Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (21 page)

Don’s deep, rough voice immediately brought a smile
to my exhausted face. Even though it had only been a week since I last saw him,
it felt like I hadn’t heard the comfort of his voice in ages.

“I’m over here in Pandora, Ohio working on a case…I
think you should come right away.”

These words would lead any normal person to think
something was seriously wrong, but in the hunting world it signaled something
exciting and interesting. I pictured Don sitting on the edge of his seat, eyes
crinkled from his large crooked grin. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes as I
thought. I wanted to jump up right then and rush to the door, but a part of me
held back. I couldn’t just leave like I used to…what about Sari? Surely if I
left he would know where I was, right?

“Kammy, I’ve got a woman here who’s being haunted
by her daughter. I’ve spoken with the little girl and she’s mentioned the woman
who killed her…”

My heart raced. I waited in anticipation for Don to
confirm the wishful thoughts going through my head.

“…she said her name is Mia.”

I got out of bed as fast as I could, catching my
balance as my tired body tried to catch up with my head. I put the phone on
speaker and set it down on the dresser as I rummaged through my bag for
clothes. I still hadn’t turned the lights on and I was blindly feeling around
for a shirt and a pair of pants.

“Here’s the best part, Kammy. This little girl
knows where Mia is.”

“I’m on my way, Don, right now!”

I hung up the phone and pulled on my clothes as I
rushed out the door with my belongings. Not wanting to waste a second, I tossed
the bags into the bed of the truck before jumping in. And just like that, I was
off.

My eyes were wide and focused as I sped down the
empty, dark road. Little wet, white flakes floated down from the clouds onto my
windshield before changing to specks of water. I turned on the wipers and
continued forward, not ready to let any kind of weather slow me down. As the
orange glow of the morning sun crept up slowly behind me, the highway started
to fill with busy drivers on their way to work. It was the first time I
wouldn’t have traded places with any of them. For once, I felt like the tables
were turning and it was all finally going my way.

The hours dragged on as I made my way back to the
mid-west. Every time I approached a toll booth, I considered blowing straight
through without so much as tossing the change out the window into the funnel
shaped collector. My nerves were electrically charged. In the end, I stopped
and paid my dues.

“Well hello there, young lady,” the silver haired
man in the booth window greeted me. “Sure is a nice set of wheels you’ve got
there. What is that? A ’65 Chevy?”

As soon as his hand extended from the window, I
shoved a wad of dollar bills at him. I wasn’t even sure how much this
particular toll was, but I was sure the money I had given him was more than
enough to cover it.

“Something like that. Bye!” I yelled back as I sped
forward.

As I exited off the toll road, I made my way into
Pandora. The nervousness of what I was about to do set in. My stomach felt as
if it were tying itself into painful knots. My hands kept slipping down the
steering wheel from my sweating palms. I made the last turn onto a side road
leading to the house Don had told me he would be at. My heart raced in
anticipation when I saw Don’s old station wagon in the driveway. I pulled up
right behind it and took a deep breath before stepping onto the walkway leading
up to the house.

This was it. This was what I had been hoping would
happen for the past year and now it was here. The pinks and yellows of the sun
brightly shone on the front door as I raised my hand to knock.

“Finally,” Don greeted as he smiled, pulling me in
for a hug.

The smell of burning wood and tobacco filled my
nostrils while I buried my face into his flannel shirt. As his big arms wrapped
tightly around my tiny frame every tension I had in my body melted away.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” came a
booming voice from behind.

Don and I jumped apart and stared at the doorway
where Sari now stood, fuming. In the blink of an eye, he was standing a few inches
in front of us. Don put his arm out, shoving me behind him before I could open
my mouth to explain.

“I don’t know who you really are, buddy, but maybe
it’s time you back off,” Don said in his most intimidating voice.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, so why
don’t you just get out of the way?” Sari challenged, staring into Don’s tired,
wrinkled eyes.

“Ok, that’s enough you two!” I exclaimed as I
stepped out from behind Don’s protective arm. “We’re all here for the same
reason.”

