The Travelers: Book Two (5 page)

His phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Gemma. Carson’s back, but he’s beat to hell. Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine. We’ll be back in five.”

Gemma hung up the call and went back to tending her boyfriend.

“I told you this was dangerous,” she said, washing his wounds. He refused to let her use her powers knowing how taxing it was.

“But someone has to do it, Gem. They could have killed Albert tonight. That could have been any of us.” He sucked in a breath as the warm washcloth brushed over his raw nerve endings.

“You have to let me heal this or you’re going to need stitches,” she said, motioning to the large gash from his waist to his knee.

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself in the process,” he said, his eyes shining with so much love and devotion it made her heart ache.

“I won’t overdo it. Besides, I could always just wait until you’re asleep.”

“You better not!”

“I just want you in peak physical condition,” she said, resting her hands over his wound.

“Oh, and why’s that? You don’t want me fighting monsters,” he said.

“Well, there are things you do — that I enjoy — that you would need full use of your legs for,” she remarked, a fresh tinge of color heating her face.

“You’d be surprised at what I could do while incapacitated.”

She laughed and poured herself into him. All of the love she had for him flowed through her fingertips into his mauled flesh, knitting it together and repairing the damage the creatures had done.

“Whoa, enough enough,” he said, pushing her away.

Gemma didn’t even realize how much she’d given him until she opened her eyes and the room spun before her.

“You really need to get that under control, sweetheart,” Carson said giving her a kiss, “But thank you.”

She smiled, the color already returning to her face, “It’s hard to put limits on my love for you.”

“And the award for cheesiest line ever!” Trick announced as the rest of the group barreled into her tiny cottage.

“Don’t be jealous,” Carson teased.

“Me? Only of your super powers and those didn’t seem so super tonight…”

Carson pulled himself out of bed despite Gemma’s silent protest, to address everyone.

“Those were unlike anything I’ve seen before. Typically the shadows are anchored to a human… there was no humanity in that. I think it may be getting stronger still.”

“You mean it’s just floating around out there, attacking people?” Gemma asked, her eyes wide with fear.

“I don’t know. It kind of seems like it,” Carson said.

“How can we fight that?” Gemma asked.

“If tonight’s any indication… we can’t,” Ty answered solemnly.

Chapter Five

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Izzy groaned at the person knocking on her front door. It was the middle of the day and she still hadn’t gotten out of bed.

It wasn’t intentional. Her nights had been plagued by nightmares and so she tried her best to avoid sleeping at all.

Being awake wasn’t much better though.

Throughout the day, unbidden, images would crop into her mind. Gruesome images. Horrible things.

But not always. Sometimes they weren’t horrible. Those typically went unnoticed. She wrote them off a daydreams.

Was there such a thing as daymares?

The door rattled on its hinges again.

“I’m coming!” she shouted.

Reluctantly, she slipped into a pair of shorts and a tank top and tried to formulate the insults she was going to hurl at whoever dared knock on her door.

Her hand closed around the knob and she jerked the door back with more force than necessary, sending it flying out of her hand.

“Gemma?”

“Hi!” Gemma answered, holding a frozen cappuccino for each of them.

“Hey, look, I know what you’re trying to do, but don’t bother.”

Despite her protests, Izzy still reached for one of the frosty beverages Gemma offered.

“How do you know why I’m here?” Gemma asked.

“You’re here because you can’t stand Carson and I fighting. My relationship with Aaron is hurting everyone. Blah blah blah. I don’t care, to be honest.”

Izzy sipped her drink too fast and cringed when the brain-freeze hit her.

“I’m not here for any of that. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” said Gemma.

“Uh, yeah. I’m living in paradise, can’t you tell?” Izzy asked, gesturing around to her unkempt home with a snarky grin.

“Well… it’s just…” Gemma faltered.

“What?”

“Alina and I are worried about you,” she said.

“Well, don’t be. Like I said, I’m fine.”

Gemma nibbled on the end of her straw, trying to come up with the perfect response.

“That guy? Preston Waters? He’s getting stronger,” she said.

“So? Are you afraid he’s going to come after me again?”

As soon as the words left Izzy’s mouth she wondered why she
wasn’t
worried about that. She went back to living in her house like nothing had happened. She’d gotten so wrapped up in proving Aaron wrong that she forgot to worry about herself.

