Page 72 of Possessed By Shadows

Did that mean Lukas’s place had more nightmares, maybe generated by the spirit lingering? Or that Micah himself was somehow easing our nightmares? That would be a positive superpower, wouldn’t it? Even if it didn’t work for him?

My phone buzzed with a new text. Jason.

Most recent was the school.

A link popped up in the next text, to an article about a guy whose body had been found in the school. It was a vague mention, making it sound like he’d been tweaking or just a homeless guy who passed. But another article followed. The same guy a year earlier, missing. Prior to Sky’s disappearance, though not much before. He wasn’t as young as Sky, but looked young enough. Had he been taken by that trafficking ring? Just because it was more often young girls didn’t mean that young men weren’t sometimes swept up too.

“Hmm,” I said, reading through the articles. The guy was identified after death, but cause of death never mentioned. I turned the photo of him to show Sky. “Do you remember seeing him when you were taken?”

She stared at the picture and swallowed hard.

“Sorry to bring up bad memories,” I apologized.

She took the phone to enlarge the picture. “Maybe? I was really drugged up there. It took weeks to get it all out of my system. I could probably have been beaten by my own mother and not recognized her. Though that wouldn’t have been a change from growing up,” she mumbled. She handed the phone back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I reached out and hugged her. “Stay here. Let us know if you see Lukas.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the school. Jason’s crew should be setting up, and I need to see if I can talk to a more recent ghost,” I said.

“Ghosts are talking to you now? Why don’t I get the cool powers?”

“If I could hand this over…” Well, I probably wouldn’t. It wasn’t glamorous or fun at all to see the dead, orDeathitself.

Micah caught my hand and squeezed it. He understood. It was why we fit together like puzzle pieces. I gave him a giant grin thinking of him fitting into me, and the thought lightening my mood a little.

“Are you being pervy?” he asked.

“Dreaming of you fitting into me.”

Sky snorted. “Gross and adorable all at once.” She shoved us toward the door. “Be safe. Keep me in the loop. And if you find him, let me know. I need to give him a what for.”

“Even if he’s been kidnapped? Person napped or whatever?”

“Even if. He shouldn’t have been out there on his own. Should have told us…”

“We don’t should on each other,” I said, stating something my therapist told me often. It sounded like we don’tshiton each other and the concept was much the same. Fix ourselves and don’t judge. Hard to do in real life.

Sky deflated. “I’m allowed to be mad and frustrated.”

“Yep. It’s normal, but only we can fix those things for ourselves.” I headed for the door, and pulled up the app to find a ride. I was not walking to the school from here. Especially if I was going to be climbing around ruins again. Rain started again. It had been sprinkling off and on, all morning, and really began to annoy me. “Ishould havebrought my fucking cane. Maybe a wet suit if it doesn’t ever stop raining.”

“Does your hip hurt?” Micah asked.

“Always.” We stepped outside, and I looked down the stairs with annoyance. “You ready to give up on this old man?” I asked.

“You’re stuck with me.”

“Good.” The cab took a good fifteen minutes to arrive. Partially because Micah insisted we get a real cab, and not a rideshare. Something about safety. But I didn’t care as long as I could ride in back with him.

The street outside the school was lined with cars. And a white tent erected not far from the entrance. There were signs everywhere indicating there was an authorized film crew on site and to stay off the property. The gate itself was open, a simple chain with another sign about filming stretched across it.

We ducked below the sign and made our way to the tent. It looked like Lukas’s whole crew was there. Plastic tables and computer equipment set up, it made sense to have all-hands-on-deck to keep stuff from being stolen. Jason was inside chatting with another person from the crew, but turned our way when we walked in.

“No word from Lukas?” he asked.

“We have some footage to show you,” I said. “Can you tell me if you recognize the guy as one of your crew?” I pulled up my phone and the video I had saved to it.