The Shelf (Dead-End Ave) Read online

  Feeling something bunched on the bed beneath her, Bri fished around until she discovered a T-shirt. ‘It must be one of Korey’s,’ she realized. It occurred to her that one of his shirts would be a comfy nightgown on her petite frame. Making sure to stay under the sheet, she peeled off her jeans and then pulled the tank over her head. Quickly, and silently, she slipped into the T-shirt. “Much better,” she breathed.

  “Yo, Bri, you still up?” Sleep coated Korey’s voice as it drifted up from the floor.

  “Yes.”

  “Try to get some sleep. We only have about two hours before the RDAS opens up.”

  Two hours? Her eyes drifted to the tiny slit in the curtains, and sure enough, light peeked through. She’d forgotten that Korey had taken her home, or at least tried to, at four-thirty in the morning. Then they’d come to his house, talked for at least forty-five minutes, so yeah, it was already morning. And she was still tired.

  Forcing her mind to settle, Bri let herself fall into a restless sleep.

  CHAPTER

  16

  Waking from a pleasant sleep, Bri wondered what had awoken her. Glancing across to the slit of sky peeking through the curtains, she saw that it was still barely light out. Which meant that she hadn’t even slept for more than twenty minutes.

  So why was she up?

  Rolling over, she looked over the edge of the bed. The bare outlines of tossed back covers told her that Korey was gone. She sat up. Had he left the house, or just simply gone to the bathroom? Bri didn’t know why, but suddenly, she was lonely, not to mention famished. Rushing to sneak out of her house, she hadn’t gotten anything to eat, and once at Korey’s house, she’d turned down his offer of food. Thinking about the peanuts they’d munched on in Fantasy, her stomach rumbled. She could go and get something from the kitchen and be back quickly, but Bri hated the thought of skulking around someone’s house at night.

  She waited. After about five minutes, she realized that Korey probably wasn’t in the bathroom, and possibly wouldn’t be back anytime soon. Groaning, Bri realized that she’d never make it till morning with this kind of hunger. Her stomach rumbled, an ache began in the pit of it all, and Bri made up her mind that she would be quick. She was so hungry that her stomach was hurting. There was no way that she was getting back to sleep like this. Plus, she was curious to see where Korey had gone. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she got up.

  Quietly padding across the room, Bri pushed her thick hair back from her face, frowning as it slid right back to bounce loose around her shoulders. She must have lost her scrunchie as she slept, but in the darkness, she couldn’t find it now. She didn’t want to risk turning on the light and alerting anyone that she was up. Using her cell phone as light to find her way, Bri padded quickly to the door and slipped through, pulling it shut behind her.

  The sleeping house was silent. Knowing she had to be super careful not to sound like a burglar, Bri made it to the kitchen. Once there, she breathed easier. The kitchen was all the way in the front of the house, close to the living room, farther from the bedrooms. She didn’t have to be AS quiet now.

  Slipping the refrigerator open, she discovered chips AND dip. ‘Perfect.’ The tortillas went onto a plate, along with a dollop of cheese dip. Famished, Bri dipped a few chips and ate them standing, one after the other.

  “Oh gosh, I was so hungry,” she murmured. Then she smiled to herself. “Salsa! How could I have forgotten?” Putting the plate back on the counter, she opened the refrigerator and leaned in to search. But there didn’t seem to be any. Bri searched a little while longer, fruitlessly, then gave up and closed the fridge.

  And ran right into Korey’s muscled frame, clad in only a pair of pajama bottoms.

  Instantly, her tongue locked and there was no explanation that would leave her lips.

  To Korey’s credit, he seemed startled as well to find her there, from the way he said nothing, while his eyes took in her hair loose on her shoulders and his borrowed T-shirt. Korey just stared at her, swallowing lightly. And still he said nothing.

  And then it really hit Bri that she was wearing Korey’s shirt! Nothing else!

  “Oh my gosh,” she breathed to his shirt. Because she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. Automatically, her mouth snapped into action and she started talking, fast. “I was just getting a snack. Supposed to be asleep, I know, but I was hungry, so I came out here. Just to get something to munch on. I mean, I’m sorry if I startled you. You probably thought it was a burglar or something-,”

  Raising her eyes to meet his, she noticed that he couldn’t tear his gaze away from her figure through the over-sized T-shirt. She crossed her arms self-consciously.

  Korey finally spoke. “It’s okay,” he said, voice low.

  Bri couldn’t tell if he was keeping his voice down because he was still surprised to find her in the kitchen, or if he was trying to keep his parents from waking up. Belatedly, she noticed that he held a jacket in his hands.

  ‘He must have gone outside,’ she thought. But it was none of her business. Moving quickly past him (feeling extra self-conscious as she turned her back to him), Bri got to the door.

  “Well, good night,” was all she said and began to hot-foot it back to Korey’s room.

  “I just went to make sure the jeep was secured in the garage,” he said, eyes on her.