“Well, that too, but…”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“The shadows are getting stronger. Carson… he almost… well, he said that they’re getting worse.”

Izzy’s expression softened, but she still didn’t concede.

“I don’t plan on fighting them…”

“You don’t have to plan on it for them to come after you,” Gemma sighed, “There are
monsters
out there, Izzy. You’ve seen some of them. You know what they’re capable of and they’re getting stronger. Please. We’ve already lost you once. Just come back tonight. The boys are going to go on patrol again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, long story.”

“Okay, I’ll let it go. A stupid kiss isn’t worth dying over,” Izzy said.

Gemma smiled, “Right.”

<<<>>>

It all happened too fast to know what was happening.

It was a routine patrol. They’d been stationed there for months already.

A truck came into town.

Aaron stopped them and spoke to the driver; everything checked out. He was clear.

His back was already turned when the driver was hit.

The truck took a sharp turn, barreling over pedestrians until it crunched into the school building.

In the following chaos, crying children streamed out of the crumbling building.

Aaron gave the orders to help evacuate.

He made the call.

It was the wrong one.

<<<>>>

“So, this is the area I thought we’d patrol tonight,” Ty said, pulling up a map on the big screen for everyone to see.

“There have been incidents at all the dots in the past 72 hours,” he said as dozens of tiny red dots covered the map.

“So, we can take Mitchell down to 23rd, to Freemont and —”

“No, not there,” Izzy said.

She felt their eyes boring into her. She felt the heat from their gazes; she knew they were judging her.

“Do you have another suggestion?” Ty asked, perhaps a little defensively.

Izzy took a deep breath and looked at the map.

The screen undulated and warped making it difficult to focus. Another deep breath and she let her eyes relax.

They slid to the southeast corner of the map.

“There,” she pointed.

“Okay, so we have Isabel’s vote, all in favor?”

The area was completely devoid of red dots; in fact, it was almost not even on the map. It was nowhere near the warehouse.

No one said anything.

After an awkward moment of silence, Carson cleared his throat.

“Um, right. Well, I think we’re better focusing our energies where there’s the most activity,” he said.

“I agree,” Aaron said without pause.

Izzy’s hazel eyes burned with her annoyance.

“I’m telling you, you’re picking the wrong place,” Izzy said.

“What makes you so certain?” asked Gemma, trying to keep tempers from boiling over.

She threw her hands up into the air and groaned.

“I don’t know! Okay? I have no freaking clue why I’m so sure of it, but I am!”

Gemma frowned, torn between her loyalties.

“I think we should listen to Isabel,” a small voice squeaked from the end of the table.

“You do?” Dez asked Alina.

“I do. I trust Isabel. She was there for me when I was forgotten.”

Izzy gave the redhead a sad smile and a nod of thanks.

“Really? We’re doing this again? Making our plans on “feelings” and “trust” instead of facts and data?” raved Aaron.

Carson shot him a sharp glance.

“Aaron, don’t.”

“It’s worth consideration,” Gemma tried.

“Okay, considered. Rejected,” said Trick, folding his arms. He kicked his feet up on the table, not terribly invested in another argument that was more about personal feelings than actual issues.

“Maybe we could do some recon in the area to see if there’s any need for us,” said Carson.

Gemma rewarded him with a grateful smile and he felt a little better about the compromise. At least they’d kept everyone from blowing up.

“That reminds me,” Ty said, pulling a bundle of fabric out of his backpack.

He unrolled the long length of fabric to reveal half a dozen knives safely stowed in it.

“I don’t know if these will work or not, but I did my best,” he said, handing them out to his friends.

Izzy frowned, “Why don’t we get them?” she asked, gesturing to the other girls.

“Because you’re not going to be fighting shadow monsters,” Aaron said with a warning tone.

“Well why not? I’m just as capable as you!”

“Oh? You are? I must have missed the memo about your tours.”

Izzy clamped her jaw shut.

“I’d really appreciate if you hung out with me,” Gemma said, hoping that would end Izzy’s objections.

“Fine, you’re better company anyway,” she answered.

Aaron unsheathed his knife and inspected the silver tip, pricking his finger in the process.

“Not bad, four eyes,” he said.

