Dark Realms (12 page)

Nathan laughed. “Sounds good. I’ll give you
a call in a couple of days if I don’t hear from him, to see what’s
going on. If anything, we can go cruising.”

“Definitely. And don’t forget about the
barbeque this weekend,” said Duncan. “Now that Nikki’s practically
begged me to be your date, Nathan.”

Nathan’s eyes widened innocently. “Oh, what
ever will I wear?” he asked, standing kind of prissy. “Do you like
pink, Duncan?”

Duncan looked at my dress and then winked.
“Actually, I prefer blue.”

Chapter Seven

It was dark by the time we made it home and
mom was on the deck, desperately trying to figure out the
grill.

“Step aside before you blow us all up,”
ordered Nathan, handing her the package of steaks.

“No arguments here,” she answered. “I prefer
cooking on the stove myself, but the steaks taste so much better on
the grill. Thanks for picking them up, by the way.”

“No problem. Just don’t give the sheriff
mine, it’s the thirty-ouncer,” he replied.

“Of course not, you bottomless pit,” she
said. “But we’re also having potatoes, pasta salad, and corn on the
cob. So pace yourself tonight, if you can.”

He snorted. “That’s it? No dessert?”

“Cheesecake,” she said. “But let’s make sure
our guest gets a piece before you get your mitts on it.”

“You should have made two, and then you
wouldn’t have to worry about it,” he joked.

She raised her finger. “I’m not going to
worry about it because you’re going to wait until everyone else has
had a piece before you devour the rest.”

“Okay, I can live with that.”

“You look nice,” I told her. She was wearing
a lilac colored blouse and a new white skirt I’d never seen
before.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “So, how was your trip
into town?”

“It started out a little strange but got
better,” I answered.

“What do you mean?”

Nathan interrupted. “Oh, she applied for a
job at the local diner and some waitress slipped her a note with an
ominous warning.”

“What?”

I showed her the piece of
paper and she shrugged. “That
is
pretty odd. Maybe she knew the deceased girl? Who
knows, she may think there was foul play involved.”

“Maybe there was,” I said.

She frowned. “The sheriff didn’t seem to
think so. We’ll ask him about it again when he gets here.”

“Okay,” I said, putting the note away. I
didn’t think he’d tell us much, however. Having a father for a cop
taught me that they weren’t keen on divulging information like
that.

“So, did you guys make it to Duncan’s boat
shop?”

“Yeah,” said Nathan. “And his dad is hiring
for shop help, so I filled out an application.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow, that means both of
you might have jobs before the end of the summer? That’s
amazing!”

“Yeah, I know. I need money and a car,
badly,” I said.

“If you get a job, I’ll help you find a car
and you can pay me back in installments. But, don’t expect anything
fancy,” she said.

“Seriously? Thanks, mom,” I replied,
throwing my arms around her. I’d never owned my own car before,
although I had my license. I started thinking about all of the
possibilities and became giddy.

“You bet. I know it’s tough not having a
car; especially, now that you’ll be a senior.”

As I pulled away, my eyes caught a movement
in the woods. At first, I thought it was a deer or some other wild
animal, but then in a blur, it shot up into the trees. I wasn’t
sure, but I could have sworn its eyes were glowing, too. Just like
the so-called “Peeping Tom.”

“Something’s in the woods,” I whispered
hoarsely.

“What?” asked my mother.

Nathan stepped off the deck and began
walking slowly towards the trees.

“What the hell are you doing?” barked
mom.

He raised his hand. “Calm down. It’s
probably just a deer or something.”

I pointed up towards the top of the trees.
“It flew up there, and I doubt it was a reindeer.”

My mom released a heavy sigh. “Then it was
just a bird. Don’t scare me like that.”

I shook my head, vehemently. “No, it wasn’t
a bird.”

Nathan walked back onto the deck. “Of course
it was a bird. Or maybe a flying squirrel.”

I put my hands on my waist. “It wasn’t a
small animal, okay? It was big! Bigger than you,” I told him.

