The Accidental Familiar (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 14) (25 page)

But the chaos and the pain of the crash were vague and distant as the crystal grew warm in her hand and her eyes clouded, her vision becoming blurry. That crazy low rumble began in her ears again, pulsing, growing stronger.

The word
Littleton
popped up in front of her like a neon sign, flashing and blinking a furious rhythm just as the whispering began. “
Littleton! Littleton! Littleton
,” the ironically soothing voice hummed.

“Do you hear that?” she called out to the girls and Calamity.

“Hear what?” Marty yelped, her voice frantic.

“Rick, Rick, Rick!
” the voice whispered, swirling in an ominous throb in her ears. Poppy jolted upward, throwing her hands over her ears to stop the maddening chant, tears forming in her eyes.

More flickering images flew in front of her, heinous images of death, pain so ugly, she had to close her eyes to block it out, and all the while, the words, “
Littleton! Littleton! Littleton!
” screeched through her brain.

“Stoooop!” Poppy screamed, so loud her throat ached. “Stoooop!
Please, stop!
”

“Jesus Christ!” Nina yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her close to her chest. “What’s happening?”

As suddenly as it began, the chant stopped.

Gulping for air, Poppy struggled out of Nina’s arms, looking right at her. “Littleton! I have to get to Littleton!”

“
I
’mma tell you one last time, Ballerina, slow the fuck down, or I’m gonna put you down. I’m all for a good hunt, but not when your life’s in the mix. Now sit your ass down on that couch and shut your flappy lips before I sew them shut,” Nina ordered, her face cross.

“We have to go to Littleton
now
!” Poppy insisted, so panicked, not even Nina’s threat made her think twice. Rick was at Littleton. She was certain. Something awful was happening with him. She needed to see to his safety.

Nina shook her head, flashing her fangs in a threatening manner. “Um, no. We need to wait and hear from the doc. She said today was the day for the crazy. Like, the ultimate crazy. We’re not letting you go stick your nose into that crazy until we can get her advice. And Darnell’ll be here any minute to help. You’re not going to Littleton alone. End of. Now, swear to Jesus, Slick, you make a break for it, I chase you down like a tiger chases a gazelle in a Discovery Channel documentary, and trust this shit, I’ll catch you.”

Marty grabbed at Poppy’s arm, her face so full of concern, it almost made Poppy tear up from her frustration. “Just give us a second to get in touch with January, honey.
Please.
We have to have a plan before we go on the attack. We’re talking magic here. It takes more than muscle to navigate.
”

But her panic was in full swing now and like a pack of stampeding wild horses, that panic trampled her. “Fuck plans!”

She knew she had to go this instant. Right now. It was already dark, they’d already be gearing up for the demo in another hour, and then Rick would be harder to locate. She’d tried texting him, but she’d gotten no response. She’d left him five back-to-back voicemails, and he hadn’t returned a single call.

“Explain to me this vision or whatever it was again,” Wanda insisted, pulling Poppy’s sweater tighter over her chest. “Stay focused and talk this out with me.”

Again, Poppy tried to shake off the horror. “I can’t speak the words, Wanda. It was horrible. I’m almost one hundred percent sure Yash was trying to tell me something with that crystal. Who else’s crystal could that be but Yash’s? He was pretty into the metaphysical, right? It’s not a stretch to think he used crystals for more than just decoration. It had to be his. And tell me this, why did he look so upset in that picture with Rick and Avis? Then the voice, yelling at me to go to Littleton, yelling Rick’s name. This all leads back to Littleton!”

Wanda’s lips thinned as she gripped Poppy’s shaking fingers, her eyes full of worry. “Okay, and what
if
—what if it wasn’t Yash? What if it was all a trick, honey? What if it was the aura so hell-bent on seeing you dead who’s calling out?”

Tears began to slip from her eyes, her heart bashing so hard against her ribs, she thought it would explode. Her panic was no longer on the rise, it was everything—all consuming.

“No! You all have to listen to me! That crystal belonged to Yash! He was trying to tell me something. I have—to—go!” she roared, the words shooting from her mouth like bullets.

“Miss Wanda? What can I do to soothe Mistress Poppy?” Arch asked, his eyes darting and as frantic as Poppy felt. “Tell me. I’ll do anything to ease your suffering until Miss January arrives.”