Sari stepped forward and tucked a long, stray piece
of hair behind my ear as he pulled me in for a hug. I saw Don’s face out of the
corner of my eye and thought at any moment he would rip me and Sari apart like
my father used to do when he would catch me and Rob making out. Instead, he
watched us silently, piecing it all together.

“I was so worried about you,” Sari whispered,
cupping my face in his hands. “I got back to the hotel, found the bed unmade
and empty and the office said you never checked out.”

I hadn’t thought about how it would look once Sari
returned, but now I understood why I had scared him so much. I would have felt
the same way if the situation had been reversed.

“I’m sorry. I got the call from Don about Lamia and
couldn’t wait,” I explained, lowering my gaze to my shoes.

Sari gently lifted my chin till our eyes locked
together. His warm eyes shone as he leaned in closer to brush his soft lips
against mine before kissing them.

“It’s ok, just…” he took in a long breath as he
clasped his hands around mine and kissed them. “ Just don’t ever leave me.”

Don heaved a loaded sigh, bringing us back.

“Alright, lovebirds, let’s get this show on the
road.”

As we followed Don through the house and up the
stairs to what used to be a little girl’s bedroom, I couldn’t help smiling to
myself. I paused before entering so as not to offend the woman waiting for us
with my sheer happiness. I allowed myself to inwardly celebrate before walking
into the room.

“Mrs. Johnson, this is Kamlyn Page,” Don said as he
led us towards each other to shake hands. “I think she can help your daughter.”

The woman’s bottom lip started to tremble as her
eyes welled up with tears.

“Oh, thank you,” she mouthed silently, sitting down
again on the edge of her daughter’s pink and white bed. She covered her face
with her hands and wept while Don tried to console her.

“Mommy? Who’s this?”

I whirled around to find a small girl no older than
Danny standing in the doorway. She looked as solid and real as any of us
standing in the room. Her cheeks lacked the rosy glow most kids her age had and
her eyes shone a dull, matted silver. By the standards of modern horror movies,
I should have been scared. Instead I smiled as my eyes welled up with tears.

“Hi, sweetie,” I said, kneeling down to her eye
level. “I’m Kamlyn. What’s your name?”

The little girl squeezed her ragged teddy bear,
nestling her face into its soft body.

“Chrissie…” she answered, letting a tiny grin shine
through her shyness.

Her eyes wondered the room until she settled on
Sari. Her lips curled into a large, toothy grin as she lowered the stuffed
animal from her face.

“Who’s he?”

I followed her gaze to Sari and giggled as I
realized no matter what the age, no girl was immune to his undeniable beauty
and charm. Sari flashed one of his bright smiles and knelt down next to me,
causing Chrissie to grin even wider.

“This is my friend, Sari. We’re here to help you,”
I explained as they shook hands.

Without a word, she nodded her head, sending her
long blonde curls bobbing around her face. She walked over to her mother and
sat next to her on the bed. She wrapped her arms around her teddy bear again,
waiting for one of us to speak again.

“I need you to tell me about Mia,” I said.

The little girl looked up at her mother, silently
asking for her permission to discuss the subject with nothing more than a
glance.

“It’s ok, honey. Go ahead,” the woman coaxed
softly.

Chrissie took a deep breath as she set her bear
down in her lap and played with its ears.

“Well, she makes me tired,” she blurted in
frustration. “She’s always making me follow her around when all I want to do is
play with my toys or take a nap.”

Her mother turned her head, covering her mouth with
her hand in an attempt to be strong in front of her daughter.

“That’s why we’re here, Chrissie. If you can tell
us where Mia is then we can make sure she never bothers you again,” I smiled.

“She’s in school right now,” she said, eyeing the
toys strategically placed along the shelves across from her.

I wrinkled my forehead and turned to look at Sari.

“School? Do you know which one? Where the school’s
at?” I questioned.

Her gaze shifted back to Sari, lingering for a
moment on his warm smile before turning back to me.