“The shadow probably looked a lot larger
than the animal. When it’s dark like this, your eyes can play
tricks on you. Think about it, nothing my size would be able to fly
up into a tree,” he said. “It’s not possible.”

“I know what I saw,” I snapped, glaring at
him, “and it was big. I’m going into the cabin. This place is
really starting to give me the creeps.”

“It’s been a long day,” said my mom, as I
opened the patio door. “Caleb should be here in another hour. If
you’re hungry, Nikki, eat some of that pasta salad I made. It’s in
the refrigerator. Oh, and put these steaks in there too, will
you?”

She handed them to me and
my stomach started rumbling as I went into the kitchen. Although I
was still freaked out about the flying shadow, I was also
starving, as I hadn’t eaten anything since my
salad at the diner earlier.

I opened up the refrigerator and took out
the large bowl of pasta, setting it on the counter. As I began
scooping out some of the salad, the hair on the back of my neck
stood straight up. I raised my eyes to the window facing me and let
out a bloodcurdling scream. A pale face was staring at me through
the glass. It disappeared quickly and I leaped away from the window
in terror.

“What’s wrong?” hollered my brother, rushing
into the kitchen.

“Someone was watching me,” I choked,
pointing towards the window. “Through there!”

He stared at my frightened face then grabbed
a butcher knife from the block.

“What are you planning on doing with that?”
cried mom, entering the kitchen.

“Nikki thinks there’s
someone out there.” He raised the knife. “If there
is
someone, I’m not
going unarmed.”

Just then the doorbell rang, startling us
all.

“I’ll get it,” said mom. “Hopefully it’s the
sheriff and he can take a look around outside.”

We followed her to the front door and she
swung it open.

“Hello,” smiled Caleb, holding out two
bottles of wine, a red and a white. “I wasn’t sure if you were a
wine drinker or not. I brought red and white, just in case.”

“Thank God you’re here,” she said, grabbing
a bottle of wine and pulling him through the door. “Nikki thinks
someone is lurking around outside.”

“Think?” I snapped. “I know there is.
Someone was in the woods watching all of us, and then a face stared
at me through the window.”

Caleb was dressed in civilian clothing,
jeans and a white polo shirt, but he reached down by his ankle and
pulled out a gun. “Okay, I’ll go take a look. You guys stay inside
and lock your doors.”

“Mom, I’m seriously really scared,” I said,
as she locked the door. “What the hell is going on around
here?”

She walked over and hugged me. “Don’t worry,
it’ll be fine.”

“What if it’s dad?” said Nathan, his face
pale. “What if he’s found us and is trying to scare the shit out of
us?”

“Oh, hell, I never even considered that,”
said mom, looking quite troubled, herself. “I hope not.”

“Would he do that?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. The law is
after him now. He might do anything. I can’t imagine how he found
out where we were staying, though. The only person who knew was
Ernie.”

“I think you should call Ernie and make sure
he’s okay,” said Nathan.

She moved towards the phone, her face white.
“I’ll call him right now.”

There was a loud knock at the door. “It’s
me. Let me in. Everything’s okay,” called Caleb.

Mom put down the phone and rushed to the
door. “Did you find anything?” she asked, when he stepped
inside.

He smiled. “Actually, I found a couple of
raccoons outside that were looking pretty mischievous. I didn’t
find anything else out of the ordinary, though.”

“Um, did you see footprints by any of the
kitchen windows, or any prints?” asked Nathan.

He bit back a smile. “I didn’t see much, I’m
sorry. But I really don’t think there’s anyone out there.”

“I know what I saw, and it was a human face,
staring at me through the kitchen window,” I said. “It freaked the
crap out of me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Okay, what did this
person look like?”

I sighed. “It was hard to tell, it happened
so fast.”

“If you couldn’t really tell, then it’s
quite possible that you saw an animal,” said Caleb, walking towards
the window. He lifted one of the blinds and peered outside. “There
are a lot of those in these woods.”

“It moved so quickly, I couldn’t tell if it
was a man or woman, but it definitely wasn’t an animal. I’m sure of
that,” I said

He released the blind and walked back over
to us. “I can look around again, if it makes you feel better.”

