tonight. "I think he was giving in to them, but I don't get why."

We sat quiet for a few minutes.

"O.M.G." Her head wagged.

"I know, right? A guy burst into flames. At least it didn't look like anyone got burned."

"Do we tell someone?"

"What would we say? Did we see anything illegal?"

We were silent for a beat, and then, like we were prone to do in the most tense, inappropriate situations, we burst out laughing.

"She set a man on fire! How can that not be illegal?" she giggled with tears streaming down her face.

I shook my head, laughing too hard to speak. When I pulled myself together, I said, "I need to tell the police what we saw. I'll make an anonymous tip." This wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to report using my name. After the drinking incident, they already thought I was nuts.

"I'll straighten this out with Jaxon tomorrow." I slid out of the car. "Good luck sleeping."

"Lock your doors," Becca replied.

"I always do."

Chapter 21

Late that night, when I was sure Jaxon's date had ended, I texted him.

U all right?

Fine
, he texted back.
Tired. Details tomorrow.

After my morning classes, I sent another text asking him to meet me in the cafeteria. On the way, I swung by the bathroom and smeared extra concealer on the dark circles under my eyes. I hadn't slept a wink.

I was worried Jaxon was going to get himself killed. I'd thought long and hard about his meeting near Witch's Castle. He knew about Keenan's involvement. That's why he'd met with him. Did he understand how much danger he'd been in, getting that close? I had the impression he had no clue. Then he'd gone and made a date with that psychopath, Luma. I did not like that his well-being was at risk.

In the cafeteria, Jaxon strode toward me with a broad grin. He spun his chair backward and crossed his arms over the back as he sat.

"You look like you were up all night," he said. "Are you still mad at me for going out with Luma?"

"I'm not mad." I took his hand. "What did you find out?"

"Over dinner, I told Luma I'd heard about the Mutila legend, how they use paranormal ability to intimidate and torture people. You know, nice light dinner conversation. At first she laughed it off, but she knew exactly what I was talking about. I couldn't get her to answer any questions directly, but we made a game of it. You're going to hate this part."

"Just tell me," I said.

His cheeks filled with air and he let it out in one breath. "Just keep in mind, this was her idea of fun. I asked questions with yes or no answers. If the answer was yes, she would rub my leg with her foot. I don't know what that was about. Probably some kind of fetish."

"What did she answer 'yes' to?" I managed not to sound peeved.

"I think she enjoys causing physical pain. She joined the faction voluntarily, said she likes having a place where her talent is respected."

"I can't believe she told you this."

"It was like she was bragging. The Mutila think they're untouchable." He held back a smile. "Also, she thought I was into her." Jaxon read the question on my lips. He squeezed my hand. "There won't be a second date. I didn't even kiss her goodnight."

I couldn't hold back a smile. "Good. I don't want you seeing her again. It's too dangerous. Who's their leader?"

"She wouldn't go near that question." He put his hands on my shoulders to steady me. "They are looking for you. They don't know who you are yet but they've felt your energy field and they're floored by it. Luma even seemed jealous." Beneath his firm hands, I began to shake.

"Are they going to find me?"

His aura formed a concrete wall between us. I was pretty sure I knew what that meant. He didn't want to say what he really thought. "I don't know," he answered. "They don't know where you live or go to school."

"They know I was at the Smoothie Shack," I said.

"You should probably get a new job."

I nodded and squeezed his hand. "Did they know I worked there or was it coincidence that they came in?"

Jaxon's head jerked to the side and he pasted his gaze to the floor. "Beats me."

When our eyes met again, I saw uncertainty.

"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked.

"That's all I've got."

It wasn't much. I got the impression I'd landed in sensitive territory, that there was more to that conversation. If I accused him of holding back, his stubborn streak would take over. I moved to the next item of business.

I reached into my folder and pulled out the magazine. Keenan stared at us with one ice-blue eye.

"This is the guy you met at Witch's Castle, isn't it?" I asked.

Jaxon jolted backward. "That's Keenan Feller. How did you know—"

"Kids go up to the trailhead to make out, and some of them saw you," I said vaguely so he wouldn't guess it was one person, Becca, who had busted him. She was in this deep enough. "They heard part of your conversation."

"Echo, you've got to stay away from this man. He's…" His voice dropped. "Feller is in deep. I think he knows every faction member up and down the coast, and there are thousands of them. He's pretty high up." Jaxon looked at me squarely. "He's very dangerous."

"I know." I was seething inside. "I can't believe you hid this from me. You should have said something when I asked you the first time. This guy could get you in deep trouble. What did he mean when he said you had to prove yourself that night?"

His jaw lowered an inch. "Who saw us?"

"What did he mean?" I repeated.

He scratched into his hair like he was going to yank out a handful.

"They don't allow outsiders to get close to them unless you're willing to prove your loyalty. They give you a test. If you pass, you gain their trust, you get inside knowledge. If they ever get the impression I'll use what I know against them…" He shook his head slowly.

"He wanted you to take the test, didn't he? What was it?"

He waved me off. "No. It's disgusting. It's not important and I'm not going to talk about it." The muscles in his cheeks went tight.

I'd planned on telling Jaxon what I had seen at the house last night. When I started to, something in my chest pinched, like my intuition was shouting for me to keep it to myself. It was hard to tell where these intuitive hits came from, but they were usually right.

"I think you should quit," I said. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"I'll be fine," he assured me. "I learned how to play head games in West Region. I can hold my own here." There was a glint in his eye, like he was charged up by the challenge of living a double life.

My brain went back to the day when Jaxon made it clear he was not here to protect me. Yet that's what he had been doing, getting close to the most frightening people imaginable so that I might live in peace.

I looked at him carefully. "Why are you doing this?"

"I care about you." He ran a thumb over the back of my hand in what was meant to be a soothing motion. The skin on his pad was rough and snagged on my knuckles. I let my hand drop.