Blood pounded in my ears. Energy still swirled around my hand as the man stared at me. He was silent, waiting for me to give him something I no longer had. I had to get away from him, but how could I without causing a scene? My newfound magic hummed through me, eager to scatter any caution to the wind.
The man spoke, slow and soft. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Why did he keep saying that?
“I just want the key,” he continued again.
After my previous encounter with a stranger, I definitely didn’t trust this one. Obviously, he didn’t have anything to do with the man who had already taken the key, otherwise he would know it was already gone. How many others would be after me because of that relic?
Perhaps it would be better to just tell him I didn’t have it, but a stubborn part of me didn’t want to admit that I had lost it. Besides, what would he do if he found out I didn’t have it anymore?
“You can’t have it.” I could hear the neighborhood waking up; the occasional voice carried on the breeze, punctuated by the slam of a car door. “You need to leave.”
My mind whirred as I tried to figure out how to get away from this man. What would happen if I hit him with the power whispering through me? Would it kill him, shred him apart with the force of it, or make him scream?
I shoved the thought away. I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted him gone. If I could somehow get out of his sight long enough to get to my car, I could leave until I figured out what exactly was going on.
“I can’t do that.” The man’s feet drifted apart, knees bending a fraction, and he leaned forward slightly. “I can’t leave.” His eyes flicked to my hand, to the new power there. “That key is dangerous.”
I couldn’t deny that after what it had done to me. Picking up that key had given me some kind of magic, terrible visions, and now people were after me. That thought did something, triggered some sort of instinct to defend deep inside. Just like the energy that came when I had encountered the one who took the key and now this man, my body seemed to react. I shifted, readying myself for a fight.
The man didn’t seem surprised, just as he hadn’t seemed deterred by the swirling energy around my fingers. That made him seem more dangerous to me. Had he seen these things before? Would he be able to tell me about what was happening to me?
His foot inched closer to me, and then the man was running straight at me, faster than his physique suggested was possible.
Before I could really think about what I was doing, I loosed the energy around my fists. He spun, the untethered energy smashing into the walking path. The ground trembled as cracks spider-webbed from the impact. I darted into the trees before he could reach me.
The snap of twigs and shuffle of leaves told me he was in close pursuit. So much for trying to be subtle. I hoped nobody would come to investigate and get into harm’s way.
I pushed my legs harder, swerved left and right between the trees to try to throw him off. I made a slight angle toward my house, hopeful that I could get away from him fast enough to get to my car.
The power that had been coursing through me seemed to have evaporated. I pulled my bag around my hip, reaching into it to try to get to my knife. It was stuck. I gave it a particularly sharp yank, losing my concentration and tripping over a fallen branch in the process. I fell, and the knife flew from my hand. The man would be on me any second. I shoved aside leaves and debris, trying to find my trusty Chaucer.
Twigs snapped, and a shadow fell beside me as my fingers closed around the handle. I flipped over to find the man barreling toward me. His intentions were clear: to grab me and take the key he thought I possessed. I leaned back, bending my knees and then shoving my feet hard into his stomach as he reached for me.
The man tilted to the side and fell to a knee. I scrambled up with my knife and continued to dash through the woods. What was with this guy? Why was he so desperate to get his hands on the key?
Through the trees, the angles of my house came into view. If I could just get to my car…
A gasp filled my lungs as an arm reached out. The man’s hand gripped me, strong and relentless, and jerked me around. He shoved me against a wide tree, the bark digging into my back. His hand pressed against my collarbone, holding me firm against the trunk. His dark brows were low. Slowly, his face tilted down, and when he glanced back up, his eyes were wider.
Held fast in my right hand was my knife, and I had the point threatening to slice a hole right through his dark blue T-shirt and up under his sternum.
“Get your hand off me.” I spat the words through clenched teeth. The man froze for a second before still stepping closer to me. I opened my mouth to protest, and he held a finger to his lips.
“Shhh.” It was then I heard the voices. The rhythm of a pair of feet hitting the trail reached me. A couple of people were jogging not too far away. “Don’t scream.”
