First Impression (A Shadow Maven Paranormal) (12 page)

The three of us walk down Old Schoolhouse Road, behind a group of young guys who veer off at the trail to the bus stop. No wonder that path is wide and well worn.  A second path to our right heads for the river, and I glance at a third, less distinct path as we continue to the front of the house. Around the side of the building, the crunch of leaves and a shushing sweep sound draw us over to take a look.

One of the custodians is raking leaves. He wears a grey jump suit that’s several shades darker than the streaks in his slicked back hair. I stiffen as I realize who it is before he turns around.
Rob.

The wrinkles in my stepfather’s forehead deepen when he sees us approach. How could I have not known he had this job? Not that I cared what Rob did for a living…but Mom and I need to have a serious talk.

Ben reaches into his back pack and pulls out a neatly folded brown lunch sack. “Hi, I’m Ben Oscuro, and this is Matt and Chira. Joan from the Administrator’s office said that I should come see you about letting us into the Old Schoolhouse?”

Rob examines the three of us while leaning on his rake. His piercing blue eyes fix on me. “What for?”

“We’re doing a study on the ghost sighting that occurred here last week. With it being Halloween and all today, it seems that it might be our best chance to find out if it is true.”

Rob shakes his head and sneers. “It ain’t true. I’ve been in and out of that building every week for the past four years. If there was something there, I’d have seen it.”

“We don’t doubt your perceptive abilities, but we were hoping that—”

“Without a direct order from the administrator’s office in person or on the phone, I won’t let you in.” His gaze is drawn to the sack in Ben’s hand. “Notes can be forged.”

Rob sneers at me again, his eyes searching me up and down. Why did it have to be him? If it had been someone else, maybe this could have been manageable. My shoulders slump in defeat, and I’m ready to run. I don’t like being this close to my stepdad, much less asking him for a favor.

Matt fidgets where he stands, rocking from heel to toe and back again. The wind picks up, and more leaves fall around us like snow.

“Your astute adherence to your duties is commendable, sir. But could you not make an exception, for just a moment? I promise we will not take more than fifteen minutes of your time, and would be happy to remunerate you.” Ben says, replacing the sack in his backpack.

“Are you bribing me, boy?” Rob stiffens.

“No, sir. I would not insult you in such a manner.”

Rob huffs. “You kids get. Unless one of them people from the office call me on my cell phone, you’re not getting in today.” His eyes fix on me. “You should all be home, cleaning, or studying…something productive.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you for your time.” Ben lowers his head and starts back around the front of the building.

Matt jogs to catch up with him. He whisper-shouts. “That’s it? We’re just going to leave?”

Ben shakes his head. “What else can we do?”

“We should try harder. Talk him into this. Wait until he leaves and break in. Something.” Matt scrubs his hair with his hand.

“I don’t think it would work,” I say, but no one seems to hear me.

Ben stops and glares at Matt. “We’d have to break a window; they have all been nailed shut. So breaking in is out of the question right now.”

I clear my throat and raise my voice. It still cracks. “Besides, you can’t talk Rob into this. He’s my stepdad, and I doubt he’d cut us any slack, just to spite me.”

Matt’s jaw has dropped somewhere in the middle of what I said, but it firmly snaps shut. “I didn’t know…”

I shrug and turn away. “It’s fine.”

We head back down Old Schoolhouse Road.

“What’s that?” Ben steps toward the animal trail I’d seen earlier on our way up the path. But at this angle, I can see a flash of light reflecting as if off a mirror.

“Was that a reflection?” I ask.

Ben eyes me and nods. “Let’s find out.”

We walk a few feet into the forest, pushing the branches out of the way to keep them from hitting us in the face. When Ben reaches the reflection I saw, a small, round mirror is half buried under some leaves just to the right of the path. He pulls out the brown sack again and unfolds it. After removing a rubber glove, he snaps it on his fingers.

“What’s that for?” Matt asks.

Ben pushes aside some of the leaves and digs around the mirror. “I don’t want to taint any evidence.”

As the leaves and dirt layer are pushed away from the reflective circle, my breath catches. “It’s a compact.”

I kneel down to get a closer look. A hairbrush sits next to it. With more digging, Ben exposes a stack of credit cards and IDs.

Matt curses. “Why would someone bury this here?”

Ben stands and pulls his glove from his hand. “I have a theory but nothing concrete. Call your dad.”

“What?” Matt puts his hands on his hips. “Why would I call him?”

Ben frowns. “Because I think we just found a major clue in the missing teen cases in Fairfax.”

Matt and I meet Mr.
Benson at the front of the school when he pulls up. He wears his white shirt and blue tie without a jacket, and slams the door to his Dodge Charger once he’s out. “What’s going on, Junior?”

