The Legend of the Light Keeper (The Light Keeper Series Book 1) (14 page)

THE NEXT
THING I HEARD
was the familiar sound of a four-wheeler. I opened my eyes a sliver to see dirt and sweat and closed them quickly. I was face-down on Bragg Road. A familiar voice screamed out “Lily!”, and then the motor stopped and Owen was at my side, rolling me over. My eyes barely opened as I instinctively protected them from the dirt crusting on my face.

Owen had his cell phone, poking at the screen. He must have misdialed, because he started poking at it again, frustrated. “I found her!” he said. His voice was full of panic. “She’s on the road close to the shack! She passed out, bring water!” Owen ran to his four-wheeler and brought back a bottle. “Here, drink this, just wet your mouth,” he said. Then he slipped off his shirt and wet it. “Here.” He wiped my eyes and nose. “It’s okay, Lily. You’re gonna be okay.” He shook his head. “What were you thinking coming out here on foot in this heat?” He held my head in his lap and pulled my hair out of my face while we waited for the others.

“Here, drink some more,” he said, holding the bottle to my lips. “You had me so worried. What would I do if something happened to you, huh?” He fanned my face, and we could hear the others coming up the road.

I turned my head as Talon threw down his bike and ran to my side. “Don’t touch her!” Owen snapped, and for once I agreed with him. I didn’t want Talon to touch me either.

“Let’s get her home,” Hunter said. “Owen, put her on front with you, she won’t be able to ride on his bike.”

Owen scooped me up and did as Hunter said. He held me up the entire ride home.

* * *

Talon was silent as he set the water in the shower to just the right temperature and put a towel on the rack. I sat on the floor where Owen had left me, filthy and caked with dirt. He stood at the door to make sure Talon stayed in check. Talon pulled off my shoes and then shut the door behind them.

I undressed and crawled into the shower. My tired muscles were aching and the stinky water felt good on my shoulders. I let it wash over my back a long time, and tried not to think at all, but that wasn’t easy. The boys were waiting to hear my explanation, and I wanted to tell them about Mr. Hill. I had it figured out and I knew what I needed to do.

I made sure I got all the dirt out of my eyes and ears and hair. I must have been in a while, because Owen came to the door. “Lily? Are you okay in there?” he called.

“Yes,” I answered, cutting the water off. “I’ll be right out.” I dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel and then went to my room for fresh clothes before joining them in the living room.

They all sat on the sofa. Talon was kicked back in the recliner. I took a seat between my cousins, where I thought it was safest. Talon wouldn’t look at me, his expression hard.

“How do you feel?” Hunter asked. “You over that death wish now?” I would have thought he was joking, but it wasn’t in his tone this time, and he didn’t laugh at himself.

Talon jumped up, snapping the recliner shut. “What the hell were you thinking?” He glowered down at me. “That was really stupid! Stupid, Lily! You don’t just take off like that! You could’ve died from the heat! Don’t you have any sense at all? Are you just trying to get us both in trouble?”

Owen jumped in. “Take it easy!” He sat up in his seat and got between us.

“Butt out!” Talon warned. “I thought you just went outside to blow off steam, and then when I go to find you, you’re gone! I went next door looking for you. Are you crazy?”

“No, apparently I’m crazy, senseless
and
stupid.” I sneered, not caring that he had in fact come out to find me. His temper was that of Tom’s; like father, like son.

“Stop being an ass, Thomas!” Owen said. “She’s been through enough without your insults, don’t you think?” Owen put his arm around me. “Lily, why did you go off alone? I would have taken you.” His eyes softened. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I was lying; my heart was broken. “I’m just tired from running and getting too hot.”

“Running? Gosh, Lily,” Hunter said. He’d been quiet but just as concerned. Talon rolled his eyes and Owen’s widened. It was time to explain.

“Yes, I was running from Mr. Hill.”

“Dang, Lily. You can walk faster than his mower.” Hunter chuckled, not quite breaking the tension in the room.

“He wasn’t on his mower,” I said, pausing for a deep breath before continuing. “He was on the trail out behind the shack. He grabbed me.” I tried to finish but they interrupted.

“He grabbed you?” Talon’s anger worsened.

“What? Did he hurt you?” Owen looked me over.