Ty bristled at the nickname but he didn’t want to breech the tentative peace they had right now.

“Thanks; the internet is a magical place.”

<<<>>>

Hours passed without word from the men. Gemma checked on Carson every fifteen minutes, just trying to busy herself.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” said Alina.

Gemma nodded. She didn’t even notice her hand moving toward her mouth. As she paced back and forth chewing her nails, she imagined all of the different scenarios for why they hadn’t reported in. Her teeth tugged at the frayed skin around her fingers; she should check on Carson again.

“Hey, come sit down with us, would you?” Izzy said with a yawn.

The sharp tang of blood flooded Gemma’s mouth when she ripped another nail from her finger. She finally realized that she was doing it and quickly pulled her hand from her mouth. It was a habit she gave up years ago when she was a teenager. For her to revert back to it now spoke to her level of anxiety.

“Yeah, I know I worry too much. It just seems like every time they go out like this… It’s always such a close call,” she said.

“I know, but they’re all armed now. They’ll be fine,” Izzy reminded.

Gemma nodded and sank onto the couch with the other two women.

“I just wish someone would call… or something,” Gemma said, her fingers finding their way into her mouth again. She smacked her own hand away.

It was getting later. Or earlier depending on how you looked at it. Sun rise was still hours away and Gemma wouldn’t be able to relax until the sun was up and everyone was back to the clubhouse.

“I’m just going to go check on Carson again,” she said.

Izzy grabbed her by the arm and held her in place.

“Sit. We’re going to watch a movie and try not to think about all the crazy shit happening out there,” she said.

The muscles in Gemma’s forearm tensed as she debated fighting her friend off. Izzy was right though; there was no point in worrying about something they could do nothing about for the time being. The boys had relegated them to clean-up so they just sat and waited.

“Okay, fine,” she said.

Satisfied, Izzy flipped the huge TV on and the girls set about finding a movie they could all agree on.

They settled on
Pretty Woman,
a classic that promised to deliver on happy endings and avoided any unexpected tragedies. They were all on edge and predictable seemed comforting.

Julia was only just getting shunned by the snooty Beverly Hills shops when Gemma heard Izzy’s soft snores to her right.

Maybe some sleep would do her good; she seemed exhausted lately.

<<<>>>

“Holy Hell!” Trick exclaimed as they rounded another corner.

Immediately upon arriving, they all knew that Izzy had been right. The area was overrun with shadows, with creatures like the wolves and with frenzied people, struggling for their next fix.

“It never ends,” said Aaron. The thick shadows blocked the street lamps, choked their lungs and made it difficult to think of anything but primal fear.

“Well, let’s stop wasting time then,” said Dez. The dagger in his hand looked as dainty as a pencil in his meaty fist.

Carson growled in agreement and trotted into the shadows, teeth bared.

“Really? No plans, no stopping to regroup? We’re just gonna jump right in?” said Aaron.

A grotesque creature formed in front of them. It’s shape seemed undefined — gaping holes that appeared to be mouths formed and disappeared within the writhing mass as if they were boiling to the surface. There was no discernible front or back to the creature and no clear weak spots.

Thick tentacles shot out and whipped in their direction. One wrapped around Ty’s wrist, searing his skin.

He cried out, his knife clattering to the sidewalk.

Trick charged it.

Dozens of mouths opened on the creature. It vomited a constant stream of fetid black fog.

The force of the monster’s expulsion sent Trick flying back on his ass.

“Uh… guys?” Ty cried as the tentacle snaked further up his arm, drawing him nearer to the monster’s revolting maw.

The smell of burning flesh stung Aaron’s nostrils as Ty’s skin sizzled. He wasn’t there anymore. His feet were frozen. He was in another time.

Another time when he was frozen.

<<<>>>

They must have planned the ambush long in advance.

The truck driver was only collateral damage.

With all the children running around in panic it was almost impossible to see him.

He couldn’t have been more than twelve. He was clean — too clean — the other children were all dusty and bloody.

He was walking into the rubble. Everyone else was running away from it.

“Get out of there NOW,” Aaron heard himself say.

His sights were already trained on the boy. His finger rested against the trigger.

His finger twitched but… what was that? The boy reemerged from the crumbling schoolhouse with a little girl in tow. He shooed her across the street.