Poppy backed away, holding up her hands. She knew she looked like she’d lost her mind, but the pressure of the urgency, this need to get to Littleton, flooded her, overwhelmed her to the point of leaving her head a jumbled mess.

“Nothing! I don’t need anything—I have to leave!”

“Poppy-Seed, my boo, I’m beggin’ ya—listen! Listen to me!” Calamity ordered from the island counter, jamming her round face into Poppy’s shoulder.

Poppy’s eyes darted toward the feline, searching for a focus, a way to rein in this horrible, despicable fear, but she couldn’t. There was no stopping this. So she shook her head again until her eyeballs rolled and the pound in her temples grew.

“Nononono!”

“Miss Nina! What’s going on?” a gruff, gentle voice called from the doorway.

“Jesus Christ, thank fuck you’re here, D! Somethin’ ain’t right with our girl. Help us!” Nina called out.

An enormous man, the size of two linebackers, was suddenly in her line of vision, his round face and soothing eyes seeking Poppy’s. “Gimme your hand, Poppy. Give it here now,” he demanded, but it wasn’t with impatience or upset urgency. He said it with a calm that somehow pierced her anxiety.

She gave him her hand, his large palm enveloping her fingers. “I’mma need you to listen to my voice, Poppy.” He paused, making sure he had her attention before he said, “Name’s Darnell and I’m a demon. Thass right, you heard correct. Demon. But I ain’t a bad one. So you listen up. I’m here to help, but you gotta let me.”

Holding Darnell’s hand was like floating in a protective bubble of soothing bath water. Suddenly, everything stilled, and she nodded as though in a trance.

He bobbed his head of shortly cropped hair in approval, his smile kind. “Nice. Good girl. Now you just listen. We’re gonna fix this, but you cain’t go runnin’ off. You got to stay close, okay? Bad stuff happens tonight if you ain’t careful. You’re too new to be off on your own with all this other nonsense floatin’ about to boot. Now, promise ol’ Darnell you’ll stay close.”

“Pro…mise,” she stuttered, weak as relief eased her tension, massaged her muscles until they began to quiver.

It was then Darnell pulled her close to his barrel chest, rocking her in a light sway to ease her shakes. “I got ya now. You just breathe. Just close your eyes and breathe, Poppy. Fo’ this is through, we gonna be good friends. Promise you that.”

Friends. She liked friends, especially ones like this, who smelled like the woods and a warm, crackling fire. Mercifully, her face began to relax, the throb in her head eased.

Someone stroked her back. “That’s it, sweetie. Just relax. January will text soon.”

Marty. That was Marty being Marty. A mom.

As she drifted further, someone else draped a blanket over her, warming her to a pleasantly toasty state.

“Thank goodness for you, Master Darnell. She was growing quite frantic. Where would we be without you, fine fellow?”

Darnell’s chuckle rumbled in her ear, lulling her, and as her eyes closed and her body became calm, she drifted away.

She only vaguely heard the call of her name…a frenzied cry, if she were to label it. But she was too focused on how peaceful being tucked into Darnell’s embrace, a perfect stranger’s embrace, was probably the best thing since landing a gig in the chorus of
The Lion King.

* * * *

Her back hit the ground with a thwack, stealing the breath from her lungs. The ground beneath her soggy and cold. No longer was she drifting in calm waters.

Instead, that damn panic was back, gnawing her from the inside out. Her eyes flew open, adjusting to the enveloping darkness greeting and whooshing about her ears. Loud voices, rough and harsh, swelled around her then faded, and then she realized where she was.

Littleton
.

In the garden by the front door, surrounded by the bonsai trees. The building was dark, clearly, everyone gone for the demolition. How the hell had she ended up here? Where was everyone? Darnell, the strangest dichotomy of a demon ever? Nina, Wanda, Marty, Carl, Calamity? How had she been zapped here?

What was happening and why? What was she looking for?

Get up, Poppy! Get up! Get Rick!
some unknown force screamed in her brain. So, she did as it told her, using her arms to piston her upward. A wince of pain jabbed her just below her breasts, making the effort to sit up straight a painful one.

Get Rick!

But where is he?
She wanted to scream, rising to her haunches and using the bench in the garden as leverage to pull herself up. All sorts of words from the space around her assaulted her then.

Death. Evil. Agony
.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Poppy clenched her fists in frustration as her eyes surveyed the landscape of the building. She heard someone yell “twenty minutes” from what sounded like just outside the gates, reminding her this building was scheduled to blow.