“I say we go kick his—”

“Easy! Look, I’m fine. Calm down.” I shook my head. “We’ll go over there, just not right now. We have to wait till he’s gone. Then we’re going to search his house and see what we can find out about him. I know who he is. He’s Rex Mitchell! He’s the one who killed Alyssa.”

“Did you hit your head, Lily?” Talon was serious. “That diary is from 1912! He’d have to be a hundred plus.” He sighed, clearly thinking that his earlier assumptions of my sanity and IQ were true.

“He called me Alyssa! He recognized the ring, which must have been hers. He knew her.” I turned to Owen as I continued. “Alyssa caught Rex once beside the road and he was digging. She thought that it was strange and it scared her.”

“
I
believe you, Lily. Now calm down,” Owen said.

“I
believe
her!” Talon snapped at Owen’s insinuation. “It just doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he’s a descendant? It’s possible.”

“Yeah, anything’s possible, right?” I mumbled. “What if he was burying someone else that day; if he’d killed others? Is he a supernatural serial killer? People in town were talking and even Michael knew something was bad about him. He said he had proof.” I sighed. Would we ever get the answers? None of this was creepier than the fact that Alyssa was certain that Rex was not who he appeared to be. What did that make Mr. Hill? Did he hold some secret power? How was he was so old and still so fast and strong?

“Well, I’ll gladly go dig around in his house.” Hunter said. “Granny might even approve if I could find one of our shovels.”

Owen squeezed my hand. “Promise me right now, all of us, that you’ll never go off like that again. If this old man is some sort of supernatural serial killer, it’s not safe to be alone.” Owen waited for my answer.

“I promise.”

He searched my eyes. “I still don’t understand
why
you went off like that.”

“I was mad at Talon. I wanted to be alone, I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing.”

“What were you fighting about?” Owen narrowed his eyes to Talon. “What did you do?”

“I was going to explain things, but you ran off so quickly,” Talon snapped, ignoring Owen completely.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m over it.” I lifted a shoulder and looked away. “I have more important things to worry about. I have to go to the Light.”

It took a minute to sink in. “What do you mean?” Owen asked. “Sounds like you’re gonna die or something?”

“I mean I am going to find the Light to
deliberately
have a vision.”

“Absolutely not! No way!” Talon shook his head. “Lily, I won’t allow it. You lose time when you have those visions. Something bad could happen. No. End of story.”

“Just who the hell do you think you are?” He regarded me like he was about to answer that, but I continued. “You can’t stop me. I’ll go alone.”

“Oh no,
I’ll
help you,” Owen said. “She really will go alone. I believe her after today’s stunt.” He glowered at me.

“I’m in, too,” Hunter said. “Why not?”

Talon threw up his hands in defeat. “Count me in.”

I smiled. “Good. I really do need
all
of you. I have a plan.”

“A plan?” Hunter asked. “This ought to be good.”

“I do. To start, I need
you
to drive, Hunter. I also need you to work the recorder. Hopefully we can pick something up.” Hunter nodded.

“Owen, I need you to be the timekeeper. Watch the Light and keep your eye on the clock to see if there’s a time loss. Then figure how much time we lose if we make the jump and record the exact moment we jump.” Owen nodded.

“Talon, I need you to watch me.” His hard eyes avoided mine. “I need you to see if there’s anything happening with me, any changes or reactions that we can document. We need to keep track of everything from now on. Will you?” Finally catching his gaze, I pleaded with him.

“Yes.” He looked away.

“So, when do we do this?” Hunter asked. “I’ll need to borrow the car. I’m sure it’s not a problem, but I gotta ask permission.”

“Tonight. If we could get a video camera, that would be awesome. Do you have one?”

Hunter nodded. “I have to see if the battery is any good, it may not charge. I’ve got my phone though. It would do in a pinch, maybe.”

“When are we going to Mr. Hill’s house?” Owen asked.

“We need to find out when he’s not home. He has to have some sort of pattern,” Hunter said.

“I know his pattern,” Talon said. “He leaves just before noon every day and he isn’t back until well after one.”

“And you are sure of this how?” Owen huffed. “I mean, we need to be certain.”

“I agree. I don’t want anyone getting hurt,” I said.

The boys laughed. “Lily, I think any one of us can handle Mr. Hill!” Owen said. “He’s old.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. He’s also super strong.” I pointed to my wrist where the bruising proved it.

“Lily. He
did
hurt you.” Owen glared, and rubbed his cool fingertips along my wrist.

