Fated Hearts (A Paranormal Romance Novella) Page 7

  Rom ignored his outstretched hand. “I have preference for mc².”

  I could have kissed him for that—or just because he was ultra hot—but especially for the look on Billy’s face. Like he’d swallowed rotten fish.

  “Okay, man. It’s your funeral.” Billy’s hand fell. “And if you squares don’t leave right now the funeral will be tonight.”

  “Whatever,” Franky commented.

  When Billy made a forward move, Juliette approached from behind and put a hand on his back. “Let’s go, sugar. I don’t want a fight with my sister. We can come back another time.” She cast a smile in my direction.

  Hating her would have been so much easier if she wasn’t so blasted sweet.

  “Don’t do me any favors. Your boyfriend doesn’t scare me.”

  “How about a challenge,” Senji said. “A race. First member to tag the morgue wins for his or her crew. Winner takes all.”

  “What does that mean?” Quinn asked.

  “Winning crew gets dominance and chooses sites without future interference from the other crew.”

  “You’re on,” Billy said with a sly smile. Clearly, he thought his band of jocks would win a race against a bunch of losers.

  Rom grabbed me by the arm. “I like not this challenge.”

  “Like I care what you think,” I said.

  “Your injury could be worsened and there is possibility of damage to others.”

  “Damage? What damage?” Something told me he meant something more than the usual risk.

  “Are you done flirting? Can we go to it?” Billy interrupted us.

  “Yes.” I turned my gaze back to Billy and pulled myself to full height hoping I looked tough. Probably not. “Juliette can call the start.”

  “Go?” she said hesitantly.

  Ignoring the pain in my leg, I ran, taking the corner before dashing toward the staircase I’d seen in the hall. Rom followed closely, his breath practically on the back of my neck. But okay, he was on my side after all.

  At the head of the flight, Rom snaked around in front of me and blocked the “down”.

  “Go on. They could be right behind us,” I yelled. When he didn’t budge, I tried to scoot by him and he blocked me again.

  “Infirmity in the stairs, I believe,” he said.

  “Probably. But we’ll be careful.” My actions contradicted my words as I hopped down the flight two stairs at a time, my hand skimming the wood banister. It wiggled beneath my lightest touch. The treads, though springy and creaking, held my weight.

  “Kizzy. Halt.” Rom’s footfalls were heavy behind me. “Kiz—“

  A crack and the snap of breaking wood startled me. I stopped.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw Rom disappearing downward through a shattered tread, a look of absolute amazement on his face. As his body hit more treads they splintered and disintegrated.

  “Rom!” I clutched at him and the tips of our fingers made brief contact before he continued through and vanished. A crash thundered from beneath me.

  Peering through the broken planks I directed the flashlight into the gap. Rom’s body lay splayed out on the concrete floor, ten feet down.

  “Rom,” I cried. Please don't let him be dead.

  My breath caught in my throat and my legs wobbled. For a few seconds I couldn’t move. Finally, I stumbled down the remaining stairs and rounded the corner to kneel beside his prone body.

  Still. He lay so still. I could think of nothing more useful to do than shake him by the shoulders. Lame but it worked and his eyes fluttered and opened.

  “Agh,” he moaned lifting a hand to his head. “Damn Jupiter’s eyes.”

  “Are you all right?” I asked. “Do you think anything is broken?”

  “Pride only has suffered.” He slowly sat up. “Naught else.” Getting to his feet, Rom shook off the dust and broken wood fragments.

  “Good.” I rose also. “Let’s go to the morgue.”

  “A moment.” He halted me with his hand.

  “What? You said you were all right.”

  “Yes.” His eyes narrowed and his hands clenched almost into fists. Clearly, he wanted to throttle me.

  “We have no idea where the others are,” I explained with lots of irritation in my voice. “The BQs can’t win.”

  He shook his head as if he still didn’t understand.

  “If the BQs win, they’ll make our lives hell. Even more hell than they do already,” I said. “They’ll show up at every location we go to just to mess with us. I’m not having that.”

  “Down that way.” A voice I didn’t recognize shouted from the floor above. Must be a BQ.

  “Stay here if you want to, but I’m going.” I said, already on the move.

