Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (6 page)

More pointed stares were aimed at the
table like it was the most interesting piece of furniture on earth. Out of the
corner of my eye I saw
Brandon
looking like he was about to say
something and then Mena shaking her head at him until he caught on.

I stared Kira down. “Doc knew we were
taking you out and you don’t have to get all sensitive. It’s only
7 p.m.
I didn’t realize you had important
knitting to attend to, my bad.”

She puffed up. “Actually it’s Jeopardy.
It starts in a half-hour, so if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to get to it.”

She looked so smug, her blue eyes
blazing and her features so stiff. I had to laugh. “Jeopardy? Really?”

She shrugged and her lips curved at the
corners. “You wanted to label me as boring, I gave you boring.”

“Hey!” Mena exclaimed “Don’t knock
Jeopardy. I love that show”

“So do I” Max admitted.

“I like it when I know the answers.”
Logan
added.

Trent
turned to
Logan
, “Dude, if you hate the show, all you
had to do was say so.”

At this everyone started laughing.
Tentatively at first but it got louder, easier as the tension dissolved. “All
right then, everyone’s invited to my house for Jeopardy.” Kira said, smiling.

Brandon
threw his hands in the air “I’m down.
It could be a Pardy, Party.”

Annabella face-palmed.

“What?”
Brandon
cried.

“No, Brandon. Just… no.”

I felt a knot loosen somewhere in my
chest and I took a deep breath. “Well I’ll just drop you guys off then?” I
asked, puzzled.

“Or you know, you could come. I have
popcorn at the apartment.” Kira lifted her eyebrows to me and it was a direct
challenge.

I smiled. She had no idea who she was
challenging. “Popcorn and Jeopardy, how could anyone resist that?” I got out of
the booth and motioned for her to lead.

After she started walking ahead I saw
the pack behind me trading weighted glances and smirking. I cleared my throat
and they all immediately quit the grade school shit. I spoke lazily “You guys
coming?” They all straightened up and followed. Being an Alpha had its advantages.

The week following that first night out
with my new group of friends was a whirlwind of activity. Each day Annabella
came to the office during my lunch break to show me the best places to eat in
town. My favorite place so far was the Sushi restaurant. It had a great lunch
special so we ended up there twice this week.

Sometimes Demi, Mena or Christina would
join us and it was surprising how well we all got along. Demi could be cold at
times but she was likeable nonetheless. She just had a charisma and strength
that you had to admire. Naturally Christina knew everyone already but since
Jeopardy night we’d all become closer.

After work, the guys would come by the
office and no matter what we did we always ended up back at Christina’s and my apartment
at the end of the night. We decided on movies instead of Jeopardy though and
except for that first night, Will, Demi, and occasionally Xander joined in too.

On Friday afternoon, Doc and I were
chatting about the best way to calm an iguana and allow it to get used to you
when a distinguished looking man entered the office. His power suit matched his
strong stance and imposing stare. “Ah, Robert, how are you?” He walked over to
where we were talking.

“Fine as always, Eric. How are you?”

Doc clapped him on the arm “I’m
wonderful.” He looked down at me “Kira, have you met the mayor yet?”

“No, I don’t believe I have.” I said
hesitantly. Man, they really don’t kid around with the town welcome wagon.

“Well here he is. Don’t be too
impressed though, he’s also my brother.”

The mayor extended his hand to me
“Robert Dellarson” and shaking it was understandably familiar.

“Oh it’s nice to meet you, I’m Kira
Franklin.” He had the same bone structure, hair, and attitude. “You must be
Jay’s father.” I didn’t know his father was the mayor but it didn’t surprise
me.

He flashed me a voter winning smile “I
must be. Would you be a friend of his?”

“Yes, he and his friends have been
amazing.”

He laughed harshly “What a pleasant
surprise.” I noticed Doc slide him a disapproving look but the mayor continued.
“It was lovely meeting you, Miss Franklin. I have some business to discuss with
my brother here. If there’s anything you need in Brisdale, don’t hesitate to
ask me.”

“Thank you, Mayor Dellarson.”

Doc looked to his watch, “Kira, I’ve
kept you here too long already. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you Monday.”

“See you then.” I grabbed my purse and
headed for the parking lot. When I turned back I spied set, angry faces and
tense postures through the window. A feeling of gratefulness washed over me
that I was going to meet everyone at the pub later tonight instead of meeting
here as usual. Well everyone except Christina, who had a date with Xander
tonight. I drove home to get ready for the evening and tried not to ponder too
much on what wasn’t my business.

I was on my way to the pub when my
phone rang. I looked down to see “Mom” flashing on the screen. “Hey” I said
into the cell.

“Kira, is that you?” Her panicked voice
shot into my ear.

“Of course, who else would it be? I-”

She cut me off “You’re ok? You’re all
right?”

“What? I’m fine what’s going on?”

“I…I had a vision. You need to come
home.”

And there it was. The part of my life
that I wanted to forget existed, at least the scary parts of it. “Mom, hold on.
Take a breath. I’m fine. I’m not going to come home.”

“Kira, you don’t understand…”

“Then explain it to me.” “I saw you
being attacked with dark shadowed creatures surrounding you, you were
screaming.”

I almost dropped the phone but got a
hold on it. “Mom, it’s going to be all right. You’re visions aren’t exactly
accurate. They’ve been proven wrong in the past.” I shook slightly but
continued “I can’t stop my life because of dark shadows.”

“Sweetheart, my visions have also been
very right at times. Do you really think your life is so insignificant that you
can risk it so unnecessarily? We know there are people after you, after us.
That’s a fact.”