After a deep breath, Matt explains—everything—while we walk together down Old Schoolhouse Road. Ben stands just outside the animal trail when we walk up. He didn’t want to leave the items alone and allow someone or something to move them while we waited for Mr. Benson.

Long shadows stretch across the road, and the sunlight has dappled. The crunching sound of leaves from the back of the Old Schoolhouse lets us know that Rob is still hard at work. I shiver.

When we near the tree line, Mr. Benson snaps on a pair of rubber gloves, similar to the ones Ben had worn earlier. He inspects the items we found in the hole, pushing them around with a pen he pulls from his pocket. After a few long moments, he stands.

He tosses his keys to Matt. “Go get me the duffle bag on the floor of the passenger side of the Charger. I wasn’t sure if you kids had actually found something worth it, but I’m going to bag this stuff and take it in.”

With a quick nod, Matt jogs off. Mr. Benson scratches his chin with his gloved hand. “How did you kids find this stuff?”

Ben looks at me.

I clear my throat. “Like Matt said, we were walking back after talking to…the custodian, and Ben saw a flicker of light in the woods. A mirrored compact was sticking about an inch from the ground.”

Mr. Benson nods, his jaw tightening. His boxy build makes it evident that he’s Matt’s father, but his height and strong square jaw look like Ben’s. Mr. Benson puts up a finger and dials a number on his cell. He steps away to talk.

I frown at Ben. “Did you know we’d find something like this? Were you looking for it?”

He shrugs. “I told you before that the two types of haunting are impression and possession. If this is an impression, then the ghost you described to me would have to have died in this place in a traumatic manner for the impression to be made. And since it took on such a distinct form, the trauma may have been somewhat recent. When I theorized that it might be so, I came here today to look for clues. Once we were turned away, I began to give up on that possibility.”

“Then you saw the reflection.”

“Yes.” He quirks a half smile. “But we still don’t know if these items are new or old. They could be a few years old. Someone might have stolen a purse and dumped it here. Or an animal may have collected shiny objects and buried their stash here. We don’t know that my theory is correct, but we had to show our hand in order to find out. We needed to introduce the possibility to my uncle so that he would take this seriously.”

I nod.

Matt jogs up, crunching leaves in his hurry. Mr. Benson hangs up his phone with a snap and accepts the duffle bag from his son with a nod. He pulls out a couple of large freezer bags and tucks them into his elbow. “Now, kids. Don’t jump to conclusions. I know you think this stuff might be related to the missing teens in Fairfax, but we can’t know that until we run fingerprints and DNA samples. This will go to our forensics lab, and I’ll let you know what I find. In the meantime, keep this under your hats, okay? I don’t need any rumors going around.”

“Yes, sir,” all three of us say in a discord unison.

Once he’s placed the items in the bag, he zips it shut and stuffs it in the duffel. We walk back toward his car. Before he gets in, he eyes me. “I know how girls like to talk. Are you sure we can trust you? The boys I have complete control over, but if I hear stuff is running around the rumor mill—”

“Dad!” Matt steps between me and his father. “You can trust Chira. Ben and I are with her all the time—she’s not going to blab.”

Mr. Benson steps back, scrutinizes his son, and nods. “Fine. I’ll trust her—all three of you on this. But I am dead serious. Don’t talk about it.”

With another quick eye to the three of us, he hops in his Charger and starts the engine. The shushing of leaves from the Old Schoolhouse Road makes us all jump and watch for what’s coming. Rob steps around the curve, and I rub my arms to settle the hairs that all stood on end at the sound of his approach.

He does a double take when he sees us. “What are you kids still doing here?”

Ben says, “We were just leaving.” And ushers us both toward the driveway.

On Wednesday morning, I have
not one boy waiting outside my door, but two. Matt sits on my stoop while Ben stands near the light post, with his arms folded across his chest. I huff. “So now I have a double escort? Do you boys really think this is necessary?”

Matt jumps up with a serious, sad expression. His gaze barely brushes across mine. “I guess you haven’t heard.”

My stomach does a somersault. “Heard what?”

Ben steps forward and sets a hand on the wrought iron railing and rests a foot on the first step. “Stacy is missing.”

The world spins around me like I’m on an out of control merry-go-round. My knees buckle. Matt catches me, and I blink hard, staring into Ben’s very worried eyes. I’m still light headed and hope to God that I hadn’t just fainted.

“What? How?”

Matt nods. “It’s true Chira. Stacy went out last night to take her little brother trick-or-treating. When her brother went up to a door to knock, she stayed behind on the sidewalk. When he turned back around, she was gone. The police won’t call it a missing persons, yet, but my father is about to pull his hair out. The compact we found yesterday already came back from the forensics lab with a fingerprint that is a positive match for one of the missing girls in Fairfax.”

I push away from Matt and stand again, but I grip the railing as tight as I can. “How…how on earth did we get mixed up in all of this? Stacy?”

