“Soooo…worthless. Stoooopid…boy. Nooooo…one loves you. Noooo…one wants you. Your parents hate yooooou. Stoooopid…worthless boy.”
It wasn’t coming from everywhere, I knew that, but it was so loud and overpowering. If I could just focus. Sky clutched my arm. “King, it’s coming from that way.”
I opened my eyes and saw he was pointing to the end of this section of the boardwalk. Down at the inlet. It wasn’t the safest place for the target to go, even though there were benches to stretch out on. It was one of the places locals liked to sneak after the boards were closed to party or make out. The one place most likely for police patrol, but it was also far from where he’d been the other night.
Maybe, like we’d believed, he thought a change in location would help. It made sense since I wouldn’t have been surprised to think it was the abandoned drainage tunnel that was haunted, as opposed to the guy seeking shelter.
Sky and I clutched hands and ran toward the end. We passed arcades and restaurants, entrances to the beach, and bathrooms. We finally reached the other area that was lined with benches on the beach side and luxury homes interspersedwith small bungalows on the other with gates that opened up to the boardwalk for their residences.
The closer we got, the deeper the maliciousness felt like it tried sinking into my body. The louder it got, like we were in a club where the deep thump of the bass moved through you like a hypnotic pulse, the more I felt both simultaneously pulled toward it and terrified, wanting to run the other direction.
But this was our job—our purpose—and we had to figure it out. On-the-job training had never felt so horrific, but we had to grow into this. Do right by the souls that had been entrusted to us. So with fingers twined, we moved forward.
“Right after that little café, there’s a path to the inlet viewing area,” I said to Sky.
He squeezed my palm to his in response, then called out, “Patchy, we need you.”
The patchwork-patterned psychopomp appeared instantly, running alongside us. The last I’d seen him had been curled on Sky’s feet as we fell asleep. It was good to know that calling him into our realm instead of this one hadn’t affected his equilibrium or ability to show up when we needed him most.
As soon as we got between the café and the building housing the candy shop on the other side, I tugged Sky to a stop. We couldn’t run in there half-cocked. We needed a plan.
“This is what you deserve…booooy. No one cares about you…human. Useless…useless…human.”
Concentrating past the whatever-the-hell-it-was, proved virtually impossible. Sky stooped down and picked up Patchy, who climbed up on his shoulder like a cat. Then Sky turned to me and held out his hands, palms up. I slipped my hands into his.
He gulped. “Here goes nothing,” he muttered more to himself than me. Then his eyelids closed, so I followed his lead.
“Block out the bleak.
“Block out the…” He hesitated and cleared his throat. “Damaged.
“Cut through the evil.” He paused again, searching for words. I’d never seen him do anything like this before. Likely because he hadn’t.
“Cut through the noise.”
“So mote it be.”
Instantly, it was like the volume had been turned down on a stereo. The faint pulses of the beat of that thing were still there. It wasn’t as if its presence was gone, but it was so muted that other sounds rushed into my ears.
The sounds of waves breaking on the rock walls that made up the two sides of the inlet. The squeak of the lantern hanging outside the candy shop. The continuous banging of a trash can lid somewhere in the distance, most likely at one of the beach houses. The strong smell of brine broke through, as well, making me wonder if that was why Sky was wrinkling his nose.
Before I could ask, I heard him. This poor tortured man. I’d forgotten how young he’d sounded. Not as young as Theo, but probably younger than Sky.
“Help me, please. Please help,” he cried softly, pitifully. Quietly enough, I didn’t think we’d have been able to hear him on a perfectly calm and quiet night if not for Sky’s spell.
Sky’s green eyes were clouded with fear, but his face was set with grim determination. Patchy yelped, taking off toward the cry for help, and we didn’t hesitate to follow. Instead of wasting my time trying to catch sight of the mocker, I scanned the surroundings quickly for the man who needed our help. He wasn’t on or around the benches lining the square pavilion, so where could he be?
Sky ran to the railing and gasped. Whether he didn’t know or he’d forgotten, it was obvious that he hadn’t beencontemplating the large, jagged rock wall that sloped down to the water at a steep angle.
“Shit.” He whirled toward me. “King!”
I knew his fear. What if our mystery man had decided to try and huddle down there? Could one of these taunts drive him to move just enough that it would plunge him over the edge into the choppy waves of the ocean?
Then I heard a loud sob, and I turned toward the left. The benches were inside of silver railings that were easy enough to climb over. On that side, opposite the powdery sand that led down to the beach, were a bunch of bushes. Had he hidden himself inside there?
Sky’s gaze followed my line of sight, and we met at the edge. Taller than him, I could see over the top of the greenery where I saw the same scruffy backpack from the other day. “Can you see him?”
“I can see his stuff. I think it’s safe to say he’s over there,” I whispered back.
