Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1)(65)
After a moment, she nodded and pulled out her cell. “You go in here. Keep your distance and text me if she changes direction.” With a final look, she sprinted in the other direction, heading for the back gate of Penance Park. I watched her disappear before taking a deep breath and stepping into the park.
Everything was quiet. It was still early in the day and there was a definite chill in the air. Most people had abandoned the playground for the season, opting for indoor games instead. The park stayed open year-round—the hills in the back section perfect for sledding—but tended to be deserted after Labor Day.
I passed the swing sets and baseball field and didn’t see Ava, but two young girls—ten or twelve, tops—were fighting over a Barbie doll as their mothers tried to pull them apart. They kicked and screamed at each other while the confused women did their best to remedy the situation. There was really nothing I could do to help them other than finding Ava, so I kept going.
When I came to the monkey bars, I caught site of her for a moment, but she disappeared in the brush behind the picnic area, heading toward the pavilion. I pulled out my cell and texted Mom—Heading twrd pavil—and started to run.
“You can’t stop us,” Ava said as I entered the courtyard. She was standing atop the rock wall that bordered the pavilion, in the shadow of a large pine tree. She giggled—a sound that made it easy to forget it wasn’t only an innocent little girl standing in front of me, but an ancient evil determined to cause chaos. Anyone who happened to be walking by would see me facing off against a cute, seemingly innocent child. “We will be free this time. They will see to that.”
I stopped when I hit the large oak tree at the edge of the awning and stepped into the shade to reduce the sun’s glare. “They? Meredith’s not working alone?”
She giggled again, then pointed a finger to my left. Mom had come in from the other side and was standing a few feet away. We could both rush the kid, but the chances of us making it to her before she got away was slim. If she made it to the pavilion, there were too many ways she could lose us.
“You don’t know anything. This is so much bigger than you stupid Darkers. This is destiny centuries in the making.”
I snorted, earning a stern look from Mom. She was all about the serious while working, but this kid was making me laugh. “Destiny? Someone’s been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons. No such thing.”
Ava grinned. It looked out of place. A truly disturbing expression on a face that should have been so innocent. “You, Jessie Darker, are about to find out that isn’t true. The hard way.”
She made a move—a flinch really—a simple twitch of her leg, hinting that she was about to run. I didn’t think, only reacted.
My mind sent the necessary impulses to my brain, commanding my legs to move forward, but there was no motion. Instead, something buzzed inside my head. A persistent knocking against my skull. There was a strong feeling of vertigo, then darkness. Something heavy and black, and somehow comforting, enfolded me in its embrace. The scenery dimmed and faded. The next thing I knew, I was standing on the edge of the rock wall behind Ava, heels of my sneakers teetering over the rim and head swimming like an Olympic champion. I reached for her without thought, hand covering her small mouth and fingers clamping down over her nose.
She struggled and fought to throw me off, but Sin or no Sin, she was physically just a child. As soon as her body went limp in my arms, I released her nose and let her slide carefully to the ground below.
When I glanced over at Mom, her face was pale and the look in her eyes scared me more than anything I could ever remember.
…
Like me, Mom never went anywhere without the essentials. Quartz powder, duct tape,…handcuffs.
She pulled the shiny metal cuffs from the small box under the backseat of the Mustang. “Carefully,” she said, handing them to me.
The metal was cool in my hands—a serious contrast to the warmth of Ava’s small arms. I snapped the first brace into place, and then the other, then took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching us. Thankfully the coast was clear. Even I wouldn’t be able to come up with an excuse as to why we were handcuffing a small child and stuffing her into the backseat of our car. “Good thing she stole a kid’s body, eh? Carrying her through the park would have been a bitch otherwise. Help me get her in the car?”
Once we got Ava buckled in and situated, I climbed into the passenger seat. Mom started the engine and pulled away. It only took five minutes. We were both thinking about it—the thing that had happened not once—but twice in less than an hour. Mom was just the one with the guts to say it.
“That wasn’t normal.”
“Normal.” I shuddered. “You have kind of an obsession with that word, ya know?”
She rolled her eyes.
“I thought I’d started sleepwalking again. Now, I’m not so sure. I think I’ve been—I’ve been shadowing.”
Mom didn’t even flinch. “That’s impossible.”
I tilted my head back and gnawed my bottom lip. “Were you there when the guy tried to shoot us? And then with Ava in the park? Apparently, it’s not.”
“There has to be another explanation.”
“Maybe I’m just some uber-special, super powerful hybrid kid destined to save humanity from the forces of evil. A long lost member of the Justice League!”