Page 85 of Marked By Shadows

“Fill it up. Plenty of room,” Grace said.

“Thank you,” Alex told her, taking the container and my little bowl to combine them. “We were going to head out right away. There’s a class at nine I want to jump in.”

I nodded, though only vaguely remembered the schedule Alex and I had discussed. Too much on my mind. My gaze met Freya’s and she didn’t seem upset or worried, just sad.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“I’ve had better mornings, but I’ll be fine,” she assured me. “Go. Have fun. I’ll see you at the convention later. My first class isn’t until eleven.”

I ran back to the cabin to grab the costume bags, and dropped them off before making my way to the car. I was seated and nibbling on fruit before realizing that I was in the passenger seat and Alex was driving.

“Um, you don’t have a valid license,” I said.

“I don’t plan on getting pulled over,” he told me, eating a banana while he steered us out of the B&B lot. “You’re a little out of it. That means I drive or we get another rideshare.”

“We could carpool with one of the other.”

“No,” Alex said. “Someone in that group is shady.”

“You don’t know that for sure.” But I didn’t stop him to take over. Alex actually drove with exceptional care. Full stops, signals, brakes, yielding to others when I would have pushed through with impatience. He followed the GPS on his phone, using the longer highway route. His phone rang about halfway there. Alex used a button on the steering wheel to click answer. I hadn’t even known that was an option.

“Brother mine, tell me what you know,” Alex said into the sudden lack of the radio as the phone connected. The GPS still showed on the screen on the car, but the phone said ‘Lukas’.

“You do know police information isn’t public information, right?” Lukas asked drolly over the line.

“Hi, Lukas,” I said.

“Hello, Micah. I thought you were supposed to be keeping this jerk in line? Not chasing monsters or anything?”

“We aren’t chasing anything,” Alex said. “I just want to make sure nothing is chasing us. I didn’t get much from Manning this morning, but enough to make me worry.”

“Manning has a good reputation. Smart, resourceful, good solve rate, and often ends up with bigger, more complicated cases. I know he called the department here to ask about both of you. And there are whispers about the FBI getting involved, which means a big body count. I can’t pull case details without risking my job,” Lukas said.

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“I can say what has been released to multiple media outlets is limited, but I know there are more than three bodies.”

“More than three,” Alex echoed.

The words sank in slowly. Byrony, Sarah, and Amanda. Who else? Why?

“Word is they were looking for some military type drones to scan wooded areas for the possibilities of others. I know there’s a big request out for cadaver dogs. Some people are talking about a new serial killer. I think you guys should come home,” Lukas said.

“We don’t know if this is related to us or the group at all,” I said.

“Three members of the group dead, that’s what Alex confirmed for me already,” Lukas said. “Sounds like more than a coincidence to me.”

“In a group that has thousands,” I protested.

“Yet these three were part of the small group that actually meets up for costume stuff, right?” Alex asked.

“Manning did not confirm that they found Sarah or Amanda,” I said.

“Not in so many words,” Alex agreed. I really hoped neither of us gave away that Alex was driving instead of me. Lukas would freak. “I plan to keep us separate from the group as much as possible. Claiming we are doing lots of classes, and if I see anything as a threat we’ll leave.”

“The whole running into a guy in the middle of the road wasn’t bad enough?” Lukas said.

“At least we found him, got him help,” Alex pointed out.