The Legend of the Light Keeper (The Light Keeper Series Book 1) (2 page)

The word grated on my last nerve. “We’re not a
family
yet. Not till
after
the wedding,”

“Please, Jo-Jo, Tom’s making your favorite.”

“He’s making pancakes?” My brows rose like two wormy traitors, though I tried not to sound too excited. I hadn’t had pancakes in a while.

“Uh, no, sorry, it’s bacon and eggs.” After seeing the disappointment on my face, she pushed out her bottom lip and gave me her puppy eyes. I pulled my pillow over my head, but she didn’t leave. Instead she grabbed my arm and dragged me out of bed. Defeated, I got up and headed out the door behind her.

In the hall, Talon fell in behind me, still pulling on his shirt. He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “Aw, no pancakes for Jo-Jo.” He chuckled. He’d obviously overheard my nickname. I’d have to have a talk with Mom. If she kept this up, I’d lose my name too. If Talon took to calling me that at our new school come the fall, then it could become my permanent identity. I refused to go through my junior and senior years as Jo-Jo Jordan. I shuddered at the thought. Taking advantage of him being close, I elbowed him playfully in the stomach, and just as I suspected the night before, it was solid muscle. “Didn’t hurt,” he teased, and together we laughed.

“I’m glad to see you two getting along,” Tom said. He was scraping scrambled eggs out of a skillet and onto a platter. Most of them had stuck and crunchy bits were now falling onto the plate.
Yummy
! I thought, curling my lip.

By the time I fixed my plate, poured my juice, and sat down at the table, Talon was finishing his last forkful of eggs. He washed it down with a huge glass of milk and then wiped his mouth on his shirt. I shook my head and smiled as Mom cringed.

I couldn’t help but notice how cute he was. At first, I’d thought he was one of those guys who was full of himself, but then I wasn’t sure if he even realized how hot he truly was. I stared at him, dazed, as he rambled on to his dad about a dirt bike, and I didn’t snap out of my stupor until he mentioned going to get it out of storage. That woke me up real fast. If they were going somewhere, I wanted to go. There was no telling how long until I would see civilization again after moving out to the middle of nowhere.

Just as I was about to ask if I could go along with them, Mom killed the idea. “Lily, I need your help finishing up in the kitchen. I bought some shelf liners—it won’t take too long.” A half hour later, the dishes were done and the guys had left without me.

I tried to make the most out of lining the shelves with Mom, but to tell the truth, it was one tedious job. I had nice company though. I hadn’t been spending any time with her. She was always busy at the salon since it was starting to thrive again. People were finally getting back on their feet after the hurricane, and the first thing most of the ladies wanted were new hair styles and manicures.

Our time would be cut even shorter now that her commute had gotten longer, and I had to share her time with Tom. Those two hours really had been kind of nice, despite the tricky shelf liner. We even had a real conversation. Mom went over all the things she wanted for the wedding, which she described more than once as “Autumn Elegance.” She practically sang the words. I would be standing up with her, and Talon with Tom. I couldn’t wait to see Talon in his tux. The thought of him all dressed up, pressed and smelling good, made me smile.

After the shelves were done, Mom and I gathered up all the trash and she asked me to take it to the cans out back. I lugged them down the narrow wooden steps and somehow managed not to fall. When I reached to open the can, I heard a whistle. I glanced up to the neighbor’s house, where two boys, both about my age, stood next to a pair of fierce looking four-wheelers. One smacked the other in the arm and they turned away from me laughing.

Just as I was contemplating going inside or heading over to meet the two, I heard a sound from the front yard.
It’s Tom’s truck! They’re back
! I crammed the bags down into the cans and put the lids on the best I could. As I turned to go through the house to go out front, I noticed that the boys next door were headed that way too.

Mom stopped me on my way, so by the time I made it to the front steps, the neighbors were already talking to Tom and Talon as they unloaded the bike. When they were done, Tom went inside and suddenly all eyes were on me.

On my way down the steps to join them, Talon introduced me. “This is Lily, but you can call her Jo-Jo, she
loves
that.” He smiled and gave me a wink.

My mouth popped open with a gasp. “He’s lying! No one calls me that except my mom and I hate it.” I glared at him.

“Well how about I just call you mine?” The taller one checked me out, but part of me didn’t think he was serious. Before I had time to get embarrassed, his brother punched him in the arm again.

