Beautifully Unnatural: A Young Adult Paranormal Boxed Set (44 page)

He concentrated on the road with a grave look and didn’t so much as glance my way. Maybe I’d pissed him off. But, what had I done? Then, it occurred to me that I hadn’t exactly followed directions back at the station.

“Are you mad at me?” I blurted. “I know I wasn’t supposed to say my name back there in the interrogation room—”

“What?” His face changed then and he gave me a quick glance. “No, it’s not you. It’s just—this is probably a wild goose chase.”

I crossed my arms, while we passed a familiar building. “If you think it’s a wild goose chase, why are you bothering?”

“Nothing else to go on.”

At least he was honest, I supposed. But, his doubt put extra pressure on me. Like I needed to prove myself. It didn’t help my killer headache one bit. “Do you have any aspirin?”

“I might.” With only his left hand on the wheel, he reached across the dash, popped open the glove compartment and fished through a mess of papers. Eventually, he pulled out a small bottle, held it a few inches above my open palm, and then dropped it.

I caught it easily but couldn’t help feeling like he’d purposely avoided skin contact. Was he afraid to touch me? Huh. He wouldn’t worry about our hands touching if he truly thought I was a scam. The thought appeased me somewhat as I dry-swallowed two small white tablets.

In the distance, I spotted an orange sign and I jumped in my seat. I’d seen that when I touched the creep’s hand. It was a ways off the highway and we were about to pass the exit. “Turn!”

“Here?” He jammed the wheel to the right and we cut off a blue SUV. The driver blared his horn and extended his middle finger. The detective’s hands gripped the wheel. “A little more notice would be nice next time.”

“Go right!” His criticism annoyed me even though I’d once again made us swerve last minute. Thankfully, no cars were coming this time.

My heart thudded in my chest. We were close. I could feel it. I craned my neck in every direction as we slowed and drove several miles down a paved street.

“There.” I pointed to a dead pine tree that had cracked near the bottom and was now lying on its side. “Stop the car.”

“Okay.” He killed the engine and turned to me, his green eyes questioning.

I covered my mouth with my hand barely able to believe my brain power had led us here. But it had. “This is where he left her.”

“You’re sure?”

All I could do was nod.

He pulled the door handle. “Then, let’s go check it out.”

My hands trembled as I reached to open my door. Sure, we were here, but the real test would be to see if my peek-a-boo brain had worked in time. Or, if it was too late.

****

I pulled the door handle, pushed out into the cool afternoon breeze, and promptly choked on dusty air. The detective said something, but I barely heard him as I studied the surroundings. Spots of trees and brush. Dry and desolate. The little girl was out here. Scared. Or dead.

I didn’t even know her name. They said the less I knew the better, but a name didn’t seem like too much to ask. “Detective? What’s the girl’s—”

“I’ve called for back-up.” He flipped his cell phone shut. “I swear if you’re playing me . . . ”

“I’m not!”

He nodded, then pursed his lips as if he were deciding something. “Get back in the car. You’re staying here with the doors locked after you tell me which direction to search.”

I spotted a huge boulder shaped like a deformed kidney bean. I ran toward the rock, then hurried down the steep embankment behind it, sliding on my heel till I hit the bottom.

“Wait!” The detective shouted and then followed me down the brown, rocky slope, landing at the bottom beside me with a loud thump. “I told you to wait in the car. Back up—”

“We can’t wait for back up. She needs us. Now!”

He clenched his jaw and lowered his chin. “You stay by my side and don’t run off like that again.”

He withdrew a shiny gun from his right holster, holding it low in front of him.

Holy smokes! My heart stopped at the sight of a real, live, gun. This wasn’t a Hollywood action film with an actor waving a rubber gun at every joker who crossed his path. This was real. Someone could get shot.

Someone like me.

I swallowed hard. Geez, were bullets really going to fly? What if the detective got hit? I didn’t want to go down without a fight. “Shouldn’t I have a gun, too?”

He turned around, his dark brows crinkled and raised like I was crazy. “Just stay behind me.”