  “Ok.” Bri didn’t stop moving.

  As she left, Korey called her back.

  “Bri.”

  She turned, praying that he wasn’t smirking. He wasn’t. Korey held her forgotten plate in his hands. “You forgot your chips.”

  “Oh!” How stupid. ‘Great,’ she berated herself, ‘just forget the thing that you came out here in the middle of the night for.’

  She moved back and took the plate, and as Korey passed her the plate, his long fingers brushed hers below the dish. A tingle shot through Bri’s stomach.

  “Good night,” she tried again, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.

  “Come with me a second.”

  She had no choice but to agree. She followed him through the house onto a small, screened porch. Settling himself into a plastic chair, he motioned for her to do the same. She sat, shivering a bit as the early morning chill swept over her. Noticing her discomfort, Korey held out the jacket to her.

  “Aren’t you going to be cold?” she asked, through another shiver.

  “”Nah, I’ll be fine. Take the jacket.”

  Gratefully, Bri wrapped it around herself and followed his gaze out over the town. It was so serene, she noted, it was hard to believe that it ever had any problems like death and demons. But it did, a whole lot of them. And….right now, she didn’t want to think about that.

  They stared together into the night silently. Overhead, soothing moonlight penetrated the darkness in thin rays. One thin beam illuminated the side of Korey’s face, and Bri focused on it. His profile was the same as she remembered: dark and dangerous. Shivering, she realized that she still knew nothing about him. And here she sat, in his house, in the wee hours of the morning, wearing his old T-shirt. Next to him, the same guy that still hadn’t come out and cleared himself of Aeryal’s murder. Fighting another shiver, Bri bit her lip.

  As she opened her mouth to speak, Korey broke the silence. “Why do you get so defensive about your height?”

  His question threw her off-guard. Lips parted, she just stared at him. The question was an innocent one, yet it was one so close to her heart. Why did he think she got defensive? “Because…,” she smoothed the shirt down over her knees, “I hate it. People don’t take me seriously. I’m too short.”

  Eyes searching her face, Korey just gazed at her. “I don’t agree. I think you’re really cute the way you are.” Then he didn’t say anything else, and Bri slowly released the breath she’d held from the word ‘cute’. He thought she was cute….

  ‘Don’t let good looks fool you, Bri,’ her reason warned.

  “What do you want to do when
you finish college?” she asked, popping a few chips into her mouth. It was better to go on the offensive.

  With raised brows, he turned to stare into the yard. “Why?”

  She shrugged. “I guess because you and I keep getting thrown together, but we don’t really know each other. So I just want to know you better.”

  Now, he shrugged. “That’s if I go to college…..then, I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. Definitely I’d want to leave Jacobsville, but I don’t want to go anywhere that I’ve lived before.” Smiling self-consciously, he rested his arms behind his head. “If I had a choice, I think I would join the Peace Corps.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Right after high school.”

  “Why wouldn’t you go to college?” She was curious to hear what he had to say. Holding out the plate to him, she waited.

  Korey looked her straight in the eye. “Not everyone gets a chance to do that, you know. You should know that. Aeryal didn’t.” He took some chips, chewing thoughtfully.

  “Yes, but that’s different. She died. Most people don’t plan to die.”

  “Hhhmm,” was all he said as he stared out over the town again.

  Not wanting the conversation to end, Bri offered hastily, “I want to be a dancer after I finish school and college.”

  “Oh yeah?” Korey grinned. “I like that.”

  She was happy to see that he hadn’t smirked at her dreams; most of her friends did, especially Chas and Shanice, who had huge dreams of becoming CEOs of large companies. Rob was interested in IT, and Deanna just wanted to move to Hollywood and work in television. They’d always teased her that she set the bar too low for herself, but dancing was what she wanted to do.

  Thinking about it made her happy.

  “You’re a really sweet person, you know that?” Korey interrupted her thoughts.

  “No, I’m not,” she mumbled shaking her head. They both ate chips, sharing the plate between each other.

  “Yes, you are. I can tell. Let me guess. Are you the big sister to a bunch of little siblings, and you like taking care of everyone?”

  She almost laughed. “Never that. I’m practically an only child. I have a half-brother and half-sister from my dad’s first marriage, but I don’t really know them. They live far away. I’m the only kid at my house, sorry to disappoint.”

  He sighed dramatically. “Well, there goes that theory.” They both laughed softly. The sun was still barely peeking over the horizon, and Bri wished that their quiet moment didn’t have to end.

  “It shows that you have little sisters, though,” she pointed out to him. “You’re kind of protective. I can see having you for a big brother.”

  “Me?” Korey frowned. “Sucks that you think of me as a big brother.” He stared at her with an expression she couldn’t decipher.

  “Oh! I didn’t mean it like that, just-,” Bri struggled to get herself on clearer footing, “-just that I can see you taking good care your younger siblings.” He gave a nod and she continued. “How old are they?”