“I’m fine. He’ll get his,” I vowed.

“We missed our window today. So tonight we go find the Light, and tomorrow we concentrate on Mr. Hill,” Owen said. “All in?” We all agreed as I rubbed my bruised wrist.

GRANNY CALLED
THE BOYS HOME
and I went about my chores. Talon retreated to his room while I scrubbed and vacuumed. When I finished up in our bathroom I could hear him talking on the phone on the other side of the wall. I wasn’t trying to listen, but he was laughing; it was kind of hard to miss. He sounded so chipper which really made me mad.

I picked up his shoes and took them to his room. I entered without knocking and threw them into his closet. He kept right on chatting, so I stopped and gave him a glare.

“Let me call you back. Yeah, bye.” Tossing his phone aside, he glared at me. “What?” He shrugged.

“What? That’s all you have to say?” My eyes narrowed in anger and pain.

“You’re the one who ran off this morning. You could’ve waited for me to explain instead of running off like that and nearly getting yourself killed! You know, you aren’t the only one starting over. Dad and I have our own issues.”

“So, you’re just going to side with him then, since you think he’s right.” I sneered. “You know, you’re the one who made the first move. You! Not me! I thought you felt something for me!”

“I did!” he said. I flinched at the past tense.

“Did? That’s really nice to know.” I turned to leave.

“Do! I do, Lily!” The anger had finally left his voice. His eyes told me the truth of his feelings once again.

“Then why are you doing this? You should’ve fought for us.” I sat next to him and took his hand.

“Lily, There’s something you don’t know about me. Like I said, you aren’t the only one starting over.” He took a deep breath and pinched his brow. I waited for him to explain.

“I messed up really bad a week after my sixteenth birthday last year. I borrowed Dad’s car to take Angie out on a date. We were just supposed to go to dinner and a movie, but we ended up at a friend’s party instead. His parents were out of town. I drank quite a bit and we were running late—well past curfew actually. I wrecked the car on the way home.”

His face hardened again. “It was bad, Lily. Dad’s car was totaled. Angie wasn’t wearing her seatbelt. She was thrown into the windshield, broke her arm, and her face was mangled, leaving some really gnarly scars. I got off easy with a couple of small cuts on my face.” He showed me a few scars at his hairline that I’d seen, but only because I was really looking.

“Angie is really self-conscious of hers.” Anguish plagued his expression. “She’s had several surgeries to make them better, but they’re still bad.”

“That’s awful,” I said.

“Yeah, but it isn’t everything, Lily. There’s more.” He swallowed and clenched his hands into fists. “The man I hit, I killed him. I’ve
killed
someone! I got eight months of probation and my license taken away. I almost had to go to trial, but the DA didn’t pursue charges since the man I killed was intoxicated too
and
was a repeat DUI offender. They acted as if I did the world a favor, but
I
have to live with it. He was somebody. Even if he didn’t have any family, even if people hated him, he was better off before I killed him.”

“You didn’t mean to. Everyone makes mistakes.” I leaned into him, but he pulled back.

“You think your mom was that understanding about your dad’s killer? He was a screw up, just like me.”

“You’re not a screw up! You can’t punish yourself forever.” I felt bad for him. “Angie still wants to be with you?”

“Angie is a mess. She told her mom everything about us, about that night, private details, if you know what I mean. Her mom confronted me and threatened to sue us over the accident, really made a bad situation worse. I tried to be Angie’s friend, to be there for her, but she gets obsessive and she’s insecure. Her mom hates me, but Angie thinks I’m the only one who can love her with her scars. When I broke it off, she got even worse with the calls and texts and now the e-mails. I try to be nice and tolerable. I don’t want to hurt her. Not anymore than I already have. I’ve ruined her life.”

“You can’t help how you feel.”

“I know, but can’t you see why Dad is so concerned? I’ve changed and learned my lesson, but he still sees me as a screw up, especially when I could screw up what he has with Cate.”

“You can’t be punished forever, Talon.”

“Tell my dad. I’ve had my license back for a month now, but he still won’t let me drive anything besides my bike. I only got that back when we moved out here. I was shocked that he let me take you out riding and even vouched for me. He’s trying, I guess.” I remembered me begging to go riding that first day.

“Mom’s never mentioned it.”