For once in my life, I didn’t argue. Following close behind, I peered past the detective and studied the area. Totally familiar. I recalled the images to my mind. Goosebumps popped up my arms and neck at the clear photographic images that appeared as if I’d witnessed them firsthand. I pivoted on my toes, searching for the area in my mind.

I froze.

Off to my left lay a cluster of gray boulders sprinkled with dead pine needles. That was where he’d dumped her. My arms prickled. Without thinking, I grabbed the detective’s arm.

He jumped back, shrugging me off.

I held my palms up, figuring he mistook me for a baddie. Then I realized by his anxious eyes that it was my touch that had spooked him. I gave him a dirty look. “I can’t read your mind through your elbow, brainiac.”

“That’s right—you said that. Sorry.” His eyes left mine and surveyed the surroundings. “Recognize anything?”

“Over there.” I pointed and held my breath as he started forward. With each step, I prayed the little girl’s eyes would be open, fluttering like they had been when the bald guy and his long haired accomplice had left her here.

We reached the rocks, climbed up and over, and I held my breath. On the other side lay a hot pink jacket with blonde curls tumbling around it.

“What the—no way!” He scrambled down. “I-I can’t believe it. You found her. She’s really here.”

All I could do was stare at the lifeless body that lay on the ground ahead of us. Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t see her chest that well through the puffy, pink jacket, but it didn’t look like she was breathing. What if she’d died while waiting for us to come save her?

My legs went numb and I tripped over a rock as I hurried over to her.

The detective reached her first. He lifted her small wrist, which was bound to the other by silver duct tape.

I dropped to my knees, horrified at what I was seeing. She lay on the dirt. As still as a mannequin. Her left cheek bruised and swollen as if someone had punched her.

My body began to shake.

Sure, we had CNN. Bad things happen all the time. But, it was much worse seeing it in person. I couldn’t change the channel and push the horror out of my mind.

The detective’s hands were steady as he pulled out a utility knife, cut the tape away, and put a finger to her wrist.

I watched in terror, waiting to hear what I’d already guessed. That we’d taken too long. That if we’d only arrived five minutes earlier. . .

“There’s a pulse.” He pushed me aside and began cutting the tape around her ankles. “She’s alive.”

A sob escaped my mouth, followed by another and another. My shoulders racked and I couldn’t stop. Pain ripped through me as if my mom had just died. But this girl had made it. She was hanging on still.

“It’ll be okay, Kylie.” He pulled a radio from his belt and barked orders for an ambulance. Then, he put a hand on my shoulder. “They’ll be here soon. It’s all right.”

Embarrassed for crumpling in the middle of a crisis, I fought to get a hold of myself. I practiced my deep breathing like my dad had taught me. My chest convulsed several times, before I got a grip. Suddenly, it was deathly quiet.

Sam stood and stared in the direction we’d come from. His fists clenched. “Back-up should arrive any minute,” he muttered as if to reassure himself.

Not knowing what to do to help the little girl, I studied her fragile body next to me, trying to see what injuries she might have. What they’d done to her.

She was completely dressed, thank goodness. At least they didn’t seem to have hurt her in
that
way. White sandals covered her feet, and her legs didn’t appear bent or broken beneath her denim skirt. A white blouse poked out of the bottom of her jacket and blew upward in the cool breeze, revealing pale skin and a small pink birthmark shaped like a . . . I gasped.

It couldn’t be.

With a shaky hand, I reached down and touched the pink mark. Its loopy shape wove into a figure eight, and it felt slightly raised—just like mine.

No way.

Totally impossible.

Though I knew what I’d find, I lifted my shirt to stare at my own birthmark. Chills vibrated through me. An exact duplicate. It’s not possible to have two identical birthmarks, in the same place, on two different people. Rationally, I knew this. But the truth lay in front of me and I couldn’t deny it.

My shoulders jerked and my arms began twitching. Mind reading? Identical marks? What was going on?

I shook my head, clearing the thoughts away. There’s just no way this could be happening. I pulled down the little girl’s shirt to cover her belly, hiding the discovery at the same time.

The beautiful child continued to lay still. The detective had found a pulse but she looked deathly pale.

The crunching of pine needles alerted me. Ripples of fear ran down my spine as I whipped my head around.