Ben nods, his eyes pleading with mine. “It’s all true. Please don’t go anywhere alone, okay? Just stay with us.”

“But this can’t have anything to do with the ghost, right? And Donnie, Tasha, Jacob…how could they possibly have anything to do with the missing girls?” I ask. My chest is tight when I think about all the disasters that have struck us since the night we went in the Old Schoolhouse.

Ben doesn’t say anything, but he chews his bottom lip.

“I bet you have a theory, but you’re not ready to share it yet,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

He looks up at me in surprise, his eyes holding an expression I haven’t seen in any man’s eyes since my dad’s. Admiration, respect, and a little bit of something else—something that tells me I’m special. I shake my head and straighten up. “We should get going, or we’re going to be late.”

At the beginning of first
period, Mr. Scott stands at the front of our homeroom class with a somber expression. “Now class, I know that you all have heard about Stacy Brine this morning. The rumor mill is churning throughout the school, and the wake of tragedy overcoming us is extreme. But we cannot think that all of these bad things are related. Our school is not cursed. I’m certain Stacy will show up unharmed, and we’ll all be happy to welcome her back. And though we’re not sure of the details of Jacob’s accident, it was just that—an accident. Regardless, as you go throughout your day and leave for home tonight, be cautious and be safe. Understood?”

The class mumbles a collective affirmative. The mood of Jackson Hall is sober. Once Mr. Scott starts in on our geography lesson, we all settle into the forced rhythm of daily school life. Before we head out into the hall for our second period, Ben fumbles with the paper he was holding and drops it unintentionally into the trashcan. He reaches in and pulls it out, wraps a second item in it, and stuffs it into his jacket pocket, and calls to me, “Wait up.”

I frown. “Do I really need an escort between classes?”

He shakes his head, and one side of his mouth pulls down. “No. You know, all this isn’t really working out the way I’d planned. I’m sorry that you are feeling crowded. I don’t really think you need a babysitter, you know. I’m just worried.”

I frown. “Why would you be? We barely know each other.”

He shrugs. “I guess I’ve just never met anyone like you, and I don’t want you to disappear from my life too soon.”

I swallow back a lump in my throat. He’s nothing if not sincere. I sigh.

A blush barely shows under his olive skin. We stop at the door of my French class, and he rubs the back of his neck.

I shrug. “I appreciate what you—and Matt—are doing. But at least while we’re in the school building, we’re probably pretty safe, right?”

He looks up, like he’s thinking it over. After a moment, he finally says, “Right.”

“So no escort required.” I pat him on the shoulder and open the classroom door. “Have fun in gym.”

At lunch time, Matt meets
us up on the roof, and even has a third sack lunch which he hands me. When he smiles, I notice a dimple on his cheek barely peek out. “The lunch of detectives, as my dad always says.”

I force a smile, hoping that the boys won’t notice if I don’t eat much of it. I pull out two packs of toaster pastries and pass one to each boy. “I brought extras, too.”

The three of us sit on the roof, Matt against the wall with me this time, Ben across from me and leaning on the chain link fence. His gaze remains on the owl hovering in the sky.

I’m assaulted by the smell of mustard when I bring the sandwich to my lips. I nibble at the crust and try to avoid the strong yellow stuff. Matt watches me intently, so I smile and nod. “Pretty good.”

His shoulders relax and he unwraps his own sandwich. “Glad to hear it. My dad was busy this morning, so I made the sandwiches.”

Ben spits out the bite he’d just taken and stares at the sandwich in his hand.

Matt frowns. “Come on, man. That’s just rude.”

After wrapping the sandwich back up, Ben stuffs it in his bag and rinses his mouth with a sip of coffee. “How much mustard did you put on the thing?”

“I covered the bread like I’d do with mayo, I guess.” Matt shrugs and takes a huge bite of his sandwich. He winces but chews and chokes the thing down. He looks over at me with his brow wrinkled in worry. “A bit too much mustard, I guess.”

I laugh and wrap my sandwich back up. “It was sweet of you to try.”

He blushes and wraps his sandwich up, too. He snags a bite of chocolate toaster pastry. “Good thing you brought these so we don’t starve.”

I laugh and bite my own pastry. “I saw your dad earlier, talking to the guidance counselor. What was that about?”

Matt nods and shoves half a pastry in his mouth. “He was here interviewing a few of Stacy’s closest friends to find out if they’d heard from her or might know where she’d be. The sheriff wanted the guidance counselor to be present during the sessions.”

“That makes sense.”

Ben stands, having finished his pastries, and stuffs the wad of silver wrapper into his pocket. He whistles, and Steven descends on cue, landing just in front of his owner. Ben wipes the bologna from his sandwich with a napkin and feeds the bit of meat to the bird.