“I don’t know what all she knows. I know she knows some, but Dad made me swear I wouldn’t talk about it with either of you. He probably didn’t want to scare you away, especially if he knew about your dad. I wasn’t supposed to tell you anything and maybe I shouldn’t have, but I wanted you to know. I do care about you. I want to be with you, but I can’t disappoint my dad right now. If I screw things up, he’ll never forgive me, for anything. Besides, what if it didn’t work out between us?”

“Don’t you have any faith in us at all?” I grabbed his hand and held it firm. He wasn’t pulling away this time.

“I haven’t scared you away?” he asked.

I sighed. “I see ghosts, Talon. Have I scared
you
away?”

“Oh, right.” He smiled and contemplated that for a moment. “I don’t know what to do, Lily. Don’t be mad, and don’t run off alone. Ever! I don’t need another death on my hands. I’d die if something happened to you.” He held my face and caressed my cheek with his thumb. I could see the pain in his expression. “I’m sorry I called you stupid.”

“And crazy, and—”

“Yeah, all that. I’m sorry. You deserve better.”

“Would you be mad if I said I don’t care what your dad thinks? That I’m going to keep things the way they were yesterday? I can’t change my feelings. It’s especially harder now that I’ve acted on them.” I leaned in to kiss him, but he turned away.

“I don’t expect you to change your feelings, but understand why it isn’t so easy for me to act on mine.” He shrugged, and then his lips curled up at the edges as he smiled. “But then again, maybe it is.” He turned back and pressed his lips softly against mine.

* * *

It took some convincing for Tom to let us go camping this time, but it wasn’t so bad since it was my mom that did the convincing, whispering something in his ear. I didn’t even want to know what it was, considering the look on his face. Talon seemed to be embarrassed, too, wondering what made his dad so quick to change his mind, but soon enough we had our way and were packing for the night.

I put an extra set of clothes in my bag since the area was still a little wet from the recent rain. I packed lighter than before and Talon carried everything out to Owen’s four-wheeler where it would ride.

We reached the shack before dark and Hunter set up the little grill. We ate our hot dogs and this time Granny sent along cookies for dessert and breakfast.

“Did you bring the recorder?” I asked Hunter.

“Yep, the video camera is officially broken, though,” he said, taking out the voice recorder. “It was way outdated so my phone will have to do.” He shrugged.

“Can you find the EVP? I’d like to hear it again,” I said. He took the recorder and found the file.

I listened to the faint cry and broken word. It was hard to hear with Owen yapping. I shushed him and played it again. He leaned in to hear it too. Nothing. This time I closed my eyes, hoping it would sharpen my sense of hearing. It helped, so I replayed it one more time. Then goose bumps crawled down my arms. “Oh my God!” I played it again. “Michael.” I gasped. “I think it’s Alyssa! She’s crying and calling for Michael!” I replayed again, just to hear her voice. My visions were practically silent pictures, but this was what her voice was like. It amazed me.

Owen asked. “Are you sure? Michael?”

Talon nodded. “I can hear it. It’s really clear now that I know what she‘s saying, and her voice doesn’t cut off; it fades into the crying. Listen.” Talon cued me to replay it.

“Eerie!” Owen shook his head. “That’s amazing.”

“Hey, did you get the watch?” I asked Owen, who was still mesmerized.

“Uh, yeah, I hope this works; I hope I can catch the jump,” he said. “I’m scared I’ll be distracted by the Light.”

“Just do your part,” I assured. “You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, keep your eyes on the clock, I’ll watch out for Lily,” said Talon. He held my hand and stroked my thumb.

“What if something happens? What if you don’t snap out of it?” Owen’s face was grim.

“Don’t even say that. Everything is going to be fine,” I said. “That’s why we worked out a plan. As long as we all stick to the plan, everything will be okay.” I was trying to sound calm, but I was nervous inside. None of us really knew what we were facing. The time loss itself was stealing our lives, or at least a part of them.

Talon glared at Owen. “You’ll do fine, Lily. I’ll be right there with you. I’ll watch you the whole time and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He kissed my forehead, in his special place above my right eye, and gripped my hand tight.

It was finally time for Hunter to go get the car. By the time he came back, it was nearly nine and dark enough to head out. Owen sat in the back seat and then leaned up behind me to keep time. Talon and I sat up front with Hunter who had his recorder in his lap, ready for when the Light came. His phone was acting up, so we didn’t want to depend on it.

