An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

myself. Why won’t you come with me?” www.samhainpublishing.com 87

    Ally Blue

    “I’ll be with you.” Bo walked in from his and Sam’s bedroom, where he’d been digging a couple of old plastic pumpkin-shaped buckets out of the closet. He handed one to Sean. “Here.”

    Sean took the pumpkin, still pouting. “It’s more fun with Adrian.” Bo ruffled Sean’s hair. “He’ll be going with us later, when we go around the neighborhood. It’s just the trick-or-treating at the mall that he’s sitting out.”
    “Can Sam come with us?”
“Sam is staying with Adrian.”
“But, Dad—”
    “We talked about this, Sean. Sam needs to stay here withAdrian so he won’t be here by himself. We’ll all go around the neighborhood together in a couple of hours, okay?”

    “Yeah, okay.” With a deep sigh, Sean picked up his Master Chief helmet from the sofa and tucked it under his arm. “All right, Dad. I’m ready.” “Good.” Crossing the room to where Sam sat on the couch, Bo bent and gave him a swift kiss, then went to hug Adrian, who was slouched on the loveseat. “We’ll be back around seven thirty.”
    “Have fun,” Sam called.
With a brief but meaningful look in Sam’s direction, Bo ushered Sean out, and Sam was alone with Adrian.
Sam clasped his hands together. Nervousness made his mouth dry and his palms wet.
    He and Bo had talked about what to do as soon as Adrian announced, on the trip home, that he didn’t want to go trick-or-treating at the mall. They figured Bo could take Sean to the mall and Sam could try to coaxAdrian into talking about whatever was bothering him. Bo thought whatever it was had to do with his newly discovered psychokinesis, and Sam agreed.
    Being willing to talk to Adrian was one thing. Sam was more than willing. But he’d never been a confidant to a child, and he was terrified of screwing it up.

    After a moment’s silence, Sam squared his shoulders and met Adrian’s guarded gaze. “So. What do you want to do until your dad and brother get back?” 88
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An Inner Darkness
Adrian stared until Sam had to fight the urge to squirm. He wondered if all eleven-year-olds were this intense.
Probably not.
“You said you’d teach me how to control this thing I can do,” Adrian said, watching Sam’s face. “Can you do that right now?” Sam’s eyebrows shot up. He’d expected to have to draw Adrian out. This was beyond his greatest hopes.
    “Uh, sure. Yeah, of course. I’d be happy to.” Now was the perfect time to ask Adrian if anything else had happened at home, but he wasn’t sure how to ask it. With the silence stretching on, Sam decided to just ask. “Adrian, has anything happened at home? Like the thing here with the light bulb exploding, I mean?” Adrian’s gaze dropped to study the floor. “Kind of.” Sam’s stomach rolled. “Can you tell me about it?” Hunching forward, Adrian clasped his hands together. “There’s shadows and sounds and stuff in my room at night. I can’t sleep.” Adrian lifted his face, fear shining from the big dark eyes. “Sometimes I think I see something there. Like something real. It scares me.”
    Oh shit. Is he causing portal activity? Or is it just a manifestation of his psychokinesis? There was no way to know for sure without going back to the house and doing a thorough investigation—including psychic scans—while Adrian was there.
    Broaching that subject with Janine, however, would be pointless at best and an invitation for legal intervention at worst. Sam kept his expression calm with a huge effort. “Have you told your mom or Lee about those things?”
Adrian shook his head. “Mom wouldn’t believe me. She’d just tell me to stop being a baby. Lee would be nice, but he’d tell Mom.” “What about Sean? Has anything happened to him?”
    “No. Just me, and just at night when I go to bed.” Adrian chewed his lower lip, looking very young and lost. “So, what do I do?” www.samhainpublishing.com 89

    Ally Blue
    Sam wanted to ask more questions. He suspected that Adrian was experiencing these things at bedtime because that was the only time he allowed his emotions free reign. On the one hand, it was encouraging to think he’d been practicing the few small hints Sam had given him. On the other hand, the thought of him lying in his bed at night, alone and vulnerable to things he couldn’t even imagine, made Sam feel cold inside.
    Shaking off the urge to continue his