“You’ll have to excuse Hunter, he’s a little obnoxious. I’m Owen Riley.” He smiled shyly at me.
Or was it slyly
? I’d have to figure this one out. Unlike Talon, his face didn’t quite tell his emotions. They seemed masked somehow, mysterious. He was very handsome in a rugged way, but fitter than his brother, Hunter, who was slightly heavier and a good head taller. This made me think, despite his immature sense of humor, that Hunter was the older one.

Owen was dressed in a blue button-down shirt with the sleeves cut off to expose muscular arms, while Hunter wore a camouflage T-shirt that matched his four-wheeler out back. They both wore faded jeans and boots, despite the heat.

“You wanna go ridin’?” Hunter asked, now checking out the bike. “We got lots of trails and jumps out here, even a few mud holes.” His accent was a little thicker than ours. “She can go too if you think she can hang?”

I ignored his jab and turned to Talon. “Can I?” My eyes were wide with excitement. I’d never ridden on a dirt bike before.

“If you want.” He hesitated. “But I don’t know if Cate will like it or not.” He used Mom’s first name. It sounded strange, but much better than if he’d called her Mom. That would have been too weird. I cringed at the thought, but he had a point. Mom wouldn’t like it at all. She’d never let me go out on boats or ATVs at the beach.

“What time?” he asked our new friends.

“How about noon?” Owen checked his phone for the time. “That gives us about an hour.”

“Sounds good.” Talon turned to me and sighed. “Come on. Let’s go ask your mom.” I could tell he wasn’t looking forward to it, but at least we had a whole hour to convince her. We’d need it.

I RAN
INTO THE HOUSE
ahead of Talon and found Mom polishing the kitchen table. “Can I go for a ride with Talon and the neighbors?”

Mom looked up from her dust rag. “On that bike?” Shocked, she glared at Talon as if he’d pinched her. He stood behind me with Tom.

“Yeah, we wanted to go check out the area and get out of the house for a little while. There’s
nothing
else to
do
out here.” I tried to stress my boredom with my tone.

“I don’t know. What if something happens? What if he wraps that thing around a tree? There’s not a hospital for miles. If it doesn‘t
kill
you!” Mom bit her lip and shook her head, not giving me a final answer. I turned to look at Talon and Tom, pleading for them to help me out and convince her.

Talon spoke up. “We won’t go too fast. She’ll be fine. I’m an experienced rider, you can ask Dad.” Talon looked at him for approval.

I felt sorry for Tom, put on the spot between the two. They gave him looks filled with unspoken words and he shifted his feet, uncomfortable. I was starting to feel like I was missing some hidden meaning in those looks when Tom spoke up. “Um, sure. Talon’s a great rider. I think they’ll be okay.” But something in his voice was unsure.

“Do you have helmets?” Mom asked.

“She can wear mine.” Talon glanced back and forth between the two, as if hopeful for approval. It made me feel good that he really wanted me to go.

Mom thought a minute, looking for a new excuse. “Have you finished unpacking?” She didn’t realize that setting up my new room would take me all of twenty minutes.

“I’ll do it now! We have some time before we leave.”
Not much if you keep this up
! I thought. And before I could break out the bottom lip, she caved.

“Oh, okay. But bring your phone so you can check in.” Then she cut her eyes to Talon. “You better not let anything happen to my baby girl,” she warned.

“She’ll be fine. I promise,” he said as I darted off to my room.

I couldn’t put it off any longer. I considered the boxes that waited. They contained the few possessions that I was fortunate enough to get to bring along on the evacuation. Luckily, Mom had the Suburban and we could pack in quite a few of our necessities. We’d filled the vehicle to the max, but it didn’t make a dent in what we had to leave behind.

I used to have a beautiful porcelain doll collection that my grandmother left me. It was gone, along with my new stereo that I got for my birthday just months before. My TV, my posters, and my favorite bikini, all washed away. I had to snap out of it, that depressing feeling that tried to blanket me.
These thoughts can wreck me later. The sooner I get this done the better
.

My room was plain, with only a twin bed shoved against the wall beside a single window, a nightstand, and a small dresser. Not nearly enough to fill up the large room. I tried not to let it bother me. I had my whole life to get new things. That’s what my mom told me when we returned to find our house was gone. Completely gone, with nothing but knee-deep debris and someone’s small overturned boat where the house once stood.

Putting the memories aside was going to be harder than I’d thought. I’d tried very hard the past few months to avoid these feelings. I wasn’t the only victim in this situation, and as painful as it was, I was ready to move on and never think of it again.

I reached for the largest box and took out my small collection of CDs, the few lucky survivors, and placed them on my dresser next to my cheap replacement stereo. Next to that, I put my stack of vampire romance novels. I’d read them over and over again while we lived in the hotel. It was a great way to keep me from thinking too hard about reality. A picture of my dad followed. I’d kept it in a silver frame by my bed for as long as I could remember.