“It’s an older person school in a weird sounding
town,” she stammered, slowly taking her time on every word she said.

“Do you know the name, sweetie? Sound it out if you
have to. We can figure it out,” Sari pressed as he smiled.

I normally had all the patience in the world for
children, but right then it was unbearable. I took a deep breath and continued
to hang on her every word.

“Umm…I’ve never heard the first part but the second
part is like my name, but Christi. That’s all I can remember,” she said,
lowering her head in disappointment.

“That’s perfect. You did a good job!” I said with
the same over exaggerated smile I used to give Danny.

Her face lit up with the satisfaction of
accomplishment. She stood up from the bed and ran over to her toys to play with
them. Sari and I grinned at each other.

“Uh oh…” Chrissie groaned from across the room,
dropping her porcelain doll onto the hardwood floor.

The face of the doll cracked in half, sending one
piece sliding till it stopped in front of my feet. Chrissie’s body flickered in
and out as she fought to stay in her room with her mother.

“My baby!” Mrs. Johnson exclaimed at the sight of
her daughter fading away.

It was too late, though. She was gone. At least we
now had a lead on how to help her and Danny I thought as I made my way out of
the room. Don met me and Sari on the front porch, shutting the door behind him
and sitting on an old wooden rocking chair. The sky was dark by then and the
brown grass turned white as large snowflakes fell slowly. With no wind in
sight, the large specks of white clung to any surface they landed on.

“So, here is what I could piece together from what
Chrissie said earlier about her and this Mia,” Don said, lowering his head as
if in thought about the best way to explain. “Apparently, she broke apart that
little girl’s soul and keeps a part of it with her at all times…incase she
needs a beauty boost or something, I guess.”

It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me
with a sledgehammer. I clenched my chest, trying to take a deep slow breath but
failing. I sat down on the chair across from Don and stared at him in horror.

“Do you think…?” I started to say but stopped in
order to swallow the pain and fight back the oncoming tears. “Do you think that
is what happened to Danny?”

Sari walked over and stood next to me, resting his
hands on my shoulders. He rubbed softly at the base of my neck, slightly
releasing the mound of tension I had built up.

“No, I believe he is still whole,” Don responded.

“How do you know?” I asked, looking down at the
slick wooden boards of the porch.

“Because you said when you talk to him in your
dreams, he doesn’t know where Mia is. Chrissie does because a piece of her is
always with the bitch. Danny just gets called upon every now and then I believe.”

What he said did make sense. I was willing to
believe anything at that point so the pain of it all would go away. I had to
keep focused. I had to keep my eye on the prize and right now that prize was
seeing Lamia dead. My sadness and fear was overpowered by a raging anger. I
blinked away the tears from my eyes and stiffened my back.

“Alright, then. Let’s do this. I’ll call Cara and
see if she can find us this town,” I said, ready to get down to business.

I stood up and walked to the edge of the porch.
Resting on the railing, I pulled out my cell phone and pressed speed dial one.

“Ooo!” Cara exclaimed without even saying hello
first. “More dish on your angel boyfriend?”

I glared at Sari standing across from me as he
chuckled to himself. It never failed. Whenever someone said something to
embarrass me, he was always there to hear it. If he had been a normal guy there
would have been no way he could have heard Cara through the phone.

“Not quite. I need you to do a little research for
me…” I said, knowing she’d be ready to jump on board.

“Of course I’m up to it!” she yelled into the
phone. “I was wondering why you haven’t been calling for any help lately.”

“Well, Sari and I got caught up in some other
stuff…” I trailed off, not wanting to go into details right then.

The story of the sister witches was going to be a
long one and I would definitely remember to tell her later. It was such an
interesting story.

“Ooo lala,” Cara teased as she giggled.

I rolled my eyes, even though she could not see me
as I waited for her to finish her flash back to middle school. Her laughing
tapered off until she quieted herself, waiting for me to speak.

“I need you to find a town for us. Two words and
the last one is Christi,” I said, hoping it was a big town she could find right
away.