I lifted my gaze. His face was so close, I saw a few days’ worth of stubble peppering his jaw. He smelled like sweat with a peculiar undercurrent of citrus and petrichor. His body was practically flush with mine. It irritated me. I put pressure on the knife and scowled.
“You don’t scream,” I muttered.
His cheek jumped, though whether it was an angry tick or a barely contained smile, I couldn’t tell.
The couple paused, and the two of us froze behind the tree as they remarked on the marred trail. I pulled in deep breaths as the man, who refused to give up, and I waited in silence. Finally, the footsteps continued and faded through the forest.
I pushed against the man’s firm hand. “Back off.”
I punctuated my demand with another slight upward jab of my knife.
“You’ll want to be careful with that knife,” the man said.
“I think you are the one who needs to be careful.” I didn’t break my hard gaze from his peculiar golden eyes. As I stared at him, I couldn’t help but have a strange sense that I’d seen him before. I worked to try to place him, but I was coming up blank.
Slowly, he eased up on me. Just slightly. “Give me the key.”
“You sound like a broken record.” I tried to edge to the side, but he shifted, too.
The stranger’s nostrils flared wide as he pulled in a deep breath. “You smell like fresh dirt. Been doing some gardening?” His fingers drifted across my collarbone, dropping a little lower. What was he trying to pull? Was he that desperate to be stabbed? “Where is it?”
He was looking for the key!
“I don’t have it. Now, get your hands off me.”
Making a deep noise that seemed like a cross between a sharp sigh and a growl, he finally backed off. “Just tell me where you buried it.”
I jerked my head back toward the opposite direction. He merely grumbled something and started to make his way in the direction I’d indicated.
“It isn’t there.” I was uncertain why I was choosing this moment to be honest with him. If I was smart, I would let him go off deeper and take my chance to get away.
The man turned. His face was blank, and I wondered if it was the calm before the storm. That hidden, familiar power hummed quietly within me.
“You just told me you buried it.”
I shoved away from the tree, keeping my knife clenched in my hand. “I did. And then someone else dug it up.”
He stepped closer. “Who?”
“I don’t know. He seemed…familiar. I’m not sure why, though.” I paused, recalling the strange man. “He was ancient.”
Eyebrows raising, the man near me said, “An old man took the key?”
“I didn’t say he was old. It was more like, he felt...from another time.” I couldn’t quite explain the encounter myself. “He wasn’t a normal person.”
The man nodded as if he hadn’t expected anything else. “Which way did he go?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He just disappeared.”
Crossing his arms, the muscles banding his arm straining against his shirt, he glowered. “You let this man get away with the key?”
“I didn’t let him. He took it, then attacked me.”
“After you buried it.”
I didn’t appreciate the accusing tone. Admittedly, looking back, it was probably a foolish thing to do. The key had brought those horrible visions, though, and, at the time, I had not seen any other option.
I glared right back up at the man and crossed my own arms. I wondered if he noticed I kept my knife blade pointed in his direction.
“Who are you?” I asked. “Why do you want my key?”
“Your key?”
I hadn’t realized I had called it mine. True, I had found it and whatever danger it had brought into my life, I couldn’t help but feel it had been meant to stay in my possession. “Yes. My key.”
The man studied me for a minute. He lifted his hand. “I’m Kael Rivera. I work for PITO.”
I waited for him to elaborate. No dice.
“Never heard of it,” I said.
“The Paranormal Intelligence and Tracking Organization.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh that came. It sounded made up. His scowl deepened.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “The what organization? Come on.”
He didn’t repeat himself. Instead, he started pacing. A deep growl rolled through his wide chest. He mumbled as he opened and closed his hands. Then, he suddenly whirled to face me. I brought my knife up in a knee-jerk reaction, ready for an attack.
“I have to find the man who took the key from you. Or rather, found it after you buried it.” His eyebrows lowered, and he shook his head. “I have to get it back.” He jabbed a finger at me. “And you’re going to help me.”
I really had no desire to see that strange man again. There was something dangerous about that ancient person. Still, I knew I would go with this man. Not because I trusted him. Far from it. If anything, I just wanted to figure out what this guy, Kael, knew about all of this. And above all, I knew I had to get the key back.
The power within me seemed to purr in agreement.
Besides, it seemed there was something dangerous about me, too.