Page 46 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

The three of them exited the shop, and James locked up.

“I’ll see you guys soon.” Eli turned to head toward the diner.

“Wait,” James called. “I’ll drive you.”

“It’s only a block,” Eli muttered.

“You just saw shades drifting by,” Sebastian said gently. “And we think they’re targeting you because of your research. It’s not safe to be wandering around, even for a short distance.”

“That’s fair.” Eli followed Sebastian to James’s truck without another word.

James was grateful Sebastian had spoken up. He knew Eli got frustrated with his overprotectiveness, but in their current situation, was there such a thing as overprotective? James would rather annoy Eli than leave him open to any unnecessary risks. He’d drop Eli off, then come back for the fuel cell.

James pulled out of the Gray Electrical driveway, his unease growing. Something didn’t feel right, and he could have sworn it was more than the stress of everything they were dealing with. He turned into the town circle and looked toward the diner.

A car was stopped in the middle of the road, all its windows smashed. No people were inside or around the scene, so they must have fled. Only a single shade hovered above the wreckage.

“Shit,” muttered Sebastian.

James had hoped the shades Eli had seen had only been passing through. The one yesterday hadn’t been too disruptive. Seems that was wishful thinking.

The shade turned, its attention fixing on James’s truck. James hit the gas, speeding around the wrecked car and past the park, where two more shades lurked. “I’m going to drive around to get to the parking lot from the other entrance.”

“Good idea.” Sebastian craned his neck, looking back at the smashed car. “Doesn’t seem like the shades are following, so maybe they won’t notice us behind the diner.”

James white-knuckled the steering wheel. “I should be relieved they aren’t following, but it only makes me suspicious.”

“Me too,” Sebastian agreed. Eli remained quiet.

James turned off Main Street and circled back to the diner’s rear parking lot. He wondered if it was safe to leave Eli here. Yes, Parker was inside, but he was only one man, and who knew if the shades hovering around would leave or if more would join them.

James parked only to hesitate getting out.

Eli shifted nervously next to James. “I liked it better when this kind of stuff only happened at night.”

James gave his brother a small smile. “Me too.”

“It was definitely better back then, not that I’d have said so at the time.” Sebastian opened his door. “Come on, let’s all go in.”

James followed suit, keeping an eye on the trees behind the park. If more shades were coming, they’d probably slip out of the shadows there.

A shout of alarm came from the other side of the truck.

James raced around, forgetting the trees. A shade had its arms wrapped around Sebastian’s legs.

“It came out from under the truck.” Eli pointed a shade-light at the beast, his hand shaking. The light did nothing, but it was all Eli could do without magic.

James shot sparks at the shade, but instead of them finding their mark, the shade disappeared. Like full-on disappeared, not dispersed into shadow as they usually did when leaving their solid form behind.

Sebastian whirled around. “Where did it go?”

“Come on.” James reached for him. Where it went didn’t matter. He’d rather get away than try to hunt it down.

Eli was already at the diner’s back door, holding it open. As James and Sebastian reached it, the shade reappeared. It lunged for them but wasn’t quick enough. They were past the diner’s wards and out of its reach.

Eli closed the door in the beast’s face. “Let’s find Parker.” He led them through the back and into the kitchen, but no one was there.

James pushed through the door to the front of the restaurant. Parker and Luna were looking out the front window along with Princeton Taylor, the museum curator who must have been in for an early lunch.

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