What Lies in the Darkness (Shadow Cove Book 1)
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Authors: Jessica Sorensen
What Lies in the Darkness
Jessica Sorensen
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Copyright © 2016 by Jessica Sorensen
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Cover Design by Najla Qamber Designs
Cover photo by Mae I Design
What Lies in the Darkness
(Shadow Cove, #1)
By Jessica Sorensen
Table of Contents:
LOCATION: SHADOW COVE SKATE PARK
LOCATION: THE SECRET SPOT IN MAK’S DAD’S OFFICE
LOCATION: JUST OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL RECORDING ROOM
LOCATION: EVERLEIGH’S BEDROOM
TIME: 4:33 PM
DATE: SATURDAY, MARCH 20
th
“Hi, my name is Makayla Evingston, or Mak as my friends like to call me. And I’m here to tell you about a little project I’m working on, a project I fully intend to prove is true.” I comb my fingers through my long, brown hair, sweeping tangled strands out of my eyes. “Now, not a lot of people know this, but Shadow Cove has the highest rate of kidnapping and murder crimes in all of America.” I angle the web camera downward to get the glare off my face. “But that info isn’t going to show up in any records. In fact, most of the records I’ve obtained for this project show an extremely low number of kidnappings and murders. But I’ve recently come across some top secret documents that show a startling amount of mysterious disappearances and deaths that have happened here. Yet most of them were never released to the citizens of Shadow Cove. In truth, the kidnappings were always put down as runaways, and almost all of the deaths had a very brief investigation, despite the mysterious activity surrounding each one.”
“Mak, please tell me this isn’t for your history project.” Everleigh’s heart-shaped face pops up on the screen like a springing Jack-in-the-Box. Her blue eyes are filled with worry behind her square-framed glasses, and her mouth is curved into a disappointed frown. “Please tell me you’re just messing around.”
“What?” I swivel around in my chair. “I think it has a good angle for the assignment—murder as part of the town history. You’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty catchy.”
“I know you like to play the journalist angle with everything, but unless you have facts about this theory, it won’t get you an A in history. In fact, Mrs. Maralline will probably fail you.” She repeatedly combs her fingers through her curly, brown hair, a nervous habit. “And, as your best friend, it’s my duty to make sure you don’t turn that video in.”
It’s so like Everleigh to be all dutiful. She doesn’t just do this with me, but with all of her friends and sometimes even teachers. While most people find it annoying, I’ve known Everleigh long enough that I’m used to it. It’s actually kind of nice to have a friend always looking out for me.
“Hey, maybe I do have proof,” I argue. “Maybe I’ve been collecting information, and all the evidence points to one thing: there’s a conspiracy in Shadow Cove. The kidnappings and murders
are
being covered up.”
I’m being over the top, but I have to think outside the box in order to win an argument with Everleigh. And by outside the box, I mean, way, way outside, all the way past the moon and the stars to where aliens live. Why? Because Everleigh is super smart, although her genius stops at questionable subjects that might not be provable by reading a book, questionable subjects like aliens and conspiracy theories. I guess everybody has their way of understanding. Mine are the mental notes I file away in my brain.
Here are some of the basic mental notes I have on Everleigh:
Full Name: Everleigh Rosenbloom.
Age: Seventeen.
School Status: Senior at Shadow Cove High.
Known For: The genius in our group of friends and pretty much all of Shadow Cove High.
Hobbies: Homework, science, computers, and basically anything with electronics.
Parents: Dad teaches PE at our high school and coaches the football and soccer team. Her mom died in a car accident when she was ten, right before her family moved to Shadow Cove. Because of this, Everleigh has taken on the mom role and spends a lot of time cooking, cleaning, and worrying about stuff normal seventeen-year-olds don’t have to.
Siblings: Finn, her younger brother who is the opposite of Everleigh and focuses mostly on sports achievements instead of grades. He’s his dad’s pride, adored by most of the town, and has dated at least half of the cheerleading squad this year alone.
“Do you have facts about your murder theory?” Everleigh asks, looking genuinely interested.
God, I wish I did. Then maybe I could prove my dad isn’t a complete nut job.
I sigh. “No, but one of these days, I’m going to find proof that a cover-up is going on in our town.” I rotate the chair around, thrumming my fingers against each other, and use my best evil villain tone. “And when I do, I’m going to take down everyone involved.”
“You sound just like your dad …” She presses her lips together at the mention of my father. “I’m so sorry, Mak. I didn’t mean to bring him up.”
Despite the ill knots winding in my stomach, I wave her off. “It’s cool.” I turn back around in the chair to power down the computer and hide my sullen expression. “I don’t mind talking about him.”
Which is true. I don’t mind chatting about my dad as long as he isn’t being ridiculed, something Everleigh would never do. As for the rest of Shadow Cove … Well, let’s just say a lot of people around here weren’t very fond of my dad before he disappeared.