A Darker Past (The Darker Agency #2)(12)

Once upon a time, Lukas would have been mortified at the thought of stealing. Now, though? I might go as far as saying he kind of enjoyed it. The guy had really taken to life in the twenty-first century, and I was thrilled. He still had his Grandpa moments, as I liked to call them, but for the most part, he’d embraced modern living—and more than that, the Darker lifestyle. It took a special person to deal with our kind of crazy on a daily basis. I got warm fuzzies just thinking about it. He loved the chase as much as I did—the ongoing fight between us and the otherworlders. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better boyfriend.

“As much as I don’t like saying this, our best bet is for you to shadow in, Jessie.” Lukas probably didn’t notice, but I did—Mom was uncomfortable with this idea, and it wasn’t the stealing part that was making her twitch.

“You can shadow with an item if you’re touching it, right?” she continued, squaring her shoulders. “Even if you need to make two trips, it will be safer than the two of us, or even me, attempting to break into the building. Last week, Sheriff Barnes told me how the town had upgraded all its security measures.”

I nodded as nonchalantly as possible, but it was hard to contain my excitement—which freaked me out. The idea of shadowing both scared and elated me. “I should only need one trip. I think I just need to have physical contact. If I put everything in one big pile and touch it—”

“I’m going with her,” Lukas said, resolved. Mom nodded without argument, and I tried to ignore the tiny stabbing in my heart.

Why didn’t she insist on coming with me? Oh. Right. Because she was freaked out by the shadowing thing. Ever since we’d learned I could shadow, she’d sort of avoided the issue. She had no problem talking about Valefar and the deal I made to save her and Dad, but the basics that allowed me to make that deal? The fact that I’d inherited some of Dad’s demonic talents? Yeah, that had her sailing down Denial River. Which wasn’t like her. She was a face-things-head-on-no-matter-what kind of woman. We were going to need to hash it out sooner or later, but the idea that she wasn’t square about an aspect of who I was made me squirm more than the thought of having a week-long snuggle-fest with zombies.

She glanced from me to Lukas. “You might want to see if you can find that picture, too…”

I grabbed my jacket from the back of the couch and pulled it on. “Good call.”

Next to me, Lukas shifted, uncomfortable. I hated to point out the obvious, but we’d need to deal with it eventually. “But if the pictures are on display, isn’t the damage already done? What are we supposed to tell people that question the resemblance?”

“The truth,” Mom said without hesitation.

Lukas and I both paled.

Arms folded, Mom leaned back against the desk. “Your name is Lukas Scott, and you’re a relative of the Scott family. You’ve come back to Penance to get to know your roots. It’s not unusual to see strong resemblances, or names reused generation after generation. A lot of the old families do it.” She tapped the desk twice, then pointed to the door. “Get going. And please, for the love of God, don’t piss off Lucy.”

…

Shadowing always brought an odd—and creepy—sense of peace. Like I’d just eaten a plate of the best chocolate chip cookies and downed an icy glass of chocolate milk. Sated. I felt sated when I did it. Stepping into the cool arms of the dark and letting it wrap me up tight until we were one, was getting easier. There was a slight pull. A tug and itching deep in my gut. Then, boom. I was someplace else.

I still wasn’t sure how I ultimately felt about the whole thing. On one hand, it was basically the thing I’d wished for since I was a kid. Not shadowing specifically, but to be anything other than normal. But now that I’d gotten what I wanted? The jury was still out on this being a blessing or a curse.

I shadowed us to Town Hall, into the main room. All the lights were out except for the emergency ones, so getting in had been a breeze. “Let’s do what we gotta do and get gone.”

Lukas let go of my hand and took a few steps into the room. The exhibit tables were all covered with sheets, making them look like hospital gurneys touting corpses. “Klaire mentioned someone named Lucy?”

I unzipped my jacket and peeked under the nearest cloth. Nothing but old junk. “That’s the name we gave the ghost that lives here. She’s mostly harmless.”

I started to walk away, we were here on business after all, but Lukas grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. He was so damn cute when he did that little shocked face. That’s probably why I went out of my way to try to surprise him as much as I did. “Mostly harmless?”

“I imagine, just like any other girl, she has her bad days. Not worth exorcizing. She doesn’t do any real harm. She’s been around longer than me. Longer than Mom, too. Grandpa supposedly found her and decided to just let her be.”

Lukas’s eyes went wide. “Joseph found her? Could he see her?”

“Nah. He brought in a necro, like Mom’s friend Paulson, to give him a hand. They decided she wasn’t worth the effort.”

“That doesn’t sound like Joseph,” Lukas said, looking around.

I shrugged. “Like I said, before my time. We should get moving. Don’t wanna be here longer than we need to be.”