His name was Joe Jordan. He died a few months before I was born. Mom said he was excited to have a daughter, so she named me after him: Lily Jo Jordan. That’s why she called me Jo-Jo. She said I favored him. We had the same smile and the same eyes— especially the eyes. While most babies are born with blue eyes, mine were this unnatural, flat shade of green like his. Some might call it lime, but it’s more like a bright tree frog.

I stared at his picture, rubbing my thumb along the cold metal frame.
Will he find me here
?

The last few boxes were filled with clothes. I set aside a pair of faded jeans and a pale blue tank top before shoving the rest in my dresser drawers. As I grabbed my shoes, Talon knocked. “Are you ready?”

“Just a minute! Don’t come in!” I shucked off my shorts and traded them for the jeans. Then I slipped on the tank and pulled on my shoes without untying them. I opened the door to find him leaning against the wall. “How’s this?” I held out my arms. “I wasn’t sure what to wear.”

“It’s fine, now let‘s go.” He seemed amused as he led the way to the front door.

The brothers were waiting in the front drive. They were perched atop their mud-caked four-wheelers. You could almost tell that Owen’s was red. He smiled at me as I followed Talon.

Hunter spit. “It’s about time! We should’ve known a
girl
would take forever.” He winked at me, showing me he was only kidding, and before I could respond, I was interrupted.

“Boys!” A little, angry, gray-haired lady called from the yard next door. She made her way across the lawn, carefully, as if dodging obstacles.

“Ma’am?” Owen hollered.

Stopping in her tracks, she put her hands on her hips. “Where’d you put the new shovel?”

“I didn’t do anything with it! Ask Hunter!” Owen motioned to his brother.

Hunter threw his hands up in the air. “It wasn’t me. What would I do with it?”

“Well it’s gone and I need the dang thing!” The little lady looked around as if to find it in the field across the little drive, and then she stared a moment at the junky trailer on the end. We waited a few moments, expecting her to continue. I wondered if our plans were going to change over a stupid lost shovel.

Finally, Hunter started up his four-wheeler. “We’re going ridin’,” he said.

“Well you just better hurry your butts back home ASAP! ‘Cause later you’re gonna be shovel huntin’!” She threw her hands up in defeat and stomped back into the house.

“Is she always that mad?” I asked.

“Shoot girl, that ain’t mad,” Hunter said. He and his brother exchanged a look. I figured they’d probably seen the little woman
really
angry, most likely more than once.

Talon handed me the helmet. “Here, you better wear this so I don’t
kill
you.” The word was thick on his tongue. Mom must have made him feel bad, but I really didn’t want to wear that thing. No one else was wearing one. I made a face at it. “Come on, Cate will kill me if I let you go without it.”

I pulled my hair out of the ponytail, slid the band on my wrist, and pulled the helmet on. My hair stuck out, making me look ridiculous, and Talon laughed. I was not amused.

“Get on,” he said. He scooted himself up on the seat to make room for me.

“You could ride with me if it would make you more comfortable,” Owen said. He stared at me as if he saw right into me, into the most private part of my being, and he was so good-looking that it made me uncomfortable. I imagined he made other girls feel this way too.

“No thanks, I’m fine,” I said, glancing at Talon to read his reaction.

“You
sure
are. That’s why he wants you to ride with him,” said Hunter. Owen kicked his tire and frowned.

I climbed on with Talon and wrapped my arms around his firm waist. He glared back at the brothers and spun out, leaving the dirt drive. I hoped my mom didn’t see.

“Hey! Let us go first,” Owen called out. Talon slowed down at the red reflectors and let them lead the way onto Ghost Road.

Ghost Road was nothing more than a plain dirt road. It was trail-like, with a green canopy overhead from the trees. It was shaded from the sun by day and the moon at night, which made it kind of scary at any given time.

The brothers led us a long way down the road until we reached a clearing in the tree line. We turned in and stopped. “We’re gonna follow this pipeline out to the woods in the huntin’ club,” Owen explained. “It’s full of trails and we’ve even made a few jumps.”

Jumps
!

Talon glanced back at me. “How are you holding up?” he asked.

“This is fun! Will you teach me to drive?” I thought I’d spoken too loudly trying to hear myself around the roar of the bike through the helmet.

“Five minutes on my bike and you want to ride alone? Cate is gonna love this!” He shook his head.