Matt laughs and stands. “At least someone is enjoying the lunch I packed.”

I stand and dust myself off, too. A green Buick pulls out of the teacher’s lot and heads for Washington Street. It’s a strange sight to see any vehicles leaving that lot at this time of day. I lean toward the fence.

Matt steps up next to me and peers over my shoulder. “I think that’s Mr. Scott’s car. He said he wasn’t feeling well last period.”

I look up at Matt and take a half step sideways. Our faces were too close. I clear my throat. “You had him last period?”

Matt nods, seeming not to notice my slide to the right. “Yeah, for Political Science. He was all sweaty and looked like he was getting a fever. I bet they called in a sub for him the rest of the day.”

The car disappears behind the copse of trees. Ben stands to my right now, watching the road. His face softens, and he looks more relaxed than he’s been this entire lunch break. I study his dark features, and wonder if he might be part gypsy. Since his mother roved with a band of them, could one of them have been his father? Gypsies and monks? What a strange childhood he must have had.

He turns toward me, and his eyes study mine. My mouth suddenly feels dry, and I run my tongue across my lips. His eyes drop down to my mouth. My heart leaps to my throat, and I swallow it back down.

Matt pushes off the fence, causing the chain link to rattle. “So, I’m still hungry. How about you two?”

I shake myself from the spell I was under a moment before and step back. “Uh, yeah. Actually I am still hungry.”

“Tell you what–since I ruined the sandwiches, we can get whatever you want downstairs in the cafeteria. My treat.” Matt smiles and throws an arm around my shoulder. He shoots a satisfied gaze at Ben and says, “You, too, Cousin.”

I laugh and shrug off his arm. With an eye roll, I ask, “And what if I could eat a whole pizza? You still going to pay?”

He nods, but his eyes take on a worried expression while he studies me. “Could you?”

Ben steps forward, opens the stairwell door for us, and puts on a sly grin. “I don’t know about her, but I could.”

My laughter echoes down the stairwell.

After gym class, I shoulder
my messenger bag and wipe the sweat from my brow. It was a good, hard work out today. Just what I needed to get my mind focused enough to study for my biology test tomorrow. When I step into the hall and find Ben leaning straight across from the doorway, my heart flutters. Where did that come from? I shake it off.

Matt sidles toward me from the side of the door and puts an arm around my shoulder again. “So, where to today, Chica?

I glare at him and shrug off his arm. “Actually, I’ve fallen behind in my school work this week and really need to catch up on my reading. It’s off to the library for me. You boys staying?”

Matt groans, and his shoulders slump. “The library? For real? Can’t you come over to my house and study, so I can at least play some games while you bore me to death?”

Ben steps forward. “I’ve got to study, too. So I don’t mind the library. Why don’t you go home, Cousin. I think I can handle this.”

Matt glares at Ben for a moment, and they stand in each other’s faces. Ben straightens to his full height, about five inches over his cousin’s head. Matt pushes his cousin back with a smirk. Ben falters a step from the surprise attack, and then he drops his back pack to the floor, his hands fisted.

“Stop,” I yell, and jump between them. My back is to Matt, and both my hands are on Ben’s chest

Ben is taller, but he’s also slim where Matt is dense muscle. I wonder how often the rivalry between them crosses into physical territory.

Matt huffs over my shoulder. “I’m coming. I’ve got my phone. I’ll find a game to play or something.”

I roll my eyes, but my breath is caught in my throat. I can feel the thunderous pounding of Ben’s heart beneath my palms. My hands slide down Ben’s chest before my fingertips leave his pressed cotton shirt. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. I lift my gaze to his and am startled by the desire I find there. I snatch my hands back and spin around. I can’t catch my breath again until I’m a few steps away.

What’s going on here? Yes, Ben is hot, and he seems to want a relationship with me. But do I want one with him? I’d already resigned myself to making it through high school alone. Ben is complicating things in a way I’m not sure I’m ready for or even want. I trudge down the hallway ahead of them. Besides, this is all going too fast, and I don’t believe in love at first sight.

The school library always has a few stragglers like me in it, studying or getting info. We’ve got nearly three hours before they close at five. Plenty of time to catch up on the three chapters I need to review. We choose a large table near the middle of the room. I settle my books on one corner, Ben sits across from me, and Matt sits on my left side. But I’ve set my messenger bag on the empty chair between us, so I’ve got lots of elbow room.

At first, I’m nervous, because I’m wondering if Ben’s going to want to study with me. But as he settles into his chair and breaks out a pen and notebook, I realize that my fears were unfounded. He’s a loner, like me. He’s used to studying alone and doing things by himself.

We settle into the kind of comfortable silence that I’ve only ever found with a few people. He was right when he’d said he’d found his way into my inner circle. If I’d been alone since Tasha had her accident, honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without him.