Page 79 of Grave Beginnings

“Thank you for your time,” I said, keeping my tone polite as I led Angel out and down the hall toward the elevator, though I didn’t press the button.

“What did you see?” Angel whispered.

My gaze lingered on the spot where the purple line had flickered moments ago. Now, it disappeared into the floor as little more than a faint crayon line. “Is there a stairwell?”

“Yes, but the floors are usually locked from the inside. You’d need a keycard or code to get in,” he said.

Would Brandon’s old code still work? Had he changed it in the six months I’d been avoiding him? I headed for the stairs, Angel close behind. Without him, I might have been too afraid of what I’d find following that strange line.

“Hold this door,” I said, gripping the fire door. “If the code doesn’t work, I’ll come back up.”

Angel gave me a skeptical look but held the door open. “Do not enter the next floor without me.”

I held up my hands in mock surrender and descended the stairs. The keycard scanner concealed a number pad, one most people probably didn’t even know existed. I entered the code. The panel turned green, and the door unlocked with a quiet click.

Angel was on me in seconds, rushing down the stairs as though I might run ahead without him. He grabbed the handlefrom me, pulling the door open and scanning the empty hallway beyond. It stretched long and empty, though the faint purple crackle continued from top to bottom.

“What are you seeing that I’m not?” he asked.

“A purple line,” I said, entering the floor and heading to the wall with the line.

Angel glanced back, his eyes narrowing. “Show me.”

The line flickered downward, like a flame twisting in the air, before vanishing into the floor. I hesitated to touch it. “There. Do you see it?”

Angel studied the spot for a long moment. “I smell ozone,” he said. “Faint. But I don’t see anything.”

What the hell did that mean?

“What happened with the kid upstairs?” he asked.

I hesitated. Was it fear or uncertainty holding me back?

“Jude.”

Angel’s hand closed around my wrist, tugging me back into the stairwell. The concrete walls muted everything, including the faint hum in my head, the distant pressure I hadn’t realized was building. His arms came around me, grounding me, and I sucked in a shaky breath. Why could I only breathe when he was this close?

Exhaling slowly, I counted silently and felt some of the tension ease. “Is possession a real thing?”

“Like, can something from the other side walk around in a mortal meat suit?” Angel asked.

“Gross, but yeah. That.”

He sighed. “It’s rare, but yes, it can happen. Kids usually have a stronger tether to their body, and I’ve never heard of a kid being possessed. More often, they are changelings, made to look like their replacement until caught. Not like in the old horror movies with demons making heads spin and stuff. You think Jonah is possessed?”

“Something isn’t right there,” I said, and recounted everythingthat had happened upstairs with Jonah Thayerson. Was he possessed? I didn’t know. The only thing I was certain of was that whatever had stared at me through Jonah’s eyes hadn’t been Jonah. “So, to recap,” I said, rubbing my temples. “My first big lead is either a demonic toddler or a fae changeling. This job is insane.”

26

We canvassed three more floors,following the fading purple line. While I had expected it to come directly from the Thayersons’ apartment, it didn’t. Instead, it snaked through the building, trailing off in areas ending in closets or windows. Tracking it was tedious, frustrating, and apparently annoying.

“Let me call in the team,” Angel said for the tenth time.

“But you can’t see it. Will any of them?”

“Maybe Bobby’s updated scanner can see it?” Angel offered.

“I’d like to find the origin first,” I said, heading back to the stairs.