The diner.
Maybe Rick was at the diner with the rest of the tenants, waiting to watch the big demo? Hadn’t Arnie said they were going to make a party of it?

Running toward the gates, her hand had just reached out to open them when the voice screamed again, “
Get Rick!
”

Fighting that disturbing panic, Poppy stopped in the middle of everything. Simply stopped and looked up to the sky for guidance, attempting to sort her panic from reason.

“Okay, listen. I’m freaked out here. You keep yelling at me to get Rick, but I don’t know where Rick is or why I have to get him. Can I have a noun, please? Like a location? I’m happy to get Rick if you’ll just tell me how!”

She listened again for the voice, but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing but the sound of her heartbeat crashing in her ears.

Raising her face to the sky, Poppy grimaced, still fighting a full-on panic attack. “Huge batch of help that was. Thanks for nothing,” she mumbled—and then she heard someone calling her name.

“
Poppy! Up here!
”

Cocking her head, she turned to look toward Littleton. Was that Rick? Had he suddenly found his voice? Squinting, she looked into the darkness of the building, desolation swarming her and landing square in her chest.

“Poppy!”

Frowning, she realized that was definitely Rick. Why would he be in a building they were preparing to demolish in now less than twenty minutes?

That was when it hit her. The words death, evil, agony. Did someone have him in the building? Maybe the aura? Could the aura detach itself from her and harm Rick?

If it can lob you across the woods, of course, it can attach itself to Rick, moron.

Maybe that was why she’d felt the pressing need to get to Littleton? Because Rick was being held captive by the aura?

Scraping her hand over her back pocket, Poppy discovered she didn’t have her phone. She couldn’t call January or Nina or anyone, and she was the dreaded A word.

Alone. Something she wasn’t supposed to be no matter what.

Her hands went clammy and shaky. If she left and went to find a way to contact the girls, and Rick really was in the building, he could end up dead. January had said the aura wanted death.

“Poppy!”

Looking up, she pinpointed where his voice was coming from and decided there was no other way. She had to go look. Whipping around, Poppy’s eyes scanned the surrounding area for any signs of help, but the place was deserted.

“Get Rick!”

As another tidal wave of fear coursed through her, she knew he was in the building. She felt it in her bones, and there was nothing left to do but go in and find him.

Without another thought, and with the small consolation that she was pretty quick on her feet, Poppy took off for the interior of the building, pushing her way through the front doors.

* * * *

“
She what?
” Rick asked just before he realized his voice had returned.

“Well, look who can fucking talk, would ya? Thought you had laryngitis? Or was that pussy-itis?” Nina crowed, jamming her face in his.

Clenching his jaw, he forced himself to respond rationally. Nina was only looking out for Poppy, and for that he was grateful. If it meant he had to suffer her threats, he’d do it gladly.

“I’m as surprised as you. Forget my voice for now and tell me what happened to Poppy.”

Nina snapped her fingers. “Dis-a-fucking-ppeared, dude! One minute Darnell was rocking her like a damn baby, the next she was just gone.”

Fear flooded his gut, making him lean against the door of his house for support. The cold, clear night above appeared harmless but had somehow become chock full of danger.

He hadn’t even stuck the key in his door before the women, Carl, and a new man he hadn’t identified yet swarmed him, all talking at once about Poppy’s disappearance as they prepared to go find her.

His plan had been to ask Poppy to come to the diner with him to be with the seniors and watch the demo. He didn’t want to leave them alone in case there were any concerns, but he couldn’t stand to leave this thing between them for another second.

And now she was gone. Vanished into thin air. Which meant he had to take action now. Turning to Nina, he asked, “What was happening before she disappeared? Why was Darnell rocking her?”

Nina poked him in the chest, her anger with him apparent as she used aggressive hands to straighten her jacket’s hood. “That damn building of yours! She hasn’t said much because
you
just can’t seem to communicate and digest without clamming up, but she’s been having some pretty shitty feelings about not only your BFF, Pip-Pip-Cheerio, but about that damn building and everyone’s willingness to skip off to fucking Great Neck. She felt like it was her job to advise you, not dump on you about something she didn’t damn well understand. Also, when she
did
try to tell you how she felt about your buddy, you walked out, Ricky baby.”