46
Amanda obeyed the man with the gun. He turned the light on, and she saw Rebecca, bound and gagged, lying awkwardly on the floor. Her face was scraped and she was bleeding from a cut on her chin. Seeing her cousin mistreated, knowing this man had shot Tyler, seeing Tyler’s blood on his hands and clothing-all combined to make Amanda feel suddenly more angry than afraid.
Rebecca, pale and wide eyed, looked relieved to see Amanda until she saw the man just behind her. Amanda hurried to her cousin and tried to move her to a more comfortable position. With some effort, she managed to help her sit up. Rebecca seemed woozy. She leaned against Amanda.
“What did you do to her?” Amanda asked.
“Shut up!” he said.
Rebecca made a little screeching sound behind her gag, but she wasn’t looking at either Amanda or the man with the gun. When Amanda followed the direction of Rebecca’s gaze, she saw her aunt and uncle hovering nearby.
“Shut up, I said!” their captor repeated.
“Are you the one called Evan, or are you Daniel?”
He was shocked to hear her mention their names.
“You told your names to Brad, remember? Uncle Jordan and Aunt Cynthia, is this Daniel?”
“You aren’t fooling me with that old ‘someone is behind you’ stunt,” he said.
But behind him, the ghosts were shaking their heads. Rebecca cowered against her.
“Evan it is, then,” Amanda said.
“Look, you, I don’t know what kind of trick you’re trying to pull on me, but I told you-”
She saw his uncertainty, his fear, and decided to keep him off balance. “Are your parents living, Evan?”
Evan was so taken aback by this question, he answered, “No. Dead for years.”
“Well, if their ghosts suddenly appeared in this room, wouldn’t you screech?”
“Leave them out of this. You don’t know a thing about them!”
“True, although I’m sure they’re both very disappointed in you, wherever they are. The point is, the ghosts of Rebecca’s parents are right here, right now. Just behind you.”
He glanced nervously in the direction of Rebecca’s gaze and took a step sideways.
The ghosts seemed suddenly distracted and turned their heads as if they had heard a noise. They disappeared.
Amanda felt a little of her confidence go with them.
A moment later, though, she heard noises downstairs.
Evan heard them, too, and stepped into the hall and shut the light off. While he was distracted, she used her free hand to reach for Tyler’s cell phone and, without holding it up to her face, pressed redial.
Evan heard the sound of Alex’s voice answering hello on the other end, though, and turned back toward Amanda in a fury, snatching the phone from her and ending the call. He stepped back, then threw it hard at her, and although she tried to shield her face, it clipped her near the eye, then it slid under the bed, out of reach.
One of the stairs creaked.
Evan stepped out into the hallway, gun held nervously before him. He started to walk toward the stairway. Amanda gently left Rebecca’s side, ignoring her soft sounds of panic. She looked for something to use as a weapon and saw a large vase filled with dried flowers on top of the dresser. Taking hold of it, she crept out of the bedroom.
Evan was just ahead of her, standing at the top of the stairs. If she aimed it just right…
Amanda heard a low growl.
“Shade, no, he’s got a gun!” she shouted, throwing the vase at Evan, which clipped him on the side of the head before it shattered somewhere below.
She turned on the hall light, hoping to help the dog see the gun.
But Evan was already firing at the dog. Shade kept coming. Evan turned the gun on Amanda.
Shade leaped, knocking him to the floor, then, moving between her and Evan, stood bristling, growling at him.
Evan hurriedly came to his feet. He raised the gun again.
Shade leaped again and sank his fangs into Evan’s throat.
The man burst into flames. His body, his arms, his legs, his face-all afire. His mouth opened as if to scream, and then he vanished.
Amanda stood frozen in shock.
The stairs showed no sign of burning. There were no ashes anywhere. Had she really seen…? Yes, there was Shade.
Shade looked up at her. For a brief moment she wondered if he was going to attack her next, but there was nothing fierce in his gaze. He sat calmly, as if he knew she was not ready to be approached.
“Don’t think me ungrateful,” she said, hearing her voice tremble, “but that scared the hell out of me.”
47
Shade cocked his head, then rolled over, exposing his belly. Tyler had said that until that night in the desert, Shade had never struck this submissive pose for anyone but Tyler.
She moved cautiously down the hall and reached out a shaking hand to stroke his fur. It had a calming effect on her. She tried to discover if he had been hit anywhere, but he seemed unharmed. He came to his feet, and she buried her face in his soft fur. “Shade, help me. I know you know what to do. I’m so new to this, and I’m so scared.”
He softly nestled the crest of his head against her cheek, and made a kind of sighing sound. His breath was sweet and warm.
She again felt a sense of calm, one that allowed her to think more clearly. She reexamined Shade for any sign of injury, but although she could see places where bullets had struck the woodwork on the stairs and banister, he bore no wounds. She didn’t understand what had happened to Evan, but she had no time to worry about that now.
“Rebecca!” she said suddenly, and ran back down the hall. Shade followed at a more stately pace.
She entered the room to see her cousin cowering in fright.
“I know, I know,” Amanda said. “But he’s gone now. Shade…got rid of him for us.”
Rebecca looked gratefully at the dog.
“Hang on, let me find something to cut you loose.”
Amanda ignored the ringing of Tyler’s cell phone, somewhere under the bed, as she rummaged through a drawer and found a pair of scissors. She cut Rebecca’s hands and feet free of duct tape, then gently worked to pull it off her face. She had nearly completed this process when Shade came to his feet and went to the door.
Amanda tried not to be alarmed by this.
She let Rebecca manage the last of the tape. Rebecca drew a few deep breaths, then reached for Amanda and began to sob in her arms.
Even over these sounds, they both heard Shade growl.
Rebecca whispered, “He’s back!”
“No, no, he’s not.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said with a shudder.
“Amanda?” a familiar voice called.
“Alex! Yes, I’m here! Rebecca, too-we’re up here.”
“Umm, could you call Shade off?”
“Shade!” Amanda said, moving to the doorway. “You know Alex!”
Shade remained in a warning stance-high on his toes, back bristling, ears pitched forward.
“Oh!” Amanda said, seeing that Alex had her gun drawn. “It’s probably the gun. Put it away and I think he’ll let you up here.”
The moment Alex holstered the gun, the dog came forward to greet her in a friendly manner.
“What’s going on here?” Alex asked, seeing the bullet holes in the staircase.
“Long story, and we don’t have time for all of it now.” Out of immediate danger, all her fears for Tyler came rushing back. “Alex, they’ve taken Tyler. We need to get out of here and…”
“And what?”
Amanda looked in panic to Shade, who stared back at her. Never had she wished so much that he could talk. She tried to calm down.
“We need to get back to Tyler’s house,” she said, and the dog wagged his tail. “We’ll all be safer, and I-I can figure things out once we’re there.”
Rebecca hobbled out of the bedroom. She had Tyler’s cell phone in her hand. “Yes. Let’s get out of here. Please.” She began to gingerly make her way down the hall.