  “My sisters? Ten and eleven. What about your brother and sister?” Realizing that he had taken the last two chips, Korey offered her one, which she took appreciatively. Her breath caught as their fingertips grazed.

  Stopping to think, Bri made a face and balanced the empty plate on her lap. “Uhhh….my brother is almost twenty-five and my sister just turned eighteen, I think.”

  “You should know that off the top of your head.”

  “Excuse me, Mr. Korey Parsons. I’m not the Super-sibling of the Year like you are, okay?”

  Korey flashed a mischievous grin, and then stood, taking the plate with him. Extending one hand to her, he said, “Come on, we still have to get some sleep.”

  Taking his hand, Bri let herself be pulled to her feet, her own grin just as mischievous. “I still have dibs on the bed, and you still have the floor.”

  “Of course.” He stepped back so that she could enter the house ahead of him. “After you.”

  CHAPTER

  17

  The RDAS turned out to be mostly deserted, at least at 10:00 am. Bri couldn’t speak for any other times. All she knew was that Korey had dragged her out of bed way too early for brain-intensive work like researching.

  “It doesn’t sound like your demon wants the same thing from you that he did from Aeryal,” Korey stated over the pile of books surrounding them.

  “He’s not my demon,” she replied automatically. Raising her head, she asked, “What makes you say that?”

  Korey only stared at her as if she were missing half her brain, before dropping his head back to read. “Didn’t you say that Rikgso started attacking Aeryal before he killed her? Bad enough that she ended up in the hospital?”

  Bri nodded, staring at his bent head. Without waiting for an answer, Korey went on. “So if he wanted you dead, don’t you think that you would have been recovering from that attack outside Shanice’s house in the hospital? Pretty damn sure you wouldn’t be sitting here with me.”

  On the drive over, she’d filled Korey in on the rest of her run-ins with Rikgso, so now he knew just as much as she did.

  “So how do you think that we can start finding out information? Any leads to research?” Once they had arrived at the Department, Korey had led her over to a group of tables and chairs. Bri had sat, glancing around at the stacks and stacks of books. How were they going to find any information, indeed?

  “Um..,” Completely thrown off, she wasn’t accustomed to being asked for her opinion. “Well….um….in my dreams,” she gushed, “Aeryal always hints that it is a family thing. So maybe I need to find someone who knew her grandparents or something.”

  Korey seated himself in the plush chair next to hers, seeming thoughtful as he edged his chair closer. “What’s her last name?”

  “Who, Aeryal? It was Swan.”

  “Swan. That’s not a common last name. It should be easy enough to look up info on the Swan family in the local library or even on the Internet. Any strange or suspicious deaths in the Swan family throughout the years. Right?”

  “Right!” Bri was excited. “We have to be able to find out something! I don’t even think there are a lot of Swans in town. Any here are bound to be related to Aeryal. So yeah, that’ll make it way easy to research this. Thanks!”

  “No problem,” he murmured. Now suddenly, with him sitting on her side of the table, the situation had shifted slightly into something more cozier.

  And more intimate.

  Without thinking, she leaned in close to him, watching as he mimicked her move and came closer. Their faces were mere inches apart, noses nearly touching. Korey had been smiling earlier, but not now. Now he was dead-serious, those brown velvet eyes meeting hers, with a tender message in its depths.

  ‘He’s going to kiss me…,’

  A loud chirping cut through the moment and Korey jerked away from her. Just catching her breath from what had almost happened, Bri watched him grab at his pockets and pull out a phone. His phone had rung at exactly the wrong time.

  ‘No, it was the right time,’ the reasonable part of her brain put in. ‘You’re not here for that. You’re here about Aeryal.’

  ‘Oh, shut up!’ she thought as hard as she could.

  “Bri?”

  For a second, she thought that she spoken out loud as Korey began to rise, staring at her. But then she noticed that his hand was clamped over the speaker part of the phone, and he looked distracted.

  “I have to take this call outside. Gimme a minute.”

  “Okay.” Bri watched him walk quickly down the hall and sighed. ‘Might as well get busy doing what I’m here to do.’

  She opened the nearest book and began reading.

  ****

  Somewhere along the way, she had started doodling in her notebook. It started with a doodle of herself, then one of Aeryal, and then one of the hideous demon. Adding a plus sign between her and Aeryal, and an equal between them and Rikgso, she sat
back.

  Bri + Aeryal’s blood = Death by demon for Bri

  “True enough,” she whispered. “True enough.” Then a thought suddenly occurred to her. Wouldn’t Aeryal know more now that, technically, she was dead? She would be with her ancestors of whoever had started the curse. One of them should know how to break the curse and defeat the demon. Jotting that thought down on her page, she nodded. Her pen flew furiously across the page, as she thought up ways to contact her dead best friend.

  ‘Summoning. Ouija board? Yuck. Rising her from the grave….not possible with the two inch slab of concrete they put her behind. What else-,’