It was the detective standing there, cheeks flushed, breathing hard. “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

I frowned at him, suddenly angry. “Why didn’t you bring back-up in the first place?”

His brows furrowed deeply and I could tell he was just as worried about her as I was. “What could I have said to get them to come? That I have a teenager with me who can
read minds?
”

He had a point, but her life was on the line here and he was supposed to be a trained detective. “You should’ve thought of something.”

“When? Your dad only called Collins this morning. Said you had to help us find this girl because . . .”

My heart raced. “Because what?”

“Just because,” he said, clearly holding something back. He turned away from me and surveyed the area. Tall trees, rocks, and beds of pine needles scattered around us. A bird squawked in the distance. Then all was silent. “Look, Collins knows your dad and talked me into trying this. But, I honestly didn’t believe you could actually . . . read minds or whatever you did. I’m not a big believer in the paranormal.”

We stared at each other as sirens invaded the silence of the forest. “How’re you going to explain me now?”

“I won’t. You have to stay out of it. We promised your dad.” He shook his head and then pulled at his short spiky hair. “Let’s see. We’ll say you were on a ride along for a school project. That you’re a friend of Trip’s.”

“Trip?” I blinked. A flash of the dark-haired, shirtless guy slamming his fist on the car window popped into my head. Like anyone would buy the two of
us
hanging out. Trip was all rugged and hot-tempered, whereas I’m calm and rational. At least I am on the outside.

“Yeah.” He started pacing as the sirens got louder. “I’ll say we were on the ride along when I got an anonymous call. It didn’t seem likely to pan out, so I didn’t see the harm in bringing you along. Then I followed the directions the caller gave me and I found her.”

Weird how he could completely erase me from all I’d done today. Touching that sickly skin. Evil coursing through my body. “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.”

Images flashed in my head of the longhaired guy who’d been with the bald man. What if he was still lurking around here? My eyes darted to the little girl protectively. She looked okay, the same. Then I noticed.

An eerie feeling wrapped around my neck and shoulders as my gaze flicked from her oval eyes to the button nose, sprinkled with light freckles. Her hair was blonde curls instead of my flat mousy brown, but otherwise . . . she was me. Eight years younger. I shivered, goose bumps popping all over my arms. How could this be?

Voices filled the air now, and I peered above the rock formation to see several men dressed in navy blue sliding down the embankment. Sam gestured for them to come over quickly.

I moved closer to the little girl. “Help is here,” I leaned close to her ear. “They’ll take care of you and you’ll be home in no time.”

Wherever her home was. I stood up and backed away as the paramedics swarmed around her. They talked quickly amongst each other and a minute later lifted her onto a stretcher and whisked her away.

Just like that, she was gone.

Several uniformed cops appeared above the embankment. Sam started toward them and then turned back to me.

I hadn’t budged, couldn’t stop staring at the spot where the little girl had been a minute earlier. The silver tape lay in the dirt.

“We can go. They’ll process the scene.” He pointed to the police officers that were sliding down toward us. “You did good. It’s over now.”

I nodded numbly, unable to move. We’d found her and I was thankful, but this wasn’t close to being over.

My dad had asked me to find this little girl. To trust him. Well, I’d done what he’d asked and saw for myself who she looked like. Me.

Coincidence? Not possible. My spine tingled and flushed all the way up my neck. After the police dropped me off at home, I’d make my dad tell me what was going on. I just hoped I could handle whatever it was.

****

After a long drive back to Sacramento, Detective Williams took me home. I shut the front door behind me and slid the deadbolt into place. Rarely did I lock the door, but that was all changing after today. “Dad? You home?”

“Kylie?” He appeared in the kitchen archway, then flew across the living room and pulled me into his arms. “I’ve been waiting to hear from you! You were at the station so long. I thought you’d at least call.”

I’d wanted to drill him for answers, but now felt bad that he’d so obviously worried about me all day. “I’m fine, Dad.”

If you considered freaked out and exhausted, fine.

“Of course you are.” He bent my bangs back on top of my head and stared at me like he’d done when I was little. “I knew you’d be safe with Officer Collins looking out for you.”