I took a deep breath and focused on
driving as I mentally told myself to stay calm. I needed to keep my mom calm
too. “As long as we live and no matter where we live, we’ll be hunted. I’m not
going to live in fear. I take every precaution. I have wards all over me and my
apartment. Every piece of hair or nail that leaves my body at any time is
spelled to be destroyed. I have a thousand escape plans and make up more ten
more everywhere I go. I’m smart, Mom. Nobody knows I’m a witch.

I don’t think my life is insignificant.
I’m here because I want to
have
a life. We’ve been over this so many
times. I can’t run away every time there’s a possibility I could get hurt or
captured.”

There was a beat of silence on the
other end.

“Then why am I having visions that it’s
not going to be ok, Kira?”

I pulled into a spot in front of the
pub and sat in the parked car. A million things were running through my mind
but they were mostly fear based thoughts and I forcefully pushed them back.
“You’re the one always telling me that the future can change, that there’s
nothing definitive about it. I’ll be on extra alert, I promise… and I’ll call
you everyday.”

“I don’t like this, honey.”

I began to rub at the bridge of my
nose, between my eyes. “I’m not too fond of it myself but I’m not giving up my
freedom, I can’t.” Suddenly a thought occurred to me. “Have you told Dad yet?”

“No, I called you first. I had to know
you were all right.”

“I understand but please consider not
telling him. He’ll only freak out and I am not going to be convinced to come
back so it won’t do anything but cause a fight. Please, Mom.”

“That’s not fair to ask of me.” “I
know.” My head fell against the steering wheel, my hair falling around me like
a rag doll. “Mom, tell me as much as you can about the vision. I’ll avoid
everything to do with it.”

No answer.

“Mom, did I…did I die?”

“No” a shallow breath. “Not that I saw.
All I can remember is glass everywhere, dark shadowed creatures and you in the
middle of it all. It wasn’t right and the intent to kill was in that room.
That’s all I saw.” She began to sob.

“Mom, it’s going to be ok, I’m going to
be fine. You’ll see. You know me. I never go down without a fight. I’m way too
stubborn.”

I heard her snort through the phone. I
took it as a good sign.

“You take care of yourself and Dad. Ok?
I doubt middle of nowhere
Brisdale
,
Florida
is the supernatural hotspot that you
believe.”

Her voice wavered but she had stopped
crying “That’s true but remember, witch hunts can happen anywhere, anytime.”

“Right, even when the witches are doing
the hunting and being hunted.”

“That’s why you need to stay safe. I’ll
talk to you tomorrow. I’ll do my best to keep your father calm.”

“Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up and it took me a while to get
the strength to get up and walk into the pub. I looked down at my phone and
noticed I was still early so I headed to the bar to wait for everyone else. I
happened to glance around and to my surprise, Jay was already there. He was
sitting in the far corner covered in the shadows of the waning daylight,
holding a drink and staring off into space.

“Hey” I said but he barely moved to
nod. I sat next to him and watched him slowly move his drink hand up to his
mouth, pause there then bring it back down. He smelled of alcohol and I
wondered how long he’d been there. “How’s it going?”

He grunted.

“That good, huh? Me too.”

He focused on my face and I spoke
clearly. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but you look like how I’d
imagine I look right now.”

His voice came out gruffly as he said,
“Well then your day must be as fantastic as mine.” He seemed to remember what
he had been trying to do and managed to actually sip the dark liquid this time.

“If you mean totally effed up, then
yeah. I’ll take emotionally drained robots for 500, Alex.”

He laughed darkly. It wasn’t a pleasant
sound. It was a little twisted and scratched at my ears but it was infectious
and somehow, I laughed too.

My laugh didn’t sound any better than
his.

“So what’s going on?” I inquired.

He fiddled with the glass. “Family
stuff. You?”

It made sense considering the way his
father was acting with Doc. “Same, actually…kind of.”

He nodded and we sat in silence.

Fear crept into my thoughts turning my
world black as night. Key phrases like “the intent to kill was there,” “dark
shadows,” and “you were in the middle of it” bounced around my skull. I could
feel my freedom being sucked away from me with each breath. I shot up out of my
chair. “Change of plans. Finish your drink so we can go.”

Jay responded flatly, “Go where
exactly?”

“I’m not sure but we’ll know it when we
see it.”

He looked at his glass and back to me.
“Why bother?”

I looked him the eye, seeing pain there
and forcing myself not to flinch from it. “Because pity parties suck” I started
walking toward the exit and over my shoulder asked “You coming?”

He downed the rest of his drink and followed
me out the door.

We got in her parked car and she
fiddled with her smart phone, looking for places to go. She wouldn’t let me
look over her shoulder to figure out where she would take us so I set my sights
on the radio. My phone buzzed again for the millionth time. I ignored it. Music
was desperately needed.

“Ah hah” She said and I turned to see
her smiling at the phone. She placed it down and a woman’s monotone voice came
through the speakers “Route set. Turn left at 21
^st
terrace.” She
reversed out of the spot and followed the directions.

“I’ll call everyone when we get there
so they know where to go.”

“Ok.” I answered and found us a rock
station to zone out to. I already felt weirdly lighter somehow. It might have
been the 6 glasses of Jack Daniels kicking in but I think it was mostly getting
out of there. Alcohol affected Weres differently so it was hard to tell. I
didn’t know Kira all that well but she was different from everyone else and I
was starting to realize that might be a good thing. The darkness that had
swallowed me whole seemed to dissipate the second I got in this car and I
didn’t care if she drove us off the end of the earth, I was along for the ride.