“Thank you, Caleb,” interrupted my mom.
“This family has been through so much that it would really be
comforting if you could do that for us.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay, I understand. I’ll
be back in a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” I said, as he walked back
towards the door.

“No problem. If it’s going to calm everyone
down, I’ll be happy to do it.”

“I told you he was a nice man,” said mom
after he left the cabin again.

Even I had to admit, it was almost
comforting having him around. Almost.

Caleb took much longer this time, but when
he returned, he still hadn’t discovered anything unusual.

“Thank you for doing that, Caleb,” said my
mother, handing him a glass of red wine. “You could probably use a
little of this right now.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he answered
with a lopsided grin. “Although I’d better not overindulge; I hear
the cops in this area are pretty wicked.”

She giggled and then turned to Nathan.
“Honey, can you fire up the grill? I’m sure everyone is starving by
now.”

“Yeah, I’m fading away,” said Nathan,
raising his hands in front of his face. “I can barely see my
hands.”

Mom smiled and shook her head. Then she
turned to me. “Nikki? Honey, why don’t you go upstairs and rest for
a little while. I’ll fix you a plate of food and bring it up later,
if you don’t feel like coming back down.”

I glanced at Caleb, who was staring at my
mother like she was a filet mignon. I knew right then that it was
time to make an exit.

“Okay, I need to change anyway,” I said,
getting off the couch. As I left, I could hear them talking and
wanted to puke at the way she was flirting with the sheriff. It
wasn’t that I didn’t like Caleb; I just didn’t think she was ready
to start anything after what just happened.

I raced upstairs to my bedroom, still
feeling tense. The gnawing feeling of dread in the pit of my
stomach was driving me crazy and I just wanted to go back to my old
home in San Diego.

Feeling helpless, I kept the lights off and
changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, keeping my attention
on the balcony window. When I finished, I grabbed my bat and slowly
walked over to the glass and worked up the nerve to look down
below. I half expected to see some kind of ghoul lurking around in
the darkness. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, however, which
still wasn’t enough to calm my nerves.

“What are you doing?” whispered Nathan next
to my ear.

“Holy crap! Don’t you ever freak me out like
that again!” I snapped. “You almost gave me a fucking heart
attack!”

“Wow, I’m sorry. Just settle down, will
you?”

I rubbed the beads of sweat from my forehead
and then looked at him. “I don’t care what the sheriff says, I saw
someone out there watching me in the kitchen.”

He sighed. “I’m not sure what you saw,
either, but what I do know is that ever since we found that girl’s
body, you’ve been going crazy. I mean, isn’t it possible that you
saw a raccoon staring at you in the window? You said so yourself,
you couldn’t even see the face very well.”

“I can tell the difference between a
raccoon’s face and a person’s, Nathan. I’m not a complete moron,” I
said, glancing through the window again.

We both stared outside in silence for a
while.

“Maybe it really is dad, then,” he said
softly. “He might be trying to frighten her or all of us.”

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right.
Dad had major anger issues, but he doesn’t seem the type of person
who’d waste his time doing this kind of thing. In fact, he’s
probably hiding on the other side of the world by now with the help
of some of his cop friends.”

“Maybe,” said Nathan.

I yawned. “I guess I’m going to bed. I lost
my appetite anyway. Could you tell mom? I don’t really want to go
back down there. It’s nauseating.”

He chuckled. “Okay, Nik, if you need us,
just holler.”

“Oh, you’ll hear me. Count on that.”

After he left, I turned on the television
and watched a movie about a girl who’d fallen in love with both a
vampire and a werewolf. I’d already seen it a million times, so my
eyelids grew heavy fairly quickly. Ten minutes later I was out cold
in my bed and dreaming of Duncan, who turned into a werewolf and
was trying to kill my own vampire boyfriend. Every time I tried to
see the vampire’s face, however, it was a blur.

Chapter Eight

Mom was still sleeping when I woke the next
morning, which was pretty odd, considering it was after ten and she
never usually slept past eight.

“Hey,” I said to Nathan, who was eating a
monstrous bowl of cereal and watching television at the kitchen
counter.