The amusement on his face was sincere, and I loved how he smiled and how his brows raised with his cheeks when he did. His eyes held each tell of his emotions. Something about him made my heart lift as well, like a part of me had filled with helium. I was going to like living there after all. That’s the moment I remembered. “Talon! I forgot my phone!” I was sure my first ride had just become my last.

“Don’t worry. I have mine.” He patted his pocket. “What would you do without me?” His abs tightened as he laughed. I’d never had so much fun, and I had to admit to myself that the part I liked the most was holding onto him.
This guy will soon be my brother
!
It will
never work
.

We rode for hours. Talon got a little annoyed at me for screaming in his ear every five minutes. I was trying to keep my inner girly girl in check, but I wasn’t used to the bumps and small jumps he was taking. As much fun as it was, there were times it was terrifying. I’d always prided myself for being strong, but I’d have to toughen up around these guys. Finally, he made me take Owen up on his offer so he could do some bigger jumps. He was an awesome rider. My heart stopped a few times watching him, especially when he did tricks. He’d lift up his body and twist over his bike in ways that made me think he was about to crash. Hunter was amazed too.

Owen didn’t have much to say about the tricks, but was pleased to have me holding on to him. He kept urging me to hold tighter and looking back at me with those sparkly green eyes and smug smile.

When we made our way back to the mouth of the pipeline at Ghost Road and took a break, I used the opportunity to ask Owen why they called it that.

“Only tourists call it ‘Ghost Road’. It’s ‘Bragg Road’ to the locals or just ‘Bragg.’” He didn’t really answer my question, but I found his reply interesting.

What tourists
?
Do people actually come out here to tour the road like Mom said
?
There’s nothing here.
We seem to be the only locals. I must be missing something
.

“Okay.” I tried again. “What ghosts? Is this place really haunted?” I remembered what Mom had told me but I was curious for a better version of the story.

Talon spoke up. “I’ve been wondering that too. I forgot to ask Dad about it.”

Owen hesitated as if he didn’t know where to start. “This is Bragg Road now, but years ago it was a branch off the Santa Fe railroad that went from Bragg to Saratoga. The tracks were right here where the road is now. That’s why it’s very flat and straight as an arrow. They were pulled up after the town died.”

“What town?” Talon asked before I could. There was no sign of a town ever being there, not for miles before reaching the road. It seemed impossible for one to have existed, even long ago.

“Bragg was the name of the town, and no one knows why it died out, but now this is all that’s left. Back in its day, when the railroad was here, some brakeman got his head knocked off by the train, and now they say that you can see him roaming the road, searching for it. That’s what people see, the Ghost Light, or Bragg Light as we call it.” Owen acted as though he really believed in it. “It’s been on TV and in
National
Geographic
. People still come from miles around to see the Light.”

“
National Geographic
?” Talon laughed.

“Yeah,
National
freakin’
Geographic
,”he said, mocking Talon with his tone.

“You’re serious?” said Talon.

“You’ve seen it?” I asked. Owen nodded and looked to Hunter.

“We both have, several times,” Hunter said. “You really do get people out here more often than you’d think: scientists, investigators, and all sorts of people. Halloween is a good time of year, too, as well as any Saturday night in the summer.”

“Maybe we can see it sometime,” I said. I glanced to Talon for his reaction. Shaking his head with a smirk, he didn’t seem convinced.

“Sure, you might even see it from your house.” Owen laughed until Hunter gave him a strange look. “We better get back.”

I got back on with Talon so Mom wouldn’t know that I’d trusted my life to the stranger next door. Talon was filthy and so was his bike. He’d tried to wipe off the seat for me, but it was no use. I climbed on anyway and held on tight, expecting him to take off. Instead, he waited as Owen spoke. “Hey, if you want to, y’all can come over later and Granny will tell us more about the Light legends. There are several of them, more than I can remember. She’ll know them. She’s from over at Saratoga.” He motioned over his shoulder to the opposite end of Bragg Road. “There’s some pretty interesting history too. We can cook links if you want?”

Talon accepted for the both of us. “Sure, we’ll come. What time?”

“Whenever you want,” Hunter replied. “We ain’t gonna be doing nothin’ but shovel huntin’.” The brothers laughed as we started back up to head for home.

It was almost six p.m. when we got back and Mom was waiting for me at the door. She held out my cell phone, which reminded me that I hadn’t called to check in.

“Sorry,” I said, taking my phone while she gave Talon a disgusted look. He stood outside brushing the dirt and mud off his clothes. I could tell she didn’t want that mess of dirt in her new house. She looked me over and relief crossed her face when she accepted that I was in one piece.