  The bottom of the stairs dumped into a room. Scanning with the flashlight I saw three separate corridors branching out. The one to the right must lead to the area I’d seen from the main hall. Instinctively, I knew that wasn’t the right direction. If a tunnel to the park existed, and the morgue was in it, the tunnel would be in the direction of the park.

  When I started toward that corridor, Rom grabbed my arm again.

  “That is not the way,” he said.

  Seriously, this guy was an obstruction I didn’t need. Even though he was so freakin' hot.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s go that way.” I pointed in the opposite direction from the one I wanted to pursue. “You lead the way.”

  “Accord."

  That apparently meant yes because he turned and began walking with careful steps over the debris and trash towards where I'd pointed. I waited until he’d reached a point at least ten steps from me before bolting.

  The beam of my flashlight jumped with the motion of my running steps making the way barely visible. My churning breath and sneakered footfalls, echoed around me. The corridor led into some kind of boiler room and at its center was a three sided half-wall made of Savannah brick. The half-wall enclosed a metal grate in the floor. Through the slats of the grate, I saw a narrow ladder with worn wood treads.

  It made sense I would have to go down to get to the underground tunnels.

  The metallic knocking I’d heard earlier sounded again, this time seeming closer. The hair on my arms stood and I felt goose bumps break out on my body. I should stop here, I thought. This is wrong.

  “She’s probably down here,” I heard Billy yell from close by. Too close.

  I pried up the grate with my fingers and quickly clambered down the ladder. At the bottom lay the old tunnel system. Barely enough room existed overhead to stand upright and some gunk I didn't care to have analyzed lay under my feet. The scurrying at my feet—No, I wasn’t going to even think about it.

  A sign affixed to the wall directly in front of me, which read “morgue”, caught my eye. An arrow pointed further down the tunnel. Shining the beam of my flashlight in that area revealed the passage was blocked with bricks.

  A creepy quiet pervaded the atmosphere. If this were a slasher movie, the killer would jump out about now.

  After extracting my phone from one pocket of my windbreaker and a purple paint can from another, I clicked a photo of the morgue sign. That would have to be enough proof for Billy. That and a photo of my tag.

  After bracing the flashlight in a broken crevice in the wall of the tunnel so that its beam lit my work area, I removed the cap from the can and stepped up to the brick wall.

  Rom’s hand seized mine. Jeeze, I hadn’t even heard him coming.

  “What in the name of Vulcan is it you do?” he asked. A furious scowl marred his handsome features.

  “What does Star Trek have to do with this?” I pulled my arm out of his grip. “This is the closest we’re going to get to the morgue tonight. So I’m signing the wall.”

  The cap of my paint can tumbled to the ground, rolled away and vanished into the shadows. I didn’t hear anyone else behind us, but I knew a BQ could appear at any moment and snatch away my victory.

  Rom stepped in front
of me. “Do not—”

  Reaching around him, and with a sweep of my arm, I sprayed a counter-clockwise swirling circle: my tag.

  A booming like an overflying supersonic plane was almost immediate.

  “No!” Rom’s cry seemed far away although he stood beside me.

  What followed had to be an optical illusion. The bricks began to waver, undulate, and turn in a counter-clockwise motion. The wall didn’t disappear or break apart, but it faded. Worse, I felt it tugging at my hand as if the wall had become a giant plane engine that would suck me in.

  My hand, still holding the spray paint can, moved inexorably forward against my will no matter the strength I used to try to brace myself. Rom grasped my arm but even with his help I couldn't keep my hand from disappearing into the swirling brick wall up to the wrist.

  “Rom,” I screamed.

  His face was hard with exertion as he tried to keep the rest of my arm, and the rest of me, from disappearing too.

  Then I saw it. Another hand emerged from the wall.

  End of Excerpt

  ENTANGLEMENTS

  Teen KIZZY TAYLOR is just hoping for an evening of fun when she joins her friends in a spelunking expedition through an under-city tunnel. But fun turns bizarre when Kizzy accidentally opens a vortex and her stepsister is swept through to an evil alternate dimension. The only way to rescue her stepsister is to reopen the vortex and go in after her. But is her new boyfriend, ROM CALIXO, going to help Kizzy or try to stop her? And if she can get past Rom, will she be able to get back home?

  Buy Link for Entanglements: http://amzn.com/B005R0RPPG