2. Chapter 2
Checking into the cheap motel was easier than going home.
The impersonal paint and fabric were new enough that I could breathe, and familiar enough to feel safe. It was perfect for a temporary crash pad. I could think straight here.
Like how I could have sold my house instead of turning it into ash.
Live and learn.
I threw the mood stabilizer I’d been prescribed into my mouth and washed it down with old coffee I’d gotten from the lobby. Something I should have done earlier.
The clock on the wall softly twinkled with a folksy song that made my hair stand on end. Three in the morning. It was hunting time for those things that go bump in the night.
I played with the witch’s ladder hanging around my neck. I made that one while I was locked up. Despite the intentions I poured into it, it had yet to mend my broken heart. Perhaps I’d been too chaotic when I made it.
Nothing good ever came from a witch’s bedlam.
I turned on the phone I’d charged during the two-hour car ride and waited. Dings of missed notifications filled the comfortable silence.
A call came through within seconds: Willow.
I hesitated to answer. How much did she know? Were they disappointed in me?
Rinah hunter goes psycho after husband leaves her for a younger woman. That sounded like something that Willow would sniff out from the universe.
I tapped the green button and waited.
“Sasha, you stupid bitch!” Willow snarled, but her voice broke, betraying her. Hard-ass Willow wasn’t so unshakable after all. “Esme is retracing your steps, looking for you. Why the fuck didn’t you check in? How could you do this to us?”
Shame swirled through my being, going all the way to my toes. “I’m sorry.”
Lights flashed across my window through the curtains, as someone pulled in. For a half a second, I thought it was Esme, coming to beat the stupid out of me. The giggly voice outside eased the brief panic. This was another type of early morning visit.
“You have to quit doing things without thinking.”
Self-destructive. Impulsive. Volatile. Words that were stamped throughout my file. Things I’d known about myself well before some doctor said them to me. “You’re right.”
I could have called them at any point while I was admitted. I just couldn’t face them like that. Even if they knew who I was better than anyone.
In the corner, the headlights landed on the nightstand, and I watched the way the shadow extended farther than it should have, in a slow, lazy way as if it just woke up.
I stood up, watching my shadow extend outwards more.
Not like the wraith I’d trapped in the box that consumed darkness.
More like the shadows were growing to take up more space.
She let out a sigh of relief. “Where are you?”
The shadows continued growing and moved along the wall, taking up all the spaces they shouldn’t.
“Just landed at a new job site,” I answered and it was true. The work had already begun.
The lights flickered on and off, making my eyes search the corners of the room for anything that shouldn’t be there. Unease tiptoed down my spine, but the cause didn’t appear to be in the room with me. Something had to be controlling that shadow though.
The room shrank as the shadows crept across the walls. The need to run pricked under my skin, as if the room was a prison four times too small, suffocating.
I’d bet money that the entire town was smothered with this feeling. I hadn’t even gone looking for this thing yet.
“Do you need anything?”
“Yeah.” I pivoted on my heel, searching for a phantom or ghost that might be hiding.
I pulled a lemon balm candle out of my duffle, lit the wick, and inhaled the calming scent, but the tightness in my throat didn’t fade.
“Got a slew of suicides in Cornwall, Connecticut. Just got here and I can already feel the energy.”
Fingers typed on the keyboard for a few minutes while I held still, waiting for the creature to reveal itself. It would make my life easier if it did.
Sure, but then what, Sasha?
Find another one. Duh.
“Check your email,” Willow finally said.
I scanned the room one more time to make sure nothing would jump out at me the second I was distracted. I tried to open the email, but the internet stopped on the loading screen.
One bar.
Static broke Willow’s voice when I put the phone back to my ear and she said, “Your husband’s been calling me.”
I tried to swallow the rock in my throat and failed. My hand clenched around the phone. “Good for him.”
Boiling hot rage gathered in my chest and threatened to burst free, all while something cold and heavy threatened to suffocate me. I took another deep breath, in through my nose, trying like hell to focus on the here and now.
I didn’t burn an entire house down just to let him continue to occupy my thoughts.
The shadows shook, as if they felt how my insides quaked like a storm just waiting to burst free and cause hell.
“I don’t know what happened, but I told him you were out working. Wasn’t sure how you wanted to play whatever this is.” The call quality went back to normal with a pop that hurt my ears.
She always had my back, even when she didn’t know what the situation was. My ride or die.
I walked around the room with the candle, letting the smoke fill every corner. I banish negativity from this space.
Banished him from my thoughts was more like it. “Esme? She had to abandon her hunt?”
“Her hunt is over.” She sighed with enough exhaustion that I knew it hadn’t gone well. Not that anyone thought it would. The last thing Esme needed was to worry about me. “You’ve missed a lot.”
“I’m sorry.”
Useless words that did nothing to change the fact that I’d made a grieving mother’s life harder. I’m sorry, Esme.
“Shut it.” She didn’t have the energy to put her normal fire into it. “This place is a known problem in the archives.”
“Yeah?” Why hadn’t we taken care of this place then?
“It’s normally contained.” She hummed, like she did when she was reading over something that doesn’t make sense.
The lights went off, blinding me with sudden darkness. The flame of the candle held strong, as the walls closed in tight around me. Every breath was a struggle as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.
The shadows grew darker around me, as if they needed to snuff out what little light I had left, only to realize it was the candle they were after. There was a sense that someone was leaning over my shoulder, to get closer to the flame.
My heart pounded as I reached for some sage from my tool belt. The deep inhale over the candle made the flame flicker.
What the fuck!
A heavy weight briefly rested on my back, and the urge to jerk away hit hard. It took everything inside me to stay in place and not flail like prey.
The lights came back on even stronger than before, making the room hum to life. By the time my eyes adjusted the shadows were back to normal, as if it was all a figment of my imagination.
Except for the exhale of release that came from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
This didn’t make sense.
Lemon balm would have no effect on any monsters lurking. This ritual was for me. Why did it retreat, though?
Willow continued, not realizing what happened, “There is an abandoned settlement in town, known for being destructive, but our ancestors refused to take action.”
Slow, lazy footsteps climbed up the wall with deliberate steps.
“The local authorities keep people out. It’s an actual law in town.”
Small town. Teenagers.
They were always meddling in things they shouldn’t.
The lights flickered again, and something thumped directly above me, sending dust floating through the air.
Oh yeah. They screwed up, and it leaked into the town.
“Does it tell us not to hunt here?”
“Yes,” she mused.
What mess did my ancestors leave for me to clean up this time?
The head of my shadow tilted back and let out a soft sigh I almost couldn’t hear.
I hadn’t moved.