Page 5 of Air Of Mystery
“Tyler!” She patted his face. “Tyler, can you hear me?”
Charlie knelt down beside Kenna to check Tyler’s pulse. “He’s breathing. Pulse is a bit thready.”
“We need an ambulance,” I said as the homeowner rushed outside.
“My god,” she said, recognizing me. “Not again!”
“Sorry about this, Mrs. Thompson,” I said to her.
“Do you need me to call 911?” the woman asked.
“Yes, please.” I nodded. “I think our friend may have been exposed to carbon monoxide.”
Mrs. Thompson wasted no more time. She immediately called 911.
The carbon monoxide claim was a huge fib, but I knew it was also the quickest way to get an ambulance and medical attention for Tyler. I went over to Kenna. “I got here as fast as I could.”
“Thank you for coming,” she said.
Keeping my voice down so Mrs. Thompson wouldn’t overhear me, I eased closer to my sister. “Did you see what attacked him?”
“I did,” she said softly. “Shadowy, with a human form. It looked like it was feeding off him. Draining his energy.”
“Well, whatever it was,” Charlie said, dropping a supportive hand on Kenna’s shoulder, “it looks like you blew it to shit and gone.”
“That’s one less of those damned things to deal with, anyway,” I muttered.
Kenna did a double take. “I’m sorry, did you sayone less? As in there aremoreof them in that place?”
“Yeah.” I heaved a deep sigh. “I’m afraid so.”
Charlie turned to look at the creepy house across the street. Slowly his eyes traveled to Tyler, to Kenna, and finally to me. I knew he was assessing, thinking about what he had seen, what he hadn’t seen, and what he’dfelt.
“Somebody has to do something about that house,” Kenna insisted.
“I know,” I said. “I’m going to ask Grandma Althea to contact the Guardian. Enough is enough.”
“Do it,” Kenna said. “Have Grandma contact the Guardian.”
Emergency services arrived and the paramedics put Tyler on oxygen immediately. He was loaded up in the ambulance and Kenna hopped in her car to follow. I saw her speaking on her phone—no doubt calling Tyler’s family.
Which left Charlie and I to speak to the police and the fire department. Luckily my buddy Jason was the officer on call.
“God damn it, Skye.” He rolled his eyes as he walked over to me. “Not again.”
I gave him a wave. “Hey, Jason.”
“You like to keep things exciting, eh?” Jason teased me.
“Who you gonna call?” I said, half joking—and by using that classicGhostbustersline, I let him know it was a paranormal issue.
With a shake of his head, he took my statement and next took Charlie’s. Charlie kept his responses brief, taking his cues from me. He didn’t mention anything paranormal. Only that he’d arrived on scene and had assisted Tyler from the building.
Both Jason and the fire department knew that I was familiar with the home, and one of the firefighters asked me if there were smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in the house.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But if there was, you’d think an alarm would have sounded by now.” A second later, a detector’s piercing beep began to sound from across the street.
While Jason burst into gales of laughter, Charlie simply folded his arms over his chest and lifted one eyebrow in a silent question.