Talon held my hand and we both stared intently for any sign of the Light. The road was darker that night. The moon was nowhere to be seen through the canopy of trees above us.

I was almost in a daze from staring so hard. It was difficult to keep my eyes focused. Talon rubbed his eyes a few times, letting me know he was having the same problem. None of us spoke as we crept down the road.

Finally it happened. I wasn’t sure if it was my eyes playing tricks on me or not, until Talon spoke and confirmed it.

“There she is,” he whispered. “Watch the clock.” He nudged Owen, and then he turned to watch me.

The Light was small and far away. It took its time to get to us, like it was timid, knowing we were up to something. Finally it brightened and came toward us. Hunter picked up his recorder and set it on the dash. Talon was watching me, seeing my expressions as it came closer, and noting the minute that my eyes focused in on the Light.

It surrounded us, and I fought hard not to squint. Then once again, there she was. Her gaze met mine, staring deeply. I watched her eyes till they became mine.

This time I wasn’t on the porch. I was standing in the clearing and the grave was covered completely, nothing but a patch of fresh turned soil to mark the spot.

I looked to my hands—yes mine. This was strange. I expected to see Alyssa’s pale hands, but I was here and I wasn’t her. She was in the grave.

I couldn’t stand there any longer. I ran to the post office, our little shack, and found a shovel waiting on the porch. Hanging from a nail in the handle was my ring—Alyssa’s ring, my mind registered. The very ring I had found in the planks.

I was shocked to find that it was still on my finger and before I could process my thoughts, I watched as a handsome young man walked up the steps. He seemed familiar. He was, I had dreamt of him before. I remembered his friendly smile and handsome blue eyes.

He didn’t see me at all. He didn’t even notice the shovel at first. He stood on the top step and glanced around, as if he was waiting for someone. He was. He was waiting for Alyssa, and she would never come.

He finally made his way onto the porch and saw the dirt caked shovel and I watched in horror as the reality of what it all meant hit his face. He punched out at the shovel and it fell to the ground as he ran away, the ring landing in the plank where I’d found it. And then I saw what he had seen, the blood on the shovel handle, the blood that had poured from Alyssa’s throat, soaking the wood. As soon as I ran down the steps to go after him, a flash of Light took everything away.

As I came to I heard Talon screaming my name. “Lily! Lily!” He was frantic, his voice shaking.

I tried to focus, but my eyes were blurry. I closed them and blinked a few times, still seeing spots from the Light.

“Say something, Lily!” Talon begged. He held my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine.

“I’m okay,” I said. I was still trying to calm myself, but I understood what I saw.
Poor
Michael
! I began to cry. I leaned into Talon’s arms, and he held me tight, resting his cheek on my head.

“Let’s get her back to camp,” Talon said. Hunter turned the car around and sped toward the little shack.

“Did you get the time, Owen?” Hunter asked.

“Yes, we jumped from 9:32 to 10:46. The Light first appeared a minute and a half before the jump.” Owen had everything written down.

“We lost an hour and fourteen minutes!” Hunter gasped. “Holy—”

“It seemed like a few minutes, tops,” Talon said.

I listened as they went on trying to piece it all together.

“You scared me to death, Lily! Your eyes, they did the strangest thing,” said Talon. I waited for him to finish, but we came to a stop and he opened the car door. “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded and he helped me out, taking me to his side.

Owen jumped out as soon as we stopped and disappeared behind the shack. The boys usually did this when they needed a bathroom, and so I didn’t remark about it.

“Man, check this out! It happened again!” Hunter pointed to the hood where the dark mark streaked its entire length.

“Wow! This happened before?” Talon asked, since he‘d been gone the last time it marked the car. Hunter nodded.

“Guess I gotta wash the dang thing before Granny sees it.” He shook his head. “I’ll catch you guys in a while. I’m gonna take the car back and get it clean before Granny worries herself to death.”

Talon and I sat down on the dusty porch steps and waited for Hunter, while Owen roamed around in the shadows. I was still trying to catch my breath and calm down. I only hoped we’d gotten some good evidence and possibly a few answers. I was getting a terrible headache again. Talon led me inside to get some of the pills I’d brought along from my bag. I’d been having the headaches so often lately that I packed them just in case. I was just swallowing a second sip of water to wash them down when Owen ran to the door.